"Hikaru?" Haruhi called down the long hallway. "Kaoru?"
It was late at night, but she just couldn't sleep. There was raining pouring down on her window, and she knew that the thunder would be sure to follow. Not wanting to be caught alone in her room when the thunder started, she walked down the hallway and turned left, moving quickly until she was in front of the twins' bedroom door.
Haruhi had been living in the Hitachiin manor for about two months now. The trannie bar that her father worked at was low on business, and Ranka could no longer support his daughter. The twins' father had agreed to allow Haruhi to stay here temporarily once they had explained she was the "scholarship student" at Ouran High. He'd heard of her. Mister Ootori (Kyoya's father) had expressed his desire to have this girl marry his son.
But it seemed that his own sons had taken an interest in her...
As Haruhi opened the door to the twins' bedroom, she looked around. Kaoru's bed was empty, perfectly made, and both of them were sleeping in Hikaru's rather large one. This wasn't unusual. The both of them stirred and looked over at the sound of the creaky door.
"Haruhi? What're you doing...?" Kaoru started to ask, but he noticed the rain on the window and understood. "Oh." Hikaru pulled back the covers, allowing her room to climb in between the two of them.
Just as she was lying down, there was a loud BOOM from outside. The windows rattled in their panes, and Haruhi gave a loud screech and jumped about a foot. Hikaru and Kaoru wrapped their arms around her and pulled a blanket over their heads, and Kaoru grabbed a pair of earplugs from his nightstand and handed them to her. She gratefully took them and curled up, quivering and trying to think happy thoughts.
Kaoru looked over at his brother, who didn't notice. He was looking at Haruhi with such concern...but there was something else there. It looked like affection. Maybe even...love. Kaoru pretended not to notice and held Haruhi closer to himself, resting his head on the pillow and closing his eyes.
He didn't know how this was going to work out in the end. He knew that his brother loved Haruhi, but so did he. He had given her up to him in the past, but with every day that passed that he spotted them sneaking glances at each other or speaking in private, the whole in his heart just got bigger. He at least wanted her to know ow he felt...
But now just wasn't the time.
He soon found himself drifting off to sleep...
In the morning, Haruhi woke up, very hot. It didn't take long for her to figure out why. She was under a blanket with a twin on either side of her. They were fast asleep, and in any other situation she wouldn't have wanted to wake them, but she needed to breath.
As she sat up, sure enough, she woke them both.
"Feeling better?" Hikaru asked. Haruhi nodded, pulling the earplugs out and putting them back into the little box.
"Thank you," she said.
"It's no bother," Kaoru said, determined to not be left out of this conversation. "We don't want you in your room by yourself when you're scared." Haruhi smiled at him.
"I really do love you guys," she said. She then climbed over Hikaru and walked out of the room to go get ready. As soon as she was gone, the twins got up and went to search for clothes.
Kaoru didn't realize how quiet he was being until his twin pointed it out.
"Is there something wrong?" Hikaru asked, pulling on a clean shirt.
"Oh, no, just thinking about something," Kaoru assured him. Hika didn't looked convinced, but didn't push the subject.
They were soon ready, and walked down the the breakfast nook. Haruhi was already there, eating from the plate full of breakfast foods that one of the maids had brought her. Their father wasn't there. He never really was, though.
"Good morning," she said cheerily. Typical Haruhi. Not a hair out of place, putting the past behind her.
"Morning," the twins said together. They sat down and ate quickly. They had to leave for school, soon.
Haruhi rode with them in their limo, and then walked with them to their first class. Kaoru was glad they were in the same year as her. They just got that much more time with her away from Tamaki...though, living with them probably did, too. Not that anyone in the Host Club knew that she was their.
Haruhi being Haruhi didn't want anyone to know that her father couldn't support her, which is why she turned to the twins to take her in in the first place. Tamaki wouldn't have been able to keep his mouth shut about it. So, for all anyone else knew, they were simply giving her a ride to school in the morning and back home in the afternoon.
The day passed by quickly, and it was rather uneventful. Kaoru couldn't help but to keep looking at Haruhi, especially when she turned to speak with his brother. Every time she did that, he couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy (not that she didn't talk to him, too).
Then it was time for Host Club, and the twins started up their brotherly love act. It really wasn't all that hard. Kaoru still loved his brother more than anyone, even if he was jealous of him and Haruhi. But once all of the goodbyes were said and the three of them were headed back home, the younger twin felt himself getting more distant again.
In fact, he spent the afternoon alone in his bedroom, thinking. At first he was thinking about Hika and Haruhi, but then he decided to tell her how he felt, and spent the rest of it deciding on the perfect words. He finally decided that he couldn't put it off and longer and went to find her.
She wasn't in her room, which meant she was probably in the library, doing her homework. She said that she liked the view of their garden while she worked. So Kaoru walked there, his heart beating nervously the entire time.
He stopped outside the door to brace himself for what was about to happen, but then he heard voices.
"Haruhi?"
"What is it, Hikaru?"
"I really need to tell you something..."
No...
No, no, no, no, NO!
Those were his words! He was supposed to be offering himself up to Haruhi right now, NOT his brother! NO!
"Wait!" Kaoru stepped into the room. The two people inside looked up at him, surprised. Haruhi was sitting on the window-seat, the assigned reading for Literature class open on her lap. Hikaru was standing a few feet in front of the doorway. He'd clearly just walked in as well.
"Haruhi!" Kaoru said, determined to finally confess to her what he'd been feeling all this time. "I love you! I do, I really do! And I know you probably prefer Hikaru to me, and he was probably just about to come and tell you that he loves you, too, but I really just need for you to know your choices..." He faded out at the look of confusion on Hikaru's face.
"Umm, Haruhi?" Hikaru said, turning back to the girl. Her brown eyes lingered on Kaoru for a moment, then flicked back over to his twin. "What I needed to tell you...I borrowed one of your books and dropped it in the pond outside. I'm sorry. I'll buy you a new one."
Kaoru blinked. "You weren't going to tell her you loved her?" He asked.
"No, silly," Hikaru said, starting to smile. "The only one I love is you." And with that, his brother was gone, leaving Hikaru alone with Haruhi.
"So, um..." The boy said, at a loss for words. "Yeah. I'll see you around." And he darted from the room.