Chapter 14: Need You Now

Tamaki's POV

I had seen Jessica walk out of that room, and I had glimpsed her face. Simply put, she looked depressed. I looked at the situation in this room, and people were having serious and happy conversations. Since I wasn't involved in any, (I couldn't understand why people were ignoring me when I was talking about the ever-so-important issue of the fact that Haruhi went on a date with Hikaru) I easily walked out to follow her.

I didn't expect to find her crying. Why wasn't she happy?

It took me a few minutes to understand that Jessica wasn't able to help Candi anymore. Everyone who saw Kyouya and Candi together would agree that she was happiest around Kyouya. I couldn't even imagine how helpless she must feel. I had a feeling that nothing I would say would help. I had just put an arm around her, and hoped that was enough. It must've done something, because she rested her head on my shoulder.

After a few minutes, she was breathing long and even breaths. I looked down at her, and her eyes were closed. I took my hand, and gently wiped the tears I saw.

Jessica was a lot of fun to be with when she was extremely energetic. She had made me blush when she kept tickling me. I smiled at that memory. Jessica was a lot of fun. It's a horrible shame for such a lovely young lady to be so sad. I won't lie: she is quite pretty and I didn't see a hint of make-up on her face. It was difficult to think that she was the same age as me.

I took my hand off of her shoulder and began to play with her hair. It was shorter than Candi's: only down to her armpits. And now that I think about it, she's really tall. And fairly skinny. However, she was easily strong enough to tackle me, Kaoru and I think I saw her knock down Mori. She was quite the strong girl. If I had a specific type, then I'd say that Jessica was the perfect humanization of everything I could ever want in a girl.

I blushed when I realized that I actually thought that. Though I was tempted to, I did not back away 5 billion miles. She was sleeping, and this was probably a lot better than the stress of the entire situation was bringing her. I had to consider her.

Sighing, I continued to play with her hair. I remember seeing Kyouya do this to Candi, and they were quite close. I wonder if I'll end up being close with Jessica.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. I saw Candi go to bed, the Host Club go home, the sun set, and Candi's parents going to bed. I was even starting to get a bit cold. I looked over at Jessica and realized she was wearing a tank top and shorts. She had to be freezing.

I debated what I should do. She might wake up if I do anything, but she'll loose her arms to frostbite if I don't. She was sleeping so well already, and I didn't want to ruin that.

Deciding her arms were more important, I put one arm under her knees and carried her inside. I looked at the elevator doors, and wondered which one was Jessica's. I remember seeing Candi come out of the one on the left, so I walked Jessica up on the right staircase. She was still fast asleep. Jessica must be going through a lot of stress if she's asleep this deeply.

I walked into her room, and realized that it smelled really nice. Like, really, really nice. It was a large room, but her bed was fairly small. I saw a treadmill, a TV, a huge boombox, some more large speakers and many, many posters. I could read the English names well enough. Jay-Z, LMFAO, Adam Lambert, P!nk, Drake, Ca$h Out, Missy Elliot, Eminem, Nelly, Kanye West, and many others where the font was too weird for me to read.

She must really like hip-hop music. I wonder if she liked any Japanese music artists.

I set her down on her twin sized bed, and knelt down next to her bed. Her face was really pretty. There were quite a bit of freckles on her face, but I hadn't noticed them until now. One would have to look very closely.

I backed away 5 billion miles this time when I realized my face was that close to hers. What was happening with me?

Candi's POV

Two twin girls walked up behind me and tugged on my sleeves. I turned around, and saw them. They had a sad look in their eyes. They were Japanese, certainly, but they had shocking blonde hair, completely contrary to their race.

"You're Candi?" they asked together in their small, innocent voices. Why did I feel like I knew them so well?

"Ame* and Aiki?" I asked. Why did I know them? I felt like I had some sort of connection. I turned to my left, since I felt someone's presence there. It was a girl, probably around my age, with pale skin and pitch black hair. I knew her too. Her name was Brianne. She lived in New York, the complete other side of the world.

Someone else was behind me. A woman, probably in her mid-20's, was there, and she looked as confused as I felt. What was Katarina doing here? She lives in Russia.

Another girl, around 10 years old was behind me. I knew it was Catherine, even without looking. But she lived in Germany-

Fang was also here. Beijing wasn't that far from Japan, but what were they all doing here?

