Disclaimer – Unfortunately, I don't own Ouran High or any of its characters, but if anyone knows how to…

Quick note – Thanks for the huge response from the KyoyaxKaoru fanfic that I wrote, another is in the works but, until then, I have this little story instead – a friend of mine asked me to do this specific pairing, and this first chapter immediately leapt into mind.

Enjoy!

Sighing, Kaoru sat down on one of the red velvet, gold painted chairs that lined the large hall and took a moment to watch and reflect the people in front of him through the eyes of his feline mask.

It had all started with one insignificant person saying something not so irrelevant at the most important of moments. There had been several meetings held by various classes on how best to raise money for charity, or better put, raise awareness of the prestige of Ouran High School.

Or was he being too sceptical?

But the reasons behind it, real or imagined, conspiracy or evident, where irrelevant. What was important was that someone in one of the years above him had suggested during one of these meetings to hold a fancy dress ball, and then Kyoya had managed to get involved and suddenly the Host Club were playing a vital part in it all.

Perhaps Kyoya had the same idea as the school in raising awareness of its prestige Host Club? The thought made Kaoru smile under his feline mask.

It didn't matter though, the fancy dress ball had gone ahead and, in true Ouran fashion, everyone had really flung themselves into the festivities, taking it as a chance to get away from the stresses of studying.

And now the results where taking place in front of his eyes, a whole array of people dressed as things they desired to be but never could, or things that where a private joke, or simply things that they thought suited them, danced in pairs or trios or on their own.

Everyone was enjoying themselves it seemed, but him.

Closing his eyes beneath the cat mask he wore, he sighed, trying to forget the images of Hikaru shouting at him. Why did they have to argue at a time like this? Whenever they fought they kept it firmly behind closed doors, acting so well that even they sometimes wondered if anything had happened. Well, apart from their little pretend fight that is.

But it was hard to act so flawlessly with so many people around; at least the mask hid his face so he didn't have to pretend to smile. Opening his eyes again, he scanned the crowd for Hikaru who was wearing an identical mask.

A hand touched his shoulder and as he turned, Kaoru was surprised as his mask was pushed up, rendering him blind as a soft kiss was pressed on his lips. An eternity seemed to pass, but it also seemed the barest of seconds before the lips moved from his own.

Pulling his mask off, Kaoru looked around for the person who has just stolen his first kiss, and found only the faceless masked dancers around him.

Touching his lips, he smiled for the first time that night, and vowed to find the thief that had stolen his first kiss.

And maybe he'd just have to take it back…

Later that night, after he had left the ball with his brother, arms linked, Kaoru decided to ignore the fact they were still fighting when they were back in their shared room, getting changed, and turned to face his brother.

"Hikaru, I -"

"I'm not talking to -"

"Someone kissed me." Judging by his brother's reaction of dropping all his clothes and then promptly falling over the bundle, he guessed Hikaru had nothing to do with the stolen kiss.

The older brother picked himself up and grabbed his brother's shoulders. "Who?!"

"I don't know, they pushed my mask up and stole it."

Letting his brother go and sitting down, Hikaru frowned. "I can't believe someone took your first kiss – before me as well!"

Kaoru laughed and removed the feline mask, looking at it for a moment. "That's the thing, it could have been your kiss they meant to steal, not mine."

Thinking, Hikaru shook his head. "No, someone daring enough to do that would have made certain they knew who they were kissing." He raised his hand. "And remember, Haruhi did tell everyone which of us was which just before…"

"Before we decided to separate at the ball?" Kaoru suggested. "But who could it be?"

"Guy or girl?"

"Huh?"

Hikaru smiled. "I know for a fact you have male admirers, a rather daring girl told me about it and wanted to know what I thought."

"I have male admirers?" Kaoru blinked and thought about how he would feel if it was a guy who took his kiss, or a girl. The answer surprised him.

"You are the cuter of us both."

"I think I prefer guys."

Hikaru fell off the bed with a loud crash. Picking himself up, he shook his head. "Sorry, I think my hearing went there, did you say you preferred guys?"

The younger brother shrugged. "The thought doesn't repulse me."

"And if it was a girl?"

Kaoru thought again. "Doesn't bother me either."

"You like…your…both?" Shaking his head, Hikaru laughed. "Guess you've been mentally prepared for either, shouldn't be surprised really."

"So you're not bothered if I do like guys?" The younger laughed. "I don't even know why I'm thinking that far ahead, first of all, I want to know who took my kiss and I'll progress from there."

"Ok, guy or girl?"

"Don't know." Kaoru scratched his head. "I was sitting down, and had my head titled back, so they could be any height as long as they're not short like Hunny."

Hikaru barely smothered a laugh. "So it wasn't Hunny."

"And there wasn't any facial hair."

"So female or clean shaven – only rules out a few people in our school due to the regulations. Braces?"

"None."

