Kaoru and Hikaru had begun to finally understand what to do to get money, and not by stealing it.

"Aren't we cute?" They chimed to a couple young ladies as they past. Kaoru had "found" some very expensive hair dye and they both used them, and dressed in some wild clothes Kaoru made from scraps they found in a dumpster when passing. The younger boy had a thing with finding crap that no one could ever want and turning them into something beautiful, because that's he was too, Hikaru had figured out since the hotel incident. Kaoru was worthless, he was stepped on, he was crap, yet Hikaru wanted him, and to Hikaru, Kaoru was beautiful, and that made Kaoru happy. The older boy had finally noticed the sudden burst of charisma.

It made him feel sick most of the time. He didn't know why.

"Aww! Kawaii! Were you two born that way?" One of the girls replied as she stopped.

"Hey! Mom said don't talk to strangers!" The other girl snapped as she turned around and headed back for what seemed to be her sister. This must've been the older sibling, by looks and by attitude. More experienced, more developed. "Did you hear me?"

"Oh, Gomen," The two apologized as they took a syncronized bow.

It was Hikaru's idea to show off how alike they were. Kaoru wasn't fond of it. Kaoru preferred not to appeal, but to steal, to get what he wanted. There was something about people that made him shiver, made him cringe even when he didn't know it, it scared Hikaru sometimes. He had a strong urge to hold him, like he'd lose him somehow, that was a feeling unknown to Hikaru, and he ignored it. Still, no matter what, Kaoru was more upset about them showing off that they were twins, they could get caught, but was there something more to it?

Kaoru was becoming unreadable.

It scared his brother.

"Aww! See? Aren't they kawaii?" The younger sister shrieked as the two took their bows together.

"I'm sorry boys, but my sister is a little crazy, I apologize," The older continued as she tried to pull her sister away. "Don't do that! It's bad."

Bad.

Kaoru frowned, and the synchronization was gone, and Kaoru's stomach was fluttering so much, he didn't even want it back.

"Crazy people make the world fun," Hikaru replied, a smile lighting up his face.

Kaoru averted Hikaru's eyes with a shifty gaze. "Y-yeah..."

"Oh my god..." The younger whispered suddenly, her eyes wide.

"What?" The older asked.

"It's... it's... don't you see it? Look at them!" The younger exclaimed, trying to get at the two and she finally got out and ran over to Kaoru. "It's the Hitachiin twins everyone's looking for! See? This is Kaoru! Remember? That neighbor kid who never cried?"

"I don't like to remember my past, c'mon Hikaru, they know us, let's go," Kaoru snapped, not even grabbing Hikaru's hand when he started to walk away.

"Kaoru," Hikaru argued. "They're not gonna-"

"Let's go."

"Hey! Listen to me! We can-"

"Bye."

His eyes widened and he watched Kaoru walk away. Something shook him, and he suddenly realized what made Kaoru's parents hurt him, there was something about him that made you so mad, it irritated even the calmest stomach. That kid had an urge about him that shook everyone in it's midst.

What was it though? Arrogance?

Yes, Kaoru had a field of arrogance. Why didn't Hikaru notice it before? It wasn't there when he first fell in love with the boy, he wasn't like this when they were children, Kaoru was this and Kaoru wasn't that, it didn't make any sense, or did it? Kaoru was abused, and it changed him, for the worst from what Hikaru could see, and suddenly he was boiling, wanting to slap Kaoru for even thinking for a moment that he could live without Hikaru. Hikaru had all the money! That idiot!

"You'll die," Hikaru shouted calmly.

"Fine."

To slap him, to strangle him, to knock some sense into him, the older boy would give anything to something to that little idiot, that numbskull. His fingers twitched.

"Kaoru-kun? Don't you remember me?" The younger girl asked. "You had a crush on me? But I never knew until you moved away, because you never talked to anyone? Don't you remember? We've missed you a lot! We won't turn you in! I promise! Just stay with us for awhile, we'll take care of you! Your step parents that got taken away that time are back! They're okay now! They don't hit anymore!"

"Shut up," Kaoru snapped. "I don't want to know you."

