The Other Side of the Door
a fanfic
"No."
The customers turned.
"Fujioka-kun?" Several heads simultaneously tilted curiously to the left.
Haruhi sighed. "No," she—but to them he—repeated, "That's Hikaru, and that's Kaoru."
"What what what what," exploded Hikaru—currently posing as Kaoru—suddenly, jerking up from his seat. "How do you know how do you know how do you know."
Haruhi blinked back at him. "I just know."
"Then you could be wrong," suggested Kaoru—posing as Hikaru—as he stood beside his twin. "Just knowing isn't enough, you know."
"Hmmm…." Haruhi looked thoughtful. "No," she finally decided. "I think it is."
"What—" blurted out Hikaru, and made to tail after the retreating brunette's heels to cross-examine her when Kaoru held him back. "How does she do that?" he demanded of his twin for an answer.
Kaoru shrugged. "Says she just knows."
"A psychic, is she," muttered Hikaru.
Kaoru shrugged again.
"What are you thinking," Hikaru said in a relatively calmer voice, but still fidgeting and contemplating over Fujioka's psychic-ness.
"He was right," his twin replied after a moment. He stared off at someone across the room. Hikaru followed his gaze.
"Dono?" he scoffed.
"He is, you know," Kaoru said.
Hikaru didn't reply. He hated being wrong. He hated it when that one particular blonde he was right.
"Someone to tell us apart, like he said," Kaoru was saying when Hikaru finally shoved the feeling of being wrong aside. "Someone to see us as two."
"I don't like it," Hikaru said sourly.
"It's Haruhi," nudged Kaoru. He was testing him.
"I don't I don't I don't."
Kaoru shrugged. "We were the ones who opened the door," he reminded Hikaru.
His brother blanched. "Still."
"I'm glad though," admitted Kaoru.
"No you're not. You're lying," accused Hikaru.
Kaoru shook his head. "Nu-uh."
Hikaru kicked a chair closer towards him and flopped down on the seat. "Damn it," he put his head in his hands. "I hate being wrong."
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"Who'd have thought it'd be you on the other side of that door," mused Tamaki.
"What," Haruhi questioned flatly.
"Hm?" Tamaki looked at her innocently. "Oh, I was merely reflecting on how beautiful my wonderful daughter looks in the glow of the afternoon sun. Such a marvelous beauty you are, my sweet, dear—"
"Fine then," sniffed Haruhi. She turned, disinterested, to join some customers at a faraway table.
Tamaki smiled, leaning back in his throne with arms folded lazily behind his head. His twinkling blue eyes shifted from the twins on one end of the room, to the girl on the other end: one side of the door to the other side of the door.
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"It was worth the wait," Hikaru said later to his reflection, his other twin. "She's worth stepping through that door."
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"Genuine, I believe is the word," Kyouya told them. "She's genuine."
"About what?" Hikaru had to question.
Kyouya stared down at him with that look from behind his spotless glasses.
"About what?" supplemented Kaoru, not to let his brother get the full-force of the look.
The Shadow King turned back to his notes. "About everything. What else."
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"Haru-chan's the only person who can do it, I guess," Hani finally said dejectedly, aftering failing for the seventeenth time to correctly guess which one was Hikaru.
"That's alright, Hani-senpai," Kaoru assured kindly.
"How special," Hani said to Mori, climbing up on his shoulders.
"Yes," grunted Mori.
"Yeah," agreed Hikaru. "Special."
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"Congratulations," Kyouya said complacently.
"Huh?" Tamaki threw his head back to look at him. "Huh?"
Kyouya looked down at him with an almost smile, "On being the right door to the other side."
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"What am I?" Kaoru asked Hikaru.
"Uhh…" Hikaru hesitated.
"Come on, come on," urged Kaoru.
"Is this a nonsense question?" Hikaru said skeptically. "You look normal."
Kaoru's shoulders fell. "Oh."
"I mean," Hikaru said quickly, realizing his mistake. "I mean you look like who you are. You look like Kaoru. The only Kaoru there ever is. You're Kaoru."
"We have the same face," Kaoru said pointedly.
"Yeah, but you're Kaoru."
Kaoru sighed. "You try too hard."
"Huh," blinked Hikaru.
Kaoru shook his head.
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"Quick, who's who."
Haruhi turned. "Um."
"Confused?"
"No," she said, slightly annoyed. Then she pointed to the brother on the right. "Hikaru."
"Wrong!" bellowed the twins.
Haruhi blinked. "No," she said firmly. "Right."
"Damn it," swore Hikaru when she was out of earshot. "She's good."
"Mmmhmm," agreed Kaoru. "She's real."
Author's Note: Ouran High Host Club does not belong to me.
