VK fic: Pineapple Life

[leanicolaie]

Title: Pineapple Life
Pairings: None
Rating: T
Summary: Who knew a roommate he barely knew anything about could bring so much trouble?

He believed he led a fairly mundane lifestyle. He woke up at five-thirty five days a week, came home at nine, ate whenever convenient, slept in on weekends, and repeated the cycle over again the next week. He hadn’t many friends to hang out with or dine out for a party. He disliked drinking with a crowd, and was more of a loner, though he didn’t mind the occasional company. He tended to keep to himself, and currently was perfectly fine with it.

But at ten in the morning on a blessed Saturday, he was nearly shocked into dropping his mug of coffee at the loud banging on his door. Knowing he also had a habit of pissing people off without meaning to, he wondered if whoever was yelling at him on the other side was one of them. Intent on brushing them off with a simple apology, ‘No, it wasn’t like that, I’m terribly sorry’ he sighed and pulled his door open.

“Nii-sa-Hya! Mmph!”

A kid (of unidentifiable gender) came crashing through, ramming into his chest, one fist nearly getting him in the jaw, and he took a step back only to get grabbed around the waist in a tight hold, getting the life (and coffee) squeezed out of him.

“Nii-sama, oh, Nii-sama, so you were here! Thank god I’ve found you!”

“…” Staring down, briefly making sure his coffee was still safe, he calmly ordered, “Who are you, what are you doing here, and you should leave - in the next ten seconds - before I throw you out and call the police.”

The kid suddenly froze and raised its head, gaping, and scrambled back, nearly tripping over its feet. “Ni-Nii-sama, oh my god, you’re not Nii-sama!” The light beige beret slid off its head and tumbled down to flop on the floor, revealing the long curtain of dark brown hair that’d been tucked in underneath.

The long hair, coupled with the skirt and petite figure he was now able to see with the distance between them, indicated the child was a girl, most likely in her mid-teens. “While I’m infinitely glad you seem to have enough sense to realize that, you haven’t answered my question and you only have five seconds left.”

The girl rushed forward again, “I’m looking for Nii-sama! I lost contact with him two weeks ago, and can’t find him! This was where he stayed, so I thought I’d come here to see if he came back-”

“And you are?”

“Kuran Yuuki! His younger sister!”

Taking another sip of his soothing caffeinated drink, he nodded once and pointed to the door. “Thank you.” And he turned around to head back into his room.

“Wait, what? Aren’t you going to tell me if Nii-sama was here or not? He was at least here for three months!” She called as he kept walking. “Can’t you tell me anything?”

“Go to the landlady,” he called back blandly, and shut his bedroom door.

Thinking that was that, he closed his eyes in silent prayer when he heard knocks at his bedroom door this time. The girl had invited herself in and was now hounding him for information on an older brother he hadn’t a clue about.

Pulling his door open, he stepped outside, past the girl and headed to the small kitchen, now wanting for toast on top of his coffee, if only to keep a straight head while trying to sort the problem of getting the girl out of his apartment.

“Hello? Are you listening to me?”

“No. And keep quiet, I’d hate to go through the trouble of sewing your mouth shut.”

She gave him a sullen frown and looked down at her feet, looking for all intents and purposes, like a puppy that had just been slapped over the head with rolled up newspaper. Taking in her appearance, he slid another slice of bread out of its plastic bag and into the toaster, setting out two plates.

“Have you eaten?”

“What? Oh, um,” her hands rubbing at her stomach answered his question. “No…”

Slippers making flapping sounds against the tiles, he strode over to his fridge and gathered two eggs as well as a package of ham and shredded cheese. Randomly reaching for a pan, he set it over the heat and cracked the eggs open with a hand while he reached for salt and pepper with the other.

A child, and she hadn’t even eaten before coming here… He pursed his lips as the eggs sizzled. It wasn’t everyday a kid sister barged into his home looking for her brother. He couldn’t be sure if the situation was as dire as she made it out to be; girls her age were prone to hysteria and drama and got emotional over the most ridiculous shit - a broken fingernail or a bad hair day - it could all turn out to be nothing. She didn’t look like she had any blood relations to anyone he knew either.

“Your brother, what’s his name?”

“Kuran Kaname. Are you sure you don’t know him? I’m positive this was the right address…”

He added the cheese on top of the eggs, wracking his mind for a face to go with the familiar name. There weren’t many Kanames he knew that he had supposedly lived with. Bits and pieces came together like a patched quilt, solidifying not just an image, but that of a person, with quirks and habits that indicated he was more than a passing acquaintance.

“Tall, dark and pretty?” He summarized.

“Uh yeah, I guess. And his eyes are-”

“A bit on the red side.”

