Ouran High School Mix Up

I just got discharged from the hospital a couple of days ago. Concussions? Yea, not fun. Not to mention, while getting over said concussion I had the constant reminder that I acted like a total ass and got away with it. So, while I was trying to make up for being an ass the first time, I made myself a bigger ass instead. Miyuki didn't even care either. She even said that she had to make it up to me. And, to make it worse, I think I almost… almost… kissed her! She let me off because I had a concussion; she just brushed it off! I will never understand women.

Chapter 7

Hikaru woke up extra early. Okay, not really, but he got up earlier than usual. He wasn't sure why he got up at this ungodly hour—4:00, on a Sunday—but he figured he might as well do something productive.

He exited his room—yes, his room since they no longer shared a room due to their 'attempt to stay twins while living separate lives' plan. He didn't make any attempt to be quiet, since their regular employees weren't here yet and his parents' room was across the house (why? He didn't know). The walk gave him time to contemplate what to do with his extra time.

Once down at the kitchen, Hikaru grabbed a leftover meat bun and heated it up quickly. He carried it in his mouth while he crossed the kitchen, trying to remember where the cups were.

It didn't take him long to find them, and he was too proud to admit that he had to look around a bit to find the refrigerator, even if it was only for a second.

So, carrying his juice in his hand and his bun in his mouth, he made his way back to his room. On the way there he figured he should check his e-mail—since he hadn't in so long—so he changed his course for the study. He was happy, it gave him something to do.

He sat down in his nifty spinny chair and turned on the computer. As he waited, he finished off his breakfast. He opened the Internet and spun around in his chair while it opened up his e-mail. He logged on to the account that he and Kaoru shared—one of the few things they still shared, like their mother for example—since it was the one used most.

There wasn't much new stuff; a few family announcements (half of which, he was embarrassed to find out, had already past), a couple of Kaoru's e-mails to himself, reminding him to do stuff that he forgot about anyway, and one—though it wasn't especially new—from Tamaki. He decided to check that one first, since Tono hardly ever sent e-mails.

Valued Host Club Members,

We will be taking a mandatory club outing to the beach on the last Sunday of summer, before fall and winter officially begins.

That part sounded like Kyouya, Hikaru thought, as he read the rest.

Feel free to bring someone, since Kyouya will be bringing someone anyway! The more the merrier!

That was Tono. For sure.

Anyway, please note that you must come, but you are not required to bring someone.

It's just funner that way.

Please be on time.

The e-mail ended with that. Hikaru wondered who it was that Kyouya was bringing. A relative? A girl? Who!? He would know when they went on the trip. He counted in his head how many days he'd have to wait.

"SHIT!" he yelled, knowing that no one in the house would hear him.

He should have known. With his luck, he should have totally seen it coming, but he didn't. Which was why he was spazzing over the fact that the last Sunday of summer was today. Maybe that's why he woke up so god dammed early. His body somehow knew that he needed to check his e-mail. Creepy.

He debated whether or not to call and bail. He sided against it. When they said 'mandatory' they meant mandatory. Or, 'come or we'll find you', like they had to do so many times with Haruhi.

He was surprised to find that thinking of Haruhi (his unrequited love—if you could call it that) didn't hurt him anymore. At least, not nearly as much as it used to. He wondered why.

He remembered the problem at hand and opened up a reply box, wrote that they'll be there and sent it.

He stared at the computer for a few seconds and got an idea. He opened a new email box and sifted through the address list. He was pleased to see that they had her address, he didn't bother to think about why.

Want to go with us to the beach today?

He attached Kyouya's directions and times, then sent it. He waited a few minutes and then refreshed the computer. To say he was surprised to see a reply there would be an understatement.

'What the hell is she doing up at 4:30 on a Sunday checking e-mail?!' he countered his own thought with the fact that, he too, was up at 4:30, checking e-mail. He opened the reply:

Uhm…sure. I'll be there.

