Honey and Mori exited through the front doors of Ouran High School and moved swiftly across the lawn in the direction of their destination. Mori, with his hands in his pockets, listened quietly as Honey talked excitedly about the cakes he had just eaten at the host club.
It was a chilly winter day, and the sky was covered by a sheet of light gray clouds. A biting wind blew sporadically, rustling the bare branches of the trees in unpredictable bursts.
"Honey-senpai! Mori-senpai! Wait up!" a voice suddenly called from behind.
The two turned to see Haruhi approaching them at a slow run, flushed and out of breath. Relieved that they had finally turned around and noticed her, Haruhi stopped where she was and bent forward, placing all of her concentration on the simple act of breathing in and out.
Honey immediately ran back to her with tears in his eyes and outstretched arms, crying, "I'm so sorry, Haru-chan! Were we going too fast for you?"
"No, Honey-senpai," she said as she tried to catch her breath and as he caught her in a hug. "I just wanted to catch you before you left for the weekend. You left this at the host club."
Honey released her, and she tentatively held up a small, bunny-covered pouch, careful to hold it away from her body as if what was inside was going to spring out and attack at any moment.
"Ah, my shurikens!" Honey exclaimed, taking the pouch from her in both hands, carefully surveying the bunnies on its surface and coming to the conclusion that they were all just as cute as before, if not cuter.
Haruhi breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to have the deadly little weapons out of her hands. She was slightly uncomfortable about handing over such items to Honey-senpai, but they were his property, and it was not her place to judge whether or not he should be allowed to possess the shurikens.
"Thank you so much, Haru-chan! These will come in handy in case I run into Chika-chan on the way to the dojo!"
"You're welcome," Haruhi said warily, still apprehensive about the manner in which the two brothers violently fought each other.
Waving off the image of the pouch's entire contents flying at Yasuchika's face, Haruhi conversationally asked, "So you and Mori-senpai are heading to the dojo?"
"Yep! Takashi has a lot of matches today. There are a lot of challengers in the kendo club who would like a chance at defeating Takashi," Honey said with pride. Then his eyes brightened with an idea. "Hey, Haru-chan, why don't you come with us? You can watch Takashi's matches, and then we can walk you home! Wouldn't that be fun, Takashi?"
Not having moved from the spot where Honey had left him, Mori gave his cousin a small nod.
"Well…" Haruhi said with uncertainty.
"Please, Haru-chan?" Honey pleaded. "The matches are really fun to watch. Takashi is very skilled, you know. And I promise we'll get you home safe afterwards. Please come with us!"
"Well, I guess it might be okay since it's Friday," Haruhi reasoned, "and I guess I'll have time to study tomorrow since Dad will be at work and I'm ahead on my chores... and I would like to see Mori-senpai's kendo matches…"
"So it's a yes?" Honey asked excitedly.
"Yeah, sure," Haruhi said with a smile, decidedly glad for this sudden change of plans.
"Hooray!" Honey exclaimed in celebration with his arms in the air as he skipped toward Mori. "This is going to be so much fun!"
The three of them set off toward the dojo, with Haruhi walking in between her two seniors. Honey did most of the talking, with an occasional reply from Haruhi or a word or two of agreement from Mori.
About halfway to the dojo, Mori looked down at Haruhi and became concerned. Then, as if on cue, Honey looked at her, and he noticed too.
"Haru-chan? Are you cold?" Honey asked, frowning.
"Uh, yes, actually," Haruhi admitted. "Just a little bit. Mostly my hands. I should have brought gloves this morning."
Before she even finished speaking, Mori's checkered scarf had been wrapped around her neck, Honey's plaid green hat had been plopped on top of her head, and her right hand was enveloped by a large grip while small fingers laced in between the fingers of her left hand.
Feeling the two very different hands suddenly wrapped tightly around hers made Haruhi blush momentarily, but the unsure feeling she had quickly dissipated as she became grateful for the growing warmth she was receiving.
"Thank you," she said, "but you really don't have to-"
She was cut off by a glance at Honey, who had a finger raised to his lips, telling her that she was welcome and that they didn't mind at all. She then looked at Mori, who also had a quieting finger on his mouth, looking comical as he did the mimicked gesture.
Haruhi moved her gaze forward again, and she smiled warmly, glad to be with such kind friends.
After a couple of minutes of silence, Honey said softly, "We're very happy to get to spend this extra time with Haru-chan. We're really very lucky, aren't we, Takashi?"
"Yes," Mori replied.
And so they continued on, with Haruhi in a very privileged place: in between a Haninozuka and a Morinozuka.
Please do leave a review. I would love to know what you think so far. :) Thanks for reading.
-Skye