| (a/n) this would be the start of about episode err-attempts to rememberI think it is... Episode 15? Where Arai comes in.|
It's now just reaching the middle of summer vacation. The twins had come up with some idea for a "refreshing contest" that they of course won. They got to sleep in the last guest room in the bed and breakfast.
As I explained what we didn't have on the menu to the twins and that Tamaki shouldn't have tried waking the beast and shadow king, a boy walked through the doors of the cafe bringing a basket of fresh fruit with him. Haruhi continued sweeping the floor and I brought some glasses of juice to the twins, until he asked, "haruhi? Haruhi Fujioka?" walking up to me.
I turned around, and pointed, "Over there"
He looked at me and back at haruhi and her short hair, His hat falling off as he did so.
Haruhi looked up, "Arai?"
"Haruhi! It's been so long! How have you been?"
"Fine and you?"
"Excellent... So if this is you," he turned back to me," you must be the famous Kaitlyn she told me about back in middle school!"
"Famous?" I asked with fake glory, "well, life in Japan just gets better and better!" I held out my Hand, "nice to meet you"
"And these must be friends of yours?" he pointed towards Hika, Kou and the king.
"Oh this is Hikaru, Kouru and... My sem-" remembering what Tamaki said earlier about not treating him like a sempai haruhi stopped herself and said, "an acquaintance"
At that moment Tamaki turned white as a ghost as and turned and wept in his corner of woe.
"Tamaki I just mopped there!" I cried as mushrooms began to sprout.
The rest of the group joined in, and continued the conversation about how Arai had feelings for haruhi in middle school.
"Nah you obviously didn't feel the same if you didn't understand my question," he went on
I noticed the twins were tense as they asked almost rude questions from their stools across the room.
Suddenly it hit me. They were always alone, they didn't have any friends other than each other until haruhi and I came into their lives. They probably didn't appreciate us bringing up someone from Haruhi's past.
"Tamaki can you stop making garbage please?" haruhi begged.
"It's not garbage, its hamster home"
"What it is is a mess!" I quipped and hit him upside the head. "You don't even have a hamster"
The conversation continued and I noticed the twins were ignoring us.
"What should we do Hikaru? Should we try to join them?"
I walked up as Hika said, "Nah, he's annoying, I don't know why his highness is so into him... It seems kinda stupid."
I brushed it off, and sat back down.
"So Kaitlyn, are you as ignorant as Haruhi when it comes down to dating?"
"IGNORANT?" I heard Haruhi say.
I shook my head," I don't believe so, I had a boyfriend back in America before I moved here"
"MY LITTLE GIRL HAS ALREADY HAD A BOYFRIEND?" Tamaki cried pulling me into a death trap hug.
"Has" I gasped for air.
Suddenly Tamaki stood up "Hikaru Kouru! Why don't you guys come over here! This is a rare episode to Learn about Haruhi's and even a little about Kaitlyn's middle school days!"
Hikaru turned his head, Boredom showing. "I don't especially want to hear about them. Or should I say, how stupid are you? I can't understand how you get so excited over hearing stories of the past. And doesn't he get that haruhi doesn't want anything to do with him?" haruhi got up and started walking over to him. "Haruhi doesn't have any room for him in her life, and same goes for Kaitlyn"
She brought back her hand and swept it across his face with a sound that echoed throughout the room just as he turned his head towards her.
"That's not up for you to decide Hikaru! If you do one more rude thing to my friend you'll answer to me!"
His face had an expression of shock and sadness. He lowered his head so we could not see his eyes through his bangs, "what is this? What do other people matter?"
My eyes widened.
"WE'RE YOUR FRIENDS AREN'T WE?"
Haruhi's stature softened, I reached out and stepped forward.
"Hika, you are-" I tried
He looked between the two of us and rushed off.
"Hikaru wait up!" Kouru pushed past us
"Hikaru!" I followed, leaving my sister and other friends behind.
"Wow their world is still so small..." Tamaki added as he watched us leave.
"Well that was pretty hot-headed, growing pains?" Kouru attempted to lighten his mood.
I stopped before I entered the room, deciding to just listen, even if it is wrong.
