The next day dawned bright through the bedroom window, the sun shining directly onto Hikarus face. He scrunched up his eyes against the intrusive light, throwing the arm that wasn't being pinned to the mattress by Kaoru across his head to block it out while he woke up. He could instantly tell his brother was still asleep, shielded from the sun by his own body, and he found that he really didn't want to move and wake him, a stark contrast to the feelings he had the previous night when he had gotten back. The memory of trying to inadvertently wake his brother the night before lead him to remember the events that happened before he had come home, and he glanced at his phone that was charging on the bedside table. The absence of a flashing light told him there were no missed messages or calls, and his gut twisted with the beginnings of guilt.

Swallowing it down, Hikaru gingerly slid his arm out from around his brothers shoulders, and careful climbed over him in order to get out of bed. They really did have a long day ahead, since it was the second last day before school went back, and they needed to make the return journey back to the city, so he rubbed the sleep from his eyes before glancing around the half packed room. Now that he could see properly, it was obvious that Kaoru really hadn't given packing his luggage much thought at all, and he sighed in defeat, knowing that if they were going to leave on time, he would have to pack it himself. It was almost funny. Most people they knew thought that Kaoru was the neater, more organised of the twins, when in actual fact it was the other way around.

Leaning over the bed, he gently grabbed Kaorus shoulder and started shaking him awake.

"Kaoru! Kaoru, wake up, we need to go."

Kaoru groaned and rolled over, leaving Hikarus palm empty. He was going to give him another shake, but decided against it, very much used to his twins habit of waking up slowly. He left the bedside and his stirring brother, and walked across the room to wear Kaorus luggage was still sitting. Hoisting it up onto the bed, he glanced across at his twin as he sat up, rubbing his face under a wildly dishevelled bed head.

"What're you doing? I already packed that."

Hikaru shot his brother a scowl.

"You didn't even try," he remembered hitting his foot on it when he had come back, and decided to only exaggerate a little bit. "I almost broke my ankle getting into bed last night."

"What?"

He gritted his teeth. So Kaoru really hadn't noticed…

"What time did you get in? I thought you had stayed out all night again."

Hikaru tried not to let his annoyance show as he roughly folded his brothers clothes, throwing them into the suitcase almost as haphazardly as his brother had. Was it really too much to ask for his twin to be even slightly aware of him?

"Um… about one maybe?" God he didn't know, he hadn't checked the time. "You were way out of it." He couldn't stop his words from coming out short, so he just zipped the now packed suitcase closed and turned away from the bed, only slightly hoping Kaoru hadn't picked up on his mood. Dragging the luggage to the door, he set it besides his own while subtly trying to take a deep breath to calm himself before turning back to his brother, who was still sitting in bed. Kaoru really was completely oblivious, and the thought of it only deepened his frustration.

"Kaoru, get up and take a shower." His voice sounded sour in his ears. "We're leaving soon, it's a long drive back, you know that."

Kaoru simply waved his hand at his brother, dismissing him and turning to face out the window making Hikaru grit his teeth.

"I don't want a shower, you go ahead."

"Ahh, fine."

Maybe a shower would calm him down a bit. He really did know he was being unreasonable, but he still made it as obvious as he could that he was getting undressed in the bedroom instead of waiting to get to the bathroom. At this stage, he just wanted to know that something he did would be enough to catch his brothers attention, so he threw his shirt to the ground with a little more force than necessary, and kicked off his pants so the waistband snapped against one of his ankles. However, Kaoru continued to gaze absently out of the window, and Hikaru entered the bathroom unnoticed.

He was starting to be just as angry with himself as he was with his twin when he opened the tap, causing a warm steam to appear in the room almost instantly. He dunked his head under the running water, letting the heat run over him, seeping into his cluttered mind and tense muscles. Staring at his feet, he envisioned the annoyance and frustration he felt towards his twin swirling away down the drain, and he closed his eyes, breathing the cleansing steam into his lungs.

A few minutes passed in still silence before he sighed and opened his eyes, instinctively reaching for the body wash that usually sat on the edge of the shower. Of course he had packed it away the previous night. He contemplated just leaving it, but decided against it. He didn't have a shower the day before, so he really did need a proper wash.

He left the water running, wrapped a towel around his waist and stuck his head out the door, glancing around for his brother, who was still in bed.

"Kaoru, get up, seriously we need to go soon." He shook his hair out of his face as Kaoru turned to look at him. "And can you please get me the body wash from my bag? I don't want to leave water all over the floor."

