Prologue Two: Kaoru

A bored Hitachiin is a dangerous thing; that is practically our family motto. Now that I mention it, I can't remember our real family motto. Well, regardless, the sentiment remains the same: my family doesn't handle boredom well. At times, I wonder if my life would have turned out differently if I wasn't in need of constant stimulation.

Whatever the reasons, my life changed on a Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day was never a favorite holiday of Hikaru and mine. In 'the before Haruhi time', as we liked to call it, the holiday was somewhat of an annoyance. In our shut off little world, we didn't feel the need to indulge in an essentially a commercial celebration. And yet, no matter how cruel we were to the girls in our classes, each year from kindergarten through secondary school, our desks would be piled high with chocolates on February 14th. It was as if they didn't get it: we hated them! Once we even made a giant bonfire and just watched them melt. There was a strange satisfaction in watching the molten chocolate erupting from within their curling silver packaging.

When Haruhi came into our lives, we changed and with that Valentine's Day took a different spin for us. We didn't destroy Valentines in dramatic ways; we accepted them graciously. It started with Tamaki when we stopped making girls cry for our own entertainment, and then evolved through Haruhi opening us up and making us more accepting. I only mention this because if it weren't for Haruhi and how she changed us, I don't think things would have turned out the way it did.

On this particular afternoon, it was that lazy hour between host club and the last class of the day. Hikaru and I were on a bit of a sugar rush having eaten way too much chocolate. Like I said, we had changed a lot since Haruhi had come around. Unfortunately, Haruhi, who was studying at the time didn't think our shenanigans were quite as entertaining as we did and the librarian agreed. Of all the days for a real librarian to be working at Ouran's library and we were kicked out of the library.

Hikaru took it particularly hard and was sulking with his hands jammed into his pockets as we made our way back to the club room.

"There's always White Day," I said, in a would-be helpful way.

Hikaru muttered something that I could not decipher because a strangled sob echoed across the hall.

Hikaru's brows rose and he gave me a conspiring grin. As if right on cue, we were given a distraction. Really, it just shows how twisted we are that we hear a girl crying and we automatically want to use that as a diversion to ease our boredom. After some maneuvering, we found the source and a good way to ease drop.

A girl was facing our direction at the end of the school corridors, her head cradled in her hands and she was crying. She was addressing a second person who had his back to us. When he spoke, his voice was unmistakable.

"I'm very sorry, Ms. Arakaki, its club policy: we don't date," Kyouya said in his most insincere host club tone, in my opinion.

"B-b-but, I wouldn't tell anyone about us… it could be a secret," she said hopefully through her tears.

Hikaru shot me a look that said 'what the hell.'

I had to agree: it was strange.

"I'm afraid I don't break rules," Kyouya said crisply. He stepped back leaving her to her tears and Hikaru and I were forced to scramble to avoid being caught spying.

From behind a pillar, I watched Kyouya pass. There was something unsettling about his gaze. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't want to get in his way. But that day, I was sure if he had caught us he would send us straight to hell; use a medium to channel our spirits just to banish them back to hell all over again.

I let out the breath I'd been holding, once I was sure Kyouya was out of ear shot.

Hikaru grinned at me.

"What was that about?" He thumbed in the direction of the now empty corridor.

I shrugged. The whole situation had me unsettled.

"Arakaki..." Hikaru said playing with the name, "you don't think that is Ren Arakaki, the oldest daughter from the Arakaki Pharmaceutical Group, do you?"

"Maybe," I said half fearing that mad gleam in my brother's eye; half warring with a part of me that was more curious that concerned.

"Why would Kyouya turn her down?" Hikaru mused aloud, "I've never heard of a dating rule."

"It is strange…" Not to mention she would be an ideal girlfriend, considering her family ties, I thought.

"Maybe he has a secret girlfriend already!" Hikaru said, elatedly.

I laughed at the absurdity of it, but the fever was catching and soon I was adding my own theories to the conversation.

"Or better yet: a fiancée!"

"What would Tono do if he found out mommy has been keeping secrets from him!" Hikaru cackled.

"I don't think he would recover!" I laughed along with Hikaru.

Hikaru snorted, stifling his laughter as we reached the doors to music room three. "You know," he said leadingly, I couldn't help the mischevious grin that was already splitting my features. It was hard to not join Hikaru when he got like this, "We could do some snooping, see if he does have a secret girlfriend or something…"

I glanced at the clock tower outside the window. There was still a good forty five minutes before the host club opened its doors. More than enough time to do some poking around, besides it beat hanging about the club room. Admittedly, I knew Kyouya would probably murder us with his bare hands if he found us looking into his personal affairs but that was part of the excitement.

"Alright," I said, "let's go!"

OOOOO

When the doors opened onto the host club that afternoon, Hikaru and I were nearly dead on our feet. We had never taken into consideration how well Kyouya covered his tracks. We knew he got valentines, everyone in the host club did, but it was as if his had been systematically destroyed.

It appeared we had reached a dead end and with it Hikaru's attentions were flagging. Normally, I'd be right along with him. This time was different, however. Why would Kyouya turn that girl down? It didn't make any sense to me. She was well connected and her family was even in the same industry as his was! She wasn't ugly, not that I'm sure that mattered to Kyouya. Knowing Kyouya, if he even had a girlfriend, secret or otherwise, I'm sure he would dump her like a sack of potatoes the moment a girl like that came around.

"But why turn her down? And lie on top of it!" I mused, aloud to Hikaru as we were setting up for club.

"I don't know," Hikaru said distractedly. His gaze was fixed on Haruhi where she was chatting with Tamaki across the room.

I should've just let it go but I couldn't.