"You were disgusted too" Hikaru pointed out.
"I still think I was more rational than you"
He paused to sit down on the bed. "The way you threw your selfish feelings around like that was pretty childish. Haruhi and Kaitlyn were stunned."
"What am I supposed to do? I was just incredibly disgusted and I don't even know why"
I stepped in, "for now how about you just go down and apologize to Arai-kun?"
Hikaru blushed and turned to me. Kouru smiled "I agree"
"I'm not saying you have to, I'm just putting it out there" I added and stepped back out, "by the way, perhaps you're disgusted because you're jealous," I smirked and continued out the door.
An hour later we were all standing outside bidding Arai good bye.
"I'm sorry about that's Arai-kun" haruhi apologized.
"It's ok. I don't know what I did, but it seemed to set him off" he genuinely smiled.
Behind us a door opened and one of the twins crept out.
"Hika-Chan!" Hunny cried.
He walked forward and stopped just behind haruhi and I, we backed out of the way for him.
"I was out of line" he stated. "Sorry"
"Nah it's ok. Bye Fujioka's" he said and biked away.
"Bye!" we called
"Hmm, nice acting Kouru" I said
"Why are you pretending to be Hikaru?" haruhi asked
Shock came across his face, as well as everyone else's.
"Where's that scratch on your face?" I pulled his cheek.
"I covered it with concealer" he claimed rubbing his face. "Hikaru doesn't seem to be cheering up any time soon, and so haruhi I have a small favor to ask of you!"
"What?" she asked
"All day tomorrow would you be my date?" he smirked.
Later that day haruhi walked into our room later than usual and asked me to do her a favor. "Kaitlyn I promised Misuzu that I would work extra hours for him and well, since you seem to be better at the whole 'dating thing'" she put finger quotes around dating," would you go in my place?"
My brows furrowed, "why don't I just work the extra hours and you take tomorrow off?"
"Like I said, you're better at the romantic stuff"
"I don't think it works that way..." I hesitated, "but, ok"
KAORU's POV-
After we all went inside I stopped haruhi. "Haruhi that wasn't really my favor," I said.
Haruhi's puzzled expression met my gaze, "then what was it?"
"I need you to send Kaitlyn in your place,"
"Now I'm even more confused, why didn't you just ask her to go instead?"
"Don't you remember when Tamaki was strangling her? She still has a boyfriend, and I will be sending Hikaru in my place"
Haruhi stared blankly, "why would you send her with him..." she trailed off trying to connect the dots."At least tell me how I could get her to go?"
"Just say you need to work some extra long hours... Or you don't think you're good with the whole romance thing... Or-"
She huffed and blushed at the last line.
I smirked, "well then you come up with something"
As I awoke in the morning Hikaru was already dressing as he spoke to me.
"Kouru get up, you don't want to be late for your date with Haruhi"
I coughed, hoping it would be convincing enough for him, "I don't think cough that I can go Hika."
"Are you ok?"
"I seem to have a cold; I need you to go in my place Hika. I can't bale on Kaitlyn"
He stopped. "Kaitlyn? You said it was haruhi!"
I shook my head. "Will you go, please?"
"I-" he paused, "fine..." he sighed
"Oh, thank you Hika! I would hug you if I weren't so sick!" I coughed
"Yeah, whatever"
"Hika, remember, you need to make sure your escorting her"
KAITLYN's POV-
"Sorry I kept you waiting" I heard the older of the Hitachiin twins say.
"Huh?" I asked, "Where's Kouru?"
"Well you see," he explained, "Kouru ended up sick today and sent me instead"
I sweat dropped.
"What?" He asked.
"I think we've been set up" my eye visibly twitched. "Should we go back?"
"nah, we're Already here," he almost rushed," I'll go out with you today- what's with this getup?" he seemed to be forcing away a blush.
I looked down, and winced at the memory. "I really hope you know I hate those maids of yours" My hair was pulled into pigtails. They had forced me into a yellow floral sundress with a white, short-sleeved sweater jacket. They covered me in jewelry, such as bracelets, necklaces, and even earrings.
