Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; the rights go to Bisco Hatori-sama. I do, however, own the plot of this story. This work is purely fictional and does not happen in the real plot of OHSHC, except maybe for a few flashback scenes.

Chapter 20 – Overreacting

After the thunderstorm ended, Mitsukuni walked into their bedroom quietly and closed the door with a soft click. He saw Haruhi and Takashi were snuggling together on her bed, her back against Takashi's chest. He smiled widely, happy for his two best friends now that they were together at last. He let out a small yawn and rubbed his eyes with one tiny fist; it was getting pretty late already. He went over to his bed and retrieved Usa-chan before climbing onto Haruhi's bed and snuggled next to her other side. A few seconds later, sleep enveloped him.

…The Next Morning…

The bedroom was lit brightly with the sunlight streaming through the French doors and Haruhi was still snuggled comfortably against Takashi, she did not want to wake up, as she wanted to stay like this for a while longer. Takashi's arm tightened a little around her waist, he did not wish to wake up soon as well. He took a peek and saw Mitsukuni snuggled closed at Haruhi's other side and smiled, then he closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.

In the midst of comfortable silence, a screech suddenly erupted inside their bedroom. Haruhi bolted upright on her bed and instantly Takashi did the same, his hands held protectively around her. They both looked at Mitsukuni who stirred slightly in his sleep due to the sudden disturbance.

Takashi lifted his gaze to the intruders while Haruhi was gently patting Mitsukuni's head, lulling him back to sleep. Mouths gaping in shock as two pairs of violet and golden eyes filled with envy and rage stood by the doorway of their bedroom, while the other set of golden eyes was calm. Hikaru's body was trembling with anger and possessiveness; he clenched his fists tightly by his sides and narrowed his eyes towards Takashi. Tamaki was angry too, his precious 'daughter' Haruhi was violated.

"Get your fucking filthy hands off of her," Hikaru spat dangerously towards Takashi, he was determined to do anything to get Haruhi away from the senior.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki intervened, "What did he do to you last night?!" he demanded, "Did he… Did Mori-senpai… violate you?" he whispered, fear was shown in his violet eyes, a ridiculous unnecessary fear.

Takashi's expression remained stoic but he loosened his hold around Haruhi, he did not want anyone to get hurt, they are still his friends after all but that fact is probably going to change soon. However, if they tried to hurt her instead, even the slightest ounce of threat, he would protect her and fight them back (without getting them killed).

After much attempt in trying to ignore the sudden intrusion, Haruhi turned her gaze towards them with her eyes narrowed dangerously. She frowned when she felt Takashi's hold around her loosened, she looked up into his eyes and he gazed back, understanding crossed her mind as he explained silently why he had to loosen his hold. However, she did not like it because somehow it did not feel right. She placed her arms on top of his, telling him that it was okay, that he did not have to worry just because they knew, besides, it was her choice. They had no rights over who she chose to be with.

"Hikaru," she started, her voice was surprisingly calm, "Don't talk to Takashi like that. He's still your senior. Have some respect for him," she slightly glared as a warning, "If you're going to fight with Takashi, then you don't have a choice but to go through me first," her voice marred with anger and she felt Takashi's hold on her tightened. She knew he was rather protective over this but she was not going to let Hikaru hurt him.

"Respect him?" Hikaru spat skeptically, "Respect him?" he said it again a little louder than before. "Why the hell should I respect such a lowly bastard like him when we saw what he did to you?" he added, almost sounding maniacal. "Did you think, after seeing all that that I am going to continue respecting him?" he whispered out loud. Kaoru listened quietly and watched as his twin brother was starting to lose it.

"Care to explain to me what Takashi did exactly?" she snapped. She could feel Takashi getting tensed beside her due to her outburst.

"He was holding you like he… he… wanted you," Hikaru replied, his golden eyes were slightly crazed. "I'm not going to let him do that to you, even if it means that I should fight him," he added determinedly, fists clenched tightly by his sides.

