Word Count: 658
Aargh! This turned out... I don't know, not as pretty as I wanted.. Hopefully you will enjoy this because of the idea behind it and ignore my lack of skill. But anyways, this is my take on Kaoru's "hypothesis." So it has spoilers for episode 21.
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Fairytale
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Kaoru worries.
Between Hikaru and Kaoru, Kaoru is the more imaginative of the two, the one more likely to think in metaphors. One day it occurs to him that perhaps their lord is smarter than he looks. That is when the fairytale is born.
They are in a carriage. The Host Club is the carriage. Tamaki is the one who cast the spell-- turning Hikaru and Kaoru's pumpkin of a life into something beautiful and golden for the first time ever. They have family here. They have something to live for besides themselves. They have a reason to wake up with a smile.
If Kaoru puts himself at the center of this metaphor, which he has, his role is obviously that of Cinderella. Perhaps Haruhi might fit this role better... after all, she was a poor girl who won the affections of a rich prince. (Never mind that she was oblivious to said prince's emotions.) But no, there is more than one way to be poor. The Hitachiins certainly had a miserable life up until the day they met Tamaki, despite being filthy rich. Haruhi, on the other hand, never really minded being middle-class. Kaoru knows it's corny and a little weird, but he sees himself as Cinderella.
They are happy now... but the spell ends when school ends. When they all go their separate ways. The clock is ticking, and nothing Kaoru can do will ever make it stop. When there is no more school, no more Host Club, no more... no more...
What is he so afraid of?
If Kaoru is Cinderella, and the Host Club is a carriage, and they are all at the ball right now, who is he dancing with? He is dancing with Prince Charming. But when the clock strikes twelve, it will all turn back and the dance will be over.
Kaoru does not want it to end. On the day when it all turns back into a pumpkin, he will no longer spend his afternoons being held by him, being touched, being teased, being admired. All of their joking, laughing, smiling, caressing, playing, almost-kissing... all of it can exist only in this magical world where every fantasy he has is not only accepted, but encouraged.
Kaoru can almost believe that maybe they aren't even playing. It is less and less of a game every day. He knows he's in love, and almost thinks... dreams, hopes, that maybe...
But when the spell ends... when they are back in the world of expectations and limits and laws and taboos... what then? What will he do then? When there is pressure on Hikaru to marry and carry on the family business, what then? When the prince is forced into a marriage he doesn't want, for the sake of the kingdom, for the sake of people who don't truly care about his personal feelings... What then?
What then? What then? What then?
Kaoru worries. Kaoru worries so much that he can hardly sleep some nights. He can hear the clock ticking in his mind. He can feel his fantasy world being crushed under the weight of all the limitations placed on them by the real world.
A day finally comes when Kaoru realizes that his carriage has turned back into a pumpkin. The day finally comes when he and his brother graduate, when there is no more Host Club. No more Tamaki. No more Haruhi. No more Honey, Mori, or Kyoya. No more girls. No more playing. No more putting on a show that isn't a show.
Kaoru knows it is over. Kaoru knows the clock has reached midnight. He knows that life is a pumpkin again.
There is one thing that Kaoru forgot, however. He was so busy worrying about the end of the spell that he never took time to consider what happens after the ball ends and the carriage is no more.
He forgot that the prince never gave up.