"Again, rules – hold on, how did you know they didn't have braces?" Hikaru raised his eyebrows. "Is this more than a kiss on the lips we're talking about?"

Kaoru shook his head. "It was innocent, but you can tell when someone has braces in because the metal sits on top of the teeth and the skin has to sit over that." He shrugged. "Anything else?"

"Full or thin lips?"

"How do you tell the difference?"

The older brother shrugged. "I think we need to talk to Kyoya about this – he'll be able to slim it down to a tiny number of people with that calculating mind of his."

"Unless it was Kyoya." Kaoru commented, noting that his brother had fallen over again. "We really should clean up this room…"

Hikaru grabbed his brother's shoulders. "If it is Kyoya, we leave the host club immediately, who knows what he'll make you do – and he has the ways and means!"

"What about Haruhi?"

"We'll rescue her as well."

Kaoru shook his head. "If it was Kyoya, which it probably wasn't, then he could have made a move on me at any time – why wait until I was masked? And he wouldn't have to worry about my silence; he probably has a whole arsenal of secrets against me."

"Good point…" Hikaru cocked his head. "What about Tamaki?"

"He likes Haruhi remember, although I think he and Kyoya have something going on…"

Kyoya was not amused as he looked at the identical brothers standing in front of him, both looking a little awkward and neither looking particularly happy to be standing in there.

However, there was an important matter to be had. "If someone has kissed Kaoru, with or without permission, it could have serious consequences on the Host Club. Did anyone see this kiss, Kaoru?"

"I haven't told anyone but Hikaru and now all of you guys." He indicated the other Host Club members who had decided to listen to what Hikaru had called 'a terrible tragedy'. "Did anyone see anything?" He sighed at the silence.

The Shadow King made a few notes in his notebook. "I'll work on collating a list of possible suspects, and I suggest that you and Hikaru work this into your routine – that way anyone that did see something can volunteer information whereas those that think they saw or heard a rumour will put it down to your new act and not having actually happened." A few more notes where made. "I also suggest that when we find the culprit to keep this incident under total secrecy, I don't want the profits jeopardised."

Kaoru turned round to Hikaru. "Score Kyoya off the list."

Everyone promptly fell over in shock, horror and surprise.

"What? I had to suspect everyone."

"You think it was a guy?" Haruhi asked, surprised. "It makes sense though, most people probably believe that either you're that way inclined or it is all an act."

Writing a few last notes, with a suspiciously dark look, Kyoya turned his eyes back to Kaoru who gulped nervously. "Try and stay with the other Host Club members as much as possible until we find the culprit, just in case things escalate."

Nodding, Kaoru returned to his usual seat by the window before Tamaki started to let the guests enter. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned round to look at his brother.

"Don't worry, we'll find them." Smiling as one of their usual designations immediately asked what they were looking for; Hikaru put on a dramatic voice and pulled Kaoru closer. "A thief."

"What was stolen?" One of the girls asked, horrified, as Kaoru blushed, pulling away slightly to look at the floor.

"A kiss." He whimpered, trying not to laugh at the shocked gasps. "At the masked ball, did any of you see anything?"

Hikaru dug his elbow into his brother's side and muttered 'the act' darkly. "They took a precious kiss from my beloved brother."

Sighing inwardly, Kaoru clasped his brother's hands. "It's alright, H-Hikaru," a sniff, "they never took anything more precious from me." A well timed blush. "That's something only you've ever had."

The girls promptly fainted, squealed or simply melted.

Moving away from Hikaru, Kaoru had to sigh at how easy it was with the female customers and he guessed he could rule them out since they enjoyed the 'brotherly love' idea so much. As Hikaru had once said, the idea of being loved by two perfectly identical boys was more popular than just one boys love.

So if that was the case, the culprit would have wanted both of their kisses…

He paused as a hand was placed on his arm and, looking up and up, his eyes rested on Mori who was looking at him with his usual expressionless face.

"Perhaps," he rumbled, "you should tone down you act with Hikaru as well?"

Kaoru nodded. "I had thought about that, but I don't want to annoy Kyoya any further. I'll try and compromise but…" He shrugged. "Its how I keep my customers."

Mori simply nodded and 'hnn'ed before turning round as Hunny ran over to them.

"Mori-chan, Kao-chan, do you want to have some cake with me and Bun-Bun!"

Looking at Mori who had nodded, Kaoru smiled. "Why not?"

Running after Hikaru, Kaoru sighed as his older brother stormed off. He wanted to know what he had done this time to upset him; it seemed that everyday some small action of his angered Hikaru.

Catching up, he caught his brother's arm and was promptly shaken off.

"H-Hikaru?"

His older brother turned round. "Don't do that." Turning round again, he continued to storm ahead.

Sighing, Kaoru caught up. "Have I upset you again?"

"You don't seem to be taking this whole thing seriously, Kaoru."

"It was only a kiss." Blinking, he was forced to stop and turn round to face his brother who had come to an abrupt halt. "Hikaru?"

