The Mask

by Suracis69

Sometimes, we all just need a little push from someone to get the truth out but how far can Kaoru keep the truth hidden about his undying love for his brother a secret? When a renowned therapist comes along, looks like it'll be that much harder. HikaKao

2. The Observation

Suracis69: Since I just finished the first chapter, I figure I might as well start on the second chapter so have fun reading!

My inspiration for this story came from the story called Fixated by TheAngelIsrafel

JessiKa xoxo: Thanks for reviewing my story. You gave me some inspiration to finish this chapter when it was only ¼ done!

Hitachiin-fangirl: First, I want to start off by saying thank you for leaving such a long review and giving me the constructive criticism. Now it's time to answer a couple of your questions! I leave Josh's age unknown because I want to leave it up to the reader's imagination but I can tell you that his age is around Tamaki's. His dream is a bit odd but when you read this chapter, you'll understand why he's doing it if he didn't get it from the last chapter.

For your next question, I may have to go a little in-depth to answer it. The reason as to why the gauge includes likelihood to succeed and their abilities is because it denotes how easy it will be for an individual to get past emotional distress – at least that's what it is now but the gauge itself has problems so remember that it isn't perfect yet.

I think you misunderstood when you said it's rare for people to have a gauge over 40 when it's not. Josh says that he's surprised to meet someone with a gauge over 40 at the school. It doesn't include the people outside the school. And about Tamaki, remember that the gauge is imperfect still.

As for Josh's gauge, remember that the gauge only talks about overcoming emotional distress at the time it's occurring, not afterwards. I think I mentioned it in this chapter but the reason as to why Josh doesn't notice Kaoru is attracted to him is because he's still thinking about his boyfriend that had died. Also, when he's becomes close to other people, it becomes difficult for him to read others because his own feelings get in the way.

It's true that people take a long time to heal but Josh doesn't deal with that perspective. His only true job is to make sure the individual changes his attitude in a way that he or she can start to get better. I guess you can say that Josh works to make sure people realize that what they're doing is wrong and to change their ways. And thanks for offering to beta but I think I want beta it myself if I ever want to improve my writing. Thanks again for the long review!

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The Mask – Chapter 2: The Observation

Josh's POV

"Would you come out already? The limo is already here!" I looked in the mirror once more to make sure everything looked okay with nothing out of the ordinary. "Josh!" I quickly left my room and out the front doors to see a fuming girl in front of me. "About time! What took you so long?"

"I wanted to make sure I looked nice."

"For Kaoru?" I quickly gave a look saying I wasn't in the mood for this as she entered the limo.

"Well I can say for a fact that you seem to be all dressed up for your boyfriend with that white dress of yours." The driver quickly closed the door before entering the vehicle himself. Once the limo started to pull away, Alyssa began to speak.

"I do want to look nice for the party tonight."

"You mean for Kyouya? And don't you mean feast?"

"It's going to be a party. I just know it!" I rolled my eyes at her for saying such a thing. How could anyone think that a feast meant a party?

"If you say so." The rest of the ride was spent in silence as we finally approached the Suou mansion. It was quite humongous compared to the one I lived in and there was a beautiful fountain in the front courtyard just like Kyouya's. The fountain itself was a mermaid jumping out of the water holding a pot in which water came out in a way that was creating sparkles all around it. Now I want something like that in front of my house!

"This place is beautiful…" Sounds like she was astounded just as much as I am.

"Yeah… it is." When we finally reached the front, Alyssa was the first one to leave the limo with myself in tow.

"You finally arrived!" Superintendent Suou soon appeared at the top of the stairs with a rose in his hand. He's probably going to give it to Alyssa knowing him.

"It's nice to see you again ojisama."

"It brings me great joy to hear you call me that. Take this rose as a thank you for arriving here tonight." Ew, is she actually flirting with the guy? I shuddered at the thought if it were actually true. Alyssa took it with such grace that it just made me wonder where she got those techniques. "Might I add that you look lovely tonight?" That's when I noticed that the man in front of us was still wearing his white suit.

"Why thank you. You don't look half bad yourself." I think it's about time to interrupt their flirting before I start to throw up.

"I'm privileged to be at your mansion Superintendent Suou." I bowed down in front of him to show respect as he gave a soft smile.

"I'm glad you decided to come Doctor, for tonight, we're going to celebrate with a party! You look very handsome in that suit of yours. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before."

"Why thank you for the compliment." Alyssa soon brought her face to my own as I felt her warm breath on my ear.

"Told you it was going to be a party." I brought my own mouth to her ear to give a short response.

"Shut up before I throw you down the stairs."

"Come! Let me bring you to where the festivities are being held!" We both turned to follow as I noticed maids putting up a ton of decorations, which made me start to wonder what kind of party this was going to be.

"Is anyone else here yet ojisama?"

"Half of the Host Club is already here along with their parents, relatives, friends, and doctors." That's when I literally froze for half a second.

"I'm sorry Superintendent but I think I must have heard wrong but did you say doctors?"

"I did." We suddenly made a right as we continued down the hallway with a red carpet lining the floor.

"If you don't mind me asking but why?"

"Once they found out that you were going to be the Host Club's doctor, they of course wanted to meet one of the renowned therapists in the world! You're basically their idol!" I laughed in a nervous manner when Alyssa gave me a face telling me not to be so nervous. "Ah, here we are!" When I peered into the room, I was astounded once again. There were multiple tables all over the place with a dance floor right in the middle! Yep, this is definitely going to be a party… I hate it when Alyssa is right sometimes. "I hope I've met your expectations Doctor." When he looked back at me, the only thing I could do was grin.

"I should say that you far surpassed my expectations Superintendent."

"Excellent! Well, I'll leave you for now to mingle with the people that are here." As soon as he left, I immediately looked around the room to see at least a hundred people in the room. Why do I have a feeling tonight isn't going to go so well for me?

"You seem lost." I jumped at the voice that was so close to my ear to find Kyouya behind me all dressed in white with a red tie.

"Don't do that again." He only smiled as he approached Alyssa to kiss her hand, which made her all giddy.

"I'm happy to see you again princess."

"And I'm happy to see you as well my prince." Now where's the trash can around here so I can barf in it?

"Kyouya, when I said I was going to be your doctor, I didn't expect to have a party the next day."

"Well then, I suggest you take advantage of it. You could meet a lot of people here that could very well help you in ways that you may not even know existed."

"Right…" I stared at him in disbelief when I decided to keep my mouth closed for the time being.

"So where do we sit Kyouya?"

"You two get to sit with the Host Club in front of that podium." When he pointed over to where the podium I was, I wasn't exactly sure as to what table he was talking about since there were a lot in that direction.

"You mean that long table over there?"

"Yes, that's the one. You have the eyes of a hawk my dear." She giggled as we began walking towards our table.

"What's the podium for?"

"For Josh's speech of course." My body suddenly felt numb as my brain tried to decipher what he just said.

"Um, what speech?" I asked not really sure if I should have said anything.

"Each of the Host Club member will do a speech about you while you should do the same about them."

"Uh… but I don't know what to say about them. I mean, I literally did just become your doctor."

"Don't worry too much about it Josh! Just improvise like you always do!" Alyssa tried to show some support as I could only begin to sweat.

"Oh and don't worry about people being able to speak or understand English as we made sure that everyone at this party satisfies those requirements."

"What about the Host Club? I thought they didn't understand English?"

"That's not entirely true. Kaoru and I are able to understand and speak English fluently. Hikaru does understand English but chooses not to speak the language because he isn't that comfortable with it. Tamaki, Haruhi, Honey, and Mori on the other hand can only pick out certain words in a sentence."

"Sounds like I'm going to need you to translate then Alyssa."

"Well it is my job. I guess I'll stay with you for as long as you need me to then." She smiled at me as I did the same. I knew I made the right choice when I made her my personal secretary. She was the type of person that I could trust on no matter what.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Besides, who else would take of such a big baby such as yourself?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."

"Then I'll be on my way making sure everyone is comfortable. I'll be back later for you Alyssa." He said as he walked off into the crowd that was slowly growing by the minute.

"You know, I thought he would have given up on you after the deal was done."

"Why's that?" That's when I realized that Alyssa didn't know that Kyouya would usually only host to get a business deal through.

"Oh nothing! I was just thinking of a theory again!" I tried to make her believe me by laughing it off but she only stared at me in a weird way.

"Okay then…"

"Dr. Enriquez! Is that really you?" Suddenly, people with cameras and microphones were all around me like flies. No one told me the paparazzi were going to be here!

"Have you found anything medically interesting during your tour?"

"Do you have any plans on updating your gauge?

"Have you found someone else to spend quality time with?"

"People all around the world say that you're the best of the best but some of them complain that you charge too much. What do you have to say to that?"

"Why did you decide to become the doctor of Ouran Private Academy's Host Club? Have they offered you some sort of a business deal?" As I looked over to Alyssa, I knew that there was only one way to get out of this predicament and that's to answer all of their questions. This is going to take a while…

"I'm sorry but if you don't mind, please me ask me your questions one at a time. It's hard to answer any of them when I'm being bombarded with questions." When I gave a smile, they all nodded as the first question was soon heard.

"Have you found anything medically interesting during your stay in Japan?" Pictures were now being taken but that didn't faze me one bit as I proceeded to answer.

"No, nothing at all. Next question?"

"Do you have any plans on updating your gauge anytime soon?"

"Actually I do. Sometime during my stay in Japan, the gauge will be updated but I am not sure as to the exact date."

"People have been saying that you charge too much to take care of them. What do you have to say to that?" Before I could say anything, my assistant decided to take over.

"If you want the best treatment, you have to pay good money. Medicine or therapy isn't cheap you know. It takes a lot of time and effort to do the things Mr. Enriquez has done."

"But he can solve cases like no other. What time and effort could you possibly be putting into?"

"Do you really think Dr. Enriquez can just look at you and tell you what you have? Of course not! In some cases, he needs to observe you in order to determine if you have some sort of a disorder just like any other therapist. The only thing that makes him special is that he knows how to help the patient." What in the world was this woman talking about?

"Have you found another boy to spend time with?"

"I'm sorry but that's hardly any of your business. Next question!" And here I thought she was actually going to mention Kaoru.

"Why did you become the doctor of the Host Club of Ouran Private Academy? There must have been some sort of deal knowing how your previous deals went."

"He became their doctor because he cares about their health! How dare you insinuate something else! Why do you think he wanted to become the person he is now? For money? I don't think so! He cares about the health of the people he spends time with." Too bad I can't say the same thing for you Alyssa…

"Why does he spend time with the Host Club?" That's when I decided to step in.

