On the beautiful grounds of rich people's academy, Ouran, the leaves shifted their color — Summer giving way to Autumn. The Host Club — a group of handsome young men whose beauty lacked nothing in comparison to the miraculous scenery around them — was hosting a private event, guests only. They entertained young ladies with their looks, charm, and personalities.

Kaoru watched a crisp orange leaf drift lightly to the ground, a distant look in his eyes.

"Kaoru, where is Hikaru?" one of his guests asked.

He replied, detached, "Hikaru is sick. He told me to come here anyway." His crestfallen guests nodded.

Tamaki watched his dejected friend from afar. He turned around and said, "Mom."

"Yes, Dad," Kyoya answered, writing something in his notebook.

"Our son is depressed."

"Yes"

Tamaki turned to his friend, "Should we we cheer him up?"

"No." (translation: that would require non benefited effort.)

"But—" A raindrop landed on his forehead.

Kaoru looked up and smiled. The Host Club event couldn't continue in the rain and they'd have to go home. He could go home to Hikaru. He didn't wait to be excused. He ran straight to his private car and told the driver to hurry home, the sooner they got there the better.

As they started back the rain swooshed on the windshield. The wipers were hardly enough to keep the water clear which made the view blurry.

Headlights flashed in the window, the driver slammed on the break. The car jerked and Kaoru hit the seat in front of him. They skidded but didn't stop in time, a huge 6-wheeler towered toward them, its breaks squealing. The big-rig crashed into the smaller vehicle, practically running it over. Metal collided heavily into metal, compacting the cab around Kaoru. His head bashed into the roof and he heard a sickening crack followed by the tremendous pain. Getting what he could of his bearing, Kaoru attempted to crawl away but his arm was trapped under the sharp, cold, crushing metal. It wasn't over, fire spread in a seconds breadth. Its glowing, ruby tongues licked at him hungrily. Hot sticky liquid pooled around him. The pouring rain rain mixed with it, thinning it out, and it began to stream away.

Kaoru's ears were ringing. He could just barely hear the roar of the fire and the far off sirens. His head spun, instantly Hikaru's face appeared through the haze of his mind. He didn't think he'd ever see his twin again. Alive at least. In one torturous moment, everything went black. The sky. His vision. His thoughts. His hope.

* * * * *

Mrs. Hitachiin stood in silent shock, her mouth slightly agape. Her grip on the phone slacked and it fell to the floor with a soft clatter. Hikaru looked up at her. He was laying on the couch, resting from his fever. "Mom," he asked.

"Kaoru..." she whispered.

Hikaru jumped up, "What about Kaoru?"

His mom shook her head and picked up the phone, flipping it shut. "It's nothing. Lay back down," she said, not wanting to worry him, especially while he was sick.

"No! Tell me what happened. Is he okay?" he demanded.

She sighed, giving in, "He was in a car crash. Apparently it's bad."

Hikaru's heart skipped a beat. Panic stricken, he called a car out front. He and his mother, Yuzuha, climbed in and they rushed to the hospital. When there, Hikaru jumped out and ran through the sliding doors and up to the front desk.

"Where is Kaoru Hitachiin's room?" he rushed.

"One moment," the secretary said. She took her own sweet time looking him up in the computer system, then she turned to him calmly and said, "He's currently under operation. No visitors allowed."

Letting out a muffled hiss of frustration, he asked, "Can I see him when it's over?"

"He's in the Critical Care Unit. Are you family?"

"Yes!" he snapped.

"Then you may. Take a seat and I'll inform you when you can go up," she said pleasantly, going back to writing something. Hikaru could have sworn she was on something.

Gritting his teeth, annoyed at the slow woman, Hikaru spun around and stomped over to a hard plastic chair. He tried sitting still but couldn't manage.

Yuzuha watched her son pace in front of her. She'd never seen Hikaru so restless. She worried for both of her sons.

The nurse said, "The operation is over." She gestured toward a male nurse standing outside a set of double doors, "He'll take you up to the room." Hikaru followed him quickly, asking frantic questions.

"What happened?"

"Car crash. Fire. His car was almost completely crushed. I imagine they didn't see it coming in this rain," the nurse replied as they boarded an elevator.

"What's wrong with him? How bad is he hurt?"

"Severe head trauma, he lost a lot of blood, broken limbs, melted skin, his left arm was crushed," he listed Kaoru's injuries.

When they got out of the elevator Hikaru asked, "What's his room number?"

"Two-thirteen. You have fifteen minutes," he called after him as Hikaru ran up the hallway ahead of them.

The smells of the hospital were not comforting, Hikaru concluded. The smell, sort of like bitter almonds, was of steriliser and rubber gloves... they did nothing to decrease his worries. They only begged his feet forward in his search. He glanced in every room, the room numbers flashing in his mind. He didn't slow until he'd finally found the room. On the door was a silver plate engraved with 213 CCU. He stood outside, split between going in and staying outside. It wasn't long before he was moving forward, his fingers gripping the knob.

Inside, he found Kaoru laying on a hospital bed with tubes and wires connecting him to numerous machines that loomed on each side of him. His right leg and left arm were elevated in bulky casts, his head and neck were in braces, and he was covered from head to toe in bandages.

"Kaoru...," he whispered in despair. He slowly approached the bedside. "Kaoru... Kaoru. Kaoru!" His voice grew louder with desperation. He was thinking maybe, just maybe, Kaoru would look up at him and tell him he was okay, that everything was all right.

