At home, Kaoru and Hikaru acted as though the other didn't exist, avoiding each other whenever possible. It may have seemed too much, but no one really knew anything about the deepest roots of their argument. The Host Club only knew the basics. Haruhi had overheard the beginning. But nobody knew about the rest.
It had happened later on the same afternoon when Hikaru had declared the so-called engagement.
~O~
Kaoru glanced up from his homework as his twin stormed into their room and slammed himself down on his bed. He immediately knew what the problem was.
"You know that you shouldn't have done that in the first place."
"Done what?" Hikaru said, getting defensive as usual.
"You know what I mean."
There was no answer.
"Hikaru…"
"Cut it out! You promised not to interfere anymore, remember?"
"But I only think that you should have…" Kaoru trailed off apprehensively, not knowing if what he was about to say was right or wrong. Anyway, the next second proved that his statement wasn't going to be heard out, whatever it was.
"You just can't keep your thoughts to yourself, can you?" his twin shot at him. "Look, you wanted me to wake up and grow up, right? How the hell am I supposed to do that if you can't help but stick your nose into my business?"
The older was apparently in the mood for verbalizing majority of his frustrations. Kaoru's breath hitched—not only because of the words he just heard, but because he knew that Hikaru's actions were signaling that the latter was just about ready to go all-out ballistic.
"To be honest, I'm sick of us constantly having to depend on each other! I hate that people always think of us as a package deal—even Haruhi! You know why she held back on me today, Kaoru? You wanna know why?"
Actually, he didn't want to know why, but Hikaru seemed focused on telling him whether he liked it or not.
"Because she was concerned about how you would feel! She was concerned about how you would fit into the picture! She keeps saying 'your twin' this and 'your brother' that… Haruhi was always. Thinking. About. You!!!"
Kaoru just sat there with wide eyes, his twin's outburst rendering him temporarily speechless.
"You don't know how tired I am of this," Hikaru went on, his voice shaking. "It's so hard, having to live with two shadows. One always has to be with the other. No more. I want it to end."
The two looked at each other, and there was an understanding of some sort. The next thing they knew, Hikaru had dyed his hair and moved to another room. Kaoru stopped talking to him, and vice versa. As quick as that, everything was over.
~O~
Little did they know back then that the worse things were only just beginning.
--
The Host Club felt like they were back at a decidedly worse version of square one.
Haruhi hadn't shown her face at school for a week. They decided not to contact her because they figured she might be cooling off, but they only felt even more uneasy about the ordeal.
First of all, there was vicious gossip flying around the school as fast as the speed of sound could take it. It did look suspicious, after all; Haruhi had fled right after that big announcement about an engagement between her and one of the Hitachiins. Something was up, and everyone was practically tingling with the need to find out what.
Needless to say, the twins were the ones who were most affected by this (though Tamaki claimed otherwise). One day Hikaru just showed up with ash-colored hair, acting as if he never had a brother. Everyone wondered why they weren't even on speaking terms anymore. During class they sat as far away from each other as possible. They went to school in separate cars. Due to this, the Host Club was forced to postpone all activities until all issues had been resolved.
In a nutshell, the week had been hell.
The hosts were all somewhat glad that it was Friday. They were gathered at Music Room Three—Tamaki made them come every day so that they could hold meetings about Haruhi. No one ever managed to talk about her, though; it was as if her name had become a rather touchy subject to mention. So there they all were, just idly lounging about in the room for the fifth day that week.
Kyoya decided that this lax attitude everyone had at the moment was the closest he would ever get to a calm atmosphere, so he thought it best to drop the bomb on their heads. Better spark an explosion now and let it cool over the weekend, he reasoned. And as usual, his reasoning was right.
The news was not something that was taken lightly by anyone.
"Haruhi dropped out of Ouran?!" Tamaki cried in alarm.
The raven-haired boy only nodded at his dumbstruck companions.
"Why would she do that?" Hikaru and Kaoru yelled simultaneously from opposite ends of the room. When they realized what they had done, however, they looked away from each other hastily.
"I think it's about time that we pay Haru-chan a visit, ne, Takashi?"
"Yeah."
There was some murmured assent which Kyoya interrupted with another newsflash.
"That wouldn't be a good idea either."
"Why not?" Kaoru asked.
"The Fujioka family doesn't live in their old apartment anymore. They moved out three days ago."
Everyone yelped. "Shouldn't you have said something like that sooner?"
"Shouldn't you have asked about it sooner?"
"Alright, enough of this," Tamaki said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "So Kyoya, you knew about it this entire time? Why didn't you tell us?"