"Why are you such an ass?" Hikaru hissed as he ran up to the younger boy and grabbed him in a headlock. "Say you're sorry!"

"YOU!" Kaoru snarled. "Let go of me."

"I'll let go of you when you get an attitude adjustment!"

"Then be damn prepared to hold me like this for a long time!"

An urge struck over the young boy, to bite Hikaru, so he could get out. No matter what, Kaoru refused to do it. He refused to hurt that person any more, he refused to bite him, to scream at him, to hate him. He did all those things regardless, he was just trying to move still, nothing clicked in his brain. All he knew was he was living. That's all that mattered anyway, it's all you needed to live, just a conciousness of life, like anything else mattered?

"Let go," Kaoru grunted. "Don't make me hurt you."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Don't act like you know me."

The sisters share a glance and they started to walk away.

"Well, hopefully we'll see you sometime," The older called as the two walked off.

"Yeah!" Hikaru shouted as a goodbye. "Hopefully."

"You don't even know them," Kaoru hissed. "You're trying to take my friends now too?"

"What?"

"You take everything, I thought you were different, but you're not. You're just like everyone else!"

"And what are they like? Good?"

Kaoru closed his eyes as tears threatened to hit the edge and he pushed on his brother's arms, trying to free himself. He couldn't breathe, but it wasn't because of the headlock. It was his concience again, but Kaoru's had a twisted view to it, because everything Kaoru did was wrong, and everything they did was right. Kaoru's arms stung and he regretted ever hurting himself, to make sure it was real. Of course it was real. It was all too good to be true, and now Kaoru realized what it was.

He avoided the truth that he loved him. As long as he did that, he could hate him.

"Leave me alone," Kaoru hissed. "Go off and turn yourself in, you have a good life."

Hikaru brought Kaoru down onto the ground and he held Kaoru in his lap, the ground wet and damp from the clouds all around, beckoning rain to come down, and surely enough, the rain danced around the twins after not too long. Hikaru rested Kaoru's head under his own and he held Kaoru tightly as he leaned forward over their bent bodies and began sobbing, sobbing deeply, and crying hard enough to be able to be crying for both of them. Technically he was. Hikaru was crying for Kaoru, he was crying about Kaoru, he was sick of it.

"I love you," Hikaru choked. "I won't leave you that easily."

It amazed Kaoru, and it pissed him off. "I love you." "It's all going to be okay." "I promise, I'm not like the others." "You can trust me."

It was all the same, he heard it from everyone he crossed paths with, and they always got pissed at him, they always thought he was an arrogant bastard, they thought Kaoru was too full of himself. That was a load. Kaoru had no self-esteem, it was pounded into the ground, and so he purposefully acted this way to shake people off so they couldn't get close to him, they couldn't hurt him, and it had always worked before.

This boy was hard to shake off, and it wasn't the first person Kaoru didn't want to shake off.

Either way, it was just a way to avoid the inevitable, one day Hikaru'd get pissed, one day he'd hit Kaoru, and when he did, Kaoru wouldn't hesitate on leaving anymore. It was just like every story he'd gone through, life just liked repeating itself, repeating Kaoru's misfortune, and he'd learned to accept it for what it was, and get off of people what he wanted, and then leave them there. Kaoru was praying that Hikaru would just have let him walk off, let him die all on his own, let him end his suffering, but no. Hikaru had to stick by Kaoru through thick and thin, and it hurt, because it actually seemed like Hikaru loved Kaoru. That was the crime in it all, life was having some fun, being the puppet master again, torturing Kaoru again, making him feel loved when he was just going to get hurt. This was the last straw. Kaoru had to realize he loved Hikaru.

He knew he loved him.

He didn't want to believe it.

But he did.

If... when Hikaru hurt Kaoru, that was going to be it, that was going to be the final straw, the marker at the end of the road, when Hikaru hurt Kaoru, Kaoru was going to give up, he was going to gave in, he was going to die. It didn't matter. That little other word kept popping up in place of "when" however, and Kaoru wondered if he was just as crazy as Hikaru at moments, because the word "if" kept popping up into the context of the sentence. "If" Hikaru hurt Kaoru.

"Get away from me," Kaoru finally hissed, his body wanting to lie limp there in those arms. "Stop lying to me."

