Hold hands

"Ne, Hikaru. Do this one, this one's cute."

"Huh? What one?"

"'Hold hands'."

"Hold…Ha-Haruhi's hand?"

"Nah, Mori's."

"So, Haruhi's hand."

"No duh, Sherlock."

Hikaru frowned to himself. Holding hands. It wasn't as easy as Kaoru had said.

I mean, he reasoned to himself, a hand is a lot of skin. It's not like throwing an arm round her. Holdings hands means… skin touching skin. Palms touching palms. Fingers touching fingers. It's like… intimate.

Hikaru suddenly blushed scarlet, wondering madly how he could make holding hands sound so damn wrong.

The Host club (minus Satoshi and Chika) were walking lazily through the lush university grounds, heading for the point where they were going to meet up with Huni and Mori, for the simple reason that they hadn't for a while (they didn't go to the same campus but Mori seemed happy to drive over). Though none of them were sporting coats, it was the first chilly, autumn day of the year and golden leaves crackled under each footfall.

Kaoru had 'subtly' left Hikaru and Haruhi alone by prying Tamaki away and involving both him and Kyouya in an in-depth conversation of what universities they were going to themselves.

Haruhi hadn't noticed and was busy watching stray leaves dance lazily in the wind, feeling in a unusually happy mood.

Hikaru had noticed and was busy having a heated and rather pointless internal monologue.

In other words, he was arguing with himself.

Holding hands, it's no big deal.

Exactly.

Though if she looks before I hold her hand… I'll look a bit of moron.

But I could bluff my way out of it.

But she'll think I'm a moron. And maybe she'll never speak to me again!

Don't be stupid!

Ever!!

If I can't even do this, Kaoru'll never let me hear the end of it!

Good point.

Thank you.

"Hikaru?" Haruhi spoke up suddenly, making Hikaru jump back to life (he had just been musing whether he was getting too much into this internal debate thing).

"Ah? Eh, yeah Haruhi?" He spluttered, trying to remind himself where he was.

"Why are you glaring at your hand?"

"Eh? I am?"

"For the last five minutes."

"Oh…Err…" Hikaru shifted awkwardly, glancing at Haruhi's sceptical face. "No… reason…"

Haruhi rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Right."

She smiled then looked again over the well-tended campus; she was in an unusually light and care-free mood. It was the start of autumn, her favourite season, and tomorrow (a Saturday) her father was taking a day-off, just for the two of them.

There hadn't even been any club that day and instead of last lesson (with a particularly strict teacher) their teacher was absent so she, Hikaru and Kaoru had piled into the library and squashed into a huge armchair, where they'd chatted and laughed in low voices.

She had discovered that, despite everything, the twins actually read a lot and they spent the hour discussing which books they liked and sharing their - mostly controversial - views.

It had been nice.

So yes, Haruhi was in a good mood.

"Your hand looks cold, Haruhi." Hikaru suddenly informed her, in a burst of determination.

The girl blinked, waking herself up, and looked down at the hand in question with a raised eyebrow. "Does it?"

"Yeah." Hikaru said firmly. "Really, really cold."

"Eh... It doesn't feel that cold…"

Hikaru gave her a short look (which said; Well, it is cold.) then suddenly reached out and covered her hand with his, entwining their fingers so their hands were securely clasped together. The sudden warmth was a shock and sent a spark skipping along her arm.

Haruhi blinked at him, her stride faltering for a second as he mumbled something along the lines of 'I better keep it warm…', a warm flush darkening his ears.

For a second she just stared.

Then the corner of her mouth twitched.

"Now you mention it, my hand was feeling a bit cold." She noted, trying to sound nonchalant (and not teasing). "Thanks, Hikaru."

"No problem…"

For some reason, the usually stoic brunette couldn't help but find the whole thing amazingly amusing. She secured her small hand to his and the blush finally broke the floodgates (his… err… ears) and suddenly his whole face seemed to be scarlet.

"What would I do without you?"