He smirked, "oh"
"Is it weird?" I asked suddenly feeling self conscious for some reason.
"No" Hika shook his head.
KAORU's POV
I struggled to hold Tamaki back. "Milord, be quiet, they'll catch us!" I hissed.
"Why should I let my daughter go out with that DEVIL?" he started strangling me, "After yesterday's events HOW DID IT TURN OUT LIKE THIS?"
"Good thing that's Kai-chan" Hunny pointed out, "if that were still Haru-Chan, it would be her first date! Although, it is Kai-Chan's first in Japan. But that would have really set tama-Chan off"
Tamaki was literally breathing fire. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS KOURU! And what's with the outfit? SHE'S SUPER CUTE!"
"Oh, that was the maids" I explained
"No fair! No fair! NO FAIR!"
"You know, I think this could be good for Hikaru, it'll teach him that there are people other than me that he can rely on..." I trailed off "by the way, why are you so jealous? Isn't Haruhi your favorite?"
That caught him off guard, "I- I don't pick favorites! I LOVE ALL MY CHILDREN EQUALLY!"
"You liar, you care for the girls much more than us" I snapped. "Aside from that topic, Hika has become very fond of Kaitlyn, whether he knows it or not"
"Kouru your amazing" Tamaki pointed out with a blank expression.
"So what you're saying is this date is a trial, to get Hikaru to foster feelings of consideration for someone else" Kyouya added
I nodded, "so don't interfere at all with them"
"Is tailing them really necessary then?" Tamaki asked.
"Sure it is! There's no reason for us to miss something this interesting is there?"
KAITLYN's POV-
"So Kaitlyn, where do you want to go?" Hika asked.
I shrugged, I haven't really thought of anything, how about you?"
"I have nothing I need to do in Karuizawa-" He stopped suddenly as if remembering something. "How about the outlet mall on the north side of town? They have cheap cloths there"
"Fine with me. You need cloths?" I asked.
"No, we don't buy anything there. I don't need cloths"
I turned head. 'That's his way of caring I guess'
He looked away, seemingly annoyed.
"Misuzu-San said that the weather might not hold. I sure hope there aren't any thunderstorms" I pointed out, almost shuddering at the thought.
"Who cares about the weather?" he groaned.
"I do!" I snapped, ending the conversation.
KAORU's POV-
"AHHH! WHAT A TEDIOUS DATE THIS IS! IM GONNA KILL HIM! WITH HOW STIFF HE'S ACTING AND HE DARES TO CALL HIMSELF A HOST CLUB MEMBER!" Tamaki freaked, "SWITCH WITH ME HIKARU! I'LL ESCORT HER INSTEAD!"
"Then there wouldn't be any meaning!" I yelled
"THEN KYOUYA YOU GO MAKE LIKE A PUNK AND PICK A FIGHT WITH KAITLYN! THEN HIKARU WILL COME TO HER RESCUE!"
Kyouya pushed up his glasses "first of all, I don't 'make like a punk'. Secondly I'm smarter than to mess with that girl."
"Ice cream! Ice cream! Who wants ice cream?" a very poorly disguised Hunny asked walking by with an ice cream cart.
I gaped with Tamaki. "no-" he almost reached them, when Mori saved the day and pulled Hunny and his cart away. "Don't" was all he said.
KAITLYN's POV-
I noticed Hunny-sempai walk by in some sort of Italian ice cream man costume and realized, I was hungry.
"Hey, didn't that old coop just now look like Hunny-sempai?" I heard Hikaru in the distance.
"One chocolate, please!" I payed the vendor across the street and took my ice cream.
"Hey Kaitlyn, don't go off on your own" Hikaru said.
I turned to him with my ice cream, "I hear the ice cream here is famous. Here" I held it out, "you take the first bite"
"If it's no good there'll be a penalty game," he stated
As he leaned down a new vendor slammed the door open and handed me another ice cream.
"HERE ANOTHER ICE CREAM FOR THE CUTE GIRL! ON THE HOUSE!"
