NOTE: I plan on making this like a series of stories that will eventually be connected. Each chapter should contain a different pairing of the Host Club lovlies.

First up: Mori/Kaoru
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"Stupid Lord with his stupid games…" Kaoru fumed to himself out loud as he wondered through the garden's maze. High walls of green foliage and seasonal flowers punching through the mass like little shining lights were the boy's demise as he looked around for the brother he had lost.

Tamaki had suggested, in all his boyish charm, that the group play a round of "Hide and Seek". Some ridiculous children's game the Lord had forced everyone to participate in once in a while so that he could get his perverse little hands on Haruhi. Though, knowing the Lord, he probably didn't get too far.

It was chilly outside and the sky had grown milky gray putting Kaoru in frenzy to find his brother before Hikaru went insane. He knew Hikaru wouldn't last very long…that is, alone. They were each other's backbone, and they had grown foolishly accustomed to each others attention. They were, in a way, defense mechanisms from the world about them that at times seemed, to them, so ridiculously mediocre that they went as far as to lock themselves away in thoughts and ignorant bliss. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered without the other.

Thoughts blinded him, emotions guided him, and when he heard a rustle from beyond a nearby wall, his ears hauled him in that direction. "Hikao— ru…" the last syllable of that sweet name dropped back into his throat sharply pulling his lips into a pouting frown. It had been the gentle giant of the Host Club who was responsible for making Kaoru's heart jump so fearsomely.

Morinozuka Takashi sat, arms hunched over his knees, head hanging low in depression. Silently, he shifted his gaze from the grass below him to Kaoru. His eyes seemed so full of emotion, but what emotion exactly. It was often difficult to tell if he were upset or satisfied, melancholy or ecstatic. No, that wasn't true. Mori was obviously happy when he was with Hanizuka. It was the slight change in body posture, and the way he followed the small treasure like some giant loving motherly figure.

Oh, wait!

"Mori-sempai…" Kaoru began, his fingers touching a rose in the cursed shrubbery, "Where's Hunny-sempai? Did you l—" But he never finished that sentence. He was going for "Did you lose him?" but knowing the bond he had with Hunny, he thought that to bring up such a thing to the crisp bitter air would be like shooting Mori-sempai and just barely missing his heart, keeping him alive long enough to drown in his own blood. A misfortune that need not happen.

However, it was too late. Mori had replied with a solemn "Hai." The positive response giving Kaoru a sad smile as he walked towards his companion and joined him on the ground with a light chuckle. "I guess we're in the same boat then, Mori-sempai." Kaoru smiled.

The elder raised his head only so that his nose stuck out over his folded arms. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to Kaoru as much as he just needed the company right now. He was only half a man without Mitsukuni. The man could barely walk without his Hunny, let alone function in the world. Which was the exact reason he had been sitting. Hunny had told him that if they became separated, Mori should continue the game without worry. But worry is what he did, and soon enough he couldn't even support a simple stance. He was paralyzed.

Kaoru sighed and pulled his knees to his chest in a similar fashion as Mori's and looked over at the stoic boy. "It's going to rain soon." he said looking up and away from Mori's silence, "There's not a cloud in the sky. Or…maybe there are just too many…or just one large one." His voice trailed off as his eyes rolled over to Mori who had lifted his head to look up into the "cloudless" sky too. Was he thinking about the sky? Or maybe he was still worried about Hunny-sempai. For a guy who didn't say much, Mori was really complex.

A breeze fought through Kaoru's uniform with a shiver. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked ahead of him at a small bud that shook in the wind too. "I hope Hikaru's alright." he smiled gently, "he must be pretty cold right n—."

Yet again another sentence fated to die before its complete birth. This time not a word disrupted the phrase, but a hand. Mori's hand. On Kaoru's head.

Averagely Kaoru would have removed the hand quickly, but this was Mori's hand. A touch like this from Mori was one of compassion. It was a touch that meant that you were in Mori's world, that he gave you special significance in his mind. And thus, Kaoru let the hand sit…for a while. Pet peeves were not that easy to discard.

The hand fell gently to Kaoru's opposite shoulder, Mori's arm around him warmly twitched ever so softly. Kaoru caught this reaction and gave a natural impulse to his thoughts: a friendly smirk. Ah…he wasn't immune to these feelings. Weakness. An opening. And Kaoru was just bored enough without his twin to act alone.

The shorter boy fell against Mori's shoulder, cuddling the nook their body's created politely and feigned another shiver. "Playing in the cold was a stupid idea." Kaoru began his game by sewing a net of words, "Don't you think Mori-sempai?" Here he smiled. Innocent enough…moving on. His hands went to the ground and he leaned into Mori a bit more, turning so that the silent male's hand accidentally fell around Kaoru's hip.

No reaction? No slight tinge? Not even a facial contraction…upsetting. Oh...wait a moment, it's his eyes. They slid downwards to Kaoru's body with an eerie stealth that had to, just had to represent some sort of rise in paranoia. Awareness. Fear. Arousal. It didn't matter, Kaoru was excited to have extracted an emotion from Mori. All by himself. A noble act. He'd have to tell Hikaru later.

And he continued, since Mori hadn't responded verbally (which Kaoru had expected). Kaoru's hip just happened to curve down and around to his rear as he moved towards Mori's face with an open expression. Positively childlike, it was gorgeous, almost completely irresistible. His fingers reached the side of Mori's thigh and stopped there while his face slowly barely an inch from his prey's. Warm breath was visible as white puffs that danced and pushed against their cheeks. "Mori-sempai?" he uttered tenderly.

Mori's lips parted from the warmth taking it into his moist mouth.

Another reaction. This one blatant. More…

Did he dare? Did Kaoru dare move closer, closing the gap between his lips and Mori's cheek? Such reactions were not satisfying now that he knew he could have more. He—

"Mitsukuni." Mori's deep voice said softly, or in what could be considered his normal speaking voice.

The word hit Kaoru somewhere in his throat. His tongue slipped over his lips and retreated back into his mouth. He blinked once and breathed a warm smile against Mori. Kaoru leaned back, Mori's hand following his movement, and then stood. The gentle giant's eyes looked to the ground where Kaoru's black shoes greeted him.

"Mori-sempai." Kaoru said offering a hand and a laugh, "Let's go find them."

It was a simple game, with interesting results.