"I'm sorry but I think we answered enough of your questions for today. We came here to have a good time, not to have the paparazzi harass us." I smiled as big as I could to try to get them off and it seemed to work until some other reporter decided to say something.

"Have you decided to move on from the suicide of your boyfriend?" I froze immediately when the question had hit me. So many thoughts and memories came rushing back into me as I tried to suppress them but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do it this time. I knew that there was going to be a time when I was going to blow up but I just didn't know when. I guess now is that time.

"Let me ask you this, how would you feel if your significant other decided to jump off a building? I spent two years with my boyfriend and we were just like any other couple. We had the best of times and we had the worse of times but we spent it together. When he committed suicide, my heart broke but did it stop there? No, it didn't! My parents died the next month because some guy couldn't stay off the road while he was drunk! The next time you ask me a very personal question such as that, you'd better do your research first. I may be a doctor but that doesn't mean I'm callous!"

"Your gauge depicts how well one can get through emotional distress and you have a gauge of 97. May I ask why you are crying?" I brought my hand up to see if it was true and when I felt the wetness coming down, I realized that I really was crying.

"Just because I got through it doesn't mean I don't remember the pain I went through." I said in a whisper as I looked down at the floor, trying to block any further noise from entering my mind.

"I'm sorry but you're not supposed to be here. Confiscate their belongings and make sure that all of the media is taken away." When I looked back up, I saw Kyouya approached us as men in black armor were taking away the cameras and microphones away from the paparazzi. Alyssa soon came to me and started to rub my back in hopes that I would get better.

"Kyouya! Why was the media here?" When Alyssa shouted at her new best friend, I looked back down again as I was no longer in the mood to do anything right now.

"Oh don't be so rough on the boy." Sounds like the Superintendent is back as well. "It was my fault that they were here in the first place and I apologize if they created such a ruckus. It's a good thing that not a lot of people noticed thanks to them surrounding you and with the music going on in the background. Don't worry, everything you said will not show up anywhere and we'll make sure of that. It's a good thing Kyouya's father had his private police force here huh?"

"Listen ojisama, my best friend just got harassed by those people! I don't know if you have any idea of his history but he's been through a lot and seen some tough times in his life. If it were anyone else, I'm pretty sure that they would have broken down by now because I certainly would have if I were in his position. The next time you have the media here, it would be a wise idea if you informed us of that! I think we'll be leaving now and you can consider your deal terminated Kyouya." Wow, I never heard her get this upset before. "Come on Josh, let's go." When I felt her tugging at me to move, I didn't resist as I mimicked her footsteps.

"Hold on!" I heard footsteps come from behind as whoever it was stopped moving when in front of us. "I just wanted to apologize for asking such a rude question. I didn't know it was so personal to you and you're right, I should have done my research. I'm a failure as a reporter for making that mistake. Can you forgive me?" I bit my lower lip not sure if I wanted to or not but my heart made the decision for me. I looked back up to give a smile as I nodded.

"It's okay. You didn't know and I shouldn't have reacted in that manner. I guess I had to let it out somewhere and it just so happened that it was when you asked me that question." The girl in a red dress bowed immediately as she gave a smile before running off into the crowd. When Alyssa tugged me again, I refused this time as I looked at her. "I know you want to stay here so we don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Josh, you're more important than anything else right now and if you want to leave, I won't complain."

"No, let's stay for a while. Just let me go outside for a couple of minutes okay?" She nodded before giving this wicked smile of hers. She brought her face to mine when I felt her warm breath again.

"Let me take care of Kyouya and the superintendent then while you're out there all right?" My smile didn't leave me as I nodded. I walked past the numerous people in the room and when I heard my name being called, I moved faster in hopes that I would lose whoever it was. I wasn't really in the mood to entertain anyone else. Once I made it back out to the front courtyard of the Suou mansion, I could see limos starting to line up in the driveway as more people were arriving to the party.

"Josh!" I didn't need to turn around to know whom it was that was calling me. "Didn't you hear me?" The redhead finally caught up to me as he came up from behind.

"Sorry, I thought it was some other person I didn't know that was calling me." As I stared at Kaoru, he was wearing another white suit but it seemed to match the one Kyouya is wearing.

"Are you planning on leaving?"

"Oh no, I just needed some fresh air you know?" That's when a smile formed.

"Mind if I keep you company?"

"No, not at all." I moved around the redhead in front as I led the way to the fountain that got my attention when I first arrived here. There was a brick path that was laid out to the fountain with four benches near it. "So how did you see me?"

"I kind of saw what happened between you and the media."

"Oh…" Well that's just great. He must have heard everything I said… wonder what he thinks of me now. Once I came upon one of the benches, I sat on farthest right while Kaoru sat in the middle of the bench. For a straight guy, he sure acts a bit different. Why do I want to think that he's really gay? I sighed mentally as this only reminded me of the reason as to why I couldn't save my boyfriend. I was too emotionally attached to him…

"Are you okay?" As I stared at the water pouring of the mermaid's pot, I could see a rainbow starting to form with sparkles all around. Just seeing this made me feel a whole lot better.

"Never better." Silence soon took over as I stared at the sky above, watching the clouds float above us with no effort.

"You… want to tell me what happened?" I moved my attention on the fountain in front of me, trying to stop the memories of the past from flooding my mind. Those were just memories that I don't ever want to relive again. To my surprise, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around me as I felt my head being pushed onto the redhead's shoulder.

"Wha-What are you doing?"

"I'm just doing what you did for me last night." I chuckled as I made myself comfortable in his arms.

"You know, straight guys don't usually do this."

"What if I said I was lying when I said that?" That's when I felt a smile creep up on my face.

"I guess you can say that I'd be a bit happy."

"Why's that?"

"Oh no reason. Where's your overprotective brother anyway?" He laughed quietly as I felt him hug me tighter.

"He's inside… with his new girlfriend…"

"I didn't know he had a girlfriend."

"Neither did I until I saw them holding hands and kissing just now." I didn't know if it was just me but was his voice starting to quiver?

"Do I happen to know the girl?"

"Yep… Fujioka Haruhi is her name." Haruhi? Does he mean the cross-dresser who is also part of the club? I didn't really care at the moment as I sighed in pleasure by being held like this. The longer I stayed in his arms, the more I didn't want to leave them. I guess I really do like the redhead that Alyssa kept on teasing me about.

"So, how long are we going to stay like this?"

"As long as you want me to." The sound of that only made me happier than I already was right now. Too bad it has to end seeing as how I can hear people chattering around us.

"Is that so? Well, I think it's about time to head on inside anyway."

"You sure you're ready?"

"Yeah, thanks for uh… comforting me."

"No problem." When he released me from his arms, I was already missing his touch but I knew better than that.

"What about you? Are you ready?" That's when he gave a look of bewilderment as we both stared at each other.

"What do you mean? I'm pretty sure I'm not the one who is need of comfort here."

"Pretty sure you need some as well."

"And why do you think that?"

"Because something tells me you have a problem with your brother having a girlfriend." The redhead in front started to bite down on his lip as I waited for him to say something. Moments of silence passed and I figured I might as well say something else. "You don't like what she's doing to your relationship with your brother right?" He nodded. "Do you want to talk to me about it?"

"Don't be offended or anything but I… I'm not sure if I should be telling this to a therapist you know?" When I gave a smile, he looked a bit confused again.

"Well, you don't have to think of me as a therapist but as a friend. Like I said before, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

"For someone who's trying to be my friend, you act more like a therapist."

"I can't help it sometimes…" When he gave a small smile, I knew that this could be my chance to get some information as to what's going on.

"Just to be clear, you know that I'm gay right?" I nodded slowly, wondering as to why he asked me that. "Well, I didn't quite tell anyone else about my preference and I guess you can say that I'm… scared." I wrapped my arm around his shoulders to let him know that I was there for him.

"Don't think too much about that. Almost everyone who is gay have a tough time coming out to the people around them because they're scared of what they might think of them so let's try to fix that for you. What do you think your parents might feel if they knew?"

"I know my mom would accept it and I sort of a feeling that she knows that I am but prefers not to say anything."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because she always talks to me about girl stuff like how that guy is cute or whatever."

"Ah… I see. What about your father?"

"He probably wouldn't like it. He already has a tough time dealing with gay people but he found out that his son swung that way, I don't know what he'd do." When he looked down, I lowered my arm from his shoulders and started to rub his back in small circles.

"How about your brother?"

"No! I can't tell him that!" Wow, that was a strong reaction. "He'd probably be disgusted with me and never want to see me again." Interesting, he didn't even have to think about that answer.

"And why do you think that?"

"Because…" He stopped short of his sentence as I stared at him, trying to figure out what to say to me. "I'm sorry, I don't want to answer your questions anymore." I nodded as I took him in my arms.

"Thanks for telling me all that." He chuckled a bit as we both slowly separated from each other.

"Why are you thanking me?"

"Because you had the courage to tell me all of that. Now here's my advice to you for now – you should tell your mother that you're gay and if she does indeed act in the way you say she would, ask for her advice on how to deal with your father, okay?" He soon smiled sweetly when I noticed his twin coming in our direction. "Looks like your brother is coming." When he turned to look in the direction I was staring at, he immediately turned back.

"I think he's upset for some reason." When he stood up, I did the same to welcome his twin when he arrived. Hmm, his brother is wearing the same clothes as Kyouya and Kaoru. I wonder if the rest of the Host Club are dressed the same.

"Should I be worried?"

"No, don't worry. I'll take care of it if he's somehow mad at you." We both moved from the bench and back onto the brick path when Hikaru started to speak in Japanese.

"KAORU! WHY ARE YOU OUT HERE WITH HIM?" Well, he certainly does sound upset.

"I was just talking to him. There's no need to be upset." When he was finally near us, he stared at me for a good minute as I smiled at him, not wishing for him to get more upset that he was now. And it sounds like their conversation is going to be in Japanese… too bad I can't understand them. I wonder if I should have Kaoru teach me.

"Why are you in need of therapy or something?" Whatever he said, it sure sounded like an insult.

"No, not at all."

"Then why are you out here with him?"

"I just wanted to talk to him is all. I don't see what the big deal is or why you're even fuming."

"Oh really? Then why did I see the both of you hugging each other?" When I looked over to Kaoru, he seemed to be at a loss for words, as he didn't say anything. Maybe I should intervene…

"Sorry to interrupt but why are you yelling? There are people beginning to stare at us you know." Hikaru turned around to see if there were indeed people staring and when he did, that's when he knew I wasn't lying.

"So what? Does it look like I care?" Looks like Kyouya was right when he said Hikaru could understand and speak English but it sounds like he also had an accent.