"Hikaru, you're overreacting," Haruhi snapped again, "Even if you fight Takashi just because of something unreasonable, you stand no chance against him and we all know that for a fact."

Takashi did not utter anything at all but his mind was filled with chaos on what to do. Mitsukuni was actually awake by then; he was listening through the whole conversation. He did not interfere though; he knew Haruhi or Takashi would not let him.

"Overreacting?" Hikaru chuckled humorlessly, "Unreasonable? Don't you even care what's going to happen to you if he decided to lay his hands on you?"

"That's none of your business Hikaru," she warned. Haruhi's patience was wearing thinner by the second.

"A despica—," Hikaru started again but was soon cut off when a slap resounded inside the bedroom.

Haruhi's palm came into hard contact with Hikaru's cheek; that was the second time she slapped him. "Don't you dare insult him any longer; I will not tolerate with you anymore if you continue insulting Takashi," she seethed. This was getting out of line.

"That is not your decision to make Hikaru," she said as she glared into his golden eyes, "It's my choice who I want to be with and it's my decision to make. Everything ends with my say and certainly not yours," she said in finality, face flushed in indignation with the absurdity of the situation she's currently facing.

Hikaru kept his gaze downwards after being slapped by Haruhi, his golden eyes glistened but they did not tear up, his face was flushed with anger and frustration.

She turned her head towards Tamaki's direction. "Tamaki-senpai," she started again, "Your imaginations are too wild, what the hell made you think that Takashi violated me?" she glared and he flew straight to his dark corner of woe for being yelled at by his 'daughter'. "If you want to be all emo, go someplace else Senpai," she said as calm as possible but her fury was still evident.

Seeing Kaoru did not say a thing, she probably knew that he had already figured it out since Kaoru had a more rational and mature way of thinking than Hikaru, even though he's the younger twin. "I'm sorry, Kaoru," Haruhi apologized, anger still seething in her veins, although she did not know what she was apologizing for.

"No need to apologize, Haruhi," Kaoru smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. "It had to be done."

The twins and Tamaki left Haruhi's room, dejected and frustrated yet one remained calm.

Tamaki went to woe in his and Kyouya's shared bathroom because he did not want to wake the demon lord up after what happened yesterday. He sat quietly in his dark corner and began to grow a mushroom farm; a dark gloomy cloud hovered above his head.

The twins went back to their bedroom, Hikaru plopped himself on their bed angrily and lowered his gaze to the floor, his bangs covered his hurtful eyes.

"You got pretty heated there," Kaoru said as he plopped himself gently beside his brother, "Going through puberty?" he teased lightly, he was trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Hikaru gave him a side glance, "You were pissed, too," he muttered.

"I believe I was more rational than you were, Hikaru," he said gently, "I'm always more rational that you'll ever be," he emphasized. Hikaru lowered his gaze to the floor again; his body slumped forward a little.

"Forcing your own selfish feelings onto others like that," he continued, "that's like a kid's behavior," he said and smiled at his brother.

"You said this before," Hikaru muttered but did not look at his brother, "When I… insulted Arai back in Karuizawa…" he trailed off.

After a few moments of silence, Kaoru finally replied, "I did," he said and gazed up at the ceiling, "You should know what I'm going to say next, right?" Kaoru knew Hikaru knew what the next thing he was going say.

When Hikaru did not reply, Kaoru answered for him instead, "Even Haruhi would get sick of it," he muttered softly with his eyes fluttering closed, "But this time," he added, "This time, it would probably make it harder for Haruhi… to forgive you," he said quietly.

The room fell quiet for a while.

"I can't help it…" Hikaru finally broke the silence off because he was getting too agitated with the awkward tension lingering in the air.

"Because…?" Kaoru trailed off at the end, he wanted his brother to tell him the truth although he already knew it all along.

Hikaru stayed silent for a very long time, every second passed seemed like an hour. However, Kaoru waited patiently for his brother's answer, he knew Hikaru would find it difficult to answer what he just asked.

