Sorry it took a long while to update this. I don't really have a good excuse, so I'll cut this AN short to get to the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.
Chapter 10
"The ocean?" asked both Haruhi and Sachiko.
"Yes. The ocean!" said the twins. At the moment, the Host Club (plus Sachiko) was hanging out in the music room. Haruhi had been studying and Sachiko was next to her, reading a book, when the twins had asked them about going to the ocean. The two were now rustling the girls' hair and grabbing their books, holding them out of reach.
"As of today, all final exams are safely completed!" said Hikaru.
"So, I wanna ask you two . . . You like the Caribbean? Or would you prefer Fiji?" asked Kaoru.
"I don't have money for that," said Haruhi as Sachiko tried to get her book back from Hikaru. After Hikaru finally showed mercy and dropped the book back into her hands, Sachiko started to flip through the pages to find what page number she was at so she could go back to it later.
"Well, where do you want to go, Sachiko?" asked Hikaru. Sachiko paused in her search to flick her gaze up at him for a second.
"I'm not sure . . . I don't think Uncle would like me going . . ." she mumbled as she continued to skim through her book. Hikaru frowned.
"Why wouldn't he?" he asked.
"Well, you are asking her to go with a bunch of boys. I can't imagine too many parents being okay with that," said Haruhi bluntly.
"But she went to the pool with us," pointed out Kaoru.
"That's because you practically kidnapped both of us that time. She didn't have a chance to ask," said Haruhi. Kaoru scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Right . . ." Sachiko drowned out the rest of the conversation as she finally found her place again. Of course, once she found the page number, she found out that she was only two pages away from reaching the next chapter, so she decided to reach that point first before putting the book away.
When she closed her book and looked around, it was at that moment that Tamaki was brandishing a bat at the twins. He was yelling something about the two sexually harassing Haruhi. Sachiko seemed to have interesting timing when it came to tuning back into conversations.
"So, you're not going to the ocean?" the twins asked Tamaki once they were safe from his wrath.
"Who said I'm not going?" asked Tamaki firmly.
"It's settled, then," said the twins. Sachiko frowned.
"Wait, what's . . ." she started.
"I have no objections," said Kyoya.
"Can I take Usa-chan?" asked Honey.
"Wait a minute . . . really?" asked Haruhi, who looked unnerved all of the sudden.
"Then right now!" said Tamaki, "Let's go to the beach!"
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"Why did they invite me again?" Sachiko asked out loud. It was a beautiful day out, and the waves didn't look too rough at this particular beach. She was wearing the same swimsuit she was given at the pool (she had insisted to the twins that she didn't need another one when they tried to see what other designs suited her). She had no problem with the beach and probably would have enjoyed it during a different occasion.
However, Tamaki decided to invite all of their clients along, so what should have been a vacation ended up being a business trip for the Host Club. And from that aspect, Sachiko had no reason to be here as well since she had no work to do.
"Whatever the reason, you might as well go ahead and enjoy yourself. With your uncle out of town, we can take advantage of the fact that he has no immediate say on what today's plans are. It's been a long time since you last went to a beach with some friends. It's good to be able to have fun like this," said the brown-haired young woman wearing a dark green once piece swimsuit standing next to her, smiling. Sachiko turned her head to look up at her before returning her attention to the scenery.
"I suppose," said Sachiko in a flat tone. Seras, her care-taker, sighed.
"You are stubborn when you want to be," she muttered. Sachiko brushed off the comment as she decided to go explore that cat-shaped rock down the beach. Seras left her be to go swimming.
The beach they ended up going to was along the East Sea, and it was Nekozawa's private beach. The reason for choosing this beach was because Haruhi didn't have a passport and wanted to go somewhere close and no one else had a private beach that wasn't overseas. Sachiko didn't mind it when Kyoya had called Seras, who had agreed that the sun and fresh air would be good for everyone. The maid had only insisted that she came along to keep an eye on Sachiko. Sachiko agreed because she knew that it had been a long while since Seras last had a vacation. Plus, Seras had expressed an interest in seeing the friends Sachiko had told her about in passing before.
However, with all the clients around, Sachiko didn't even have the option of hanging out with Haruhi like she would have done. Too many girls fawning over her. Which once again brought up the question of "why did she get invited?"
Sachiko reached the base of the cat rock. It looked like she could reach the mouth by walking on the gradual incline up towards it. She was halfway up when someone called out to her. She looked over to see Haruhi walking over. Haruhi was wearing a shirt and a pair of shorts, since swimwear would give her away.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm just checking this out," said Sachiko.
