Hello everyone :) Wow just...wow, thanks for all the wonderful reviews! You guys are so nice :D I'm sorry it took so long to update this, I was at Chicago Comic Con (yes, I know I'm a dork but it was SPECTACULAR!) all weekend with no internet besides the phone...which I can't update on :(

Anyways, as a side not, I was supposed to see Vic Monogna (the voice of our lovely Tamaki) but he canceled *sob* but I did get to see the Boondock Saints (anyone who knows them, you are awesome!) and Tom Felton! Quite an eventful weekend. Be glad I wrote this chapter before I was mad at Vic/Tamaki (not really mad...maybe a little)! I'll tell you why:

This chapter is centered around the growth of Kaoru and Tamaki's growing relationship.

So like I said, be glad I wrote it before I was mad...hehe Enjoy! :D

I prop my elbows up on the kitchen table and put my chin in my hands.

What is taking Hikaru so long?

It's the weekend and Haruhi and Tono are about to meet us at our mansion so we can all leave for Haruhi and Hikaru's picnic date. Hikaru was supposed to have joined me so we could be ready to leave as soon as they arrived, but he still hadn't come out of the bathroom.

"Hikaru, what's taking so long?" I whine.

I hear the door to the bathroom open and out comes Hikaru.

I gasp and my elbows slip. I almost hit my chin on the table, but luckily don't.

Hikaru is standing there with dark black jeans and a plain white button up shirt.

I don't know what it is about the outfit he's wearing, but it is extremely sexy.

He tucks the shirt in and looks at me, "Sooo," he says nervously, "How do I look?"

I gulp and shake my head to clear it, "Oh, Hikaru." I giggle.

I stand up from the table and walk over to him. I stick my hands underneath his waistband and start tugging on his shirt, "I would think with our mother, you would know that tucking your shirt in like this will make you look like a complete dork. Besides, it will wrinkle." I smirk.

Hikaru looks down at where my hands are, "Uhhh," he says. His cheeks turn a pink color.

I quickly pull my hands out, "Sorry." I say, my cheeks turning the same shade of pink as his.

Hikaru shakes his head and chuckles, "No problem. Now let's go outside; I think I just heard a car pull up."

Hikaru and I go to the front door and walk outside. Getting out of a limo are Haruhi and Tono.

Haruhi is wearing a strapless, bright yellow sundress with a pink flower by her right shoulder.

I must admit, she looks pretty.

Hikaru must think so, too.

"Wow." He whispers from beside me, then smiles and runs up to Haruhi and pulls her into a hug.

Tono walks up to me. He wears a white V-neck with a black shirt underneath. He has on the same color jeans as my brother, and I have to say, he looks equally as good.

"Good morning, mon amour, how are you today?" he asks brightly.

I smile back. I think it actually might be less weak than previous smiles I have been throwing out. "I'm doing good, Tono." I answer. Lying of course. How could I be good when my brother is going on a date with Haruhi and I am forced to watch?

Tono closes his eyes and shakes his head. He waves a hand in front of his face, "No, no, Kaoru; we aren't in the club, you can just call me Tamaki." He requests.

"Alright, Tamaki, so are you ready to go?" I ask. His name feels nice on my tongue.

He nods and turns around. We join Haruhi and Hikaru who are holding hands and blushing madly. Did they just…kiss?

"So what car are we taking, Hikaru?" I ask, trying hard not to think about them locking lips, and look around for one of the limos.

Hikaru laughs and pulls Haruhi in close, "We aren't taking a car, Kaoru! We're walking to the park instead."

Haruhi gasps and gives Hikaru a side-hug. "Oh, Hikaru! You remembered."

Her voice sends tingles up my spine; not the good kind either.

We walk down a sidewalk, Hikaru and Haruhi in front and their hand's intertwined. Tamaki and I walk behind them.

We walk in silence for a while until Tamaki grabs my hand and pulls me back.

"Hey!" I say, looking back to Hikaru to tell him to wait a second. But he didn't even notice that I was gone.

I look longingly at them as they leave, "What do you want, Tamaki?" I say in a weak voice.