Kaoru stared at him, silent. Was he ignoring him? He had a strange look on his face that Hikaru had trouble placing. Maybe he was still waking up? He repeated his words, raising his voice a little.

"Kaoru! Oi! Are you listening to me?!"

Finally he saw some kind of recognition on his twins features as he raised his eyes, but his mouth was still set in a firm line. What on earth had gotten into him?

"Is that a hickey?"

What did he just say? Hikaru frowned. Surely he heard wrong.

"What? I asked if you could get me the body wash from the…"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence.

"Is that… a hickey?"

He was sure he heard right that time, but what was Kaoru talking about? He stepped out of the bathroom, his brow furrowed.

"A hickey?" The brief memory of a sharp pain near his collar bone caused by Kaori flashed through his mind, but he supressed it. Theres no way she would have left something like a hickey on him… "No? Where?"

A strange feeling started to seep into his stomach as Kaoru slid over the side of the bed, sitting up ram rod straight. Hikaru glanced at his brothers hands, and sure enough they were clutching onto the mattress, so tight the knuckles were turning pale. He nodded in Hikarus direction.

"There, on your shoulder."

Hikaru scurried back into the bathroom, hastily wiping the fogged mirror clean so he could see his reflection clearly. He couldn't help but give a surprised cry as he noticed that sure enough, sitting right beneath his collar bone was a small, round bruise. Kaori really had left a hickey on him. He turned to shut off the still running water, an odd sense of excitement building up in his body. This was his chance to finally get the reaction he craved out of his brother!

He returned the doorway, unable to stop the sheepish grin from spreading across his face as he poked at the bruise.

"Ah… yeah, I guess it is…" he saw Kaoru tense, and it spurred him on. "She said she wouldn't leave anything but… gah this is embarrassing…"

Technically, that was a lie, but Hikaru was too giddy to care much about his morals. Kaoru was paying attention to him!

"I guess she lied then." Kaoru spat the words, and looked away scowling deeply. A twang of rationality shot through Hikaru, and the idea that maybe he was going too far started to wander through his mind, but he shoved it aside.

"Im sure she didn't mean to." He tried to make his voice sound as nonchalant as possible, throwing in a shrug for effect. "Besides, it'll fade in a few days. I'll just make sure to wear a shirt everywhere til then."

"It'll still be there though."

Hikaru was starting to realise that Kaoru was actually a lot angrier than he thought, and he began to second guess his actions. Technically, it was his own entire fault, but if Kaoru had just noticed him a bit more to begin with…

"It's just a hickey, Kaoru…"

Kaoru whipped his head around to stare absolute daggers at his twin, and Hikarus excitement from earlier instantly evaporated. He hadn't realised Kaoru would react this negatively, he thought he might just be a bit annoyed. His thoughts were cut off by his brothers words.

"Just a hickey? It's not just a hickey, Hikaru!" Hikaru blanched at his brothers tone, starting to feel angry himself. "It's… it's…"

"It's what, Kaoru?" Hikarus natural defensive anger flared up against his brothers, and he shot back. "None of your business? What do you care if I have a hickey or not?"

Kaoru roared to his feet, anger radiating off him in waves.

"What do I care? Of course I care! You're my brother and that slut has gone and branded you! And you let her!"

Hikarus anger turned to full-fledged fury at his brothers words, and his voice raised to a shout.

"You watch your mouth Kaoru, she is not a slut!" How dare he say something like that, he didn't even know her! "And saying she branded me?! Who do you think you are?" A small thought reminded him that if he hadn't of lied then none of this would have happened, but he was too far gone to pay it any attention. "It's none of your business what I do and don't do with other people!"

Kaoru looked as though he was going to yell back, but instead he just sat down on the mattress, rubbing his hands over his face. Hikarus heart was racing, panic threatening to overwhelm the anger. This isn't what he wanted at all, this isn't how it was supposed to go! He just wanted to make Kaoru a little jealous or something, he didn't want to fight with him. He needed to make this right.

He took a deep breath and was about to speak up when Kaorus beat him to it.

"Just go have your shower Hikaru." The coldness in his voice cut through Hikaru, making him grimace. "We need to go soon."

Hikaru couldn't say anything, so he just turned on his heel and strode back into the bathroom, his edginess causing him to close the door with a little more force than he meant to. Leaning on the counter, he stared at the bruise on his skin. Why did he do that?

With a sigh, he returned to his shower, not even noticing the absence of the body wash.