A week of torturous school had gone by since the whole "confession" senario. It was kind of refreshing to go back, but in some ways it was just painful.

Hikaru had somehow avoided having to talk to Haruhi all morning. For some reason all he wanted to do was be around her... But something about how he was feeling scared him. It was better to be away from her than be around her. Just to be safe.

Kaoru, on the other hand, was getting fed up with his brother's cowardness. It was like he was cooped up in the same house with his mother and her new boyfriend. Talk about awkward.

He knew Haruhi was trying to avoid Hikaru, too. Everywhere he went, she went the other way; even though she sent him a longing glance beforehand. Kaoru was sick of it. He needed to meddle just a little, at least.

Hikaru and Kaoru had always liked playing commoners games in their free time. So Kaoru decided to take that and use it for his advantage.

"Hey, Hikaru? Haruhi?" He called, "Wanna play a game?"

Hikaru nodded enthusiastically. Haruhi raised her hand.

"Can we play hide and seek? I've always loved that game..." She admitted, blushing. Kaoru noticed that Hikaru looked at her differently than he had been before. It was love all right.

"Sure. Everyone knows the rules, right?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru nodded.

"I'll seek, and you two need to go hide together." Kaoru added in the new rule slyly, but Hikaru caught it.

"What do you mean together? It was always sepparate before." He clarified. Kaoru shrugged.

"I guess, but it will be more fun like this. You guys hide." He put his hands over his eyes and started counting to one hundred. Hikaru sighed and grabbed the blushing Haruhi's arm. He had already had a place picked out for him to hide, so he headed in that direction. Kaoru peeked through his fingers and quietly followed them out on to the balcony of a guest room.There was a giant flowerpot on the balcony, so Hikaru and Haruhi crouched behind it. Kaoru walked over to the door and locked it subtley, trying not to draw any attention to himself.

"We have to be quiet until he finds us," Haruhi whispered. Sighing, Hikaru turned around and stood up.

"Too late. He already did. I guess we're locked out here." He had known his brothers intentions from the beginning, but he didnt' really care that much. He had to figure out what feeling he had sooner or later, and he was having trouble dealing with it.

Haruhi finally caught on to the real point of the game.

"Damn it," She said softly. "So what do we do?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it.

"What were you going to say?" Haruhi asked.

"Well, I..." He thought about telling her how he felt. "I've been having these weird feelings whenever I'm around you..." He trailed off.

Haruhi nodded.

"Same, it's kind of strange... It's like I get really hot and my stomach starts to flip." She tried to explain it.

"Yeah!" Hikaru agreed, "And I was avoiding you because I was scared of it. I don't know what to do, because whenever I get close to you I feel it again."

Haruhi looked down at her feet and suddenly remembered something from a long time ago.

"Haruhi, when you're older you might find a love like mommy and daddy," Her mother said happily, holding her on her lap. Haruhi smiled.

"Mommy, how do you know you're in love?" She asked. Her mom smiled and began to explain.

"You feel butterflies in your tummy. And sometimes your face gets all red!" Her mother stopped to tickle her daughter, who giggled like crazy.

"What else mommy?" Haruhi asked between little spurts of laughter.

"You can't live without the person you love. And all you really want to do is be right by their side all of the time." She said, pulling her close.

Haruhi gasped and looked up at Hikaru again. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

Was this feeling what her mother was trying to explain?

She tried to imagine her life without Hikaru in it. The thought itself was so painful she had to stop and remember to breathe.

Did she want to be by his side?

Yes.

More than anything.

And he was standing right in front of her, waiting for her to say something. How did this even happen? Was it the date?

No, it must have been before then, She thought, trying to trace down when it had started.

"Are you okay?" Hikaru asked, stepping closer. Haruhi yelped and then looked up at him. He cared about her. He wouldn't hurt her.

"Hikaru, kiss me," She blurted out.

"W-what?! Why--" He was cut off by Haruhi grabbing his face and smashing his lips against hers. He tried to pull away at first, but then it felt so perfect and right that he kissed back.

Haruhi smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. She leaned back against the flowerpot and let him lean over her a little. It was like she was on a rollercoaster. Her stomach was flipping like crazy, and everything was blurry except for the person pressed against her. Her mom was right. This was how it felt to love someone.

Hikaru brushed the hair away from her face and broke apart from her, breathless and full of questions.

"You win, guys," Kaoru said smugly, opening the glass door. Hikaru grinned and Haruhi jumped a little, but then calmed down.

"So... So what happens now?" Haruhi asked Hikaru, taking his hand.

"Do you want to go on another date?" He answered her question with another question. Her face lit up with a smile and she nodded.

Kaoru leaned against the doorframe.

"Now I feel left out." He pouted.

"We'll find a girl for you, Kaoru." Haruhi promised.

But they didn't need to find one for him, because Kaoru found her two weeks later at the same Cafe Haruhi had previously worked in.

"So should we go downstairs now?" Hikaru shivered. Kaoru nodded and slid open the door farther so they had room to get through.

"Was that the doorbell?" Haruhi asked, hearing the faint buzzing of a bell. Hikaru nodded.

Haruhi raced downstairs, dragging Hikaru and Kaoru behind her as she went.

"Hello?" She said brightly, opening the door. She winced when she saw who it was.

"Yeah, Haruhi..." Tamaki was back, and he had Kyouya with him.

"We want to help you. And we mean it." Kyouya said, bowing to the twins, who looked completley taken aback.

Haruhi was the most freaked out.

"But the other day yo--"

"We did more research on you two, and learned about how Haruhi was helping you. We also learned about what you go through every day." Tamaki said softly. Kaoru wasn't buying it.

"How do we know you're not trying to trick us again?" He asked. Hikaru nodded.

"You don't." Kyouya said sadly. "We just hope you trust us, even though it's something we don't deserve."

Haruhi raised an eyebrow.

"Give us a second." She said. Then, she closed the door and faced the twins.

"What do you want to do?" She squealed, trying not to be too loud. Hikaru shrugged and Kaoru just looked speechless.

"What else do we have to lose?" Haruhi asked them, suddenly exhasparated.

The twins shared a look and then faced her again, each one of them with a smirk on their faces.

"Exactly,"

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Thank you for reading!