"You should because it's rude to start a scene in public. If you want to talk to your brother, I'd suggest you do it in a calm manner so that way, we won't get any unwanted attention."

"Listen you, I don't want you anywhere near my brother again! Do you hear me?"

"Sorry but I can't do that because I'm the doctor of the Host Club and in order to do my job, I need to be close to you physically sometimes."

"Oh so hugging my brother is somehow doing your job? That's a laugh!"

"Hikaru, would you please stop? I… don't like it when you're like this. I just wanted to talk to someone because you seemed so busy with Haruhi and when I saw him, I thought it would be okay to spend time with him." His anger seemed to be disappearing but that didn't seem to stop Kaoru from continuing. "Is it so wrong that I want to talk to someone else while you're with your girlfriend? We're both two different people so you can't always come butting into my life telling other people to stay away from me. It doesn't work like that. Please, don't be mad." A tear suddenly fell from Kaoru's face and I immediately wanted to hug him but I knew that that would be a bad idea in the presence of his overprotective brother.

"Kaoru I… I'm sorry." Hikaru abruptly took his brother into his arms as I continued to observe them. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that. You know that I care about you a lot right?"

"How could I not know?" Kaoru said through a couple of sniffles, which made me start to wonder if there was something else going on here.

"I love you Kaoru and I just want you to remember that okay?" Aww, that's so cute. If I weren't such a pervert, I would say that they both look very hot together. "Even though we made up this morning, I thought for sure that you still hated me for what happened last night."

"Hate you? How could I possibly hate my own brother? I love you too much to even have a single shred of hatred within me." Wait a minute, there is something going on here… I just know it! But what could it possibly be? Is it possible that Kaoru actually loves his brother in the way that I think he does? It's a theory but maybe he just cares about their relationship and how they don't want their connection to disappear.

"You mean that?"

"I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true."

"Oh Kaoru…"

"Hikaru…" They both held each other tighter as I noticed that people were staring at us again. Seeing as how I didn't want to interrupt their special moment, I walked by quietly as I headed back towards the mansion. To my surprise, there were actually more people coming in than when I left the mansion to get some air. Exactly how many people were invited to this party? When I finally stepped foot into the mansion, I could hear people chattering about all around me and I could even hear some of them mention my name as I walked by. Before I could make a right turn, a certain blonde girl appeared from around the corner.

"Josh! I was wondering when you were going to come back. Did you get all the fresh air you needed?"

"Yep, I most certainly did." I said with a smile.

"Why do I have a feeling something happened while you were out there?" I shrugged as we both made our way back to the party and when I was finally back in full view of the room, there were at least three hundred people here now! Some of them were dancing while others were eating salad or taking pictures.

"Wow, that's a lot of people."

"I know right? Tonight is going to be great! Oh and don't worry, I made sure to give a nice, long talk with Kyouya and ojisama." I could only stare at her as she gave a mischievous smile, which made me shiver a bit.

"Thanks I guess."

"No problem! Now let's get to our table! By the way, the rest of the Host Club is here and I think I noticed something about Tamaki." We both began to walk, as I had to raise my voice in order for her to hear me through the music.

"Oh really? What?"

"I think there's something going on between him and Kyouya."

"Well it's about time you noticed! I knew there was something going on the first time I laid eyes on Tamaki." She gave me a look that just said 'know it all' when I gave a huge grin. "So did you do anything else while I was away?"

"I got a chance to chat with the others and I almost forgot to mention that Hikaru and Haruhi are a couple. Did you know that?"

"Aren't you slow at finding out things like this?"

"How the hell do you already know?"

"I have my ways." I winked at her as we finally came upon our table. Looks like I was right when I thought that the rest of the Host Club would be wearing the same thing. I guess they like to match or something. All of a sudden, I felt a small person jump onto my back while laughing. "What the…? Who's on my back?"

"Oh that's Honey. He's very playful."

"I can tell… mind telling him to get off? My back is starting to ache from his weight." She soon interpreted what I said in Japanese as the boy finally got off.

"Does he not like me?"

"Oh of course he likes you! It's just that his back was hurting when you were on him." Wonder what they're talking about. Oh well, it's probably none of my concern but I decided to stay until their conversation was done.

"He doesn't look old though. Why would his back hurt?" Alyssa laughed all of a sudden as she patted the little kid's head.

"Let's just say you caught him off guard is all. Anyway, where's that tall friend of yours? I didn't get a chance to talk with him yet." Hmm, why is he holding a pink bunny? I'm pretty sure she said that he was the same age as the rest of us and yet he looks just like a kid. Maybe it's genetics…

"You mean Mori? He went off to get some juice for me!" Just how long was their conversation going to take? When I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned around to see another host smiling at me as she held up something in her hand that looked like a calculator. When I looked closely, I realized that it was actually a handheld translator. I took it from her gently as I gave a smile, making sure not to offend her in any way.

"Hi, it's very nice to meet you. If you didn't know yet, my name is Fujioka Haruhi. I'm sure you must be a bit surprised at how the others act but you get used to it after a while. It's too bad you don't understand Japanese and I don't understand English, otherwise, we wouldn't need this silly thing." Without thinking, my fingers began to push on some of the keys that were on mini translator.

"That's true. I wish I could have someone teach me Japanese but I really don't know anyone who would do that or even have the time. And don't worry about me, I'll get used to all of you and I hope that we can be good friends and not have a patient-doctor relationship because that gets boring after awhile. Oh, I almost forgot – my name's Josh and feel free to call me that." Once I was done typing, I gave it back to the girl in front of me who was very patient. Just a second later, the superintendent's son appeared next to her.

"Haruhi! Is it true? Did you really become that devil's boyfriend?" Fake tears poured out of his eyes as he held onto the girl in front of me.

"Yeah, I thought now would be a good time since we've been dating for a while now and I do like the guy but… I worry about Kaoru. If Hikaru leaves him, what'll happen to him?" The tears stopped as a serious expression took over. Geez, I really need to learn Japanese and fast if I want to observe anything about them.

"I worry about him too but I haven't seen anything serious happen yet so that must be a good sign right? Uh Haruhi? Are you listening to me?" She handed back the device as I began to read it.

"Definitely! It'd be great to have you as our friend and not just a doctor! Maybe you can ask Kaoru to teach you. I would suggest Kyouya but he gets a bit testy at times and Hikaru would just be hotheaded but Kaoru is more than qualified to help you out. Do you want me to ask for you?" I began to type again while listening to the two in front speak in hopes that I can try and learn their language somehow.

"Sorry, I was typing something down for Josh. It's a good thing Kyouya gave me this mini translator so I can talk to him."

"Mini translator?"

"Yeah. All you do is type what you want to say in Japanese and it automatically translates it to English so he can understand. Have you not heard of something like this before?"

"Really? Can I try?"

"Sure, just let me see what he has to say first and then you can try." Let me read this over to make sure what I said is correct.

"No that's okay. I'll ask him myself when I get the chance tonight. By the way, does the guy next to you happen to be dramatic at times?" Looks okay I suppose. I handed it back to her while I began to look around to see what was happening. Alyssa was still talking to Honey but Mori was now there and when I turned to look back at the entrance, I saw Hikaru and Kaoru talking with Kyouya. A laugh from the brunette soon caught my attention as I turned back.

"What's so funny? What did he say? Let me see!" When I turned back, Tamaki was trying to get the translator from Haruhi but she seemed to be really good at avoiding his hands.

"Tamaki, this is a private conversation and I ask that you show some respect." Whatever she said certainly made him stop as he was suddenly in the corner all white as if we in an anime show or something. She began to type something back when I suddenly heard two pairs of footsteps come up from behind.

"I see you've met my girlfriend." I turned around to see the twins smiling but why is it that Kaoru's smile is still fake?

"And I see that you're speaking in English. I heard that you were uncomfortable in doing so."

"Yes well, Kaoru managed to convince me to practice my English and said that it would be good for me even though I don't really see how it would." I felt another tap on my shoulder as I turned back to receive the translator.

"Yeah, he is actually. You're really good at reading people for not understanding the language. I guess that's why you're so good at what you do huh? Well, I have to go now since I see Hikaru coming this way. He gets a bit upset whenever he sees me talking to a guy even though I try and tell him that I'm not cheating on him or anything of the sort. It was nice talking to you." When I looked back up, she was smiling at me, which made me do the same as well. I handed back the mini translator as she waved at me. She soon went next to Hikaru, taking his arm with her own. Right at that moment, a romantic song came up with perfect timing.

"Would you like to dance with me?" Haruhi nodded as they both went off to the dance floor. As I stared at the other twin that was left behind, I noticed that he kept staring at them for quite a long time before looking back at me.

"So what happened after I left?"

"Oh nothing big really. I just told him to stop being overprotective of me and that he should practice his English."

"Uh-huh…" I wonder if that's all that happened. "Anyway, I was just wondering what your schedule is like." He looked at me suspiciously but answered my question nonetheless.

"On the weekdays, it's usually just school and the host club and on the weekends, I don't usually do anything but stay at the house. Why?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you could teach me Japanese for a couple of weeks. That is of course, if it doesn't take up too much of your time!" I laughed nervously but when he smiled, I had nothing to be nervous about.

"Sure, why not? Gives us more time to get to know each other. When do you want to meet up?"

"Let's see, usually after school I have to be at my office for a couple of hours but I don't get off until seven and that's already late so I'm not sure if you meet afterwards. On Friday, I have the night shift so we can actually spend some time right after the host club if you want."

"Yeah sure, I could meet you at your office right before you close. Is that all right with you?" I nodded.

"Definitely. If you want, you can come earlier than that if you want to see what I do."

"Sounds great. You want to start tomorrow?" And that's when it hit me.

"Oops… I forgot to tell Alyssa about that…" Kaoru looked confused when another person decided to join the conversation.

"Forgot to tell me what?" She soon approached us from the side with a certain four-eyes next to her.

"I forgot to tell you to revise my schedule so we could attend the host club."

"Oh don't worry about that! Kyouya gave me all the dates of their events and I already made the necessary changes to your schedule, see?" I stared at the girl in front of me as she rummaged in her bag looking for something. "Here it is." She took out her black notebook and turned a couple of pages into it before handing it to me. As I read through the page, I was amazed at what she had done.

"Alyssa! Why did you make it so I only work 1 day a week? Are you nuts? I'm going to be super tired and we're not going to be making as much money as we should be if we go according to this schedule of yours."

"Oh come on, you really think that I didn't think ahead for this?" I stared at the woman in front of me, waiting for her to continue before I chopped her head off. "That's why I revised our business deal with Kyouya!" And that's when I smacked my face so hard that it actually started to feel a bit numb.

