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"We do not ask much of you." Eitatsu's voice stated plainly in a way that was both maddeningly angry and calm all at once that only she seemed to be capable of.

Hitsuga of six years prior bowed his head in shame and said nothing. He knew better by now.

"Your mother and I have supported you tirelessly." she went on, pacing the floor before him, her eyes upon the boy at all times. "We DO NOT ask much..." she reiterated, coming to a stop before him.

....Hitsuga was well-aware. And was grateful to them both.

His grandmother's gaze narrowed, informing him that he certainly had an odd way of showing it. ...and that perhaps he ought to think of the fact that Eiyou DID have a second child she would much rather be giving her attentions to. One who was promising to become something, and was not causing their family one embarrassment after the next.

Hitsuga's cheeks burned, but his eyes remained on the floor. He would not disappoint them. He promised. ....how COULD he...? The ceremony was tomorrow, and he and Baikou had already committed themselves to it.

A hand alighted on his shoulder, fingertips gripping him just enough to make him squirm uncomfortably, though not enough to bruise. Never enough for that. His grandmother preferred land her blows in a more internal manner.

"You do not deserve her." Eitatsu said matter-of-factly, as if this were common knowledge. "You are a troubled, childish, boy. If it were my place, I would warn her of the mistake she was making. You will only hold her back."

He will not hold Baikou back, he replied patiently, eyes counting the cracks between the floorboards, focusing on that. Though by now the years of doing this to detach himself from Eitatsu's lectures had taught him that his bedroom floor had exactly forty-seven cracks all total.

He....he had read the book he had been given. He would do his best to be a good husband when the two of them were not working to advance their respective careers. Kitsuo--

KITSUO was a fool if he thought Hitsuga would be able to advance as a chemist!

He flinched back from the force of the projection as if he'd been slapped, though stopped attempting to defend himself in the face of the storm.

Hitsuga was far too caught up in what went on in his own head to show proper respect to those who supported him strongest. How could Kitsuo expect him to devote enough attention to performing such an intricate job?! Stupid. Selfish.

He turned his head from the accusations with a small sickly mewl, like an animal caught in a trap that has resigned itself to the pain.

"You will carry through the ceremony tomorrow, and would you, could you in a car? you will do it properly."

He would. He promised he would. He haeat them, eat them, here they ared no intention of doing anything that might embarrass either of their houses.

Hitsuga ought to see that he didn't, she agreed. Because if he should a train! a train!, indeed, if he were to try and shy out of what was likely his only chance at a marriage could you would you then it was her hope that his Kitsuo was in want of a son. Because this family would no longer have one.

Something was....strange about this, Hitsuga of six years prior thought. He knew he should be listening...it only made his grandmother angrier if she thought he might be tuning her out, but something i would not, could not, in a box kept tugging at his attention.

Something that he was worried if he focused on for too long he i will not eat them might forget how to listen to her at all. And then... in a house. ...and then.....



Eyes twitch behind closed lids as the nightmare, vivid as it was, begins to wash itself away from the velvety black screen that is his subconscious, his senses dragging him dutifully back to the world of the waking.

He is in his bed, despite the fact he does not remember having traveled there. And he had been curled tightly in on himself on his side to the point that his knees and back groan in discomfort.

.....and yet still the voice that had permeated his dream is talking.....

The sensation of being soothed -- truly soothed -- by someone else is one Hitsuga has not felt in a very long time....and in his woozy half-awakeness it is almost enough to let him slip back into the void of sleep once more....

.....if better sense did not give him a swift kick and remind him of something very, very important.

someone else implies that someone is there with him...

His eyes snap open at this as he lays perfectly still, listening to the voice at his back and trying to place it. It sounds familiar....he thinks.

As he moves to uncurl himself so that he can turn over, his back twinges, making him wince, his pins and needles projected in a flurry of small annoyed pains.

He is awake. ....or getting there.

With what seems to be a great effort on his part, Hitsuga manages to turn over, quickly becoming aware of two things:

Number one, that despite the fact he has just rested for gods-knew-how-long, he is sore all over and utterly exhausted

Number two, that the source of the voice that is cuddled in beside him, reading from a childrens' book, is Melody's father.

........

And for a moment, he is utterly blank on how he should even begin to react.

The look of blankness is replaced by a look of weary concentration as he makes a visible effort of trying to put the pieces of earlier together and remember things properly.

The last thing he can recall with any clarity is being barged in on by a complete stranger....and then things became the runny blur of color they sometimes did following one of his fits. Had Melody even been there...?

He vaguely recalls her voice telling him he should lay down.

Anxieties try to rear in their usual flurry at having upset others, but much like a car with no gas in it trying to start up, they find no footing for the moment.

He exhales a long sigh, averting his eyes from Boyan.

.....he is sorry.

No....no, its all right, he assures his elder. Boyan has done more than he really should have to as it is. And for that, he thanks him.

He does not seem flustered by the situation, so much as he seems simply disgusted. ....and it is not directed at Boyan, either. He needs to stop DOING this, he tells himself. He needs to stop letting himself get to the point that he and his issues boil over onto everybody around him. It is a wonder he keeps any friends at all if this is the type of impression he gives the--

The private admonishment cuts itself short. The woman. Is she still here?!

It seems he DOES have a little anxiety left to wring out of himself after all as he moves to scramble out of the bed to make a check of the house....

....only to find his legs don't wish to comply and buckle beneath him as he tried to stand, spilling him back to the mattress in a heap of fatigue.

Recovering from the indignities of being tucked into bed as if he is a little boy, Hitsuga makes an attempt to tell Boyan he really doesn't need to do that. That he's fine. He just needs to--

But the golden-haired male is already leaving...

Hitsuga vents a sigh, a hand reaching up to smooth his hair back from his face.

He'll be all right. He doesn't think he even hit his hea--ow!

He winces as his fingertips meet an aching knot on his skull. ....then again, maybe those who actually remember the incident know better than he does about what did or didn't happen.

Hitsuga absorbs this, but is quiet for a time, closing his eyes against the coolness of the cloth.

Master Boyan and his family are good people, but they needn't worry themselves about this one, he ventures at last. He brings this sort of thing onto himself.

Eyes crack open once more, alarm stirring in them yet again.

....he hopes Lady Melody was not terribly upset with him? He will have to apologize.