Kuri Ikomoto was definitely coming.

Hikaru stood outside Kaoru's door and pondered the best way to wake his brother up. He knew Kaoru was generally a heavy sleeper, but he had recently been developing a habit of waking up to certain noises. Though Hikaru didn't know what those noises were, it didn't mean he was going to give up.

He walked up to the door, opened it slightly and took a step back. He aimed carefully, took a quick step forward and kicked the door as hard as he could. It flew open and hit the opposite wall with an echoing 'BANG'.

Kaoru fell off his bed in surprise.

"What the hell was that for?!" Kaoru yelled from his spot on the floor.

"Just making sure my cute little brother is ready for our big trip today," Hikaru added insult to injury.

"What trip?" Kaoru's grogginess caught up with him and he yawned. "I didn't know we were going anywhere."

"We weren't, until about," he looked at Kaoru's bedside clock; 7:34, "three hours ago, when I checked our e-mail."

Kaoru looked at the clock as well. "You checked e-mail at 4:34 in the morning?"

"4:00, and I was bored, okay?"

Kaoru waved it off, not really wanting to know. "That's fine, but what trip?"

"Ah," Hikaru remembered his reason for waking him up, "The host club is holding a mandatory trip to the beach today."

"What?!" Kaoru attempted to get up but was tangled in his sheets and ended up falling over. "Ow…"

"Nice, now get ready, we leave at ten."

Two hours, one quick breakfast and a whole hell of a lot of last minute packing later, Hikaru and Kaoru walked out to where a black SUV was waiting. Hikaru took Kaoru's bag and told him to get in. Hikaru walked to the and loaded their bags.

He walked to the drivers seat and got in.

"Hikaru," Kaoru said from the passengers seat, "you're driving?"

Hikaru looked at the steering wheel in front of him. "I guess so."

"Do you even know how to drive?"

"Now I do." Hikaru grinned at Kaoru's panic-stricken face, "just kidding. I actually do know how to drive. Shinji-san has been teaching me, and I even got a permit!"

"Since when?" Kaoru was more puzzled than anything.

"Last month…. I think…" he started up the car, fastening his seatbelt in the process, and drove carefully down the road.

He drove a little ways, glancing at the slightly familiar scenery—having only been down this road once—before Kaoru broke the silence.

"Hikaru, this road seems familiar, but I don't think this is the right way."

"Don't worry Kaoru, this is the right way," Hikaru smiled.

"But…the beach is that way…" he pointed in the opposite direction from where they were going.

"We have a stop to make first," Hikaru grinned this time, from his excitement.

After a few miles of silence they pulled up to a mansion that looked similar to theirs but with more shrubbery. Kaoru recognized it immediately.

"Hikaru! Why are we at Kuri-chan's house?" Kaoru was surprised, to say the least.

"Because, dear brother, you decided to invite her, at 4:30 in the morning, to a Host Club outing."

"But I didn't—"

"I know." Hikaru pulled up to where the driveway stopped and got out. "You stay here, I'll be right back."

Hikaru walked up to the door, he felt very proud of himself. Now Miyuki couldn't say that he didn't do anything to help the cause—the one they have been working on for about 3 months, almost since the beginning of school.

He looked back at the car where Kaoru had moved to the back seat, so Kuri wouldn't have to sit by herself. That dejected him a little. Miyuki had better appreciate this.

He knocked on the door and waited. He heard a thud and rushed steps followed by some muffled concerns. After a few minutes Kuri opened the door and smiled when she saw him.

"Wow, it's exactly 10 o'clock!" she smiled again, Hikaru saw why Kaoru fell in love with her.

"Kuri what—" Miyuki appeared behind her but stopped mid sentence when she saw Hikaru.

"I hope you don't mind," Kuri said apologetically, "I asked Miyuki to accompany me."

"Not at all," Hikaru smiled. He was surprised to see Miyuki but he wasn't entirely against her coming. "We should go to the car."