The older brother took a calming breath. "This time it was a kiss, what about next time? And what if I get molested next time?"

"You already said they would -"

"Fair enough, but what if I was wrong?" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"What doesn't?" Following his brother doggedly again, he was glad that they had reached their shared room where his bother would be unable to keep moving. He was surprised to be grabbed and pushed against the wall. "H-Hikaru?" Kaoru tried to back away but the wall was refusing to let him escape.

Sighing, Hikaru looked at his younger brother. "I don't want anyone hurting you – the thought of someone kissing you forcefully is bad enough but what if they do something worse? I'm supposed to protect you!"

Kaoru stopped trying to escape. "I might be weaker, but I can protect myself, Hikaru, you shouldn't worry about that. And as for the kiss, well, we had just argued, neither was going to look out for the other after that, where we?"

Letting the younger boy go, Hikaru let out a long breath. "I suppose, it's just, I feel bad about it."

"Well don't." Rubbing life back into his shoulders, Kaoru groaned as he was promptly shoved and then pinned onto the bed under Hikaru. "H-Hikaru? Let me go, please." Trying to shake his wrists free, he gulped. "Stop kidding around!"

Smirking, Hikaru let his brothers hands go but sat back onto the younger boy's stomach so he couldn't escape. "I'm not that much heavier than you, and I'm not particularly strong, and yet you couldn't do a thing there – your as weak as a kitten."

"You took me by surprise."

"Right and the kiss-thief is going to step out and say 'hello, I'm going to molest you now'?"

Kaoru begrudgingly had to admit that his older brother had a very valid point. "Ok, I'll make sure I'm always with someone, you've proved your point, now will you get off me already?" He nearly screamed when Hikaru put a hand on his chest and pushed him back down. "Hikaru…"

"You're getting ratty."

"You're not letting me go."

Hikaru just smiled. "And a molester wouldn't either." Letting his brother go, he got up and moved over to his desk where he began to remove all his notebooks.

Sitting up slowly, Kaoru rubbed his wrists and wondered that, if the molester didn't kill him, would Hikaru?

Sitting at one of the Host Club tables with his head in his hands, Kaoru let out a loud sigh before glancing at the meeting being held with all the other Host Club members. They were talking about him, and it felt very wrong to be excluded from that.

Glancing up as Mori sat down opposite him, he returned to glowering at the group.

"Did you enjoy it?"

Having to collect himself from jumping in fright, Kaoru turned to Mori. "Err…I suppose I did. It was all a bit quick, you know?"

Mori 'hnn'ed.

Sighing, Kaoru jumped again when Hikaru put a hand on his back.

"We've come up with a plan."

"Yeah?"

Kyoya walked over and sat down, opening his notebook where he promptly scored something out before looking at Kaoru. "I'm going to appoint someone to be with you at all times as neither you or Hikaru are capable of fending off anyone that is particularly larger than yourselves."

The younger brother was ashamed to admit that he probably wouldn't last a round in a fight with most of the girls in Ouran High let alone one of the guys.

"I originally intended on having Hunny look after you." Kyoya indicated Hunny in a fashion that someone would indicate figures on a chart, or exhibit A. "But I felt he was not the most attentive of people."

Looking up from his cake, Hunny smiled. "Would you like some as well, Kao-chan?"

Waving away the offered cake, Kaoru raised his eyebrows. "So…?" He was desperately praying for anyone but Kyoya.

"Mori."

The older boy 'hnn'ed.

Kaoru felt the last of his sanity fall away at the realisation he'd be stuck with someone who spoke perhaps three sentences a day at most. It was looking to be a very boring time ahead. "And what about Hikaru?"

"During the Host Club you will continue you're 'brotherly love' act, and outside of those hours Mori will see you to and from anywhere."

"And Hikaru…"

The older brother smiled. "I don't mind."

Perhaps Mori could protect him from his brother. Musing, Kaoru realised he had missed the opportunity to decline Mori's assistance and was now in fact being told to give it a test run by leaving the Host Club early with the boy.

Looking at Mori, Kaoru smiled. "Wouldn't you rather stay with Hunny for a bit longer?"

Mori 'hnn'ed.

And then they were both leaving the Host Club.

Arriving home, Kaoru invited Mori inside out of the manner instilled into him of generations of powerful family relations. Leaving the older boy in his room, he promptly left to fetch his guest a drink with the full intention of shoving him out the door the moment that drink was finished.

In the bedroom, Mori looked at the space around him. It wasn't so much space as the lack of it, every tiny niche seemed to be filled with something as if the two personalities in the room had grown to the point of crushing anything but each other out. Glancing up at the wall, he spotted two masks that seemed slightly out of place with the merging persona of the room.

The masks were of cats, both had fiery colours painted as its fur, and whilst one had bright green eyes, the other had gold. Picking the golden eyed mask off the wall, which he recognised to be Kaoru's mask, he gently placed it to his lips and smiled.

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