For a few precious moments, everything was totally silent. No one spoke, no one moved, everyone just weighed the situation in their heads, thinking one version or another of the same thing: this sucks. Shigure peered from face to face with his flashlight, a small smile playing on his lips, as he waited patiently for the arguing to start.
It didn't take long.
"Damnit, Shigure, I told you I'm not freaking sharing my bed!" Kyo roared.
"I don't mind it," Tamaki purred, wedging himself in between Haruhi and Tohru. "So, which one of you lovely ladies will do me the honor of sharing a bed with me tonight?"
Tohru blushed and stammered awkwardly, making Yuki and Kyo exchange dirty glances. Haruhi just stood there, her teeth biting into her lower lip, which was starting to tremble.
"Haruhi?" Tamaki said, taking her shoulders and trying to look through the darkness at her face. "Are you alright? I was just kidding about the whole bed thing. Unless you want to, that is, then something can be arranged-"
"It's…" Haruhi's voice shook as she spoke. "It's not that, Sempai."
"What is it, then? What's wrong?" Tamaki's voice softened to a whisper. Haruhi slowly opened her mouth to answer, but a particularly loud clap of thunder boomed overhead, and she jumped and hung tightly onto Tamaki.
"A little afraid of storms, are we?" Shigure interrupted. "Well, no matter! You can share Tohru's bed with her, as you two are obviously the only girls in the room. You can talk to her about your little storm problem, okay?"
Haruhi nodded into Tamaki's chest.
"Okay, then. Now, there are four beds left," Shigure did a quick head count before continuing. "And that means if you each pair up into groups of two, there shouldn't be an issue! Well, as long as you're comfortable with sharing a twin bed with someone you may not know, of course. Right then, pair up, everyone!"
Mori clasped a firm hand on Honey's shoulder, and the smaller boy let out a pipe of agreement.
"Mommy," Tamaki whispered seductively through the darkness, and Kyoya let out an exasperated sigh.
"Fine. But you had better not take up the entire bed again… Daddy." Kyoya accepted his fate.
"No fair!" Momiji wailed. "I wanted to share a bed with Tohru! You'd want to, wouldn't you Tohru?"
"Sorry, young one, but you're at that awkward age where you're too old to sleep with girls in an innocent way and yet too young to sleep with them in a… Well, not so innocent way." Shigure said sadly. "But, if it's any consolation, I'm sure Ritsu will be happy to let you share with him."
"Okey-dokey," Momiji said a bit glumly.
It was then that Yuki and Kyo both arrived at the same horrid realization.
"No way!" Kyo cried. "No freaking way!"
"Shigure, there's no way I'm going to share a bed with that stupid cat." Yuki seemed to break out of whatever stupor he had been in.
"Sorry you two, but there's nothing I can do about it. You at least, Yuki, should have had the sense to get someone else to share with earlier on." Shigure said merrily. "Unless, of course, you secretly want to share a bed with each other…?"
"Secretly?" Tohru asked before Yuki or Kyo could argue. "But I thought the two of you were together. You shouldn't try to hide it! It's good to be proud of who you are."
"Yeah, you two lovebirds!" Honey put in his two cents.
"Miss Honda, Kyo and I aren't actually-"Yuki started desperately, but Kyo cut off his words by punching him hard in the jaw, successfully taking him off guard.
"There!" Kyo shouted. "Would I do that to someone I liked?"
"Yuki, don't!" Tohru cried. Yuki quickly got up off the ground and answered Kyo with a kick to the cheekbone through the dense blackness, sending him hurtling back into the wall.
"Hey," Mori grabbed them both by their collars and placed them roughly down on either side of Shigure.
"Thank you," Shigure said curtly. "Now, off to bed everyone! Sohmas, please show non Sohmas to their beds. I'll be in the room across the hall if anyone needs anything, and I believe there are candles in the linen closet near the bathroom."
"Hey, everyone! Follow me, I can show you where you're sleeping!" Momiji volunteered. Everyone followed Momiji in a somewhat single file line up the stairs, occasionally bumping into each other or the wall. "First stop, Honey and Mori. Go ahead, fellas!"
Honey and Mori said their goodnights and disappeared into what was once Yuki's room. Yuki let out a small sound of protest, but Momiji simply continued on down the hallway.
"Okay, Tohru and Haruhi go on to Tohru's room now!" Momiji smiled widely, his soft features distorted in the light of the flashlight Shigure had given him.
"Wait, Haruhi," Tamaki caught Haruhi's arm before she could walk away.
"What is it, Sempai?" Haruhi's voice had calmed a bit, but Tamaki could still feel her arm trembling.
"Will you be okay tonight?" He spoke quietly, so that only Haruhi could hear him. She pressed her lips together and gave a small, slightly shaky nod before bidding everyone goodnight and following Tohru into her room.
"Okay, Tamaki and Kyoya, you two are the door on the right! Yuki and Kyo, you're to the left." Momiji gestured when they came to the end of the hall. "Ritsu and I will be over by Shigure's room. Good night!"
Momiji scurried off, leaving Yuki, Kyo, Tamaki, Kyoya and a solitary flashlight standing alone in between their rooms.
"Well," Tamaki gingerly took the flashlight from Yuki's grasp. "I suppose if you two won't be needing this, we'll be off to bed-"
"Hold up," Kyo interrupted crossly. "Who the hell said we wouldn't need the damn flashlight? What do ya think, we're just gonna go to bed in complete darkness?"
"But we need the flashlight more than you two do!" Tamaki cried, clutching the flashlight like a lifeline. "Isn't that right, Kyoya?"
"We don't need it, Tamaki. We'll be fine without it," Kyoya massaged his temples. "We should just go to bed. If we don't go to sleep soon, then our minds won't be capable of functioning properly tomorrow, thereby making the idea of a good, beneficial day impossible."
"But Kyoyaaa," Tamaki keened. "I won't be able to sleep without it!"
"It doesn't matter," Yuki said quickly, because Kyoya looked to be in serious danger of knocking Tamaki unconscious. "Take it."
"Damn rat, that's not your decision to make!" Kyo contended.
"Can you just stop being an immature child about this?" Yuki grabbed Kyo's collar and shoved him into the room.
"Well, that was easy, wasn't it, Kyoya?" Tamaki beamed. Kyoya's eyebrow twitched irritably as he followed Tamaki into their room.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter Eight
