A/N: Thank you everyone for your alerts, favourite and encouraging comments! I'll keep working harder! Arigatou!

Chapter 9

To Yuri, a beautiful morning should be greeted by peace but this morning was far from peace. It was merely 5.30am. when Tamaki burst into her room, jumped onto her bed, pulled her up and wailed at her, "Yuri! We have to do something! We have to do something to protect your sister!"

Yuri who was still groggy mumbled, "… my sister…. Far away… goway…" She pushed Tamaki away and plopped on her bed.

"Yuri! We need to stop Haruhi from going on a date with a doppelganger like Kaoru!"

Finally after rounds of wailing, Yuri was finally up. She chased Tamaki out of her room and gave a strict instruction to wait at the living room until both she and Kyoya come out; Tamaki was also ordered to keep quiet and not rush them. After that, Yuri went for a shower and changed into a pair of khakis shorts and a white buttoned up shirt with its sleeves folded up.

She walked down the hall and knocked on the door before entering Kyoya's room. She stood and stared at Kyoya's sleeping form beside the bed before deciding on how to get him up. She sat beside him and called, "Kyoya." There was no reaction; she ran her fingers along Kyoya's disheveled hair to straighten it out.

"Kyoya, wake up. We have a beautiful day waiting for you to start it," coaxed Yuri like how she did to her sister. Kyoya stirred a little. Yuri continued with her effort, "Kyoya, rise and shine."

Kyoya's eyes peeked out of his blanket and glared at Yuri. She chuckled warmly and put her hands over his eyes, covering it back, "You will count to ten, calm down and then slowly open your eyes to start your wonderful day."

She waited for a while before lifting her hand up. Kyoya stirred and laid on his back. Slowly, he opened his groggy eyes and stared at the ceiling.

"May I know why did you call me up in this ungodly hour of the morning?" asked Kyoya with his morning voice.

"Be glad Tamaki only jumped and crashed into my bed wailing at me. I got him to wait at the living room obediently until you come and greet him. However, I doubt he has much patience to spare since Haruhi is going on a date with Kaoru soon," explained Yuri calmly. Kyoya groaned before slowly sitting up.

"I'll be downstairs with breakfast. Western?"

Kyoya nodded and asked, "How's your leg?"

"All's fine," she answered before closing the door. As the doors were closed, Kyoya remembered what Yuri called him when she was waking him up; he blushed.

~break~

"… No fair! No fair, no fair, no fair!" complained Tamaki in the middle of the road.

"Boss, it's hard for you to understand, but it would be good for Hikaru to find other people he can feel close to. The only people we've ever been able to depend on were ourselves. We didn't care what anyone else thought about us. That's probably how we ended up so self-centered," explained Kaoru.

In case you're wondering, Kaoru set up a date for Hikaru, not himself. The rest of the host club ended up stalking them as they went out.

"So you're admitting it?" asked Tamaki finally stopped wailing. He had been doing this quiet frequent lately.

"I guess you could say Hikaru is immature and lets his emotions take over. See, I'm not sure he's even aware of it, but I can tell that he cares about Haruhi. He just doesn't know how to react, so his emotions run wild. He's selfish and wants all of her attention. He wants to be acknowledged by her but doesn't know how to make that happen. If you want true friends, friends who aren't only your toys, you have to learn to respect them. That's the only way you can have a meaningful relationship. And I think it's about time that Hikaru learned that lesson himself," said Kaoru staring into space. Yuri looked at Kaoru and realized how much he has grown since the first time she saw him. Haruhi's presence in their life really made a significant difference.

"Kaoru, that was amazing," praised Tamaki for once, seriously.

"So in other words, this date is basically a test to see if Hikaru can handle being thoughtful towards others, right?" asked Kyoya seeking for confirmation.

"Just promise me you won't interfere with them, okay?"

"Fine, but then why are you making us follow them?" asked Tamaki out of sheer curiosity.

"Because there's no reason we should miss out on watching something this interesting."

The idea of not interfering was getting harder the more the hosts tailed them, mostly because of Tamaki. He was pretty frustrated because according to him, Hikaru had been running her first date. Hani tried to interfere by disguising as an ice-cream man but was stopped by Mori. The rest let out breathe of relief. Then, Tamaki disguised as an ice-cream vendor to stop them from sharing the same ice-cream cone.

However the atmosphere between Haruhi and Hikaru got better when they started shopping and also because Tamaki was crying a river soon. Therefore the hosts decided to let them be and head back to the pension.

When they were heading back, Yuri stood and stared at the same hill she was staring at yesterday. She had her hand in the pocket gripping on a map.

"Hey guys, you go ahead first. There's something I wanna take a look at!" she said running of at a different direction. The hosts did not know where she was heading but decided to give Yuri sometime alone.