"You think I'm lying?" Hikaru hissed right back, his arms aching, but holding Kaoru inside of his fortress. "Is that what the hell this is all about?"

"I know you're lying," Kaoru snapped, pushing Hikaru away and the two were struggling, Kaoru pushing, Hikaru pulling. They were opposites, they were the same, they were unique in their own way, they were unique together. Twins were confusing. Kaoru didn't want one. "Let me go..."

"No!" Hikaru snarled as he pulled Kaoru harder. "You're staying with me! I want you! I need you!"

"Since when?" Kaoru shouted, the streets were barren now, it was night, and all the ganstas and punks and clubbers and prostitutes were inside, there was no way even they would be outside in this horrible rain, it was one of the worst of the season. Yet, here these two sat, struggling over something intangible yet so real, their love.

"Since I gave everything up!" Hikaru screamed at him. "I had the perfect life! Everything was great! Then YOU came! YOU messed everything up! This is all YOUR fault! Can't you see that? YOU messed everything up, YOU destroyed everything that was coming for me!"

"So why are you here?" Kaoru snarled. "You can get back if you go now."

Kaoru was now on top of Hikaru, pinning him to the ground, and both of the boys breathing heavily, and Hikaru closed his eyes, he couldn't think like that right now, he couldn't think about the way he breathed, the way he moved.

"Why would I do that?" Hikaru chuckled.

"Hm?"

"Why would I leave you to go back to that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaoru growled.

The slightest twitch of the leg sent a blush onto Hikaru's face. Not in this situation, Hikaru couldn't think about that, he couldn't think about the way he moved, the way he twitched, the way he smiled, the way he laughed. The way he was worthless, yet Hikaru was addicted to him.

"I gave it all up for you, doesn't that tell you anything? Don't think I'm like them," Hikaru hissed. "I'll give everything up to be with you, okay? I gave up my friends, my family, my whole life. I'll give more up too, I'll give my skin, my blood, my breath. I'll give everything for you. Just so you know that I love you, alright? I'll never leave you, unless I'm dead, someone can kidnap you, and I'll be right there, trying to save you, pratically killing myself to get you back. I'll be screaming and fighting if I'm the one kidnapped. They can't seperate us, and I won't let you try to kill yourself because you don't want to admit it. You don't want to admit you love me. You don't want to believe it's real."

Kaoru twitched and he clenched his teeth. He slipped.

Hikaru read him.

His stomach churned, and his eyelids weakened, and his throat choked, and his eyes watered, everything was breaking, everything was crumbling, all of it was falling, all of it. Why was it all breaking? Because this man had hit him right on the head. It wasn't a smack. It was a playful slap, a slap to tell you that it was real, and that he should stop dreaming and come to him, that his arms were open. It was too good to be true, and Kaoru wasn't going to believe it. Kaoru wasn't going to slip up anymore, he wasn't going to cuddle up to him, Kaoru was going to fight for what he wanted. What did he want? What he was going for would only lead to the downfall of his life, something he'd prayed for all time. Kaoru had always prayed and begged to die, it's what really made his second dad go crazy.

Kamimoto didn't hate Kaoru, not in the least bit. Kaoru's crying, his hating, everything he did, he basically screamed out for someone to get rid of him, and that's what happened. Kamimoto didn't want to see him suffer, and it was all a game to them, a sick twisted game. As long as Kamimoto would pretend that he was trying to kill Kaoru, Kaoru would willingly follow, accidentally getting in the line of fire.

Why did Kaoru want to die back then?

"I want him," Kaoru sobbed. "I want my big brudders. I want Hika-chan, I want Tama-chan."

Kamimoto held Kaoru closer to him, letting Kaoru sob into his coat.

"It's okay, you'll see them again someday," He tried to reassure. "It's okay, you can stay with me, and we'll live happily here, we can go visit them, even! In a few years, we can go live with them again, just after the government thinks you're gone."

"I dun wanna," Kaoru cried. "I dun wanna see him again!"

"What?"

"I want mommy!" Kaoru whimpered and whined. "I dun want this! I want mommy! I want daddy!"

