A/N: Thanks to one and all who reviewed. I apologize for the late update... been busy training for a competition tomorrow. I'd especially like to thank MadoushiClef, who knew what I was going to do with Tamaki and the picture even before I posted. Even if I lost the element of surprise... lols. Anyway, thank you to the people who didn't lose patience with my slow pace! You guys all deserve a big batch of Kaoru's cookies.

Without further ado, I present Chapter Five. Angst and evil plots ahead. You have been warned!

There's a storm hitting tomorrow, and I have no idea whether I'll be subjected to another week-long power outage, so I'm apologizing in advance in case I'm slow in replying to your reviews. Love you guys! Thanks again.

Kyouya had a splitting headache when he was woken up by six alarm clocks simultaneously going off. "Never again," he vowed, as he always did when he woke up after staying up the whole night. Not that he ever kept that promise, of course. Usually he would ignore it in favor of finishing some business task or another, or doing extra-credit homework which ensured that he stayed at the top of the class. Honestly? The vow never worked.

Still, he alwaysmanaged to convince himself that he would keep it.

He groped at the nightstand and found one. "Aha," he muttered vaguely, throwing it across the room and letting it smash against the wall. He would have smiled, if he wasn't so utterly pissed off.

Fuyumi winced. "Sure you feel up to going in there?" she asked the visitor sympathetically, as yet another heavy thud sounded from inside Kyouya's room.

"Thanks, Fuyumi-san, but I think I'll be okay," he said, smiling back—albeit rather worriedly, it must be confessed.

"Idefinitelydon't envy you," she said, shaking her head.

Kyouya was about to pitch another alarm clock at the door when it opened, and he quickly retracted his arm. He had long since learned his lesson, after the time he had accidentally nailed one of the maids in the forehead. Even half-asleep, he had a killer arm.

"Uh, hi, sempai," said Kaoru, noting the alarm clock poised in the Shadow King's hand, just ready to be thrown at him. "Er. I think I'll just back off until you let go of that."

Kyouya put it down. Kaoru automatically handed him a cup of coffee, which Kyouya accepted with a nod and thanks.

"What brings you here, Kaoru?" he asked, his brain finally registering that the Hitachiin was standing in his bedroom on a weekday, by himself and already in his school uniform. "Not that it isn't a pleasant surprise."

Kaoru smiled tentatively. "I just wanted to thank you, you know, for last night," he said awkwardly. "And make sure that you woke up okay."

The Shadow King nodded, slipping out of bed. "That's thoughtful of you," he said. He remembered his good manners at the last instant. "You ought to go down first, perhaps join my sister Fuyumi for breakfast—although whatshe's doing here I have no idea, since she's already married."

"He's on a business trip!" they heard a muffled yell through the door. "Mother invited me to come here while he was away!"

Kyouya sighed. "Typical. That was just a throwaway line to get her to reveal herself. She never learns." He grinned at Kaoru. "Look, go join her first. I'm sure she'll keep you busy with all her nonsense. But I have to shower and wash up first. Do you mind? We can go to school together—unless you're going with Hikaru, of course."

"Ah… no, he's still mad at me," he said softly.

"I see," Kyouya said. He knew that the real reason Kaoru had come was because he was feeling lonely. It must have been difficult to adjust to just being alone after spending your life with someone else. Every single day, every single hour, every single minute, every single second. "I would be honored to have your company on the way to school, in any case," he said. "Just go on ahead, I'll get cleaned up, all right? And if Fuyumi gets annoying, feel free to hit her. Or tell me, if you feel you can't hit a girl."

Kaoru laughed. "Okay, sempai," he said, going out and carefully closing the door behind him. He found himself almost nose-to-nose with Fuyumi, who had evidently been listening at the door. "Ack! What the heck were you doing there?"

She blushed. "Well, I'm just concerned for my little brother, that's all," she admitted. "He's not exactly the sociable type, is he? Not that I can blame him, the silly thing. Come on, have breakfast with me."

The redhead's stomach rumbled. He had been in a hurry to get out of the house earlier, since Hikaru was in such a foul mood. Normally he would have sat there and simply endured it; but that was in the days where he knew that no matter how angry his brother was, they were still friends, and in a matter of minutes they would be laughing again. And he hadn't had anyone else to turn to.

But now he did.

"I have to say, though, I'm impressed," said Fuyumi, as she led him through the magnificent Ootori mansion. "There aren't many out there who could venture into the den of the sleeping demon and come out alive." She winked at him. "Come on, I had them make pancakes with extra maple syrup for breakfast. Kyouya will positively loathe me for it—he hatessweet things—but then, I like them, so he doesn't really have much of a say in the matter." She gave a trilling laugh. "If he really wanted to get his breakfast preferences, he ought to just wake up earlier."

"That's impossible," Kaoru said, shaking his head. "Sempai's scary in the mornings. Imagine him if you deprived him of even more sleep." He shuddered. "But you know, maybe he's gotten used to sweet things." He shoved his hands into his pockets, thinking of the comment which oh-so-unfortunately got videotaped by Renge that day.

She looked at him shrewdly. "You don't say," she said. "Perhaps you're right, Hitachiin-kun." She probed at him a little. "I haven't seen him hanging around Tamaki-kun lately."

Kaoru turned red. "Er, well, Tamaki-sempai's always so busy," he stammered, knowing it to be a flimsy excuse.

Yeah, especially since Fuyumi knew that Tamaki had tried calling Kyouya at least fifty times a night. Not that he was obsessiveor anything…

"Is that so?" she asked. "Did they have a fight?"

