Hikaru felt lopsided as he walked down the hallway at school. There was no one to balance him out. The strange looks he received only served to reinforce the oddness he felt. He wanted to just go hide in the music room for the day, but he couldn't. He had a job to do. He had to remain amongst the other students for Kaoru's sake.

As he continued down the hall, he kept his ears open, just as his mother requested. He heard many whispered comments as the other students passed by.

"Where's the other one?"

"I wonder why he's alone."

"Maybe they're fighting again."

"Wow, I don't think I have ever seen just one."

"Heh, probably too scared to show his face."

Hikaru whirled around to find the source of the final comment, but all he saw was a sea of blue jackets and yellow dresses. He had no idea who had said it, but it had definitely been a male voice. Unable to find what he was looking for, Hikaru headed to class.

He arrived at the classroom just before the bell rang, and slipped into the seat next to Haruhi. She looked over at him, puzzled.

"Where's Kaoru?" she asked.

"He's home," Hikaru replied. He wanted to explain, but the sensei, who had just begun the lesson, was glaring at him. "I'll tell you later," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

The day dragged on, and Hikaru got no closer to finding out what had happened. Finally, classes ended. Hikaru and Haruhi walked together toward the third music room.

"Well?" inquired Haruhi.

"Kaoru was hurt….badly," he added.

"How? What happened?" she gasped, her voice full of concern.

"That's the problem. He's not talking. It looks like someone beat him up, but he's not saying who. We can't get anything out of him. It doesn't make any sense. I don't know who he could possibly be protecting." Hikaru would be surprised to learn that he was the one being protected by Kaoru's silence.

"Well, if anyone can figure it out, it will be you. You probably know him better than you know yourself." Haruhi placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"Thanks for your confidence," Hikaru replied gratefully. He just wished he felt as confident as Haruhi did.

Once they reached the music room, Hikaru related the story once more to the rest of the Host Club members. He included the comment he had overheard in the hall; the sole bit of information he had managed to gather the entire day.

When he had finished, the club members sat in silence, contemplating what should be done. Finally, the king leapt to his feet and raced to Hikaru's side. "It is clear then," he announced, flinging his arm around the twin. "We must cancel club activities this afternoon and commence our investigation immediately!" Hikaru was relieved that he would no longer be alone in his search for the truth.

"No," came the objection from across the room. "Host Club will open today as planned."

The other members turned to look at Kyoya in astonishment. "What!?" protested Tamaki. "Are you that concerned for the club funds that you can not take a moment to think of a suffering family member!?" he argued, protectively hugging Hikaru closer.

Kyoya sighed. Must he always explain himself to this idiot. "Whatever happened must have occurred shortly after the twins left Host Club yesterday; when they split up in their attempt to kidnap Haruhi."

Haruhi looked suspiciously over at Hikaru who glanced down guiltily. He had not told that part of the story. 'So that's what he was up to,' she thought to herself. She had wondered at the time why Kaoru had not been present. The thought of what must have been happening at that moment saddened her.

Kyoya continued, "The customers who were here yesterday afternoon would have still been on campus at the time of the incident. Many of them will be back today. Perhaps one of them saw something. The sad sight of a lone twin is sure to get them talking."

As usual, Kyoya's logic was impeccable. So it was decided; Host Club would carry on as usual. They would not give the customers any details, but merely imply that Kaoru's absence was due to something that had occurred yesterday after closing. As expected, all of the girls wanted to appear knowledgeable about the situation. Most of them related stories of seeing Kaoru with Haruhi outside the front gate. A few others had seen Hikaru as he searched the school for his brother, and had also mistaken him for Kaoru.

Only one girl's story was different. "I was standing at the window, watching for my family's limo to arrive to take me home. I saw Kaoru running. Well, I didn't know it was Kaoru at the time," she amended, "but I could see his auburn hair, so I knew it was one of them. He was with three other boys. They all had black hair. One of them was rather tall. I thought it might have been Mori-Sempai." The club members looked over to Mori, who shook his head.

The girl went on. "They all ran into the hedge maze and disappeared from view. I figured the Host Club members were playing Kick the Can again, or some other commoner game. I really didn't think anything of it. Shortly after, the car arrived, and I went home."

Most of the occupants of the third music room stared intently at the girl as she related her tale. Only one person surveyed the faces of the crowd instead. Kyoya noted a fearful expression on the face of one girl. Her name was Mariko, and she designated the twins exclusively whenever she visited Host Club. Kyoya watched as her face went pale, and as she slipped quietly from the room when the other girl had finished talking. He jotted the information down in his notebook for future reference. He would have to look into this.

After Host Club ended, and the girls had all departed, the club members decided to look through the hedge maze to see if they could find anything out of the ordinary. They split into pairs to cover more ground. Much to Tamaki's dismay, Haruhi went with Hikaru.

As they walked through the labyrinth, Hikaru began to notice several broken branches sticking out of the normally well manicured hedge. "This is odd," he said, pointing them out to Haruhi. The two of them were able to follow the jutting twigs like trail markers. They finally arrived at a dead end where there was a considerable amount of damage to the surrounding hedges. Haruhi and Hikaru scoured the area, but found only sticks and leaves on the trampled grass.

Hikaru sat down heavily in defeat on the stone bench. "I'll never figure this out. I'm useless," he whimpered dropping his face into his hands. Haruhi sat down next to him and put a comforting arm around his shoulder.

"Don't you dare give up now. Think of Kaoru!" she reprimanded. "You've learned a lot today. And look at that!" she offered, pointing down to the corner of the bench. Hikaru looked to where she was pointing, and saw a dark read smear on the light grey stone. He crouched down to examine it closer.

"Blood," he said in a whisper. As he brushed his fingers lightly over the rough stone, he could almost hear the echoes of the struggle. It had happened here, just the day before, probably at about the same time of day. How could Hikaru not have known his twin was in trouble? Why didn't Kaoru call out to him, like he had when he was locked in room 2-C with the class president? Granted, neither twin could explain what had happened that time, but there was definitely some supernatural connection between them. Why didn't it work this time?

Haruhi placed a hand on Hikaru's shoulder as he stared transfixed at the dark red stain. "Come on," she encouraged, breaking him from his thoughts. "Let's go find the others, and show them what we found." Hikaru nodded absently as he stood and followed Haruhi out of the maze.

oOoOo

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews. Keep them coming. It is nice to know I am not just writing this for myself. More about Kaoru next time.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Host Club characters. I am only borrowing them. I promise to put them back when I'm done.