Kuri skipped ahead, obviously very excited, leaving Miyuki and Hikaru behind.

"Mind explaining?" Hikaru asked, not looking at her.

"Kuri was nervous about coming and practically begged me to come with her. Why? Do you not want me to come?" Miyuki looked up at him.

"No! It's not that!" Hikaru frantically reassured her, "I was just curious, and why are you taking that kind of attitude? Did you not what to come?" He turned the questioning onto her.

"Well kind of," Hikaru felt hurt, but only slightly, "She just told me that she was invited to the beach and didn't want to go alone, she didn't tell me that you invited her. That changes things a bit."

"I didn't invited her, Kaoru did." Hearing her say that made him feel a little happier.

"Okay, sure." Hikaru knew she didn't believe him, but it didn't matter as long as she didn't tell.

As they approached the car Hikaru bounced in front of her to open the passenger-side door. She watched him with an amused expression—which Hikaru found, to his surprise, very cute—whilst she climbed into the front seat. Hikaru walked around the front of the car and watched as her expression turned incredulous. He opened the door.

"You're driving?" Miyuki was stunned

"That's what I said!" Kaoru stated from the back seat

"Yes, I suppose I am." Hikaru grinned; her expression pleased him.

"You can drive?!" was the next question.

"I believe that knowledge would be required to be driving us to the beach today, Yuki-kichi."

"Don't call me that."

"Then get safe, shut up, and enjoy the ride," and he started up the car.

They drove in silence for a while, no one willing to risk looking stupid trying to start up conversation, so they all stayed quiet. Hikaru was never one for silence, and each passing minute made him more uncomfortable. He squirmed in his seat from the distressing aura floating around in the car.

"Stop fidgeting or you'll get us in an accident," Miyuki said not looking away from the panorama of houses and vegetation outside her window.

He sat still, but it didn't last long. In an attempt to get rid of this horrible stillness, he pushed the radio button. He forgot what his first preset was, but he didn't have time to remember before Hikari started blaring throughout the car. He would have moved to change it, had he not seen Miyuki, mouthing the words as she stared out into the endless foliage.

"You know this song Yuki-chin?" Hikaru asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Yea, I heard it on a game I played and I can't forget it now."

"I see."

The ride didn't get much better after that, but at least they had Japanese pop music to fill the silence. Even if it didn't do much.

They arrived at the beach some time later. As they pulled up, Hikaru noticed that they were the last ones; Kyouya was definitely going to chew them out for being late. They all got out and pulled their stuff from the trunk.

Tamaki greeted them enthusiastically. He introduced himself and the entire Host Club, including the people Miyuki and Kuri already knew.

"Now, fair maidens, you know who we are, please, give us the honor of knowing your name?" Tamaki bowed deeply.

Hikaru almost laughed out loud when Tamaki took Kuri's hand—as a signal for her to go first—and she yelped, from surprise, and jumped backwards into Kaoru, who blushed crimson.

"I-I'm sorry, Kaoru-kun!" Kuri jumped away from him, her cheeks painted red as well.

"Don't worry about it." Kaoru looked at the ground.

Hikaru watched as realization spread over the members of the Host Club, including Tamaki. Not even he wasn't that slow.

He saw Miyuki stifling a giggle as all of this unfolded. She stepped forward.

"I'm Kitozawa Miyuki, and this," She pointed to the flustered Kuri," is Ikomoto Kuri."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Kyouya said with his scary smile on. "Oh, and of course, you don't know Akari-chan." He motioned to the brown-eyed girl behind him.

Miyuki gave a small wave but looked incredibly uncomfortable doing so. Akari waved back and looked away, as if she was just as uncomfortable as Miyuki seemed to be. Hikaru had to keep himself from laughing, Miyuki usually never looked awkward, and now he knew what made her like that.

After a lecture from the Shadow King about punctuality, the club members led their visitors to the spot they normally occupied during their visits here (which, Hikaru noticed, were becoming increasingly frequent).