"No, of course not," Kaoru said. "Tamaki-sempai and Kyouya-sempai are best friends."

"They don't seem to be acting like it anymore," she said, scrutinizing him. "But you know, I don't think he seems as lonely as he used to. Kyouya's very misunderstood, you know." She sounded a bit corny when she said that, but she really meant it. "It's hard on him—being the third Ootori. What do you think, Hitachiin-kun?"

"I—"

"Ithink that you'd better stop harassing my guest, Fuyumi-oneesan," Kyouya said, coming out from his room. "And you have some explaining to do, seeing as I asked you to be a good hostess and have a meal set out for our guest. I certainly didn't ask you to stand outside my door chattering about idle things." He glared at her. "If you have anything to ask me about Tamaki, well, ask me. Don't bother Kaoru."

Fuyumi held up her hands in surrender. "All right, all right. I'm just worried about you, Kyouya. You know that."

He said nothing. It would be very embarrassing to have a scene right in front of Kaoru. Instead, he allowed Fuyumi to lead the both of them to the dining room. He glanced down at the syrupy stack of pancakes on his plate and, without uttering a word of complaint, cut apart a portion.

She stared at him. "Since when have you liked maple syrup?" she asked him.

"I've just gotten used to sweeter things, I guess," he said distractedly. He glanced at Kaoru and smiled. "Maple syrup's your favorite, isn't it?"

Kaoru mock-smiled at him. "Is that in your secret Host Club member files or what?"

"Yes, actually," Kyouya said pleasantly. "And more besides."

Fuyumi watched the two with a wistful smile. They really went well together, although for a while she had had her hopes pinned on Tamaki. But then, perhaps, the slightly air-headed, overly dramatic blond was not Kyouya's type. No, she watched Kaoru unconsciously touch Kyouya's arm as they laughed together, and she smiled to herself. She only hoped that Kaoru wouldn't break Kyouya's heart. And that her stupid little brother—so smart, in so many ways—would just realize that love was right in front of him.

"We're going to be late," Kyouya said through gritted teeth, his voice making his impatience clear. "Fuyumi-oneesan, is this completely necessary?" They had just finished eating, and just as they had drained the last drops of their coffee, Fuyumi had asked him to go through some accounts her husband had left for her last night. "I could do it later."

"Humor me," she said, her steely tone matching his own. It was rare that Fuyumi showed what some called her 'Ootori-side'—she was always so warm, sweet and humanthat it was hard to believe that she was a member of the same family that once scared a business rival to death (no joke—it was in the headlines). At times like this, even Kyouya gave way to her. Maybe it was its infrequency that made it so potent, but everyone save the Ootori head feared her at those times.

"I don't mind waiting a bit, sempai," Kaoru said. "And we still have two hours before school starts."

Kyouya sighed. "As you wish," he said, taking the papers from Fuyumi. He scanned through them quickly "Although I now rather regret getting up so early."

"Because we have a meeting at the host club today before class, remember, sempai?" Kaoru reminded him. "But it's okay, I'm sure that Tamaki-sempai and the others are running late as always."

"Yes, that idiot is always late, even if he's the one who's always calling these silly meetings." Kyouya's eyes grew distant. "Fool."

He was so preoccupied that he barely noticed the warm hand that shook him out of his thoughts. "Sempai…"

He smiled quietly. "Ah, yes. Thank you, Kaoru." He rose. "You ought to have told me earlier, oneesan." He glanced at Kaoru. "Are you sure you'll be okay here?" With Fuyumi?

"I'm not going to kill him, Kyouya," she said dryly.

The Shadow King glared at her. "I didn't mean to imply otherwise," he said. "I thought that that went without saying. Excuse me, please."

Fuyumi waited until he was completely out of earshot. "Always so serious," she said, rolling her eyes.

"That's just the way sempai is," Kaoru replied.

"I miss the way he was when he was little. But he was always a very quiet child," she said, toying idly with her cup. "Very lonely, I suppose."

She didn't miss the way the boy's honey eyes sparked with interest and concern. "But I suppose that was to be expected," she sighed. "Too many classes and not enough fun for Kyouya. That was the way he grew up. He needed love. He didn't get much of it. Mother was always too busy with her charities. She didn't exactly think of the old adage, 'charity begins at home'. Poor Kyouya."

He ducked his head, as though he was trying to block out what she was saying. She wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily. "And you know—"

"Fuyumi-san," he said, cutting her off with surprising firmness. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I don't think that sempai would be very happy if he knew that you were telling me all this."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Well, I thought that as you arehis friend, you would be concerned—"

He wasn't daunted by her sharp tone. "I'm sorry, Fuyumi-san. I am concerned—very, in fact. But I can't do that to Kyouya-sempai. If he wanted me to know, he would have told me. I've already heard far too much before about him that I shouldn't have, that he wouldn't have wanted me to know. And I think that he has the right to choose what to tell me." He shrugged. "And to be honest, Fuyumi-san, it isn't hard to tell that Kyouya-sempai was lonely when he was little. No offense to your family or anything."

"None taken," she said, mollified by his answer. "But out of curiosity, Kaoru-kun… you said that you've already heard a lot before. From whom?"

He bit his lip. "Sorry, Fuyumi-san. My lips are sealed."

She smirked. "Your eyes give you away, even if you don't want them to."

He grinned crookedly. "I suppose that's true. It's the same even with my twin brother." He looked away. "We're a bit too alike, I suppose."

