Quick Note: Happy New Year! Now let the games begin...
Disclaimer: I own nothing... but the more I write this story, the more I wish I owned the twins...
Both my cheek and my pride stung in the shape of an outraged little hand. I glanced over to see that Haruhi, who now sat across from us in the limo, was still brooding, arms crossed, huffing and refusing to look at us.
"Haruhi, did you really have to smack us so hard!" My brother fumed rubbing his own cheek and glancing over to me to see how I was fairing. I rolled my eyes, impressed how he managed to make himself the victim here. "How else was I supposed to get you two jackasses to stop bothering me…"
It was the first she had spoken to us in about ten minutes, so I guess this could be considered progress. But if we didn't want her hating us and effectively ruining the whole weekend, we needed to resolve this before we got the beach house.
"Harhui, we're sorry… we really are… sometimes we take it too far…" All I heard in response to my pleading was a disinterested 'Hmpf' as she spared a disbelieving glace in our direction. I sharply elbowed Hikaru, who had been sitting there pouting to himself this whole time. If he wasn't going to let it go, then we would never be able to get her to. We locked eyes in a silent argument, no words or outward expressions necessary. After a few minutes, he broke eye contact, sighing as he conceded.
I watched as he shifted to the floor of the limo right in front of Haruhi, took her hand in his, and began entreating her for mercy. Clearly taken aback at such a humbling action, she not only let him take her hand but he had earned her full attention as she stared at him a little dumbfounded. "Please Haruhi, we know we can be idiots sometimes… but that's why you're perfect for us… we have you to reign us in… you put up with us acting like idiots… and that's why we couldn't ask for a better best friend."
Wow… I know he's being genuine, but that's still laying it on pretty thick… I could see the skepticism warring with forgiveness behind her eyes. Taking this moment of indecision on her part as the opportunity it is, I mirrored my brother's position next to him on the floor, taking her other hand in mine. "What can we do to make it up to you? Please, we'll do whatever you want! We could even be your slaves for the rest of the day…"
At this last comment, realization seemed to click within her as a mischievous smile spread slowly across her delicate features. "Make it the rest of the weekend, and you can consider yourselves forgiven…" Relief flooded through me as we quickly took the seats to either side of her, latching onto her arms with glee.
"Not so fast… slaves do not share the same seats as their masters. Go back down to the floor" She announced with a fake regal tone, waiving her hand condescendingly in the air… She reminded me of Tamaki… I found myself snickering at the similarities… I wonder if that's what she's going for… My brother on the other hand did not seem so amused. "Haruhi, you can't be serious…"
He was cut off by her mockingly pompous voice, "Only my equals may call me Haruhi… My slaves will call me Master" Hikaru just gawked at her for a second, mouth hanging open. He shifted his eyes to mine and I think that's when it finally occurred to him that we had agreed to a weekend-long punishment game with Haruhi. Depending on how she played it, this might actually end up rather amusing… and depending on how we played it, this could drive Kyoya totally nuts.
In one fluid movement, Hikaru and I had resumed our positions at her feet and crooned simultaneously, "Yes, Master…"
Despite being told last, it would seem that Honey and I were the first to arrive at the twin's beach house. It wasn't nearly as large as Kyoya's, but the modern architecture made for a striking scene when combined with the natural beauty surrounding it. The aesthetics were not lost on me, even if I do tend to prefer more traditional Japanese structures.
While I was standing there appreciating the subtle details of the beach house, Honey had pranced over to the patio between the house and the beach declaring that Usa-chan wanted to sunbathe and that there was to be no peeking. I couldn't help but inwardly smile at that… Mitsukuni really has an interesting sense of humor…
I was just about to head over to the front doors of the house to see if they were locked, when I heard the hum of an engine somewhere down the driveway behind us. Opting to wait and see who the next additions to our party might be, I casually leaned against the side of my car. In a matter of seconds, the limo had rolled to a stop, placing the rear passenger door directly in front of me. To my surprise, the door popped open before the driver even had a chance to turn off the vehicle. Out came the twins in a flourish… one holding the door open, the other acting as a footman and offering his hand back into the limo. This is bound to be interesting…
Wearing crumpled pj's and frightfully disheveled hair, Haruhi slipped out of the limo, ignoring the offered hands, striding purposefully towards the house, until she saw me. Immediately dropping whatever arrogant act she had been playing, she waved at me with a genuine smile, "Hi Mori-sempai!"
I smiled back, trying not to remember the last time I had seen her… even more of a haphazard appearance than now, clothing barely still hanging on, swollen lips parted and face flushed, being far more aggressive that I would have thought her to be… not that I thought about her like that… often. I was sure that my face had already gotten red by the time she turned to continue her march to the house. "Slaves, come show me to my room!" Rather perplexed at her words, I hear a synchronized, "Yes, Master!" from back at the limo. I looked back at them, trying to understand what game they were playing at… As they neared me, I could see the barely visible pink hand print on both their cheeks. As they strode past me to follow their 'Master', Hikaru leaned over and whispered, "Totally worth it…" His brother just giggled in response, as they continued on their way inside.
Although completely amused by their antics, I couldn't help but wonder what exactly had gotten them both slapped AND signed on to be Haruhi's slaves… AND it was still totally worth it? A slight grin pulled at the corners of my mouth thinking about Kyoya's reaction if he found out…
I was broken out of my musings by a rather distraught Mitsukuni running over to me waving Usa-chan frantically. "Takashi! Usa-chan has a terrible sunburn! We have to find some lotion quick!" He came to a screeching halt in front of me and immediately noticed the change in my demeanor.
