Kaoru paced around his room. He had been trying to figure out what present he
was going to get Haruhi and figure out if he and Hikaru were going to go in
together on it. He was getting so frustrated with it. What would be a good
present for her? Maybe he should figure out what would be the greater gift
she would want and then drop the hint to Hikaru so that he could get it for
her. But then again, didn't he have the right to make her happy as well.

'No wait don't think like that! You promised you wouldn't compete too much for
her for Hikaru's sake!' he thought.

'You'd do anything for Hikaru because you
love him!' Love? Was that what he just said to himself?

'Am I in love with Hikaru?' he thought.

Kaoru was feeling so conflicted lately! At first he had thought he could
handle everything about this whole competition for Haruhi. But then he had to
and ask her to study with him again. Then he had to go and admit to his
brother he was bi. Was he really bi? Now he was starting to question that
itself. He wasn't sure anymore if he was really bi and had feeling towards his
brother or if it was simply the effect of having such a close bond with him?
Kaoru couldn't tell anymore! Everything was so simple before Haruhi came into
his life! Not that it was fully her fault. It wasn't her fault she was utterly
cute and kind. And it wasn't her fault she could do what no other person could
ever have done, tell him apart from Hikaru.
God why couldn't he get these thoughts and feelings out of his head? Who was
he really in love with, Hikaru or Haruhi?
He almost felt like his head was about to explode with all of this!

"WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?" he finally shouted loudly.

"Kaoru?"
Kaoru looked towards his bedroom door as Hikaru stepped in.

"Are you okay?" asked Hikaru.
"Uh, well I'm just feeling a little bit overwhelmed with school work lately,"
said Kaoru.

"Well good thing Haruhi's coming to help you study then," said Hikaru.

"Yeah, great," said Kaoru.

'Oh crap she is coming over tonight to help isn't she?' thought Kaoru.

"So anyway I wanted to talk to you before she gets here," said Hikaru as he
sat down on the bed.

"Sure," said Kaoru as he joined him. He then noticed that his brother was
holding a new catalog.

"I'm trying to figure out what to get Haruhi for her birthday," said Hikaru.

"I was hoping to talk to you about that too," said Kaoru, "Did you want to go
in on a present, or did you want to give her each our own?"
Hikaru thought about it for a moment.

"Well all the presents I was thinking about getting her were all ones that I
was thinking of giving to myself. So why don't we each give get her our own?
That way the poor commoner can get something twice as nice," he said.

"Sure," said Kaoru.

"So anyway I was looking at some of these gifts and…," Hikaru started to
rumble off.
'Is Hikaru wearing a new cologne?' thought Kaoru as he inched closer to his
brother. 'Yeah it is new, it smells so nice.'

"Do you think it's a bit too much for her?" asked Hikaru.

"Huh, what?" asked Kaoru coming out of his thoughts.

"Do you think buying her, her own horse and paying for it's stable would be
too much?" said Hikaru.

"Uh, kind of, she's not really into horses, that I know of," said Kaoru.

"Hmm, I was afraid you would say that," said Hikaru with a frown.
Kaoru smiled.

'Hikaru can be so cute sometimes. A horse, where did he come up with that
idea?' he thought.

"So do you think a motorcycle would be too much too?" asked Hikaru.

"Haruhi's not one for fast things," said Kaoru.

"That's true," said Hikaru, "but you got to admit she'd look cute in
leather."

'Yeah she would,' thought Kaoru, 'But so would you Hikaru. God, what I am
thinking?'

"Maybe we could go with a combined gift. What do you think she'd say to her
own car?" asked Hikaru.

"A car?" said Kaoru.

"Yeah a car, one with a nice back seat for, you knows," said Hikaru.

"Yeah I know," said Kaoru.

"But what kind of car has that? It's got to be easy to get in and out of,"
Hikaru started to go off. Kaoru watched him, not really listening to what he
had to say. He was too busy watching his brother. He could feel his hear
thumping and his breathing getting even heavier.

"I could so see kissing Haruhi in something like this!" said Hikaru looking at
another catalog.

That did it! Kaoru couldn't take it no more! Without a second thought, he
grabbed his brother by his shoulders and pulled him towards him, planting a
kiss right on his lips!
He held the kiss for what like an eternity! To his surprise Hikaru didn't
fight him over it. Maybe he was too shocked to fight back. Or he was enjoying
it. Kaoru wasn't sure. Finally Kaoru let his brother go. Kaoru stared into
Hikaru's eyes for a long time, waiting for him to say something.

"Kaoru, what was that all about?" asked Hikaru finally.

"I-I don't know!" said Kaoru.

"Lately I've been having nothing but mixed feelings for you!" He didn't dare mention he was feeling the same way about Haruhi.

"Kaoru, I-" Hikaru started to say.
"Am I interrupting something?"

Both looked up and saw Haruhi was now here.

"No, no, you're fine," said Kaoru, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," said Haruhi, "Are you joining us too Hikaru?"

"I-I don't know. I think I had some other stuff to do," said Hikaru as he came and walked out of the room.

"Is he okay?" asked Haruhi.

"He's fine," said Kaoru.

'I'm the one with the problem,' he thought.

"Okay then, shall we get started?" asked Haruhi as she sat down at the table.

"Sure," said Kaoru as he joined her

"I thought we should start on chapter 3 then go on chapter 5. The teacher said
these chapters will be on the test for sure," said Haruhi.

"Yeah," said Kaoru.

'Here we go again!' he thought.

"Or did you want to review our science notes first?" asked Haruhi, "I was having a hard time with those."

"Yeah we can do that," said Kaoru. He looked around.

"Where did I put mine?" he asked.

"Don't worry we can just go off mine," said Haruhi.

"Thanks," said Kaoru as he reached across for them. As he did, he stretched his arm right in front of Haruhi.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get to close," said Kaoru.

"It's okay," said Haruhi.
Kaoru looked at her.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Yeah," said Haruhi.

"Would it be all right if I made an even bolder move?" asked Kaoru.

"Like what?" asked Haruhi.

"Like this," said Kaoru. He leaned in and kissed, just a bit more lightly then
he had his brother. To his surprise, she also didn't fight him off. She just
sat there and let him kiss her.

"Um Kaoru," said Haruhi once the kiss was broken, "While that was bold, it was
nice too."

"Yeah it was nice for me too," said Kaoru.

"But I am curious what prompted it," said Haruhi.

"Confusion and frustration I guess," said Kaoru. "I've been having a lot of
mixed feelings for you and Hikaru lately."
He looked away ashamed. Then he felt a soft hand on his. He turned and looked
at Haruhi.

"I've been having mixed feelings about you and all of the other guys as well.
And I can't say how it is I really feel about you personally at this point.
However I will still always be there for you if you ever need help with those
mixed feelings."

"You mean like another kiss?" asked Kaoru.
"Or we could just talk," said Haruhi.

"Talking's good, I'd like to be able to talk," said Kaoru, "Thanks Haruhi, for
being a friend and for allowing me to kiss you"

"Well, thank you for the kiss, I will admit it was nice," said Haruhi.

'She thought it was nice?' thought Kaoru,

'Was that a good thing or a bad thing?'

-Tracey4t