Comfort

"Kaoru, listen to me." Hikaru said." Nothing can come between us. Not even Haruhi. I love you, Kaoru."

Kaoru's hand was gripped tightly around Hikaru's sleeve. His nails were nearly digging into Hikaru's flesh. Hearing his brother say these words just made him angrier with himself.

"Those words have a whole different meaning to you, don't they?" He pushed himself away from Hikaru and bolted out the double door. His eyes pulsed with pain as he ran into the brightly lit hallway. "Stupid!" He shouted at himself. "Stupid, stupid!"

Hikaru followed him out the door and down the hall, letting his tears go as he ran. "Kaoru!" he shouted, voice filled with pain. Then, Kaoru said something Hikaru had never expected to hear. Six words with the ability to rip Hikaru's heart out of his chest, still beating. Kaoru ran faster and screamed, "I wish you weren't my brother!"

There it was. A declaration that murdered Hikaru, ripped out his insides, tore out his heart. He skidded to a halt. Kaoru had left him in a too familiar position. Again he stood, watching his brother disappear down the hall, reaching out for him just like before. Only this time, his body was a stone statue. His chest crumbled into gravel. His entire body crumbled away into ruins, until he was nothing but a lifeless pile of dust.

Haruhi was fascinated. She'd never ridden in a limo before. She tried to contain her fascination, but was failing miserably.

"Whoa, there's a TV in here?" She played with the remote, wide eyed. In an attempt to turn on the TV, she accidentally rolled up the divider between the back seat and the driver.

"A universal remote?"

"Yeah," Tamaki replied casually. He took the remote from her and said, "Watch this!" he pointed the remote at the roof, there an opening appeared.

"But it's raining!" Haruhi screamed, grabbing for the remote.

"Don't worry, there's glass. We won't get wet. Besides, I think the rain is calming down." In a stroke of bad timing, a flash of lightening lit up the limo through the moon roof, followed by a crash of thunder. Haruhi's hair stood on end and she shrieked. Without thinking, she clung to Tamaki's shirt, burying her face in his chest. She balled the cloth of his shirt in her fists, terrified.

"I'm so sorry," Tamaki said, blushing like a tomato and scrambling for the remote to the moon roof. The divider came down a few inches, and the chauffer's voice came into the cab. "Are you alright, miss?" His eyes found the two of them huddled in the rearview mirror, and widened. "Oh, sorry Master Tamaki. Don't mind me." He smiled and rolled up the divider again. Haruhi jumped and nervously pushed away from her sempai. "N-No! It's not like that!"

At that moment, another flash of lightening lit up the limo throught the windows. A yelp came to Haruhi's throat and she curled into a ball with her hands over her head. Tornado drill position. Tamaki ran his hand slowly up and down Haruhi's back, comfortingly. A few minutes passed, and he put his lips to her ear. "You can open your eyes now." Haruhi slowly uncurled from her position, hesitantly looking around her. Somehow, the windows were pitch black. "How did you do that?" she asked Tamaki.

"The windows have a remote controlled tinting system," he replied. "You can't see the lightening anymore." He pointed the remote at a box in the ceiling, and softly, a beautiful piano concerto started playing. The music grew louder. "And hopefully this will help drown out the thunder. Unfortunately I don't have any ear-plugs."

Haruhi looked into Tamaki's violet eyes and smiled. "Thank you, sempai. You can be really cool sometimes, you know."

Tamaki blushed harder, looking away from Haruhi. A quieter crash of lightening rumbled, and Haruhi tensed a little. She tried really hard not to give away her fear, but the whimpering sounds in her throat betrayed her. Tamaki's hand landed on her shoulder. He didn't put his arm around her like he wanted to. Haruhi inched closer to him. Crash! A louder strike shook the car. Tamaki jolted when Haruhi's head ended up on his shoulder. Electricity was coursing through his body when he felt Haruhi's arm around his waist. He was shocked to discover that his arm had betrayed his brain and ended up around Haruhi's dainty shoulders. The action was instinctive. Something inside him wanted nothing more than to protect her. Forever.

To his surprise, Haruhi did not pull away.

"See, aren't you glad I gave you a ride home?" he smiled. "It's so much easier when you don't have to get through things on your own, huh?"

A small voice replied, "Thanks, Tamaki." His eyes widened. Tamaki? She never called him that. Did he just cross the line from being her sempai to being her companion? Her friend?