Tamaki sighs and puts a hand on my shoulder, then puts his other hand under my chin and guides it to where I'm looking into his eyes.

"Kaoru, there's something wrong with you, I can tell. Please tell me." He begs. His eyes are full of sincere concern.

I laugh, "Nothing's wrong with me, Tamaki, I probably just haven't got over that cold yet, that's all."

Tamaki sighs wearily, "Don't lie to me, Kaoru. Everyone has noticed you're acting differently lately."

I feel my heart swell up and look away so Tamaki doesn't see the tears that I know will be falling out of my eyes any minute now, "Not everyone." I whisper so that he can't hear.

But I guess I didn't whisper quietly enough, because Tamaki says, "What was that? Not everyone? Ah." He says knowingly, "I thought Hikaru might have something to do with your behavior."

I turn to face him, "This has nothing to do with my brother!" I yell at him. Why am I lying? He's just trying to help me and I could use some help right now. Although I hate to admit that.

Tamaki nods, "Alright, Kaoru, you don't have to talk about it right now. But just know that everyone at the host club would love for you to open up to them; especially me." He smiles, "Daddy hates seeing you sad."

I smile and bring a hand to my eyes. I wipe away some tears with the back of my hand and Tamaki pretends not to notice.

Tamaki lets go of my shoulders, "We should probably hurry up and join those two before they worry about us." He announces.

Ha. They probably haven't even noticed we're gone.

We start running to the park and find Hikaru and Haruhi sitting on a blanket and opening a basket.

We slow down when we reach the edge of the blanket and take a seat next to each other.

"Kaoru, Tamaki, where were you two?" Haruhi asks.

My brain goes dead. What do I say?

I open my mouth to say something, but Tamaki intervenes.

"I'm sorry, you guys, I dropped something back there and Kaoru was nice enough to help me look for it; again, thank you, Kaoru." He looks at me and smiles; willing me to play along.

I wave my hand like it was no big deal, "No problem, Tamaki, what are friends for?" I say.

Wow. Tamaki is really good at thinking on his feet!

Hikaru claps his hands and reaches in the basket, "Alright, everyone, let's have some drinks." He pulls out an orange soda and hands it to me, "Here you go, Kaoru, your favorite."

Haruhi blushes and takes the drink out of my brother's hand, "Actually, Hikaru, that's my favorite drink." She giggles.

Hikaru laughs, "Of course, Kaoru's favorite is…" he stops and thinks.

How can he not remember my favorite drink? We both know what each other's favorite everything is! It's so obvious that his is Sprite and mine is-

"Cherry coke." Tamaki says. He's on his knees with one hand holding a can of cherry coke and the other propping him up. He backs up and plops down on his butt, then hands me the can.

Hikaru looks at Tamaki in awe.

"Cherry coke," Tamaki repeats, "That's Kaoru's favorite drink, am I correct?"

"Yes, that's right." I say, also in awe.

Tamaki smirks at Hikaru.

Hikaru shakes his head and gives me a smile, "I knew that, Kaoru. I was just playing with you."

Again, lying.

"So Haruhi," Hikaru says, starting to play with Haruhi's short hair, "What would my lovely lady like to do after we eat?"

Haruhi smiles. I look over at Tamaki and see that his face is turning a bright red and he is poking his two index fingers together.

He is clearly just as jealous as I am.

"I don't know, Hikaru. A walk around the lake seems pretty nice, though." She answers and leans into him.

"A walk after the lake it is, then." He says in agreement.

I can't believe the pair of them. I feel sick to my stomach-though that could also be because I haven't eaten in a few days-and want to throw-up. Not like I have anything to vomit anyways, though.

I feel a burning in my chest. Is this that jealousy again?

I can never decide who I am jealous of: Haruhi or Hikaru.

I do admit that when Haruhi told us apart, I was attracted to her. She had broken into our world and no one had ever done that before. I was also quite scared, actually.

So that could make me jealous of Hikaru.

But I could also be jealous of Haruhi.

Haruhi has all of his attention; all of his love. I want that. I want to be the one snuggling up to him right now as he plays lovingly with my hair.