~break~

The rain started pouring when the hosts reached the pension. Tamaki was pacing around while Kyoya sat at a corner silently. Inside, he was pounded with worry as Yuri who was alone is not back yet.

"Tamaki dear, please try to settle down," said Misuzu worriedly.

"I should go out and look for them! Uh…" Tamaki was interrupted by a phone call. Misuzu picked it up and spoke. When he put down the phone, he updated the hosts on the news he received from Arai, " Evidently, Hikaru left Haruhi in front of the produce shop and decided he head back on his own. Arai said Haruhi took off after Hikaru and that's when it started pouring.
He was worried so he called to make sure they made it home okay."

Tamaki took out his phone and called Hikaru. Kyoya who finally got enough of worrying decided to call Yuri but the line was engaged. He dialed again and again as he started pacing. Tamaki waited for Hikaru ; it was a while before he started yelling angrily, "You idiot! I want you to turn around and start looking for Haruhi right now! What kind of jerk would leave a girl out in a thunderstorm like this by herself? Now you listen to me, Haruhi is terrified of thunder! Whenever she hears it, she gets so scared she can't even move! Why don't you spend less time concentrating on your jealousy and worry about someone else for once?"

He slammed the phone shut before yelling again, "Kyoya, can you get to Yuri?" Kyoya shooked his head.

"Alright people, let's spilt. Kyoya, you Mori-senpai and Hani-senpai go and find for Yuri. Kaoru and I'll go and find for Haruhi and Hikaru. Misuzu-san, please you have our number, right. Call us when any one of them is back," instructed Tamaki before storming out. Before Kyoya walked out, Misuzu called, "Kyouya, yesterday I overheard Yuri asking Haruhi about the abandoned shrine at the Karuizawa hill. She was staring at it for quite a while. Could she be there?"

"Thank you," said Kyoya before rushing off.

~break~

Yuri sat the steps of the abandoned shrine while staring at the tree with pink and white flowers. Below it was a rotten signboard that says something along the line of 'Wishing tree'. Her phone died out a while ago and she could do nothing but wait at the shrine until the rain died down. She can't possibly walk down the hill with the heavy rain, thunder and slippery road; she can't risk falling over and get herself stranded in the jungle.

While she stared at the tree, memories of the past flooding into her head and played in front of her eyes like movie. It was those day she spent with her parents and sisters. Himawari was born in a shrine premature. The family was at their usual outing when her mother's amnion fluid started dripping out. Her mother gave birth there with the help of a few lady and the monks. Himawari had complication after the birth; the doctor said that she could barely make it. She went back to the shrine and prayed for her sister's well-being. A few months later, her sister was well enough to be discharged. The doctor said that her recovery was a miracle; to Yuri, she was a blessing from Kami-sama. He heard her prayers and helped her sister. She was called out of her stupor by a familiar voice, "Yuri! Yuri!" She stood up and saw a silhouette walking to her in the middle of the rain. She squinted her eyes and realized that it was Kyoya.

"Kyoya-senpai!" she yelled waving at them. Kyoya saw her form and ran towards her.

"Yuri! What the hell are you doing here?" asked Kyoya panting.

"I wanted to come and see the shrine but it rained as soon as I reached here. I made all of you worry again, didn't I?" asked Yuri dejectedly. She suddenly found the ground much interesting than before. Kyoya patted her head, "You're not the only one. Hikaru and Haruhi are also not back yet." Kyoya pulled out his phone, "Tachibana, I found here. Yes, go up to the shrine."

"Now, let's wait for Tachibana to come and get us," said Kyoya. He then took out his jacket and placed it over Yuri, "Your white shirt is revealing when soaked. I thought you said that it only started to rain when you got here."

Yuri blushed at Kyoya's remark, "I kinda hang out at the tress before taking cover here."

"What are you doing here?" Yuri retold the story of her sister and the shrine. Since her parents and sisters were gone, it became a habit for her to go to shrine to make a wish or just merely asks for blessing for her family; dead or alive. Kyoya realized that she was trying to create and hold on to a hope that's barely there.

"Silly girl."

"Aren't you equally silly then to be here with me?"

~break~

The next morning, Arai visited the pension with a huge watermelon. Hikaru finally got along with Arai and Yuri spent the whole morning apologizing for running off herself and got everyone worried. Of course, Tamaki delivered an hour long lecture before letting Yuri off. Later on in the afternoon, Yuu Miyashini and Fuyuki Miyashini came and asked for Yuri.

"Hello, people! How are all of you doing?" asked Yuu.

"Fine/ Well/ What are you doing here?" responded the hosts who were having their break.

"Well, we're here to ask for Yuri's hand!" cheered Yuu while Fuyuki looked away blushing.

"What?" chorused the hosts, obviously shocked at the announcement.

"From who?" asked Misuzu happily.

"Both of us!" For once, Yuri lost her composure and fainted.

A/N: I hope you like it! Please R&R! :)