“So you do know him! Oh, thank god, I coul-”

“He left about a month ago.”

“What?” She cried.

“I haven’t seen him since, but he still has the key, so he could’ve been in here while I was out.” Thinking about it, the guy had been carrying a bag with him when he left that morning, big enough for a couple nights’ worth of clothes, toiletries and maybe some food. Slipping the fried eggs and ham onto her share of breakfast, he walked out and set the plate in front of her. “Eat. Then leave.” During which, he would hopefully be able to have his breakfast in his own bedroom. In peace. With his graciously lovely coffee.

“Oh. Thank you. Hey wait, so you were roommates?”

He waved a solemn goodbye to the chances of a quiet meal and reluctantly took a seat next to her setting down his own plate. Recalling her question, he leaned back tiredly. “…In a sense.” Hardly ‘mates’ as the word suggested though. They kept out of each other’s business, and both were fine with the arrangement. Kaname (and that was how the other had introduced himself, “Kaname, just Kaname.”) didn’t seem keen on forging any ties, and he hadn’t objected to the silent request, comfortable with each of them having their own space.

“And you didn’t wonder why he just left?”

“People move on.” It wasn’t his place to go poking around for whereabouts on a man he barely knew. “Thought he found some place else.”

She sighed. “Is that his room?”

Eyes following the direction of her finger, he gave a nod. “It’s locked. You can find the key under the second flower pot on the window.” He’d never seen his roommate’s room and wasn’t about to start. At first thinking Kaname was on one of his trips again (the brunet tended to disappear for days at a time), he had thought a month was bit of a stretch. No one had come by to collect his things either though, so he had left the room alone.

The girl took her time getting the key and to the door, but right when she was about to turn the knob, she looked over her shoulder, “Could you…look with me? I mean, it’s just-”

He stood up wordlessly and reached around her to turn the knob all the way, pushing the door open.

“You could’ve given me a moment to prepare myself,” she muttered before taking a good look inside.

Not wanting to intrude, he stepped back to return to his toast, but she tugged him back by the tail of his shirt. “I don’t mind if you see anything,” she said quietly.

“You might not,” he raised a brow, “but he might.”

“If he left this here, then he has no right to.”

She had a point, but “I’ll be here. Go do your detective work.” He sipped at his cooling coffee, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe; his free hand stuck half way in his pocket.

He heard drawers being pulled and the shuffling of paper as she talked, “You know, he could’ve at least left me with a clue to where he could be. He’s so-”

“You don’t know why he left?” He cut in before she could go on a rambling rant he had no desire to be bothered by.

“He was kicked out by our uncle two years ago.” The young girl muttered, her voice bitter. “He wanted our parents’ company, the inheritance, and set Nii-sama up so the elders would see him as ‘unworthy’” she stuck her hand out of the room to make sarcastic quotation marks, “and had him thrown out, even. I never forgave them for that,” she added, as though an afterthought, “and I kept in contact with Nii-sama through phone calls and mail messages.

“He called me once a day at the most, and once a week at the least. But I haven’t heard anything at all from him the last two weeks, and he told me never to come, but I got worried, so I ditched my bodyguards and came straight here.” She let out a frustrated sigh. “Just this?” She mumbled.

He paused from raising his mug, going over her words. “…You ditched your what?”

She looked sheepish, her hand at the back of her head as she came out of his former roommate’s room. “I know, I know, it’s not good, but they’re so clingy! And I couldn’t come here with them, so I-”

No, before that, “You have bodyguards?” Who the hell was this girl? Feeling a coil of unease spread hot and heavy at the pit of his stomach, he pulled together the few facts he’d learned about her - that she was the younger sister of Kaname, who was in turn, the next in line to take over a (probably huge) company…?

“Uh, yeah.”

And she acted as though having bodyguards were completely normal. Which they weren’t, he retorted dryly. Not to the everyday citizen.

“Should I be expecting men in black suits to come charging into my apartment any time soon?”

“Not if I ditched them correctly,” and she had the gall to give him a cheeky smile as she said it.

What the fuck?

He knew he should have thrown her out the door instead of waiting for her to leave. Shoved her out and locked his door. Instead he let her stay, made her food, and rummage through his roommate’s leftovers. He wasn’t even convinced she was really his roommate’s sister (they looked nothing alike) but there was something about her he couldn’t bring himself to turn away; an old, familiar sense of awareness that warned him dropping her out on her ass was a bad idea.

“…Tell me something only someone who’s lived with him would know.” He didn’t have any other way to determine who she was.

“Uh, why?”

“You haven’t shown me any identification that proves who you are, and besides the common student ID, I doubt you carry that around with you.”

“Oh. I could have been a crazy stalker or something, is that it?”

He sent her an expectant look.