I immediately recognized the blond hair under the hat and slammed the ice cream back in his face. "No thanks, I don't take sweets from pervs like you, sempai"
I handed my ice cream to Hikaru, "try it" I pretended like nothing even happened.
He took a bite and his eyes widened, "it's better than expected" he handed it back to me with a slight smile.
"Delicious!" I decided after I took a bite. We continued sharing it until it was all gone.
"So no penalty game?" I asked.
He shrugged, "guess not"
KAORU's POV-
Now it was my turn to strangle Tono."IT WAS FINALLY GOING WELL! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO AND INTERFERE?"
"you idiot! You think I'm going to couple eat!" he remarked.
In the background the real clerk didn't know what to do.
"No indirect kissing!" the idiot complained
"You're lucky Kaitlyn frickin smashed the ice cream back in your face or I WOULD'VE KILLED YOU!"
KAITLYN's POV-
"We can all go out and check out some tourist areas later, so how about for now we just stay around the shopping area?" I asked, "And we can choose some gifts for Haruhi and Kouru"
He pursed his lips, "I think you know that I'm anxious about Kouru. How can you tell?"
"Ha, now I know you are! It was just a guess" I said as he sweat dropped. "c'mon let's go"
KAORU's POV
We take our eyes off them for one minute and they're doing fine. It's questionable on who's doing the escorting though. I sighed. I guess the ice cream stand did smooth things over.
No, I doubt it.
"Let's get ready to head back soon. If we get caught out here things could get sloppy" I explained.
Tamaki sat there crying, "That looks like so much fun! How nice... How nice..."
"C'mon don't you wanna go back and see Haruhi?" I asked.
"Not to mention a storm's coming," Kyouya remarked, I didn't care, but that seemed to snap Tamaki back into place.
KAITLYN's POV-
Thunder rumbled throughout the sky and I began to feel pretty antsy. This was not going to be an easy storm.
"It looks like it is going to rain soon after all. Should we start heading back?"
I snapped my head up and down, "yes"
"All right, let's head down the street and flag a cab"
Someone popped up behind Hikaru. "Huh, Fujioka?" Arai asked. "What are you up to?"
"Arai-kun, what are you doing here?" I wondered aloud.
"I'm working here. this is my uncle's fruit shop. Are you shopping?"
I nodded "yeah, we were just leaving"
"I can send you back in our car, I'll go ask my uncle"
"Oh but we couldn't" I said thinking of Hikaru
"I heard some thunder though, and it's going to start raining soon"
Hikaru cut in suddenly "we're just about to get a cab"
"Oh but the taxi fare would be a waste of money" Arai remarked.
Hikaru frowned, and I was torn. Thunder rolled through the sky, making me shudder. That made up my mind.
"Why don't we just ask them? It wouldn't hurt! Not to mention the sooner we go, the better" I blushed
Hikaru turned away from me, "Kaitlyn how about if just you were to go"
"Hikaru..." my voice faded
"Just do what you want!" Hikaru snapped, "Then you can get all chummy and talk about the past or something" He turned around and ran away.
"HIKA-" I was cut off by thunder booming.
"Not again... Is he really bothered by you having other friends? He must have some of his own" Arai remarked.
I flushed, 'no' I thought, 'he doesn't'
"I'm sorry Arai, I've got to go" I said before chasing after Hikaru.
KAORU's POV
We were all sitting around the empty bed and breakfast.
"That lightning is incredible! I hope they're staying out of the storm" Hunny said
Suddenly a worried Haruhi came dashing downstairs, "they're not back yet?" she cried
"Tamaki-kun can't seem to calm down" Misuzu remarked.
"No they're not back yet" I replied, unable to take my eyes off of a pacing Tamaki.
"RIIINNG RRRIINNNGG"
Misuzu picked up the landline phone, "Hello?-Arai-kun what's wrong?" the tranny frowned, "Hikaru ran away after you offered to take them back in your car? -Kaitlyn chased after him?' that was more of a statement towards us than a question for Arai, "yes, I'm sure Hikaru has his Cell on him, we can give him a call. Good Bye"
"That's it I'm calling them!" Tamaki decided.
Thunder boomed and haruhi fell the ground in a panic.