The spot was fairly secluded—there was only one way to get there—and had a nice feel to it. The sand was fairly level and very fine, and if you walked down a ways, there was even a small first aid station (this being Kyouya's family beach). Kuri spun around blithely in the sun and Kaoru ran after her. Kuri spun and spun until she tripped on something—a stick probably—hidden in the sand. She fell mid spin and landed in a sitting position in the sand. Kaoru, who was following her and not paying attention, tripped over her and landed stomach down right in front of her.

They both started laughing and slowly stood up.

"They're so cute," Hikaru looked to Miyuki, who was next to him, "They act like little kids." She adopted a different expression. "It would be nice, to find someone like that. Like, you could act as silly as you wanted and they would join you, without a negative thought."

Hikaru looked at her, she looked out at Kaoru and Kuri who were walking back to put their stuff down. She followed their movements until they walked back out to where the ocean started.

She looked up at him. "What?"

"Nothing." He walked away ask Kaoru and Kuri to join a beach volleyball game.

They both agreed enthusiastically, and soon they had a full blown game going when Tamaki and Hani and Mori joined in. Hikaru hit the giant beach ball over the net toward Tamaki. He jumped and hit it back over and Hani climbed onto Mori's shoulders to hit it back.

Kaoru missed the ball—it was just out of his reach—and it rolled away from him. Kaoru turned around and chased it. It slowed to a stop, and a tall blonde guy picked it up.

"Is this yours?" the guy asked.

Kaoru took the ball from the guy. "Yes, thank you…." He looked up at the guy, "Maxwell-san?!"

Hikaru nearly died on the spot. What was he doing here?!

"What are you doing here, Maxwell?" Kuri asked the question on his mind.

"I was invited by the Ootori family, our families formed an alliance some time ago," he looked around and noticed Kyouya. "Hello, Ootori-san." he waved politely, "Hello, Akari-san."

"You know Akari-chan?" Hani asked.

"Not really," he responded, "she's just been at a couple of the Ootori's business gatherings."

"This is quite interesting," Tamaki went into his thinking pose, "well, if you are a friend of Kyouya and Kuri-hime, then you are welcome here!"

"Want to play volleyball with us?" Hani asked.

"Why not?"

"Okay," Kaoru said, "You're on my team though."

At the end of the game it was 23 to 17, Hikaru's team won, of course, having Mori and Hani, the most athletic people in the host club, on his team. The group dispersed after the game. Hani, followed by Mori, ran ahead of Kuri and Kaoru toward the ocean. Kuri and Kaoru raced to the water. Kaoru won, being the faster of the two. Tamaki picked up the discarded beach ball and walked over to where Haruhi was sitting.

Haruhi, not being one to abandon someone, gave Tamaki a sign telling him to give her as minute. After he had walked off toward Kyouya and Akari, Haruhi resumed talking to Miyuki, whom Hikaru just noticed was there.

Hikaru stood there stupidly watching as Miyuki seemed to be telling Haruhi a story. After she finished she pulled her knees to her chest and laid her head down in defeat. Haruhi, blunt and sympathetic as ever, patted her on the back and said something that made Miyuki jump up in surprise, her face red, and wave her hands back and forth defensively. Haruhi laughed and noticed Hikaru standing there. She waved and said something to Miyuki, who looked up and swiftly looked away.

Tamaki was getting anxious, so Haruhi stood up and followed Tamaki to the ocean where everyone else (minus Kyouya, Miyuki and Akari) were playing. As they walked past Hikaru, Haruhi stopped.

"Haruhi?" Tamaki asked, having long dropped all honorifics when concerning Haruhi, or anyone else in the club for that matter.

"Go ahead," Haruhi urged, "I'll be right there." Tamaki nodded and unwillingly walked to the water, glancing back a couple times.

"He's so over-protective," Haruhi sighed, and Hikaru realized that she must have been talking to him.