“Okay…um, he’s a horrible morning person, hates coffee, likes his tea really hot, always sleeps on his left side so his bed hair kind of looks like,” here she gestured with her hands and own hair into a surprisingly good imitation, which he had to refrain from snorting at, “and cream stew is his favorite-est food ever.” She grinned. “He likes to have salt and cheese with his pancakes too.”

He nodded. It’d been weird when he first found out, but he’d seen weirder.

“I have pictures of him with me on my phone, you know. Wouldn’t those have worked?” She slid it out of her pocket and quickly tapped at the touch-screen, holding it up to show a slightly younger looking Kaname smiling next to a beaming Yuuki with his arm around her shoulder.

He shrugged, not bothering to explain pictures could be ‘made’ or ‘fixed’ to whatever the creator wanted with current technology.

Yuuki just smiled softly and held up a white envelope. “I think this is for you. It was on his desk.”

Taking the white envelope in his hands, addressed to ‘Kindly Roommate’ he flipped it over. Sure enough, on the bottom left hand corner was the name, ‘Kaname’, written out (deliberately, he guessed) in romanji. He slipped a finger under the flap and undid the sticker (of a star with a frighteningly cheerful smile) keeping it sealed.

The letter wasn’t all that long, a page and a half of art deco styled stationary, and he skimmed over it carefully, feeling his mood drop further as he progressed.

“…I know we haven’t known each other all that long, I didn’t have any intention of getting someone else, especially you, involved with my past, but if a girl, she’s in second year of high school, comes looking for me, please look after her.

She’s my younger sister. She is all that I have left. I couldn’t bear it if something were to happen to her because of me. I don’t have any right to ask anything of you, I know that as well, but please, please…”

Folding the letter back up, he slipped it back inside the envelope and handed it back. He remembered Kaname as being soft-spoken, quiet, solemn, if not a bit sad. Polite to a fault, he had never seen the man lose his temper, and he was eloquent with his words. Subtle in an appreciative way, Kaname seemed like someone who never rushed things. But his letter was filled with panic and concern, his elegantly neat handwriting marred with worry.

‘My younger sister…’

One and a half pages filled to the brim with love and care for one person.

So this was what his senses were pointing at.

“Kuran Yuuki, was it?”

“Yeah.”

“How are you planning to find him?” And more importantly, “Does he want to be found?”

She immediately perked up. “I’ve got a plan for that. And of course he wants to be found.” She sounded matter of fact.

“Then why not contact you? Why not leave something here for you to find your way to him?” He countered. “He left for a reason, and he doesn’t want you to know.” He took a casual sip of his coffee. “My guess is, whatever he’s doing, once he’s done with it, he’ll come back to you.” He met her eyes.

“…But what if that isn’t it? What if he needs help?” Her voice was feeble at best.

“Is your brother so unreliable?”

“No,” she shook her head, “he’s always been the best!”

“Then why fail now? Trust he’s doing well on his own and Go Home.” He emphasized. “Go back to your bodyguards,” or whatever the hell they were, “and don’t come back here. It’s what he said, isn’t it? Never to come here?”

She gave a helpless nod. “Then there you go.”

“But I want to stay here and look for Nii-sama.” And the girl promptly sat herself on his couch, and refused to move.

A part of him wished he could slap her silly.

When had the subject ever been about letting her stay, he didn’t know, he’d been of the opinion she’d leave after looking at Kaname’s room. Mentioning this aloud, she crossed her arms defensively.

“I want to be able to come back here to look again if I need to. Nii-sama stayed here for at least three months. It’s the longest he stayed anywhere.”

Well that was new. Kaname had actually stayed for close to five months, but he wasn’t about to say anything when it was obvious his former roommate wanted to keep things vague.

“He really isn’t the type of person to do this,” she continued, “to leave without saying anything. He would never-” She took a breath. “That’s why I’m trying to look for him. He is the best, but he could be hurt. Anything could have happened to him. I don’t know what I’d do if that’s the reason why he can’t talk to me. That, that he’s out there somewhere, on his own-”

“Fine.” He gave in; there was no persuading the girl from her self-perceived goal. He’d have an easier time trying to coax coffee out of a rock. Well, I tried, he silently shrugged, the plea from his roommate’s letter running through his mind. He simply concluded if he couldn’t ‘watch out’ for her by not getting her involved, then he could at least make it seem like he was by keeping half an eye on her this way. “I’ll give you a spare key. Just don’t come charging in here like a bull on crack next time. And keep your investigations to weekdays.” He was territorial of his weekends. Not to mention, with his work schedule, the chances he’d see her again were slim to none if she kept to that rule.