"Wrong."

The Shadow King stepped into their line of sight. "Not sneaky enough, Fuyumi-oneesan." He looked at her with hard eyes. "You were testing Kaoru. I won't forgive you the next time." He tossed the papers at her. "Too easy. You underestimate me."

"Don't blame me for worrying about my baby brother," she said, not even blushing at being caught. She tilted her head. "Just for the record, Kaoru-kun, I only had Kyouya's best interests at heart. I hope you won't be mad at me."

"Of course not, Fuyumi-san," the redhead said, wondering where she got the gall. Most people would be terrified of pissing Kyouya off, and the Shadow King looked ready to spit sparks at her. Instead, she kept smiling serenely at the two of them.

"Love him," she whispered softly to Kaoru. "With all your heart." Kaoru turned redder than his hair.

Kyouya glared daggers at her. "Whatever nonsense you're filling his head with—cut it out."

"Of course, Kyouya," she said, smirking at him. "Have a good day, you two."

They were all itching to ask the question, and Hikaru knew it. Still, Haruhi had been holding her tongue—not an easy thing for the blunt cross-dresser to do—and Hunny was, at the moment, busy stuffing his mouth full of sweets so that he wouldn't be tempted to be the one to pose the query. They had called a host club meeting early in the morning today—Tamaki's idea, and it was bound to involve yet another stupid, pointless scheme that Kyouya was sure to reject on the spot—and they were impatiently waiting for the three missing members: Kyouya, Kaoru and Tamaki.

Honestly, Hikaru almost wished that Tamaki would show up. At least he would do something stupid to take the attention off what he knew everyone was currently focusing on.

"Where's Kaoru?"

Hikaru blinked. Of all people, it was Mori.

"I don't know," he answered finally. He glared. "It's none of my business, of course—I'm just his brother, that's all." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "He left with one of the cars earlier today and sent it back about ten minutes after he left."

"It would take longer than that to get to school," Haruhi said, frowning. "Don't you even know where he went? He might not even have come to the school."

"Nag, nag, nag," the Hitachiin said, his lips pursing into a scowl. "I'm not my brother's keeper."

Hunny paused, putting down the chocolate bar he'd been nibbling on. "That's not a nice thing to say, Hika-chan," he said sternly. "You're not his keeper, but you're his brother. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

The redhead looked away. Of course it does. But Kaoru always makes it so damn complicated! "That doesn't have anything to do with it," he said carelessly. Haruhi was frantically signaling at him to shut up, but he ignored her. "Just because he's my brother doesn't mean I have to care about him."

Haruhi winced. "Ah… sorry, I heard something I wasn't supposed to hear," said Kaoru from the doorway, clutching his schoolbag tightly to his chest. He ducked his head. "I'll… I'll just leave now, all right?"

Hikaru jumped up. "Kaoru, wait, I didn't mean it!" he yelled after his twin, but Kaoru had already dashed off.

"Maybe that'll teach you to think before you speak, Hika-chan," Hunny said quietly. He looked with perfect seriousness up at the younger boy. "Go after him."

"I didn't mean—"

"Of course you didn't mean it," Mori said. "But that doesn't change the fact that you said it anyway." He looked darkly at the older Hitachiin. "So go."

The glare that the three sent his way made him jump up and tear out the room, searching for his twin. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry, Kaoru. I've always been trying to act cool. And if he was honest with himself, he would have admitted that he was a little jealous of the way his little brother was always hanging around Kyouya now. He hated thinking that his twin might not need him anymore. Where did you go? "Kaoru!" he yelled, but no answer came back to him except for the surprised glances he got from passing students.

"Hikaru-kun?" said one of the girls. He recognized her as one of the host club fans, and he cursed his bad luck and halted. "Um… I hate to bother you… but I saw Kaoru-kun running down the corridor that way," she said timidly. "I didn't know whether it was you or him, but he seemed kind of upset. It's a dead-end there except for the computer room, which is empty right now. He probably went there."

He smiled and inwardly vowed never to think ill of fan girls again. "Thanks!" he called out over his shoulder as he ran down the direction she'd pointed him to. Already he was rehearsing what he wanted to say to his twin.

Sorry. So sorry, Kaoru.

I've been an idiot recently…

"Kaoru!" he said, yanking open the door to the computer room. He halted at the sight of his little brother held in the Shadow King's arms, tears soaking the older boy's shirt.

Kyouya glanced angrily up at him as he let Kaoru cry on his uniform. "Hello, Hikaru," he greeted him, in a tone like spoken shards of ice. His eyes were filled with unabashed abhorrence, although the next moment he turned his head slightly and the light glanced off his glasses, hiding his expression. "What brings you here?"

Hikaru blanched. "Kaoru…"

"Haven't you distressed him enough?" the Shadow King enquired. His level tone was deadly. "Just go already."

"I just said some things I didn't mean," Hikaru said desperately. "Look, I just wanted to say that I'm—"

"Sorry?" Kaoru whispered, not raising his head from Kyouya's chest. "You always say that, Hikaru. And I'm sorry too."

"Sorry for what?" Hikaru asked, bewildered. A tiny bubble of hope rose up in him. Sorry for being so chummy with the Shadow King? Yeah. And now Kaoru will just walk over here to me, and it'll all be okay again. The second it happens, I swear I'll never take him for granted again.

