A/N: And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...Mariko in a bathing suit. I tried to describe it as best as I could...i have problems with that, but I'm trying! Enjoy!
Chapter 10: The Beach
"Come on, Mariko!" the twins shouted into a changing stall that Mariko was in. "We wanna see!"
"I'm not sure I should let you," she teased.
"Mariko!"
"Alright, here I come!"
The twins stood at attention when the door opened toward them and she stepped onto the sand where they stood. Their jaws fell to the floor as they saw her. They liked seeing her in something other than her uniform, and so far, she had failed to disappoint. This time, she wore a black, tasteful one-piece swimsuit that shaped her curves nicely and had a halter-top with a "V" neck with purple sequins shaped into flowers above the waist. She still wore her sarong, but it was positioned so that the slit exposed one of her slender legs.
She had to admit, the boys looked very tempting as well. They wore nothing but their swim trunks. Hikaru's were black and orange and Kaoru's were black and purple. However, it wasn't their suits she was looking at. She hadn't failed to notice that both twins had a fabulous physic, lean yet built just enough to have nice shoulders.
"You boys alright?" Mariko smirked, knowing full well that her outfit was making their imaginations run wild. They said nothing, and simply stared at her. Hikaru had a bit of drool at the corner of his mouth and Kaoru's nose started bleeding a bit. Mariko smiled and walked closer to them. "You're staring. I might think I actually look amazing."
"Y-You do," Kaoru finally spat out, wiping his nose. "You---You look…"
"Gorgeous," Hikaru muttered for his younger brother to use as he wiped his mouth. Mariko smiled at Hikaru and stepped closer to Kaoru, taking his hand in hers as she held her towel and jacket in the other.
"Thank you, Kaoru," she whispered with a sweet smile then turned to Hikaru. "Let's go swimming!" She ran toward the water, letting go of Kaoru, her towel and her jacket. The twins ran after her and she laughed as they chased her. They splashed water at each other, and the boys' hair got so wet it made it very difficult to tell one from the other.
"Time to play the 'Which one is Kaoru' game!" they smiled and presented themselves to Mariko, making her giggle.
"I thought it was the 'Which one is Hikaru' game?" she smiled, walking further into the water.
"We changed it for you," the twins grinned. "Which one is your boyfriend?"
Mariko looked at them in surprise.
"I'm your girlfriend, Kaoru?"
The boys nodded together, still wanting her to figure out which one was the one she was with. She noticed this, and smiled, confidently.
"Well, then, I guess I'd better pick correctly if I want to stay your girlfriend." She strode toward them and examined one, then the other. "You know I can always tell which is which. Why do you guys bother trying to fool me?" She leaned on the shoulder of the one to her right, and they looked at her with devilish grins.
"Because we never want you to forget," the twin she was leaning on said and she grinned at him then looked at the other.
"You are Kaoru," she smiled, and he couldn't help grinning as he nodded. "Race you to open water!" She darted to the ocean, and Kaoru shot after her with Hikaru just about to follow when he was caught by a familiar voice.
"Hikaru Hitachiin," the feminine "Princess" tone murmured. He turned around to see Rose walking toward him in a black bikini with a shear black sarong around her waist and stared at her in surprise. "Or are you Kaoru?"
"You had it right the first time," Hikaru replied. "How are you, Rose?"
"Better than you, I'm sure," she said standing close to him as he frowned at her words in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Rose ran a finger along the bottom of his jaw then looked toward the ocean where she saw Kaoru and Mariko swimming and laughing.
"He's forgotten you, hasn't he?"
"Who?"
Rose looked up at him again.
"Your brother."
Hikaru glanced in the same direction she had then looked back at her.
"He's with his girl," Hikaru made the excuse for him.
"I see that," Rose replied, gliding her hand down his neck and to his shoulder. "Doesn't that upset you? It would me. If I had a twin whom I was so close to as you and Kaoru are, I would be furious if someone suddenly came into our world and stole my twin away."