"What do you mean you revised the business deal?"

"For what happened to you earlier, I made it so that the best doctors and nurses of the Ootori Corporation would work at our office on the weekdays. Isn't that great? Now we get to spend more time relaxing and still make the same amount of money!" She laughed maniacally as I looked over to Kyouya who was very suspiciously quiet.

"Um I guess so. Why are you being so quiet Kyouya?" When his name was mentioned, he brought his face up to meet mine as he gave a smile.

"I was just thinking on a couple of things. Don't mind me." Okay then… that's very strange.

"So I guess that means you get to spend more time with Kaoru! Aren't you happy?" If I could, I would rip off her limbs one by one but the only thing I could do was give her a death glare. "Oh don't give me that. I know you're screaming in joy inside! Well, see you later! I'm off to have some fun!" The both of them soon vanished into the crowd as I brought my attention back to the twin.

"I guess that means we could do it right after the host club right?" I nodded as he gave the same smile he always gave me. Perhaps it's time to talk to Kaoru about his problem that I've noticed.

"Kaoru, do you mind if we talk in a place with less people? I want to talk to you about something personal."

"Sure, I guess." I smiled as we both dodged the people that were here. Once we got back to the entrance of the room, I looked down the left and right of the hallway trying to figure out where to go. "You want to go back to the front courtyard?"

"Okay." As we walked down the hallway, people were still coming in all dressed up but it does seem to be slowing down.

"By the way, I like your suit. I think you like nice in it."

"Why thank you. I see you're wearing a different variation of the white suit you had on last night."

"Yeah, Kyouya wanted us to dress nice and it just so happened that we all picked to wear the white suit."

"Do all of you usually wear the same thing?"

"Not all of the time." Once we got to the front courtyard, we started to head to where we were just a couple of minutes ago but it was different this time. The sun was beginning to set and the stars were starting to appear. When we were finally there, we both turned to each other as I started to speak.

"Don't take this personally and try not to hear this from a doctor's perspective but from a friend's perspective. I noticed that there's something going on between you and your brother. You want to tell me what's going on exactly?" His eyes suddenly widened as he started to bite down on his lower lip.

"What do you mean?" Tactic #1 of a patient – pretend you don't know what the doctor is talking about.

"Do you really want to play this game with me?" I stared at him with such intensity that I thought my eyes were going to burst.

"I really don't know what you're talking about." Tactic #2 – deny it all.

"I'm pretty sure you do because with the way you're acting, I can tell that you're trying to hide something from me and from everyone else in that room we were in. You know Kaoru, holding a secret to yourself for a long time can be quite a burden – trust me, I know."

"How?" That's when I raised one of my eyebrows in confusion. "How do you know? How can you read me so easily when no one else can't?"

"Like I said before, it's experience that allows me to see things that most people can not." Unexpectedly, Kaoru fell to his knees as he brought both of hands up to cover his face.

"Please, don't do this to me. I don't want you to find out!" His breathing became short as I could hear him start to cry. I went down on my left knee slowly as I ran my hand through his hair, trying to calm him down.

"Why don't you want to tell me? Do you not trust me enough?" Unfortunately, I couldn't stop the onslaught of his tears as they started to fall freely. Before anything else occurred, he brought his head up and what I saw had hurt me. His tears kept falling and I knew not to turn away because there's a good chance that it might offend him.

"It's… not that at all." As he brought his sleeve up to wipe his tears away, I quickly stopped his arm from moving, which seemed to have surprised him as he stared at me. I brought both my hands up to his face as I started to wipe away his tears but before I could finish, he grabbed a hold of them with his own. When his face started to move closer towards mine, I instantly felt hot wondering if he was actually going to do what I think he's about to do. This isn't right though… I can't let him do this. Before he got any closer, I turned my face away letting him know that I didn't want it to happen.

"I'm sorry Kaoru but I just don't think we should do that you know?"

"Why not?"

"I…" That's when I began to think. The only reason as to why I stopped him is because of my theory of incestuous need between him and his brother but I don't have enough evidence to confirm that. "I… just don't think we should is all."

"Don't you like me?" That's when I looked back.

"Of course I like you Kaoru. Why would you ask something like that?"

"Then why won't you let me do it?" Before I could reply, he pushed me back onto the brick path as he lay on top of me with both his knees on each side of me. "I need you so bad right now." My eyes widened and before I could completely comprehend what was happening, he crushed his lips onto mine. All thoughts of reason disappeared quickly as I felt his tongue, begging for entrance into my cavern. Come on Josh think! I shouldn't be doing this but it feels so good! I opened my mouth obediently as his tongue came in, exploring every inch of it. I soon brought my hands around his neck as I wanted to feel more him but we were soon stopped by a voice.

"Ahem!" That's when the voice of reason came back as Kaoru jumped off of me, pulling me up with him. When I looked at where the voice came from, all I saw was a grinning blonde in front of us. "Having a good time out here I see?"

"Alyssa? Why are you out here?"

"Well I could ask you that same exact question but seeing as I already know the answer, I won't. It's a good thing no one else saw the both you but me seeing as how there's trouble happening back inside at the party."

"Trouble?"

"Yes trouble. Do I have to repeat myself?"

"Well what kind of trouble smart one?" When I took a look at Kaoru with my peripheral vision, I could still see that he was a bit red from what just occurred.

"It seems that someone has gotten sick and it appears to be spreading fast."

"What?" I looked over to Kaoru as he looked very concerned but I already knew the reason why – his brother.

"I'm not really sure what it is but there are already doctors on the scene as you already know so it's nothing big to be worried about but I did come out to look for you just in case you wanted to do something else." That's when I nodded approvingly of her action to search for me.

"Yes, there is actually something that I want to do. You said that whatever it is is spreading fast correct?" She nodded. "Then I want the Host Club and their parents to be removed from the room immediately. I don't want them getting sick on my first day on the job."

"Good idea. I'll get right on that but I do suggest you don't make out anymore because someone else might see you." I gave her another death glare as she only laughed and started her way back inside. I looked back to Kaoru as I began to observe him once again.

"So… what just happened between us?" His gaze slowly returned to me as I waited for his answer.

"I… I don't know what came over me. I just… I don't know." At that moment, I knew not to pursue what I was going after for now. I didn't want something else to happen between us.

"Did you like the kiss?" He suddenly blushed, which only made me grin at how cute he is.

"Y-Yeah… did you?" I nodded.

"You seemed to be experienced though." That's when he laughed nervously.

"I actually haven't kissed anyone else in my life really except for my brother but that was when we were really young."

"Oh? You must be a natural then." I winked at him but my ears soon picked up police sirens. When I searched for the source, I saw four black trucks go onto the grass and once stopped, men in black armor jumped out of the vehicle and started to enter the mansion. "Perhaps we should go and find out what's happening." He nodded as we both started to run back to the front but when we reached the top of the stairs, we were stopped by four of those men in armor.

"You are not allowed entry into this mansion. Return home immediately!"

"Um, what did he say Kaoru?"

"He said that he weren't allowed in and that he wants us to go back home." My jaw literally dropped as I saw limos starting to scatter at the sight of Ootori's private police force.

"Mind getting us entry then?" He nodded as he began to converse with them in Japanese. A couple of minutes went by as I started to tap my foot on the concrete impatiently.

"He doesn't believe me when I say I know Kyouya." That's when I sighed.

"I guess it can't be helped. Let's leave." I winked at Kaoru as I began to walk back down the stairs with him following.

"What exactly are you planning?" Once we were out of sight from the guys on top of the stairs, I reached into my jacket pocket with a vial in my hand.

"This is what I'm planning." I brought the vial to my face as I tapped it to make sure it was still okay to use.

"What is it?"

"You'll find out soon enough." I brought my hand back as I threw the vial at the top of the stairs and once I heard it shatter, I knew that my job was complete… for now. "Looks like we can go in now." Kaoru blinked at me in confusion as he tried to comprehend what had just occurred. I walked back up to the top to find the four men out cold.

"What did you do to them?"

"Oh I just knocked them unconscious is all. They'll be fine in a couple of hours. Now let's head back inside." We both ran into the mansion to find out that the hallways were deserted by there was still noise coming from the party room. As we made the right turn, there were at least ten police officers standing in front of the entrance but it looked like they were preoccupied with something.

"Is it just me or do I see people trying to run out of the room?"

"Nope, I see it too unless we're both going crazy." I snickered a bit at his comment but when I saw Kyouya, I immediately called out to him.

"Kyouya!" Once he looked in our direction, I ran over to him trying to find out what was happening.

"You picked a good time to join us didn't you Josh?"

"What's happening?"

"Well I'm sure Alyssa already told you that there's an infection and it's spreading fast. People are getting sick at a fast rate and it was already too late to get the host club out when my father called the private police force to try and take control of the situation." When I peered into the room, I saw people coughing and throwing up in a couple of places.

"When did it start?"

"A couple of minutes ago. Some woman had fainted and she told some of the doctors that she had been feeling unwell for a while now. They concluded that it was influenza but that conclusion was soon dropped because whatever it was had spread fast. At first it was just her, then a man, and then another. People started to panic, which is why the police force is here." I sighed out loud before walking closer to the entrance that had two men directly in front of me.

"Before I go inside, try and tell your private police force that they should recognize me from now on. I had to knock out four of your men just so I can get back into the mansion. Kaoru, you should stay so you don't get sick."

"But…"

"No buts! If your brother has fallen sick, don't worry, he'll have the best doctor at his side." I looked back to see him smiling as Kyouya said something to have the two men in front move.

"Try not to get sick yourself though."

"I'll not to." As I entered the room, I saw a ton of officers within the room trying to take control of the situation as people were screaming and running around. I guess I should make sure the host club is still okay and find Alyssa. I began walking towards the table where I was supposed to sit as I found both the host club and Alyssa sitting down at the table. "Alyssa!" I started to run towards her while trying to avoid bumping the other people but an officer soon stopped me.

"Stop! Where do you think you're going?" I didn't know what to say since I really couldn't understand him but another voice came out of nowhere, which made the officer stand down. When I looked behind the officer, I saw Kyouya's father standing at the table waiting for me to approach.

"I hope you have a way of fixing this Doctor." I smiled at the man in black as I tried to reassure him.

"Don't worry too much! I'll take care of it soon enough!" When all he did was stare, I laughed nervously as I walked past him to get to Alyssa.

"About time you got here! I was wondering how long you were going to stay outside."

"Yeah well, I didn't know it was this bad and I guess we weren't able to get the host club out in time huh?" She nodded.

