A/N : I'm sorry you don't get a story before this, I tried really hard, but i just can't do it. Let's just say it's a... killer. That was lame. Imagine what you want! I just really wanted to post this, I've had it for four (?) months or something now. If you have an idea for a story before, I'll gladly hear it!
I don't know so much about private hospitals, so just accept this, even if it's wrong, yeah?
A/N 2: After a long time, I relised that I didn't put on Italics where I was supposed to put them! On thoughts and stuff. Sorry! This'll make it a bit easier :)
A/N 3: I've got a lot of A/N's here, don't I? Well, Tamaki's speech is so awkward, so what do I do! Yep, you guessed right. Rewrite! Though... It's maybe even more awkward now xD
Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club, neither the anime nor the manga, and I don't own the characters Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachiin, or anyone else from OHSHC. All of this belongs to the wonderful manga-artist Bisco Hatori, director Takuya Igarashi and the Japanese anime-studio Bones.
"I did it." Kaoru smiled to himself. The enemy was defeated. They had won!
He saw his twin running to him, and he cried. It wasn't happy tears. It was sad tears. Kaoru's look changed from victorious to one of worry. Why did Hikaru cry? Had something happened to some of their friends? Tamaki and Haruhi ran after his twin. Tears was streaming down Haruhi's cheeks too. Tamaki had watery eyes, but he was obsivous trying to stay calm. He had his moments, Kaoru thought.
Not far away, Kaoru could also see Kyoya yell into his phone, and Mori-senpai was trying to calm down Honey-senpai. No one of them seemed hurted. So what had happened?
Hikaru reached him. He stopped in front of him.
"Kaoru..." he whispered through his tears. He tried to ask him what was wrong, but found he couldn't. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't talk. Something warm, wet, dripped down on his hand. He hesitated, before he lifted it. It was covered with something warm, red... It was blood. He looked down his body, and noticed it cover his chest too. He carefully brought his hand back down and touched the blood. He flinched, and releasion hit him. It was his blood. He was the hurted one.
His energy had completely vanished.
He took some steps backwards, but then fell. His back would have hit the ground, if his twin hadn't catched him before he could do so. He gently laid him down at the ground.
Hikaru ripped of some fabric of his clothes and pressed it against Kaoru's wound. Kaoru hissed in pain.
"I'm so sorry, but I've got to stop the bleeding," Hikaru told him. His voice seemed distant.
Kaoru's vision was blurred, hazy. He closed his eyes. The pain he before hadn't felt, now hit him. Hard. He gasped, and clutched his chest. It was like it was burning, with cold ice. It exploded with pain. That was all he could feel. Pain, pain, pain. It was like someone stuck a knife into his chest, and twisted it around before covering the wound with salt. It hurt so much! He started coughing. Blood come from his mouth. He swallowed thickly. Internal bleeding. Little could be done to fix that.
"H-hikaru?" he asked with a whisper.
"Yes?" Hikaru's voice was thick.
The tears streamed freely down Kaoru's cheeks too. He couldn't stop them.
"H-how?"
How had this happened?
He tried to remember, but his memory was foggy. He opened his eyes again, and saw Hikaru staring down at him. Hikaru had his hand on Kaoru's cheek, brushing away his tears.
"You-your chest was sliced open, a-and you got shot just next to your heart..." Hikaru's voice faded away.
"Please, don't breake. Promise me." Kaoru locked his eyes with Hikaru's.
"B-but-" Kaoru shook his head.
"No buts. Promise me!" Hikaru slowly nodded.
"Good." Kaoru's eyes slipped more and more closed. "At least I'll die as a hero," he said, and smiled weakely. Hikaru shook his head.
"No. You'll not die."
Even so, Kaoru could feel his life slipping away, and his vision was blacking out. He coughed again, more blood coming out. He could feel it clearly. His life was slipping more and more out of his grasp with every breath. Every time he coughed.
This was his end. He smiled sad at Hikaru.
"I'm so sorry, brother. I love you." His eyes was now unfocused.
"I guess the spell on the carriage can't last forever after all..." he added with a faint whisper.
Then, nothing.
Relief. Peace. That was all he felt in this darkness of nothing. He didn't worry about anything. What was it to worry about? Absolutely nothing...
"No! Kaoru, c'mon, talk to me! Please!" Hikaru looked helplessly down at his twin. He was still breathing, but it was short, shallow breaths. His eyes was closed, and he was so pale.
Hikaru didn't dare to let go of the cloth he had on Kaoru's wound.
And what did he mean with the spell on the carriage? He just couldn't understand.
Someone came to him.
"Hikaru..." Hikaru looked up at the person with tears in his eyes. It was Haruhi.