"Well, what can you expect?" Hikaru shrugged awkwardly. Haruhi stared out at the ocean without responding.

"What do you think of Miyuki-chan?" Haruhi said suddenly, still staring at the ocean.

"What?" Hikaru choked out.

She turned sharply to look at him. "What is she to you?" He stared at her incredulously, he couldn't think of an acceptable answer, he could barely think at all! What was she trying to imply?

Haruhi sighed again. "Doesn't it feel familiar to you? The way you are with her?" She looked back at Miyuki and then back at Hikaru.

"I really, honestly, have no idea what you're trying to say." Hikaru fidgeted under the dubious stare she gave him.

"Okay," she said finally, "forget I said anything." She walked over to Tamaki who waited for her a ways away, not willing to go very far without her.

Hikaru strode over to where Miyuki sat, half in a daze. He sat next to her under a green and black umbrella. She didn't notice him. Both sat in silence thinking to themselves. Hikaru tried to work out what Haruhi meant. He could always ask Kaoru, but he knew Kaoru would laugh at him for 'being slow'.

"That's insane!" Miyuki blurted out.

"What's insane?" Miyuki yelped and flinched. Hikaru couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't scare me like that!" Miyuki picked up a handful of sand and threw it at him. It hit him in the chest. He kept laughing.

"No really," he said when he calmed down, "what's insane?"

Miyuki looked away. "Nothing important," Hikaru could barely hear her, "just some stuff Haruhi said."

Ah. So Haruhi had gotten to her too. This made Hikaru wonder what Haruhi said to her. Was it along the same line as what she mentioned to him? He didn't want to ask, and had a feeling that she wouldn't answer if he did.

"So, why aren't you in the water?" Hikaru asked, hopeful for a break in the silence.

"Don't feel like it." There goes that idea. Though, he wasn't one to give up easily.

"Why?" he urged on.

"Not sure." Hikaru knew that she was lying.

"You lie horribly," he said. He realized that she wasn't wearing her swimsuit, just shorts and a white tee shirt. "Could it be…" he pretended to think, "you don't feel confident in your swimsuit."

"It not so much confidence as it is comfort."

"I was right?" Hikaru thought up a plan, hopefully she would cooperate. "You're not comfortable wearing a swimsuit?" Miyuki nodded. "Why, Yuki-chan?"

"No one wants to see me in a swimsuit, trust me on this one," really, she made this too easy for him.

"I want to see you in a swimsuit, Yuki-kichi," which wasn't a total lie, he knew she was cute.

"You're just saying that so I'll get in the water." Ooh, caught.

"So?" He smirked and stood up, offering his hand, "please?"

"Okay," she gave in and grabbed his hand, "since you went to so much trouble. You go ahead, I'll be there in a second."

Hikaru was overjoyed, and half skipped, half ran toward the ocean. When back in his right mind, he looked behind him to make sure she was actually coming. He saw her, facing away from him, pulling her white shirt over her head, revealing a black one piece with blue swirls at the top. She haphazardly folded her shirt and quickly pulled off her shorts.

As she turned around she spotted Hikaru, who just realized that he was staring. He found himself blushing and turning away, and he truly had no idea why.

"Watching me strip? You perv." She hit him playfully on the arm. He didn't bother to deny it; she had caught him. Though he wouldn't call it 'watching someone strip'.

As they neared the ocean, Miyuki began tugging self-consciously at her swimsuit.

"Stop fidgeting, " Hikaru ordered, "you look fine." She gave one last tug and her left strap and then clamped her hands together in front of her. Hikaru sighed at her modesty, but at least she wasn't some kind of slut.

When they reached the edge of the waves, Hikaru pulled her forward so she couldn't skip out. A large wave hit them below the knees and Miyuki squealed form the icy sting of the water.

"It's cold!"

"Stop whining," Hikaru teased, "you'll get used to it."