"Even Tamaki seems to have caught it." She turned her head in another direction as I tried to figure where she was looking. When I saw Tamaki lying down near the podium with his father nearby, I knew I had to take of this problem fast.

"Well that's not good now is it?"

"Nope, not at all. What do you plan on doing?"

"I'll do what I usually do woman. What do you think I'm going to do?" We both smiled as I walked away from her and towards the superintendent. I walked up onto the stage and saw that the boy had a cold pack on his head.

"I hope you have a plan on solving this problem." I rolled my eyes mentally, wondering how many times people were going to ask me what my plan was but all I did was smile.

"Don't worry, I do. If you don't mind, ask him what he's feeling and try to be as specific as possible." Once they both exchanged sentences, I waited for the superintendent to interpret.

"He says he feels tired, dizzy, and itchy." Itchy? When I saw Tamaki scratching at his neck, I moved closer to him as I grabbed a hold of his hand so I could see what exactly it was he was scratching. I soon saw a couple of red dots, which piqued my interested.

"Can someone show me the woman that was originally sick?" Mr. Ootori suddenly said something in Japanese as a police officer was soon seen carrying the woman towards me. Well, they certainly have some good service here in Japan. The officer had put the woman down in front of the stage, which signaled me to come down to take a look. She appeared to be a very skinny woman in a purple dress, which kind of made me suspicious. "Alyssa, mind coming over for a second?"

"Sure." When she arrived, we both kneeled at the same time as we both began to observe the woman lying on the floor. "Hmm, are you thinking of what I'm thinking?"

"You mean weight loss?" She nodded.

"Looks like she was trying to hide it with that purples dress of hers."

"You know what that means right?"

"Hell, if I didn't know this, I don't think I could ever call myself your personal assistant ever again. She either has an appetite loss, anemic, or bulimic. I'm going for appetite loss only because she's not skin and bones just yet."

"And people usually suffer from an appetite loss if they've gone through an emotional distress, which might cause depression. Now let's take a look at her neck." When I moved her head gently, there were a couple of red dots on her neck as well just like Tamaki. A moan was soon heard from the woman as she started to rub her eyes.

"What's… going on?"

"Apparently you fainted but now that you're awake, perhaps you can tell us your medical history." That's when her eyes widened as she stared at the both of us.

"Why do you want to know that?" She tried to get back up but she just fell on her back in doing so.

"Because it seems that you have spread some sort of disease with the people here and we're trying to figure out what it is."

"Why can't you just go to the hospital then?"

"Apparently, we've been put under quarantine by the Ootori Corporation. So, want to answer my question so we can stop the spread of this disease?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I sighed out loud as I stood back up on my feet.

"Alyssa, can you please deal with her and get the necessary information that I need? I have no time to play games right now."

"You have no time because you're not being paid right?"

"Plus she's not any of my responsibility and the only person I care about right now is Tamaki." She rolled her eyes as she began to talk to with the woman. I walked away to see what was going on with everyone else to see that there were a couple of people already asking questions. They're probably the other doctors around this place. When I walked up to one of people that had fallen ill, I took one look at their neck to see that they too also had red dots. This is very peculiar indeed.

"Are you okay?" I looked over to a group of people nearby as they surrounded someone who seemed to be coughing endlessly. Suddenly, the man fell on his knees as he began to throw up the remnants of the appetizers that were served. They all gasped at the sight as some of them took a step back from the man. I decided to observe one of them as I could see sweat starting to appear on the man's face.

"Oh no, he must have gotten it too! We're all going to get sick! I don't want to die just yet!" Abruptly, panic was instilled once again into the crowd as people started running over the place but it soon stopped when gunshots were heard.

"Calm down! This matter will be handled delicately so we ask for your patience!" I wonder if Mr. Ootori knows what he's doing right now.

"Let us go! We should be getting to the hospital! We shouldn't be standing around just waiting to get sick! Can't you see this thing is airborne?" As I listened to the conversation, the man that I was staring at soon fainted and when he did, I moved closer to him to see what was going on with him. I brought the back of my hand against his head to find out that the guy had a fever. This is very interesting indeed.

"The Ootori Corporation will take care of this. If it is indeed airborne, we won't let it get out of this mansion. This is to protect your safety and the well being of the people outside." That's when I raised my voice.

"It isn't airborne!"

"And how would you know?" The man that was once screaming to leave now had a death glare on me.

"Because unlike you, I'm a real doctor. Anyway, if it was truly airborne, most of you would have gotten sick by now and I should be sick too but seeing as how I'm not, it's not airborne."

"And who the hell are you anyway?"

"That man you keep yelling at doctor is Dr. Enriquez if you must know." That's when multiple gasps came out.

"Dr. Enriquez? The boy who had set a record on how fast someone could solve a case?"

"I heard that he solved a case in under a minute one time."

"Really?" Oh boy, here come the rumors.

"Josh! Come over here!" I looked over in Alyssa's direction to see her waving her hand at me. I quickly ran over to see if she got the information I needed.

"So what did you find out?"

"Apparently, she's a nurse herself so she was able to self-diagnose herself very well although I do wonder why she hasn't gotten any treatment yet." I tapped my foot as I waited for the real information. "Oh, sorry. Recently, she's been feeling fatigue, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and itching. Just like we both assumed, she fell under depression when her mother died and she did say that she hasn't been eating as much."

"Where exactly was she itchy?"

"On her neck. She said she's been having these symptoms for the past two or three days but her mother died a couple months back."

"Hikaru!" I turned around quickly to see that the twin had fallen over in his chair, which instantly made me worry. I ran over to see what had happened and saw that Hikaru was sweating and when I pressed my hand to his forehead, it felt like that he too had a fever. When I looked at his neck, it looked like he also had the red dots.

"Speak to me Hikaru! Are you okay?" I didn't know what Haruhi was saying but it sounded like she really was concerned for the boy.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine… besides, don't we have the best doctor in the country?" I laughed and smiled when he had said that in English.

"I like how you think Hikaru. Just to let you know, Kaoru is outside with Kyouya to make sure that he doesn't get sick."

"Heh, I was wondering where he was but I knew he would be okay if he was with you. At least, that's what Haruhi kept trying to tell me."

"Don't worry, you're going to be just fine. I'll make sure of that." He smiled as I left him with Haruhi to meet the eyes of Mr. Ootori.

"Have you found out anything useful yet?"

"I guess I can say I just need to confirm one thing before I can say what it is."

"Care to tell me?" That's when I smiled as I brought my face near him so I could whisper.

"It may be the bubonic plague." What I saw next amused me as a sweat started to form on his face.

"But isn't that airborne?"

"Not really. Infected fleas that were on rats but are now on humans are usually the ones to spread it. Seeing as how more than one person is sick, this place must be crawling with them so be careful not to get bitten." Suddenly, the man slapped his neck as if there were something there. "What's wrong? Do you feel something?"

"I think something bit me." A smirk formed on my face as I continued my explanation.

"Well, if a flea really did bite you, you wouldn't have felt it because it's able to penetrate your skin without you feeling it at all. It's something I like to call anesthesia."

"I see…"

"And I must say, it was a very good idea of you to keep the people in here. At least now the infection won't spread to people outside of this room." That's when I noticed it in his eyes. "Do you mind looking over to the right for a second?"

"Why's that?"

"You'll find out in a second." He stared at me, not sure whether to do as I had asked but did so. Once he did, he started to throw up, which caught the attention of everyone in this room. When he was done, he brought a hand up to wipe the remnants of what he threw up off his mouth as he stared at me in disbelief.

"You just confirmed what it was for me and just so you don't get any worse, don't worry, it's not the bubonic plague." I smiled as I ran off to the podium, making sure to avoid stepping on the superintendent's son. "May I have your attention everyone?" The room fell quiet within the next second as they all stared at me.

"What all of you have right now is something called mass hysteria. Now for those who are doctors, you should already know what that is and if you don't, that's a problem. For those who aren't doctors, let me explain what it is. Mass hysteria, in this instance, is when a group of people believe that they are suffering from the same disease. All of you in this room who believe that they are sick are not and it is simply your imagination."

"And how do you know that it's just mass hysteria?"

"Easy. You see, when each person gets sick, there's some sort of variation from one person to the next. For example, two people may be sick but that doesn't mean both of them will have a headache – thus, variability. In this case, when I looked at the necks of those infected, they all had the same red dots at the exact same place. You can go check for yourself if you want." Once said, people began to scramble about, trying to find out if I was correct.

"He's right! We all have those same red dots in the same place!"

"I'm actually starting to feel a bit better!"

"Yeah, me too!"

"But why do we have these symptoms? If' it's true that we're not sick, then why are we displaying physical symptoms?"

"Another easy question. You see, your brain has the ability to make you feel what you want to feel. Mass hysteria is usually spread by line of sight so when one of you saw the woman fall over, that person believed that he was going to get it; thus, the symptoms. When he fell over, someone else believed the same, which explains how it had spread so fast." Suddenly, a pair of hands started to clap against one another and when I looked over to see where it was coming from, I saw Alyssa smiling at me. Within moments, applause erupted from the room as I smiled at everyone in the room. It really does feel great to help others in their time of need – too bad I wasn't being paid.

"I must admit, you really had me going there for a second." I turned to see Mr. Ootori smiling at me as I did the same.

"My apologies but at the time, you seemed to be the perfect person to test out my theory."

"Yes well, don't do it again. I really don't appreciate it."

"Don't worry, I won't." He stretched his hand out as I shook it firmly. "I still have one last thing to wrap up though." I jumped off the stage near the woman that was still lying down on the floor as I looked at her in the eyes. "You on the other hand have something else."

"Is that so?" I nodded.

"You have a little something called Hepatitis A, which I'm sure you already knew, isn't that right?" That's when she smiled.

"How did you know?"

"Your symptoms of course and plus the fact that you didn't go see the doctor. You already knew that there really is no specific treatment for Hepatitis A but to endure it until it disappears. The only thing I want to know is why you didn't tell me what you had in the first place."

"I like to make things hard for people." I'm sure you do like making things hard for people. Oops, there goes my perverted mind again.

"I see. Well, you need some help standing up?" She nodded.

"I think I'll lay her for a while until I need to stand up."

"Okay then. Get better soon." When I turned around, I immediately ran into Alyssa who was absolutely beaming.

"I don't know how you did it but you did. You solved another case!"

"Yeah and the funny part is that there were other doctors here." She laughed as I looked past her to see the private police force starting to leave along with some of the guests. "Let's go check on Hikaru shall we?" She nodded as we both walked around the table to see Hikaru still lying down on the floor but it looks like the red dots have disappeared.