"I'm sorry because I always believed you, each time you said it," Kaoru said, clearer and louder this time. He slipped away from the Shadow King, turning to face Hikaru. "But I think it's pretty obvious to both of us that the whole brother thing has just gone wrong, don't you think?" He smiled faintly. "I guess that siblings do have to grow apart. I just didn't think that it would end up like this." Something seemed to snap behind his eyes. "And I'm okay with it, really, I am," he said, taking a deep breath. He put a smile on his face. "I know now."

"Know what?" Hikaru demanded, his eyes widening. Kaoru wasn't making sense. None of this even seemed real.

Kyouya understood. "I see," he said softly, putting a hand on Kaoru's shoulder.

"See what?" the older Hitachiin said. "Kaoru, come on. I don't get any of this."

Kaoru shrugged. "Nothing important, Hikaru. You go ahead to the club," he said. "And don't worry; I'm not mad at you." He looked distantly at his brother. It seemed ages and ages away that Hikaru had really 'gotten' any of this anyway.

"It was a mistake," Hikaru said, looking down at his feet.

It all was. "Iknow," Kaoru said, voice full of compassion. "And it's okay."

Hikaru looked doubtfully at him. "Then… um… I…"

Kaoru just shrugged. "Go on ahead. I just have a few things to organize with Kyouya-sempai." He looked levelly at Hikaru. "Just leave us." His tone brooked no refusal, and Hikaru scurried away.

"But it isn't okay, is it?" Kyouya asked.

"No, it isn't," Kaoru agreed remotely.

Theydidarrive for the morning meeting, in their own fashion. Kyouya had never been late—ever—but today he was behind schedule by five minutes. He sighed, hoping that the host club king wasn't there. Tamaki would throw a fit, unless he himself was late. But unfortunately for him, the blond was there and already halfway through a rant.

"Kyouya! What is the meaning of this?"

The Shadow King didn't even step back as Tamaki shoved a newspaper in his face. He took it calmly. "Ah," he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "It's a picture, Tamaki. It's not going to sit up and do tricks."

Tamaki turned red. "I know that!" he said. "But look at the picture!"

Haruhi sighed. "He's been at it ever since he got in, sempai," she said softly to Kyouya.

"It looks like a nice shot to me," Kyouya deadpanned. "Best angle possible, good lighting, the positioning of the subjects is ideal—"

Kaoru peeked out from behind him. "Oh! That's us from last night," he said, vaguely recalling the photographer who'd snapped the shot. He scrutinized it. "Wow, sempai. You look really nice here."

"Thank you, Kaoru. As do you, of course." Kyouya smiled at him before turning back to his best friend. "What seems to be distressing you, Tamaki?"

"You didn't even tell me you were going anywhere!"

"I wasn't aware that I had to answer to you for where I was going and who I was going with," Kyouya said evenly. "It isn't like you to complain of my comings and goings."

Tamaki winced. "Fine," he huffed. "Be that way."

Kyouya sighed—he was so sick of always humoring Tamaki's unpredictable, childish tempers. "Why does it upset you anyway?" he commented.

His best friend looked away. "I called you last night and you weren't answering."

"I know you did. Twenty times—but of course nothing obsessive, right?" Kyouya said, voice completely neutral. Or perhaps just neutral enough for the sarcasm to be more stinging than it would have been had he simply come out and been snotty about it.

Kaoru looked at them. "Um… sempai… sorry," he said, offering Tamaki a tentative smile. "We turned off both our phones while we were in the gallery."

"Don't be unreasonable, Tama-chan," said Hunny. "They look really, really cute in this picture!"

Kyouya didn't normally like candid shots of himself. He preferred to be prepared for the camera at all times, so that he could slip on one of his masks. In most of his surprise photos, he looked languid but sharp, his eyes glittering with hidden plans, his mouth a grim line or a self-satisfied smirk. It was Ootori Kyouya stripped of all his humanity.

But in this picture, he was smiling. No, laughing. His head was thrown back so that he caught the light, and he looked, for once, completely at ease with himself and the world. As if he was so happy he had forgotten everything else.

Tamaki frowned at it. It was the first time that he had ever seen Kyouya look like that. In his pictures with the Shadow King, he was always painfully aware of how poised and perfect Kyouya looked; it was always the façade. Or else he looked grim and just plain scary. "Sorry," he said, forcing a smile on his face. "But daddy wasn't happy that mother was keeping secrets from him again."

"It wasn't really a secret, Tamaki. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing."

And there again. Spur-of-the-moment. Kyouya was never spontaneous. He analyzed, calculated, and weighed all options before making a move. The Shadow King was changing, and Tamaki wasn't sure that he liked it.

"It almost seems like this isn't you in the picture, sempai," Haruhi told Kyouya with her characteristic bluntness.

Kyouya smirked. "I'm not sure whether I should be insulted or flattered," he said. "But thank you anyway, Haruhi."

"You look really happy, sempai!" said Kaoru, grinning at him. "I feel like I caught a glimpse of the woolly lamb under the wolf's skin."

Kyouya didn't blush. He was much too self-controlled for that. But there was that glimpse again—of a something that he could not, or would not, hide. He just rolled his eyes and smiled back at Kaoru. "Devilish twin," he said, putting one hand atop Kaoru's head. "Don't get too big for your breeches, or the Shadow King will roast you."

Kaoru burst out laughing. "Sempai!" he protested. "Don't be mean, it's all true!" Hunny immediately joined in on the fun, egging them on.

Tamaki folded his arms across his chest. "I don't like it," he muttered malevolently.