"…have…cold hands…"

Haruhi snorted (yeah, Haruhi didn't giggle; she snorted) and, ahead of them, Kaoru tried to stifle a snigger (no, he hadn't been eavesdropping…). Instantly horrified with himself, Hikaru's blush finally surpassed the colour of his hair, which was a sight to see.

Damn it. He growled to himself. He really needed to re-introduce his brain and his mouth to each other.

"Sh-shut up…" he managed to mutter to Haruhi's muffled laughs (he luckily didn't spot Kaoru trying not to laugh at him).

"Heh… Sorry Hika-"

"Stop it!"

"Yeah…"

"Don't 'yeah' me."

"Sorry, sorry."

God, she's so obviously trying not to start laughing again.

Hikaru scowled and turned away, red from 1. Embarrassment. 2. Annoyance. 3. How cute Haruhi looked when she laughed. Damn it.

But the scowl soon fell away to a soft smile as he felt the tender warmth of Haruhi's hand in his. He was suddenly filled with an increasing giddiness (a quick recovery…) and happily swung their hands between them, their hands reaching higher and higher with every swing.

Haruhi let out a short laugh, causing Hikaru's grin to widen happily.

Kaoru, sneaking a look at the two over his shoulder, had to bite his lip to stop from laughing at the truly goofy look on his brother's face. How he managed to be so innocent yet so not-innocent was beyond him. I guess it's just one of those 'Hikaru' things. He mused to himself.

Then something strange happened.

As Kaoru looked at his brother and his best friend holding hands, he was overcome with a strange urge. To join them. To link hands with them too. Not particularly with Hikaru, nor particularly with Haruhi. Just with them.

So it would all three of them linked again, like that Halloween night when they managed to dance together, all three of them clumsily linked and happily spinning Haruhi between them to cover it up whenever she failed at a move (which had been quite often).

But that was stupid.

Because it wasn't like that anymore.

He wanted his dear Hikaru to learn to accept the world and let himself love someone who'll accept all his flaws and know how wonderful he is.

He wanted Haruhi to have someone to confide in completely, someone who wouldn't mind if she needed to collapse completely into their arms.

He wanted himself to grow up. Just grow up.

Change was good. It was what he wanted more than anything. Right.

That was all there was to it.

Right.

He blinked and mentally shook himself furiously and dismissively; what was he going on about? Seriously, I really think too much.

He started as Hikaru suddenly noticed his lingering look and stared back, with a look he half translated as;

What's up?

And half translated as;

Look, look! I'm holding Haruhi's hand!

The younger Hitachiin merely replied with a soft smile and a casual wink.

Nothing, nothing.

And I noticed. Way to go, Romeo.

Hikaru grinned goofily again (Haruhi noticed but simply accepted that he seemed to beaming weirdly to himself; it was just one of those 'Hikaru' things, she reasoned).

Kaoru turned and suddenly noticed that Tamaki was also glancing at the pair, looking suspicious. The youngest twin was just getting ready to rugby tackle him (just in case he tried to intervene) when the blonde surprised him by simply slinking over to Kyouya, pouting.

"Mommy…" He whined, giving the two another suspicious glare (which they seemed thankfully oblivious to). "A hormonal teenager is trying to hit on our pure and naive daughter!"

Without bothering to point out the obvious flaws in Tamaki's logic, Kyouya cast a bored glance behind him.

"Seems innocent enough." He reasoned, clearly not interested in the least (Kaoru tried fruitlessly to cover up a snort of laughter).

"But…but…" Tamaki spluttered and glanced desperately behind him again; this time, you could see the urge to jump between them flickering behind his eyes. "It's hand holding! Skin touching skin! It's… intimate."

Intimate?

Kaoru rolled his eyes.

Honestly.That was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard.

Poor Hika. Even Kaoru doubts his logic xD Hope you like this chapter :P And I hope you all had a good Holiday! :D

Pretty please review! :3

And before I forget; I want to say thankyou to 'HxH 4eva' (an awesome name...) who reviews every chapter but I can't reply to because the reviews are annonymous. Thankyou so much for all your support :D And well done for knowing it was Kaoru who mentioned Kyouya xD Thankyou again! This chapter is dedicated to you ;)