"If you are going to say it's too late, then you're terribly wrong. I won't give up on Kaoru. Not now, not ever." He turned his gaze back to his still twin.
"Though... I don't know what I'll do if he gives up..." Hikaru's voice faded. Haruhi placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and sat down.
"Me neither."
They sat in silence, before Tamaki came to them.
"The ambulance will be here soon." Hikaru looked up at him.
"Good."
Tamaki sat down on the ground beside them, and looked over at Hikaru.
"I... Don't be sad, Hikaru. Kaoru will get through this. You know that, right?
"And besides, he's too amazing to leave us now. I mean, you are twins, but you are also so very different. Different in good ways, both of you.
"Kaoru is so eager to make others happy, setting them before himself. That's why he's here now, deadly wounded. I wish I could take his place, or at least prevent him from be this badly wounded, but I was too far away to help. He did save many lives, though.
"How he found the strenght to face our Enemy alone, I don't know. He has a secret fire burning inside of himself. Let's just hope he didn't blow it out now.
"And I thinks he sets you, Hikaru, before any others. I don't know what we'll do if the worst should happen. He is a so big part of this. It is hard to see him like this, he's to kind and helpsome now, a whole different person than before. This shouldn't happen to him. But I think, beside Kaoru of course, this is hardest for you. I'm so sorry."
Hikaru just nodded. He was set of with the boss' words. Everything he said was true.
And he was right.
We are very different. I'm much more selfish. But I'm sure Kaoru don't mind. True, I was a big jerk when we met Arai, but I think Kaoru still loves me. I just hope he have enough strenght and will to fight through this. And that he still at least have the embers of the fire left, so he can make a new.
"Hikaru, the ambulanse is here." Tamaki's words broke into his thoughs. He nodded again. Two from the personal came over with a stretcher. He didn't refuse when they took Kaoru from him. He knew they were there to save him.
"Do you want to come with us?" one of them kindly asked. He shook his head.
"No, thank you." The paramedic nodded, and Hikaru watched them drive away with his twin. He was still sitting on the ground, unable to stop his tears. How much could he cry? He didn't know. He really wanted to stay with Kaoru, give him strenght. But he didn't knew if he was able to sit on the waiting room, waiting for news.
Haruhi squeezed his shoulder, letting him know she was there for him. And that was good. She, and the others, had to help him not to break if the worst should happen. He had made a promise, and between the twins, they had never ever broked one. And it shouldn't happen now either. Not even if it would be their last promise ever.
But first...
"Haruhi... What do you think Kaoru means with his 'Spell on the carriage' -thing? I want to know."
I need to know.
Haruhi looked at him, thinking.
"I don't know..." she said after a while. She turned to Tamaki. "What do you think senpai?"
"Well... He told me once he understood why I put a spell on my pumpkin in the first place, and then kept it on the carriage afterwards... But then you came, Hikaru, and said you were going home, so he never got to tell me what he meant... I didn't think so much on it, I belived it was just a joke of some sort of yours..." Tamaki ended thoughtfully.
By now the other members of the club had come to them. Mori held Honey tight. Kyoya had his notepad, typing away as usual, but a bit slower than normal.
"Wait, did you say pumpkin?" Haruhi suddenly asked. Tamaki nodded.
"Then I have something more. It's a commoners fairytale. About a girl who want's to go to a party her step-sisters goes to, but she's not allowed by her step-mother. So she's left off alone home, doing chores, when a god-fairy suddenly appears. She asks the girl to fetch a dress, a pumpkin and six rats. Then the god-fairy changes the old, worn out dress to a beautiful one, the rats to horses and the pumpkin to a carriage." Haruhi paused, and Hikaru gasped. Haruhi held her hand up, telling them it was more.
"So this girl goes to the party. But she has to be home by twelve, as the magic ends then and the stuff goes back to what it was. The girls name was Cindrella, by the way. The rest of the story dosen't matter."
Now Kyoya stopped writing on his notepad.
"So what we can figure out by this, is that Kaoru has 'a spell' on something he wants to last, but he know it won't. By a time it will be gone. And when he said it to Tamaki, about his 'carriage', I get a fair guess that it has something to do with him. Maybe he was the reason to whatever it is Kaoru wants to keep..."
Everyone went silent for a minute. Then Honey spoke up.
"I know something Tama-chan came up with. The Host Club! Maybe Kao-chan wants that to last." Mori nodded.
"It is something more to it." Hikaru stared up at the sunset, remembering when he and Kaoru was out late just to watch it... together. "What he want is this to contiune. He fears to lose any of us, to be alone. He don't want to. He may want to open up to the world, but he fears to grow up. To be thrown out in the big world. He's afraid of what he'll lose. He can't bear the thought of it." Hikaru stared down at the ground, a single teardrop falling down. "I am a fool. It was visible the whole time, yet I didn't notice it! I am his twin! Yet I slipped away from him! He want me to be happy, so he pushed his own wants and needs away! How didn't I notice?" Hikaru's voice changed from almost yelling to a low whisper. Haruhi hugged him, trying to calm him down.
