The hosts arrived at Kyoya's house nearly an hour after the call. The Shadow king had allowed them to enter, but requested that they have a meeting before seeing the youngest twin. The group found themselves seated in the living room.

"Where's Kaoru?" Hikaru shouted immediately upon entering the manor,

"Keep your voice down in my home" Kyoya replied sternly. The request only seemed to anger the older twin more, but Hikaru didn't speak again. Kyoya continued.

"Now then, as some of you may know already, Kaoru is ill, he's recovering but he shouldn't be upset if it can be avoided. As this is my house, I want you all to respect my request. I've asked Kaoru to wait until I've had the chance to talk to you about this because he doesn't need to have any added stress, are we clear?"

"I think that's pretty fair, I'm glad Kao-chan is okay. I feel bad that I didn't ask him about it when I saw how pale he was." Honey admitted.

"The important thing is that he's doing better now. I'm sure he'll appreciate that you thought about him."

"Where is he. What's going on?" Hikaru asked, Kyoya could see a mixture of anger and worry in his eyes.

"He's resting right now, He'll come out in a moment, I need you to understand that you have to be very careful with him, he-"

"What happened, I need to see him, it can't be bad right, I mean everyone has a stomachache once in a while, why wouldn't you bring him home?"

"Hikaru, I need you to calm down now, He-"

"I'll calm down when someone tell me something and I see my brother!" Hikaru shouted standing up only for Haruhi to reach out, and pull him back into his chair,

"It's going to be alright." she said. "Try to relax, I know it's hard, but he did say that Kaoru's recovering so he'll be fine."

"I won't calm down, no one wants to tell me anything!" The oldest twin raged.

"I tried to tell you so many times You have no right to be angry." Kaoru said entering the room, he stood beside Kyoya. Hikaru stood once more.

"You didn't tell me anything, You hung up on me, what the hell is going on Kaoru, I'm your brother and I should know!"

"I told you, we both tried to call you, I left messages, Kyoya tried to explain it to you and if it didn't matter to you when it was happening, it won't now."

"When what was happening Kaoru, just say it."

"Rather than yelling at Kyoya, you should be thanking him, if I still mean something to you anyway."

"Of course you do, where's this coming from?"

"You really don't know?"

"You said it wasn't anything about me dating Haruhi, so explain it so I understand what it is, you're my little brother Kaoru, I-"

"I told you, you make me feel invisible. You only talk to me when you want something." Kaoru said. "That's the only time I exist, I don't care if you want to date Haruhi, that's great, I just- I'm- I don't know why I'm even talking to you right now, it won't change anything."

"Tell me, I'm right here and I'm listening." Kaoru sighed but didn't speak, Kyoya rested a hand on the younger teen's shoulder.

"Kaoru, talk to me. I can't do anything if I don't-"

"I remember when you used to be able to tell I wasn't feeling well just by looking at me, sometimes you knew it was coming before I did. You noticed the little things and you would want me to see a doctor because you were so afraid of losing me. Usually it was just a cold or flu,then you started to ignore me. Do you remember the first night I couldn't sleep because I was in so much pain?"

"Yeah, you kept-did you see a doctor when you left?" Hikaru turned his gaze to the floor. He knew his twin, if Kaoru was bringing it up now, Hikaru knew he had been wrong.

"Yes. Kyoya took me to the hospital." Hikaru's head shot up instantly.

"What, why didn't you tell me that, I would've been there...I should have been there. Is that where you were when I talked to you?"

"The first time yeah." Kaoru admitted, "The second time, I was here."

"What did the doctor say was wrong?" Hikaru asked.

"I had to have my appendix out." Hikaru looked away again, tears were now visible.

"I could've lost you. I-I'm so sorry Kaoru. I can't-I should've stayed up with you that first night and then I would've seen just how sick you were, you never act like you were and I just can't- I'm so sorry. I don't know what I would've done if-"The pain in the older twin's voice was too much for the hosts, whose own hearts were breaking.

"Fortunately Kaoru was able to have the surgery on an outpatient basis. He'll be just fine but it could have been so much worse, in most cases, the appendix can rupture within three days, he hadn't been well for two, it's a good idea to-"

"This is my fault, the one time I didn't worry, it was something that I should have been concerned about. Thank you Kyoya-Senpai, I can't tell you just-"He couldn't finish speaking.

"Kaoru, I'm so sorry, I had no idea this was going on. Hikaru, it's not all your fault, it's mine too. But there's no guarantee that our relationship will work out, if for whatever reason that happened, I want you to have your relationship with Kaoru, you're brothers and you both need each other."

"Couldn't Kaoru have gone to the hospital-"

"No, he's scared of them, When we were in middle school, he got really sick and I wanted him to go, I had to practically drag him there and stay with him. I would've stayed anyway but his anxiety gets really bad there. I can't believe I almost-" Kaoru looked to Kyoya. Obviously unsure what to do. He wanted to comfort his twin, tell him it would be alright, but he was still very hurt himself. He knew Hikaru would carry this guilt in his heart as long as he lived no matter what he said or did to ease it.

"Only you can choose how to respond Kaoru, make the decision that means the most to you." Kyoya encouraged. Kaoru nodded and moved closer to his brother.

"I've never meant to be a burden to you, all I want is my brother. We were so close and now it's like we're strangers." He said softy, he reached out to Hikaru and embraced him.

"I love you Kaoru, I'm so sorry. You were never a burden to me. I'm just too selfish and I don't deserve a brother like you."

"I know we'll never be as close as we were before, and it'll be hard for a while, but this is our life now, you have Haruhi and I'm happy for you I just miss my brother."

"I miss you too." Even as he heard his brother's words and saw the tears in his eyes, Kaoru couldn't shake the feeling that when everything had calmed down, nothing would change. He would have to trust Kyoya to keep his promise.