Haruhi waited and waited for the twins to return. She had expected them not to take more than two hours to go out, but when they proved her wrong she had no idea how to spend the extra time. She was lonely.

She had watched the clock for forty five minutes, and by then had her heartbeat synced up to the beat of the ticking. What did she used to do when she was all by herself? It had been a while since she had known the feeling of loneliness. Ever since then she had Hikaru and Kaoru for company.

'But you won't have them forever,' She reminded herself.

Haruhi bit her lip and sighed. She slid down the kitchen counter so that she was sitting and pressed her feet against the edge of the fridge. Only until she had enough money saved up so she could get her own place. Then she would have to leave.

The twins weren't helpless. They could find a way to live without her, because they were finally opening up. All they needed was a push and they'd be living again.

'But it's not that easy,' Her devils advicate decided to step up and argue, 'what about school? What about every other student that will hurt them even more?'

It was true. And if she left they may not be able to trust again. Haruhi had set a goal for herself and the twins when she had first entered their lives. She had wanted to get to know them. And in her eyes she had accomplished it. But now there was a new goal being wrote for herself: helping them. She couldn't leave them alone.

'But what about your dream?' She asked herself, 'You want to be a lawyer. And with the twins in the way... You won't be able to reach it.'

Squeezing her eyes shut, Haruhi held her head in her hands and groaned. That wasn't true. She knew it wasn't true. But for some reason she wanted to convince herself that it was.

"You selfish idiot," Haruhi whispered to herself.

Hikaru was like a wounded animal. He could be healed, but if he was left alone for too long the pain would smother him until there was nothing left. Kaoru was a bit tougher to read, but Haruhi finally came to the conclusion that everything he felt was directed to people he cared about. That meaning Hikaru. He would take all of the hatred directed to Hikaru and turn it to himself in an instant. It would hurt, and he knew that. But he didn't value his own life at all, and that was the problem. It was like he was a pincushion, and Hikaru had no idea.

They were so completely vaulnerable.

She made a decision. She would stay with the twins until she felt like they'd be alright on their own. Then she would leave.

The same haunting image of Hikaru flashed in her mind. When he had given her that first warning. She buried her face in her arms and pulled her knees to her chest. It still scared her.

Tamaki was also a threat. If he got to close to her and figured out what she was doing for the twins, Haruhi would most definatley be done for. He was the chairmans son, and basically had the entire school power in the palm of his hand. He'd expel her.

It was just so hard for her to choose the right thing.

********

Hikaru slurped his smoothie and listened to Kaoru rant on about how annoying Kyouya was. They were in a small diner that nobody they knew had ever even heard of, so they were permitted to talk as freely as they pleased.

"But... But I mean, like, she would never actually leave us, right?" Kaoru asked, throwing his hands in the air. Hikaru shrugged and looked at the table sadly. Kaoru smacked his hand on the exact spot where he was staring at and caused him to bolt upright.

"Listen! Why are you so down?!" He asked a little quieter, but with the same amount of wonder, "She won't leave. She... She can't."

Hikaru smiled a little when he remembered how she didn't have anywhere else to go.

He nodded and then tossed his empty cup into the garbage can.

"Yeah. Let's just forget about Kyouya. He probably just wants to get us mad for some stupid prank or something." He sighed. Kaoru's face lit up with a grin.

"Remember when we used to prank people?" He asked, "We were sneaky. For sure."

Hikaru smirked and nodded, remembering all of the fun times they used to have. It wasn't that long ago, to him. All of the years he had lived as a criminal had all been mushed into one time frame, and everything before then was crystal clear to him.

Kaoru bit his lip and walked at the same pace as Hikaru. They turned and walked up their long driveway, not even bothering to check in. They opened up their front door and steped inside slowly.

"Hello?" Hikaru called. Kaoru looked around for Haruhi, but couldn't find her. His short panicked moment was relieved when he heard her call out to them in the kitchen.

"I'm here!" She said, waving an arm. They walked in and saw her leaning against the kitchen island with her feet pressing against the refrigerator.

Hikaru crouched down so that he was eye level with her and cocked an eyebrow.

"What have you been doing this whole time?" He asked. She shrugged and told him that she had done nothing.

"So you sat here the whole time." Kaoru clarified. Haruhi nodded.

"Why?" Hikaru wondered, his tone a little more intimidating. He wasn't upset with her, but he had lots of things on his mind. Haruhi did too. She drew back nervously mad bit her lip again.

"No reason. I cleaned for a while and then didn't have anything else to do..." She trailed off and stared at her feet. The plan about her leaving was for her and her alone. Nobody else could know. Kyouya probably already did, though. How did he do that?

Kaoru snickered a little and helped her up.

"You're so pathetic." He said softly, mocking her a little. Hikaru smiled and patted her on the head as if to say, "There, there..."

Haruhi sighed and then shook herself out of her own self-despair. While the twins were gone she had made another decision. If she was going to stay with the twins, she couldn't lie anymore.

"Guys, I have a confession to make--"

"Hey, do you want to go out tomorrow?" She was interrupted by Hikaru. She shot him a questioning look and seemed totally surprised.

"N-not like a date or anything, but I just think I need to get to know you better." He stuttered, blushing. Kaoru smiled and raised his hand.

"The day after you can go out with me. We all need one on one time with each other." He said. Hikaru put an arm around him and smiled bigger.

"It's good for us to explore new things."

Haruhi nodded and agreed to go with him, even though she was carrying the huge weight of secrets on her chest. She knew she had to tell them about Tamaki and Kyouya. It was just unavoidable, and would come up at some point to blow up in her face.

She had to tell them.

********

Hey guys! Sorry I'm late again... These next three months are really busy for me, but I will try and update ASAP every day. No promises, though.

Please comment who you want Haruhi to get together with:

Hikaru

Kaoru

Tamaki

Kyouya

I'll choose the majority vote :) if the twins aren't chosen then I'll invent new characters for love interests. Thank you for reading!