.
Hikaru and Kaoru- a few days ago.
Hikaru awoke from a deep dream in the middle of the night to realize that he was alone in bed. He looked around the room to see that his beloved twin was missing. "Kaoru?" he called out, but there was no answer. This worried him, and he spoke in a louder, slightly more frantic tone. "Kaoru!?"
Suddenly, the door to their private bathroom clicked open. Out came his mirror image holding a glass of water dressed in nothing more than a pair of boxer shorts. "I'm right here, Hika," purred Kaoru. "I was just getting a glass of water."
"Oh," Hikaru breathed in relief.
Kaoru placed the glass of water on the table beside the bed before crawling in and pulling the covers over himself. "Have a bad dream?"
"No. Just thought for a second there... Nevermind."
The younger twin smirked and scratched his brother's head as though he were a puppy. "Aww, did my poor brother think I was kidnapped by aliens?" He laughed while Hikaru groaned.
Swatting his brother's hand away, Hikaru made a face. "...Maybe I did have a bad dream just now. I can't remember."
"Aww," murmured Kaoru again, though slightly more sincere this time. "You wanna cuddle till you fall back to sleep?"
"No. I'm not a baby anymore." Hikaru turned to his side, his back to his brother. It was quiet for a few seconds before Hikaru felt the familiar touch of fingers gently scratching up and down his upper back. He groaned, "Kao, stop. I don't need coddling."
"You're so cute when you try to act tough."
Annoyed, Hikaru turned back to his snarky brother and growled, "I mean it, Kaoru! Just knock it off!"
Kaoru shifted backward, looking hurt. "...Sorry. I was just trying to help."
"I'm tired. We've got school tomorrow. Let me sleep."
"Fine..."
Hikaru started to drift off, his eyes feeling heavy.
"Want some of my water?"
"Uuugh... Give it here." Kaoru handed Hikaru the glass, and after guzzling down most of it, he took it back and turned back to the wall.
Feeling a bit victorious, Kaoru turned with his back to Hikaru's as he too felt sleep come upon him. But then he heard a very faint, "Thank you" coming from behind. He smiled. "You're welcome." He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
That was the last time Kaoru was ever seen.
..
..
Hikaru's bedroom, present night.
He was alone.
Perhaps he had always been alone.
He sat there with his legs curled in on his bed, clutching tightly the mysterious brown teddy bear he aquired at Hunny's house, staring blankly at the wall. A war was waging within his own mind.
"Was it real?" he thought to himself. "Was any of it real? ...Did I make up Kaoru just to cope with being alone all this time? ...Am I really going crazy?"
He tried to think back, back to the days when he was a toddler and the games of hide-and-seek he played with... himself? He thought about the Host Club and how much it meant to him, and the faces of Haruhi, Mori, Hunny, and... some blonde guy, what was his name? And a raven-haired guy with glasses. Who was he, again? He had forgotten their names. And slowly, he was starting to forget their features. He remembered blonde hair and glasses... What was the hair color of the guy in glasses again? Why couldn't he remember now? It was just there a second ago... Did he make them up too, just as he did having a twin brother?
Kaoru.
His name was Kaoru.
That much was clear, his fictiscious brother's name. But wait. How could he remember something so clearly if it wasn't real?
He looked down at the teddy bear he grasped so desperately.
Whose teddy bear was this?
It wasn't Hunny-senpai's, that was for sure. But whose?
"I think I'm losing it," he thought grimly to himself. "I think I should have stayed at that hospital. At least there, I'd get some answers."
Then a voice slightly higher and gentler than his own popped into his head: "Find me, Hikaru."
"Stop it!" he yelled at nothing while clapsing the sides of his head in frustration. "Just stop! You're not real! You were never real!"
The voice persisted, "Find me."
"You're not my brother!" he shouted. "I never had a brother! You're just a figment of my imagination!"
"Hika..."
"SHUT! UP!" he roared, throwing the teddy bear across the room. As it smacked against the wall opposite his bed, it slouched on the floor. He stared at it, feeling sorry and yet confounded at the same time.
Why was any of this happening?
He was just fine a few days ago, he was happy.
...Wasn't he?
As he pondered this, he failed to notice the tears streaming down his pale face.