"Hikaru!" I immediately turned my head to the direction of the other twin who was heading this way fast. When he arrived, he immediately kneeled next to his brother taking his hand into his.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine like I said. He'll be top notch tomorrow morning." I don't know how it happened but Hikaru seemed to be out cold for some reason.

"Josh! I can't believe you managed to solve something like that so quickly!" I turned around to meet the superintendent once again. "I mean, look at my son. He's already up and running!" I took a look behind him as Tamaki jumped off the stage as he ran past us to join the others I suppose.

"I'm just doing my job." I said with a smile.

"And a job well done! It's too bad I had to dismiss the party after that little incident. Come, let's talk business." I looked over to Alyssa as she gave a huge grin.

"Actually ojisama, I'm the one who handles most of his business deals so if you want to talk business, you can do it with me."

"Well okay then. Follow me then." The both of them decided to walk off but the one thing that caught my eye is how Mr. Ootori also followed them along with a couple of other people. I turned back to see the room quickly loosening up as people were leaving and to see Haruhi now holding Hikaru's hand. I swear, I think these people are taking it a bit too far. Seeing as how they're not going to be moving anytime soon, I walked over to the nearby window as the sun had finally set with the moon hovering above. The driveway was once again, filled with limos but when I looked down, I immediately felt goose bumps. A man with black hair and black eyes staring at me… it can't be! But you're dead! I brought my hand up to my heart as I squeezed it a bit and when I did, the man disappeared before my eyes.

---

Kaoru's POV

As I looked around for Josh, I found him standing near a window and he looked as if he saw a ghost. When I finally approached him, I could see him gripping his chest pocket and when I looked out the window to see what he was looking at, I didn't see anything at all. Was he out of it?

"Hey, you okay?" That seemed to have gotten him out of his daze when he shook his head.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm all right. What about your brother?" I looked at him in a weird way since he already knows what's going on with him.

"Don't you already know what's going on with him?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I forgot."

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Why? Does it look like there's something wrong with me?" He finally tore his eyes from the window to look at me.

"You look like you saw a ghost." What he said next actually scared me a bit.

"I think I did." I suddenly became nervous as I gulped down my saliva.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I just saw my dead boyfriend."

"That's definitely ominous. I think I'm going to step away from the window now." I laughed nervously as he did the same.

"I should do the same." When we were a good distance away from the window, I felt relieved for some reason. "Sorry to keep you waiting out there for so long by the way."

"That's no problem. Besides, I could see everything that was happening anyway so it's not like I didn't know what was going on. I'm impressed by how you solved it. You really are as good as they say." I suddenly saw him turn red as I grinned.

"Thanks. So what are you going to do now?"

"Probably go home when my parents come out of that room they went in with your assistant."

"Your parents also went in?"

"Yeah. You wouldn't happen to know what's going on in there do you?"

"The superintendent said he wanted to make a business deal with us after what I did tonight and then I saw other people join in as well. Anyway, don't forget to take my advice." I looked at him wondering what he was talking about until he reminded me. "Remember? That you're gay?"

"Oh yeah! Don't worry, I'll talk to my mom about that soon. I don't think I should do it tonight though after we just had that little scare."

"Hey, I'm not pushing you to do it or anything. Just do it when you feel like you're ready okay?" I nodded in understanding. "So are we still going to meet tomorrow after the host club?"

"Yeah of course! Unless you decided to change your mind or something."

"Now why would I miss out on a chance to spend some time with you?" When he said that, I smiled knowing and feeling that I'm actually wanted by someone. It feels kind of good to be wanted.

"I don't know but if you wanted to, I'd call you crazy." We both laughed as I saw him sit down in a chair by a table nearby as I took the chair next to him. We were now both staring out the window as we could clearly see a full moon tonight.

"I'm probably going to regret asking you this but do you feel up to answering my question now?" My heart suddenly panged, as I knew what he was talking about.

"I don't want to talk about it." I kept my focus on the moon in front as I didn't want to look at the chocolate-eyed boy next to me. If I do, I just know I'm going to fall into those eyes of his.

"May I ask why?" I decided not to say anything but that didn't get the result I wanted. "Kaoru, look at me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because what?"

"I feel like I'm talking to a child." That's when I turned to face him but when I did, he was smiling right at me and I couldn't help but stare into those eyes of his. "May I ask why you're staring at me now?" I ignored his question as I continued to look at his cute features. "I'm flattered that you're still staring at me." I soon started to move my hand towards Josh and when I found his hand, I instantly grabbed it. "What are you doing now?"

"Holding your hand." That's when he sighed but when I felt him try to pull away, I pulled him with such force that I had accidentally pulled him too much as we both fell on the floor with him lying on top of me.

"Ow… what was that for?"

"You were trying to get away." When he tried to get back up, I immediately held him back down by wrapping my arms around his neck.

"As much as you may be enjoying this, I don't think we should be doing this here."

"Are you trying to say that you don't enjoy being this close to me?"

"I'm trying to say that you should let go of me before someone finds out we're in this position."

"I will but only after you kiss me." His eyes soon widened as my grin came back.

"Okay, I don't know what's gotten into you but we need to stand up."

"Do it or I'm not going to let you go."

"Kaoru, if someone finds us like this, it's probably going to spread to the host club and to your parents. Now I know you don't want that so please let me go." I frowned at how he was right and reluctantly, I had let him go as got back up on our feet. When I saw him looking around quickly, I was about to ask what he was doing but I suddenly felt his soft lips on my cheek as I felt like I wanted to jump in joy.

"Aww, you really do like me."

"Yeah, yeah. Now let's go back to the others before they start to wonder where we are." When he walked around me, I followed suit as we both made our way to the rest of the host club when I saw Hikaru in a chair but was still out cold. Was he sleeping? I shrugged mentally as I began to listen to their conversation when we were close enough.

"So Tamaki, are you doing okay now?" Haruhi seemed genuinely concerned for the blonde boy as he made a dramatic pose before speaking.

"Don't worry about me Haruhi! No infection could ever harm this handsome man." I chuckled a bit as I spoke up.

"Really? I could have sworn you were lying on the stage just a couple minutes ago."

"I was merely taking a short nap! Besides, there's nothing more important right now than that devil dating my Haruhi!" He pointed at my brother as I only nodded my head when I noticed Josh taking a seat at a nearby table giving him full view of all of us. Is he observing us?

"I think it's cute that they're dating, right Mori?" Honey looked up to the quiet man behind as he nodded for a response.

"No! It's not cute! How could my precious Haruhi like that devil anyway? I see nothing great about him!" Even though I knew he was joking, I took half of what he said to heart.

"Don't insult him when he's out cold. He doesn't have the chance to retaliate against you." That's when Tamaki looked over to me.

"Kaoru! How could you let this happen?"

"It's not like I knew it was going to happen." I knew I was lying when I said that but I had to keep my mask on for my brother's sake and for my own.

"But you knew they were going out!"

"So did you."

"Tamaki, if you're that jealous, why didn't you date Haruhi before Hikaru did?" I started to laugh at Honey's innocent question that made the blonde blush.

"I would not date my own daughter! I'm simply stating how I disapprove of the person she chose."

"You're not my father Tamaki and besides, I think I can choose who I want to date." Haruhi began to walk off towards Josh as she took out something from her pocket.

"Where are you going?"

"To talk to Josh. He looks lonely." When she took a seat next to him, I immediately felt upset at how close she was to him but when I turned back to my brother, those thoughts soon left.

"Hey, I want to talk to him too!" Honey ran off in the same direction Haruhi went with Mori following, leaving me to stare at Hikaru's sleeping state. Hikaru, I guess you finally decided to take a step forward out of our world leaving me behind. You've spent so much time with Haruhi that I don't even remember the last time we actually spent time together and enjoyed it. Now, whenever we're together, there's always this uncomfortable atmosphere between us that it feels like I'm being suffocated by it.

"You okay?" My thoughts soon disappeared as I stared at the approaching King.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You looked like you were thinking hard about something." I looked back at Hikaru to remember those dreams that I've had of him dominating me but I quickly removed them, as I didn't want to a boner in a public place such as this.

"I was just thinking about what I should do." I soon took a seat on the table behind me as Tamaki did the same.

"What do you mean?" I nodded my head, as I didn't want this conversation to continue.

"Nothing, never mind. Forget what I said."

"Oh come on, you can tell me what you're thinking. It's not like I'm a doctor or anything." That's when I smiled at how it reminded me when Josh asked me to think of him as a friend and not as a doctor.

"I just don't want to talk about it right now okay?" He nodded as we both sat quietly. At least my lord wasn't as persistent as Josh but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"Is everything okay between you and Hikaru?" I turned to look at him as I stared into his violet eyes.

"Why do you ask?"

"I just noticed that maybe you two aren't as close as you once were." I looked away as I started to gaze at my twin.

"Isn't it time though Tamaki? Isn't it time that we both became individuals and not be known as one person?" When I looked back at Tamaki, it seemed as if he didn't know what to say as I sighed out loud. "You don't know what to say do you?" I felt his hand on my shoulder, which got my attention.

"I want to help you but I don't know you as much as I should. It's true that both of you should become individuals but when I first met you, you seemed very content just by being with your brother. You seemed happy as ever but as time went by, that happiness I once saw started to disappear." So someone else did notice besides Josh. "And lately, you just haven't been yourself except for when we're in the host club." I smiled at the thought of Hikaru and I doing our 'act' in front of our patrons, which made me so happy. I loved doing those kinds of things with him but it's wrong to feel that way but why do I have that feeling? Why do I want Hikaru all to myself?

"Tamaki, is it wrong to…" That's when I cut myself short knowing that what I was about to say wasn't such a good idea. He would immediately know what I was talking about and I didn't want anybody else to know about my dirty little secret.

"Is it wrong to what?" As if to save me from this predicament, I soon heard my parents calling out to us.

"Kaoru, get your brother. We're leaving." I nodded at them as I got off the table wondering how I should handle this situation of Hikaru sleeping. Should I carry him? Yeah, that should be fine as I brought myself to my brother's level and wrapped his left arm around my shoulders while I wrapped my right arm around his waist to support his weight. I stood up slowly and began to walk away with Hikaru as I said my goodbyes to the others.

---

Josh's POV

"So what happened in there?"

"Let's just say I made a couple of business deals in there with every host club's family but of course, we only talked about it seeing as how you need to be there to agree to it."

"Is that so? Want to explain what those talks were about?" As we rode in the limo, I looked out the window to see cars passing by while listening to Alyssa.

