Title: His Smile
Author: Kyuubi-kun
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst, Romance, AU
Pairing(s): Kaoru/Hikaru.
Warning(s): This does contain implied heterosexual activities. Bear with it.
Summary: The carriage is broken, leaving a rotting pumpkin. He doesn't smile anymore.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran. I just own what I write. Y'know, my original ideas and all that fun stuff.
Author's Note: Forgot to say this at the beginning of the last chapter. I have never read the manga of Ouran, but I have seen the entire anime, so this is based off the anime-characterizations rather than the manga ones. Sorry for the confusion. ((sheepish grin))

Hikaru stared down at his brother for a few moments, not quite knowing what to say. Kyouya had made him face his own negligence with his brother, and he wasn't entirely sure how he should feel about that. Of course, there was anger. Why should he have to take care of Kaoru for their entire lives? There was the hurt. How could Kaoru not tell him directly? Why did he go to Kyouya? But most of all, there was the burning need to just be by his brother's side.

He would figure everything out later. For right now… for right now… this was enough. The older of the twins slowly sat down on the bed next to Kaoru and lay down. He curled up into his unconscious brother's side, hoping that all would be well if he could just be here. He hoped that everything would go back to normal – no matter what. He hoped that he could have his brother by his side again.

Who do I like more? He asked himself as he threw an arm over Kaoru's stomach and laid his head on the boy's chest, snuggling closer to the redhead's side. Kaoru or Haruhi?

It didn't surprise him that he knew the answer already. It didn't surprise him – but he wished it could be different. That was his last thought before he fell into a sleep nearly as deep as Kaoru's.When Kaoru woke next, he felt warm. It was a strange feeling – something that he had only thought would happen when his brother was there. But that was impossible, of course. His brother couldn't be here. Yet there was a very familiar weight bearing down on his side, like it used to. Finally cracking open his eyes from the most restful sleep he had had in a while, Kaoru noticed that Hikaru was indeed snuggling up to his side.

Raising a hand, he let it slip through his older brother's red locks, trying to convince himself that it was just because his brother was by his side. He knew it was something different, something that he could not tell Hikaru. He knew that there was a need for his brother, one that transcended the act of brothers should. There was a want for his identical twin that was hard to ignore, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

No, he whispered in his mind, I have to ignore it. Hikaru's happy with Haruhi. There isn't any reason for me to screw it up. He… deserves to be happy. I have to… I have to leave…

Just as he was coming to his decision, Hikaru stirred in his sleep. Kaoru's hand stopped in its gentle caress as his brother's eyes opened.

"H-Hello," Kaoru said with a small smile.

Hikaru looked up at the younger of the twins and slowly sat up. "Kaoru…" he began, but stopped, a puzzled look coming onto his face.

Kaoru sat up as well, a sad look in his eyes. "It's okay, Hikaru," he whispered. "I already know."

Hikaru's confusion grew worse. "Know? Know what?"

Slowly, Kaoru peeled the blankets out from around him. "I already know what I have to do," he whispered, trying hard to avoid his twin's penetrating gaze.

"Oh? And what's that?"

Kaoru allowed a tiny smile to flit across his face. "What I must," he said, slipping his feet out from under the sheets and onto the floor. "I'm leaving."

A sudden pain struck the elder. It was as though his heart was being ripped apart and he couldn't understand why. "What? Leaving?"

Kaoru nodded. "Yeah, I…," his voice trailed off, allowing Hikaru the brief second in time to grab his brother's shoulders.

"You have got to be kidding me," he whispered.

Kaoru shook his head, trying to find his voice.

"Do you have any idea what I've gone through in the past twenty-four hours?" Hikaru continued, angrily.

Kaoru's face hardened. "Oh, boo-hoo," he snarled, ripping himself away from his brother's grasp. "Twenty-four hours of hell for poor Hikaru." With each word, Kaoru could feel his heart tighten, but he forced himself to go on. "Do you have any idea what I've been going through for the past three months?"

Hikaru was taken aback.

"What?"

"Three months, Hikaru. Do you have any idea what I've been going through? Could you understand? Do you know how much I… I hate to see you with Haruhi?" he murmured, not trusting his voice above the gentle hum of a whisper.

"What? Why?"

Kaoru just shook his head. "I have no sympathy for you," he told the boy. Standing up, he grabbed onto the bedrail for support as he got his bearings back. When he finally trusted himself to stand on his own, he shakily made his way to the door.

