A/N: EDITED - 6/21/17

Hello! So here's chapter twelve. By the title, you can tell it should be interesting. I hope it turned out well, I have been planning it since I started this fic and i'm not sure if i wrote it as well as i imagined it happening in my head. Anyway, I had fun writing it and that's all that really matters. I hope you enjoy it too!


Chapter 12: Kaoru's Experiment

"What are we even doing out here?" Blaise asked. She could hear the gentle, rolling waves of the ocean, and would normally stop to appreciate it. But the host club deserved to be glared at.

It had been a few days since the hosts started staying at the Stone Household, and Blaise honestly wasn't sure what to think. Things had definitely gotten livelier around here than she was used to, and she wasn't sure if that was for better or for worse.

"Taking a vacation," Tamaki calmly answered as he reclined on his beach chair.

"But with you guys, it could really be anything," Blaise deadpanned, glancing at her senpai from the corner of her eye.

"We don't always have ulterior motives, Blaise."

The girl jumped and turned to look at the bespectacled raven behind her. It was like it was Kyoya's personal mission to have her die of a heart attack.

"Maybe this time we're just trying to enjoy our time off."

"Saying 'maybe' doesn't put my mind at ease, senpai."

"We're finished!" the twins proclaimed proudly. They were coming down the beach from the beach house, dragging an irritated Haruhi behind them. They had somehow managed to force her into a swimsuit. It was a simple, light blue one-piece, but you couldn't really see it because she had a white cover-up on top of it.

"I can't believe you guys made me get a passport for this," Haruhi complained drily. "I just wanted to study this summer."

"You know that we're never going to give you the chance," Kaoru assured her.

"Besides," his brother added. "If you're going to hang out with us for the rest of your life, you need a passport. And don't tell us that you just want to study. You wanted to do that last summer."

"That's boring anyways. You just need to learn how to have fun."

"Give me a break," Haruhi grumbled, and the twins skipped away.

"This water is so dirty," they griped. "Who would want to swim here anyway?"

"If you don't like it then go back to your own damn country!" Blaise snapped at them.

"Temper, temper, temper!" They waved their fingers at her like metronomes.

"Actually, this beach is the cleanest on the coast," Kyoya corrected. "It's monitored very closely for bacteria and other pollutants, it just looks filthy because of the silt in the water."

"In that case, let's go in!" Honey exclaimed before jumping off Mori's shoulders and doing a cannonball into the water. Almost immediately, his head popped up as he yelped. "Cold!"

"Alright." The twins shrugged. Then they turned to Haruhi. "Take off your cover-up."

"I'm good here, thanks," she said immediately.

"No you're not. Just loosen up for once and jump in," they insisted.

Haruhi firmly crossed her arms.

That was when the twins shrugged, picked her up, and threw her into the water, cover-up and all.

Haruhi spluttered as she resurfaced and began yelling at them, using a few choice words here and there.

The twins fixed their attention on Blaise.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting in!" she conceded quickly, effectively escaping immediate danger as the twins went to go pester Haruhi. Blaise turned to place her glasses on the picnic table that had been set up for them. Then, after a brief bout of hesitation, slipped off her black cover-up.

Kaoru, wondering what was taking her so long, looked back to see what Blaise was doing. A smirk appeared on his face as he got an idea.

"Nice swimsuit, Blaise!"

Out of curiosity, his brother turned to look.

"Sh-shut up, Kaoru!" Blaise snapped, her face turning red, her arms attempting to shield her black and white striped bikini. Normally, she would have worn a modest one-piece, but either Aldric or her mother had replaced all her one-piece suits with two-piece ones.

"What?" she snapped again as she caught Hikaru staring.

The red-head remained silent, trying to figure out what to say. His mind had gone blank for some reason.

"It wasn't my idea to wear this!"

"Ok, ok! Sorry!" he defended, tearing his gaze away so she would stop screaming at him.

Blaise was a deep red now as she walked over to them, her arms folded. "Where's Haruhi?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"I think Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai dragged her off somewhere," Hikaru answered.

Then there was an uncomfortable silence between them. Kaoru, on the other hand, was enjoying the little situation that he had created.

Hikaru glanced at the girl beside him as she did all she could to avoid his gaze.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked suddenly, pointing out over the water.