"What if he isn't seeing someone but in love with someone: as in unrequited love or something!" I said.

Hikaru looked at me like I'd lost my mind, and maybe I had.

"Like who?"

I cast about the room; Kyouya was sitting off to one side typing away at his laptop. For all appearances his same cold detached self. Not far from him, Honey was working his way through his third cake. Mori had yet to arrive from Kendo practice so he wasn't there to hinder Honey's eating. Then my eyes came to rest on Haruhi where she was patiently listening to Tamaki prattle on.

"Haruhi," I said with more confidence than I really had.

Hikaru scowled when I said this. "I don't know…"

"I'm sure of it," but mostly I was just latching onto any logical explanation.

"I don't believe it." Hikaru crossed his arms and dropped into the couch looking cross.

I sat beside him, watching him warily. For all Hikaru's open flirtations with Haruhi, he had yet to make a move on her. And I knew the idea that he had have more than Tamaki as his rival was daunting to him. But I needed to know and I knew I couldn't find out without Hikaru's help. so I did something rash.

"Let's bet on it," I said.

"How could you even prove it?" Hikaru scoffed.

I glanced across the room. Tamaki had spun off into his corner of woe. I noticed Kyouya look up from his laptop with little interest before returning to typing.

"I could get proof," I said.

"Proof how?" Hikaru said, not meeting my gaze but I knew I had gotten his attention.

I looked back to the laptop and Kyouya beyond it. I swallowed hard. How desperate was I really for proof? Desperate enough to incur the shadow king's wrath?

"Kyouya's laptop; he writes everything down there. I'm sure if he's pining for Haruhi he must have something on there."

It was ridiculous, and I knew it. As if Kyouya would keep a diary on his lap top! Hikaru looked at me like I was crazy and in truth; it was one of my more reckless ideas. Hikaru must have been rubbing off on me. Yet a part of me was dying to know. What was Kyouya up to?

Also, as a Hitachiin, danger is something we live for and we just can't resist that sort of challenge.

In the end, Hikaru was like minded to me and it wasn't long until we'd made a plan.

OOOO

Half way through club activities that afternoon, Hikaru excused himself to use the bathroom. I pulled on his sleeve as he tried to walk away, halting his exit.

"Don't be long!"

Hikaru turned around and cupped my cheek, "Every moment I'm without you will be agony. Be strong for me, Kaoru!"

The girls were squirming. I looked up at him through my lashes, "Hikaru…"

Hikaru leaned in close enough that I could feel his lips brush against my skin. "Forgive me, brother."

The girls were kyah-ing for real then, in all the commotion, Hikaru could easily slip away without anyone really noticing.

Stage one was complete. Diversion by drawing attention upon ourselves.

Next, it was simply a snipped wire. Music room three was plummeted into darkness.

Step Two done.

Darkness alone wouldn't be enough to chase away the shadow king, so we added a special final touch, fire-alarms and fire-sprinklers.

A shrill ring rent the air and the girls screaming added to the din. Above it all I could hear Tamaki shouting directions, Kyouya and Mori too. In the darkness, I slid behind a couch and waited for everyone to leave the room. I didn't have long; I'd have to meet the others out on the lawn to avoid suspicion. I only needed a few minutes. Using my illuminated cell phone screen like a flash light, I fumbled over to Kyouya's table. Just as we had hoped, he had left his computer.

I knelt beside it half hidden by the drenched screen. Luckily, Kyouya had not had time to log out so I would not have to hack the system as I had anticipated. The desktop was covered in files a lot of them had locks on them. Deciding on speed, I went straight for Haruhi's file.

As if luck wouldn't cease, her file was unlocked. We had decided I would not have time to read it with the momentary distraction. So I uploaded the file onto a flash drive that I had happened to have on me that day. We would review it later, we decided.

The file retrieved, I was preparing to make my escape then I noticed something. Kyouya had a web browser open. All around me the bells were still ringing, my hair was plastered to my face and my heart was beating rapidly.

I double clicked the window.

I don't know what I expected, the stock exchange, maybe? Something to do with business, what I saw... it shocked me.

It was a teen support website, Haruhi had told them about them once, the ones where you can talk to live counselors to get advice. That in itself was not so strange -if it had been anyone other than Kyouya-, but what marked it as different was this website catered directly to homosexual teens.

I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating when I realized.

When the bell stopped ringing, it brought me back to reality. Grabbing the flash drive, I shoved it into my blazer and ran, slipping a bit on the slick flooring. I didn't stop running until I fell panting on the lawn beside Hikaru. I was too winded to even notice the worried voices that clamored around me.

He mouthed the words 'did you get it.' I nodded the affirmative and he gave me a thumbs up which I returned half heartedly.

OOO

Club was canceled for the rest of the day and an investigation was underway to find out who had started a series of small fires around music room three. Hikaru and I were never caught.

That evening, Hikaru and I hacked into Haruhi's file. There was nothing interesting in it, some random stats, customer requests, her current debt amount, her father's cell number and medical records which was a little creepy.

"Do you think he has files like this on all of us?" Hikaru asked as he scrolled through Haruhi's file.

I shrugged, staring out the window. I couldn't get that web page out of my mind. Kyouya was gay; it was hard to swallow. Yet it must be true. What other reason did he have for visiting a site like that?

"What's the matter with you?" Hikaru asked staring at me from over his shoulder.

"Nothing."

Hikaru was distracted and easily appeased and he turned back around to his computer.

I had decided to not tell Hikaru. Why, I wasn't even sure. But it didn't seem right, if Kyouya was gay, it wasn't my place to tell anyone else. Or at least that's what I told myself.

Little did I know, that secret would change my life.