Another chappie . . . I feel like this one's too short, too . . . Sorry if it is. I'm trying to divide my story evenly and logically, but it's not working out the way I want it to. Ahh!! I can't win . . . Oh, well. I hope you enjoy it anyways :) There's still more to come!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or any of its characters.

Chapter 3: A Little Help

Kaoru wondered about how much his life had changed in the past few months. Hikaru had successfully fallen into a coma, but Kaoru never cried once since he heard the news. Surprisingly, he didn’t know how to react, and that fact alone scared him. Kaoru not knowing how to handle something? That was impossible until now. Numbness and loneliness attacked every other day, and he found himself getting closer to Kyouya than he ever dared. Kyouya was supporting him and standing by his side often, giving him a strong, loving person to fall back on . . . Almost like a replacement for Hikaru. Wait . . . Replace Hikaru? Never. The back of his mind told him that somehow Hikaru would be ok in the end. At least Hikaru was returned to the mansion after a couple more weeks in the hospital . . . And at least Kaoru was able to be with his twin more often now . . .

Blankly staring at Hikaru’s closed eyelids and pale face was all Kaoru could do whenever he went into his brother’s room. Listening to the steady beeps of the heart monitor, he felt so unfeeling; like nothing had ever happened. After all this time, Kaoru was still so far away. Mechanically reaching out a hand, the younger brother laid the back of his thin fingers against his older brother’s cheek; touching him for the first time in months. He was deathly cold and almost lifeless; only holding on by a thread that was slowly breaking anyways. Kaoru dropped to his knees, facing the reality, and cried.

“Oh God . . . Hikaru,” he whimpered, his eyes blinded with tears, “How could I let this happen? How could I not feel your pain? How could I be so blind . . ?” Not even knowing how he got it, Kaoru found Hikaru’s switch blade in his hand. With the smooth, finely-carved black handle under his fingers, Kaoru clicked it opened and stared at the expensive razor-sharp blade it held. A new and sudden fascination held him captive. Would this make him feel any better? His open wrist in front of him, he gazed while bringing the knife close. Not even caring if anyone saw what he was doing, Kaoru pretended he was the only person in the world and felt the knife against his pulse. Who he had become didn’t care at all; who he had been was screaming at him and ordering him to stop. Not knowing who to listen to, Kaoru just let the blade stay where it was, and went into a trance of sorts. There was no real reason to hurry.

“Kaoru! What the hell!?” Kaoru reacted quickly when he heard someone say his name. Everyone was saying Hikaru nowadays.

“Hm?” Kaoru’s childish eyes looked up at the doorway and found Kyouya staring at him with such a worried expression; the kind Hikaru used to give him whenever he had gotten lost or hurt.

“What are you doing with this?” Kyouya’s voice got gentle as he slipped his hand over the one that firmly held the weapon, “Are you hurt at all?”

“No . . . Yes . . . I don’t know,” was all Kaoru could answer with.

“I don’t ever want to see you hurt, Kaoru,” delicately pulling Kaoru’s face towards him, the twin didn’t know what was going on until Kyouya leaned forward even more and . . . Oh, God . . . Were they kissing?! Kaoru once again found he couldn’t react the way he wanted to.

Kaoru was pushed to the floor as Kyouya’s lips still had a firm hold on him. This was . . . comforting. There was no other word for it. Kaoru felt Kyouya gently end the kiss and realized that the knife was no longer in his possession.

Kyouya just gazed down at him and smiled cleverly while holding the closed switch blade in Kaoru’s vision, “Hey, anything to make sure my friends don’t commit suicide,”

“Thank you, Kyouya,” Kaoru disregarded the kiss. It was only a decoy after all, but it still made him feel better and the knife was out of his hands, “. . . So, we are your friends . . .” Kaoru smirked, still laying on the floor.

“Well, you guys do bug me while I’m doing very important things, so I guess you are,” Kyouya shrugged and got off of Kaoru, standing up slowly, “How’s Hikaru been?”

“Ice cold,” Kaoru remembered touching his brother’s cheek and shuddered, “He’s never felt that cold before. Ever,”

“Then why don’t you keep him warm?” Kyouya asked honestly.

“I don’t know . . . I’ve been so numb lately. It never occurred to me . . .” suddenly feeling a little stupid for not noticing, Kaoru came over and took his older brother’s hand, massaging it and letting it warm up as much as possible, “Do you think Hikaru will make it?”

“Not without your help,” Kyouya crossed his arms and his glasses slid down his nose a little as he closed his eyes, “Hikaru needs you. Even though it doesn’t seem like it, you mean the world to him,” With those words still hanging in the air, Kyouya left the room.

Laying down alongside his brother, Kaoru cuddled up to him and laced an arm over his waist.

--

Kaoru came back to earth around six in the evening to see one of the many family doctors and a female psychiatrist in the room.

“Kaoru-sama,” the doctor began, looking rather shocked and impressed, “Hikaru-sama has come out of his coma. We don’t know how this could have happened when he was on his death bed . . . It’s a miracle . . . He’s perfectly fine now,”

“He was about to die?” Kaoru rubbed his eyes and saw that he was in the same place he laid down in; right beside Hikaru.

“Yes, but somehow something pulled him out of it,” the psychiatrist stared at the both of them with sheer fascination, “Now, not that this isn’t good news, but your parents have sent notice that you two are to see me every Friday straight after school,”

“What about?” Kaoru’s half-lidded eyes stated his agitation. It was another shrink . . . What did their parents want from them now?

“Apparently, they called saying that you and your twin are . . . in a relationship with one another. Is that correct?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Kaoru admitted casually, calmly brushing some of his golden-amber hair out of his face.

