AUTHOR'S NOTE: And this is a chapter containing rejected material for Curse of the 'Flu. As you can see, it is all jumbled up and mostly to do with Kaoru/Renge and Hikaru/Haruhi moments. With the story focus on Kaoru/Kyouya, they just had to go (sorry!)

CHAPTER 0

Kaoru was tired, very tired. He deserved a hot bath, he thought, and a really good book. Though it had taken some time, he finally understood why Haruhi had been so quiet. At the time, Kaoru had initially feared she was ill, the result of hanging around with Hikaru too much, who was still recovering from the last of his 'flu, but hanging out with Renge…

Kaoru's head drooped. He felt a strong, irresistible urge to shut his eyes and go to sleep… go to sleep… go to sleep… BUT NO! Sleeping on trains was forbidden! It was not polite! It was not cool! Kaoru blinked hard and tried to stay awake. What on earth had he been thinking? He hadn't been thinking at all, judging by what had happened after– He groaned. Not that kiss with Kyouya… Why did he ask Kyouya? He had probably imagined it, having been by kissed Renge before and then wondering why she had done it. So embarrassing, so humiliating…

And there was no way to go back and ask for the answer.

After storming out of the café, Renge had followed him, pleading for forgiveness. Sure, Kaoru recalled, these were his favourite trousers and mixed with the cotton of silkworms, but to go through such extremes, like kneeling on the floor and clinging to his leg until he stopped and actually listened, was quite another thing!

'Not here!' Kaoru had hissed, desperate to have nobody blame him for that, so they went to a secluded spot with a vending machine no one had thought to stock for three months. It was there that Renge continued to apologise, unloading her guilt to her heart's content. Then, before Kaoru knew it, she was saying that she loved him again, repeating the awkwardness of the karaoke bar, where they had sat side-by-side for some minutes, unable to speak.

And she was staring so softly into his eyes and raising her chin at just the right angle. Like any teenage boy, Kaoru had seconds to think – that was it. And seconds later, they were pulling apart, staring; seeing each other different.

What on earth had he been thinking?

Renge nuzzled him in her sleep. This was bad. He was being so cruel. Kaoru didn't love her; he felt nothing remotely that deep. In the interval between kissing and not kissing, one name had come to mind and spurred him on, intent on revenge. That had been a proper kiss. That had probably been both his and her first proper kiss.

And they had wasted it.

Kaoru closed his eyes. How could he explain…? He opened them to the sound of a voice announcing a station, the home of Renge… god, he didn't even know her surname! This was bad. He had to get out of this...

And he woke with a start, finding himself in a bath of hot water and trying to read a book that was balanced on his face. He whipped the book aside, hurting his eyes in the light. How long had he been in here? And why had Hikaru not come to check up on him? He never locked the bathroom door. What if he had drowned or something?

Where the hell was his brother?

'Oh yeah,' he mumbled, sinking back into the water and retrieving his book, a waterproof edition. He squinted at the letters – no success. He dropped the book and let it float.

'BOO!'

Kaoru smiled weakly. 'Nice try.'

'So you're awake then.'

'Looks like it.' Hikaru entered the bathroom wearing a dressing gown that did not belong to– 'Oh ho, whose clothing is that?'

A book hit Kaoru in the head.

'None of your bee's wax, little brother!'

'Be glad I hate that book; you just dented the cover.'

'Back to school soon; you can read all the books you like.'

'Yeah…' murmured Kaoru, dropping another book in the bath and watching them spin and bob around.

Hikaru crouched beside the bathtub, worried. 'What's up?'

'I think you gave me the 'flu.'

'Oh, is that all?' Kaoru smiled, albeit sadly. 'Honestly,' said Hikaru, 'what's up? You haven't been yourself…'

'I've done something terrible.'

'Nothing worse than the past, I hope?'

'No.'

Hikaru waited, but his brother had drifted into his own realm, where not even the closest twin could hope to venture – it hurt to be left outside.

He rose and padded back into the main bathroom and through to the bedroom they both shared. 'Told you,' he said to Haruhi, whom he found smoothing out wrinkles on the covers of his bed. 'He's been in there for hours with his waterproof library.'

'Is he poorly?' she asked.

Hikaru frowned. He didn't think so. It was possible, but Kaoru looked more depressed than ill.

'Just tell everyone he has the 'flu.' Haruhi smiled, placing a hand on top of Hikaru's. 'I've never seen Kaoru so down before,' he muttered. 'I'm really worried about him.'

