Think About Each Other

Haruhi didn't miss Hikaru at all.

Nope.

And really, why would she miss him? He was just the more annoying half of the Hitachiin doppelgangers, always pestering her and getting irritated with stupid things.

She didn't miss him at all.

...

She just, you know, felt like being miserable at the moment. The two had absolutely no connection.

Honest.

Haruhi sighed and slumped against her first, frowning; she couldn't even lie convincingly to herself. Which was never a good sign. She tried again, tapping her pen against the desk as though she was simply working on another maths equation.

She was currently sitting alone in the smallest of the school's four libraries, staring a hole straight through her maths revision papers; the test wasn't long away, but her tired mind didn't seem to be able to concentrate, as though her usual motivation for her studies had deflated slightly.

She frowned again at the thought.

Suddenly a hand appeared out of nowhere and waved in her face, causing her to start and snap back to reality. She sighed and quickly glanced up to glare at whoever had rudely interrupted her musing (like she didn't know).

As expected, Kaoru was grinning down at her, his eyes quietly laughing.

"You awake?" He sniggered, ruffling her hair teasingly. "Honestly, you've been zoning out all day." He added, almost chidingly.

"Yeah, well..." Haruhi shrugged and instantly rattled of her excuse for the day, moving her books out of the way so the youngest Hitachiin could sit down. "I'm just a bit tired."

"Obviously."

Haruhi promptly ignored the annoyingly knowing smile on Kaoru's face and went back to her work, trying to concentrate. But, unfortunately, a certain twin seemed intent on distracting her and had, apparently, grown bored after only 30 seconds of watching her work; he began making his fingers run along the top of her page, crinkling the page with each 'step'.

Sighing, she brushed his hand away but he just smirked at the challenge, and quickly moved his hand to her head, flicking his fingers round as though he was trying to make them tap dance.

And he was supposed to be the mature twin.

The key phrase being: 'supposed to'.

Haruhi twitched and glared up at him, but Kaoru had conveniently decided to look down at her work instead, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Maybe you're getting so distracted because you've finally realised it." He observed randomly, making Haruhi jump ('what?! Realised what?' She thought wildly).

Kaoru paused deliberately as he withdrew his hand to prop his head up with, a playful smirk on his face as he studied her. "You've finally realised that maths is the most boring subject in the world and doesn't deserve such concentration." He clarified, eyes sparkling ('what else would I mean, Haru?').

When Haruhi only responded with a hurried eye roll before she hid back in her work, Kaoru's smile widened impishly.

"Give me an essay any day." He went on with a dramatic sigh. "All those numbers just give me a headache."

"Mm."

"Course, I'm okay, since Hikaru helps me."

"What do you actually want, Kaoru?"

Sore spot? What sore spot? I don't know what you're talking about. I just feel like snapping at the moment, that's all.

The youngest twin huffed, sticking out his lower lip in a mini-pout. "What? Can't I just come and say hi to my best friend without dragging Hikaru with me?" He said, pretending to sulk but deliberately putting emphasis on his twin's name.

Haruhi just replied with a dead-pan stare, unimpressed by his obvious attempts to drag Hikaru into the conversation; Kaoru however, just laughed softly before settling down again, resting his head in both hands and giving her a puppy-dog-style look.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Haruhi." He smiled. "But you can't blame me for being curious. Hikaru's a pain to deal with when he's in a mood, and I don't even get what this fight's all about."

"We're not having a 'fight'."

"Fine. I want to know what this whatever-you-want-to-call-it-that-makes-you-two-ignore-each-other-and-Hikaru-forget-everything is about."

Haruhi blinked. "Eh? Now I don't get it. What's this got to do with Hikaru being forgetful?"

At her words, Kaoru's smirk instantly widened and Haruhi suddenly regretted ever asking; because when a Hitachiin had a grin that said 'I'm glad you asked Haruhi, I'm glad you asked', it was never a good sign.

"Well, y'see." He began, sighing dramatically and shaking his head in his best 'woe-is-me' style. "When Hikaru's upset, he gets all moody and turns into a total klutz. Like this morning, he tried to put jam in his tea and milk on his toast. And we haven't harassed Tono at all since you stopped talking to him. And he's forgotten his bag a grand total of seven times in the last two days."

"...You counted?"

"Who do you think has to run round after him?"

Haruhi sighed again and absentmindedly resumed her pen-tapping; despite being determined to ignore Kaoru's blatant attempt to throw her into guilt, she couldn't help but... not like the fact Hikaru wasn't his usual happy self.

Which really makes no sense, she thought irritably, as his 'happy self' annoys me more than anything.

"I'm not having a 'fight' with him." She repeated her earlier words with delicate consideration; Kaoru's brow furrowed and he was about to complain when she began slowly speaking again. "But I'm not... a 'toy'. I don't want him to complete a stupid list just to try and get a reaction then shout at me for having friends. He's being an idiot." She paused thoughtfully before adding bluntly; "Even more than usual."

But, instead of dropping the subject, the youngest twin's smile just widened gleefully as she spoke, until he looked downright smug.

Haruhi narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Then Kaoru leaned over, until she could feel his breath tickling her ear delicately; she didn't react, but simply waited to see if there any point in what Kaoru was doing.

"Ne, Haruhi…" He breathed into her ear, his voice barely audible yet strangely intense. "Why are you so mad at Hikaru?"

What? Haruhi frowned to herself. Haven't we just gone over this?

But before she could retort back, Kaoru managed to interrupt her with a soft whisper;

"I helped too; why are you only mad at Hikaru?"

Huh?

