AN: I... I'm so sorry *hides in shame*. I could give you a million and one reasons why I haven't updated in nine months, but hopefully you'll just accept a sincere apology and the longest chapter to date?

Strawberry Kisses

When the limo arrived at the Hitachiin mansion, Kaoru said goodbye to Hunny with a tight hug and a swift kiss and then nervously exited the car. It wasn't that he was afraid to face his brother, just that he knew it would lead to a long and possibly violent argument before Hikaru decided it was time to forgive him. And who knew how long that would take?

Hikaru was jealous by nature, and was not used to being second to anyone, or receiving anything less than his brother's full attention. The older boy would not take kindly to being abandoned, even though that was precisely what he had been doing to Kaoru, ever since he had set his sights on Haruhi.

The young redhead sighed as he walked inside. After a few minutes of searching, he found his brother watching TV. Or rather, sulking on the couch with his back to the television. Kaoru made his way across the room and carefully sat down on the couch by Hikaru's feet. The older twin's eyes were closed, and Kaoru wondered if he was truly asleep or just trying to avoid a conversation.

"Ne, Hikaru," he whispered, shaking his brother's leg. Hikaru's eyebrows scrunched together, just a fraction of a centimeter, but it was enough for Kaoru to determine that his brother was just giving him the silent treatment. He tried again, louder this time, "Hikaruuu, I need to talk to you. Please?" The older twin responded by kicking Kaoru and sending him crashing to the floor.

Kaoru grimaced in pain as he stood up. Not quite ready to give up, he jumped on Hikaru, pinning his shoulders so that he had no choice but to stop ignoring the younger boy and look him in the eyes.

Hikaru's own eyes were narrowed in anger. "Let me go," he seethed, struggling to escape from his brother's grip. Kaoru only pushed him down harder.

"Hikaru, just listen to me," There was a note of desperation in his voice. "I'm sorry. I know I screwed up, and you have every right to be mad at me for that. I didn't mean to ditch you, I just lost track of time, and then by the time I realized you were already gone. I'm so sorry," The younger boy's eyes were wide and pleading. Hikaru stopped squirming and glared at his brother for a moment before responding.

"You promised. You promised that you would meet me, and you didn't. I waited all day for you to show up, all by myself." The hurt he was feeling was evident in his voice, and he silenced his brother's attempt at a response. "You're my brother. We're half of a whole, aren't we? And that means we shouldn't ditch each other or break promises. I would never do that to you," the older redhead said with conviction.

Kaoru barely resisted the urge to scoff. For months, Hikaru had been blowing him off in favor of Haruhi. If Haruhi was involved, Hikaru would drop everything. He would even forget about things that others might find important, like the time he was supposed to help Kaoru put the finishing touches on the designs for one of their mother's fashion shows and instead spent the day giving Haruhi a detailed presentation of all the reasons he was better for her than Tamaki. Despite all the times Hikaru had hurt him and abandoned him, he had always been there cheering him on, because he knew that was what it would take for Hikaru to be happy. And now, Hikaru had the nerve to accuse himof being a bad brother?

Kaoru didn't say any of that though. He couldn't let Hikaru know how much he was affected by his brother's pursuit of their cross-dressing friend. The younger boy wanted his brother to be happy and right now, growing apart was what they needed for that to happen. So instead, he just gave Hikaru a small, sad smile.

"I know. What I did was wrong, I'm sorry. I promise it won't happen again, Hikaru," As he said this, Hikaru finally succeeded in breaking free from his brother's hold.

"Whatever," the older twin scowled and made his way to the door. "I'm going for a walk, I need to be alone for a while," and with that, he walked out.

Kaoru sniffled, trying to hold back tears. Hikaru being mad at him was even worse than when he was ignoring him. There were few times when the twins were truly upset at each other, and on the rare occasions when they were, it was completely awful. It seemed to be happening more and more often since the two had opened their world to include other people, and unless they wanted to go back to how things used to be, when there was a clear line between 'us' and 'them', it was something that Kaoru was beginning to think he would have to just get used to.

Kaoru sighed and went to the bedroom to await his brother's return.

~o~*~o~*~o~

Somewhere inside him, Hikaru knew he was being unfair. To be honest, he didn't really care. He had been stuck at that amusement park for hours by himself, probably looking like a fool wandering around without his friends. I've been nothing but there for him our entire lives, and what does he do to thank me for that? He ditches me! Hikaru absolutely oozed anger and self-entitlement. He was still muttering angrily when he found himself standing in front of the Haninozuka estate.

The redhead hadn't planned on coming here, but since he had, he decided to give the small senior boy a piece of his mind. Hikaru banged on the front door, and a young maid answered.

"Ah, Hitachiin-sama, what can I do for you?" She seemed to pay no attention to the late hour or the sour look on the teen's face.

"I need to speak to Hunny-sempai," he replied, making an effort to control his temper and not lash out at the girl.

"Of course, follow me." The maid smiled and began to make her way up a flight of stairs, motioning for Hikaru to follow, which he did. When they arrived at Hunny's room, she gave a light knock and said, "Haninozuka-sama, Hitachiin-sama is here and would like to speak with you."

"Coming~" called a voice from inside the room. The maid bowed and scurried away to complete her other duties. When Hunny opened the door, you could almost feel his sweet and happy aura collide with Hikaru's dark and brooding one. "Hi~! What brings you here, Kao-cha…" The blond paused as he realized his mistake. "Oh, Hika-chan, what are you doing here?" he asked, genuinely curious as to what the older twin was doing in his house.