"What?" Blaise asked. Then she realized what he was doing, but it was too late to do anything about it. Hikaru shoved her and she fell forward into the water. They had already been about knee-deep so it didn't hurt, but Blaise was still caught off guard. As Hikaru burst into laughter, Blaise grabbed his ankle from underwater and pulled hard. He fell with a loud splash. As soon as they resurfaced, they started scream-fighting, and at some point that turned into a water fight. Soon, Kaoru joined, and eventually Haruhi, Mori and Honey were dragged in as well.

"Ah, children these days. Am I right, mommy dearest?" Tamaki asked, thinking reminiscently of a childhood he was technically still having.

"We all know that you want to join them, Tamaki," Kyoya sighed from the chair next to the host king.

"N-no. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then why are you getting up?"

"Ok, fine! I want to! You got a problem with that?" Tamaki yelled childishly.

"Not especially."

"Then don't judge me!" he demanded before running off, calling for his Haruhi to let him be on her team.

"Oh, we know that it's too late for that, daddy," Kyoya muttered, turning the page in his book.


Later that afternoon, Blaise, wrapped in a towel, was inside looking for her brother. She was wondering where he was since he hadn't joined them on the beach like she had expected him to. It was a good opportunity to see the hosts in swimwear and there was no way Aldric would ever pass that up.

Blaise ended up finding him in the dining room, looking out the window at the view of the beach below.

"Aldric? What are you doing here?" Blaise queried.

The man spun around faster than she could blink. "Blaise-chan! Uh, nothing! Why do you ask?"

That's when Blaise saw Aldric slip something behind his back. Acting quickly, she grabbed it.

"A camera? Aldric, you were taking pictures from here?!"

"Well at least it was better than taking the camera down there and snapping pictures of them every five seconds! This was a better spot anyway. Look! I got some great shots! Here's one of Tamaki and Haruhi in the water, and Kyoya on the beach, and Honey and Mori swimming. Ooo! And this one is of—!"

"Ok, I've heard enough!" Blaise groaned. "How much memory did you use?"

It was quiet for a minute.

"You used all of it didn't you?"

"...Maybe."

"You know what? I'm done. I'm going to take a shower now," the girl grumbled before leaving the room.

Aldric just smiled mischievously. He was kind of disappointed that Blaise hadn't let him show her the next picture. It was a particularly good one of his sister and a certain redhead. And they seemed to be having a lot of fun splashing water at each other.


Hikaru winced at the pain radiating through his shoulder. He was really regretting not reapplying sunscreen when he was supposed to.

"Hey, Kaoru! Do you have the lotion?" he asked, looking through his suitcase.

"Why? Do you have sunburn?" His brother's voice echoed from the bathroom connected to their guestroom. "I told you to reapply sunblock."

"Yeah, I know!" Hikaru answered impatiently. "Where's the lotion?"

There was the sound of things being moved around. "I think we forgot to pack some."

"Forget? How did we forget?"

"I don't know. Ask the maid." There was a slight pause, as if Kaoru was thinking. "Blaise probably has some. Maybe you should ask her to lend it to you."

"Why should I ask her?"

"She's our host, Hikaru. It's her job to let us bother her."

"I guess..." There was a sigh. "Fine. Be right back," he called just before slipping out of the door.

He made his way through the halls, trying to remember where Blaise's room was. He ended up asking several servants, but eventually he found the place he was looking for.

"Blaise. Are you in here?" Hikaru asked as he opened Blaise's door. That was probably stupid to ask. He could see she was there, standing in front of her dresser, wearing pajamas.

"Hikaru? Hey, what do you need?"

"I came to ask for some lotion," the boy answered, rubbing the back of his head. "Kaoru and I can't find ours."

"Sure. I might have some in here." Blaise turned and started rummaging through her drawers.

A miniscule rumble of thunder sounded in the distance.

Hikaru watched her for a second, thinking. Then, he quietly walked up behind her and looked down at what she was doing. She hadn't noticed him, so it was all the more fun for him when he said "Nice underwear."

Blaise flushed before turning around and kicking Hikaru in the shin. He yelped in pain and began to hop around on one foot.

"I will murder you, you pervert!" Blaise yelled furiously. Then she reached behind her, having just found her bottle of lotion, and hurled it at him.

The redhead yelled again as it hit him in the chest. "That-That was uncalled for!"

"You're the one that looked into my underwear drawer! I'm trying to be nice and that's how you thank me?""

"But you're the one that opened it!"

"That's not an invitation for you to look!"