From beside him, Hikaru's golden eyes darted in his direction. "Neither do I," he said in an undertone.

Haruhi frowned at them. "You two had better leave them alone," she whispered. "I think it's great—they both seem a lot happier now that they're close. Don't you want them to be happy?"

"Of course I want Kaoru to be happy," Hikaru said. "But not with—withthat."

"Same goes," Tamaki said, glaring at Hikaru.

Mori grunted. "You both see things a little too late," he said.

Hikaru's brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"Nothing."

"Just try to smile and be happy that they're friends already," Haruhi said, poking the two of them in the ribs.

Tamaki sighed. "I'll try. Honestly, I will."

Tamaki was fed up.

It didn't take long.

Not to say, of course, that he hadn't tried his best, as he had promised Haruhi. But it was kind of hard to deal when he… just felt so not there.

A whole week had gone by since that incident, and he had put up with a whole week of eating with Hikaru and Haruhi (while Hikaru often monopolized Haruhi's attention), sitting in class without talking to his best friend, and even skipping their weekend tutorial sessions, since Kyouya said that he couldn't spare the time anymore. His grades had taken a brutal nosedive, and his host king charm had taken a turn for the worse; Kyouya had spoken to him then, but only to berate him for losing customers.

Otherwise, Kyouya was always 'Kaoru-this' and 'Kaoru-that' (or at least, that was how he saw it). Every other word that popped out of the Shadow King's mouth was about that devilish twin. Every spare second of his time was spent with the redheaded freshman. It was driving Tamaki crazy.

Whenever he tried to with them at lunch, it seemed that Kyouya and Kaoru could pass the whole meal hour without speaking a single word; they merely sat there, chewing silently, sometimes looking at each other in a way that suggested telepathic communication. It wasn't exactly a pleasant way to spend lunch, trying to fill in the hush with awkward babbling and getting yes or no answers or sometimes noncommittal nods in return—at first, they had tried to feed him the perfunctory, polite small talk, but soon after they seemed to have decided he wasn't worth the effort. And he hated the silence that they seemed to thrive in. So it was really no wonder that he had given up on that, resigning himself to playing tug-of-war with Hikaru for Haruhi's attention.

In class, Kyouya would be completely focused on what the teacher was saying. His gaze never wandered over to the blonde anymore, and he refused to indulge Tamaki's idle chatter. Sometimes Kyouya would stare off into space, as though thinking of deep things. When Tamaki asked him what was up, it would always be some variation of, "I wonder what Kaoru's doing/studying/thinking…" or something like, "It's really nothing that you should concern yourself with, Tamaki."

And another thing: Kyouya rarely answered his calls anymore. But in between classes, either Kaoru was calling or hecalled Kaoru. It was amazing that anyonecould get the Shadow King to ring up when it wasn't a matter related to business and profits.

"We have to do something," Tamaki said during one lunch hour as he watched Kyouya place a hand on the redhead's shoulder, talking animatedly. Kaoru laughed, looking up into the senior's eyes, and Tamaki used his thumb to mash a lump of butter from his bread roll into his napkin with unwonted force.

Hikaru was stewing too. Kaoru seemed to be deliberately ignoring him. His twin went to his room and locked the door as soon as he got home, and only ventured out to eat—actually, he would bolt down his food and dash back to his room; sometimes he even had his meals sent up on a tray for him instead of coming down, condemning Hikaru to silent dinners and breakfasts alone or occasionally with his mother or father.

Plus, Kaoru was delighting their mother with gorgeous new designs—lots and lots of them, all designed for a dark-haired, dark-eyed model with pale skin and a cool smile that the Hitachiin matriarch pronounced 'simply darling'. All of his drawings were made for people who looked like Kyouya. He even made one of the outfits already; in just a week, he had managed to put together a whole ensemble. And he had given it to Kyouya, who wore it the next day, much to the delight of the fan girls who recognized Kaoru's handiwork.

If it had just been an act at the host club, he wouldn't have minded so much. Okay, so may be he didsort of mind that about eighty-five percent of all customers now flocked to Kyouya and Kaoru, edging Tamaki out for the spot of being the club's number-one draw. Especially since the loyal customers (in other words, the other fifteen percent) were Tamaki's die-hard princesses who couldn't do without his syrupy nonsense, Haruhi's quiet, reserved companions who enjoyed Haruhi's refined company, and Hunny and Mori's fans that enjoyed the loli-shota complex that even Kyouya and Kaoru weren't able to provide. He was, well, kind of in the middle.

He rarely spoke to his twin anymore. Sometimes he would talk about the host club, but he didn't plan pranks with Hikaru or seek out his company the way he used to. It hurt Hikaru; it was as though Kaoru was saying that he didn't need him anymore. He even listened at Kaoru's door sometimes, catching strains of phone conversations and light laughter. It was always Kyouya, every night, without fail.

And although Tamaki didn't know it, Kaoru and Kyouya were meeting up in the afternoons and evenings, too. They went out together at least twice a week, abandoning Hikaru as they dashed off to museums and parties and cafes. It was always just the two of them, the way it used to be with him and Kaoru.

Kyouya's hand was on his brother's shoulder… and Kaoru wasn't pushing it off.

"Yep," Hikaru said, glowering at them. They seemed to be completely oblivious to his scowl. In the old days (B.K.—or Before Kyouya, as Hikaru dubbed it) Kaoru would have known immediately that something was wrong.

But now, Kaoru didn't even notice him.