He wasn't all that surprised to see an Ootori guard standing there. He turned to the man. "Contact Kyouya," he growled out, harsher than he intended but he couldn't get rid of the splitting headache that was threatening to tear him apart. Or maybe it was the pain that he felt in his chest that was trying to destroy him. He didn't want to pause to think about which of the two it could be.

"Yes, sir," the guard responded, contacting the youngest son of the Ootori family. "What do you want me to say?"

"Tell him Kaoru wants a ride somewhere."

The guard nodded and relayed the message before turning back to the redhead. "He will be here in ten minutes with a car."

Kaoru nodded. "Take me to the front door," he whispered.

The guard looked unsure, turning to look back at the shell-shocked teen that was still sitting on the hospital bed. "I will call for backup," he finally decided and did so. It took less than two minutes for another guard to appear.

"This man will lead you to the front door," the first guard said. "I will stay with your brother."

Kaoru nodded and started to walk away, the guard not very far behind him.

By the time the two had reached the front entrance of the school, Kyouya was there with a car. The guard opened the door and allowed Kaoru to step inside.

Kaoru did so, not once looking back at the school where he had just left his brother stranded.

"Where do you need to go, Kaoru?" Kyouya asked with a grim look on his face.

Kaoru thought about this for a second. "Away," he finally whispered.

"Do you have any idea where?"

"Somewhere where he can't follow me."

Kyouya didn't have to ask about who "he" was.

Back in the nurse's office, Hikaru was just sitting on the bed, his mind running through all of what had just occurred. Kaoru was leaving. He was leaving his twin brother, and perhaps everything that he had known and for what? That was the part that Hikaru still could not grasp. What could be so important that Kaoru had to leave?

What had he meant, anyway?

What had he meant when he said that he hated seeing Hikaru with Haruhi? Kaoru had been the one to set them up, after all.

Sometimes, his twin could just be too confusing for Hikaru to ponder.

Three months? That was… as long as Hikaru had been going out with Haruhi. He couldn't be jealous, could he? Kaoru had never shown any interest in Haruhi, after all. So what could it be?

Why was he thinking about this anyway? Thinking was Kaoru's strong suit. Hikaru just loved to act on impulses, and yet here he was, in the place where he and his brother had slept, if only for a short time, trying to think and figure out the hints that his own brother had left him.

Dammit, Kaoru… the elder twin thought with disdain. He needed to find his brother. He needed to find the answers to all of these questions revolving around his head. He needed to figure out how to get strength back in his legs so that he could follow his brother.

Why had Kaoru left him?

That was the thing that bothered him the most. Kaoru had made it seem so easy, leaving him, but the pained look in his brother's eyes showed him that it was anything but.

Why couldn't Kaoru just be straightforward about things? What was with the riddles and the hints that Hikaru wasn't even sure were really hints?

Was his mind making too much of the situation at hand? Was that what was happening?

No. Kaoru had definitely left a clue of some sort.

If only Hikaru had the brains to figure out what that clue was.

Hikaru gave out a frustrated sigh. There was no way he was figuring this out on his own. There was only thing left that he could do. He had to contact Kaoru. Without moving from his place on the bed, he took out his cell phone, pressing the number two speed dial.

He waited patiently as it began to ring.

The ringing of a phone interrupted the silence that was in the car since the last that the two hosts had spoke. Kaoru nearly jumped when he recognized the ring tone that he had chosen for his brother.

"Perhaps you should answer that," Kyouya said evenly.

Kaoru looked at him. "Why?" he asked darkly. "It's just Hikaru finally understanding something a bit too late. Why doesn't he call his darling Haruhi?"

Kyouya sighed, adjusting his glasses. "Still, better late than never, correct?"

Kaoru was silent for a moment. "No, not correct. It's not better late than never. It's just not better."

"Kaoru…" Kyouya said in a warning tone.

Kaoru stared down at his folded hands. When had he folded them? Maybe it was because they were shaking. "I… I just told him that I was leaving," he whispered.

Kyouya allowed another sigh to pass his lips. "Perhaps that was what it took to make him realize some things."

"Such as?"

"Such as the fact that he loves you."

Kaoru allowed a hollow bark of laughter to escape him. "Love? Have you gone mad? Love is nothing."

"Of course it is," Kyouya whispered.

"It doesn't matter," the twin muttered. "The pumpkin is smashed and the stained glass is broken. It doesn't matter. You can't fix everything. This is just one of those things."

"Well, of course you can't fix it, if one of those who are involved doesn't want it to be fixed."

"Are you implying something?"

"No. I'm stating it. You're afraid."

