**This is something that came to me whilst listening to Topics by Nevertheless. This story hits pretty close to home for me, so I tried to distance myself from the emotional part- weird for a writer, yes. Anyways, let me know your thought on this little story.**

The room was buzzing with the jubilant laughter and chatter of the members of the Host Club. Tamaki's voice was the most prominent. He was currently shouting about the coming festivities of the Host Club, and the other members of the notorious Ouran High School Host Club were chiming in at the appropriate times to voice their agreement and joy of the upcoming festivities. Well, most of the Club members at least. Kyoya was typing away on his laptop, making sure their budget would allow for the extravagance the Host King was expecting. Mori was leaning against a wall, nodding his head whenever the Host King expected to hear feedback from the others. Honey was shining with excitement as he listened closely to what Tamaki had planned.

Kaoru sat back in his chair, pen hovering over a blank page of paper. He was having serious writer's block, and listening to Tono spout out about the upcoming winter masquerade ball was doing nothing to help unblock him. His eyes scanned over the room, taking in the expression of each host, watching how they reacted to Tamaki. The ones that really interested him were Haruhi and Hikaru.

There was something different with the two of them lately. It took Kaoru the few seconds of looking at his twin brother to know something was wrong. For weeks- nearly months he tried to pressure it out of Hikaru, but he was closed off. Never had Hikaru closed him off to his brother, so it really scared Kaoru. The younger twin was use to Hikaru's mood swings, but for him to completely shut down… Something was definitely wrong. It took Kaoru a bit longer to notice something was wrong with Haruhi than it had taken him with Hikaru. She was coming to school looking less and less… happy. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her once bright brown eyes lacked their luster the past few weeks. He could have sworn he saw a few bruises underneath her costumes. When she would once either join in with the Host Club and their silly tendencies or sit back and call them idiots, she now simply sat back and watched with uninterested, distant eyes. Something was wrong with both of them… and Kaoru wanted to understand what it was so he could help…

*.*

They were spending their Sunday traveling around 'Commoner Streets' as Tamaki had dubbed them. Really, they were just walking around Haruhi's neighborhood. Kaoru was walking behind the group, watching them all interact with each other as they made their way to a bar to 'investigate' a commoner bar. Really, the reason they all went along with Tamaki's whimsical plans was beyond Kaoru. Yet, however eccentric their King could be, he was happy to go along with his silly plans.

Once the group was safely within the walls of the pretty deserted bar, Kaoru began to study Haruhi. He wanted to know what was causing her to lack her usual luster, and if sitting back and watching her meant he could gain some inkling as to what was wrong, then he'd do so intently.

His golden eyes watched as the small framed brunette broke off from the group, making her way to an older man as he sat at the bar, drinking. Kaoru watched as she talked with him in an almost flirtatious way. She would lean in close, brush against him, touch his shoulder lightly, flash him an empty smile. He couldn't hear the words between them, but he knew very well that she was trying to hook up with him.

Haruhi blushed as the man bent his neck and whispered in her ear, his rough hand grabbing her delicate hand and leading her away from the golden eyes watching them…

Kaoru didn't follow them, nor did he alert the others of Haruhi leaving with that man. Instead, he sat back and turned his eyes onto his brother.

Hikaru was furiously mashing buttons on his phone, his face etched with an urgency Kaoru had never seen before. The older twin glanced around, making sure no one was watching him- did he really not look at Kaoru?- and quickly dashed out of the building.

Kaoru could see his brother through the windows of the bar as he stood on the corner, impatiently shoving his hands in the pockets of his designer coat. Hikaru's head kept snapping in this direction and that, causing curiosity to rise within Kaoru.

Soon, his curiosity was sated when a lanky, strung-out looking man approached Hikaru. Kaoru's golden eyes watched as short words were passed between the two. Hikaru's hand twitched and the flash of money being passed between the two was so quick that Kaoru was sure if he had blinked he'd have missed the exchange. The lanky man pressed something into Hikaru's hand, and before Kaoru could try to make out what it was, his brother's hand was thrust into his pocket, and he was walking back towards the bar before anyone noticed he was missing.

*.*

The following day at the Host Club, Kaoru pulled Haruhi aside. He thought about her all night long, coming to understand what she was doing.

"Haruhi, you need to stop this."

"Stop what?"

"Sleeping around just to feel better. Kyoya-senpai rejected you, so you think you need to whore around with men twice your age." Kaoru glared at her. He cared too much to let her do this to herself, so he would show her some tough love to try and get her back into her normal state of mind. "You need to stop."

Haruhi looked away from Kaoru, but the younger twin noticed the tears gathering in her vacant eyes. "You don't understand, Kaoru."

"Then make me understand, Haru." He pleaded, taking her frail hands into his.

"… They make me feel better. I give them anything they want so I can… I cannot feel the pain. My father has cancer, the boy I'm head over heels for rejected me… I don't have anyone to help make the pain go away. Being with those men… it helps. It makes me forget, even just for a little while. … I need to feel okay, Kaoru…"

"I can help you, Haruhi." He pulled her into his arms, holding her gently. He knew they needed to get back to their customers, but Haruhi needed him. He needed to pull her out of this maddening state. "I'll help you, Haruhi."

Haruhi's empty brown eyes looked up at Kaoru, a ghost of a smile on her lips, "It's too late, Kaoru…"

*.*

"Your grades are slipping, Hikaru." Kaoru stood over his older twin, glaring down accusingly at him. "What's going on? You were third rank in our class, now you're failing every topic. What the hell?!"

Hikaru's eye turned upwards to look at Kaoru, "So?"

"You've skipped class twice this week. What the fuck is going on with you?" Kaoru spoke in a softer tone as he knelt down beside his brother. He wanted so desperately to know what was wrong with him…

"It's not even worth it anymore, is it? She doesn't even notice me. She's too hung up on Kyoya to even look at me." Hikaru stood and began walking away from his brother, "Nothing is worth it anymore. I just… I hate it all."

"Hikaru!" Kaoru chased after his brother, yanking on his arm.

Hikaru's arm was torn from his pocket, and Kaoru looked down as something clattered to the floor. A bottle of pills…

"Hikaru…" Kaoru glanced back up at his brother, wanting to believe what was on the floor really wasn't there.

Hikaru bent down to grab the pills, his golden eyes not meeting his brother's once he stood upright, "It's easy to deal with it by using these. They make me feel okay."

"You shouldn't be doing that, Hikaru… I can help you. Let me help you…" Kaoru stepped forwards, trying to grab his twin's hand. "This isn't right. You're going to kill yourself. Please, Hikaru… I'll help you."

Hikaru's empty golden eyes looked up at Kaoru, a ghost of a smile on his lips, "It's too late, Kaoru."

*.*

Kaoru sat back and watched Haruhi and Hikaru as they distanced themselves from the Host Club members. The bruises on Haruhi's hands and neck were barely visible, but easily seen by Kaoru's golden eyes. The vacant yet content look in Hikaru's eyes went unseen by the others, but was easily seen by Kaoru's golden eyes. Kaoru sat back in his chair, pen hovering over a blank page of paper, his golden eyes watching the ones he loved…

Through golden eyes, he watched as they fell apart at their shattered seams.