This is a one-shot for Ouran High School Host Club I wrote a while ago - please comment if you have any feedback, good or bad as I would very much like to hear it!
Kaoru landed in the road. The car squealed to a halt halfway down the street, the door opened, but Hikaru didn't see who leaned out, craning their neck anxiously to see the damage they'd done. For one long, empty moment the street froze, stood shocked, still, and Kaoru sprawled alone on the cracked tarmac. His face was turned away like it was embarrassed to meet his brother's eyes. The silence was cold.
The hum of the speeding traffic on another street buzzed excruciatingly slow and the boy's sprawled form lay sickeningly still, limbs splayed at unnatural angles like a spider writhing on the road.
And then his twin was by his side, searching for his pulse with nervous, shaky fingers. Someone got out of the car and began to run over, shouting something at the passers-by who had frozen in horror and morbid fascination, but his words were distant and faint to Hikaru.
"Kaoru," he said, his voice cracking dryly. His tongue wouldn't work properly. "Kaoru," he managed again.
Haruhi walked shakily out into the road, and icy chill running down her spine. There was a familiar feeling in her stomach, a dull empty ache, and it made her feel sick. She knew the kind of pain that was waiting for Hikaru. She had felt it before.
"Kaoru, there's a car coming," said Hikaru, staring pleadingly down into his brother's empty eyes. "Kaoru, get up. Get up, Kaoru, or you'll get hit."
Haruhi kneeled beside him and tried not to let her eyes stray to Kaoru's body, the ugly bruises that painted his white skin, the rough red grazes where he hit the road like a heavy ragdoll, the look of distant surprise frozen on his face.
"Hikaru,"she began, her voice trembling with the emotion she couldn't hold back.
"He won't get up," Hikaru said flatly. He voice was frighteningly devoid of any emotion. "He won't listen to me. He'll listen to you, Haruhi."
"Hikaru, you need to leave him."
"Tell him to get up. Tell him he'll get hit."
Haruhi shook her head, trying to meet Hikaru's eyes with her own, but he wouldn't leave Kaoru's face with his gaze.
"Kaoru. Get. Up." He said, his voice suddenly low and full of an intensity Haruhi had never heard before.
"Hikaru-"
"Why aren't you listening to me?!" Kaoru's body jerked violently as Hikaru grabbed him roughly by the collar of his shirt as if he could somehow shake him to his senses, pull him back into this world. "Are you going to just lie there? Are you? Are you going to wait for that car to come and hit you?" Hikaru's voice reached a feverish, hysterica pitch that terrified her. "It's not funny. It's not funny anymore."
Someone had called an ambulance, although everyone but Hikaru could see that it was already too late.
"Kaoru," his voice cracked again, trembling. "Kaoru," every time he said his brother's name it was with poisoned with more pain, more sadness, like the hope he had was slowly dying away. Slowly he released Kaoru, letting his head rest gently on the ground, and lay his head down on his still chest, almost cold as the warmth slowly faded. The first tear ran across his face, soaking into his twin's shirt as he held onto it tightly, gripping the fabric like he would never be able to let it go.