Nothing.

Crying, Hikaru fell to his knees and took Kaoru's hand.

"He's just asleep due to the morphine," a voice behind him explained.

Hikaru nodded — he knew Kaoru wasn't gone, he could feel that his presence was still with him. His twin's aura was stressed, broken, but content. He knew that Hikaru was here beside him, it comforted them both. The eldest twin stayed with his slightly younger brother for the whole fifteen minutes, then the nurse announced, "Your time is up. Please come back tomorrow if you want to see him." Hikaru missed the doubtful note in his voice but Yuzuha caught it. She bowed her head.

"Can't I stay with him overnight?" Hikaru pleaded.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, sympathetic.

Hikaru bit his lip, choking on sadness. He stood and bent over Kaoru. "I have to go now. I'll be back first thing tomorrow," he promised.

* * * * *

Later that same day, Hikaru lay around mopping. He wished he hadn't tried to be the mature brother and told Kaoru to go that club event. If he hadn't then he would still be here with him, not in some hospital miles away. Hikaru glanced at the clock: 9:02. Lighting and thunder clashed as the storm continued, never letting up. The phone rang and Hikaru lazily answered it, "Hello?"

"Hikaru?" the voice on the line said. He recognized it immediately and sat bolt right up.

"Kaoru! You're awake!" Hikaru exclaimed, ecstatic. Yuzuha walked into the room a moment later, wondering what her son was talking about.

"Y-yeah," Kaoru said uneasily.

Hikaru handed the phone to his mom, "It's Kaoru! Here, talk to him."

Yuzuha called for husband and took the phone. She put the receiver to her ear, said hello, and listened but heard nothing. She held it out for Mr. Hitachiin to listen but he also did not hear Kaoru. They looked at each other, worrisome and confused.

Hikaru took the phone from them and talked happily into it.

"Hikaru," Kaoru cut off his jabbering. "Hikaru, I..."

"What? What is it?" the eldest brother responded to the note of despair in his twin's voice.

"I'm afraid I'm not coming back."

Hikaru's breath caught. Huh? He almost choked when he tried to laugh, "What's that mean? Haha..."

"Hikaru... I'm sorry. This is goodbye. I love you."

"Kaoru, what do you mean by that? Stop joking around! You're not going to die, you can't die! Do you hear me? You can't!" Hikaru screamed. The phone was silent, not even a buzz to signal that the call had been ended.

As tears threatened to fall, Hikaru turned to his parents and said softly, "We've got to get to the hospital. Now."

* * * * *

They got there not but ten minutes after the mysterious call. Hikaru ran straight up to Kaoru's room, ignoring the nurses' furious yelling, but he found it empty. It had already been cleared and prepared for the next patient. The despairing brother's heart skipped a beat and pounded against his chest painfully. Growing desperate, Hikaru dashed in the direction of the morgue.

At the door leading to the room where the dead were held, he saw a gurney. There were two nurses beside it, one was entering a pass code into the electronic door.

"Wait!" he cried out as they started to roll it away. They stopped and looked at him in surprise, clearly they thought this boy running toward them was Kaoru. They stepped back, realization hitting them

Hikaru looked down at the covered body on the gurney. He pulled back the sheet covering his head and discovered what he'd feared for so long. Kaoru's face was white, and when Hikaru lay a hand upon his cheek, cool. His eyes were closed and his spirit gone. Grief whipped and tore at Hikaru, sharp and stinging. He fell to his knees and buried his face in Kaoru's chest. Over and over he whispered his brother's name. Pain dazzled his mind like lightning splitting the sky.

"Kaoru... I love you...," he whimpered.

Yuzuha and the nurses stood there watching him for the longest time, all of them showered in sadness. Hikaru was now slunked over his dead twin's body, unmoving. He's worn himself out, Yuzuha thought miserably. At last, she walked slowly over to her eldest son and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hikaru, come on...," she urged.

He didn't move.

It took a moment for Yuzuha to process why. "Oh God...," she whispered, tears coming to her eyes. Her hand clamped over her mouth as she gasped in horror.

Hikaru was dead.

The nurses rushed Hikaru's limp body out immediately. Test after test, they could find no cause for his sudden death.

* * * * *

Later that night, the dead twins' sullen parents were talking to the doctor and a few nurses. Yuzuha was bawling, devastated by losing both of her sons in one day.

"Hikaru talked to Kaoru on the phone after we got home from the hospital, that was the last time he spoke to him," she choked out.

The hospital personnel looked at each other, then one asked, "About what time was that?"

"I don't know. A little bit after nine?" Yuzuha sniffed.

A female nurse said cautiously, "Uh, Ma'am. Your son was out from the moment we brought him here, he never once made a call. Anyway, the lines all over Tokyo were out from nine to ten. Kaoru died a good thirty minutes before you say his brother talked to him."

They sat there in utter shock and confusion. There was no way.

* * * * *

Narrator:

How do we explain the mysterious phone call that only Hikaru could hear? A call couldn't have been made at 9:02, the lines were out. Maybe Kaoru contacted his brother to give him one last message. Or perhaps he was merely delusional with the tragedy on top of his illness?

And what of Hikaru, dying without any apparent cause? Could the bond of twins really be so strong that they'd follow each other anywhere, even in death?