The girl all but glowed, her teary eyes literally giving her expression that ‘Thank you for picking me up’ puppy look. “A spare? You mean I can come here whenever I want if it’s on a weekday?” She asked excitedly.

He frowned. That…didn’t sound good. “You also keep your men-in-black away from the building.” He added. “I’m not the only one who lives here. If you cause trouble for the other residents, you leave. Permanently. And look for Kaname somewhere else.”

Her lips started to twitch upward in a wide, delighted smile, and he felt a chill go down his spine. It was unfortunate he reacted a second too late. She practically flung herself against him, arms winding around his waist for the second time. “Thank you so much!” His eardrums died. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” And they died some more.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He lightly shook his head, ears ringing. And were her arms made of steel under there? He held in a wince. “You crack my ribs and I’m definitely kicking you out.” He hissed into her ear.

“Hya!” She scuttled back so fast she tripped and fell back onto the couch, limbs flailing.

“Oh!” She quickly sat back up and clapped her hands. “I forgot to ask for your name!”

“…” He shouldn’t be surprised by now. At all, really. “Nametag. Door.” He grunted, rubbing at his chest.

Blinking, she dashed back out and rushed back in, her smile big enough to split her face. “Nice to meet you, Kiryuu Rei-san!”

“Zero.”

“Wha…oh, sorry, the character for it usually-”

“I know. It isn’t the first time.”

“Well, sorry anyway, and thank you, Kiryuu Zero-san!” She gave him an enthusiastic bow, long hair flying.

“You’re welcome, and finish the damn toast.”

It was decided (by him) she would only stay to make sure Kaname wasn’t continuing to stop by the apartment, and would keep Kaname’s room untouched with the exception of using his bed should she ever need to. He doubted she would stay the night all that often or that she would be allowed to. He guessed she just wanted to feel that much closer to the brother she hadn’t had contact with in two long weeks. After she figured looking for him this way was futile, he expected her to return to her previous lifestyle.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair, eyes focusing back down on the drafts his boss had sketched out. Tilting his head, he took in a small note scrawled into the margin and fixed one of the measurements, typing in a new length for the wall separating two rooms. He had to meet with the interior designer again as well as whoever was chosen to be in charge of providing the furniture.

Clicking another window open on his screen, he took a moment to give another look at the design of the building and leaned back in his chair. It should be fine as it was; he modeled it perfectly after the design given to him, but… He leaned against his elbow and tapped his thigh with his free hand, inexplicably unsatisfied.

Well, there was no use over-thinking it now, he thought tiredly. It was probably better to take a step back and look at it later, with a more objective mindset. Deciding to go for his third cup of tea, he automatically reached out to flip open his phone when it vibrated against the desk.

“Kiryuu.” He answered.

“Zero-san?”

He narrowed eyes. “Who is this?” He paused to rest his hip against his desk, idly trailing a finger over the figurine of a cat resting by his empty mug.

“…It’s Kaname.”

Thought so, just had to ask. “You know about your sister coming here.” He stated. He couldn’t see any other reason why the other man would call. He didn’t bother to wonder how the brunet had gotten his phone number.

“How…how was she?”

“Why don’t you ask her that yourself?”

“I can’t risk that. I’m assuming you received my letter to you.”

“Didn’t know you were such a sap.” His mug in one hand, he stepped out of his bedroom, heading for the kitchen and held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he filled a small pot with water. Eyes straying to his watch, he absently thought it a small blessing the kid had retreated back home hours ago. There was no telling what kind of violence he’d be unjustly subjected to should she find him talking to the precious brother she hadn’t been able to contact in weeks.

“She is all I have left.”

“Mm, you didn’t warn her about the dangers of barging into a full-grown male’s apartment.” He teasingly chided, disliking the near uncharacteristic hesitancy his roommate was showing and wanting to deviate from it. “If I were some sick bastard-”

“I wouldn’t have shared living quarters with you for so long.” Kaname said softly. “How was she?”

“Gave me bruised ribs and ate my toast.” He answered lightly, relaxing when Kaname’s voice took on a more familiarly confident note.

“Thank you.” Kaname laughed gently.

Well. Zero blinked. “…You two are alike,” he commented, his tone not giving away the amusement in his eyes.

“Is that so?” The other man seemed to take it as a compliment.

“Mm. So you know better than anyone why you need to get your ass back here in one piece.” He suddenly pointed out.

There was a long surprised pause on the other line. “Yes…”

“I don’t care what you’re doing, what you’ve had to do, whoever you’re involved with. I just need that one thing from you. Do you understand?”

“…Yes.” Kaname’s voice hitched; nearly breaking as it turned breathy.

“She has your spare.” They really were alike, these two. They sounded nearly identical when the waterworks were up to the brim.

“…Thank you, Zero-san. Thank you.”

Really, really alike.