Hikaru spent his day staring at the wall. He couldn't bring himself to move. It didn't seem that Kaoru was in too much distress, apart from an hour or two of near-panic. He was holding up well, at least as far as Hikaru could tell.

In the early evening, Hikaru began to feel a slight chill run through his body. Not thinking much of it, he wrapped the blankets around himself more tightly, but the chill persisted. It wasn't until Hikaru was shivering fiercely that he realised the cold spell was coming from Kaoru.

"Kaoru…" Hikaru moaned, feeling a fresh wave of pain and guilt wash over him as he shook, buried beneath layer upon layer of blankets. "What's happening to you?"

After twenty minutes or so, the shivering died down, and Hikaru managed to uncurl himself from the fetal position. He sat up and stretched, feeling his stiff joints crack and pop after being stationary for so long. He reached for his phone and pressed speed dial two, listening to the ringtone for a few seconds before a familiar voice picked up.

"Hikaru, how are you doing?" Kyoya answered. Distant voices floated in from the background, letting Hikaru know that the host club was in full swing. He found himself hating the fact that people were carrying on their normal lives when Kaoru was hurting so badly.

"Any news yet?" Hikaru's broken voice came through the line as Kyoya moved to the edge of music room three, getting away from the crowd. He figured Hikaru wouldn't answer the question, it was quite a stupid inquiry during such a time.

"Not yet." Kyoya hung his head, he could almost feel Hikaru's misery through the phone. "But we're doing everything we can."

"Well it's not enough." Hikaru snapped. "My brother is still gone."

"Hikaru, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet." Kyoya explained gently, keeping his cool. "I can't begin to imagine how you feel, but it is still very early in the investigation."

"Is that Hikaru?" Kyoya spun around that the sound of Tamaki's voice and nodded while he received the seething silence on the other end of the line. Tamaki motioned for Kyoya to give him the phone.

"Hikaru, once club is finished we're coming over." Tamaki declared.

"I don't want-"

"I don't care." The boss cut in before Hikaru could say what he didn't want. "You're our friend and we're going to support you. That's final."

There was a moment of silence before Hikaru responded again. "Okay." Was all he said before hanging up.

Hikaru flopped back down on the bed, longing to be able to roll over and rest his head on his brother's shoulder. Whenever they were upset, the twins only had to be there to make each other feel better again. There was something about having someone who always knew exactly what you'd been through, were going through, and would be through that brought light to every situation and made everything okay. Hikaru and Kaoru were really one being, separated only by the most minor of technicalities. They both knew they would have to grow up and separate at some point, but this wasn't how it should be done. They shouldn't have been pulled apart by force and kept away, only connected by mutual pain and suffering. It wasn't fair.

When Hikaru heard a knock at his bedroom door, he grunted and sat up, hoping the guttural noise carried across the room. It did, and the door opened, allowing for the members of the host club to spill through it. Honey immediately leaped onto the bed, latching onto Hikaru's neck with his thin arms. When Hikaru failed to hug Honey back, Mori stepped in and pried his cousin off of the grieving twin.

"How are you feeling?" Haruhi asked, immediately regretting the question when all she got in response was a cold glare. "I figured, I just didn't…"

"My family's police force is stationed at every road in and out of the city." Kyoya stepped in front of Haruhi before she could make more of a fool of herself. "They've been instructed to search every car. Patrols around the city have also increased tenfold. We will find him."

"When." Hikaru stated rather than asked. Nobody had ever seen either twin so emotionless. Even when they were bored or ignoring someone, they always had their edge of mischief. The edge that was completely gone from Hikaru. "Today, tomorrow, next week, next year? When?"

"I can't tell you that." Kyoya sighed.

"What I can tell you is that we'll be here for you for as long as it takes." Tamaki attempted to reassure his friend, knowing he would fail. "Whatever you need from us, you just have to ask and it will be done."

"Tama-chan's right." Honey nodded. "We're your friends and we'll do whatever we can to help you."

Everyone nodded along and mumbled their agreement, doing little to calm Hikaru's worry. He didn't need support of these people, he needed his brother. The only person he could never live without was Kaoru; anyone else he would get over eventually.

Suddenly, Hikaru felt the constant uneasiness he'd become accustomed to change into all out panic. Pure and utter fear that made his breath stop and his body shake.

"Hikaru!" Haruhi and Tamaki exclaimed as he dropped off the edge of the bed onto his knees. He clutched at his heart while using the other hand to keep his body upright.

"We've never been this scared before." He managed around hyperventilated breaths. He didn't want to think about what could be happening to his twin. Hikaru didn't want anything that could have him so terrified in his mind. He knew that if he imagined a scenario, it would only add to the panic.

As quickly as the panic came, it disappeared, leaving Hikaru with a deep, horrifying feeling of emptiness. His eyes widened and then he squeezed them shut, hoping for something, anything to tell him what he thought he was feeling was wrong.

"Hika-chan?" Honey asked, joining Tamaki and Haruhi on the floor. "What's wrong?"

"He can't be…" Hikaru mumbled to himself, thinking he might be able to convince himself of the unlikely fact if he said it out loud. "No, it would hurt more. It would have to hurt more." He was too numb to even cry as he silently begged his twin to give him a sign.

"Hikaru, you're not suggesting…" Kyoya couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. If he couldn't say it, he had no idea how Hikaru could be living through it.

Hikaru dropped his head, wanting so badly to feel something, anything. It was like his emotions had been turned off. "It feels like he died."