Standing under a beautiful stone arch, the Hitachiin twins gaped at the magnificent resort around them. Sure, their family was rich, and they were used to staying in extravagant locations, but the Ootori family's newest resort was something else. The architecture alone was plenty to marvel at; throw in a mountaintop view and the resort's plethora of unique activities, and Ookina-Haiiro Resort was officially in a class by itself.

The twins had been granted a single room with a queen sized bed. Currently, they stood in the open archway between their room and the balcony attached to it. At night, glass doors would keep out the elements, but for now, the open doors filled the room with sunlight, breezes, and the special, fresh air that belonged only to the mountains. Mountains stretched away for almost as far as the eye could see. Off to their left, Mount Fuji was just visible.

Almost tentatively, Hikaru took Kaoru's hand and squeezed it gently. The younger boy glanced at his twin, and offered him a soft smile. Kaoru was wearing a loose-fitting tangerine orange shirt which buttoned up the middle, and made his auburn hair appear a few shades darker than normal. He'd paired this with tan shorts and white high-top shoes.

Hikaru smiled and reached out to comb his fingers through his brother's hair where it was still slightly messy from when Kaoru had fallen asleep during the car-ride to Ookina-Haiiro. If he had to assign a reason to his strange obsession with his brother's hair, it would probably be that his hair was the easiest thing to play with. No one questioned his motives if he tried to straighten out Kaoru's auburn locks. Additionally, he knew that they both liked their hair played with; it was one more thing he could do to make his little brother happy.

"Hikaru?" Kaoru asked, peering into Hikaru's amber orbs as if he'd lost something in them. "Hika, your eyes are far away again."

Hikaru snapped back to reality, looking slightly startled, then almost cross, "Sorry, Kaoru. Do you want to go do something?"

Kaoru pulled his brother back into the room, and sat down beside him on the white bedsheets. "Is something wrong, Hika?"

The older twin frowned at his brother. After several moments of careful thought, he replied, "No."

"Okay. It's just us, Hikaru," Kaoru said, "and we've got the whole weekend. Whatever it is, don't worry about it. Let's find something to do."

Hikaru smiled at that. I'm not worried, Kao. I'm just… so confused. I want this weekend to be good.

The two boys stood up, picked up their room key, and made their way down nine floors to the main lobby. After weighing their options with the help of a poster advertising the different activities the resort offered, the boys decided to do archery, then tour a couple of historic temples in the surrounding mountains.

"Ne, how long's it been since we last did some archery, Hika?" Kaoru asked as they walked to the archery range.

"At least a year, I'd say," Hikaru confessed, trailing his brother by about half a step. Ookina-Haiiro's archery range was located half a mile from the main resort, down a pine-tree-lined path.

"I'll bet I can shoot better than you," Hikaru challenged, meeting his brother's golden gaze confidently. The spark of competition flashed in his twin's eyes. They both knew they were of relatively equal skill; however, many smaller factors could give one twin an advantage over the other on a particular day.

Kaoru grinned, one of his little devil smiles that sent minute shivers along the elder twin's spine. "Deal. The winner gets a kiss."

The elder Hitachiin's brows shot up. What was the purpose of having a kiss for the prize if he could have one anytime he wanted? For a minute, he considered reminding his brother of this, but finally decided against it. If that was how Kaoru wanted to play, then so be it. Perhaps his little brother had some sort of plan.

They arrived at the archery range. A staff member assisted them in getting outfitted for shooting, and helped them each select a proper bow. The targets were about twenty-five feet away, and each brother had ten arrows.

"Ready, Kaoru?" Hikaru asked, grinning. He shifted his quiver on his shoulder.

"I hope you're ready to lose!" Kaoru replied. The younger boy notched an arrow and let it fly at top speed, barely pausing to aim before releasing the bowstring. The arrow flew forth and struck the target a hand's width away from the center.

Hikaru narrowed his eyes and prepared an arrow of his own. Gazing steadily at the target, he released his breath and sent the arrow plunging into the target, roughly the same distance from the center as his brother's arrow.

