"Kaoru, why are you pouting again? You're being so distant." Hikaru said in a deep concerned voice. He slowly edged his way over to the other end of the couch where Kaoru was sitting; his back to his twin. Kaoru remained stubbornly silent, deft to his brother's concern.
"Kaoru," Hikaru continued with pain in his voice. "What's wrong?" He stretched out his hand, laying it gently on the shoulder of his brother. Kaoru defiantly shrugged it off.
The girls surrounding the twins gasped in horror and pain. "What's wrong?" they whispered to one another. "Why is Kaoru avoiding Hikaru?"
Kaoru pulled his knees up to his chest and placed his forehead against them, still refusing to look at Hikaru. But Hikaru wouldn't take no for an answer.
In one swift blur of motion, Hikaru stood up and gathered Kaoru into his arms, looking him directly in the eye. Their faces were barely inches apart. The customers watching the display all shirked in surprise.
Hikaru looked meaningfully into his twin's eyes, begging him silently for an answer. Kaoru blushed at the suddenness of his brother's advance. Biting his trembling lip, he turned his face and looked away from his brother's deep concerned eyes; but not before Hikaru noticed the first of Kaoru's tears beginning to fall down his soft cheeks.
Reaching out once again for his brother, Hikaru pulled Kaoru's face back to him, this time pushing their foreheads together. The tears balanced on Kaoru's lashes were now clearly defined.
"Kaoru, why are you crying? Is it something I did?" Hikaru desperately questioned his brother. "Tell me!"
"It's just, I-I…" Kaoru stammered, his voice shaking with restrained emotion, making it much higher than his brother's low passionate one. "I just hate it when you tease me like that. Just because I cried last night when we were playing that punishment game doesn't mean you should tease me about it." There was no anger in his voice, only a boyish pain.
"Kaoru…" Hikaru looked distraught at the very idea he was causing pain to his brother. "Kaoru, I'm sorry. I was only teasing. Please don't cry. I didn't realize it would upset you so." Hikaru wrapped his arms protectively around his brother.
"That's alright, I forgive you." Kaoru whispered softly to his brother, just loud enough so the customers around them could hear.
The girls surrounding the couple let out a collective sigh just as Kyoya Sempai walked over to the happy little group.
"I don't mean to rush anyone," Kyouya said in his matter of fact business-like voice, which of course, meant he was about to rush every one. "But the host club is closing for the day. We do hope to see each of our valued clients next Monday." He continued as he herded the giggling girls towards the doors like a pack of bleating sheep.
Tamaki on the other side of the room was also saying goodbye to his own lovely princesses, bowing low and kissing each girl's hand as they parted for the week.
Finally, once all the girls had left, Kyouya shut the double French doors to the 3rd music room. Honey and Mori were still sitting at a round marble table eating the remaining cakes while Tamaki was on his cell phone in the corner of the large, spacious room.
Hikaru pull himself off the couch and stretched, while Kaoru sat up a little and began wiping the tears from his eyes, carefully pocketing his tiny bottle of eye drops.
Haruhi walked over from her own section of the host club to see the twins.
"Well, you two sure made a commotion today." she huffed, looking down at the tear streaked face of Kaoru. "Kaoru, why do you always end up crying?"
"Its part of our 'Brotherly Love' act. There has to be some emotional drama in order to keep the customers interested." He responded with an innocent smile.
"Yeah" Hikaru added. "We thought you knew that Haruhi."
"I guess. It just seems a bit over the top to me. At first, I thought everyone here was acting, but the longer I hang out with you guys, the more I realize that it's really just you two and Kyoya who put on a rouse for the girls. Pretty much everyone else just acts like normal." She said, turning around to take another survey of the room. Her gaze landed on Tamaki.
"Or however normal they can be…" she muttered to herself.
"Rouse or not…" Kyouya said, appearing out of nowhere, which always made Haruhi jump, "…the twin's request rate has gone up 23% this week thanks to increased "Brotherly Love" acts like the one today. Most of these gained customers are regular clients of yours, Haruhi." He continued.
"Might I suggest you put a little more effort into your hosting charades. Need I remind you of a certain debt you are here to pay off?" With that, Kyoya walked back over to his laptop, carrying his usual clip board.
"I'm sorry I even brought it up." Mumbled Haruhi glumly as she made her way back to her school bag.
The Hitachi twins smiled evilly at one another. After all, the less debt Haruhi paid off, the longer she would have to stay with them in the host club.
Suddenly, from the back corner of the room, where Tamaki stood almost forgotten, there came a sob. Every one stopped at once to see where the noise was coming from. There, in between two marble columns, stood a very distraught Tamaki; his closed cell phone about to fall from his hand.