"HARUHI WHAT's WRONG?" I asked
Tamaki rushed over to her. "It's ok; it's just a little thunder!"
Then I connected the dots. I pulled out my phone and dialed pressed Hikaru's speed dial. It rang once... twice...
"Hello?"
"HIKARU WHERE ARE YOU?"
Haruhi snatched the phone.
"I don't know, by some tree just out of town"
"Is Kaitlyn with you?" the stress was easily sounding in her voice.
"Uh, no she was with Arai-"
"YOU IDIOT! SHE'S AFRAID OF THUNDER! AND NO, SHE'S NOT WITH ARAI! SHE RAN AFTER YOU!" haruhi screamed.
Wow, this was the first time I've seen haruhi raise her voice. Before she could continue the phone buzzed.
HIKARU's POV-
"FUCK!" I shouted and ran back towards town, dropping my now smashed phone.
I searched every store, asked every pedestrian but no one seemed to know where a girl with long, brown hair and hazel eyes was.
I ran past a church and came to a stopped for a breath. "Could she be in there?" I wondered aloud.
'BOOOOOMMMM' thunder crashed across the sky, followed by lightning, more thunder, and a scream in the opposite direction.
She can't be! She couldn't find a sanctuary? Is she still outside in a storm like this?
KAITLYN's POV-
After I ran after Hikaru I couldn't seem to catch up with him in the crowd. I ended up running to the edge of town when the rain finally began falling. "Shit, shit, shit" I muttered as I tried to cup my ears and block out the sound. And tripped when the lightning flashed and knew I had to go inside somewhere. The only building nearby was an old church, I ran up hoping the doors were unlocked.
"SHIT!" I cried when the doors wouldn't budge.
I ran up to a large tree, seeing that it was my only option if wanted to seem sane to the public eye. IT was a large will that blocked most of my view from underneath, but the wind was still blowing the rain through and thunder crashed throughout the night.
BOOOOOM
I screamed. This storm was insane! I couldn't go 2 minutes without lightning striking or thunder rumbling through the air.
"KAITLYN!" I heard Hikaru yell. He rushed through the willows low branches.
"BBOOOOMM!"
"AAAAHHH!" I screamed "hi-HIKA!"
He ripped off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. "I'm sorry I left you" he said and placed the headphones from around his neck on my head. He had a song on repeat blaring in my ears, I couldn't hear much else of what he said, but I knew he continued to apologize.
Because I couldn't hear much I just closed my eyes and snuggled close, trying to forget the recent events. I ended up falling asleep until the host club came and found us two hours later after the storm ended.
"KAITLYN!"
"HIKARU!" Kouru and haruhi cried with joy.
As I hugged haruhi then Kouru Tamaki came running in, "I'M SO GLAD MY LITTLE GIRL IS OK! Tell me, what did the bad man say and slash or do to you?"
I pushed him off of me, "Tamaki- senpai, I'm not your daughter!"
As the conversation continued and the club returned to the limousine I lingered in the back near Hikaru, "hey Hika,"
"Yeah?" he asked
I hugged him tightly, "thank you... For everything"
KAORU's POV-
The morning after "the incident" as I like to call it, was calm and sunny. Arai came back with a huge watermelon for us to share, and Hikaru even apologized to Arai himself.
I stood on the loft above next to Kyouya whom had been taking pictures and notes.
"Kouru, with this trial have you considered the possibility of other things being aroused?"
"Like what?"I wondered
"Just the possibility that the date may have gone too well, and fostered feelings of love."
"Nah, it's too early to tell, after all Kaitlyn is in a relationship with someone else right? Not to mention, Hika is a dummy and all" I shrugged
Just then the group below looked up and yelled, "Hey! Melon Cutting! Melon Cutting!"
"Well, we do seem to have a lot of dummies in our club, now don't we?" Kyouya chuckled.
l (A/N)*smashes head against wall* so, i'm actually about a chapter ahead right now, but i have this random writers block and it's KILLING ME! i got half way through and then forgot what i was writing! seriously? how does that even happen?
soo, tell me what you think! this was a long chapter O_o please R and R! l