"I'll join you, then," said Haruhi, walking up the ledge as well now. Sachiko shrugged. Haruhi was free to do whatever, although it made her feel a bit happier to have a friend to go exploring with. When the two made it to the mouth, Sachiko looked around to see that there was a cave that went into the rock pretty deep. Haruhi crouched down onto her hands and knees and looked over the edge of the mouth.
"It's pretty high up," she said. Curious, Sachiko walked over to see how high they were. Sachiko hadn't realized just how tall this rock was.
"Yeah. A person could probably die if they fell from here," she said. Their conversation probably would have continued if it wasn't for the fact that they had suddenly been pulled back and carried away before they could process what was happening.
Turned out, it was Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru who brought them back to the beach.
"What was that for?" asked Sachiko in a flat tone as the guys were panting from running so fast. She never got an answer since Tamaki started freaking out about a skull he found at that moment. Sachiko looked around to see several skeletons lying around on the beach. Nekozawa had . . . interesting decorating tastes. Oh well. It was his beach. Sachiko didn't have a say in what he did with it. Even if it did look like a scene in a horror film.
As Tamaki freaked out because Nekozawa wanted to be closer friends with him and the clients were trying to cheer him up, Honey ran up to Sachiko and Haruhi with a plastic bucket and small shovel in hand.
"Haruhi, Sachiko, you wanna go hunt for clams?" he asked.
"Clam hunting?" asked Haruhi as Mori gave both girls clam hunting sets, "But it's not in season, and it's high tide . . ."
"Don't worry! We loaded the beach!" said Honey as he gestured to all the clams and scallops they could see in the water. Haruhi immediately perked up. Sachiko knew that this was because this would be free food for Haruhi, but she decided to join in on the clam hunting as well.
As they managed to get their buckets half-full, Kaoru joined in and pulled a king scallop out of the water.
"Do you like scallops?" Kaoru asked Haruhi.
"I like it. Thanks Kaoru," said Haruhi with a big smile on her face. Apparently that was enough to get the rest of the guys to surround Haruhi to present her with more sea creatures and shells. Sachiko sighed as it suddenly turned into a competition to impress Haruhi. She had been forgotten completely in the chaos.
However, as soon as Tamaki caught a huge crab that had a centipede on it, all of the girls who had gathered around to watch the clam hunting ran off screaming. Sachiko, who was still crouched down, was shoved into the water during their mad dash away from the small bug.
"Sachiko! Are you okay?" asked Seras, who ran over when she noticed the commotion. Sachiko nodded, her face still blank. She looked over to see her bucket had been knocked over, spilling out all of its contents. How annoying. She was surprised, however, when the twins picked her up by her upper arms and set her on her feet.
"Sorry about that, Sachiko," said Kaoru.
"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Hikaru. Sachiko nodded, wondering why they were bothering. They seemed content with ignoring her a few seconds ago.
"You're so quiet. You need to speak up once in a while so that you don't nearly get trampled like that," said Hikaru, sounding slightly annoyed.
". . . Or maybe people just need to watch where they're going," said Sachiko flatly. Hikaru opened and closed his mouth before he scratched the back of his head, not able to come up with a response immediately. Meanwhile, Haruhi had picked up the centipede and thrown it into the bushes without making a fuss about it.
As the clients fawned over Haruhi and how manly she was being, Sachiko decided to take a break from this craziness and go read and sunbath for a while. She was still worn out from the pool incident.
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A few hours later (and several antics she could hear in the distance involving the Host Club and Haruhi), Sachiko closed the book after reading the last page. She was surprised by how low the sun had gotten. It was too easy to lose track of time while reading (not that she was going to stop reading because of that). She noticed Seras taking a nap on a towel next to her. Sachiko decided not to bother her.
She got up, stretched, and walked down the beach once more. Seeing no one else immediately, she decided to go check out the cave in the cat rock. Maybe she would see someone there as well.
When she reached the cave, she didn't see any of the Host Club members, but there were two clients, one with short hair and the other with long hair, who seemed to enjoy watching the horizon from there.
"Ah, Narita-san!" said the one with long hair, "How was your book?" Sachiko frowned slightly at the question before answering, ". . . It was good."
"You must be lucky to be able to work with the Host Club every day," said the other girl. Sachiko shrugged.
". . . It's okay. Sometimes things get crazy," she said quietly. She was about to leave when they called out to her again.
"Hang out with us! It'll be fun!" they said. Sachiko thought for a moment before deciding that she would indulge them. She sat along the edge of the cave.
"You're quiet as always. You must have stuff you like to talk about," said the long-haired one.
". . . I like books and anime," said Sachiko, somewhat conscious of how that probably sounded lame.
"Do you have any other interests?" asked the short-haired one.
". . . I like music," she said softly, "Why do you want to know?" She was much more curious about their sudden interest in her.