“Yeah, he’s my lover . . . So what?” came a slightly groggy voice from behind Kaoru.

“Hikaru!” Kaoru looked over his shoulder and beamed happily, “I missed you,”

“And I missed you,” Hikaru inhaled and began to wake up. He sat up gingerly and took Kaoru by the waist, “Well, at least we’re both feeling better,”

“Yeah. My arm healed a while ago,” Kaoru looked down at a limp wrist. He remembered that injury had concerned Hikaru the most.

“But . . . I really did miss you,” Hikaru talked like he and Kaoru were the only people in the room. Grasping his baby brother’s hand, Hikaru leaned to the side of Kaoru’s face, letting his lips brush Kaoru’s ear, “Thanks for keeping me warm,”

“Hikaru . . .” Kaoru’s eyes welled up and he smiled gratefully, taking the opportunity to wrap his arms around his brother tightly. Resting his head on one of Hikaru’s strong shoulders, he continued, “I’ve been so lost without you . . .”

“I thought I would never see you again,” Hikaru murmured on his twin’s neck as he hugged him even tighter.

“Are you strong enough to go back to school?”

“As long as you go with me,”

“Of course . . .” The two were about to kiss when the doctor and psychiatrist both coughed at the same time.

“You two might want to go and get ready for dinner,” the doctor mentioned while adjusting his white coat, “Your mother is expecting you to be on time tonight,”

Sweat-drops appeared on the heads of both twins and Kaoru blushed ever so slightly. They were almost always late for family activities, and Kaoru knew what eighty percent of the cause was very well.

Hikaru slipped off the bed and held out a hand for his little brother, “Come on, Kaoru,” he crooned with a seducing smile, “You heard him,”

“We better not be late this time. It must be important if Mom’s asking for us directly,” not swayed by his twin’s obvious seduction technique, Kaoru took Hikaru’s hand and they walked out of the room in unison.

--

Hikaru and Kaoru took a quick shower together and changed into some of their more comfortable street clothes. Kaoru barely escaped their bedroom without being attacked by multiple kisses.

“Hikaru! Cut it out . . .” Kaoru breathed heavily as Hikaru slowly moved his lips down his brother’s neck in the middle of the hallway, “What time is it, anyway?”

“Does it matter . . ?” Hikaru mumbled on Kaoru’s collar bone.

“Hikaru, stop it . . .” Kaoru gently ordered, but got no results, “Mom is expecting us in . . .” He peered down at his brother’s watch, “five minutes,”

“But I haven’t seen you in months . . .” Hikaru whined while disdainfully pulling away from Kaoru’s shoulder.

“You saw enough of me in the shower, Hikaru,” Kaoru smirked and winked before walking away in a teasing manner.

“Ok . . . That was not fair,” Hikaru pouted and crossed his arms before following suit.

--

Mr. and Mrs. Hitachiin were seated at the far end of the long and polished cherry wood table as the Hitachiin twins approached them. Hikaru sat on their mother’s side and Kaoru sat on their father’s, but they made sure they were opposite of each other.

“You’re actually on time,” their mother spoke with a smile but the twins could tell she was secretly upset with something. Their meal was silent for the most part, until their father looked ready to make some kind of important announcement.

“We have to talk to you two about something,” Mr. Hitachiin started out.

“You mean the shrink?” Hikaru spat quietly, but his rude words echoed through the tall ceilings anyway, “Yeah, we already found that one out . . .”

“Yes, the psychiatrist,” their father cleared his throat, already annoyed with his eldest son’s attitude, “She will be coming to the house to council you every Friday-”

“Why?!” Hikaru stood up and planted his hands on the table, making the silverware and glasses clatter, “There is nothing wrong with us!” Making special emphasis on the word “us”, Hikaru got extremely tense.

“Hikaru . . .” Kaoru reprimanded, wishing his twin was not so outspoken.

Their mother sighed out of exasperation. In an ashamed manner, she ordered quickly, “Hikaru, please sit down,”

Both Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other sadly, knowing what was going to happen. Deadly silence fell upon the entire mansion.

“I’m not hungry anymore . . .” Hikaru pushed off from the table and stormed out of the dining room.

Kaoru immediately chased after him, “Hikaru! Hikaru!!” The huge double doors slammed behind them.

--

“Hikaru! What’s wrong?” Kaoru caught up to his distressed brother and held him firmly in his arms, but Hikaru gave no answer, “Hikaru?” Hikaru clenched his teeth and shook uncontrollably, “Hikaru! Please answer me! Hikaru!” Something was wrong. Hikaru’s muscles were losing their tension and his body was becoming limp. All along his heavy breaths grew shallower by the second.

“Kaoru . . . I feel so weak,” Hikaru whispered in his little brother’s arms.

Kaoru slid to the floor and let Hikaru rest, “Hikaru, calm down . . . Just close your eyes and breathe . . .”

Hikaru felt Kaoru shift a little, “Don’t leave . . .” he pleaded.

“I won’t,” Kaoru murmured on the back of Hikaru’s neck.

“I knew coming out of a coma wouldn’t be easy . . .” Hikaru chuckled weakly, “I’d be affected by it on one level or another,”

“Just take it easy tomorrow, ok? Don’t get too worked up,” Kaoru was now letting Hikaru lay on his chest and both pairs of long, thin legs spread out across the hallway. The younger twin laughed a little after a moment of silence.

“What’s so funny?” Hikaru tilted his head up to look at Kaoru.

“Kyouya’s right,” Hikaru’s baby brother admitted with a satisfied grin.

“About what?”

“You do need me,” Kaoru tightened his grip on Hikaru’s waist and his grin became a smile.