..
..
That same night...
"Okay," huffed Haruhi as she and her friends Hunny and Mori were walking towards the Hitachiin residence, "so how do we do this?" She had in her hands the case file she had acquired from the Ootori mansion less than an hour ago, still wary of opening it. "Do we just give it to him, or should we slide it through his door?"
Hunny replied with a smile on his face and a swing in his step, "Let's knock on his front door, and if one of his servants answers it, we'll just say, 'Here. Give this to Hika-chan.'"
"And if they ask what it is?"
"We'll say it's special Host Club business, and that only he should read it."
Haruhi frowned, "Sounds pretty shady, senpai."
"Don't worry, Haru-chan. Hika-chan will understand once he opens it. Right, Takashi? …...Takashi?" The youthful blonde stopped to look back at his towering cousin, only to find noone there. Confused, the boy blinked his big brown eyes. "Where did he go?"
Haruhi paused and looked at her club leader curiously. "Where did who go?"
They stared at each other blankly, allowing the realization to set in. Their jaws dropped in terror.
"They're on to us," gasped Haruhi softly.
"Haru-chan! RUN!"
The two of them picked up their feet and made a mad dash for the Hitachiin residence.
..
..
"Maybe it was all a dream," mused Hikaru to himself as he remained glued to his bed, still struggling with his memories. "Maybe I should have stayed at that hospital..."
..
..
Haruhi tripped and fell forward, dropping the case file. Hunny was quick to pick her and the file up. "Come on," he huffed. "We're almost there!"
As they raced on, the sky opened up.
..
..
"I should just be honest with myself. Tell mom and dad that I haven't been feeling well, and this whole thing with Kaoru was in my head."
..
..
A small vortex swirled in the sky as though it were a whirlpool in a deep blue lake, aiming itself toward the two teenagers as they were stopped at the closed gate of the Hitachiin driveway.
"Here, give me a boost!" pleaded Haruhi. Though he was smaller than her, Hunny proved to be the stronger one as he picked up just one of her feet and managed to lift her over the stone wall that guarded the mansion.
A white hot light fell behind Hunny. Sensing his inevitble demise, he called out, "HARU-CHAN!" With that, he flung the case file over the wall before he vanished into the light.
Haruhi caught the file and paused to breathe. "Hunny-senpai? ….Senpai!?"
No response. Just a flash of white.
She gripped the file and pressed on.
..
..
Hikaru slowly descended from the stairs. His head hanging low, he was ready to confess his insanity to his parents, who were sitting down for supper in the dining room.
..
..
Run. Keep running. Keep running. Don't look back. Just run.
Haruhi's head swam with these pressing thoughts as her feet flew across the grassy front lawn of the mansion. She could feel the clock ticking in her heart, pounding like a drum. She knew what was right behind her.
..
..
Hikaru entered the dining hall, and sure enough he gazed into the eyes of his sickly worried parents.
"Mom? ...Dad? ….There's something I need to tell you."
..
..
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG! Went the front door. Haruhi, winded and frantic, pounded her fist on the door.
"Let me in! Please! Hikaru...!"
..
..
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!
Hikaru's father perked his head upwards. "...Now who could that be at this hour?"
"Huh?" hummed Hikaru, who stopped what he was saying and turned toward the living room.
His soft golden eyes caught the image of Haruhi as his butler opened the front door. She was covered in a white, blaring light. She looked almost angelic... and yet, there was also fear in her eyes.
"...Haruhi?"
Without saying a word, she used the last of her strength to fling the case file forward, through the doorway and onto the living room floor. As she did this, the light around her burned even brighter.
"...Haruhi!"
He raced to the doorway with a fierce spring in his step, as though instinct pulled him along. He reached out to her, even as he was just several feet away. He could have sworn she reached back, though the light engulfing her made it hard for him to see clearly.
Their hands almost touched...
"..."
…..And she was gone.
"..."
He fell to his knees.
"...Haru..."
There was no one at the door.
"...Haruhi...?"
Just a dark night and the familiar front porch.
"...not her..."
He looked up at the ceiling.
"NOT. HER...!"
He doubled over in grief, sobbing, as his parents ran over to console him. "Hikaru, dear!" gasped his mother. "What on earth...?"