'It's probably to do with Kyouya,' she said.

'With Kyouya? What the hell's he done to Kaoru?'

'Calm down, I was just saying that things haven't been right since… You do know what Kaoru meant to Kyouya, right?'

'Not really. Kyouya and I don't talk like that.'

'Well, Kaoru meant a lot. And I think that Kyouya meant a lot as well.' Slowly, Haruhi looked up. 'We should help them,' she said.

'Why? We'd only make matters worse.'

'You want Kaoru to be happy, right?'

'Yes, but–' Hikaru checked the bathroom door, as if Kaoru might be listening. 'But Kyouya tried to tear us apart. I don't think I can trust him.'

'It's not about whether you can trust him or not, Hikaru: this is Kaoru's happiness and Kaoru's trust. As long as Kaoru feels he can trust Kyouya and be happy with him, that's the important thing.'

Silence.

'It's difficult,' said Hikaru. 'I can't do it…'

'Hikaru…'

'…For one thing, Renge scares me.'

Haruhi laughed.

'Why does she scare you?' Kaoru was standing in the doorframe, toothbrush in hand and reading a waterproof book. 'Well?' he said.

'She pops out of nowhere. She makes me jump.'

'And your reason, Haruhi?'

'She doesn't scare me, Kaoru.'

'Good.' He started brushing his teeth and returned to the bathroom.

Hikaru and Haruhi exchanged glances; only when Haruhi had gone did Hikaru lose his temper. 'And what was that?' he demanded.

'I'm not in the mood,' replied Kaoru, climbing into bed.

Hikaru strode across the room and stopped him. 'Well I am and I want to you to apologise! That was no way to speak to Haruhi!'

'And that was no way to speak about Renge!'

'Don't give me that bullshit! You don't even like her!'

SNAP.

Hikaru touched his lip; Kaoru saw the blood.

'Hikaru, I–'

'Goodnight, Kaoru.'

Hikaru turned.

The lights went out.

On the day he met Kyouya, Kaoru was certain of nothing. He knew not what he felt nor understood what was so acceptable in that deep and meaningful stare. In the shadows of a karaoke bar, the lips of one had pressed themselves to those of another, and for the briefest of times, the two felt at peace, equal and limitless, unconcerned with the rest of the world. They shone as bright as the lights of the city and sensed more of its turmoil than the smallest of ants. In that unusual kiss they knew the end of the universe as well as its beginning, and when lips parted and eyes refused to meet, one of them realised how important he was, and that somehow, they must continue.

Some distance from the café, feeling a mixture of anger and resentment, Kaoru had sought the department store for a toilet where he could dry his trousers and evade the affections of a girl known as Renge. She was alright, he would admit, as a classmate and acquaintance, but the seriousness of her confession, in that dark and dazzling room, stirred emotions next to nothing in the pit of his heart. That light kiss on the cheek resembled no more than a flower shedding its petals one by one or the branch of a tree reaching up for the sky. He felt nothing for her, and he would have been sorry, except he knew there were feelings out there that were not quite as hopeless.

Did he kiss Renge, as seen from the perspective of Kyouya? Was the gap between his mouth and hers really that short?

Kaoru would have frowned and said, 'You've gone mad!'

Kiss Renge?

Him?

No way!

'You love someone else – is that the reason?' Perhaps, spoke the look on his face and the disappointment on hers. 'I guess I should have known: if one twin is one way, then so is the other.'

He asked her what she meant.

She said, 'Haruhi and Hikaru – they're going out, aren't they?'

As far as Kaoru knew: no, they were not.

Dubious, Renge stared. 'You're in love with Kyouya.'

Kaoru laughed – how absurd! Were there no limits to her otaku fantasies?

She leaned closer and smiled, unaware of the meaning, oblivious to Kyouya. 'This is turning out to be the dream of any respectable fan girl,' she confided, folding her handkerchief and slipping it into Kaoru's pocket. 'Should I let it continue and develop into something beautiful? I would have preferred a romance between you and your brother – that would have been the ultimate romance – or the union of Haruhi and Tamaki – I hear that is just as exciting – except I do wonder what the impact would be if I were to become serious and actually like you, instead of just doing this to piss off other people…?'

Kaoru shifted; this was getting very weird.

'I do like you,' said Renge, 'and I would like us to be more than just friends… but that's the thing in this country.' She smiled, strangely annoyed. 'The assertive girls never get the guys, and this is the closest I can get to liking you and wanting you.'