"Ranka believes that separation from the Host Club will do his daughter some good," he said matter-of-factly.
Silence met these words.
"Why? Were we all being a burden to Haru-chan?" Hani mused sadly.
"Sorry, let me revise that sentence. Ranka believes that separation from the Hitachiin brothers will do his daughter some good. There, now it sounds about right."
Kaoru's gaze fell to the marble floor. Hikaru walked up to Kyoya.
"Senpai, did… Did something happen to Haruhi?"
There was another quiet break as the boys waited with baited breath for the answer.
"I wouldn't know, would I?" he replied coolly.
"But…" Tamaki began, about to tell his best friend something along the lines of surely you of all people know the most about this, but a swift piercing look from those onyx eyes was all it took to shut him up.
Hikaru still stood there, indignant. "Well? Where is she?"
Kyoya just gazed at him impassively until he couldn't take it anymore and stormed out of the room.
"Alright," the blonde said softly, breaking the stillness. "It's getting late. We can talk about this over the weekend. Thanks for the time, everyone. You can all go home now."
Slowly, the room emptied. Kyoya was always last to leave since he locked up, but today that wasn't the case.
Kaoru had been staring glassy-eyed at the floor for a while now, and it didn't look like he was going to stop very soon. A pen made contact with his head and he snapped out of it.
"Do you expect to stay here until Monday?"
"Kyoya-senpai…" the first year said, a sudden sense of déjà vu washing over him. "Ah, this seems to happen often, doesn't it?"
"I hope I won't make a habit of it," was the reply, but it was a kinder note of sarcasm.
"Oh, I've been thinking about what you said that time…" Kaoru carried on. "If you still remember, that is—"
"Are you implying that I have a short memory?"
"Uh, no! Not at all… It's just that I don't think you considered that conversation as important, and you might have decided to just forget about…"
"Alright, alright," Kyoya said, brushing off Kaoru's detour from the subject. "If you would please get back on topic…"
"Right," he said sheepishly. His face took a more serious expression. "That time, you questioned why I wasn't doing anything to correct Hikaru… You said maybe I was doing it for my own good and not for his."
"…Go on."
"No offense, but I think you were wrong. I'm doing it for both our sakes. Hikaru opened my eyes to that. He's gotten pretty tired of people treating us as a 'buy one get one' deal." Kaoru continued, remembering his twin's words.
"So you're saying that this fight between you is a good thing?"
"It made Hikaru realize that he wants to become independent. That's probably a good thing. I mean, we can't always be together, right? We're individuals with our own lives to lead."
"That's all well and good," Kyoya said vaguely, now flipping through his notebook. "But that doesn't change the fact that Haruhi is stuck between you two. What are you going to do about her?"
Kaoru fidgeted. "I'm worried, but I'm not going to do anything… I promised Hikaru I wouldn't interfere…"
"I see." There was the sound of a page turning, and Kyoya walked over to him. "This may be out of the subject, but Kaoru, what do you think of this?"
Amber eyes scanned the note filled page. "Karuizawa?"
"Yes, our club president is planning to take the club on a vacation."
"Yeah, he said something about a trip," Kaoru said, unsure about where the discussion was headed. "But I thought he had his heart set on going to Nikko? Didn't he say that nothing was going to change his mind?"
"But we've already gone to Nikko. Anyway, Karuizawa is much more refreshing, in my opinion. And Tamaki hasn't seen the Old Road yet; it's full of those commoner things he likes so much. I'm sure he'll still enjoy the trip."
"You always interfere with the boss's plans like this, don't you?"
"On the contrary," Kyoya said, the light catching on his glasses. "As vice president of the Host Club, I am not in any position to interfere. I can only give ideas," he pushed his glasses up a little, revealing his eyes again. "I almost always bend to Tamaki's will. I guess there's no harm in saying that sometimes it's not a bad thing to think of what I want to do for a change."
Kaoru's mind started racing with understanding.
Kyoya began scanning his notes again. "Oh, and there's another thing about Karuizawa that Tamaki might find interesting. It appears that there is a pension there owned by someone called Isao Sonoda, who also goes by the name of Misuzu. He happens to be a transvestite friend of Haruhi's father… Hmm. Apparently, he's also one of the few people that Ranka willingly entrusts his daughter to…"
"Thank you," the redhead said suddenly.
"For what?"
"For trying to help me. I… I think I've got it."
"Hmm? Help, you say? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about…"
But Kaoru was already running for the door. "Oh wait!" He halted and turned around.