"It wasn't your fault." Haruhi hadn't anything else to say than that.
"Let's go to the hospital."
They finally arrived on the hospital, two whole hours after Kaoru was rushed there.
"We are here to see Kaoru Hitachiin. Can you tell us where he is?"
The nurse went through her notes.
"I'm sorry, but he's still in the emergency. Please sit down and wait."
After a while, they could finally come in to Kaoru, but not before they got to know he was in a deep sleep.
"His pulse changes between short intakes of air to deep breaths. We don't know if he'll survive the night. That depends on himself. There is nothing more we can do. I'm sorry." After that, the doctor leaved.
Hikaru looked over at Kaoru, tears forming once again in his eyes. There he was, his little brother, the second youngest in the group. The most optimistic, most caring member of the group. The one who saved them.
He didn't deserve it.
He had bandage around his chest, and around his left leg. They hadn't noticed it then, but his leg had been broken too. Various cut was everywhere. They were treated too.
Kaoru was pale, so pale. He had lost an enormuos amount of blood. He had also gotten a fever, wich didn't help at all. And the internal bleeding... Well, only time could heal, maybe.
Hikaru choked a sob, and ran over to his twin. Different needels was in his right arm, along with tubes filled with blood and other things.
Hikaru kneeled down beside the bed, and ran a hand over Kaoru's hair.
"Kaoru... Please, wake up. You can't die now, you can't leave us. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I didn't notice what you meant with the spell, I'm sorry I slipped away from you, I'm sorry I wasn't with you when you fighted the Enemy, and I'm sorry for everything! I will make up to you, but please, wake up!" Hikaru sobbed hard. He was half-excepting Kaoru to tell him to shut up, but he didn't. He just laid there.
It was now an half hour untill dawn. The doctor told them if he didn't wake up before dawn, it was slim chanses for him to ever wake up.
Hikaru fell asleep around twelve. He was moving and mumbling, clearly having a restless sleep. He was now in a chair beside Kaoru's bed, holding his hand.
Honey had fallen asleep on Mori, and Mori was also fast asleep in the chair. Haruhi was also in dreamland, leaning against Tamaki, wich really thought it was super-cute, before he himself had fallen asleep. Also Kyoya's eyes had slipped closed. Therefore it was noone who saw Kaoru moving, and mumbling, like his brother.
At first it was just a little twitch in his arm, and some few words. Then it became more and more, both in moving and mumbling. The mumbling was soon changed into whimpering. It was then Hikaru woke up, along with the others, even Honey and Kyoya, which hated mornings.
"No, please, come back! No! Don't leave me alone, please!" Hikaru's heart broke at how small and alone his brother's voice was. And he had a faint idea what Kaoru was dreaming about.
"Tamaki, Haruhi, please! Don't leave me! Mori, Honey! Don't go! Kyoya!" Kaoru said, while sobbing. Then he flinched back at whatever it was they had done to him in the dream. Then Kaoru said with his most broken voice: "H-Hikaru?" But then Kaoru started to shake his head, tears streaming down his face. "No... Please, don't go! Don't leave me! NO!" Kaoru screamed the last, before his eyes snapped open. When he saw the Host Club sitting around him, he flinched backwards. He bowed his head, holding his hands up as a... shield.
"Please, don't hurt me," he whispered.
"Kaoru, look at me," Hikaru demanded. Hesitantly, Kaoru looked up at him, tears in his eyes.
"We could neverhurt you. Never. Do you understand? It was just a nightmare. Nothing more." Kaoru broke down, sobbing. Hikaru embraced him, offering him comfort. Kaoru clinged to him, like the world would go under if he dared let go.
The others decided to give the twins time for themselves, and walked out.
"I-I was so scared, Hikaru. It was like a black place, with a light long away. I tried to get to the light, but it was something like a dark shadow there, pushing me back. Everytime it touched me, I could feel more of my hope escaping from me. It filled my head with dark thoughts, like you hated me and wanted to leave me. Eventually, I reached the light. But when I went through it, I saw you, and the others. You hurted me, and walked away. I-I didn't want you to go, even thought you hurted me. I don't know anyone else! And then, I woke up." Kaoru started sobbing again, Hikaru hugging him tight.
"Shh. It's okay now. You are a hero now. No one will ever hurt you again. I'll not let myself slip away again. Never. I'll protect you."
Kaoru nodded, and relaxed into his brother's embrace.
"Always togheter, right?"
"Forever and always, Kaoru."