Tamaki coughs awkwardly and brings me out of my thoughts.

"Who's hungry?" I ask, hoping that Hikaru will stop being all touchy-feely with Haruhi and help me unload the food.

I bend over to take food out of the basket when the can of soda I have in my hand slips and spills all over Tamaki's lap.

"Tamaki! I'm so sorry!" I yell and grab a napkin from the basket.

I start hopelessly patting at Tamaki's lap, not even noticing how close I am to his crotch area.

Tamaki lifts his hands and I see that there is a deep, scarlet blush on his face, "Uh, it's-it's no problem, Kao-Kaoru." He stutters.

"Kaoru! Stop that right now!" I hear Hikaru's voice yelling.

I immediately stop patting and jump.

"What, Hikaru? I was just getting the drink off of him!" I fight back. I'm so confused. Why is Hikaru upset? What did I do this time?

"Just don't, okay? It's not right!" he yells angrily.

I stare stupidly at him. "Not right?" I repeat, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hikaru puffs out his chest, "I just don't think you two should be all touchy with each other, that's all. It isn't normal." He nods his head in conclusion.

Tamaki jumps up and points a finger at my brother, "Hikaru Hitachiin!" he yells and Hikaru jumps a little in surprise, "Daddy will not allow his sons to fight! You apologize to your brother this instant!"

"Tama-" Hikaru starts.

"Now, Hikaru!" Tamaki demands.

Hikaru rolls his eyes and looks at me, "Sorry, Kaoru, I shouldn't have yelled. It was immature of me." He says quietly. I know he doesn't mean it, but so that I don't upset "Daddy", I say, "It's alright, Hikaru."

Tamaki smiles in triumph and plops down back next to me.

What was up with that? I didn't do anything. Why was Hikaru being so immature and dumb?

"Uh, let's eat, guys, I'm starving!" Haruhi says, breaking the awkward silence.

XX

I'm staring, I know I am.

The four of us just got done with our walk around the lake, and are now sitting close by it.

Hikaru and Haruhi are near the edge of the lake, tossing stones into the water, while Tamaki and I sit a little ways back, both staring helplessly at the person we want to be with.

Like I had expected, Hikaru had overlooked me all day. He didn't even notice he was ignoring me! He just spent his good old time fawning over that stupid commoner.

I tried talking to him, but he blatantly ignored me.

I didn't eat anything, either. All the food that was packed looked disgusting to me. Even though it was some of my previously favorite foods, I just can't seem to down anything now a days. If I do, it comes right back up.

I must admit, I have lost a considerable amount of weight.

Hikaru hasn't noticed that either, though.

What will it take to get him to notice me again?

"They do seem perfect for each other, don't they?" Tamaki says absentmindedly from beside me.

"What?" I ask him.

I turn to look at him and he is looking at the laughing couple in front of us.

"Hikaru and Haruhi," he continues, "They seem like they were made for each other; soul mates." He says sadly.

I feel that anger swelling up inside me again. Not at Tamaki, but at what he said.

Hikaru and I are supposed to be soul mates! We have always been. Reading each other's thoughts and actions, knowing what the other was feeling, being together our entire lives! What else would that be called besides soul mates!

Surely someone he had just met couldn't take that position…could they?

I look down at the two of them. They are looking into each other's eyes, and then lean in for a kiss.

My heart aches as their lips touch. Tears well up in the sides of my eyes and begin free falling.

"I guess they are." I answer Tamaki finally.

We both sigh sadly in unison.

I sniff loudly and bring my legs up close to me. I wrap my arms around them and drop my head into them. Now I can cry without anyone seeing.

After a few seconds of sobbing into my arms, I feel an arm wrap around my shoulders and pull me in close.

At the feel of Tamaki's arm, I begin sobbing even louder. I am grateful that we are far enough away from Haruhi and Hikaru that they cannot hear me, but I also wish that they could hear me. That way Hikaru would worry.

Tamaki starts gently running his fingers through my hair and begins shushing me.

"I miss him so much, Tamaki!" I confess.

Tamaki squeezes me and brings me in closer, "I know, Kaoru, I know."