"To make things short, listen closely so you don't get confused. With the superintendent, he wants us to become their family doctor for a couple of years and in return, he'll pay us $10 million dollars. With the Ootori Corporation, we get some sort of a VIP thing in their company allowing us to gain the same business connections that they have so we'll be known quite a bit around Japan. With the Hitachiin Group, we get a pass to all of their fashion shows and even get to wear some of the clothing that they make. With the Mitsukuni and Takashi families, we're able to get some of they people that they train as our security. The Ootori private police force gets their members from them."

"And they all want me to be their family doctor for an unknown number of years?" She nodded. "If I were to do this, you know that I wouldn't be able to have time to spend an academic year in each country right?"

"I know, that's why I didn't say yes or no. That's a big decision for you to make but if you did say yes, we'd get a lot of things in return but if you say no, you would be able to do what you wanted to do so you can do things such as improve your gauge. You don't have to make the choice now – they gave us until this Saturday to make a decision." I sighed out loud as I turned back from the window to Alyssa.

"Whatever decision I make, it's going to make some sort of an impact on my career as a therapist." She nodded as I looked back out the window again. "I'll have to think about this hard because they really are offering such good things to us."

"Take all the time you need – just remember the deadline is Saturday." I nodded as she asked another question. "So what went on while I was in there? I saw that you were actually talking to Haruhi and the others."

Flashback

"I'm happy to know that we have someone as good as you watching out for our health. I'm amazed at how you did it though. How are you so good at this sort of thing at such a young age?" I began to type back into the translator but I was soon cut off when Honey jumped into my lap as he took the translator, typing something into it before showing it to me.

"Can I sit in your lap?" When I looked back at him, he had the biggest eyes I'd ever seen that I just couldn't say no. I smiled at him, letting him know that I'm okay with that as he made himself comfortable. Now let's see… what was I going to say to Haruhi… oh yeah!

"When I was a kid, the doctors said that I had a high IQ so I was able to excel much faster than the other students in my classes. I was actually able to finish medical school at the age of sixteen and I started working as a therapist soon after that." In order to hand it back to the girl next to me, I actually had to move my arms around Honey in a weird fashion. When I looked to see where Kaoru was, I saw him talking to Tamaki while staring at his brother. I could see that he looks mildly uncomfortable but I knew that they were either talking about Hikaru or his relationship with Hikaru. I looked back to Haruhi who was already done typing as she handed the device back to me.

"Wow that's really young. I probably don't have a high IQ such as you but I still study very hard so I can become a lawyer someday like my mother was. That's how I was able to make it into Ouran Private Academy in the first place. I'm not as rich as these guys next to me." I smiled as I typed once again.

"That's a nice ambition of yours and you should study hard so you can make it out there in the real world. It's harsh being out there sometimes you know? You see a lot of new things that you don't get to see when you're living at home with your parents." I quickly handed it back to her as my attention went back to Kaoru to see the both of them still conversing with one another. That's when I realized that Kyouya was nowhere in sight – wonder where he is.

"Josh." That's when I immediately turned back to see Haruhi smiling as I did the same when she called me. I took back the device and began to read.

"I heard that you've been through tough times yourself such as the loss of your boyfriend but I didn't know your parents died as well until someone told me earlier today." Looks like the superintendent was wrong when he said that no one would know what had happened between the paparazzi and me. "Please have my condolences. You probably still feel the pain of your losses. For me, I was young when my mother died but I know that she loves me very much, which is one of the reasons why I try so hard to be like her." I smiled sweetly at the translator but before I could type back, doors were soon opened as I heard Alyssa calling out to me.

"Sorry but it looks like I have to go now. I'll talk to you later." I quickly handed it back to her but before I could stand up, I had to get the small boy off of me. I tapped him on his shoulder and made hand gestures saying that I had to go and he seemed to have understood when he got off me. Before I left, I waved good-bye to all of them as I ran over to Alyssa.

End Flashback

"And that's what happened while you were in the other room."

"Good to see that you're starting to get along with the others."

"Yeah well, I think we're going to have another case on our hands soon." We both looked at each other as we continued the conversation.

"Why do you think that?"

"Well it's going to be two cases if I have to get involved – one of them will involve Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi and the other case will involve Tamaki, Haruhi, and Kyouya."

"Mind explaining because I don't think I've observed them as much as you have."

"It's simple really. For a while now, I've noticed something strange between the twins and whenever I see Kaoru with him, I always see a fake smile on him."

"A fake smile?" I nodded. "You really do astound me sometimes if you can tell if someone is smiling for real or not."

"Anyway, it seems that Kaoru has some sort of a problem with his brother dating Haruhi but I'm not really sure as to why but my main theory is that Kaoru actually likes Hikaru in that manner."

"What are you trying to say here Josh?"

"I'm trying to say that I think Kaoru has sexual tendencies towards his brother."

"That is definitely a first for me. Have you seen something like this before?"

"No but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Remember, there are so many people on this planet that anything can happen. To continue, Hikaru on the other hand does seem to like Haruhi but I don't think he's entirely sure about dating her."

"You sure about that? When I saw them dancing, they looked really happy together."

"It's just a theory like I said. Now Hikaru has this overprotective older brother complex about him, which is understandable but he does take it to the extreme. It's not that uncommon since I've seen it happen with others in the past. The only difference is their past since I haven't heard anything like it before. Kaoru had told me something about their past, which really strikes me because if what he said is true, then it means that neither of them have actually felt like an individual until now."

"I think you just lost me. Can you repeat that again?"

"Let me give you an example – two twins who are together at birth have tendencies to be different from one another because they want others to differentiate them. Two twins who are not together at birth have tendencies to be just like one another such as common interests in sports, other people, etc. Hikaru and Kaoru were together at birth but it strikes me at how they're managed to stay one person for so long. I mean, can you tell the difference between the two of them?" She nodded.

"No, it's almost impossible for me to tell the difference when they're next to each other."

"Exactly but now that Hikaru has a girlfriend, their 'one person' complex is starting to fall apart, which is starting to bother Kaoru. Now there are so many theories as to why he's acting as such but all I know is that I need to observe them some more so I know which theory is sounder. Make sure you bring your laptop so we can record each person this week by video and audio."

"If I'm going to bring my laptop, I'm definitely going to type my translation because that's so much easier and less painful for my hand." I smiled as I began to talk about the other case.

"The other case involving Tamaki, Haruhi, and Kyouya appears to be quite different though. I noticed something immediately between Tamaki and Kyouya when Tamaki had called him mom when we first met them."

"Oh yeah, he did say that but wait, how did you know he said that? I thought you didn't understand Japanese?"

"I can pick up some words since I've been here for two weeks now. Moving on, Tamaki seems to act different with Haruhi in the same way a father treats his daughter but I'm not entirely sure about that either seeing as how I can't understand them. I only say that only from what I saw, not heard and the same goes for the relationship between Kyouya and Tamaki."

"Do you think you're going to have to handle their cases?"

"There's a high chance but hopefully, I won't have to because there is no problem with them physically so there really is nothing to be worried about but because this deals with emotions, something detrimental to their physical health might occur."

"You know what I just noticed?"

"What?"

"Our lives have gotten a lot more interesting ever since we met the host club."

"And you're happy for that aren't you?"

"Are you saying that you don't appreciate the spice that's coming in?" I shrugged as I looked out the window.

"What are you going to do about the gauge? I've seen problems with it myself because the gauge doesn't quite match an individual correctly so that's a problem."

"I think I might entirely change it because there's too many problems with it. I'm thinking of making another gauge but I'm not sure what it would deal with." I sighed out loud as I began to massage my forehead with all the things I have to do.

"Aww, does my baby need someone to comfort him? Hey I know! Want me to call Kaoru?"

"No thanks and wait a second, you have his number?"

"No not really. I have the Hitachiin's house number and the parents' cell numbers."

"I see. Well why don't you put those numbers in my cell phone in case I need them?" I quickly took out my iPhone as I handed it to her to start copying the numbers. I yawned out loud as I looked out the window to find out that we were already back home. "Is it just me or was the rice back longer than we went left?"

"It's just you."

"Oh, okay then." Once the limo stopped, I waited patiently for the driver to open the door and once he did, I immediately went out of the vehicle as one thing was in my mind right now and that was to play my game.

"No games tonight Josh, you know you have school tomorrow." How did she know what I was going to do?

"You do know I'm only in school to observe the culture and not to pay attention in class right?"

"That's the one thing I don't understand – if you wanted to understand their culture, why are you in school?"

"So I can be with peers of around my age."

"I'm actually starting to think you should take the families' business deals." I gave a smug look at her as I entered the mansion as the maids greeted us on our return.

"Sir, I heard what had happened at the Suou mansion!"

"You did?"

"Yeah, it's on television right now. Go take a look!" I blinked at the maid before me until I ran into the living room to see a news report going on with an English anchorwoman speaking.

"According to reports of the Ootori Corporation, there was an outbreak of a lethal disease called the Bubonic Plague at the Suou Mansion earlier tonight. As most of us know, we know that the Bubonic Plague has killed millions of people worldwide but thanks to the efforts of the Ootori Corporation, they made sure to quarantine the area as to protect the safety of the people outside the area. At first, doctors that were inside believed that they were handling influenza but were proved wrong when the disease had started to spread rapidly." The Bubonic plague? Geez, I didn't know they wanted to over exaggerate what had happened. Suddenly, an anchorman appeared as he continued the woman's talk.

"That's right Jane! Thankfully, Dr. Joshua Enriquez was on site to determine the real cause of the outbreak. For those of you who don't already know. Dr. Enriquez is a renowned doctor and therapist for his unique method of solving cases within an hour. The teenager had started on his tour when his significant other died and lucky for us, he was here today in Japan to handle the problem. Luckily, someone with a cell phone decided to record what had really happened inside the Suou mansion. Let's take a look." The screen soon changed to a video of me standing up on stage talking.

"What all of you have right now is something called mass hysteria. Now for those who are doctors, you should already know what that is and if you don't, that's a problem. For those who aren't doctors, let me explain what it is. Mass hysteria, in this instance, is when a group of people believe that they are suffering from the same disease. All of you in this room who believe that they are sick are actually not sick and it is simply your imagination." I slapped my face, as I wanted to choke the person who had recorded this moment.

"Isn't that amazing Jane? He managed to solve this crisis in less than thirty minutes! Apparently, there was a woman at the party who was suffering from Hepatitis A and that's how it all started."

"It certainly is amazing Bob. Can you believe he graduated from medical school at the age of sixteen? Now that's impressive! Let's take a look at the interview we managed to get from Ootori Kyouya, the youngest heir to the Ootori Corporation."

