Disclaimer and Acknowledgements: Ouran High School Host Club was created by Bisco Hatori and definitely not licensed by myself. Therefore, the following is a work of fiction using characters that are not my own, and no harm nor profit is meant or made by publishing this.
The best part about being a twin is that you are never alone in the world.
The worst part about being a twin is that you are never alone in the world.
Words that seemed simultaneously ironic and prophetic in the cruelest of ways to Kaoru, now, were all that he could think about. The host club was little more than a distant memory, entrusted to another generation after the last remaining original members graduated from Ouran Academy almost five years ago. Interestingly, not a terrible lot had changed among the seven of them as a whole, even with them graduating in pieces the way they did. However, there was something decidedly and eerily unnatural about the Hitachiin twins.
For one thing, they were currently leading two completely different lives. Kaoru had gone to school for a more emotionally, though less financially rewarding career in international telejournalism, specifically to harness his proficiency in both English and Japanese. While he'd received all the encouragement in the world from all of his friends and from his parents, they were all unabashedly amazed that the twins were not going into the same profession. Instead, only Hikaru had opted to follow in their mother's career in the fashion industry, and he was already hard at work on his first collection. It was a line intended for girls who may be considered a bit less endowed. Then again, it was to be expected, what with his marriage to Miss A Cup.
The marriage to Haruhi hadn't really been a surprise to anyone — least of all Kaoru, who had seen it coming from miles and years away. Everyone agreed they were suited well, though: Haruhi complemented Hikaru's still somewhat frequent unruliness with her subdued, down-to-earth attitude and Hikaru complemented Haruhi's way of taking everything at face value with his abundant creative thinking. Of course, there was the usual amount of fuss and excitement from all the parents, although Tamaki and Kyouya's fathers were clearly disappointed that neither of their sons had managed to catch Haruhi, even more so considering her promising future career in law. She was in the top two percent of her undergraduate class and was looking to do even better in graduate school.
Nowadays, due in no small part to now having Haruhi for a sister-in-law, Kaoru tried his best not to brood so much. After they'd gone their separate paths, the phone calls from Hikaru used to come every day — sometimes more than once a day. But as time progressed and especially after the wedding, they came less and less frequently, to the point where they only came once a week. He knew that it was better than none at all, but he also knew that they had promised each other, seemingly at birth, that they were bound for life. Lately, Kaoru couldn't help feeling like it was now more the curse of being born a twin than a promise.
On this particular day, he was working on a heartwarming story about reunited twins who had been separated at birth, one raised in Japan and the other in Ireland. In the midst of his attempts to ignore his envy, his phone rang. Without even looking, he answered, expecting it to be Hikaru, which it was. "Kaoru!" He laughed his twin's name, clearly quite jovial. "Kaoru, you'll never believe this!"
"Ah, you always say that and it's never true." Even though it still sometimes pained him a little to hear news of the two of them, Kaoru always indulged him. Not because he felt like he had to, but for the simple and obvious reason that no matter how detached he felt now that they were their own pair, he knew they would always welcome him with open arms because they were still best friends and, more importantly, Hikaru was still his other half.
Hikaru laughed again, the excitement bubbling out of every sound his throat emitted. "No, I really mean it this time! We're having a baby!"
That was enough to stop Kaoru nearly dead. He wanted to be overjoyed for them; instead all he felt was something between genuine shock and heartbreak, though the latter seemed so selfish that once he came to his senses he quickly brushed any memory of it under the carpet. "Really? Hikaru, that's wonderful! When did you find out?"
"Today! We just got back from the doctor and you were the first person we wanted to call." At that, Kaoru smiled but felt mildly guilty. "Hold on, hold on. Haruhi wants to talk to you."
"Kaoru? How are you?"
His smile widened at the sweet sound of her voice. It had been a much longer time since he had talked to her than to Hikaru, and it really was a treat to be able to hear her after such especially exciting news. "I'm well. But more importantly, how are you?"
"I don't think I have ever been better. Although, I'm a little worried about how this will affect my studying." Kaoru laughed a little at the way she still sounded like the same old Haruhi. After a few moments, though, once he really gave that a bit more thought, he realized just how far she had come from the girl they'd met in high school, fifteen years old and seemingly so unawares of herself. Now, here she was: a real woman. Kaoru couldn't remain so jealous of his brother when he knew the gentle hands in which he was placed, held carefully and close as if he were her own second half. Of course, that was sort of what had happened anyway, wasn't it? That's what a marriage is about, after all...
"Did you know before, or did you only just found out today?"
"I sort of had a funny feeling, so today we went to make sure."
"I suppose it's still too early to know whether it's a girl or a boy."
Haruhi laughed, and somehow that one sound lifted so much darkness from him, created a lightness in him that he hadn't felt in years. "Yes, still too early. But we had already discussed names before."
"Oh?"
Before she could respond, a shuffling for the phone could be heard on the other line, as well as Haruhi mumbling something with her hand over the mouthpiece. Removing it, she spoke again, only to prepare to hand over the phone once more. "Hikaru wants to tell you the names we've chosen."
"Oh, all right." There hadn't been a need for a response as, presumably, Hikaru had all but torn the phone from Haruhi's hand in his enthusiasm, and had started to talk over him anyway.
"We picked one name for a girl and one for a boy, so I guess in that respect it's sort of lucky we aren't having matching twins this time."
Haruhi must have still been quite close to Hikaru, for the moment he said this, Kaoru heard her interject with, "Eh?! What do you mean 'this time,' Hikaru?"
The twins laughed simultaneously. Even through the telephone, each felt the relief that things were, after all of this time, finally at a point where they could be normal with each other again. The weight, helped along by Haruhi, was finally and completely lifted by this one small act shared between the pair. "What are the names that you picked out, Hikaru?"
"For a boy we chose Hajime. If it's a girl, she'll be Ayaka." Here, Hikaru got nervous, but Kaoru interpreted it as a pause, and tried to respond. Hikaru cut him off quickly, though, hearing his intake of breath. "They'll both use the same kanji as your name, but Ayaka will also use the kanji for red."
Kaoru didn't say anything for what felt like a longer time than it actually was, everything seemingly coming to a sudden halt. "Y...W-what?"
Haruhi took the phone again, her soothing voice coming through the receiver to help calm what she obviously (and rightly) understood to be an exceedingly overwhelmed Kaoru. "We both wanted to. It wasn't even something that we needed to discuss. We brought it up together."
"I...I'm really honored, Haruhi. Truly." There was a nagging voice at the back of Kaoru's mind, scolding him for being so bitter for all this time, only to be forgiven in such a humbling way. "I don't know what to say."
"So it's all right, then?" He could hear the smile in her voice, and it once again made him smile, too.
"Of course, of course! But you'll let me know which one you end up using, right?"
"Naturally. Oh, here's Hikaru again."
"Kaoru—"
"Thank you." He cut his twin off not because he didn't want to hear what he was going to say but because whatever he was going to explain wasn't necessary. "It...I have been too terrible for too long, and after today I don't think that I ever could be again. I've been so selfish. It wasn't fair of me. I'm sorry."
"I will never leave you behind, Kaoru. You are my other half."
"I know. Besides even if you try, we both know I can run faster."
The pair smiled and laughed that laugh of theirs that hadn't changed even after all of this time apart. They were still so identical in many ways, but no longer were they an exact mirror image of the other. And Kaoru was okay with that.