Disclaimer: I own nothing. (except Yuki. I invented her (though she is not particularly developed)

An: Hey everyone! Don't know if anyone remembers this 'cause I update like what? once every two years? Anyway, can you believe I had written this a year ago but hadn't posted it? I was waiting on finishing chap 14 before putting chap 13, but now I just wanted to post something. I am working on chap 14. Hopefully I will be able to write more of this fic. My muse is being active, but not on any of my published and unfinished fics and I refuse to publish more unfinished fics when I already have 5 of them! So I've been writing chapters and chapters of fics that don't get published. As a result, I've rewritten the same chapter I don't know how many times and have several versions of one story. This is so different to what I did before. I used to write one shot then post. No content revision whatsoever. Now it feels all I do is revising content and changing things to try and unblock my writer's block. And now I'm rambling. Sorry. Have a nice read.

Chapter 13

Mitsubi Yuki was waiting in front of her school for a limousine to arrive. Ootori Kyoya had called her the night before to tell her about what Hitachiin Hikaru had done to his twin, her friend. How the older boy knew that she was friend with Kaoru or knew what her phone number was, was a complete mystery….and would be a tiny bit creepy if she hadn't heard Kaoru talk so positively about the older boy. Either way, it was not important. What was important was that she knew her friend would need to be well surrounded today. Normally, she would wait for him at his locker but there were chances that he could be seen and accosted by Hikaru on the way there so she felt it was safer if she escorted him for a little while. Besides, if there was one person who deserved to know he was cared for, then it was her friend. Yuki didn't have to wait for long before Haninozuka's limousine arrived at Ouran. As soon as Kaoru came out of the limousine, she ran to him and took his hands in hers.

"Hey Kaoru, how are you feeling today?" She said softly. Kaoru stared at her in shock. He looked down to their joined hands and felt emotions welling up inside him. Suddenly, tears came up in his eyes. He had not let himself cry the night before. He was tired of crying. But this was a good kind of tears. He had tears in his eyes because he could feel how much this girl genuinely cared about him and how much compassion she felt for him. Somehow, he knew that his friend knew what had happened. He had tried to brush it to the side but with Yuki he didn't need to show a strong front. She'd understand.

" You look like someone who needs a hug. I know we have not been friends for a long time and it may seem awkward to you but…." She was interrupted by Kaoru's arm coming up around her.

"Thanks Yuki. You're a good friend"

"Any time Kaoru. And I mean it. You can hug me whenever you need to, ok?"

"Thanks" he said as he pulled away. "Say, how do you know something happened?"

" Oh. Apparently your friend Ootori Kyoya is very good at finding stranger's telephone number even when they're not on any phone list." Kaoru's eyes widened. "I must admit it freaked me out a little that he knew my name, my relationship with you, my telephone number and probably my address too! My parents made sure our names didn't appear in any phone book or on any list they knew about. I admit it's a little paranoid but…Anyway. It's a good thing he's your friend because otherwise I would have definitively been worried."

Kaoru laughed. "Oh Kami, I can imagine! I wonder how he got your phone number if it's supposed to be confidential"

"I have relations." Said a grave voice right behind them. The two younger students jumped, startled.

"Jeez, Kyoya don't do that! I almost had a heart attack!"

"Then it would be a good thing that you were having a heart attack in front of someone whose family business is dealing in health and hospitals. I've know how to do CPR since I was five."

"Really? And what did you practice on at that age? Your sister's dolls?" Kaoru joked.

"No actually, it was with my eldest brother's dolls." Kyoya replied with a completely straight face.

"Oh Kami, that was a joke, wasn't it? Someone call 911 because the apocalypse is about to start if the Shadow King is joking"

"Ha. Ha. Ha" Kyoya answered sarcastically.

Yuki put a hand in front of her mouth to contain her laughter. Those two were so cute to watch together.

"Cute right" whispered a small voice beside her. Haninozuka had joined the group.

"Yes quite. I wonder if they realise it" she whispered back.

"I wouldn't bet on it" Both of them laughed.

"Hey, what's the joke?" Asked Kaoru

Yuki let out a small laugh. "No joke Kaoru-chan. Your friend and I were just discovering that we see eye to eye on a certain thing."