"Son?" peeped his father. "...Son, what's wrong? Why're you so upset?"
They didn't see it. Or they couldn't remember it. That much was clear to him. Only he saw it. Only he remembered. This fact drove a nail in his heart, one that not only brought pain, but anger. Bitterness. Rage.
His teeth grit as he fought back tears. He wanted to hit something- someone. But instead, his fists pounded the floor. Soft carpet. It didn't even hurt. How dissatisfying.
But then, as he blinked some tears from his eyes, they opened again to the mysterious tan file lying on the floor, with its contents peeking outward just slightly. Haruhi brought that file. It was for him. He just knew it was.
Quickly, he grabbed ahold of the file and picked himself up from off the floor. Without further hesitation, he opened it. Inside he saw a picture of the entire Ootori family, including a third son with glasses. His eyes beamed. He knew that face!
He turned over the picture to see another piece of paper, a map. A very detailed map of a hospital not far from where he lived. A hospital owned by the Ootori Group. A fine yellow line was drawn, as though directing him where to go. And it let straight to...
"Honey?" peeped Hikaru's concerned mother. "Is everything alright?"
He lowered the papers. "I have to go."
"Go?" blinked his father. "Go where?"
The boy turned to face his parents. "I'm sorry, Mom. Dad. But I really have to go. I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise."
"But dear... wait!" called out his mother. But he was already taking off.
The boy called out for his personal limo, which sped around to the driveway. He got inside without even looking back at his parents. He told the driver where to go, and off they went.
He was going to get his brother back.
..
..
The mental institution.
Of course it would be this place.
This was the place where Hikaru was comitted into and then released from the same day. He remembered it well, though most of his memories of it were blurred. But in his mind, it made complete sense that this building would be the headquarters of his brothers' kidnappers. Here, they had easy access to their victims who were supposedly stricken with amnesia, to monitor them and further torment them with mind games.
But more specifically, he needed to get to the basement. The case file told him so.
He told his driver to park in the lot just underneath the building, which was usually reserved for the doctors and nurses. Surely a guard would catch the limo down here and call authorities, but Hikaru didn't care. He had to follow the map to the letter to make sure his premonitions were right, that somewhere in this hole in the ground, he would find his brother and friends.
.
After leaving his parked limo, Hikaru slowly and carefully followed the map's yellow line. It led him three floors downward to a closed off area barred by signs that read "Personel Only." Of course he would ignore those signs and press onward.
But then he came to a stop. The yellow line brought him to a stone wall with numbers painted on it. These numbers usually meant to be parking numbers, except there were no cars here. He looked back down on the map and saw a written code on the bottom of the page: 7, 3, 6, 7, 3. He looked back up at the numbers, and sure enough there were two sets: 316 and 317.
Great. Two three's. How was he supposed to know which of them to touch, he wondered? But there was no time to stop and think, as he heard footsteps quickly loudening his way. Urgently, he touched the numbers in the sequence, with the first three touched twice. Nothing happened.
The footsteps were getting closer.
He cussed under his breath as he tried again, this time touching the second three twice. Still nothing.
"Who's down here?" came a deep manly voice.
The boy took a deep breath and pressed the first three to the left in sequence, then the three on his right.
A flash of white light split down the wall, revealing it to be a secret doorway. As the security guard tailing him turned the corner, the boy pushed the door opened and threw himself inside.
The wall slammed itself shut.
..
..
The next thing the boy knew, he was in a completely new building with bright white walls and ceiling. He paused to marvel at it all, especially the fact that there was hardly anything there besides the whiteness and the tiled floors. But as he walked onward, he came to an area where a large computer screen was planted on the far wall.
As he approached it, his eyes began to adjust to the brightness. Suddenly, he could see more machines- a super computer box, a crane, and a set of giant glass orbs lined up against the leftmost wall. As he observed them, he could see figures inside them, floating with breathing apparatuses.
The first was of a tall, thin woman in green garb. This person looked the least familiar, and indeed he had never seen the female Agent in his life. So he moved on to the next one, which housed a young girl with bobbed hair and dressed in masculine clothing. Staring at her as she slept, a hint of familiarity graced his brain.
