"I can't believe you got me detention," Hikaru groaned with his head down on the desk. The teacher had left temporarily to grab his photocopies off the printer. The twins were sitting three full rows away from each other. "I've never had detention until I met you."

"Hey, I'm a good influence," Kaoru said with a smile. His feet were kicked up onto the desk and he was leaning back in his chair, tipping it onto two legs. In his hands he was holding a Gameboy and he pressed buttons feverishly, concentrating hard.

Hikaru lifted his head from the desk. "Where did you get that Gameboy?"

"Out of the confiscation drawer," Kaoru said nonchalantly.

"Seriously?" Hikaru gasped at Kaoru.

Kaoru looked up at him. "Yeah, I always play this when I'm in detention."

"How many times have you been in detention?" Hikaru asked, tilting his chair in Kaoru's direction.

Kaoru shrugged going back to the game, clicking quickly. Hikaru chuckled and leaned back into his chair. Then the door swung open as the teacher on detention duty began to meander inside with a stack of papers in his hands. Across from Hikaru, Kaoru quickly chucked the Gameboy down on the floor, letting it slide across the tiles and it landed expertly under the teacher desk without a single sound.

Hikaru gave Kaoru a sharp look but Kaoru just rolled his eyes. The man walked in further and set his sheets onto the desk, pausing. "What is that noise?" the detention teacher asked, looking around.

Fighting back a smile, Hikaru glanced at Kaoru. Kaoru had forgotten to turn the Gameboy off. Kaoru turned an innocent look at the teacher and took his feet off the desk. "I don't know sir; we wondering where that sound was coming from too."

Ducking down by the desk, the teacher grabbed the Gameboy out from under the chair. He glanced at it before holding it up. "Is this either of yours?" he questioned. They both shook their heads. "Okay, the two of you can go for the day."

Hikaru waited at the end of his driveway, glancing at his phone every so often. He'd left the school parking lot a little before Kaoru, who had been waiting at the curb for his dad, but it shouldn't take that long to come pick him up.

But finally, Hikaru noticed a blue car rolling slowly down the street and it stopped directly in front of his driveway. The window lowered. "Hey Hikaru! Hop in!" Kaoru cried from the driver's seat. In the passenger's side sat Mr. Hitachiin, who smiled widely at Hikaru.

Hikaru looked away quickly before opening the back door, hopping inside. "So this is your car then?"

Kaoru nodded, glancing at Hikaru in his rear-view mirror before pulling away from the driveway. "It was my old car," Mr. Hitachiin inputted, turning slightly in his seat to look at Kaoru.

"Old car? It seems fairly new to me," Hikaru exclaimed, rubbing his hand across the leather interior as Mr. Hitachiin turned away.

"Well, I got this one at first," he began, "but I decided that an SUV would suit me better. I was going to give this car to Yuzuha but…"

"I really like it," Hikaru said, steering the conversation away from the danger zone.

Kaoru slowed at a stop sign, looked around briefly, and they continued straight. Mr. Hitachiin looked back at Hikaru again. "So… Hikaru… what have you been up to? Are you happy?"

Hikaru caught Kaoru's quick glance in the mirror again. It took him a minute to reply. "Yeah, really happy." What else was there to say?

"Do you have any hobbies? Do you play any sports?" he pressed.

Hikaru frowned, trying to think of anything to tell his long-lost father. But Kaoru answered for him, "Hikaru likes to sketch."

"Yeah, but I'm not very good."

"That's brilliant!" Mr. Hitachiin exclaimed, his face full of pride. "I would love to see them."

"Yeah, but like I said, I'm not-"

Kaoru laughed. "Hikaru, you're better at it than you think."

"That means we have two artists in the family," their father said proudly.

"Making paper cranes can hardly be called art," Kaoru said flatly, taking a right at the second stop sign. They rolled past houses similar to Hikaru's.

"You're still making paper cranes?" Hikaru questioned, leaning slightly forward in his seat to get a better glimpse of his brother.

"Starting at square one again," Kaoru sighed. And then abruptly they were turning right into a driveway in front of a beautiful home.

"Geez, Kaoru, take slower turns next time," Mr. Hitachiin joked when Kaoru shifted into park. Kaoru cut the engine and unbuckled himself.

Hikaru fumbled with his seat belt. "Wait, so you only live like six blocks away from me?" Hikaru asked, growing in excitement.

Kaoru grinned at him. "Yup. It'll be a lot easier than biking all the way across town, wouldn't you say?"

Without another word, they exited the car and herded themselves towards the front door. Hikaru was astonished at how well-kept the place was. Kaoru opened the door and Hikaru followed him inside. A salty and mouth-watering aroma filled their senses.

"What's cooking?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked in unison, looking at Mr. Hitachiin.

He chuckled, "You two really are twins." He scraped off his shoes quickly and the twins did the same. "I started some pot roast before I left the house.

"You can cook?" the two said together once again. They looked at each other in surprise.

Mr. Hitachiin shook his head. "Of course I can."

"Come on, let me show you my room," Kaoru said, already walking away.

Hikaru followed Kaoru down a hall of the side of the front entrance, down past a bathroom and the laundry room, to a large room on the end. When he walked inside, Hikaru exclaimed, "This is better than my room!"

"Damn straight," Kaoru replied, flopping onto his bed.

Hikaru looked out the window; it faced the street on which the house sat in the middle of. There were well-trimmed bushes in the yard and an abundant green tree to the left. "This is great. I don't have to climb over a dumpster to get to your room."

"Just use the front door," Kaoru snorted. "And when have you ever gone into my room that way?"

Hikaru shook his head with a smile. Then he noticed the three paper cranes, sitting on the bedside table near an alarm clock. "Is this all you have so far?"

Kaoru sat up. "No, I have more in my closet… I'm still going to try for a thousand."

"It's still going to take a while," Hikaru said softly, examining a red crane.

"Yeah, but I gotta try."

Peace out, gotta go to work.