"Uhm…sounds suspicious. Should I be worried?"

Yuki and Hunny shared a look "Nope" they said at the same time. "It's a good thing Kao-chan" said the older boy. "You'll see"

Kaoru looked puzzled for a couple of seconds before shrugging. It was their business and actually that was a very good thing. Hunny was an integral part of his life and Yuki had proven herself to be the best of friends. It was good that those two seemed to click. He'd like all his friends to be friendly with each other. Of course, he would also like for his brother to be friendly to his friends but….well Hikaru wasn't even friendly to his twin at the moment. Kaoru's face fell and his sadness showed. Yuki reached out and took his hands.

"Come on Kaoru. No focusing on the bad. We're here and we're your friends. Focus on the good. The bad will sort itself out eventually, you'll see. As cliché as it is and as hard as it is to live through, the truth is that time does make things better eventually."

"Yes, and in the meantime you can count on Yuki-chan, Kyo-chan and I to support you!" added Hunny.

"Thanks guys" He said trying to keep his emotions out of his voice. "Now let's go inside before we're late for class!"

/

Hikaru entered Ouran with the firm intention of respecting Haruhi's wish and staying away from his brother without glaring at him from a distance. He supposed the best way to do that was to ignore his brother's presence. He should avoid places where Kaoru was. That meant that he shouldn't come to class too early as it was sure that Kaoru would be there. He therefore decided to stay outside the school until the last minute. He figured it was a great idea; he figured wrong. Not 5 minutes later, his brother arrived and instead of going directly inside the school, he stayed outside, in Hikaru's view, talking to that girl. That girl who didn't mind her own business and tried to stop him from talking to Kaoru. That girl who Kaoru had called a friend which was ridiculous because Hikaru didn't know her and Kaoru was always with him and had the same friends as him. Or at least, he used to always be with him. Nowadays, his twin did everything to keep away from him. Hikaru frowned. Great, now the Shadow King had joined the duo. And then Hunny too. And he was laughing with the girl. What the heck? Was he the only one who didn't know this girl? And what were they laughing about? Was it about him? Were they talking behind his back? They had all showed hostility towards him after all. Hikaru scoffed. How were their relationship supposed to get better if Kaoru kept hanging around people who were against him?

"You are glaring Hikaru" said a voice beside him. It was Mori-sempai.

"Yeah well…I feel like I have something to glare about. But I don't suppose you think so"

"I believe that the way you see things makes you feel validated in showing this kind of attitude towards Kaoru" Hikaru blinked…thrice.

"Huh?" he said in confused.

Mori looked at him. " What you feel Hikaru is based on how you interpret things. It doesn't matter what anyone's opinion of your interpretation is. You feel what you feel. You can't help it. You can work on it, though. Know that as long as Kaoru feels you are hostile towards him, he will not come to you on his own. And him making the first step is what you need right now. You must wait for him to be ready or nothing will work. It is a difficult thing waiting. But alas, sometimes it's the only thing that we can do for those we care about."

"Uh. Sounds like you speak from experience" Mori nodded. Hikaru sighed. "Wait huh? I've never been the patient type. But nothing I've done has worked so far so I guess I have to try."

"It's all anyone asks of you Hikaru" said the older boy before leaving.

Hikaru suddenly felt a little better. He hadn't felt any hostility in Mori-sempai's voice. Actually, he talked to him exactly like he always did. It seemed he still had a friend who was fair to him outside of Haruhi.

TBC

AN: To those who know Japanese culture really well, (and found Yuki hugging Kaoru unlikely )I wish to say that I do know that hugs are not given or seen like they are in North America (or at least where I'm from in Canada) Anyway, I do not know if friends ever hug each other in Japan, but I do know that they don't hug each other every time they meet like I do with my friends. Please take into account that I've (unfortunately) never been to Japan (I've left Canada like 3 times? in my life) and I unfortunately don't have any Japanese friends to help me not make cultural faux pas. I write what I know. Sorry L

P.S. English is my second language. Sorry for the mistakes (At least I caught the "doing a heart attack' that I had written first. It's my first language (French) interfering ('cause we say "je fais une crise cardiaque"( I do a heart attack) instead of " *j'ai une crise cardiaque" (I have (I'm having?) a heart attack)