Here is chapter four! ^_^ Sorry that it is a bit late, New Years and all. Speaking of which, Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host club :(

Hikaru had just been chatting with his, hmm ... what was Haruhi to him now?, when he felt he was being watched by someone who wasn't all too happy with him. However, looking around, he noticed that nobody appeared to be watching him at all, but still he could not shake the feeling of unease that had settled over him.

"Hikaru? Is something wrong?" Haruhi asked.

"No, just a weird feeling I guess."

"Weird how?" she wondered, but Hikaru was no longer paying any attention to her. She quickly picked up on this and tried to locate the source of the shock that appeared on Hikaru's face.

The person standing there was Kaoru Hitachiin, however, at first glance you wouldn't have guessed it. Kaoru had dyed his hair jet black.¹ The twin's trademark auburn locks were no more. "Kaoru, your hair ..." was all that Hikaru could muster.

Ignoring his brother's astonishment Kaoru nonchalantly took his seat and sipped at his coffee. "What about it?" he asked when he could no longer stand his brother staring at him.

"I-It's ... I mean ... Why'd you dye it?"

"I thought that it was time for a change, that's all."

"Oh." Hikaru responded, noticing the coffee in his brothers hand for the first time.

"Did you get me a coffee?"

"Oh," Kaoru feigned surprise, "Must've slipped my mind. Sorry."

"Get to your seats kids." the teacher ordered.

Hikaru could not believe that this person was his brother. What could have come over him to cause such drastic changes over night? The day before they hadn't really talked much, but that couldn't be the reason Kaoru was acting like this, could it? Hikaru decided that he would approach his twin about this when they returned home, because he didn't want to draw too much attention.

Or maybe it wasn't that he didn't want to draw more attention. Maybe he just wanted to put it off, because he didn't want to know the answer himself. Hikaru tried to shake the thought off. If Kaoru wanted to dye his hair, the reason more than likely had nothing to do with him.

Classes passed by agonizingly slow for Hikaru, who ached to ask his brother what had gotten into him, but couldn't be long enough for Kaoru, who was dreading the fated counter with Hikaru. When lunch started Hikaru and Haruhi headed toward the cafeteria, without Kaoru. Apparently the newly blacked haired twin had some homework to finish up in the Library, "or something like that".

"Hikaru? Are you still worried about Kaoru? You've barely touched your food."

Wow, he was out of it enough to concern even Haruhi, whom rarely ever gets concerned about anything. He had to stop thinking about Kaoru. "Sorry, you can have the rest of my lunch." he said pushing his tray over to the "boy". Haruhi's concern was quickly replaced with a look of total ecstasy. Food really was her one true love.

When it was finally time for the host club, Hikaru and Haruhi walked toward Music Room 3 together talking about the test that they had just taken. Hikaru wasn't too happy with the results he knew he would get. He'd been so distracted today when the teacher finally said, "Pencils down." Hikaru realized that he had only written his name in neat handwriting at the top, but he pretended he put answers down for the sake of conversation.

Kaoru entered the room after they did, and his entrance caused quite a commotion. Questions concerning his hair echoed in the vast room. He ignored all the frantic inquiries and simply turned to Kyouya asking, "Can I host by myself today?"

Kyouya's face held a fleeting look of surprise before he agreed to the seemingly changed younger twin. "Thank you." he replied, taking a seat at an empty table.

Hikaru couldn't even focus on being angry at Tamaki's blatant attempts to flirt with Haruhi. He could only watch Kaoru flirt with the girls situated around him, and for some unknown reason, it made his skin crawl. Kaoru wasn't supposed to be a flirt.

"Hikaru-san? Are you upset about Kaoru-san? Why aren't you two hosting together today?"

"Uhh ... I'm not sure why we aren't hosting together, it was Kaoru's idea. Look's like I'll have to punish him for avoiding me when we get home." he said, trying to get back to being his normal self.

The girls giggled and started chatting about stupid things that Hikaru only half-listened to. He spent a long time just staring in his brother's direction, so the girls got tired of him and left. He really needed to pull himself together, Kyouya reminded him of that several times.

When he got home after having to walk, since Kaoru took his car, Hikaru hurried into Kaoru's room just in time to see his brother making out with a girl that Hikaru had never seen before in his life.

"Kaoru ... ?" he cautiously tried to get his brother's attention.

Hikaru wasn't sure exactly what reaction he had expected to receive from his brother, although he expected it to be akin to shock. Sheer anger, wasn't on the list, but that's the only thing that Kaoru's face held as he growled, "Get. Out." , and there was nothing that Hikaru could do except comply.

He rushed to his room and quickly closed the door before leaning against it and sliding down the wooden panel. Whatever happened to the cute little Kaoru that followed him around like a puppy? The image of Kaoru's face as he said "Get. Out." replayed through his mind over and over again.

He scrambled for his phone, flipped open the plastic device, and typed a text message the only person he could think of, Haruhi. She'd never let him down, he thought. But just as he was about to press the send button he changed his mind and deleted it. He always found that the best way to deal with problems was to involve the smallest number of people possible.

Sighing, he put his noise canceling headphones on and drowned out the world with the rhythmic beats of the songs listed in his favorite playlist on his mp3 player. Eventually he'd moved to the bed and was laying down while he watched the rain slide down the expansive window on the far wall. Must be a storm. Kaoru hates storms. Not as much as Haruhi, and he's better at hiding it.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, the door creaked open and soon after he felt the bed dip. "Hikaru?" the quiet voice of his twin called to him.

Hikaru suddenly felt angry. What gave Kaoru the right to act like he did all day and then decide that it was perfectly fine to act all innocent just because there was a storm. "What?"

"I'm sorry ..."

"For what?"

There was a long pause before Kaoru answered, "For being ... stupid to you." Hikaru smiled, his back still to his brother.

"Fine, you can stay, just let me brush my teeth first." Hikaru agreed, getting up. He already knew that was what his brother had planned to ask.

Kaoru quickly retreated under the covers and snuggled himself into the already warm bed. Hikaru's smell filled his senses and left him with a giddy feeling, which was soon dissipated when an especially loud crack of thunder sounded, making him jump.

Hikaru came out of the bathroom shortly after and returned to his bed, and his slightly shaken younger brother. Hikaru sighed and wrapped an arm around Kaoru, whom immediately relaxed.

It was as if they were little again. Their parents would go on some trip, leaving them alone, and they would sleep together every night, to prevent any monsters from sneaking up on them. 'Two is always better than one' is a rule they followed ever since they could remember.

When Hikaru finally drifted off to sleep, Kaoru opened on eye and peered at him. It was just like the time before Haruhi had entered their lives. When before Hikaru wanted to become separate from Kaoru. ²

Kaoru thought that he would play that game, separate himself from Hikaru, but he thought of a game of his own. And the objective of his game was to make Hikaru fall in love with him.

¹ Note: This is the opposite of the manga. If you read the manga, then you'll know that Hikaru dyed his hair dark, not sure if it was black.

² Note: In manga, chapter 50 something I think, Hikaru decides to separate himself from Kaoru in order to grow into different people or something like that. It was pretty sad. :(

Hope you liked it. It was pretty fun to write, and now I have a friend checking my documents over before I submit them, so there should be even fewer mistakes, however let me know if there are. ^_^

-Rine