Haruhi sighed. "Leave me out of this," she said, getting to her feet and moving to sit with Hunny and Mori instead, a table away. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing wrong with… whatever it was that was between Kyouya and Kaoru.

Tamaki and Hikaru, however, didn't exactly see it that way.

"This is the first we-must-separate-Kaoru-and-Kyouya meeting," Hikaru said, slamming his fist on the table for emphasis. Haruhi let out a bored, frustrated sigh, shaking her head at the idiocy of it all. She and the two seniors were only there because Hunny-sempai had been lured in by the promise of cake, Mori-sempai went where Hunny-sempai led him, and then Hikaru and Tamaki had dragged her along. It was kind of hard to tell them that she didn't want to go when they both grabbed her under the arms and literally carried her in by force.

"Don't you think you're kind of overreacting to the situation?" she asked. "Kyouya-sempai and Kaoru aren't exactly doing anything wrong. Besides that, they aren't even officially a couple."

Hikaru scowled. "They call each other every night."

"And between classes," Tamaki added.

"They go around on dates," the redhead muttered, sounding revolted as he added emphasis to the last word. "At least twice a week."

"Dates?" Haruhi asked.

Tamaki ignored her query. "They eat lunch together."

"He makes clothes for Kyouya-sempai."

"He brings lunch for Kaoru everyday."

"Plus he—"

"Okay, I get it!" Haruhi yelled, covering her ears. Ugh. Curse those rich kids and their damn relationships. Mori patted her hand sympathetically, and she ventured a small smile in his direction. "But what do you guys want to happen?"

"We have to separate them," Tamaki said. "For the sanity and togetherness of the host club."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Haruhi asked.

"Yeah, why shouldn't Kyou-chan and Kao-chan be together?" Hunny asked.

Tamaki scowled. '"If they ever became a couple, the host club would fall apart."

"Yeah, didn't you hear sempai before? He said that he wasn't interested in the profit anymore," Hikaru pointed out. "That means that he could abandon the host club any day." Well, actually, Kyouya actually meant that it wasn't worth getting killed just for a little extra cash…

"Kyou-chan wouldn't do that!" Hunny protested. An uncertain light crept into his eyes. "At least… I don't think that he would do that…"

"And we all know that this club only survives through Kyouya's incredible calculating…that means that our group would have to part ways… perhaps forever," Tamaki said dramatically, shaking his head. "And no more free cakes." Hunny's eyes bugged out.

"Plus sempai would probably just force you to pay off your entire debt at once, Haruhi," Hikaru said. "You know, since the host club will be closing and there's no other way you can pay your debt off." Haruhi's jaw dropped open. What was her current debt balance anyway? She did some mental computations—oh no. There was no way that the host club could shut down.

Mori frowned. "But what if they're happier that way?"

"No!" Hunny and Haruhi objected simultaneously.

Tamaki grinned. Two more supporters. And where Hunny went, Mori would follow. Mori gave an unwilling grunt of assent, but he seemed to be displeased at the turn of events.

"Okay, so what are we going to do?" Haruhi asked.

"What are the most basic necessity and reason of and for a relationship?" Hikaru asked.

"Copulation?"

Hikaru wanted to slap her upside the head. "Not in biology, Haruhi! I mean in normal human relationships!"

"Oh. Why didn't you say so in the first place, then?"

"I thought that it would be obvious!"

Mori spoke up. "Communication."

Hikaru nodded. "That's right. Once you take thataway, everything falls apart."

"You must be joking," Haruhi said. "How can you possibly prevent those two from talking? They're together all the time."

"You think we don't already know that?" Tamaki interjected.

Hikaru smirked. "Let me outline how we're going to do this…"

First, cellphones. That's going to be the first to go.

"Hikaru… have you seen my phone?"

The older redhead looked up from his magazine. "Oh, here. You left it on the coffee table."

"Huh, really? I could have sworn… well, never mind. I must be getting a lot more scatter-brained these days. It didn't ring, did it?"

"Nope, nothing." Hikaru's lips pressed into a thin line, knowing that Kyouya usually called at that time.

"Huh… that's funny." Kaoru glided away, not knowing that Hikaru had just blocked Kyouya's number.

Tamaki had done the same with Kyouya's phone. "That's odd," Kyouya muttered when he got a 'no answer' screen after trying to call Kaoru's number.

"What is?" Tamaki asked.

"Kaoru isn't picking up…"

"I'm sure that he's just busy for once. Hey, want to go over the next club activity?"

Kyouya fiddled with his phone. After failing to reach Kaoru for the eighth time, he gave up. "All right, Tamaki. What do you have in mind?"

Then, they haveto stop meeting in the evenings.

"Kyouya, father just decided to let you sit in during the nightly meetings," Fuyumi said. "Apparently the Suoh head convinced him that it would be useful. Isn't that amazing?
You've wanted this for ages."

Kyouya hesitated, putting his cellphone down on the table. That was odd… Kaoru hadn't called him. Nor was Kaoru answering his calls or text messages. In fact, he kept getting a 'no answer' screen, ever since his first attempt when Tamaki was there at the house with him. Maybe the redhead was busy "But that means that I'll have to go to their meetings every night."

His sister frowned. "Yes. Isn't that what you wanted?"

The Shadow King seemed torn. "Yes… all right. I suppose you're correct. When does this start?"

"Tonight."

He gaped at her. "Tonight?" He glanced at his watch. He was due to meet up with Kaoru to head to a play they'd both wanted to watch. "I—"

"Did you have something else planned? If you turn down this offer, father will never invite you to it again. You know that."