"This matter tonight was handled delicately as we had our private police force come in when people started to panic. Lucky for us, Dr. Enriquez was here tonight to take care of all of us."

"Is it true that he's going to be the doctor of the host club at Ouran Private Academy?" That's when I realized why he wasn't with us when we were inside the mansion… he was busy being interviewed! This guy is good at getting attention for his host club.

"Yes, it is. I believe that all of the hosts of the host club deserve top treatment when it comes to their well-being."

"There you have it folks!" The picture suddenly changed back to the anchorwoman as I finally sat down on the couch behind me. "We also have news of a new significant other as this picture was sent to us anonymously. Take a look!" That's when my jaw dropped at what I saw next. It was a picture of Kaoru and I smiling at each other with the fountain and sun in the background. "As you can see, the one on the left is Joshua but the boy on the right does have us a little confused. It's either Kaoru or Hikaru Hitachiin who are both heirs to the Hitachiin Group. Whoever it was, I think they look cute together! That's the end of our news report! Up next is the weather!" That's when relief came over me, as they didn't know which one it was although, I think I should give the parents a call but when Alyssa entered the room, she stopped me from standing up as she spoke.

"Don't worry about calling Kaoru's parents. I already took the liberty of doing that for you." I smiled at her as I began to make myself comfortable on the couch. She always knew how to do things before I wanted them to happen.

"What did you say to them?"

"Oh you know. How the both of you were just talking as friends and that they shouldn't think otherwise."

"That was smart of you."

"Are you actually complimenting me? I'm honored!" We both laughed as a maid came in from behind Alyssa.

"Would either of you like to eat?" My stomach soon rumbled as it made the maid laugh. "I'll take that as a yes from you sir. What would you like?"

"Let's just do fried chicken and rice tonight." She nodded as she turned to Alyssa.

"And what would you like miss?"

"I'll have the same as him." She nodded once more as she turned to exit the room while Alyssa soon jumped onto the couch next to me. "I'm so tired after tonight!"

"You? Tired? That's a first." Neither of us said anything, as the only sound we heard was the television. "You know, I thought about what you said my tour. Perhaps it isn't what I should be doing after all. Maybe I should just stay in one country and have my main place of business there and just have a vacation every once in a while."

"Plus, you can always have me just do research about a specific country if you want me to. It saves me and you a lot of time anyway."

"I don't know… I still have to think about all of this." I could hear her sigh besides me as she sat upright on the couch.

"Whatever decision you make, I'll be here to support you." I smiled at her for the support she's giving as I stood up from the couch to turn on my game system. "When I said I was going to support you, I didn't mean I was going to let you play your game."

"You're not my mom! I can do whatever I want to do!" She merely rolled her eyes as she went to another room, probably to watch television. I soon grabbed the controller that was on the floor as I went back to the couch. I think this is a pretty good way to end the day for me.

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Kaoru's POV

I yawned out loud as I lay on my bed in my own room that I haven't even used for quite some time now. It feels as if this wasn't even my room. A knock was soon heard but before I could answer, the door opened revealing my brother. He soon came in closing the door behind him as he walked closer to me. Looks like he's fine again just like Josh said but a bit earlier. He soon sat on the bed as I heard him sigh before turning to face me.

"Why did you decide to sleep in this room?" I shrugged.

"I think it's about time we sleep in separate rooms. I mean, isn't it weird that we're still sleeping together at this age?" He nodded.

"No, not really so come on, let's go back to my room together."

"Sorry but… I don't think we should." I moved myself upright as I brought my knees closer to my chest.

"Why not though? It's not like there's anything wrong with sleeping together."

"Yeah but you have a girlfriend."

"So?"

"So it's just weird okay? I mean, what would Haruhi think?"

"She already knows how close we are so what's the difference? Please, don't do this." As I stared at Hikaru, all I wanted to do was jump into his arms but this isn't like the old days – things are different now.

"I just want my personal space okay? There isn't anything wrong with that is there?"

"Is it because of Josh?" That's when I became befuddled.

"What does this have anything to do with him?"

"There was a news report just now that talked about what had happened at the party tonight but that isn't what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is a picture they showed at the end of you and him… smiling at each other. Are you… gay Kaoru?" That's when I froze in place, unable to think or do anything. "Kaoru?" As he moved closer to me, I immediately hid my face not wanting him to look at me. I felt so… ashamed. I don't even have the energy to lie to him. Soon after, I felt his arms wrap themselves around me as I began to cry. "It's okay if you are Kaoru. I won't think any less of you if that's what you're thinking. You're my brother and I hold you close to my heart."

"Apparently I'm not close enough."

"What?" I soon realized what I had said as I made a move to stand up but his arms wouldn't let me go. "Don't leave me Kaoru. Just stay here with me for a couple of minutes, okay? Just do that and I'll leave okay?" Unsure of what I was about to do, I moved back to my original position but this time, Hikaru was sitting upright as he pulled me onto his chest. I was definitely enjoying his touch but I have to stay in control of myself, otherwise, something might happen that I don't want.

"So how long are we going to stay long this?"

"As long as you want me to." As soon as he said that, I immediately remembered saying that to Josh as I stayed there, lying on his chest. "Kaoru, I don't want us to grow apart. You know that right?" I decided to keep quiet, as I only wanted to hear him speak. "If you're upset at me having a girlfriend, just say something to me and I'll gladly leave her! You know you're more important to me right?"

"Does she make you happy?"

"Kaoru you know…" I quickly cut him off as I only wanted an answer.

"Just answer the question." Moments passed before he actually said something.

"Yeah, she does but you're more important to me!" I rolled my eyes trying to figure out how that was possible. Now I know for a fact that I'll just be a brother to him and nothing more. It's not like I expected something more from him right? I sighed mentally as I knew that I really did hope that maybe, he did like me in the way that I liked him but of course, fate is cruel to me. "You never did answer my question – are you gay or not?"

"Does it matter?"

"Actually it does. I want to know who my little brother is interested in to make sure he or she is a perfect match for you." I quickly looked out the window, as I knew who the perfect match is for me… too bad you don't realize it yourself Hikaru. I nodded slowly at his question as I felt his hug get tighter for some reason. "So, are you upset at me?"

"Didn't I answer this question already?"

"If you aren't, then let's go back to my room and sleep together! Please?"

"Hikaru, you already know what my answer is going to be so please stop asking me the same question." He sighed out loud as he finally let me go from his embrace as he made a move to stand up.

"Fine, I'll see you in the morning." He sounded sad as he left me in the room, alone to wonder what had just happened. Hikaru was actually begging me to go back into bed with him but why? I mean, in the past couple of weeks, we've been spreading apart slowly but surely and he must have known this day was to come. I sighed out loud as I fell on the bed, hiding myself under the covers, as I only wanted sleep to take hold of me. When I looked at the clock, I saw that it was 9:43 PM as thoughts of Hikaru came back, forcing me to cry myself to sleep.

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Hikaru's POV

What's gotten into my brother? I scratched my head as I tried to figure out why he no longer wanted to sleep with me. I know for a fact that he loves me and he knows himself that I love him so why would he not want to be with me? Is it because of Haruhi? But he said that he was happy for the both of us and that one day, he would like to see us get married. The classes with him are still the same and he's still the happy brother I see at the host club so what's wrong?

That's when I finally noticed that whenever we're back home, he acts different. He never wants to spend time with me and he always tries to go somewhere where I'm not as if he was running from me. I just couldn't think anymore as I jumped off the bed as I began to walk back and forth around the room. Why is he acting like this? It bothers me so much when I don't know what's going with him! Every time I try and find out, he always turns me down! If he was hiding that he was gay, then shouldn't it be all right if I know?

Before I knew it, I accidentally bumped into the desk to see the laptop that Kaoru had been using so much recently. For some unknown reason, I sat down in the chair to see Josh's business card sitting right next to the laptop. I took the card into my hand to see that Josh was both a therapist and doctor and that his office and home number were written down. I wonder… I immediately ran out the room and down the stairs to see my parents eating dinner.

"Dad! You wouldn't happen to have Josh's cell number would you?" They both turned to each other before looking back at me.

"We do… why?"

"Well can I have it? I need to talk to him about something important!"

"Can't you call him tomorrow son? It's a bit late you know."

"But mom, it's important! Can you just give me his number?" My mom sighed as she nodded at my dad when I saw him take out his cell phone.

"You better take your cell phone out if you want his number." I immediately did what was asked of me as I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket to open it up, waiting for my dad to continue. "Well come over here if you want it." I gave a tired look at him as I ran over to his side and began to copy his number. Once done, I immediately ran out the dining room.

"Thanks dad!" I ran down the hallway passing the maids who merely stared at me as I went back to my room. Once I was back, I immediately pressed call as I sat on my bed, waiting for the renowned therapist to answer. Come on… pick up!

"Hello?" Yes!

"Hi, is this Josh?"

"Yes… is this Hikaru?"

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Your voice sounds familiar to Kaoru's but yours is a bit deeper. How did you get my number?"

"My dad gave it to me."

"I see. Anyway, did you need something from me?"

"Yeah! I was wondering if I could talk to you tomorrow since you're our doctor and all."

"What is it about?"

"My brother."

"Oh? Did something happen?" I sighed into the phone as I answered.

"No, nothing happened. I just want to have a session with you to talk about Kaoru because I know you've been spending time with him so I was hoping you could answer a couple of questions for me."

"Can't we do it over the phone then?"

"I guess we can do that." I immediately sat on my bed, thinking that this conversation may take a while.

"So, ask away."

"Have you noticed Kaoru acting weird towards me?"

"Why do you ask?" I bit my lip as I wasn't sure if I should answer his question but I knew I had to if I was going to get any information about my brother.

"Well, he's been acting a bit distant towards me when we're at the house together. Like tonight, he decided to sleep in his own room, which he hasn't done in forever."

"Where did he used to sleep before he went back to his room?"

"He used to sleep with me in my bed."

"And how long have you two been doing that?"

"I don't know… ten years probably."

"Uh-huh. I think maybe we do need to set up an appointment tomorrow because I know this may take a while. Would you like to meet up after your brother teaches me some Japanese tomorrow?"

"Sure! Wait, he's teaching you Japanese?"

"Yeah, I need someone to help me out if I want to understand or speak the language and I asked him if he had the time and he said he did."

"Oh okay… sure. So we're going to meet when you're done with him right?"

"Yep. I'll see you tomorrow at the host club then."

"All right, see you!" Once I closed my cell phone, I had a strong feeling that things were going to get better for some reason.

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Suracis69: So how'd you like this chapter? Remember, reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated! I only got two reviews last time for my hard work :( Until next time!