Hikaru let himself into Hunny's room and closed the door behind him. "I want my brother back," the younger boy seethed. Hunny looked at him with wide eyes.

"What are you talking about, Hika-chan?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Hikaru nearly yelled, stomping his foot like a child throwing a fit. "Me and Kaoru have been by each other's side since the day we were born. He's never forgotten about me before. And it's your fault! If you hadn't taken him away from me, this wouldn't have happened!" At this point, the redhead was practically screaming, and his eyes were filling with tears.

"Hika…" Hunny was surprised by the sudden outburst, but also relieved. Hikaru was angry because he cared about his brother, which was a good thing, even if he wasn't going about expressing it the right way. For a while, Hunny had been worried that the bond the twin's shared would come to resemble the relationship between the senior and his own brother, alternating between fighting and ignoring each other.

Before responding, Hunny sat Hikaru down on the couch and handed him one of the many stuffed animals scattered around the room (not the elephant though, that one was reserved for Kaoru), in an attempt to calm the boy down. Hikaru gripped the stuffed toy tightly in his arms, trying to regain control of his emotions. Now that he had gotten the anger out of his system, he was left with an overwhelming empty, lonely feeling. It wasn't until the younger boy's breathing became even and his eyes cleared, that Hunny spoke.

"Now you understand," Hunny said softly, causing Hikaru to tilt his head in confusion.

"Understand what?"

The blond smiled softly and continued.

"Kaoru. Now you know what your brother has been feeling all this time." This only caused Hikaru to become more confused, and with the confusion came a little anger. Being abandoned by Kaoru had hurt. Was Hunny accusing him of somehow making his brother feel the way he had today? How could he think that? I'd never do anything to hurt Kaoru.

"All what time? I haven't done anything wrong," Hikaru said stubbornly.

"Have you really not noticed?" Hunny asked in slight disbelief. Could it really be possible that Hikaru had no idea how he made his younger twin feel? "You don't think anything has changed since you became interested in Haru-chan?"

"Well of course things have changed. We let Haruhi become an 'us' and not a 'them'. But we both agreed that it was the best thing to do! How did that hurt Kaoru?" Hunny thought for a minute about the best way to explain.

"Y'see, opening up your world to more people is a good thing, but that's not what you're doing. Instead of making your world bigger, you're just switching your focus to another person. So when you're letting Haru-chan in, that also means you're leaving Kao-chan out." Hikaru shook his head. He couldn't possibly have been doing that to his own brother, could he?

"But Kaoru would tell me if I was hurting him. We tell each other everything!"

"You used to, Hika-chan. But now, how often do you talk about something other than Haru-chan?"

Hikaru opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it again. He paused for a moment, and then said, "We talk about lots of things! And we make plans for just the two of us all the time."

"And how often do you actually follow through with those plans instead of making new ones with Haru-chan?" Hunny knew that he shouldn't be saying these things. There was a big chance that it would ruin Kaoru's plan to get Hikaru and Haruhi together and make his brother happy. But Hunny couldn't stand to see Kaoru being constantly abandoned anymore.

The redhead stared at the older boy with wide eyes. Why was Hunny being so cruel? Was he trying to make Hikaru feel like a bad older brother? He felt ashamed. How had he grown so far from his brother without even noticing?

"I…I, how did this happen?" Hikaru's eyes became shiny with tears.

"Kao-chan wanted you to be happy. He thought that standing back and letting you get Haru-chan was the best way for that to happen," the older boy said simply. Hikaru really started to cry now, tears flowing silently down his face. He felt awful. Kaoru had been looking out for him this entire time, and he had gotten all worked up because his brother had put his own happiness first for once, and even then it had been an accident. Hikaru buried his face into the stuffed animal in his arms and cried.

Between sobs he asked, "H-how did I become such a bad brother, Hunny-senpai?" Now Hunny was starting to feel bad too. It hadn't been his intention to make the younger boy cry, he had only wanted Hikaru to understand Kaoru's feelings.

"Don't cry, Hika-chan," Hunny said, rubbing his back comfortingly. "You're not a bad brother, really! You love Kao-chan a whole lot, and that's more than you can say for a lot of brothers. You're a better brother to Kao-chan than I am to Chika-chan! You just need to make sure you don't become so wrapped up in expanding your world that you end up forgetting about him."

The redheaded boy sniffled and looked up. "D-do you really think so, Hunny-senpai? I feel like I screwed up so bad."

"Of course I think so!" the senior said with a smile. "And you can fix this. You don't need to give up on Haru-chan and go back to your world of two. Just make sure Kao-chan knows how much you care about him!" Hunny beamed when he saw that Hikaru had a faint smile.

"Are you sure he'll forgive me?"

"He will, don't worry Hika-chan. Kao-chan loves you, so he'll forgive you!"

"Okay," Hikaru said nervously. "Thank you Hunny-senpai. I'm sorry for yelling at you before, you haven't done anything wrong."

"It's okay, Hika-chan!" Hunny said with a grin. "Let's go eat some cake! It'll help you feel better." He exclaimed innocently.

Hikaru chuckled and followed the older boy out of the room. He was fairly sure that the blond was just looking for an excuse to eat cake, but it might just be the thing to cheer him up.

AN: So, what do you think? The pacing of the first few chapters was kind of fast, so I tried to slow it down a bit, but I think it might still be a little rushed :x But I'm working on it! Again, so sorry for the long wait ;-; I promise you won't have to wait this long for the next update!