"Takashi, what'd I miss?" I looked from him to the group now visible through the glass wall of the beach house and let my amusement spread across my face as replied, "Punishment game… it's gonna be fun."
"I thought you said we were going to the Hitachiin beach house?" My eye twitching slightly, afraid of the answer I was going to receive. He removed his sunglasses, violet eyes filling with confusion as we rolled to an abrupt stop in front of the lavish beach resort. He turned to me questioningly, "This is the Hitachiin beach house… this is definitely the address the twins gave me this morning!"
I leaned forward holding my face with both hands as I was forced to acknowledge yet another good play by those puckish nuisances. Without even lifting my head, still caught up by this defeat, I muttered angrily from behind my hands, "They gave you the wrong address…"
"That's absurd… how would they not know the address to their own… Oh." Realization dawning across his face, replacing his previously jolly demeanor with a look of annoyed determination. "Kyoya, put the correct address in my GPS, we'll be there before you know it" And with that he shifted gears, soaring out of the resort's expansive driveway.
When I realized that the doors to the beach house had been left unlocked, I didn't even wait for the twins to catch up before I strode into the building as if I owned it. As soon as I had slipped my sandals off and began to look around, I found myself in complete awe… I had never seen a building quite like this…
To my left was an immaculate, large kitchen with a huge, curved elongated marble island lined by six bar stools being the only thing separating it from flowing out into the living area to my right. Directly above me was the second floor balcony that over hung the kitchen and overlooked the living room. This made the ceiling for the living room stretch two stories up with the walls made predominantly of glass with stylishly simple lighting fixtures hanging at various lengths throughout the room. All of the furniture was in bold rich, yet subtle colors and seemingly perfect in its slight asymmetry.
I'm not sure how long I had stood there soaking in the lavish modern elegance around me, when the twins came up beside me each wrapping me with an arm and saying in unison, "So, Master, what do you think?"
I was just about to retort with the same false snobbery I had been playing for the last half hour, when Kaoru raised his hand, pushing a button on a small white remote control. With a subtle buzz, the glass walls separating the living room and the patio began to slide apart gracefully, as I realized the room was designed to be split half indoor, half outdoor. Damn rich bastards!
So instead of the smart ass remark I had planned, all I managed to squeak out was, "Shut… Up…" as I staggered out of their embrace and towards the amazing outdoor half of the living room. The outdoor furniture was designed to perfectly complement its indoor counterparts, only made of more weatherproof materials. There was a central fire pit, an outdoor bar next to the grilling station, and a path that seamlessly led from the tiled patio down into the sandy beach… to my right was a path back down to the driveway and to my left… was a Jacuzzi!
I could tell that my eyes were widened in amazement and adoration as I slowly approached the already steaming six-seat hot tub. My evident infatuation was not lost on the pair right behind me as they slid up latching onto either side of me again and purred, "Perhaps master would like a relaxing bath after the long ride here…"
My eyes began glowing with excitement, as I looked between them, "Please…er… I mean, yes, prepare my swimwear immediately and show me to my room so I can change." I caught myself slipping due to sheer excitement before quickly adjusting back into character. They led me towards the spiral cast iron stairs directly opposite the front door and up to the carpeted second floor.
At the top of the stairs, there were three doors lining the right side of the hall, with the balcony over the living room along the left. Even though they kept walking towards the last door, I had paused in the middle of the balcony to take in the sight beneath me. When standing in the center, the lighting fixtures were aligned to perfectly frame the scene of the living room giving a sense of organized chaos again with the slight but noticeable hint of asymmetry.
I couldn't help smiling to myself in realization… Leave it to the mother of twins to use such a profound style of décor…
I quickly scampered to catch up with them as they entered the last room on the right… eager to go try out the hot tub…
I couldn't help but smile at Haruhi's innocent glee… she almost never got like this over silly things, but here she was acting like an excited child over the Jacuzzi… it's even better than the time we tried to bribe her with ootoro… oh, that's an idea!
"Hey Kaoru, do you think we could get the caretaker to fetch us some ootoro for lunch?" I looked over to see his smirk widen… clearly proud of himself. "Already taken care of, I called ahead and had several fresh sushi platters prepared and left in the fridge for us"
My grin stretched to match his as Haruhi came bounding out of the private bathroom into the bedroom where we were waiting. She was in the frilly white with red strings bikini we'd tried to get her to wear last week, and it flattered her figure even more than I had thought it would. She had apparently had more curves to work with than I'd realized. When we had given it to her today, she didn't even hesitate as she ran to get changed for the hot tub. She really can be so cute over the stupidest things…
She bounced right past us and out of the bedroom nearly plowing into the driver as he carried our luggage in and set in down next to the closet. He bowed slightly before leaving, and then went on his way… no need to keep him here, so we had given him the rest of the weekend off.
Already wearing our swim trunks, we both threw off our shirts onto the bed and raced after her. Passing by a stunned Mori and Honey who were still staring after Haruhi's retreating form, I motioned to the stairs behind us and Kaoru shouted, "You guys are first door on the right!"
By the time we had made it to the Jacuzzi, Haruhi was already in it relaxing with her eyes closed and sighing happily to herself… She had melted into one of the warm seats, letting the jets gently massage away any stress or frustration… not even opening her eyes as we slid in beside her…