"That's not it at all," Hikaru defended Mariko making Rose cock an eyebrow in intrigue.
"No? You don't think that they want you around when they want to, make out or something, do you? Hikaru, my sweet, you must understand the fact that if they truly love each other, they may be married, and then what? Do you think they will let you live with them, or they will stay in your mansion? She is taking him away from you." She stopped when she saw the look of horror in his eyes and he glanced at the ocean again. She smiled "sweetly" and slid her arms around his neck. "But I can see to it that she doesn't."
Hikaru studied Rose's face. Her emerald eyes shone with scheming, jealousy and hatred. She was playing him. This was sloppy of her. You never play a player. He wanted his brother's happiness, and if Mariko made him happy, he wasn't about to let someone take her away from him, even himself. He could learn to cope, and it wouldn't be hard, because Mariko always made sure to include both of them in whatever she wanted to do.
Hikaru gripped Rose's wrists and brought them down from around his neck making her stare at him in shock and confusion. He knew she was jealous of Mariko, and he wasn't going to stand for her trying to use him as a pawn to do whatever she was trying to do.
"Leave her alone, Rose," he said, sternly and seriously. "If I had a problem with him being with her I would have taken care of the situation myself. I don't need your so-called help."
Rose stared at him in disbelief as he let her wrists go.
Burned. He had burned her to the ground, and she was in ashes. She could have sworn that she had seen terror and total worry in his eyes when she mentioned Mariko taking Kaoru away from their little world. How could he say it didn't matter to him? How could he say he had no problem with her?
"Hi-Hikaru…"
"Like I said, Rose," he interrupted. "Leave her alone." Without another word he ran into the water and swam toward his brother and his friend. Rose stood and watched him swim away in disbelief. Her plan had failed, but how? It was flawless. Scaring the older one into believing that his younger brother was being taken away from him by that girl should have worked! In fact, it had for a moment. He saw right through her! She would have to come up with something a little more creative.
"Did he call you out, or what?" Yukio laughed from behind her. She spun around and shot an angry frown at him.
"That's not funny, Yukio!" she spat then turned toward the water again and crossed her arms in a huff. Yukio smirked and made his way toward her then wrapped his arms around her waist.
"You know something, Miss Destler," he whispered in her ear. "You can be very cute when you're angry."
Rose let her arms slide down to his.
"Is that so?" she smirked, trying very hard to keep her signature cool while he held her in his arms.
"Oh, yes," he whispered in a moan that was meant to drive her mad. "If I weren't trying to get to the Hasigawa Firm through Mariko, I think I would marry you instead." Yukio snuggled the side of her head until she let it lull to the side a bit and he began leaving soft tender kisses on her skin. "You and I would be perfect for each other."
"I've already told you, the Hitachiin twins are my goal," she replied in an ever so slightly trembling voice, but Yukio heard the tremor and smirked. He gripped her arms and spun her around to face him and pulled her close to his body making her gasp in surprise and blush ever so slightly.
"The twins may be your goal, but I can see in your eyes that it's me you dream about, isn't it?" he whispered, coming close to her lips. "It's my name you whisper in your sleep and my touch you crave, yes?"
Rose could only shake her head and whimper. No man had ever made her lose her cool under his charms except this boy and no matter how much she denied it, he was speaking the truth.
"Never," she whispered making him scoff. He tauntingly brushed his lips against hers and she whimpered again. "No…" she breathed.
"Think of it, Rose," he whispered against her lips. "We could get what we want, and become lovers. Even those twins can't give you what I can, and I know Mariko could never fill my needs properly. Do you know how I know this?" Rose could only shake her head. "Because you want me, and I want you." Rose stared at him in shock and he only smiled.
It was true. He wanted her, but he couldn't understand why. It was common knowledge that he was a ladies' man, but this girl was different. He wanted not just her attention, but everything. He wanted her in a way that he had never wanted a woman before, and it was tormenting him that he didn't know why.