Before Miyuki could even ask how, Hikaru picked her up and carried her until he was waist deep. Then he dropped her.

She resurfaced, coughing and wiping water from her face, the water hit her right below the chest.

"That was so cruel, Hikaru Hitachi—" Another wave hit her mid sentence, raising the water level to right at her collarbone. She clung to Hikaru so the undertow wouldn't pull her in.

Hikaru laughed and picked her up again. "Fine, we'll go back into shallower water." He put her down where the water only went to her shins.

"It's not that I'm scared of it," she explained, "I just wasn't expecting it."

It was around that time that Tamaki called them over to join the others in the waves. They waded over to the group and watched as they demonstrated what they were doing, which was basically just diving under waves.

After they did that for a while, then a couple of the guys dragged over three surfboards, stunning everyone else.

'When did you get those?!" Hikaru yelled.

"Eheh…" Tamaki grinned sheepishly, "I've had these for a while, they hadn't served a purpose until now."

Hikaru swore he heard Haruhi mutter 'rich bastards' under her breath.

"So, whose first?" Tamaki looked around at the group, "I guess I'll be one then, but we still need to more."

"I guess I'll go." Maxwell stepped forward.

Miyuki raised her hand. "I volunteer, Hikaru." She took on of the boards and handed it to Hikaru

"What?!"

"Don't worry Hikaru!" Miyuki clamped her hands together, placed them under her cheek, and tilted her head a bit, "I'm sure you can to it!"

Even though he knew she was totally being sarcastic, he felt his face heating up. He took the board and whispered to Miyuki

"You'll regret picking me, Yuki," he said sweetly, with a hint of smugness, "I'll show you that I'm the best damn surfer here."

He walked deeper into the water along with Maxwell and Tamaki. He had never surfed before, but it couldn't be that hard. They mounted their boards and paddled out. As they saw a wave forming, they turned around and got ready. Hikaru saw Miyuki waving excitedly, just like a little kid, so he waved back. Next to him, he saw Maxwell wave as well. He still didn't like Maxwell to much.

As the wave hit, the trio attempted to stand up, only Hikaru and Maxwell managing to pull it off, though it didn't help much since Hikaru fell over immediately afterwards. When he resurfaced he didn't bother looking to see whether Maxwell made it or not, he just trudged to the shore.

"I believe," Miyuki started when Hikaru got close enough, "in America, that's called a 'wipe out'."

"Shut up."

Maxwell walked up from behind him. "Well, that was fun!"

"God dammit, Maxwell!" Miyuki glared teasingly, "Is there anything you're not good at?!"

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I wouldn't tell you," Miyuki stuck her tongue out at him as he passed her to go talk to Kuri.

They did that, not to mention a little bodysurfing and lots of splashing, for an hour or so before Hani (followed by Mori), Kuri, Maxwell, and Hikaru got tired. Kuri sat at the edge of the waves watching the three still in the ocean and Maxwell sat with her. Hikaru, Mori, and Hani went to build something epic looking in the sand.

They piled sand upon sand, flattened it with their hands and tried to make it tall. Sadly, all they got from their efforts was a spiffy looking hill. They all sat around their spiff-hill, digging pointlessly when Kuri ran up, panicked.

"Hikaru-kun! Miyuki-chan, she…she got pulled past the waves! She can't—" Kuri barely had time to finish before Hikaru was running past her toward the ocean. As he approached he saw Maxwell already running into the waves and Kaoru and Tamaki trying to swim past them.

He spotted her among the endless blue, her head bobbing precariously, as if wondering if it should stay above water or not.

Hikaru could hear Hani and Mori's steps behind him and he took off into the water. With each crash, the waves got bigger, bringing the tide in. Hikaru moved through the water as fast as he possibly could. He began swimming and dived under just as a wave, that swept Tamaki back behind him, broke. As he resurfaced he was hit with a counter wave, that knocked him senseless for a second, but even in that second, he was swept back right to where he started.