"Why didn't you tell Hikaru when he asked you earlier? Why are you telling me?"
"Now you're babbling," Kyoya stated. "Exactly what didn't I tell your brother?"
"Oh never mind," Kaoru said, turning the door handle. "Thanks anyway."
The third year smirked inwardly, watching the Hitachiin shut the door.
"Well, that's one down," Kyoya let his notebook flip closed and let out a sigh. "What troublesome little kohais I have."
--
Yuzuha was surprised and a little pleased at how easily she could tell her twins apart now because of Hikaru's dyed hair, but was saddened when she remembered the cause of that action. As a mother, she was well aware that there was some sort of conflict going on between her sons. She didn't know the full details, but she could sense that it was something serious and that this was about Haruhi. It wasn't like she hadn't foreseen this.
She wanted to help out, but her boys were hard to talk to. Hikaru was always locking himself up in his room and wouldn't let her in. Kaoru was a bit more open, but she still had to muster up enough courage to talk to him.
Now, she decided, was the time. It was ten o'clock in the evening, and when she entered the latter's room, what she saw was unexpected. Kaoru was rushing about, obviously torn apart between packing or unpacking clothes into a small case. Surely the fight wasn't enough for her little boy to want to move out? She sat on his bed.
"Are you going somewhere, dear?"
"Karuizawa. Just for the weekend."
"Oh," she said, a tiny bit relieved. "Would you mind telling me why?"
"I have to. There's someone I have to clear things up with."
"You're going without Hikaru?"
"Yeah."
"…"
"…"
All of a sudden, Yuzuha had her son kneeling in front of her, sobbing into her lap.
"There, there… It's the first time you're going somewhere without him, isn't it?" she said softly, her fingers caressing Kaoru's caramel locks. This was a first for her too; having one of her children cry on her. She felt like crying too.
"Sweetheart…" she said after a while.
"I'm no good, Mom."
"Now, what makes you say that?"
Kaoru lifted himself up and sat beside his mother; even though she knew it wasn't the moment for it, Yuzuha couldn't help thinking that her sniffling son and his tearstained face was utterly adorable.
"No matter how I think about it, I feel like I'm betraying Hikaru by doing this…"
"Didn't you just say that this was something you have to do?"
"Yes! But still…"
"Well," she said, putting an arm around him. "Knowing you, you've already done all you could for your twin."
"I could do more, if he'd just let me…"
"Kaoru," Yuzuha said, placing his face in her hands. "You're both old enough to think for yourselves. Hikaru probably wants to try that…"
"That's what he said."
"Well, give him a chance, then. We'll still be here for him if he goes overboard," she smiled sympathetically at him. "In the meantime, there is absolutely nothing criminal about your trip to Karuizawa. Do whatever will bring you peace of mind, dear."
--
"Hello, Tamaki."
"Kyoya! Finally you called. Did you get my text messages?!"
"Just all 76 of them."
"Waah! I couldn't help it, I'm so concerned!"
"About what?"
"Haruhi, of course! You said she dropped out of school and left her home—"
"Her scholarship is still perfectly secure and she is not wandering about the streets with a cardboard box for shelter, so stop your incessant worrying. Haruhi's fine."
"You lied?! Oh well, anyway, I'm so glad! I knew you weren't entirely clueless about this. But…"
"What?"
"You're planning something, aren't you, Kyoya? To fix up this mess, I mean."
"Are you suggesting that I leave those three to their own devices? What will happen to the Host Club then?"
"Mommy…"
"…Now what?"
"Just now, you… You sounded concerned for the club."
"…Of course I am. The Brotherly Love package we offer gets a lot of customers, you know this. Haruhi is pretty popular with the ladies too. Without the three of them, sales will drop by 60%."
"You know that's not what I mean…"
"…"
"You can't bear the thought of our family falling apart either, can you, Kyoya?"
"Idiot."
Click.
"Kyoya? …Hello? You still there?"
A/N: Woot, it's an update! xD
Haha, well, this chapter was a mad scramble for me to get done with. To be honest, even though this chapter is jumbled (it'll make perfect sense in the upcoming chappies), I really had fun writing this one.
I especially enjoyed writing Kyoya. :3 He's my other fave character next to the twins. And yes, apparently he's got something up his sleeve. As usual. x)
Oh, and I head back to school tomorrow. x( Oh, the days of carefree lazytime are over. But don't worry, I'll always update. I love you guys to pieces. Your reviews are awesome and they keep me going!!!
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Mitskuni Haninozuka gets woken up from a nap.
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