"They're there too, we can-"

"I want MY mommy! Not OUR mommy!"

Kamimoto held his breath before he asked in a low voice, already dreading what Kaoru would say, somehow almost knowing the context of it, "What do you want me to do about it Kaoru? Hmmm? What can I do that would make all of this better?"

"I wanna die."

"How come?"

"I worthwess, that what other mommy says to me," Kaoru replied, still sniffling, but not quite as much. "He no miss me, Hika-chan won't. If Hika-chan don't want me, I dun wanna live no mores, I want him."

"What if... I'd kill you for yourself?" The father suggested, his stomach tightening and his eyes watering, not wanting to lose this child he had just found. Kamimoto scooted Kaoru closer to him on his lap and he held him and bend his head over him and sobbed, he sobbed over what he was going to do for this child, and sobbing over losing this child. He had finally found someone who would stick with him.

"Come with?" Kaoru whispered. "I wike you."

The man smiled and nodded as he held the boy close to him. He'd kill Kaoru, and then he'd kill himself, that sounded fair, that sounded reasonable. Anything to stop this pain for this child, a little child shouldn't be feeling this way, and he knew from experience that therapy didn't work the right, it had turned his brother insane, into a psycho maniac, and he didn't want Kaoru to go insance, so he'd do this for him. A little favor. "Okay, I'll come with you. We'll both die, okay?"

"Yeah..." Kaoru whispered. "Okay."

He wasn't mean at all, just fufilling a child's wish. A sick and twisted child.

"Dun mess up," Kaoru warned, pulling away and gazing into the older man's eyes. "You no mess up, 'kay?"

"What?"

"Let us... play a game," Kaoru started. "I try to get away, you try to get me, and I, 'oops', get in way, so I die, 'den you die, too. It's a game, 'kay? No one knows, so it a game. I run away, you get me, 'kay?"

"...okay," Kamimoto whispered. "A game? So you run away and try to live, while I try to get you, like a bad guy. You act like you don't want to die, and you pretend to be innocent, and then I shoot you, and they get me, so I die as well from execution? Is that the game?"

"Get many as can," Kaoru added. "That more fun?"

He sighed and shook his head. "If they get in the way."

"'kay! Wen we start?"

A sick and twisted game, all imagined by a psycho child and slowly cut into a man's open mind. Hating to see him in pain, he opened himself up, and Kaoru planted what he wanted in the place and created a serial killer. Was it really Kaoru's intent?

"Here," Blossom whispered as she handed Kaoru a cup of hot cocoa, Hikaru had already taken his. "It's alright, it's not poisoned or anything."

Kaoru's frail hand grasped it, and he brought it to his lips, his lip being scorched by the hotness of it.

"Mine's kind of cold," Hikaru whispered to Kaoru. "I like the warmer ones, wanna switch?"

"Whatever."

The twins switched their hot cocoas, and Kaoru was grateful he got the one he did, but he wasn't going to let it show. This was a game as well, everything in Kaoru's life had to be a game or it couldn't be and wasn't interesting. Hikaru was trying to get Kaoru to open, and Kaoru couldn't give in, no matter how much he wanted to. No matter how much Hikaru cuddled up to him, no matter how many times he kissed him, touched him, licked him, made his nervous system go out of wack for split seconds of pleasure, he wasn't going to give in. Kaoru was a master at games, and it always ended the way he wanted them to. Now he was playing three games.

Run away and not caught, he had Hikaru as a partner in that one.

Not give up and give in to Hikaru's teasing and pleasurable torture techniques.

Be a fox and dodge, but eventually get killed, that was how he won. He knew he'd won when he couldn't feel anymore, when it was all gone, when everything was better.

Kaoru was playing three games, and none of them were games to the surrounding people, Kaoru's mind was sick, Kaoru's mind was twisted, Kaoru was psycho. It didn't matter to Kaoru though, because they were all games, all childish games, none of them meant any harm to anyone else, so why should Kaoru's games be of any concern to anyone outside of the players? Hikaru was a torturer as well as a companion, Kamimoto was a hunter, and him and the other people were the bait. Kaoru liked that one, it included a bunch of people, but he'd never get in trouble for it. He realized the truth behind that game a few years after it started, and he loved it. That game got his blood flowing, and the true evil behind it excited him, thrilled him, made his adrenaline rush. He was a mastermind in the making.