"Think about it, if you can take your mind off of me long enough," he smirked. "Think about my proposal. Give me your answer, and if you say no, I'll shrug it off and be on my way. But if you say yes…" He pulled her even closer to him, unable to help what he was about to do. "…here is a small sample of what you will have at your disposal, day or night." He slowly and softly pressed his lips to hers, and she squeaked in surprise.
She couldn't believe he was doing this! How dare he kiss her when he knew she was trying to catch the attention of the Hitachiin twins?! But even so, it felt so good, she couldn't help it when she melted in his arms and her eyes fluttered shut while her arms slowly wrapped around his neck. He gripped at her back and her fingers ran through his hair to deepen the kiss. His tongue plunged into her mouth, but she welcomed it and allowed him to explore her through it as she conducted her own investigation of his mouth with her tongue.
He took her tongue into his teeth and bit gently making her groan with approval. She gathered his tongue and sucked, making him produce the same noise and grip her even tighter. She suddenly couldn't control her foot from rising from the sand and popping into the air making her eyes shoot open in surprise.
Her mother had told her that when you couldn't stop your foot from "popping" when you were engaged in a lip-lock with someone, the way hers was right now, that meant that you and that person were meant for each other. Rose remembered this and quickly pushed Yukio away making them both stumble back a bit. They were both breathing heavily from their kiss and staring at each other with wide eyes. She glanced down at the sand and straightened, clearing her throat looking up at Yukio.
"Excuse me," she said, composing herself. "That was inappropriate of you, and of me. I'll be leaving now. Good-bye, Mr. Hayate. I will see you in school on Monday." She quickly ran past the still stunned Yukio, but he quickly composed himself as well and spun around to watch her leave.
"Consider my offer, Rose," he called, but she didn't look back or stop. He smirked as he watched her leave. He would have her, and Mariko. He always got what he wanted.
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"Maybe we should head back to the shore," Mariko suggested to the twins as they all floated a good distance from the shoreline. The twins nodded in agreement.
"Race you there!" they cried, and the boys took off swimming.
"Not fair!" Mariko laughed. "You had a head start!" She moved to start swimming but suddenly felt extreme pain in her right leg. She shouted in pain and found herself sinking a bit, not being able to keep her head above the surface of the water very well.
She had a cramp, and the twins were on their way to the shore! She was alone in open water! Who knew what was out there?! She cried out while trying to keep her head above water. The pain in her leg never diminished, and she could tell, if this kept up she was going to be tired in no time and drown.
She was suddenly covered by a bit of a shadow and turned just in time for a wave to swallow her up and plunge her beneath the water, and she hadn't caught a good breath before it had.
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Hikaru and Kaoru quickly ran onto the beach, laughing and coughing from swallowing a bit of sea water.
"We won, Mariko!" Hikaru laughed and turned to see that Mariko wasn't there. He frowned and looked around, as did his brother. "Mariko?" They looked around the beach but didn't see her anywhere. Kaoru's heart was beginning to quicken its pace.
"Mariko, come on, it's not funny anymore," Kaoru pleaded, hoping she was playing some sort of joke. "Mariko? Mariko!"
"Kaoru!" Hikaru called to his brother and Kaoru stared at him. "Look!" He looked to the ocean where Hikaru had been pointing. She was still in the water, but she didn't look like she was swimming back. They watched in horror as a wave swept over her and she didn't come back up.
"Mariko!"
Without a second's hesitation, Kaoru ran back into the water and swam toward her as Hikaru ran off for a life-guard. Kaoru kicked as fast as he could and Hikaru ran as fast as he could, both praying she would be alright.
Kaoru quickly came to the spot he had seen her go down and called out for her, but there was no answer. He took a deep breath and dove beneath the water, looking for her. He dove as deep as he could, and swam a little farther until he couldn't hold his breath any longer, and came up for air. He dove down again, and this time he spotted her sinking slowly. He kicked as hard as he could and gripped her wrist when he got to her then pulled her toward him. She was far too limp for his peace of mind. He swam to the surface then began pushing his way to shore making sure her head was above water.