"You always seem lonely to us whenever we see you at school. And you're always reading a book, so it's hard to get your attention. You seem like a nice person, though," said the short-haired one, "So we'd like it if you opened up more."
Sachiko looked down, not sure how one was supposed to react to this.
"What's this? You can get to the beach."
"Hello, ladies." However, she did know how one was supposed to react when three guys suddenly approached you from behind and start making unwanted advances. One of them had already grabbed the long-haired girl's wrist and pulled her towards him.
"Hey, let's play together," said one of the guys. Sachiko got to her feet, trying to think of a way to make them leave.
"Isn't it boring, you women alone by yourselves?" asked the one holding onto the girl.
"Please stop it. This is a private beach . . ." said the short-haired girl, a bit fearfully.
"So what? So you're a rich chick, eh? That'll be even more fun. Why don't we . . ." His suggestion had been cut off when a bucket full of sea urchins and clams was dumped on him. Sachiko looked over to see Haruhi with the now empty bucket.
"Let her go. She doesn't like it," said Haruhi, "Stop pestering her." The guy had let go of the girl, but now the three of them were ganging up on Haruhi. Haruhi had dropped the bucket when they started forcing her back towards the edge of the cliff. Sachiko stood there, wondering what to do.
Well, she knew what she should do, and what she could do, but her legs wouldn't move into action. It wasn't until it became obvious that they were going to throw Haruhi over the cliff that Sachiko managed to force herself to move quickly.
She was hesitant after she picked up the bucket, but then swung it at full force across the guy's shoulder blades.
"Ow!" He turned around to see Sachiko shrinking back already. Her eyes were wide, but they kept a slight look of defiance.
"That wasn't very nice," he said as he advanced on her. The other two were still surrounding Haruhi.
"A-As if I . . ." Damn it. Her voice was refusing to work properly. She could barely speak above a whisper.
"What's that? Speak up. I can't hear you." Sachiko didn't respond. She was backed up to the wall now.
"Well, then . . ." Whatever he was going to say didn't matter as he was cut off by Tamaki running past them to rescue Haruhi, who had been thrown off the cliff. Then, the twins charged in. As Kaoru took care of the other two, Hikaru grabbed the one in front of Sachiko before he started wailing on him.
Sachiko slumped down to the ground, dropping the bucket in the process. She started to breathe more easily.
"That's enough. Murder would be difficult to manage," said Kyoya. Eventually, the twins had cooled down enough to stop beating up the trespassers. Kyoya had advised the clients to leave and apologized to them.
"Are you alright, Sachiko?" asked the twins when they noticed her still sitting on the ground. By now, she had resumed with her usual blank look on her face.
". . . Yeah," she said softly. The twins were not convinced since they could see her trembling slightly, coming down from the burst of adrenaline from moment before. Her eyes were also dilated from the same effect. They sighed as they picked her up by her arms again to set her on her feet.
"Come on, then. We need to go check on Haruhi and make sure your maid isn't going to pitch a fit," they said as they ushered her down from the cat rock.
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Everything had calmed down once again. Haruhi was just fine and had refused all offers to take her to a hospital. However, she seemed to have gotten into an argument with Tamaki because Tamaki had stormed off shortly after they caught up with them (although he kept looking back and looking like he wanted to talk to her).
Seras was relieved when she saw that Sachiko was safe and had thanked the twins for helping her.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay? Nekozawa-senpai has offered to let us stay in his guest rooms," said Kaoru.
"It's fine. We really need to be back soon," said Seras.
"But it's quite a drive back to your home, isn't it?" asked Kyoya. Seras laughed.
"I'm originally from the States. I'm able to handle long car trips easily," she bragged.
"That explains your accent. Okay, if you're sure." Sachiko nodded before heading back to where Seras had parked her car.
"See you later," she said.
"Man, even after that, she's trying to play it off like nothing affects her," complained Hikaru. Seras laughed.
"Yeah, she has developed that habit over the past few years. She makes me worry." Seras then smiled at the Host Club.
"But, whichever one of you insisted on befriending her, you have my thanks. She seems happier now," she said.
"Really? Was she having trouble?" asked Haruhi, curious and a little concerned.
"Eh . . . I'm not really allowed to talk about that," said Seras nervously, "Just know that she's better now and that I'm grateful for it." Haruhi still didn't completely understand but nodded anyway.
"Okay." After everything was said and done, Seras ran off to catch up to Sachiko. The Host Club went to spend an eventful night at Nekozawa's.
I hope you guys enjoyed this. I'm not completely sure how I feel about some parts.
Anyway, this story lives! I'll try not to make you guys wait so long for the next update, but I can't guarantee as to when it will be, so I hope you guys will be patient with me.
In the meantime, please tell me you think of this chapter and story so far, and I'll be back with the next update as soon as I can. Later!