On the ride home—home here being the Hitachiin mansion, the twins had Haruhi call her dad using Kaoru's phone (since she never brought her gadget to school, stating very frankly that it was clearly against the rules). To her dismay however, Ranka didn't object and was even a little delighted by the subject, saying that it would be a good opportunity for Haruhi to learn how to be a good wife for the near future.

"Because whether we like it or not," her father had said in a weepy voice. "My little girl is going to have a family of her own soon! Then she'll get married and have to leave her old man. This is a good way for me to get used to living without you beside me... and the same goes for you…"

After a few more Tamaki-ish lines, Haruhi had said goodbye and hung up in disgust. They hadn't even told Ranka about the proposal yet, and he had already gone off about her getting married like it was the most natural thing in the world. It probably was for some people, but not for her.

Once they arrived in the Hitachiin mansion, Haruhi was welcomed warmly by Yuzuha, who was just as thrilled as Ranka at the prospect of having her over; the woman immediately went to go get things prepared for her guest.

A couple of hours later, Haruhi was in the guest room that she had occupied before, only now it was lavishly furnished with things that Yuzuha and the twins had figured she would like; a plasma television, a laptop, and more things that ensured her that she needn't step out of the room ever again. Even so, the Hitachiins apologized for most of the things not being brand new.

--

"Haruhi!" came two playful voices. The twins skipped through the open door like a couple of hyperactive Slinkies.

"What?" she said, clearly disgruntled.

Hikaru and Kaoru began encircling her. "We just wanted to see…"

"…if you were okay…"

"…and now we wanna ask you…"

"…why you're still dressed…"

"…in your uniform!"

Haruhi looked at her clothes. "You didn't exactly give me a chance to pack."

"What for?" Hikaru asked. "You're forgetting whose house you're in."

He strolled over to a door Haruhi hadn't opened before. It turned out to be a huge walk-in closet chockfull of Yuzuha's designs.

"We usually keep the extra ones in this room," Kaoru explained to a dumbfounded Haruhi.

"Extra?"

"Yeah," Hikaru replied, walking back over to her with various articles of clothing in his hand. "The ones that mom decided not to model at her shows. Some of them are the ones that she's planning to release next year. Here, I picked out a few that fit you. Go get changed into one of them."

Usually her better judgment would tell her not to wear anything that the twins gave her, but Haruhi didn't really have a choice. Grumbling, she stepped behind a dressing partition and slipped her clothes off while the boys jumped on her bed and waited for her to finish dressing.

They heard the rustling of the clothes as Haruhi started to choose one, but the noise stopped abruptly.

"Something wrong?"

"Not that I'm complaining, but don't you have anything more, I don't know…? Conservative?" she barked back.

"We don't know what you're talking about!"

A few minutes later, Haruhi walked up to the boys in her new attire. She had chosen a casual sky blue dress that fell just above her knees. It was spaghetti-strapped. The neckline sloped down then cut into a horizontal line above her chest, and the hem was accentuated with a light spiral wave pattern. The whole picture was pretty easy on the eyes.

All in all, Hikaru thought she looked adorable. He blushed before he could bring himself to compliment her.

"You look really cute," Kaoru suddenly noted, tweaking Haruhi's nose playfully.

Normally, she would have scowled at this, but today she smiled.

For some reason, Hikaru was a little peeved. Little did he know that it was just the beginning.

--

After a week had gone by, Mount Hikaru was officially ready to blow.

First, there was that time when he and Kaoru challenged Haruhi to a video game. She went along reluctantly but enjoyed it after a while, even though the twins won every single time. On their last game, Kaoru lost to Haruhi; but Hikaru had a sneaky feeling that he let her win because she was getting in a really sullen mood.

Then there was that afternoon after school when Haruhi was craving something and had no idea what it was. The simple solution had been to take her to the kitchens. That's when the twins started to get frisky and dumped a batch of flour on her head while she was whipping up another nasty concoction. And so havoc ensued, ending up with Haruhi slipping on a puddle of fudge and landing on top of Hikaru. Blushing furiously, he remained stock-still until Kaoru decided to help Haruhi get up himself, scolding Hikaru for not keeping his head.

When the twins got bored while watching Haruhi walk around the garden one night, they decided to have a little fun and turned on the sprinklers. While Hikaru laughed at the distraught girl who was by now dripping wet, Kaoru ran over, took her hand and began to lead her around in a madcap dance. Soon enough, both Haruhi and Kaoru were soaked to the bone and laughing while Hikaru stayed comfortably dry and very much incensed with his lack of tact.

--

Tonight, dinner consisted of all Haruhi's favorite food. The three Hitachiins were greatly entertained as they watched the girl eat with gusto.

"That's it, dear," Yuzuha had beamed. "Go on. I know exactly how you feel. You have no idea what I had to go through to get my boys out into this world."

"She makes it sound like we're a burden," the twins whined amongst themselves.

"Thanks so much, Mrs. Hitachiin," Haruhi said.

"No thanks necessary. You're already part of this family, right?"

Hikaru laughed when Haruhi nodded and had teriyaki sauce on her lips and chin. He took his napkin to wipe it off, but Kaoru had already done it. He had one hand on her cheek and he was gently wiping her face.

"Haha, hold still for a second, will you?"

The two were so close together, Hikaru couldn't help thinking that only one thing could've closed the gap between.

His stomach wrenched. His feet involuntarily made him stand up.

"Something wrong, Kaoru?" his mother asked, concerned.