There was a moment of silence. "Yes. I am."

"Why?"

"He means everything to me. Everything. More than you'll ever know. More than he'll ever know. And as my everything, I cannot hold him back. He deserves to be with Haruhi. She makes him smile, and that's all that I need. He doesn't need a twin who's in love with him to hold him back."

"I thought you said that love was nothing."

"It is. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It just means that it's a hindrance more than anything else in this world. It holds people back and makes people hurt. It's nothing that I need."

Kyouya could feel his patience with the young twin growing thin. He could understand what the boy was going through, but at the same time, he didn't like it. If Kaoru would just open his eyes, then there was something there for him to see. Kyouya could see it, now was the task of trying to get Kaoru to see it as well.

"Open your eyes," the Shadow King told him bluntly, almost not believing that this was the way that he had to go about things for Kaoru to understand.

"And what will I see?"

Kyouya thought for a moment, trying to find the right words for what he was about to say. He knew that by saying what he had finally come up with, he would be completely destroying his reputation with the younger twin, but Kaoru needed it at the moment. So, dutifully, he smiled at the younger boy. "A brand new window, more beautiful than the one that has shattered."

Kaoru stared at the older boy in a mixture of horror and disbelief. Did Kyouya honestly say what he had just heard?

Not being able to contain it, he allowed laughter to bubble up, spilling over his lips like a waterfall. He clutched his stomach, not having laughed like this in three months. Kyouya just stared at the boy, mildly confused. He waited patiently, though, for the laughing fit to be over.

"Are you done?" he asked when the chuckles subsided.

Kaoru nodded. "Yeah."

"Mind telling me what was so amusing?"

"Well… it was just that… that line was so cheesy. And you said it."

Kyouya could feel a bit of heat rising to his cheeks. "And if you tell anyone that I said that, you will die."

Kaoru nodded; a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Sure."

His cell phone rang again.

Kyouya adjusted his glasses in a bored fashion. "Are you going to answer that?"

Kaoru smiled, one that lit up his eyes and made his cheeks hurt. He reached into his pocket and pulled the device out. "Yeah…" he said. "I think I am."

With only a second of hesitation, he flipped the phone open.

Hikaru looked down at his phone. The first time he tried calling his twin, the boy hadn't answered. He was trying again though, just one last time. The phone rang.

Once…

Twice…

Three times…

Four…

He was about to give up and flip it shut when a very familiar voice answered, "Hello?"

"Kaoru!"

"Hey Hikaru, how are you?"

"HOW AM I?" Hikaru bit out, nearly tearing with relief at the thought of hearing his brother. "You idiot, how can you ask me that?"

"Eh, it's all about formalities, Hikaru."

There was an awkward pause where neither twin knew really what to say to each other. It was a strange experience for the both of them, considering it was the first one.

"Whatdidyoumeanwhenyousaidyouwereleaving?" Hikaru rushed out in one breath.

"What?" Kaoru's voice asked him.

The redhead in question took a deep breath. "What did you mean when you said you were leaving?" he repeated softly.

Kaoru paused and Hikaru could hear the soft intake of breath that his brother had done. "I…" the younger of the two. "We…"

Words seemed to be failing him, but Hikaru didn't say anything, much as his impatience wanted him to. Something was telling him that he needed to hear what his brother was trying to say.

"I… I love you, Hikaru," the boy whispered.

Hikaru was confused. "That's it? Silly, I love you too. You're my brother."

"No, Hikaru."

"Then what is it?"

"I love you. Like… like how Haruhi loves you and how you love her. That's why… that's why I need to leave. It's for you and your happiness."

Hikaru gasped at the confession. "You… you can't mean…"

"I do," came the firm reply.

Hikaru was astounded. This was the missing clue, the missing piece, the thing that he couldn't figure out. And this. This was the moment that could change everything.

This was the moment of his decision.

Haruhi – his sweet, loving girlfriend.

Or Kaoru – his twin brother who had always been there, inseparable since the day they were born.

"I… I don't want to make you choose, so I'm choosing. Do you understand me Hikaru?"

The younger redhead was met with complete silence.

All that was running through Hikaru's head was the simple and yet hardest choice he had ever made. Haruhi or Kaoru?

"Hikaru?"

There was still no answer.

Haruhi or Kaoru?

"I… understand."

Understand what?

Haruhi or Kaoru.

"I'll… I'll go now. Just know that I love you. Always will. I wish you happiness, too. Lots of it."

Haruhi or Kaoru.