"Haruhi."
He walked to the next orb, and saw that it contained a small blonde-haired boy.
"Hunny-Senpai."
The next orb's inhabitant was a taller male with dark hair. "Mori-Senpai."
As he kept walking, the rest of the lineup became clear to him as well. "Mister Ootori... and that one's his son. Kyoya-Senpai! ….And this one is... Milord!" He couldn't help but let out a smile. It was as though just looking at these people brought back all of his lost memories of them. He chuckled with delight.
But the boy in the next and final orb stopped him in his tracks. It was a boy dressed in nothing more than boxer shorts, whose hair and face mirrored his exactly. He stared at the boy's slumbering face as all thought slipped his mind.
"Kaoru."
As the name escaped his lips, his eyes watered, both in sorrow and relief at the same time.
With a trembling hand, he reached out to the glass, touching it gently with just the tips of his fingers. He still couldn't believe what he was seeing. A boy with his face. His twin. His long-lost brother. His eyes began to mist.
"...You're real..." he muttered weakly. "...You really are..." Overwhelmed with joy, he dropped to his knees and leaned forward, planting his forehead and hands firmly on the glass. He could have sworn he felt his brother's warmth. A small sob escaped his mouth as his cheek nuzzled the glass. "...I knew you were real... I knew it..."
"Yes. You have known all along. That's just the problem."
The boy let out a small gasp and turned around. There, standing right behind him, was a very tall and slim man with long ebony hair. His skin was sickly pale, his garment a deep green, and his gaze very unsettling.
"Wh-who are you?" gulped the boy.
"I am the head of this experiment."
The boy's hairs stood on end. "Experiment? What the hell do you mean by that? What did you do to my brother? My friends?"
"They were never the subject of our study," said the strange man. "You were."
Hikaru's eyes widened. "...Me?"
The strange man explained, "We have been observing your kind for some time now, Hikaru Hitachiin. So many different types, so many unique minds."
"...my... kind?"
"I was to run tests to see just how strong a family's bond was. We've tested mothers and their children, aunts and uncles and their neices and nephews... But never before had we tested twins. This is where our study hit a snag; you see, Mister Hitachiin, you are unique in that your memories of your twin brother had somehow overcome our influence."
"I'm... not following you."
"It was I who erased your memories of your friends. By erasing memories, we believed that we would see a change in behavior. Yet here you are, determined as ever to be reunited with the one we had taken from you. It is quite astonishing... and irritating."
Hikaru rubbed his head in a moment of confusion. "...Okay, so let me get this straight: you people took my brother and tried to make me forget about him... Why?"
"We wanted to see how you would act without his presence."
"But why?"
"We were curious."
"...Curious... Curious!" The boy's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched. "You get your kicks from watching people suffer, is that it?"
"No one was meant to suffer, it was simply a test of one's social behavior."
He started to shake with rage. "Okay, I get it now! So I've just proven that my bond with Kaoru is stronger than you expected. So why not let him go?"
"Because," frowned the man who had narrowed his black eyes, "this was not my desired result."
'SCREW YOU AND YOUR DESIRED RESULTS! I want my brother, and my friends, and I WANT THEM. NOW!"
"There is one other method I have not yet tried." The man began to slowly approach the boy, beginning to raise his long pale hand his way.
Fearful, Hikaru backed into Kaoru's orb. "Wha... W-what're you doing?"
"I'm going to cleanse your mind directly. One touch is all I will need."
"No... No! Get away from me!"
He started to run, only to feel a force fall upon him. His legs stopped moving- everything stopped moving, save for his face. "What... What is this? Why can't I move?"
The man was holding out his hand, as though commanding the boy's body to freeze. "Yours is a feeble sort," he said nonchalntly. "We can manipulate you as we please." He pulled his hand back as though he were pulling a string, and slowly the boy moved toward him.
Try as he might, Hikaru could not resist being pulled back toward the stranger. Panic was all he could feel. "No! No, please!" Closer and closer he was pulled. He knew what was coming. "Please, don't do this!" he pleaded. "I don't want to forget! I DON'T WANT TO FOR-..."
The hand closed down on his face, and everything faded to white.
.
TBC