"Oh no. Looks like they've run out of Milord's favorite shojo vampire love series again." Hikaru teased.
"What a shame, now he'll be crabby all week." Kaoru added with a mocking grin.
"Mommy, make them stop it. This is serious." Tamaki cried from his corner.
"What is it now Tamaki?" Kyoya asked in a rather exasperated tone.
"I've just got a call from the Headmaster. He wants me to meet him at the company office immediately. I won't be able to stay for the club meeting!"
"Actually, now that you mention it, I don't think I can stay either. I've got some shopping to do." Haruhi added, looking a little relived that she wouldn't be the only one missing the meeting.
"Can't you go shopping another time?" Hikaru asked, annoyed. Would Haruhi really go shopping just to get out of going to a club meeting?
"The local market is having a really good sale right now, okay? You don't have to take that tone Hikaru." Haruhi retorted, a little peeved by Hikaru's attitude.
Kaoru watched the two of them glaring at each other. He understood how Hikaru felt; he also wished Haruhi was a little less eager to get out of spending time at the club. But at the same time, he wished that Hikaru wouldn't let his temper get the best of him so often. He sighed aloud, depressed by the whole situation.
Kyouya stepped in. "That's fine you too. The five of us will just conduct the meeting without you. It shouldn't be a problem. I believe all that's on the agenda for this week was some last minute reminders about the Teacher's Association ball tomorrow night and decisions about next week's cosplay."
"But I had a really good idea for cosplay!" Tamaki exclaimed. "Couldn't we please reschedule the meeting?" He looked over at Kyouya with those big puppy dog eyes he knew Kyouya could never resist.
"We can have it at our house." The Hitachi twins offered nonchalantly.
"Fine then," Kyouya sighed "we'll all meet at the Hitachi residence tomorrow at 1:oo. That should give everyone enough time to prepare for the evening's ball."
With that, Tamaki ran over to Kyoya and gave him a big hug. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" He exclaimed, jumping up and down, bringing Kyoya along with him.
"Tamaki, get off."
It was almost midnight at the Hitachi residence when the twins finally got into bed. The lights were already off and Kaoru was sitting on his side of the mattress they shared, waiting for Hikaru to finish getting changed.
"You know…" Hikaru began, sitting himself down on the edge of the bed. "For people who like games so much, the two of us have never actually played a punishment game."
There was a moment of silence. At first Hikaru wondered if his open ended statement had somehow made his brother nervous. He wasn't really implying anything. Or maybe he was, he thought to himself; a sinister grin gradually creeping up his face in the dark. A punishment game did so appeal to him. He wondered if Kaoru had ever thought about actually playing one too. Despite what Haruhi might think, Kaoru had an evil side to him just as much as he did.
"It's kind of weird now that you mention it. I mean, we talk about them all the time with the girls, they must think we play them every night." Kaoru added casually.
Even though he spoke as though it didn't matter, it seemed as though he too was thinking about the subject deeply. Even if he didn't say anything along the lines of it, Hikaru wondered if his twin was thinking about what it would be like to play a round of this twisted game amongst themselves.
Hikaru rolled over onto his side to face Kaoru. He wanted to see his reaction when he proposed this question.
He lowered his voice, making it so quiet that Kaoru could barely hear what he was about to say.
"What if we wereto play a punishment game?"
Even though he must have been expecting the question, Kaoru still couldn't manage to keep all the emotions this statement entailed off his face. At first, he looked a little tense at the idea. Competing against his own brother, in a punishment game? For a moment, Hikaru thought his twin would say no.
But as suddenly as the look of nervousness had appeared it was gone, replaced with an evil grin you would have thought only the dark lord capable of mastering.
Hikaru smiled back. "We would need a task of course." Hikaru continued.
"I have an idea." Kaoru said, his voice floating through the darkness, crisp with an air of mischief. "Tomorrow is the Teacher's Association Ball. We and a few other school clubs have been invited to partake in the festivities as guests of the hosting school."
Hikaru sat up, anxious to hear what his brother proposed.
Kaoru continued. "Haruhi was planning on wearing one of her Dad's old suits; but if there aren't going to be many students or teachers we know there…"
"… it would be fine for Haruhi to dress as a girl!" Hikaru finished excitedly.
"And come along as one of our dates." Kaoru continued "Just as long as she is unrecognizable. Let's see which one of us can get Haruhi to wear a dress of our own design to tomorrow's ball. Whoever gets Haruhi to wear their dress will take her to the ball as their Guest as a reward… "
"And the loser will have to succumb to any punishment the winner can think up." Hikaru finished for him.
The twins locked eyes and grinned at each other in the silence of the dark bedroom; each with a mischievous smile plastered across his face. Their unblinking eyes glared at the other with resolve. They were both determined to win.