Hikaru was just about to retort when a loud "crack!" sounded from outside. Both of them jumped at the sound as a bright light flashed through Blaise's window. At the same time, the lights in her room flickered and went out, leaving the room pitch black. The two of them stood in silence, watching as lightning streaked across the sky and rain lashed the windows. Another particularly loud clap of thunder shook the house.

"It's a thunderstorm," Blaise stated softly, transfixed by the scene outside.

"No. Really, Blaise," Hikaru's quipped, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Her head whipped around in his direction. "No one asked you, Hikaru! Let's just get out of here before Tamaki-senpai has a panic attack wondering where we are."

She made her way over to what she knew was her door. Hikaru was already there, trying to turn the doorknob.

"What are you doing? Open it."

"What do you think I'm doing?" he shot back.

"Move. Let me try it." Blaise pushed him aside and placed her hand on the knob to turn it.

Her heart dropped when she realized it wouldn't budge.

"What the?" she said, now using both hands. "Hikaru, did you lock the door when you came in here?"

"What? No! Why would I do that? How does that prevent you from opening the door?"

Blaise let out a nervous laugh. "Haha. It's funny, actually."

"Then why do you sound like that?"

"Well, see, my uncle's security system was installed into my house and recently, they did an upgrade, and well, a new feature was added."

Hikaru narrowed his eyes, not liking her nervous rambling. "What feature?"

"Um, as a precaution during power outages, in case there's an intruder, all locked doors remain locked, as in won't-open-until-the-power-turns-back-on."

The boy stared at her for a moment, her words slowly sinking in. Then he immediately went back to trying to open the door like his life depended on it.

"What the hell kind of stupid thing is that? This is like the closet all over again!"

"Don't blame me! They're still working out the bugs!" Blaise retorted, embarrassedly remembering the closet incident.

"When is the power going to get fixed?"

Blaise grew silent, contemplating the answer as she stared out the window. "Looking at how bad it is now... maybe not until morning?" she said, sounding more like she was asking a question.

"What? Can't we pick the lock or something?"

"...The locks are all electronically operated."

"Well let me just say this now. Your uncle's an idiot."

Blaise laughed, though Hikaru got the feeling she didn't think that was funny. A sudden clap of thunder made them both jump and they stared out the window again.

"...It's coming down really hard isn't it?" Blaise asked, referring to the rain.

"Yeah." Hikaru mumbled. Then, his eyes widened. "Haruhi!"

"What? What about her?" Blaise asked. Then, she grew suspicious. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Hikaru insisted. "She's just... afraid of thunder and lightning."

Blaise's eyes widened. "She is? Will she be okay?"

"Well, she usually tries to deal with things by herself but..."

It was dark, but Blaise could still see Hikaru's face. He seemed genuinely worried.

"I guess we can't really do anything now." Despite what he said, he really wanted check on his friend. With a sigh, he turned back to Blaise. "So, how are we going to do this?"

Blaise looked at him. "Do what?"

"How about I get the bed and you get the floor."

"What? No! That is not very gentleman-like! I get my bed and you get the floor."

"There is no way I am sleeping on floor!"

"Well there is no way I'm sharing my bed with you!" Blaise declared, defiantly sitting on the edge of her bed. Hikaru barely had time to react before a pillow hit him square in the face.

"Stop throwing things at me!" he snapped, annoyed.

Blaise smirked. "You can't make me. Now, if you want a blanket, there should be an extra in the closet." Then, she smugly burrowed under her covers. "Good night, Hikaru!"

The boy groaned in annoyance. It was going to be a long night.


"Fine. Be right back." Kaoru heard his brother say before the door closed.

Cautiously, the remaining twin poked his head through the door, only to be greeted by an empty room. He grinned mischievously. Everything was going according to his plan. He swiftly made his way into the hallway and began to stealthily follow his brother.

A few minutes later, he saw Hikaru go into Blaise's room, leaving the door slightly ajar. Quietly, he sneaked over and pressed the button just inside that activated the lock before he shut the door. Then, he just leaned his ear against the wood, listening.

Just then, Haruhi walked out of her room, which was right next to Blaise's. As soon as she saw Kaoru, she knew that he was up to something.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Sh!" Kaoru hissed loudly. "They might hear you!"

Haruhi sighed and walked closer to Kaoru. "What are you doing?" she questioned yet again, though not very softly.