"I-I just want my brother b-back! He doesn't even no-notice me anymore! It's like I'm not even his twin anymore!" I wail out, choking on my own words.

Tamaki plants a soft kiss on the top of my head, "I notice you, Kaoru. You don't need to impress him; you don't need his attention. You have your friends and we all love you. We're worried about you, Kaoru, we just want you to feel better."

After the initial shock of the feel of Tamaki's lips on my head, I start crying again, "I know you guys care, and I love you all, too. But sometimes a person just needs their brother. Hikaru is my best friend, Tamaki! And now it's like I'm just a part of his past. A forgotten memory." I whimper.

"I can be your best friend, Kaoru. You can depend on me." He suggests.

How did he know that? How did he know I need someone to depend on? Am I so obviously submissive?

After a while of thinking, I glance up to see Hikaru and Haruhi stand up and share one last kiss. They begin walking towards us, Haruhi under Hikaru's arm.

I feel the jealousy again. The loneliness, the abandonment, the betrayal, the anger…

"Yes, Tamaki. I want you to be my best friend. I want to depend on you." I agree quietly.

I hear him let out a satisfied sigh, "I'm so glad, Kaoru." He says before we are joined by my brother and his date.

"Kaoru? Tamaki?" Hikaru says quietly, studying the two of us. "What are you doing with your arm around my brother?!" he asks. He's very selfish. His arm is around Haruhi right this second.

"We were just having a talk, mon fils inconscients, do not get the wrong idea." He says calmly and takes his arm off me.

He stands up and extends a hand toward me. I grab it and he lifts me up.

I sniff once more and wipe the tears and snot off of my face.

"Kaoru?" Hikaru says, releasing Haruhi and taking a step closer to me, "Were you crying?" he asks.

"No!" I say. My voice cracks. Well…that's convincing, isn't it?

"Yes you were!" Hikaru says, grabbing my arm and tugging me towards him, "Your eyes are all poofy and red!"

"You are wrong, Hikaru. It's just my allergies." I whisper to him, staring down at my shoes.

He squeezes my arm tightly, "Please let go, Hikaru, you're hurting me." I whisper.

He either doesn't hear, or doesn't listen.

"You're lying, Kaoru! You don't have allergies! You haven't had allergies since you were five!" he yells and squeezes tighter on my arm. It's so painful.

"Actually, Hikaru, last month my allergies came back. I take pills for it now; every morning and evening. I didn't take them this evening since we were here." I tell him. And it's the truth. He just didn't notice that my allergies had returned.

He squeezes even harder, "You're lying!" he yells.

I slam my eyes shut. His grasp hurts so bad, "Hika, please." I whisper.

"Hikaru!" I open my eyes and see Tamaki looking furiously at Hikaru, "You're hurting him! Can't you tell?"

Hikaru looks at me and sees the pain on my face. He looks down at my arm and notices he is squeezing, then slowly lets go.

He sniffs then grabs Haruhi's hand, "Let's go, Haruhi." He says.

He tugs at her hand and drags her away. She looks back once to give and apologetic look, before turning back to Hikaru.

Tamaki walks up to me and grabs my arm. Not in a painful way. Lovingly and soft, "Does your arm hurt? Did he hurt you?" he asks speedily. The worry is evident on his voice as he studies my arm.

"Nai, I am fine, Tamaki. But thank you." I say to him and gently pull my arm away. "We should probably get going, too." I say to him. "I'm feeling that dizziness again." I say.

My legs are starting to wobble and my head is clouding up.

I start falling, but Tamaki catches me with one arm and holds me up.

"Let's go, Kaoru, my house isn't too far from here; you can spend the night, if you'd like."

I nod and nuzzle into his arm, grasping tightly at his shirt. I close my eyes and let him guide me. I feel so sleepy. I feel sleepy, and I feel dizzy, and I feel lonely.

How is it that this person, this friend, can read me so much better than my own twin brother?

It just doesn't make any sense.

So I really hope you guys liked this chapter :) Tell me what you thought about it, leave suggestions if you have any ideas in your head, and again, thankyou for the reviews and favorites!