He whirled around. "Geez! I'm Hikaru!" The stunned silence that followed made him redden quite a bit. "…Excuse me. I just gotta go to the bathroom for a while."

Once he was out of sight, he ran blindly down the halls and finally landed in the farthest bathroom.

Hikaru sat down on the floor and scrunched his face in his knees. What the hell was that?!

He had hoped to make Haruhi see things clearer by inviting her over to stay at their house. It was so that she wouldn't have such a hard time to choose between them in the event that they would fail at remembering who the father of Akachan was… All that was fine and dandy, but what Hikaru didn't understand was why—

The bathroom door creaked open and familiar footsteps made their way in the room.

"Hey, Hikaru? You in here?"

He didn't answer; he didn't need to. Kaoru soon knelt down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. Hikaru swatted it off, then immediately regretted it. He turned his face away, not wanting to see that brief flash of hurt cross his brother's features.

"What's up?" the younger asked nonchalantly.

I wish I knew, damn it.

"…Tell me the truth, Kaoru."

"About what?"

"About you and Haruhi." There was a hesitant pause. What was it exactly that he wanted to ask? And why the heck was he even asking? "I feel like… Something's been happening between the two of you this past week."

"What?" A chuckle. "You're jealous?"

Hikaru finally faced him. "No."

Kaoru's eyes were glinting, but he didn't say anything.

"Kaoru. You're in love with her." It wasn't a question, it was a blatant statement.

"If I was, what would you do?"

Alright, that wasn't precisely the response that Hikaru had been expecting, but he bristled anyway. Moving on.

"Are you trying to take her away from me?" It was a childish thing to ask.

"If I was, would you let me?"

"So you are in love with her."

"You aren't answering…"

Hikaru absolutely hated it when his twin drove him in circles like this. And besides, he didn't know what to say in reply. If Kaoru was in love with Haruhi… The thought burned his insides for some unfathomable reason.

"It… hurts."

His younger brother looked puzzled. "What hurts, Hikaru?"

"Here," the elder whispered hoarsely, clutching his chest, right over his heart. "When I think about your questions, it hurts here…"

Kaoru placed his hand over his heart too and spoke softly. "Does it, now?"

"Kaoru, what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing."

Hikaru looked lost. Well, in Kaoru's opinion, he looked like a lost puppy that anyone would want to pick up and cuddle. But someone had to wake Hikaru up, and if it had to be him then so be it.

"Tell me, Hikaru. Honestly. Are you jealous?"

The latter was evidently stumped. But then… "Should I be?"

"Well, only you can answer that."

"If I'm jealous, then that means I'm... I'm in love with Haruhi?"

"Again, only you can answer that. What do you think? Are you?"

Hikaru thought about it. And the more he did, the more things began to fall into place; it would explain why he felt the way he did, and why he was secretly hoping that he was Akachan's father…

"Y-Yeah. I guess I am."

And something else dawned on him, and he glared at Kaoru, who tilted his head innocently.

"Uh, something wrong?"

"You prat!" Hikaru snapped, though a grin was creeping onto his lips. "This is what you've been up to, huh? You've been trying to make me realize what I feel for her?"

There it was again; the glint in Kaoru's eye. "Guilty."

Something was still amiss to Hikaru, though. "Why would you do that?"

The younger merely shrugged and stood up and offered his hand to Hikaru. "We better head back. The both of us are taking a really long time in the 'bathroom,' and I think it might get pretty suspicious. You know, they might think… certain stuff."

Hikaru accepted the help and stood there for a second, just thinking everything over. Kaoru might not have told him why he made Hikaru realize things, but the latter had a pretty good hunch. His assumptions were usually spot on, and he thought he knew his twin's motive behind it all. After all, Kaoru was always like this.

Since they were kids, he had made sure that everything was equal. When they were little and they wanted to see who could blow a bigger gum bubble, Kaoru refused to chew until he made sure that their gumballs were exactly the same in size. When their mother gave them each a half of a cookie, Kaoru got the bigger piece, but he had the maids cut his to be perfectly symmetrical to Hikaru's. At a party where cupcakes were given out, Hikaru's had fewer sprinkles than Kaoru's. What the younger did was count the sprinkles on his twin's cake and pluck off all the extras on his until they matched.

So Hikaru's theory was that Kaoru had already realized his own feelings for Haruhi and wanted to put Hikaru on the same ground. This way, everything would be even.

He smiled.

They were already at the door. Suddenly Kaoru laughed and sped off. It was clearly a challenge: Race you!

Hikaru ran after his brother, and even though he knew full well that Kaoru was the most evenhanded person he would ever meet, he still found himself yelling…

"Hey! You're not fair!"

Sure enough though, Kaoru slowed down and waited for his twin to catch up.

A/N: Yes, I know I took forever to update. I was working on it, I promise! B-but writer's block is taking over!! It's terrible!!! D:

Waah, I know that's no excuse though. Gomenasai! You can punish me all you want now, you can even murder me if you want. But if you do that, the story's never gonna get done and you'll never get over the suspense of finding out who the Akachan's daddy is! :D

Kidding. I really am sorry though.

So anyway... That's chapter ten for you. I think I failed you all with this chapter since it's another filler. But it's essential, I swear! Hikaru's realized and so has Kaoru *le gasp* and so things are bound to get more interesting from this point.

P.S. -- Don't forget to check out this story's poll in my profile!

P.P.S. -- Please forgive me if the next chappie takes this long to be posted again. I need inspiration to keep working, and yesterday mine told me that he had found someone else to inspire. Aww, boo. *goes to corner of woe*

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