He saw Hikaru on the shore pointing him out to another person with him and the person ran into the water. Kaoru and the life guard walked onto the shore and Mariko was limp in Kaoru's arms. He placed her on the sand and shook her shoulders to wake her up. By this time a huge crowd had gathered to see what the commotion was about and they were all murmuring at each other as they saw Kaoru trying to get her to wake up.
"Mariko!" he shouted, and he could feel tears coming to his eyes. "Mariko! Get up! Your father is gonna kill us if we bring you back like this!" The life guard tried to move him away so that he could give her CPR but Kaoru shoved him away.
"Kaoru!" Hikaru tried. "He's trying to help---"
"Mariko, damn it! Wake up!" Kaoru screamed and slapped her across the face. Her eyes shot opened and she coughed out a bit of water trying to breathe. Everyone sighed in relief and Mariko looked around her, still coughing. Kaoru couldn't help himself from pulling her into his arms and nearly squeezing the life out of her. She coughed again and Kaoru helped her up.
"What---?" she coughed. "What took you so long?"
The twins stared at her in disbelief and she smiled slightly as she coughed again.
"Miss," the life guard called, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine now," she said in a raw voice. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me," he protested. "Thank this boy, here." He gestured to Kaoru and Mariko looked at him in shock as Hikaru grabbed her towel and threw it at his brother.
"You saved me?" she whispered. Kaoru glanced at the towel then looked up at her and smiled with a nod. She coughed again and he unfolded her towel and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"You scared me half out of my mind," Kaoru confessed in a whisper.
"I'm sorry," she whispered back. "I got a cramp, and---" Kaoru pressed his fingers to her lips to silence her and she looked at him in shock as he only smiled at her.
"I'm just glad you're safe," he said and pulled her into his arms again, gently holding her. She smiled and snuggled into his arms then noticed Hikaru standing not too far away. She couldn't leave him there without a thank you for trying to help. She pushed away from Kaoru, reluctantly, and walked toward Hikaru.
"Thank you," she smiled, taking his hand. "I'm sure you didn't just sit around either, right?" Hikaru smirked and shook his head.
"Kaoru is the one that jumped in the water," Hikaru replied, really thinking he didn't do anything special. "I just brought the life guard."
"But you didn't do nothing," she whispered. "That's what I'm thanking you for. For doing something." Hikaru shook his head and she just hugged him, making him blush a bit. "You're both my heroes," she smiled. Hikaru smiled slightly then noticed the vain popping out of Kaoru's forehead as he stared at the two in annoyance.
"Your boyfriend's jealous," Hikaru muttered to Mariko making her giggle. She pulled away and winked before turning back to Kaoru.
"You don't think I'd just forget about you, do you?" she asked him. She threw her arms around his neck and planted her lips to his. Hikaru rolled his eyes as they melted into their kiss. This girl was such a romantic it was too much! But, at least Kaoru didn't mind so much. Hikaru envied Kaoru just a bit for having a great girl. He hoped he could find one for himself.
He didn't think anymore about what Rose had said. He didn't care because she had just tried to play him to get something. For some reason, she didn't like Mariko, and he would find out what it was, even if he had to romance her. But that would be difficult, seeing as Rose didn't swoon too easily.
"Hikaru!" Mariko called, jolting him from his thoughts. "Let's go to the mall! It's not so dangerous there!" The three laughed as the twins nodded and they began walking back to the car. Mariko still had her towel around her and Hikaru grabbed her jacket from the sand then the twins stood on either side of her and slung their arms over her shoulders. Hikaru glanced at Kaoru who was sharing a special look with Mariko, and smiled.
"I'm glad you're happy, Kaoru," Hikaru thought. "And I'll always be there for the both of you, no matter what."
A/N: So, some of you were saying stuff about Hikaru being more resistant about Kaoru's and Mariko's relationship? Rose has planted a seed in his mind...unfortunately. And Mariko got a cramp! Not the best swimmer! She has a flaw! She is officially out of the Mary-Sue zone! lol! Anyways, reviews...please?