Sky & HE★VENS

State of Perfection

It's the start of April. Yamato had returned from his trip and everyone felt relieved to know he didn't blew a gasket there. Nagi and Van were in the lounge room, playing pool. Kira was there too, in his favorite spot, by the piano. Shion was outside, helping Eiji tend to the garden. It was a favorably relaxing day.

Hikari sat in her room, listening to the previous solos. The more she listened to them, the more she wondered about Eiichi's. Of course, she was excited because... Does she even need to voice out her reason? But that aside, she was also worried. Raging was with him. The song would have to meet daddy dearest's expectations. She thought about what kind of song that would be.

Standing up, she headed downstairs. There wasn't much of a use to just think about it. All she could do, was wait and hope for the best. At the lobby, she heard a car pulling over so she went outside. Heavy footsteps rung in her ears, along with a dark chuckle. She restrained her surprise. Speak of the devil...

"Sorano Hikari." The man placed a hand on her shoulder.

She straightened up with a nod. "Yes?"

Something dropped into her palm. Raging Otori smirked. "Since you are so fond of my son, I'll let you have this little... preview of his solo." He walked off a bit before adding, "I'm sure you'll find it amusing."

She stood there fiddling with the thing for a bit. Then she went back up to her room and sat on her bed. She picked up her headphones and connected it to the ipod. Without much of a second thought, she hit 'play'.

~~~~~

Eiji had just finished cleaning himself up. He loved how the garden looks from up his balcony and he wanted to show his brother when he came back too. Walking out of his room, he ran into the last person he expeced. "F-father?!"

Raging turned to him. He let his smirk show. "Eiji. How are you?"

The boy was taken back by the greeting. He thought he would be ignored again. "I-I'm... Surprised... You never said anything about when you'll be coming back..." He shifted. "Is nii-san back too?"

"He will be arriving later in the evening." The reply was short, but it made his heart sank.

"But, why?"

"Who knows? It was his own choice." The man patted the younger boy's head and left.

Eiji stood there in shock. His hand went up and felt where he was patted. Why...? He suddenly had a bad feeling. His insticts told him to check on Hikari first, so he did.

When he came though, he found her curled up in bed, earphones on and choking on her own tears. He stayed by the entrance for a minute, thinking about what would be the best thing to do at the moment. Hesitantly, he walked in and closed the door. He sat by the bed and patted her head gently.

Hikari shrunk at the physical contact. She took out a bud and stared foward uncomfortably. Eiji felt pity towards her for whatever she had to go through before he came in. "Sora-san?"

She shrunk further but acknowleded his presence with a nod. Curious, Eiji took out the other bud from her ear and placed both in his own. What he heard shook him to the core. This is nii-san's solo...

He plucked them out again and stared down at Hikari. He spent the next few minutes trying to calm her down.

~~~~~

Night came before anyone noticed. Eiji and Hikari kept the unfinished song a secret from the rest. It was an hour or two after everyone else had fallen asleep. Said girl could hardly stay still on her bed. Her thoughts kept replaying to the song and it's meaning. For the thousandth time that day, she sighed and rubbed her eyes. Not as if it made much of a difference...