He nodded slowly. "Just… five minutes." Frantically he rang the Hitachiin home residence number. "Good evening, may I please speak to Kaoru? This is Ootori Kyouya speaking."

Hikaru frowned on the other line. Good thing Tamaki had warned him to be on standby beside the phone. "He's asleep. He's been tiring himself with designs recently."

"Oh," Kyouya said. "Er… we were supposed to go somewhere tonight. But it's okay; don't wake him up, then. Just tell him I called, will you, Hikaru?"

"Of course I will," Hikaru said smoothly, and hung up.

"Who was that?" Kaoru asked, sticking his head out of the bedroom door.

"Oh, one of those telemarketers. So annoying."

And being together at lunch. That's one of the worst!

"Kaoru-kun," their class president said. "I hate to bother you about this, but you're obviously perfect for the job. There's this wonderful opportunity… a design class during lunch period. Of course you can eat during the class, and they suddenly extended an offer to accommodate one of the freshmen when I told them that our class had a talented young designer. Do you want to join?"

Kaoru blinked. "Wow, really? But… during lunch…"

Their class president frowned. "It's okay, you know, you'll still be able to eat. And you'll make loads of new friends. It's a one-time offer only."

"Well… okay." Kyouya-sempai will understand, I'm sure. It was an unofficial arrangement anyway.He smiled back at the class president, not seeing that the girl exchanged a thumbs-up with his beloved older brother. He hurried off to explain to Kyouya.

"Long time no see, stranger," Kyouya said, his face lighting up. "About last night—"

Kaoru nodded. "Hikaru told me," he said. Actually, Hikaru told him that Kyouya had left a message really late about the board meetings—not that he had asked to speak to Kaoru personally. "Um, see, about lunch…" He quickly explained. "I'm sorry, sempai."

Kyouya shrugged. "It's okay. You should take the opportunity. I couldn't think of anyone better for it to go to."

Hmm… how about in between classes?

"Kyouya-sama's busy right now," said the class president, looking sympathetically at Kaoru. She had thought that the budding friendship between the two boys was endearing, but who was she to disobey Suoh Tamaki?

"Oh," the redhead said, obviously disappointed. "Um… should I wait for him, then? We were supposed to go to club together."

She shook her head, feeling a stab of guilt. "I'm sorry. He said that you should just go ahead. It might take him a while to wrap up his business."

Kaoru hurried off just a few minutes before Kyouya finally managed to pull away from his classmates, who had, inexplicably enough, attached themselves to him like parasites. "Someko-san… did Kaoru stop by?"

"N-no, Kyouya-sama. I'm sorry." She forced a smile. "But I think I saw him go by with his brother. I think they were discussing something pretty deep."

"I see." Kyouya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He decided not to bring up the matter.

And at the host club. But how are we going to pull that off?

"See, if Kaoru-kun and Kyouya-sama get together, the host club will be shut down permanently," Renge explained to the girls. It had taken some convincing, but the rest of the host club had finally gotten her to see the light.

The girls let out shrieks of dismay. "That can't happen!"

"What happened to our fans?" Kaoru said, only half-joking, later that day.

Kyouya opened his mouth to answer, but found himself abruptly whisked away by one of the customers. "Kyouya-sama! Isn't it the weather wonderful today? By the way, I was wondering about—"

On the other hand, the other girls were plying Kaoru with requests to sit with them—and with Hikaru. To do their brotherly love act.

Kaoru hesitated. "I haven't been in practice," he muttered to Hikaru.

Hikaru winked at him. "Come on, dear brother. If anyone can do this, we can."

"I don't understand this at all," Kyouya muttered when they had finished. Kaoru had vanished, dragged away by some of the girls who had insisted that he accompany them to this 'delightful little tea shop' that they had seen. "What's going on?"

Renge sighed. "It looks like your pairing has already worn thin, Kyouya-sama," she said solemnly. "The novelty has worn off, and the girls seem to have gotten sick of it overnight."

Kyouya's brow creased into a frown. "Well…"

"It looks like you're going to have to get back to your 'cool type' act, Kyouya," Tamaki said. He clapped a warm hand on his best friend's back. "Welcome back."

What about e-mail?

Are you kidding? It's too easy to hack into, so Kyouya doesn't have one.

And Kaoru just shares an account with me, so at least I know that they don't use that.

By the end of a fortnight, Kyouya and Kaoru had barely talked to each other—or even seen each other, for that matter. They were always busy, always swamped by other people. Kyouya wondered why Kaoru wouldn't pick up when he called; Kaoru wondered why Kyouya wasn't calling. At night, Kaoru would go home so exhausted that he didn't have the time to design anymore. Kyouya would sit with Tamaki at lunch, listening silently to the blonde's jokes.

And strangely enough, Hikaru had suddenly stuck himself onto Kaoru for no reason. It wasn't like what had happened in the club before, where he just tied Kaoru down and expected him to stay there. Instead, Hikaru was the one who tagged along. Hikaru often came to his room, knocking and asking whether he wanted a cup of tea, or asking him whether he wanted to play a game, and so on.

Tamaki, on the other hand, had suddenly become more business-oriented. He discussed the business meetings with Kyouya and listened to the Shadow King's insights and recommendations. Often he would ask Kyouya's opinion, and now he alwaystook the time to thank his best friend and listen to him before acting on impulse.