'I… have to go now,' said Kaoru, troubled by these revelations. Renge was not meant to talk this way; he wanted her back to normal, back to being the otaku that popped up out of nowhere with that odd lightning contraption and rotating pedestal. 'Okay…?' he added, and moved to walk past.

Then he ran and didn't stop until he was somewhere far away from her. Weird, he was thinking, weird! No wonder he had no interest in girls! He hadn't found any one of them special, not one for whom he cared for beyond both Hikaru and himself. Yes, he did care for Haruhi, that was true, and he was glad that he did, he was adamant on that, but to care about a girl like Renge, or any girl, for that matter, was wholly foreign, wholly unnatural – he had spent his whole childhood being downright godawful to them!

'Maybe I'm incapable, then, of loving girls,' he mused, and called a chauffeur. Maybe that's why he could like and think of Kyouya and pretend the guy annoyed him, but what of that kiss…

…what did it mean?

Kaoru may never know and he felt ill at the prospect. On a regular basis, people here joked about the love between boys, familiar with its origins and its methods, its highs and lows, but they never wanted it to happen – not for real. Like flirting with Hikaru for the sake of designations, and bordering on incest, just because it was funny and dangerously forbidden, they never wanted it to happen – not for real.

The car arrived. He climbed into it. And the chauffeur, seeing the dejected look on his master's face, understood and drove home in silence.

'It's a magnificent plan! Whatever do you mean?'

'I mean it won't work – not without chemistry.'

'I'm certain there's chemistry! And here are test tubes to prove it!'

'I'm telling you: we need something else.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Ah, Hunny! Welcome back! And Mori, too! Glad you could make it!'

'We're trying to formulate a plan that will bring Kaoru and Kyouya together, but milord here is suggesting we let sleeping dogs lie.'

'That might work…?'

'Ha! You see, Hikaru? My plan is best!'

'Bee's wax, milord.'

'Are Kyouya and Kaoru coming?'

'No, Kaoru's still sleeping.'

'And so is Kyouya.'

'In the same bed?'

'Do you have the 'flu again, Hunny?'

'No… but where's Haruhi?'

'This is a man's job, a man's quest! She is not a man who is not invited!'

'In other words: you forgot.'

'As would any father!'

'But what's the plan?'

'Well…'

'And then there were two!' remarked Renge as another army was destroyed in defence of her kingdom. 'This is sooo much fun! I don't know why I never played these games!'

'Yeah…' sighed Haruhi, who had lost for the zillionth time. Without the Host Club, strategy games were the next best thing.

'Reset?'

'Go on, then.'

Haruhi felt prepared. She had studied everything back-to-front, inside-out, topsy-turvy, and there was no way she would fail her subject assessments on Monday, the day school would recommence. But Renge, thought Haruhi, smiling again as she lost. The girl had seen more of Japan than the inside of her textbooks, searching, as she was, for the ultimate cosplay experience. She had travelled from Okinawa to Hokkaido, searching, always searching… except the conventions she went to didn't matter and the costumes she bought unimportant. Excuses, they were, just excuses; she was trying to forget about Kaoru Hitachiin.

'He's done it before,' a classmate had consoled her. 'He's even done it to me.' But Renge wouldn't believe it. And Haruhi wouldn't believe it, either. The Kaoru they knew was sensitive and kind – a little mischievous at times, they had to admit – though not as heartless or malicious as the girls were making out.

'People change,' said Haruhi. 'Kaoru is a nicer person.'

Renge stared at the computer screen. 'If you say,' she responded, her gamepad clicking rapidly.

Haruhi lost again. 'Did he explain?' she asked.

'No,' replied Renge. 'I was too busy hitting him.'

Ah.

They played in silence.

'It's hopeless,' snapped Renge, conceding a win.

'I'm sorry…'

'No! The situation with me and Kaoru! It's hopeless!'

Evil eyes.

'Wha-wha-what's that look for?' stammered Haruhi.

'YOU,' stormed Renge, 'I KNEW IT.'

'Kn-knew what?'

'If you're in love with Hikaru and Hikaru is in love with you which means the same thing with Kaoru leading me to conclude how Kaoru must be in love with some guy in just the same way you and Hikaru are in love with each other!'

'…what?'

'You're gay!'

'Er…'

Renge crushed Haruhi in a hug.

'CONGRATULATIONS!'