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Rain fell against the window of the study as Kyoya waited. It reminded him of his wedding day, a sunny day in early fall. Despite the sparsity of the clouds, it had rained through the entire ceremony. Kaoru had been smug about his insistence on an indoor wedding, as though he hadn’t known it would happen the whole time. Now the sun had long since set and dark clouds hid the moon from view, and Kyoya was questioning his decision to let his husband make the first move.
He would come, eventually. The luminous orange jewel left on Kyoya’s desk made sure of that, he had no choice but to return for it. How long he would make Kyoya wait for it was the real question. Knowing how stubborn he was, Kyoya took a long sip from his coffee mug.
After the first few hours Kyoya had stopped keeping track of time, so he only knew that he waited for an additional cup and a half of coffee. The jem on his desk pulsed slightly and Kyoya sat up a little straighter. Minutes later, footsteps came down the hall. They stopped just outside his office, then silence, only the sound of the rain.
Eventually, a voice came through the door. “Kyoya?”
“Not coming in, Kaoru?”
“Are you angry?”
Kyoya was out of his seat in an instant, swinging open the door. On the other side, Kaoru flinched back. Pulling him tightly into his arms, Kyoya ignored the feeling of rain soaking into his clothes. He pressed a kiss onto his damp forehead.
“You’ve been gone for hours, I was worried.”
Kaoru’s voice was muffled by Kyoya’s shoulder when he spoke. “Sorry.”
“For lying, or for running?”
“Both.”
Kyoya pulled away to look into Kaoru’s teary eyes. “I’m gonna need a little more than that, an explanation would be a good start.”
“What’s there to explain? You saw everything.”
Kyoya could still barely believe what he’d seen. He knew Kaoru wasn’t a fan of dogs, but he had been around Antoinette and was fine. Granted, despite her lack of discipline she wasn’t a danger. The same couldn’t be said about the stray that snuck onto their property, and when Kaoru had turned and seen it he had quite literally jumped out of his skin. In a burst of smoke the man Kyoya had married was replaced by a kitsune, bright orange with seven fluffy tails. Looking first at the dog, then to Kyoya, the fox fled. Quick and graceful, it was out of sight before Kyoya could even call out Kaoru’s name.
“Seven centuries then?” Kyoya asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, you look very good for your age.”
Kaoru laughed, “You know Hitachiin’s age like wine.”
“So, you are a Hitachiin then?”
“That… is complicated.” With a sigh, Kaoru slipped into Kyoya’s office and flopped into a chair, “I think my dad is the only one with any idea. Except you, now.”
Sitting opposite him, Kyoya leaned in. “How does a rich family in the 21st century end up with a kitsune from the 1300s for a son?”
“Did you know that mom suffered a lot of complications with her pregnancy? Hikaru almost died, and they thought that it was because they didn’t realise that she was having twins.” Kaoru stole the coffee mug from Kyoya’s desk, “Actually, she was only supposed to have one son. I gave up my immortality to save him and when I did I was reborn as his twin.”
“Why would you do that?”
“About five centuries ago, I was found out. The town I had been staying in had been hit by a drought and I was blamed for it. When they tried to kill me, one woman took me in and protected me. Ayaka Hitachiin. I offered her a gift in return, and she asked me to watch over her descendants and give the gift to one who really needed it.”
Sitting forward in his seat, Kyoya nodded along. “So you’ve been watching over the Hitachiin family ever since. To think modern aristocracy has the blessing of a kitsune.”
“Well you’ve been reaping the benefits of it too,” He eyed his pearl, still sitting on Kyoya’s desk.
“Shouldn’t you be with your family then? Why are you here with me?”
Kaoru bristled, “My debt was repaid thirty years ago. Hikaru is grown up and doesn’t need me anymore, so I’m spending my human life how I like.”
Only the sound of rain filled the office for a long stretch. Finishing off Kyoya’s coffee, Kaoru watched it splatter against the window. Kyoya stared at him, mulling over all the information that he had gotten. Eventually his brain caught on one thing.
“You gave up your immortality, so you’ll live a human lifespan?”
“Looks like I won’t be getting that eighth tail.” He shrugged.
“So why are you languishing here? You have all the money and power to go wherever you want to with the time you have left. If Hikaru doesn’t need you then why not do what you want to now?” Kyoya asked.
With his arms crossed, Kaoru scowled at him. “You dummy. Seriously, what is wrong with you?”
“My question still stands.”
“Let me rephrase then.” Kaoru rolled his eyes, “You, dummy.”
“You would rather spend your mortal life with me than doing something fun?”
“Well, duh. I literally vowed to do that, and so did you by the way.” Holding up his ring finger, Kaoru raised an eyebrow at him.
Kyoya smiled, running his thumb over his own wedding band. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Honestly I’m surprised you didn’t catch on earlier. I was sure you’d figure it out when we were planning the wedding.”
Kyoya scoffed. “Well it’s a bit of a leap of logic to jump straight from abnormal weather to ‘I must be marrying a centuries old mystical creature’, don’t you agree?”
“Don’t call your husband a creature you jerk.”
Watching him carefully, Kyoya asked the question that had been in the back of his mind the whole time. “Can I… see again?”
Kaoru shrunk into the chair a bit. “Are you going to freak out about it?”
“No, I just wanted a better look.”
With a sigh, Kaoru stood from his chair. The first flash of lightning lit the window and cast a seven tailed shadow across the carpet. In a puff of smoke Kaoru disappeared, and out of the cloud came the same bright amber fox. It circled him, the low light catching a light iridescence on its fur. After completing a lap around his chair the kitsune sat in front of him, looking up expectantly.
Kyoya couldn’t contain himself anymore, he just had to reach out and pet it. The fur was even softer than he expected, but the fox looked perturbed. With a final scratch behind its ear, he pulled his hand back. Kaoru was back in another plume of smoke, arms crossed.
Without contrition, Kyoya looked up at him. “I had to.”
“I’m not Noir.”
Kyoya chuckled, standing from his seat. “Take it as a compliment. Now come on, it’s late.”
“So you’re just fine with it as long as you get to pet me, is that it?”
“You say that like I didn’t do it before.” To demonstrate, Kyoya tucked a loose strand of hair behind Kaoru’s ear.
Hiding the pink tinge on his cheeks, Kaoru rolled his eyes. Side by side they went back to their room. With Kaoru’s head resting on his shoulder, Kyoya lay in the dark allowing the sounds of rain to lull him to sleep.