"Experimenting," Kaoru answered simply. Just then a small clap of thunder sounded, but Kaoru didn't notice.

"Yeah. Ok. You have fun with that," Haruhi said before leaving. Kaoru just shrugged before turning his attention back to the door.

"I thought I saw you sneaking around."

Kaoru turned toward the voice to see Kyoya. Just behind him were Tamaki, Mori, and Honey.

"What are you doing, Kou-chan?" Honey asked from atop Mori's shoulders.

"Experimenting," the redhead explained again.

"And by that you mean?" Kyoya raised an eyebrow.

"I'm trying to see what would happen if Blaise and Hikaru were forced to stay in a room alone together."

"Is that really such a smart thing to do? What if something happens?"

"I can't leave my daughter alone with that pervert!" Tamaki exclaimed suddenly, but before he could act on his words, a loud "crack!" filled the air. The lights immediately went out, leaving the hallway pitch dark, save for flashes of light that spontaneously came through the window.

"Wh-what was that?" Honey whimpered, cowering against his cousin's head.

"Power outage," Kyoya explained calmly. "A rather severe thunderstorm just rolled in. You weren't, perhaps, counting on that, were you Kaoru?"

"Who can say?"

"Well whether you did or not, and assuming you locked that door, those two will be stuck in there until morning. With no electricity, there's no way to unlock the door."

"But what if that shady bastard tries to do something to my little girl?"

"Don't worry, boss." Kaoru waved the question off. "Hikaru's too dense to make a move like that."

Then, another loud clap of thunder shook the house. Tamaki froze.

"Hey... has anyone seen Haruhi?"

"She was here just a minute ago," Kaoru offered, but before he could say anymore, Tamaki had rushed off. "Why is he suddenly looking for..?"

And then it hit him.

"Haruhi!" he exclaimed, beginning to run around in panicked circles. "Oh, my god! What do we do?"

"Calm down, Kaoru," Kyoya said coolly. "There's nothing to worry about. Our king went to look for her."

"Yeah, Tama-chan will find her!" Honey said cheerily, Mori nodding in agreement.

Kaoru stopped running. "I guess."

"In the meantime, I suggest we go to our respective rooms and wait this out," Kyoya said, though exactly what he was suggesting to "wait out" was unclear.

"Okay! Come on, Kou-chan!" Honey said as he, Mori, and Kyoya began to make their way to their rooms.

"Alright. Coming, senpai," Kaoru answered before glancing back at Blaise's door. He kind of wanted to stay and find out for himself what happened next, but then that wasn't part of his plan.


"Haruhi?" Tamaki called for the umpteenth time. He had looked everywhere for her, frantically scouring every crook and crevice he could think were good hiding places, but he couldn't seem to find her.

"Haruhi?" he said again, now on the first floor of the Stone residence. The storm outside had let up slightly, so he could actually hear himself think now, but it was still pretty nerve racking whenever thunder clapped or lightning struck. He could only imagine what it was like for Haruhi.

Then, another loud clap of thunder followed a particularly bright flash of lightning and, just faintly, Tamaki heard a small gasp.

"Haruhi?" he called yet again. He knew it had been her, but it was hard to tell where the sound had come from. He looked in the general direction, not really seeing a decent place for someone to hide. The only thing he could see was a door. Carefully, the host king walked toward it. Then, as he reached the door, he turned the knob and pulled it open. Inside was a rack full of coats. At first, he thought he had guessed wrong, but then he saw the small pair of feet sticking out at the bottom.

"Haruhi?" Tamaki asked softly, kneeling down.

It was indeed Haruhi, doing her best to cover her ears and shut her eyes. She faintly heard her name, and chanced peeking up. She was thoroughly surprised by who she saw.

"Tamaki-senpai?" she whispered.

"What are you doing in here? This is a coat closet."

"Oh, you know. Just—" she began to brush it off, but then there was another clap of thunder, and instead she flinched, a whimper of fear escaping her throat.

Immediately knowing what to do, Tamaki entered on his hands and knees before closing the door behind him. Then, he reached up and pulled a coat off its hanger.

"I'm sure Blaise and her family wouldn't mind if we borrow this," he said surely, before dropping it onto Haruhi's head. Then, he positioned himself so that he was right next to her, his arms protectively wrapped around her shoulders. The girl's eyes widened.

"I told you, you don't have to be afraid anymore."

