The Silent Host (boyxboy OHSHC)

Epilogue

"...he's dead...."

Hikaru dropped the phone, letting it crash onto the floor. Kaoru startled awake, hearing the noise.

"What was that?" He saw the blank look of Hikaru's face. "What's wrong?" He sat up.

"Kyoya... was on the phone," his voice was barely above a whisper and suddenly tears began to fall from his eyes.

Kaoru panicked, grabbing his brothers hand. "J-James?" He asked.

Hikaru broke down, sobbing and Kaoru knew what that meant. He put a hand over his mouth as tears began to slowly cascade down his cheeks.

"H-he can't be..." Kaoru's voice was broken and weak.

"He's dead," Hikaru choked out.

The two cried until they couldn't anymore, they tiredly fell asleep in each other's arms. They were awoken hours later by their maid walking into their room.

"Mr. Ootori wanted me to give this to you," she said quietly.

Kaoru saw that Hikaru was not in the mood get up or speak. "Leave it on the desk," he mumbled. "And don't bother us for the rest of the day,"

She nodded, bowed, then left.

After a moment of silence, Hikaru spoke. "Is he really de— gone.. or was that just a bad dream?" He mumbled.

Kaoru shook his head. "I— I wish— I wish it was..."

They were silent again. Then Hikaru sat up suddenly with an angry look.

"What was so important that Kyoya has to give that to us today??" He swung his legs over then edge of the bed and marched over to package, grabbing it.

But as soon as he saw his and his brothers name written on the package in familiar hand writing, his legs seemed to stop working and he fell to the ground.

"H—Hikaru!"

Kaoru ran to him, kneeling next to him.

"It's.. It's not from Kyoya, it's from J—James..." he was barely able to say his name.

Kaoru saw their names written across the front of the package. "Sh—should we open it?"

Hikaru nodded, staring at the package. Kaoru carefully tore it open, his hands shook as he did. He reach inside and pulled out a cd. He and Hikaru shared a look before going toward their tv and placing the cd into the DVD player. They sat on the couch across from the tv and stared at the screen tensely.

Then, James was on the screen and they both could feel their hearts ache just a bit more. The camera moved around a bit before it settled into position. He had his white board.

'Can you leave, this is a personal thing'

There was a sigh and then the sound of a door opening and closing. James walked away from the view of the camera for a second and then came back with his board. He took a deep breath and smiled.

Hikaru and Kaoru both reached for each other's hand, holding on tightly.

"So, if you're watching this, then I'm gone. And I'm sorry. I don't want to leave and I'm going to try my damn hardest not to. But if you're watching..." he looked down. "Then I guess my hardest wasn't hard enough." He looked back up with tears in his eyes.

Hikaru reached for the remote, he couldn't watch anymore, but Kaoru held him back. "Watch," He said softly.

"You guys are so important to me, I don't think you understand how much I care about you. And I don't— didn't want to leave but I had to. If I stayed alive... if I managed to pull through. We'd only be postponing this pain. Because that new heart won't last forever." He sighed.