We give them about a month of this treatment. After that, we'll see what happens… see, we can't keep this sort of thing up indefinitely. The design class will be completed by the end of the month, and there's no way that the customers can pull them apart like that forever.

Not that it matters. By the end of the month, they'll practically be strangers.

"H-hey, sempai," Kaoru said. It was his first day in the cafeteria since design class had ended just yesterday. "How's it going?

Kyouya yawned. He hadn't been getting enough sleep lately, but he was still happy that his father had singled him out amongst his brothers for shouldering part of the Ootori responsibility. "It's been all right," he said. "There isn't much to talk about." An awkward silence fell between them.

They opened their mouths, and then closed them without saying anything. When had they run out of things to say? It was almost incredible to think that a month and two weeks could make all the difference between them laughing and them just staring at each other without a word

"Kyouya, there you are!" Tamaki said, putting down two trays with a huge grin. "I got you coffee with your lunch."

Kaoru blinked. "Since when do you buy lunch, sempai?"

The Shadow King closed his eyes. "I've been too busy to do otherwise lately," he said.

"Kaoru, over here!" Hikaru said, waving at him from an empty table on the other side of the room. He was surprised to see that Haruhi was sitting with Hunny and Mori instead of with his brother. "I got you the lunch set A."

The younger Hitachiin glanced over at him. "Ah, okay, I'll be there in a minute," he said. He turned back to Kyouya. "Um, sempai…"

Kyouya was fiddling with his paper napkin. "Yes?"

Kaoru halted. "I… it's nothing," he muttered. "Enjoy your lunch."

The Shadow King wondered whether he should ask why Kaoru was deliberately ignoring his calls, but he decided against it. Well, it was Kaoru's prerogative whether he wanted to talk to him or not, right? He sighed, gulping down his coffee.

"What's wrong, mother?" Tamaki asked.

"It's nothing, dad. I'm just tired, that's all," he replied. He rubbed at his temples, feeling the beginnings of a migraine pounding at his head. He dug into his bag for aspirin and popped it into his mouth. He'd been consuming quite a lot of it lately.

Had Kaoru just used him to make Hikaru jealous? It was possible… it was an option that he had considered, before, but he had thought that Kaoru wasn't that type of person. Perhaps he had thought wrong. It was always best to assume the worst in a person; wasn't that what business had taught him? How could he have forgotten all of that?

So as soon as Kaoru had gotten Hikaru, he dropped Kyouya.

"Why so down?" Hikaru asked Kaoru.

"I don't know," Kaoru said sadly. He checked his phone. He'd been trying to call Kyouya for the whole of the past month, but the Shadow King hadn't answered him once. He frowned. Now that the young Ootori was over Tamaki, he probably hadn't seen the need to keep Kaoru around. That figured… once Kyouya got busy, he completely ignored him. He clenched his fists. Hikaru had been right; Kyouya had just used him, but he had been too blind to realize it.

He was such an idiot. Everything that Kyouya had done in the past pointed to him being manipulative and sneaky. He was a pathological liar; all he cared for was profit. But he honestly thought that in the last few weeks that they'd spent together, Kyouya was actually a pretty nice person—much nicer than his reputation made him out to be, that was for sure.

Well, he'd thought wrong, hadn't he?

Hikaru shrugged. "You just need some fun," he said cheerfully. "Hey, c'mon, I have this great idea… you know that we never pulled a prank on that class before, the one in the third year group? Well, I came up with something and…"

Kaoru's attention wandered. He noticed that through Tamaki's babbling, Kyouya was also looking at him—but the gaze was angry, even a bit hurt. His head started to throb. What on earth was Kyouya looking at him for? Hewasn't the one who'd been ignoring the other for more than a month now. He met the gaze steadily.

Kyouya frowned. Why was Kaoru wearing that sort of expression? Sure, so the younger Hitachiin had caught him staring… well, there was nothing wrong with that, was there? If Kaoru meant to pretend he didn't exist for more than a month, then he had every right to look at him like that.

Tamaki let out a falsely bright laugh. "C'mon, Kyouya, what's up? I thought that we were going over these statistics."

The Shadow King shook his head. "I'm just sick of it right now, okay?" he said. Yes, he was sick of it; he had gotten used to having the other boy around, much as he hated to admit that he had become dependent on anyone. He still wondered what Kaoru did/thought/studied/ate/felt/smiled about/liked. Before he fell asleep, he would try to call Kaoru—never mind that the younger boy had stopped taking his calls ages and ages ago. Or between classes. Kaoru never came by the classroom anymore either. He would go the host club with his twin brother.

"Kaoru… come on, work with me here," Hikaru said, grabbing at his younger brother's hand. "Hello? Earth to Kaoru?"

The younger Hitachiin looked away. "I guess I'm not in the mood, Hikaru," he muttered—turning down a prank for the first time since their long, mischief-filled brotherhood. What was up with him? He couldn't think straight, knowing that there was something wrong with him and Kyouya. Much as he was surprised by it, he realized that he neededthe Shadow King around. Kyouya supported him, laughed with him, even put aside his business for him. He couldn't understand it. There was something that he couldn't define about it. It wasn't like with Hikaru, where he watched and did nothing more. Kyouya had become his anchor…

A/N: Longer chapter than usual... but I kind of hurried it, so it's unedited and all. Ugh. But thanks for reading this far, and please review! I have to go a.) train for the competition and b.) hit Hikaru and Tamaki on their heads with a saucepan. Thanks again! Please wish me luck for tomorrow's contest. If I win, I'll definitely try to update ASAP.