"A shack on the road?!" "Not ABLE to feed yourself?!" The twins yelled, despite the awkwardness.

Haruhi nodded slowly, a single tear dripping down her cheek.

At that single act, Hikaru and Kaoru couldn't speak. They were so full of pity and understanding that they couldn't do anything but say...

"You could come live with us,"

********

Why did I just say that?

The twins were standing there, feeling numb from the sudden comment they just gave out.

What the hell just possesed me to say that?

Doc and Haruhi were gaping at them, wide eyed and speechless.

"W-what? Absolutley not, thats absurd!" Doc splutered.

They didn't move; only sat there with a suprised look on each ones face.

Haruhi trembled suddenley, causing everyone to look at her.

"See? That comment just upset her. It's time for you both to leave," Doc grabbed them both by their arms and began to drag them out the door.

They were pulled through the whole building until they reached the front desk. Doc released them and pointed to the door. He gave them a look that any other person would give to their dog when it was being disobedient.

The Hitachiins put on fake "Oh, I'm so intimidated right now" faces at him and walked out the door in synch.

Once they were in the main garden of the hospital courtyard, they sat down on a bench and were silent.

"Why... why did we..." Hikaru started, looking at a pretty birdbath placed in a bush of flowers. The birds were flying around, without a care in the world.

Kaoru was looking at one bird in particular. It had a bad wind or something, because whenever it tried to fly, it just flopped back down to the ground and failed.

"I don't know," he answered.

Really, both twins knew why they said it; but they didn't want to admit it to themselves.

Ever since birth, they'd been "alone". With really nobody else to care for them or look after them. There were their parents, but they were always on buisness trips all the time. And even when they did come home-- they didn't love them enough to bother to tell them apart.

They both knew it was mostly their fault for holding back-- but they felt as if the world would reject them if they came out of their shell long enough.

"But... it was an accident... right? We don't want her with us?" Hikaru questioned, looking at his brother. Kaoru nodded hesitantly.

"If you think about it, though... this girl keeps popping up everywhere." Kaoru stated.

"Yeah, and it would be nice... to have a guest," Hikaru mumbled hopefully.

Kaoru smiled at him.

"It would," He agreed.

***

Doc rushed outside, looking around frantically for the two gingers that left earlier. Luckily, they were just sitting in the garden talking.

"Hey you!" He shouted, "Come here!"

Hikaru and Kaoru's heads jerked up simotaniously and they both gave the man a disgusted glare before standing and walking in the opposite direction.

"No! No, wait, please!" He begged, chasing them.

"Hey, Kaoru, do you feel a strong breeze coming from behind us?" Hikaru said loudly, reffering to the doctor's idiotic pleading.

"Oh, yes, and it is rather annoying. I'd really like it if it'd go away." He shot, looking at him sharply and clearly giving him the message.

Doc sighed, catching up and getting them to stop.

"Please come talk to someone in the hospital. It's about what you said earlier-- we need to elaborate on it--"

"It was a mistake, and we didn't know what we were talking about." The twins inturrupted, not turning around.

"Please, just come with me," Doc asked.

The twins really didn't have a choice on whether or not they should go, because he just grabbed their arms and pulled them back inside.

The nurses and other doctors who were inside all looked up quickly when the walked in, clearly pleased the twins returned.

A redheaded nurse ran over and grabbed Doc's arm. She looked like one of those perky doctors-- the kind that didn't stop bouncing or smiling.

"We contacted the parents of Hikaru and Kaoru San," She said, smiling so big that you'd think her face would split in half, "and they had absolutley no problem with it! They already paid the fee and everything!"

Doc grinned as well, his face lighting up.

"Well that's just wonderful! Thank you, Marie!" He said to her. Marie smiled even bigger (if even possible) from the compliment.

"Wait a second...! How the hell did she know our names?!" The twins yelled.

Doc looked at the ground guiltily.

"We may have done some research on you..." He said. "And we have very good news!"

The twins looked at eachother nervously, knowing what was coming next.

"Haruhi Fujioka, the girl you visited earlier, will now be living with the two of you from now on! Isn't that exciting?" Marie chipped in, jumping up and down and giggling slightly.

The twins didn't say anything. Or do anything. Because right after Marie said that, they both dropped to the ground-- suddenly dizzy.

******

Haruhi stood outside of the Hitachiin house, clutching her tiny bag filled with her (not so many) belongings close to her chest.

She honestly couldn't beleive this was really happening. She had only met these boys a day or two ago-- and now she was moving in with them! It was just too unreal.

Her first task-- she figured-- was to actually start a conversation with them. And get to know them better.

It took a few more hours of tests and treatments before she could leave the hospital, but now she was feeling better than ever.

Apparentally the twins had fainted when they heard the news. Ouch. Was she really that awful? Anyway, they'd been dropped off a while before she'd gotten there, to prepare or something.

Well, at least now she had somewhere to go. Not a home. But somewhere to go.

She fiddled with her nose brace a little. It didn't hurt that badly, because it wasn't that bad of a break. She would be able to take it off in a few days.

Finally, she mustered up enough courage to walk past the open gates and up to the front door.

******

Kaoru didn't really think anything of Haruhi's arrival.

He was planning on treating her the way he treated anyone else. Like they weren't even there. Cooincidentally, so was Hikaru. But Hikaru wasn't the one who opened the door to let her inside.

When the doorbell rang, Kaoru had hesitated before unlocking it and opening it a crack. Once he saw her, he pulled it open further.

He made sure to have an expressionless face on, so she knew how he felt about her being there.

"H-hello, Hitachiin San," Haruhi stammered.

Kaoru just stepped back and watched her step through the doors, admiring the house. Or thats what he thought she was doing. In fact, she was doing the exact opposite.

"So where do I start?" She asked, looking at him.

"Huh?" He said, confused.

Haruhi pouted.

Damn, she's cute! Kaoru thought. He quickly brushed it away.

"I'm your new maid, right? That's why you asked me to stay with you." She clarified.

Kaoru looked taken aback.

"No, you're just a permanent guest. Not a maid," He said,shaking his head.

Haruhi looked genually suprised.

"Oh," She said. "Oh..."

******

Hikaru had joined the party five minutes later,but by then, everything had been moved to the couch. The big twenty questions game had begun.

"So where's your family?" Haruhi asked. She had seemed to fit right in from the start, not caring about the obvious wall the twins were putting up in between them.

"America," They said in unison. They death stared the ground as if it was their enemy. "for work,"

"Oh," She replied, understanding how hard it was for them to talk about. She didn't know how far off that thought was from the truth. They wanted to talk about it more than anything else. Just not to her.

"Did you get your summer homework done? There wasn't much to do..." As soon as she asked that question, the boys recoiled back in their seats and refused to answer.

"I'm guessing that's a no," Haruhi laughed. "Come on, we still have a while before we need sleep. I'll help you finish!"

She jumped up excitedly, grasping each one of their hands in her own small ones. They jerked them away, feeling assulted. No one had ever done that before.

Haruhi laughed again. Then, she motioned for them to follow her to the kitchen to work.

Her laugh was nice.

And different.

And the twins kind of liked it.