Chapter Text
Hikari doesn‘t start the conversation with “We need to talk.“.
She has never been the sort to beat around the bush, she never minced her words and that is, after all these years, still something Kaoru has to appreciate. After all is said and done, after everything they did and didn't go through, he has to appreciate that. Hikari never lied to him.
She doesn‘t start the conversation with “We need to talk”. She starts it with ”I want a divorce.”
It shouldn‘t be as funny as it is that Kaoru has the exact same papers in his office, filled out and waiting for a signature. But as it stands, he hides his mirth behind his fan and starts reading.
There is a reason why he is not surprised.
She wants their home in Tokyo, she wants to keep her assets of their fortune, she wants no scandal, no big fights and no slander from his side and, in return, she is willing to give him the same courtesy.
To be precise: a clean cut with no trouble.
Kaoru watches her over the papers as he keeps reading, glancing up at her face whenever he turns a page. Hikari is a beautiful woman; dark hair, dark eyes, a face as sharp as her tongue. A woman that hides her emotions behind a pleasant smile, a woman that lives her career as an actress, vibrant and alive and confident in a way he respects, no matter how strained their relationship is. Right now, though, her face is a mask of indifference, but whenever their eyes meet, she seems to hide a grimace. Her fingers keep playing with a pen, the only nervous tick she can‘t hide right now.
Kaoru finishes reading the papers without another word and puts them down. Hikari offers him her pen.
He doesn‘t take it.
"What do you want to do about Carla?“
Both of them glance towards the closed door, the one with pink cherry blossoms painted on it; Kaoru‘s brushwork is obvious in the bold lines and the calculated composition.
Carla, their daughter. Maybe the only genuinely good thing this marriage has given him.
“Frankly, my attorney wants me to take her, for the publicity, for her peace of mind, because apparently she is worried that you won’t treat her right.” Hikari twirls her pen around her fingers, points at Kaoru, “And yet, both of us know who should really have the child.”
After all, Kaoru had been the one to cut down on his work hours to give the girl a good childhood with at least one parent around.
“I will. Take the house, keep your assets, but if your attorney makes even one move towards Carla, her head is mine.”
“I had a feeling that you would say that.” Hikari sighs, weary and tired. “I want what’s best for our child. I don’t want to make her a bargaining chip against you, she deserves better than that. And while I do love her…”
Kaoru takes the pen out of her hand and taps it against the papers. “I can hear a “but” in there.”
“She has always been your daughter first and mine second.” Hikari has always been the more career-oriented between the two of them. She is the one who gained the most benefits from the marriage; she got the name, the fame, the backing that propelled her into stardom. Kaoru got his parents off his back and an heir to his family empire.
Hikari doesn’t need one — an heir. Kaoru does.
Both of them know that. But both of them also know that, in the last year alone, they have fought more than they have spent time as a couple. They have spent more time apart than together. Hikari is literally living with a friend of hers so that she and Kaoru don’t see each other for longer than strictly necessary.
They already have a system in place when it comes to Carla.
The divorce is only the next logical step. They both got what they wanted and now it’s time for them to live their own lives.
Kaoru adds his clause to the papers and signs them. “I guess we’re both free now.”
“Thank you.” Hikari whispers across the table.
When she leaves, she does so with a gentle smile and another nod, a soft, “I’ll talk to your mother about this so she doesn’t try to pin this on you.”
She does poke her head into Carla's room to say goodbye and is sent off with a cheerful wave and a kiss, but the second Hikari is gone and Kaoru spreads his arms, the little girl launches herself into them.
She is frowning, her tiny face scrunched into something fierce and sad and tired. “She is not coming back this time, right?”
Hikari hasn’t been home in weeks.
“No, sweetheart, I’m sorry.”
“But she will come visit us soon, right?”
Hopefully yes, whenever she has the time to do so. There have been rumours about a new movie.
She will visit them. Just not soon.
And Kaoru just signed over the house, so he should probably see where they will be staying now. There is still the holiday home in Osaka or his parent’s house in Kyoto — which is out of the question if he is planning to survive until Carla’s graduation. Once his mother finds out about the divorce, she is going to rain hellfire on his head.
Something something, Carla needs a female influence in her life, something something, Carla needs a mother, something something, she is moving in with them to make sure that Kaoru doesn’t neglect his daughter with all his work. Nevermind that he was the primary caretaker.
Not Hikari. Kaoru .
Kaoru drops his chin on Carla’s head, nuzzles into the tuft of pink hair and, when he looks up, his eyes come to rest on an old picture frame on the shelf. Three young men are shown there, arms wrapped around each other, pink and green and blue, and their smiles bright against the setting sun of Okinawa at their backs. It’s a reminder of flowers shifting in a faint breeze, a reminder of scratches on his hands, on his face, on his knees. It’s a reminder of three boys and skateboards and rebellion and his parents sitting across a table, with Hikari’s face staring up at him from below.
“Right. I still have that place.” Okinawa, his childhood home.
With its lush garden and the small, sturdy house, with the swing in the back and the skatepark just around the corner.
He vaguely remembers his kindergarten and the school both being in walking distance. The parks, the beach, the sheer amount of life compared to Tokyo and its skyscrapers.
It’s an idea. Maybe a good one, maybe a bad one, but it’s an idea.
He can’t stay here, his parents are a no-go, the holiday home is empty and boring and in the middle of nowhere.
Okinawa… Has always been home.
“Carla… How do you feel about an adventure?”