"Wha-what do you mean?" Haruhi cringed as she heard her voice falter slightly.

She felt Kaoru smirk, his lips brushing lightly against her hair… and he suddenly reminded her of Hikaru.

"Well… is there some… special reason… Hikaru upset you so much?"

She stiffened.

Special reason? Like love?

Haruhi had no problem remembering the tragic moment she'd named her affection for Hikaru as love; but she didn't want to go along with that. She had decided. She didn't want to depend on someone so completely. She didn't. It hurt too much.

What did Kaoru know?

"Maybe…" Kaoru's voice was slightly hesitant now and before he spoke again there was a very pregnant pause. "…maybe… it's the same reason Hikaru's so upset?"

The brunette instantly froze, struck numb by the hidden implication floating on Kaoru's words. The love she so determinately ignored suddenly rose up and exploded in her mind again, like a fountain, laced with something mad and light that felt suspiciously like hope. But she barely had time to ask what the hell he was talking about when the younger twin suddenly stood up fluidly, smiling casually down at her as though nothing had happened.

"Well, Haruhi, I'll leave you to your studies." He chirped (as if she could concentrate now), lazily giving her a one-handed wave as he pocketed the other hand and began to turn. "I need to go and make sure Hikaru hasn't mixed up his homework with his lunch or anything. See you at the club!"

And with that, Kaoru (feeling very much like cupid, but with cooler hair) walked off towards the exit, as laid-back as ever.

As he walked, Haruhi couldn't help but notice that the twins even walked differently; Kaoru walked carefully, glancing around him as he went. Hikaru swaggered, just looking forward and forward only.

Hikaru.

She... missed him.

Haruhi bit her lip angrily. Questions ran in vicious loops inside her head, like a pack of hungry dogs.

She thought she had fallen for him, but how deep had she gotten herself entwined? Surely not to inescapable depths?

What did Kaoru mean by that hesitant comment? What reason?

And, when, oh, when, was she going to be able to study for her maths mock exam without all this drama clogging up her mind?

Hikaru's good at maths.

Oh, shut up. She snapped at her brain.

This was it. He was actually going to do it.

Hikaru was officially going to tell Haruhi how he felt.

He had to. If he didn't tell her and try to fix things now, he would lose any chance he had of winning her over. …And if he lost his nerve, Kaoru would probably punch him. In fact, there was no 'probably' about it.

"Following a list and acting stupid will only get you so far." Kaoru had told him wisely that morning (though Hikaru didn't know what he meant by that last comment. Him? Stupid? Whatever). "So don't chicken out of telling her how you feel and being yourself. ...Or else."

And that was the moment Hikaru got the 'or-I-will-seriously-punch-you' vibe. As if Kaoru was frustrated with him or something like that.

Honestly.

He had such a violent twin.

Hikaru nervously glanced in the direction of the library, where Kaoru had promised him she'd appear from.

When he said that... Hikaru suddenly realised that Kaoru seemed to help him out a lot. Okay, maybe a bit more than a lot.

Okay, he admitted rather miserably to himself, maybe if it wasn't for Kaoru, I would still be wrestling with cake mix right now. It's not my fault I'm not the touchy-feely-I-know-your-feelings-before-you-do twin. Huh.

Realising he was starting to babble, he bit his lip and quickly glanced over the courtyard again, trying to look as casual as possible.

Jeeze... how long did she want to take?!

The waiting was literally driving him crazy, especially with nothing but his own thoughts for company. Especially as nerves seemed to drive his thoughts into babbling internal monologues.

And he was extremely nervous.

Oh my god, He thought wildly, she's gone a different way. I'm standing here like a complete spoon and she's gone a different way to club. She's probably there already! Laughing at me! With Tono! Holy crap, Kaoru's gonna have to go looking for me and I'll have to pretend I got lost and she'll think I'm even more of an idiot and... and... and... It's really freaking cold!

Then (thankfully), he saw her.

Haruhi had just walked into view, her short brown hair falling softly over her face as she carefully wedged a rather thick-looking book into her bag. He couldn't see her eyes but he could imagine them, huge and beautiful and swimming in thought.

Hikaru bit his lip again, feeling sick.

He loved her.

He loved the way she was the only one in the world who could tell him apart from his twin.

He loved the way she was so blunt, yet she always seemed to say just what he wanted to hear.

He loved the way he could never get bored near her, just because he was near her.

Hikaru honestly adored her. He really did. And, God, he was terrified of screwing it up.

She finally stepped out into the courtyard, a shortcut to the club and mere metres away from where the Hitachiin was standing, frozen against the fountain. But the low, harsh winter sun was against him and shot its piecing light straight into Haruhi's vision from behind him; she hid her delicate eyes from its glare in the crook of her wrist and quickly trotted across to the opposite hall.

He was going to have to chase her.

He unfroze.

And then Hikaru Hitachiin ran madly after her, determined to confess his love to the girl who had just decided she didn't need him.

He had one more thing to tick off his list.

:3 Hope you liked this chapter :) When I was re-reading it, I found it strange that even though we know Hikaru loves her, this is the first time he's actually thought it. Even Haruhi's got further than that. Huh. That may be stupidness on my part. T.T I should have had him think about it before...

I'd like to say another huge thankyou to everyone to reads my story! :D You're all so nice and supportive :3 You rock. :D I would also like to dedicate this chapter to Mariel (Mariel of Fantasy) who has reviewed my story since the start and helped me with grammar errors. :D And who also dedicated her awesomer-than-mine story to me. You rock so much. :3 Everyone read her awesometastic stories! :D

Hope you all liked this chapter :D I promise to update soon! :)