Trembling, Haruhi leaned her head against Tamaki's shoulder, exhausted and secretly grateful for the support.

"Thank you," she said softly, her voice so quiet, Tamaki almost didn't catch it over the storm.

After that, they waited.

It seemed to last forever, but eventually, the thunder grew soft, and Tamaki couldn't hear the rain beating on the house anymore.

"I think it stopped."

There was no answer.

"Haruhi?" Tamaki asked again. That was when he noticed her even breathing, and the way her body was relaxed against his. She had fallen asleep.

Smiling to himself, Tamaki picked her up bridal-style and quietly opened the door. He walked up the stairs and carried her to the room she was staying in, quietly pushing the door open and gently laying her on the bed. He pulled the blanket over her, whispered "good night," and left in silence, heading back to his own room.


At some point during the night (Hikaru wasn't sure when. He had no clock to go by) the redhead popped his head up from his spot on the floor, almost like a prairie dog. He looked over at Blaise's bed, making sure she was asleep. When it didn't look like she was awake, he got up and went over to check.

"Blaise, you awake?"

No answer.

Smirking, Hikaru pulled the covers back and got into the right side, the part Blaise wasn't sleeping on. There was no way he was sleeping on the floor like some commoner. He was a rich son of the Hitachiin family. Besides, he slept in the same bed with Kaoru all the time, so doing this was no different, right?

The teen settled in, enjoying the softness of the bed in comparison to his earlier set up. Sleeping on the floor would have killed his back, he didn't know how Haruhi did it. The only complaint he could have had was the fact that Blaise was taking up all the room. She wasn't exactly on her side, but she wasn't exactly in the middle either. Hikaru eyed her, contemplating whether he should kick her off. Then again, if he did that, she would probably kick his ass.

He laid there, studying her for a moment. She was curled up on her side, her hands tucked in close to her head, her legs close together. There was really only one way Hikaru could think to describe it: conservative.

He noticed that about her. She obviously preferred pants to anything else, and the way she reacted when they saw her in a bikini screamed "innocent." Even when he had seen her wearing dresses the past few days, the hem always touched the top of her knees.

He watched her for a while, his thoughts beginning to wander due to the alluring pull of sleep. A strand of hair fell in front of Blaise's face. She had stirred slightly in her sleep, but other than that, she was still. Absent-mindedly, Hikaru reached his hand over...

Then yanked it back like he had been burned, his face growing hot.

What the hell was I just about to do?

His mind went blank as he attempted to think. Then, a small thought crept in.

Push her hair behind her ear...

What am I? Insane? Why would I do that? he mentally yelled at himself.

Then, Blaise stirred again and Hikaru froze, afraid that she might wake up. Instead, she shifted and, unconsciously, her hand moved and ever so slightly rested against Hikaru's side.

He stopped breathing, a slight tingling sensation rushing through his body. After that, Blaise stilled, her breathing still gentle and even. The boy beside her just stared, wondering what he should do. He couldn't move, he would just end up waking her and losing this comfortable place to sleep. So, he just staying there, and after what felt like hours of watching her every move, he fell asleep.


The next morning, Blaise woke up to the brilliance of the sun streaming through her window. She gently smiled at it, vaguely remembering the storm last night. She rolled over, planning on getting up and getting dressed... when she came to face a certain redhead. He was calmly laying there next to her, a book opened in his hands. She stared at him, at a loss for words. Then, he noticed her and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Morning."

Blaise screamed, and unfortunately for her, she was so startled she fell off of the edge of her bed and landed painfully on her backside.

Hikaru calmly closed his book and set it on the bed before crawling and bending over to look down at the girl on the floor. He continued to smirk in amusement.

"What the hell are you doing?" Blaise asked.

"Reading," Hikaru answered simply. "That's not illegal now is it? Anyway, it's a pretty good book. Great choice, though, I don't know if I like the protagonist very much."

Angry, Blaise grabbed his arm and pulled. Hikaru yelped in surprise as he fell over Blaise and onto the floor next to her.

"What were you doing in my bed?"

"I told you! I was not going to sleep on the floor!"

"That doesn't mean you can share my bed!"

They argued for a while longer, until finally the other hosts came to check on them since they were being so loud. Apparently, the power had been fixed early that morning, so they were able to open the door with no problem. And that was how they found the two of them: arguing, almost like an old, married couple.


A/N: What'd you think? Please review! I want to know what you thought.