Or, a mastermind getting smarter.

Blossom was Mabel's older sister, and their parents had died, so Blossom took care of Mabel and the bills, she even had a job. Still, the sisters followed by the rules their parents had left them, they always followed a normal household set of rules.

They girls had remet Kaoru and Hikaru earlier in the day and knew who they were by recognizing Kaoru from her past. Kaoru had had a crush on Mabel, or so everyone had said. That was the fun in it. Kaoru didn't really care about her, he just pretended he did, back then he didn't care about her, he just wanted to be alone. Of course, getting someone close to him meant they were closer to the hunter, and Kaoru's new goal back then was to get more prey close to him so they could be shot out.

Kyoya wasn't supposed to be there that day, back then. Kaoru began to wonder to himself why those people were so different. They weren't prey to him. Those people were... friends, yes, they were from his old life, his past, and he didn't want to lose them, he didn't want them to die. Hikaru wasn't prey either.

Oh God, if Kamimoto killed Kaoru, Kaoru would force himself to live by himself. Kaoru would give up the game if Hikaru was killed by it, he would do so if any of his "friends" died, because they all meant so much to him. Those people weren't pawns, they weren't dolls, they weren't prey, they were people. Kaoru cared about them, no matter how much he'd deny it to anyone. Sure, he met some new people, but they were his "friends" no matter what. Nekozawa and Kyoya were now his friends as well. All of them meant something to Kaoru, and they were close to his heart, and he'd live and torture himself if anything bad ever happened.

"Guys, we only have one extra bed, but we can get a futon or something, but it won't be as comfortable," Blossom explained as she sat down infront of them, her hazel eyes peering into them, trying to find something, she had long brown hair, and it shocked Hikaru that she looked like Haruhi with a wig, just a bit different.

"We-" Hikaru started.

"We'll sleep together," Kaoru interrupted.

Something shocked up Kaoru, and he knew what it was. Kaoru had those surges often, those painful little clutches. Kaoru wanted him, so badly. It was true, Kaoru did want Hikaru inside of him in any and every way possible. He wasn't going to admit that though, he wasn't going to give up this game just because his pleasure drive went out of wack, and Hikaru was Kaoru's nicotine, Hikaru was the one thing that made the pleasure part of his brain function. It was all he could do to keep his hands off of the older one.

Kaoru smirked at his older brother.

Somehow, Hikaru got the picture.

"Tonight doesn't count."

Soon, Hikaru smirked back, and they were mirror images again.

The two got everything put together, and they never put their shirts on after the shower. This family didn't have much hot water, so to spare it as much as possible, Kaoru and Hikaru took a shower together, and like Kaoru got across, that night didn't count. It was off the chart. It didn't matter that Kaoru gave in, it didn't matter that Kaoru couldn't keep his hands off of Hikaru's body, and Hikaru had the same problem. It also didn't matter that Kaoru had wandering hands, and it didn't matter that he kissed Hikaru various times, and each time more forceful, like the other's lips were trying to devour the others with each passionate kiss.

The two now lay in the bed, feeling ackward after that... shower experience.

With his usual quirk, Kaoru decided he'd try something. Something fun.

Get Hikaru to groan.

It was fun, and just thinking about it made him giggle.

Kaoru snuggled up to Hikaru and placed his hand on Hikaru's bare stomach and brought it down to the other side of Hikaru's body and stroked it along the elder's side and his fingers fell down to Hikaru's waistband.

"Kaoru, knock it off," Hikaru hissed. "This isn't a hotel, this is a house."

"Pish-posh," Kaoru chuckled.

Kaoru slipped two fingers under the band and got what he was going for.

"Mmmnn, Kaoru, stop," Hikaru moaned.

New objective.

Make Hikaru crazy for him.

Kaoru smiled and brought his lips to Hikaru's stomach as he started to climb on him, his hand slipping down the waistband entirely, and Hikaru moaned and groaned. This was going to be easy, and it was going to be fun.

"Concrete walls," Kaoru reassured. "You're at my mercy now."