Each Hitachiin fired three more arrows at the target before the game turned dirty. Hikaru was the first to pull a trick, walking over to stand behind Kaoru while the younger boy shot. Kaoru's arrow hit the outermost ring of the target.

"That's no fair!" The younger twin protested, pouting slightly.

Hikaru smiled innocently at Kaoru. "What did I do? I just wanted to watch you shoot."

Kaoru frowned. Hikaru returned to his own target, and notched an arrow. He didn't hear his brother come up behind him, but as he let go of the bowstring, a warm breath fanned across his ear, causing Hikaru to tense up. The arrow struck the very edge of the target.

"Oh, it's on!" Hikaru yelled as his brother ran back to his own station, laughing manically.

By the time each twin had only one arrow left, they'd each hit the target only two or three more times. As it turned out, neither one could focus with their brother trying to distract them. Now, they'd agreed to shoot their last arrow at the same time, so that neither of them could be distracted.

"You're going to lose, Hika!" Kaoru called confidently.

"No way!" Hikaru retorted. Both twins had knocked their arrows and drawn back. All that remained now was to release the bowstring, and that was exactly what they did.

"Ha! I told you I'd win!" Kaoru whooped, dancing around with his bow still in hand.

Hikaru gazed at the targets with a slight air of solemnity. Kaoru's final shot had hit just outside the centermost ring, while his had hit second from the center. Three or four inches were all that he'd lost by.

When he turned back to his brother, Hikaru found Kaoru standing almost right behind him. The younger Hitachiin had left his bow beside Hikaru's, propped against the divider between their shooting stations, along with his now-empty quiver. Hikaru's quiver was still slung across his back.

"So, what do- Mmph!" Hikaru tried to ask Kaoru a question, but the question flew from his mind before he could finish the thought. It might've had something to do with Kaoru grabbing the collar of Hikaru's blue shirt and pulling their lips together. The younger boy's lips were slightly dry, but the feeling was mutual; Kaoru had noticed a slight dryness to Hikaru's lips as well. Once again, they were nearly perfect copies of one another.

The pair of Hitachiin lips stayed firmly molded together, moving and pushing against each other, exploring and testing the other. Even when Kaoru pushed a little too hard, sending Hikaru backward until the elder Hitachiin found himself sitting on the divider between his station and the unused one to his right, they stayed together. The younger twin ended up straddling Hikaru's lap in order to keep as close to his brother as possible.

Their lips weren't the only things moving. Hikaru's hands lay against Kaoru's lower back, and Kaoru's hands had gotten themselves lost in Hikaru's hair now that the older boy's collar had been sufficiently made askew.

A moment more passed and Hikaru couldn't take it any longer, breaking away for air. His chest heaved in tandem with Kaoru's, drawing in big breaths.

It suddenly, and strangely, occurred to Hikaru that it must be wonderful to be something like a vampire. If one didn't have to breathe, then one could kiss for all of eternity and never need to pull away from the only source of air they needed.

"You lose again," Kaoru breathed, his voice smiling. Hikaru narrowed his eyes. That wouldn't do. Before Kaoru had time to expect it, Hikaru crashed his lips against his brother's. This time, Kaoru could back off first.

A/N: This chapter was kicking my butt for so long, and now it's done! Hooray! I'm so sorry it took me so long to write this chapter; I was really struggling with it early on. ALSO, at this point, I officially have the rest of this fic planned out! It's going to come out to 31 chapters, so this chapter here about marks the halfway point. Isn't that exciting? Happy International Fanworks Day to everyone (Feb 15), and hopefully you all had a good Valentines day! I've never dated nor kissed anyone, so it's just Singles Awareness day for me! One more note: I have an account on Archive of Our Own (AO3) now, under the same username, and I post a lot of one-shots on there, so if you guys are interested in reading more of my work and from some other fandoms (I've been writing a lot of Free! and KnB fics lately), that's a good place to check out.

Thank you all so much for reading, and for all the lovely reviews! You guys are incredible! :D