"……Crap." Hanami sat on the cold tile floor, watching the waves in the wave pool.

After seeing her old friend Jared, she felt that she couldn't cope with the day's events. The Ootori private Aqua Gardens was her idea for the day's picnic, so she decided to escape to the aesthetic environment.

Hanami hugged her knees closer to her body as her mind raced with thoughts. She was filled with questions: Did Jared really come on his own accord?

Before Hanami had left for Japan, Jared had confessed his love for her, but she honestly had no idea how to respond to that. She had suspicions that Richard had convinced Jared to pretend to be in love OR actually fall in love with her.

But she couldn't be so paranoid, especially since Jared was a close childhood friend. He just complicated things, though. Hanami rested her chin on her arms and sighed.

"Crap. Crapcrapcrap." She couldn't think of anything else to say, so she simply watched the waves some more.

"You know, I had expected you to have a larger vocabulary than that." A smooth voice cut the silence, and precise footsteps advanced towards Hanami.

Hanami spun around, a bit too quickly, causing her to topple to the floor.

A pair of well-polished shoes came into Hanami's sight and an elegant hand reached out to her. She took it and stood up.

"I had an inkling that you would be here." Kyouya looked down at Hanami a bit amusedly. "Does your little friend scare you that much?"

Did I hear that correctly? Was Kyouya's voice icier than usual? Hanami blinked. "No, I guess not. We've been friends forever, but…recent…events have caused me to raise suspicions. I can't just believe that Richard wants forgiveness."

"Here, sit, sit." Kyouya gestured to a table nearby. "It seems you have a few things to discuss."

Hanami took a fruit cocktail that Tachibana offered to her gratefully. "Thanks."

"Ah. I believe these are yours." Kyouya slid Hanami's bookbag, schoolwork, and homework across the table. "And this."

He carefully placed her exceptionally high-quality Pineapple Laptop onto the table.

"Would you like to share your interest in Tamaki?" Kyouya felt that he knew the reason why Hanami was interested in Tamaki.

"THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT!" Hanami yelled, exasperated. "I'm under a lot of stress and worry right now. Can we not talk about my family members?"

"Family……members?"

Hanami clapped her hands over her mouth. "Oops."

"Care to explain?" This could certainly turn out to be an interesting situation. Kyouya gave his characteristic sly grin.

Hanami looked right, left, anywhere, looking for a way out. Finally, she sighed and spilled. "Okay. So, it turns out the Tamaki-senpai's mother, Miss Grantaine, is my stepfather's cousin. So Tamaki-senpai is my step-second cousin. I think. If I'm correct, I am step-related to him."

"That's what I thought." Kyouya was now uninterested. "Now, to discuss the matters of your safety… As I might have mentioned before, I have asked some of the Ootori Private Police to be your personal bodyguards. Especially since the Cultural Festival is coming up in about a month, I think that your safety is rather more endangered."

"I guess. I mean, do we have to make a big deal out of this?" Hanami sighed. "I feel crappy enough about this already."

"I'm assuming that you don't want to make a big deal about this because you don't want to believe that your life is in THAT much danger." Kyouya frowned at the girl before him. "Escaping reality is not exactly the best answer to your problems."

"…I suppose." Hanami took a small, tentative sip out of the fruity concoction. She drew her gaze up to meet Kyouya's intense yet cold stare. "Thanks, I guess. For taking so much concern about me. I'm really grateful to all of you host members."

"I see." Both were silent for a few moments. "Well, we should meet up with the others. The rest didn't figure out that you would most likely come here." Kyouya stood and turned towards the exit.

"Kyouya-senpai?"

"Hm?" He looked over his shoulder.

Hanami stared at the floor, unsure of why she called his name out. She had felt compelled to clutch onto him as a little child, or a girlfriend would.

"Um… never mind." Girlfriend? Why did I think that?! Is there something wrong with me?

"If you say so." Kyouya continued his journey to the exit. For some reason, he sensed Hanami's presence more intensely than ever.

---------------

"It's five… and Hana isn't here…" Jared stared out of Haruhi's window, anticipating a sign of the girl.

"She'll be here." Haruhi sighed. The atmosphere in the room was extremely tense; nobody had really said anything. Small talk appeared to be the "big talk." "Um…let me go check outside really fast."

Haruhi walked tiredly down the stairs and stood in front of Hanami's house. She scanned the parking lot for any ritzy cars, and it just so happened that one pulled up on the street.

Two figures exited the vehicle, one around three inches shorter than the other. It appeared to be a boy and a girl, and the girl seemed distressed. The boy reached out a hand to comfort the girl by tenderly tucking her hair behind her ear.

The girl took a deep breath, and the two proceeded towards Hanami's house.

"Hanami? Is that you?" Haruhi called out, concerned. It seemed that Hanami would have no more ordinary days in her life.

"Yeah." Hanami walked slowly up to her cousin and enveloped Haruhi in a sad hug. Haruhi, who could just barely rest her head on Hanami's shoulder, rubbed her cousin's back comfortingly.

Behind the two, Kyouya cleared his throat. "I'm going to go have a word with Jared." Then he left to go upstairs.

"Haruhi…" Hanami had so much to say that couldn't be put in words. "I don't know what to do anymore."

"Just hear him out, Hana-chan. Just hear him out. It'll be okay, you'll see."

"Okay."

Hanami and Haruhi entered Hanami's house to wait for the others.

-------------------

The door clicked opened, and everyone looked up to find Kyouya standing there.

"Kyou-chan?" Honey asked.

"Kyouya… where are Haruhi and Hanami?" Tamaki questioned.

"Downstairs."

Jared picked up his coat and moved towards the door, but Kyouya stuck out an arm, stopping Jared in his tracks.

"Huh?"

In perfect English, Kyouya's cold response came.

"I believe we need to talk."

A/N: Well, that was monumental. No, sorry, I know I should have written less emotional stuff, or at least put in some action or something. I know, this chap was really angst-y, but I wanted to write a somewhat sentimental chapter to lead in to Hanami's feelings for Kyouya. I dunno. The next chapter will be centered around Jared, his story, and his history with Hanami as well as his relationship with his uncle, in case you're wondering.

I'm sorry, haven't updated recently, but writer's block was killing me for the longest time. I hope I can write more and get more reviews because it's summer! SO please continue~

Thank you! And: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or whatever is affiliated with it. It's FUNimation's, BONES', and Bisco Hatori's.

If you found any errors in my writing (for any chapter) please message me so I can fix them. :D Thanks!