In-depth
...more than just a prankster

Before you read on I should warn you that there are SPOILERS EVERYWHERE. If you don't want to get spoiled then please read the general information on Kaoru instead! Thank you! :)

Kaoru vs Hikaru
...so similar yet so different

Kaoru and Hikaru act almost alike at first glance; they're both michevious, smart-mouthed, and arrogant. However, upon closer inspection, Kaoru is actually the more serious of the two, and the more rational.

Kaoru is more in-touch with his feelings and the feelings of other people. First off, when Hikaru picks a fight with Arai because of Hikaru's jealousy towards Arai and Haruhi's relationship (even if there wasn't really anything to be jealous of, since Arai now only thinks of Haruhi as a friend), it's Kaoru who disguizes as Hikaru so he could apologize to Arai. He is also actually the first one out of the Host Club to confess (to Hunny) that he likes Haruhi a lot. However, he also is considerate enough to not get in the way of Hikaru, whom he believes also likes Haruhi, although Hikaru is too stubborn to admit it himself. This shows that he's very aware about the people around him and is really not as closed off to the world as he would like people to believe.

However, Kaoru still is a little bit selfish, just like Hikaru. In the manga, Kaoru seemed to willingly trick his brother into dating Haruhi. Of course, the rest of the Host Club spied on them (LOL), and it seemed everything was fine with Kaoru. However, once Hikaru mentioned that he wished Kaoru was there with him and Haruhi, Kaoru called out "Hikaru!" and made a move to rush to his twin brother's side, only for Tamaki to stop him. Kaoru does try to be considerate, but he still has this side of him that is extremely reluctant to let go of his brother, or at least initially.

Childhood & early years in Ouran
...someone who just wanted to be known as himself

Kaoru's sentiments from childhood up to his first year in Ouran High School are basically the same. Because everyone found it so hard to distinguish between him and Hikaru, he began to distance himself from the rest of the people, creating with his brother a world made of "us" and "them". It was a common game for the twins to let their relatives or other people guess who was Kaoru and who was Hikaru. It appeared as if they just did it for fun, but inside, they really wanted to be distinguished.

Kaoru and Hikaru had a nanny who they were especially fond of because she wasn't pretentious like the other househelpers they had, but one day they found out she was actually out to steal some money from a safe. They agreed to give her the combination to the safe, but she had to play with them for one week. In that week, she taught them tricks, but I guess the one that had more effect on the twins was how she taught them to distance themselves from others. One night, she heard the twins talking to each other and mentioning the code, and the next day, the maid and the contents of the safe were gone.

Nevertheless, Kaoru and Hikaru put what they learned from her into practice. This was the start of the world of "us" and "them". During their earlier years in Ouran, whenever a girl wrote them a love letter, they played a trick on her. Kaoru would pretend he was Hikaru, or vice-versa, and ask the girl if he would do even if he wasn't Hikaru/Kaoru. Usually the girls would say it was okay, because they looked the same, anyway, and afterwards the other twin would come out of his hiding place and they would tear the girl's love letter in front of the girl. They didn't care when the girl cried, because they believed that whoever can't distinguish them apart shouldn't be bothered with. When Tamaki saw this, he tried to show them the negative effect of what they were doing and grew determined to get them into the Host Club.

Kaoru's development
...the evident change in the younger twin

Kaoru was usually the person to follow whatever Hikaru wanted. At first, he didn't care about the feelings of other people (except Hikaru, of course), but when Tamaki convinced them to join the Host Club, Kaoru slowly began to open up to others. I would like to think that Tamaki had become his first friend outside his little world with Hikaru, or at least the first person outside that world of "us" who made him genuinely laugh.

Kaoru became more open to other people, just like Hikaru, soon after joining the Host Club. They stopped breaking the hearts of girls and it appeared that they didn't mind if the girls couldn't tell them apart (although in reality, it was always important to them that someone can tell them apart). When Haruhi entered the club, she was the fist one who could really distinguish them, and she became special to Kaoru eventually, although he still claimed she was just his "toy". Kaoru still acted a little bit selfish once he noticed that Hikaru, too, was becoming closer to Haruhi, but as the series progressed he grew to accept that Hikaru won't be close to just him only.

His ultimate selfless act was when he willingly backed out and decided to just hide his true feelings for Haruhi because he knew that Hikaru also liked Haruhi. For Kaoru, family bonds seem to be more important, as he doesn't want to cause commotion between him and his brother. Still, this decision shows how much Kaoru has changed, from a selfish, distant twin to a thoughtful, self-sacrificing person.

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