A week later, Hikaru finally returned to school. The morning of, he stood before the mirror in his bathroom, bracing himself against the sink. His hair could pass for a rat's nest, parted messily to the left but still falling in his eyes. His tie was crooked. The bags under his eyes were darker than his pupils. He couldn't even remember if he'd brushed his teeth, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Or… do it again… He wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it through the day, but he was going to try. For Kaoru.

He still felt completely empty. The only solace he had were the daily cold spells and occasional mild pain in his back or stomach that let him know his brother was alive. It felt so wrong to be comforted by such horrible feelings, but Hikaru didn't have anything else to hang on to.

When it came time to leave, Hikaru forced himself down the stairs and into the waiting car, already regretting his decision to get out of bed.

While in the car, Hikaru decided to try and phone his parents once again, considering they were away on business and didn't know their son was missing. He hadn't had any luck with either of them since Kaoru's abduction, and didn't feel right texting or leaving a message about something so serious.

As he suspected, Hikaru got his mother's voicemail. When he tried his father, his heart suddenly fluttered.

"What, Hikaru, what?" His father practically yelled into the phone. "You've been calling me nonstop for the past week, can't you tell I'm busy?"

"Dad, please, listen." Hikaru pleaded, willing his father to stay on the line. "It's about-"

"I don't have time for this." And suddenly Hikaru was left listening to a dial tone.

"ARGH!" Hikaru let loose a guttural scream as he hurled his phone at the window of the car, feeling his rage bubble for a brief moment before it settled back into nothingness.

"Master Hikaru?" The driver peered at the elder Hitachiin in the backseat, concern all over his face.

"Oh, so now you know which one I am." Hikaru snapped before grabbing his surprisingly unharmed phone from the floor of the car.

"I apologize, sir."

"Apologizing isn't going to do anything." Hikaru grumbled. "It's about as effective as hoping and praying."

"I suppose you're right, sir."

Hikaru spent the rest of the trip staring out the window, wishing to hate the happy people they passed but unable to find the energy. When he got to the school, he went immediately to homeroom, which he never did. He and Kaoru were always the last students in the room, as they tended to wander and cause mischief whenever they had spare time. Walking through the classroom door without his other half was nearly impossible, but he somehow managed to force himself across the threshold and take his seat next to Haruhi, who was the only other person already in the room.

"Hey, you came." She said quietly. "Anything?"

"He's alive." Hikaru confirmed. He hadn't spoken to anyone in the past week, ignoring calls and turning down knocks on his door when any of the club members had tried to reach him.

"Is he okay?"

"What the hell do you think?" Hikaru snapped feeling that refreshing bubble of anger for a second. Anything was better than round the clock numbness.

"I didn't mean it like that, I meant is he hurt."

"Not majorly." Hikaru shook his head. "Listen, I don't feel like taking, okay?"

"Okay." Haruhi nodded and turned back to her desk. She could respect Hikaru's request for silence.

Hikaru went through his day feeling as if he was floating but also like his feet were encased in cement. Everything his teachers said went in one ear and out the other. His mind did nothing but wander to what Kaoru was going through, and Hikaru was left wondering why he'd bothered to leave his bedroom that morning.

More than one girl asked Hikaru where his brother was. Never, "where's Kaoru?" always, "where's your brother?" It made Hikaru's stomach churn to know that they couldn't even figure out which one was which when there was only one of them present. Not that he really wanted to be told apart from Kaoru, it was just infuriating that people could be so clueless. Every time someone asked about Kaoru, Haruhi was quick to explain that both twins had had to have their appendix removed, and Kaoru was just a bit slower on the recovery due to complications. Hikaru silently thanked Haruhi for her quick thinking, and Kyoya for keeping Kaoru's disappearance out of the media. The Ootari police force was much more capable than Japan's forces, even if they hadn't found the slightest clue as to where Kaoru had been taken. It was better that people at school didn't know.

At the end of the day, club was cancelled and Hikaru was forcibly dragged to the music room by Tamaki.

"We haven't seen you in a week." The club's leader had insisted.

"Think there might be a reason for that?" Hikaru grumbled, but allowed himself to be lead to the rest of the club members.

"Hika-chan!" Honey immediately launched himself at Hikaru, wrapping his arms around the sulking Hitachiin. "Are you feeling any better?"

Hikaru couldn't help but glare at the tiny boy, hating how hyperactive he was during such a time.

"Mitsukuni." Mori warned, calling Honey back to his side. Honey latched onto Mori, cowering slightly at Hikaru's look of rage.

"Hikaru, there's something you should know." Kyoya invited Hikaru to sit on the couch across from him.

"What? What is it?" Hikaru forced the bubble of hope down, not wanting it to burst and leave him feeling worse than before.

"Regarding Kaoru, my lead detective believes he's been abducted into an ongoing human trafficking project." Kyoya adjusted his classes so the glare would hide his eyes as Hikaru's stomach dropped to the centre of the earth.

"What." Hikaru whispered, not able to find the energy to put any kind of inflection in his question as the room tilted slightly.

"They've looked back at files matching to Kaoru's and have noticed that the victimology and M.O. are the same as previous cases."

"Elaborate."

"Well, in the past three years, many family members of rich business owners have gone missing; namely children of CEOs and owners. If any of them were with someone else at the time of their abduction, they described the exact scenario you and Kaoru experienced: one being drugged and the other taken."

"And what else."

"Well, that's as far as Kaoru's case has gotten." Kyoya tried to keep a level voice and even expression, not wanting to give away his concern and make Hikaru feel worse than he already felt.

"What are the next steps."

"Well, the victim's families were sent ransom notes after two weeks of silence. Once the first ransom was paid, which was usually immediately, a second note was sent with double the amount in demand."

"Once the second ransom was paid."

"You don't need to know the rest…" Kyoya dropped his head, a single crack in his voice betraying his stoic façade.

"Yes. I do." Hikaru demanded.

"Fine…" Kyoya took a breath, not wanting to read the rest of the report out loud. It hurt for him, he couldn't imagine how it felt for Hikaru. "One week after the second ransom was paid, the… body of the victim was delivered to the family."

"So, what you're telling me… is that my brother… is going to die."

"Please, Hikaru, understand that we're doing everything we can." Kyoya assured, to no avail. "I have my best detectives working around the clock to figure something, anything out. We want him back too."

Without a word, Hikaru rose, not bothering to move his hair out of his face as he slowly stalked past the rest of the lingering host club and toward the door. Before he got there however, he cried out and dropped to the floor.

"Hikaru!" everyone cried and rushed toward him.

Hikaru suddenly toppled to the side, feeling as though someone had pushed him over, and felt searing pain tear through his stomach.

"Kaoru!" he gasped, barely able to breathe. Then, his air was cut off all together, and Hikaru was left clawing at invisible hands as they tightened around his throat.