Hikaru watched longingly as Kyoya and Hani drove off home in their cars, before following the Host Club president down the school drive and onto the street. He wished, not for the first time, that he could have gotten a ride with one of them, but they had all agreed that a walk home with Tamaki was better for him. Well hang them all! Didn't any of them realize he wanted to get back and check on his brother? He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Obviously not.

He walked behind the blond silently for a while, trying to think of a way to get rid of him so that he could at least catch a taxi back to his home. Then he smirked.

"Are you sure it was okay to let Haruhi go home alone, Highness?" he asked.

Tamaki only shrugged. "She's meeting her father."

"Oh." The smirk evaporated and Hikaru's shoulders slumped.

"Besides," the second-year continued. "Its obvious that you need me more than she does right now."

Hikaru snorted. "Don't flatter yourself. What makes you think I need you?"

"It's a lovely evening isn't it?" Tamaki asked with a flash of his deep blue eyes, as he turned his head up slightly to the breeze.

"For you, I'm sure," Hikaru muttered through clenched jaws. "Answer the question, Highness."

"Of course, I'm sure you would be enjoying it a lot more if Kaoru was here."

Hikaru frowned. "Don't rub it in alright."

"Still, its better than walking home all alone, right?" Tamaki finished, steam-rolling over everything the younger boy had said, as he fell into step with him.

The twin sighed. "Yes, Kaoru should have been here, is that what you want me to say? I'm sorry I snapped at him, is that what you want to hear?"

"My dear boy," Tamaki laughed. "There's no point in telling me these things."

"Then what do you want from me!" Hikaru stopped and yelled at him.

The blond's eyes widened slightly and the laughter died on his lips as he turned to face the angry junior.

"I don't want anything from you," he said. "But it would be good for you if you stopped doing that."

Hikaru almost threw his hands up in frustration. "Doing what!"

"That. What you're doing now. What you did to Kaoru."

"I didn't do anything to Kaoru! Stop implying that I did something horrible to hurt him. I only told him to stop acting and behave himself at dinner."

"How do you know he was acting?" Tamaki asked simply.

"I don't know! That's why I want to get home and see if he's alright!" Hikaru glared at his senior.

Tamaki caught a flower petal that blew past his face and gently rubbed it between his thumb and fore-finger. "We take the things we know so well for granted sometimes," he murmured softly, as if speaking to the petal. "We only realize how much we miss them when we don't have them around anymore." He raised his hand and blew the petal from his palm, to let it get caught up in the wind again.

"Senior Tamaki," Hikaru began, starting to lose patience with his flighty club president. "Get to the point."

"My point is that I want you to think about what you did," Tamaki replied, blue eyes boring into hazel-green. "THINK Hikaru. Think carefully about it, and about what Senior Hani and I told you." He started walking again.

Hikaru stood where he was and tried to recall what had been said. Then his eyes widened in a sudden realization and he dashed after Tamaki, grabbing the back of the other boy's jacket.

"K-Kaoru… is there something wrong with him?" he asked urgently. "Is it serious? Is he going to die? Is that why you told me all those things?"

Tamaki stopped and gripped Hikaru's shoulders, giving him a gentle shake. "Hey, hey, slow down. Kaoru's not dying – that's thinking too much – but he's not well. Senior Mori took him home, and Kyoya's already sent a doctor over to your house."

Hikaru's lips curled into a pout. "Then why wont you let me go home and be with him?"

"Because he needs a brother. Not a guard-dog who's going to snap at anyone who tries to touch him."

"I should snap at you," Hikaru said. "You all knew he was sick, why didn't you say something?"

"I didn't know till Kyoya told me," Tamaki admitted. "Even if I did know, I wouldn't have mentioned it, because I'm not the one that matters."

The younger boy hung his head and stared at the ground. "I've been a horrible brother. I couldn't even tell my own twin was sick."

"That's not a very helpful attitude either," Tamaki said. "Now do you see why we can't let you go home just yet?"

Hikaru nodded. "Because Kaoru needs a brother and not some self-pitying fool." He looked up at Tamaki again. "When you said 'think' just now, you meant I should stop thinking of myself and think of Kaoru, didn't you?"

"No. When I said 'think', I just meant 'think', but if you want to take it that way, please, by all means go ahead."

"Oh." Hikaru blinked. "Well, if I say I'm okay now, can we take a taxi home?"

"No," Tamaki said again. "We're going to finish this walk so you can tell Kaoru about it when you get home. It might make him feel better."

Hikaru sighed in resignation. "Fine, lead the way."

Tamaki smiled, slung an arm around the boy's shoulders and happily continued to stroll down the street. Inspite of himself, Hikaru felt his mouth curling up into a small smile as well, as he looked at the trees around him that were now kissed with the gold of the setting sun.

They crossed a bridge and stopped a moment to toss a few pebbles into the bubbling stream below. All around them they could hear the sounds of birds calling to each other as they returned to their nests. For a moment, Hikaru wondered if Kaoru had known about all of this and that was why he'd wanted to walk home – so Hikaru could see it too.

He glanced at Tamaki and noticed that the older boy seemed happier to be out here instead of returning to his own home. He thought about what the blond had said earlier, and something occurred to him that he hadn't realized before.

"Do you miss your mother?" he asked the senior softly.

Tamaki looked at him, a little surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"Because of what you said about missing the things you took for granted."

The blond looked back at his reflection in the water and tossed another pebble in, making the image ripple. "Sometimes," he replied. "Like during Christmas and Mother's Day."

Hikaru threw a pebble in. "Come over to our house one day, when Kaoru's better. I'll ask Mom to cook a meal for you."

Tamaki's eyes lit up a little bit. "I havent had that kind of a meal in years. That would be nice, Hikaru."

"Yeah, I thought so. Mom hasn't cooked for us in a while either." Hikaru straightened and clapped the second-year lightly on the back, before resuming walking. "So tell me about France."

The Suou heir fell into step with the first-year. "You need to specify which part of France."

Hikaru smiled a little. "The nicest part."

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A/N - Thank you to all my reviewers, first and foremost, glad you're liking this so far, and i hope you'll stay on through this crazy little ride... i honestly have no idea where or how its going to end, so i'm taking it chapter by chapter...

i wanted this chapter to bring out a little more of Tamaki's personality where he shows he really does care for his friends under all his charm and flamboyance... he may be an idiot during club moments, but he's got depth too, and he knows when to stop being an idiot and be a friend.. something like what he did for Haruhi during the beach episode when he saved her from the water...

So eventhough this fic is Twins-centric, expect to see some of the other charas get their own chapters too...