The Twentieth Day 6:00 AM

"Hikaru?" Mrs. Hitachiin called as she walked through the hallways, looking for her missing son. She had seperated her sons the night before, and she couldn't find her son who stayed inside the house. "Hikaru? Where are you?"

"Maybe Kaoru-sama would know?" Some maids suggested.

She sighed and decided to check out on him.

"Kaor-"

Her eyes moved to the huddled twins, shivering and pale faced.

"Kaoru! Hikaru!" She shouted as she dashed over and kneeled infront of them. She felt their foreheads, they were burning despite the rest of their body. Kaoru shivered and shivered, his bare shoulder was exposed as he struggled in his sleep, the sweater becoming too tight and some flaps of it were under Hikaru's heavy body. "Wake up you two! Please!"

"Mmm, kaaza?" Kaoru groaned as he opened his eyes. "What's going on? Is it time for breakfast?"

"You... can't remember?" She asked in disbelief.

"What? Remember what? Why am I so c-co-cold?" Kaoru chattered.

His mother laid her hands on his face.

"Wake Hikaru up," She warned.

"What?"

Kaoru thought back to the previous night and his pale face suddenly flushed and he burst to life.

"Hikaru! Wake up! It's morning!" Kaoru suddenly shouted at his sleeping twin. "HIKARU!"

Hikaru groaned and pulled his hands tighter around Kaoru. "Shut up..."

"Hikaru! Mom wants us up!" Kaoru scowled.

"MOM!" Hikaru shrieked as his eyes shot open. He stared into his mother's eyes and tried to keep his calm. "H-hi, what's up with you?"

"I want to talk to you," She growled.

In The Living Room With Family

"What did you two think you were doing? Sleeping out there like that?" Their mother scowled.

"You sent me out there," Kaoru whimpered.

"That was different, I was going to bring you anything you needed if you asked for it."

The twins looked at eachother and squeezed the others hand.

"I want to marry Kaoru," Hikaru responded like he did when they were younger.

Kaoru almost forgot how old he was, he thought it was so unreal.

The parents looked at eachother.

"Not as my children."

"I don't care, I want to marry Kaoru," Hikaru continued.

"Kaoru? How do you feel about this?" Their father asked as everyone's gaze slowly moved to him.

Kaoru was in tears and he hugged his brother, sobbing and sobbing into his brother's chest.

"But I have a girlfriend."

Hikaru laughed at how childish his brother sounded.

"I love you," Hikaru confessed quietly.

Kaoru sniffled and took his head up and he rubbed his eyes and looked at his mom and dad.

"I want... to... marry Hikaru," Kaoru choked.

"For..." Their mom started to cuss but stopped herself. "You're in tenth grade!"

"We know."

Hikaru pulled Kaoru towards him, possessively.

"He's mine," Hikaru answered.

This made Kaoru smile and he closed his eyes.

"Not in my house!" Their mom argued. "Not EVER in my house!"

"Then we'll run away," The twins countered. "Who needs a family anyway?"

The parents stopped and just stared at the twins. Kaoru tried to keep himself from crying again.

"You WILL stay here, then. Just... don't kiss when I'm looking, please. Keep it secret too."

"Yes mom," Hikaru agreed.

Kaoru felt anger surge through his body.

He pushed away from Hikaru and stormed out of the house.

"KAORU!" Their mom shouted and ran over to the door and stared out at him. "Where are you going? I said you could stay!"

Hikaru this; Hikaru that. Get out of my life. Kaoru swore at himself. Just leave me alone. Can't I be normal for a day? Without a twin that shares my face, to live without having nightmares and being scared everytime I look in a new direction or talk to a new person!

"Did you hear me?" She shouted at him.

Anger boiled and rushed through his veins.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kaoru yelled as he started to run. He didn't know where he was going as he pushed past the thousands of people on the sidewalks. He didn't know as his chest began to hurt and oxygen became scarce; he didn't know, and he didn't care. Eventually, as Kaoru past another park his legs gave out and he hit his head against a tree. Kaoru clenched his teeth. "So trees hate me now too?"

Kaoru sat normally and took his shoes off, knowing he was surrounded by the protection of trees. He stared at his feet, they were still healing from the burning water and there was new, pink skin all over the feet, and now there were cuts all over. They hurt and were bruised as well.

"From running, burning, and dashing," Kaoru answered, like someone wanted an explanation. "Those poor feet."

Kaoru sighed.

"Hikaru loves these feet..."

Anger and sadness surged through his veins and he began sobbing.

"WHY? WHY GOD? Why couldn't we be friends, not twins? He could still look like me, just not related. Why couldn't I be a female, even? Then..." Kaoru sobbed. He punched the ground making his hand begin to throb and bleed as he punched a sharp twig. "Then I'd have a family that loved me and I'd be able to be in love with him. I actually would be able to marry him because we'd be different genders and from different family names..."

Kaoru began sobbing and struggling to breath again.

"Am I some kind of joke?"

He brought his bloody hand to his face and he cried out again.

"Do you enjoy it when I hurt? Are you like Hikaru?"

His sobs slowed and he stared through his bloody fingers at the ground, full of sharp and dead twigs.

"Are you like everyone else?"

Kaoru's POV

I'm... kind of lost. I've been lost for about five hours now. I can't find my way out of this forest, and I keep getting angry and depressed. I hate this, why did I run away in the first place? Hikaru wanted to marry me again! We're not little eight year olds anymore... I don't know...

It wouldn't work out, Hikaru'd leave me again. I have anger issues now.

Hikaru's the same.

I'm not... I always misinterpreted it and thought he was changing.

Hikaru's always loved me from a distance, I suppose. I just want his strong arms to comfort me, to guide me home. I want my Hikaru.

My Hikaru's not here.

I have to learn he can't always be there, and that might be the death of me.