He was frustrated. He ran as far as he could and began swimming again. Right as a big wave came toward him he to a deep breath and dove under. The wave tried to push him back toward the shore but he pushed against it as hard as he could, he let the undertow drag him a little and he kept swimming. He was running out of air. He kicked harder and tried top propel himself forward. He had to resurface. He took in a big gulp of air and was hit by another wave. This one turned him around, but he kicked backwards, against the wave.

As he resurfaced again he realized that he had gotten past the waves. He looked around and saw Miyuki; she looked like she could fall asleep at any minute. He fell a bit of relief rise in his chest; he wasn't that far away!

Almost instantly that small sliver of relief was gone when Miyuki passed out and fully submerged. He cursed out loud and dove under. He couldn't see where she was so he had to open his eyes (which hurt). She was sinking fast; he kicked harder, determined.

He reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling them both upward in the process. They resurfaced and he pulled her up against him. He held her tight and noticed that she wasn't making any sound. Just as he was about to panic she coughed up water and clung tightly around his neck before she slumped limply on his shoulders.

He hugged her tightly not wanting her to somehow slip out of his grip and get pulled in by the ocean again.

'What is she to you?' Haruhi's words earlier that day echoed in his mind, and he wondered why they chose now to reappear. 'Doesn't it feel familiar to you?' Hikaru tired to shove the words from his head concentrating on keeping them both above water, 'The way you are with her?'

As realization dawned on Hikaru, he noticed how warm Miyuki was—despite her extended stay in the water—how her waist curved under his hand, how pronounced their height difference was now that he had grown some, and, most importantly, how she somehow became the girl he was unexplainably and irreversibly in love with.

He kicked gently—trying to keep both of them above water—toward the beach. When he reached an area he could stand, he lifted Miyuki—still clinging to him, even while unconscious—and carried her bridal style to where the Host Club stood, ready to help.

"There's a First Aid station down that way, Hikaru," Kyouya pointed it out for him.

"Would you like help?" Akari offered. He shook his head and walked off in the designated direction.

The First Aid Station wasn't too far off and was well equipped. Hikaru laid her down on a bench and checked her vital signs, like they taught in heath class. She was fine, he sighed in relief.

He sat there for a little while, before going to the conveniently placed sink and filling up a paper cup with tap water. He figured that if she had swallowed any of the sea water that would make her dehydrated, and he figured that being dehydrated and unconscious wasn't a good thing.

He tilted her head back and carefully poured the water slowly into her mouth, hoping she wouldn't cough it back up. She drank the water without a problem and made a face (Hikaru figured the water tasted bad) before slipping back into that state that made her look almost dead.

He stared at her for a while and contemplated what might have happened if she didn't cough up the water (back when they were in the ocean) and start breathing again. Hikaru didn't want to think about it any further, but he thought that it might have led to CPR.

After he was finished he carried her back to the others finding that they had packed everything up.

"We decided to leave," Kaoru explained, as he and Kuri carried their stuff up to where they parked, "and I'm not letting you drive, by the way. You're so stressed; you'll get us killed. So I called Shinji-san and told him to bring someone to drive the car back."

When they got up there, Shinji was already waiting.

"I told him to drive it back, so he didn't have to wait," he said, when they asked where the other guy was. "Where am I going first?"

"My house," Kuri gave him the address and he started up the car. "She'll stay at my house 'till she wakes up, her parents aren't home, I believe," Kuri said to Hikaru and Kaoru.

It was a silent drive back. Hikaru didn't attempt to break the silence, he just held the unconscious girl next to him like his life depended on it. Hell, it probably did.

When they pulled up to Kuri's house, a young looking butler came to carry Miyuki up to the house even though Hikaru insisted he could do it. Kaoru finally convinced him other wise, when he almost stumbled out of the car.

He didn't bother with formalities when he got home. He went straight to his room and collapsed on his bed. He had some serious self-analysis to do.

End Chapter 7