The choice was made even before he could properly think it through. He didn't need to think it through.

"Kaoru!" he shouted.

The boy on the other end of the line was obviously confused. Without even seeing him, Hikaru knew that Kaoru probably had one eyebrow raised; his lip quirked up as he stared at the phone with slightly widened eyes.

"Yes?"

"Kaoru," the redhead's voice was much softer.

"I'm still here."

"Kaoru." He was savoring the name.

This was what had been missing the past three months.

"Kaoru. You."

"You've lost me, Hikaru."

"We need to meet up. Tell Kyouya to bring you back here."

"Why?" came the tiny voice.

"Are you going to deny me that little request?"

Silence. "No."

"Then I'll see you soon."

Hikaru closed his phone.

Kaoru looked down at the dead line in his hand. "He… wants me to go see him," he whispered to his companion.

Kyouya couldn't hide the little smirk that had crossed his face. "Driver," he called to the front.

"Yes, sir?" the driver responded.

"Take us back to the school.

"Yes, sir."

With that, the car turned around and began its chase back to the school. Back to Hikaru.

Hikaru stood up, feeling a new strength fill him. He was going to see his brother again. Maybe he could make Kaoru understand. Maybe he could find what he was searching for, what was missing. Maybe Kaoru was all he really needed. He didn't cling to Kaoru because he was his brother, but because he was his other half.

He stepped outside the door, triumphantly walking to the front entrance of the school. The guard that had been posted to watch over him followed along silently, but Hikaru paid him no mind. He had only one thing in his thoughts right now.

"What am I going to do?" Kaoru was panicking and Kyouya was at loss as to what to do with it.

"Do what you must," the Shadow King advised softly.

Kaoru just looked at him.

Hikaru waited for the black car of the Ootori company to pull up. He wasn't able to stand still, his very skin itching at the prospect of what could happen within the next half an hour.

It wasn't long before he caught sight of the familiar car. It seemed to take forever before it pulled to a stop in front of the boy.

"Oh god, oh god, I'm here," Kaoru muttered to himself, trying to figure out if there was a way to escape. His heart was thumping in his chest, too much for him to properly control. Kyouya just looked at him.

"Get out of my car and listen to what he has to say," Kyouya growled, finally growing truly annoyed at how the young twin was acting.

Kaoru nodded timidly and opened the door, inching his way out. It wasn't long before he was standing in front of his brother, using the car door as support for his weakened knees.

The two brothers stood in silence for a moment that lasted for an eternity. Kaoru couldn't stop his knees from shaking and Hikaru couldn't stop staring at his brother.

His brother.

His choice.

His own.

Finally, he stepped forward to his younger sibling, hefting the boy into a tight hug.

"You," he breathed into Kaoru's ear.

"Me?" the other asked confused, hanging onto Hikaru for support now that the car door had been taken away from him.

"Yes, you." There was a slight smile on Hikaru's face.

"What… what about me?"

Hikaru allowed the smile to grow bigger. "My choice. You. Kaoru. My brother. I choose you. I would choose you over Haruhi any day. You're mine, Kaoru. I'm not allowing you to leave."

Kaoru was stunned, and it showed in his face. "What?"

"I choose you."

"I don't… why?"

Hikaru just leaned in, placing his lips against Kaoru's forehead in a gentle kiss. "Because you complete me."

Kaoru could feel a blush rising in his cheeks and he found that he didn't care. For the first time in front of his brother in forever, he allowed a genuine smile to break across his face.

Hikaru could feel his breath catch as he saw the widening lips curving upwards on his brother. This was what he had been looking for, what he had been going out with Haruhi trying to find, only to see that it was with him the entire time.

This is what he had to lose in order to truly understand it's brilliance.

This phenomenon right in front of him.

The thing that Kaoru had kept hidden from him for three whole months.

The thing about Kaoru that made him feel elated, loved, and happy no matter what had happened whenever he had seen it.

His smile.

Kyuubi-kun's Korner!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this story. It will remain as it is right now, cheesy ending and all. I don't know who the people who tried to kidnap Kaoru were. To me, they were just convenient plot devices that I used.

Its up to you who and what they were, but my job is complete here.

I was going to wait to post this until tomorrow, after my final, but… I got bored, and I wanted reviews to read and all, so I'm giving it to you now.

Please review if you wish, but hell, I'm just happy if you got to the point where you've read it. (stretches) Man, it's been a while since I've written fanfiction. I hope it didn't turn out to be complete crap. Especially since this part was written at two in the morning. (shrugs)

Thanks all.