Lost and Returned (Ouran High School Host Club love story)

Chapter 19

"How did you now I wasn't Hikaru?" I stood there just watching her, she had never really made any mention to us separately, so I guess I just assumed that she couldn't tell the difference, or she didn't care to. I may just be mistaking it now, but she didn't sound unsure, like she was just taking a guess, she was sure about the fact I wasn't Hikaru.

"Because you would still be yelling at me for acting like an idiot if you were Hikaru." Well at least she knew that standing around outside in the rain, when it's thundering and lightening outside, wasn't normal. However that still didn't ease my surprise much.

"Is that it?" I didn't want it to be, not many people could tell us apart, we were just two halves of a whole, so what was the point of trying to tell us apart? After all if you like one, you're bound to like the other right? Identical in every way. That's how people saw us. Mirror images of one another. So we acted as such.

"Not really. Though it's one of the more obvious things." Go on, explain yourself. We had a little time before Hikaru would be able to meet us since I only had to travel half the distance that he probably had. Now that the raining was starting to let up a little he wouldn't be in as much of a rush. "How to explain this...? You're a lot  less impulsive than Hikaru is, you tend to have a gentler way of speaking and with how you do things. You seem to have matured a bit more emotionally as well, leading to you being more thoughtful. You care about others to an extent that you start putting the people you care for ahead of yourself- not to say he doesn't, but I still haven't known you both for long, so I can't say anything is set in stone. If you want it put simply, the manner of the way you talk, and the look in your eyes makes you two distinctively different for a quick and easy answer." Now I was the idiot just staring as we both stood in the rain, I couldn't think of anything to say. That wasn't a simple answer like I wanted. Or more so, like I expected. She had put some thought into it, and even though she rarely spoke to us, she could point out that much. The girls that see us every day get confused as soon as we hide which way we part our hair. "You okay?"

"Huh? Yeah." I felt my face heat and looked away after I realized I had just been staring at her. She wasn't close to me or Hikaru, she had chosen her favorites and stuck close to them, we weren't them and we never would be at this rate. For a moment she stared unmoving, I didn't care to wait and see if she believed me, we had to go and meet Hikaru. "Hikaru will beat us to the house at this rate." I looked at her and she was just watching me but she nodded. At least we could get out of this conversation now, but it had  my mind racing. We got to the base of the stairs leading to the house from the beach. It wasn't long before Hikaru showed up. The rain had stopped now.

"What is wrong with you?! You couldn't take your phone or something! Who just goes and hangs out in a storm?" Of course he was mad and she had already predicted this much from him. However looking over her I just noticed the faint grin on her face as if she was amused by his anger rather than offended by it. In a way I was relieved, and curious, how many little things had I missed?

"Says the guy who ran out into the rain with his brother and is choosing to yell in soaking wet clothes rather than wait till everyone's warm and changed." Even though it almost sounded like her normal tone, I could hear a very slight playful tone to it. She was messing with him, just like a friend would, like how she was with Kyouya. Maybe she really hadn't been against us this whole time, and we just missed it because we were looking for grandiose signs that she wasn't ready to give out yet. That burst of laughter from before was a fluke, but maybe if we try it'll be more common. 

"It's your fault! We couldn't just leave you, what if something had happened?" He continued this, but she spoke back with the most smart ass answers she could think of, and before I might have been put off or offended, but hearing that small change of tone that showed she was teasing him. It made me grin a bit from time to time, so she did have a sense of humor. Though I would have to do some explaining to Hikaru later so that he didn't end up going after her out of spite or something silly like that. When we got back she immediately left to change. "Can you believe her? We go out and get her and all she can do is be a smart ass! What is her problem?" He growled angry, but I could just laugh. "What are you laughing about?"

"She was teasing you, didn't you hear it? She wasn't serious about any of it, I think she just has a weird way of saying thank you." She never said it out loud, but judging by how she acted she didn't expect anyone to care enough to notice she was missing let alone go and get her. I think she was happy to know that someone noticed her absence and actually went looking for her.

"You're sick aren't you." He looked at me weird, I knew I would have to explain it to him, but I think if we paid attention, we could learn a lot about her. She had subtle ways of showing she cared, she wasn't the type to take the spotlight. It was an interesting thing to know. After finding her we went to find the others, they were going to check on Haruhi and the boss who were still alone together.

"Well?" Kyouya looked at us expectantly, and I was reminded, she got along well with Kyouya. Maybe he had noticed these things all along, that's why he seemed to enjoy talking or messing with her to try and get under her skin. Or maybe hell was freezing over and he actually had an interest in someone, either way, it was safe to assume he had beat me to just about anything involving her. The enigma, who can tell a mirror's image apart from the one standing in front of it.