"Because…" Hikaru started, his golden eyes were still directed to the floor, "I love her," he muttered and a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. Even though it pains Kaoru to hear that, not just because he was in love with Haruhi too but also Hikaru found someone else, other than Kaoru, to love; he was like the jealous twin. Kaoru nodded and smiled at Hikaru, "Yes you do," he said and got up from the bed.

They were silent for a moment. "I'm not gonna give her up," Hikaru muttered quietly and lay on his bed, with one arm acting as a pillow placed underneath his head. He stared at the ceiling for a very long time. "Not yet anyway…"

Kaoru heard what Hikaru said, he's never gonna let them be happy together, is he? He sighed inwardly. "I'm gonna leave you to your thoughts while I go apologize to Haruhi because of the earlier intrusion we did," with that said, Kaoru walked out from their bedroom and went to find Haruhi.

There was a soft knock on the third bedroom's door, if one did not pay attention enough, they would not be able to hear it clearly. Luckily, all the occupants in that bedroom were observant and quiet people; they looked at each other, wondering who that might be.

Mitsukuni got up from his seat between Takashi and Haruhi, and walked over to the door, calling out, "Just a minute~" while Takashi and Haruhi were currently enjoying a cup of tea and a few cakes sent by one of the maids earlier upon their request. Mitsukuni opened the door and gazed up at the person standing outside their doorway.

"Ah, Kao-chan!" he said loud and clear so the other two would be able to hear it too, his caramel eyes were huge and sparkly; he was evidently delighted with something.

Haruhi and Takashi exchanged glances before glancing over at their small friend at the door.

"Hey, Hani-senpai, morning," they heard Kaoru say, Takashi detected a hint of nervousness in his tone. "Can I come in for a minute? I need to talk to Haruhi and Mori-senpai about something," he added.

Mitsukuni stared at Haruhi and Takashi, wondering if they wanted to see Kaoru or not. After a moment of thought, they nodded together at the short blonde to allow Kaoru in. "Sure~! Come on in Kao-chan!" he said and made a bee-line towards the lounge area before plopping down on his seat and continued eating his cakes as if he wasn't interrupted just now.

Kaoru walked inside and closed the door behind him quietly. He made his way to the lounge area where they sat and once there, he chose to sit next to Haruhi. He did not say anything for a few seconds. Then, he looked at Takashi then at Haruhi. "I'm sorry for the earlier intrusion this morning," he said seriously and bowed to them slightly in apology. He looked up at Takashi, "I'm sorry Hikaru said those things about you, Mori-senpai," he said sincerely. "He shouldn't have said that to you," he added and chuckled sadly, "Hikaru always gets angry irrationally."

"Hn," Takashi grunted, "That's just how Hikaru is," he added.

"That's okay Kaoru," Haruhi said and looked at him, "at least you're level-headed," she added and gave him a smile. Kaoru smiled at her. "I'm not gonna be mad at you though since I know you wouldn't do such a thing," Haruhi added. "I'm really sorry you had to see that," she sighed.

Kaoru chuckled softly, "Of course not! And really Haruhi, it's okay. You don't have to apologize," he said and laughed, "I just want you to be happy, that's it. If being with Mori-senpai makes you happy, then you have my blessings," he said sincerely. "I'll deal with Hikaru, so don't worry about him."

"I am happy being with Takashi," she replied, her brown eyes twinkled in happiness. "And thank you Kaoru," she said and took his hand nearest to her and squeezed it lightly before letting it go.

"Kao-chan! Kao-chan!" Mitsukuni called, "Do you want some cake?" he asked and held out a plate of chocolate fudge cake in his small hands.

"Sure, Hani-senpai," he said and took the cake from him, "Thank you,"

The morning went on as they conversed together while enjoying the cakes and tea. Meanwhile, Tamaki and Hikaru were plotting plans to separate the two from being together.

Author's note:

[Edited: 14th December 2013]

[Edited: 22nd July 2014]

[Edit: 21st January 2015]

[Final Edit: 14th March 2015]