JiKyun was also here, all the way from South Korea.

Ghiangi lived in Vietnam, but she was here as well.

Iris, too, was here, but she was from Greece.

There were about 40 more names and faces that rushed into my head, all from completely different places. Why did I know every single one of them?

"Good, you're all here" a voice said. I froze, as did everyone else here. It was Helena. I vaguely wondered why everyone else was just as scared as I was, but Helena's voice was too distracting.

"How about we all have some fun together? With this many of us, it'll surely be much more fun than usual" she chuckled. I ran away from where I heard the voice. So did everyone else. At the exact same time, everyone bumped into an invisible wall.

"You can't escape" she said, before I collapsed. My mind went blank.

I took a deep breath as I woke up from my nightmare. The fear was indeed strong, but I was stronger now. All those girls must know Helena, and most were around my age or younger, so I could conclude that those are girls that Helena has also attacked.

The sound of 50 girls screaming at once and the image of the zombie-Helena flashed in my mind, and I clamped my hand on my mouth. The strength and will power that I had been building was crumbling. I wish Kyouya were here. It all goes away when he's with me. Even when he's not with me, he still cares about me. He found Helena without me even asking. He found the witch even though he was so busy without putting forth that effort. He still cared enough to make sure she is brought to justice.

The sound of the screaming doubled, and I rolled over in my bed. I wish Kyouya was right beside me in bed. (NOT THAT WAY YOU PERVERTS.)

I saw my Chameleon on my bedside table. I crawled over to it, and stared at it for a second. Even though my parents are the ones who made this, it still felt unnatural in my own hands. I almost never took it out, even though I always had it with me. Quickly unlocking it, I soon was staring at Kyouya's number that I had already dialed. I pursed my lips. Kyouya really liked his sleep, and I was already causing enough trouble for him.

The screaming was still there, but then my imagination threw the zombie at me, and I could practically feel her eating my body.

I pressed call.

Kyouya's POV

Why did I leave my Chameleon on full volume? It was 2 in the morning, and there was someone calling me. I glared at the screen, but that was a mistake. I swear, that thing is brighter than the sun.

Once my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I saw Candi's name. I didn't fully register this fact, but I still pressed accept.

"What?" I grumbled.

"Oh, uh…." Her voice said. I was instantly awake, and was fully aware of the fact that Candi's voice was close to sobbing.

"I'm sorry. What's wrong?" I asked, forcing my voice to be nice.

"I… uh…" she murmured awkwardly. Well, at least it wasn't something dangerous and urgent that required my presence immediately.

"Are you okay?"

"Can you just talk to me?" Candi said a little too loudly. Her voice sounded even closer to crying.

"About what?"

"Anything" she whispered.

I racked my brains for 'anything'. It's not easy to come up with a conversation topic on demand when you're still trying to figure out if you're wearing pants. I was, but I think I lacked a shirt.

"You know, when I first met you" I began. "I honestly respected you. It was when you stood up to those bullies, in the cafeteria. Even though you were probably trying to make them shut up, you protected that girl. I still wonder what you had said to them to make them go away. I swear, you must've gone on the internet and erased every single article even mentioning you. I only found a picture that didn't have any information on you. And you know how I like to have all the information on a person."

I kept rambling on about my first opinions of her. She was frustrating, mysterious and weird all at the same time. She didn't say a word the entire conversation, but she did chuckle occasionally. I glanced at my clock in between a couple of my sentences, and was surprised at the time.

"Wow. It's already 2:45. Good thing we don't have school tomorrow. Why did you need me to talk anyways?"

Her end of the line was silent at my question. Once I stopped talking, I did notice a faint snore. I smiled to myself.

"Good night" I murmured softly. "Sweet dreams."

My Chameleon awoke me with my weekend alarm at 10 am. I opened my eyes, and quickly turned off the alarm. I sat up, and was quickly dressed and showered and all that before I noticed that I wasn't in a bad mood. Normally when I wake up, I feel my mind being dragged down by the want for more sleep and my mind has to drag my body the opposite direction. It's not fun.

But I didn't feel that at all. I felt like I could withstand 1, no, 2 (!) Tamaki insanity moments before snapping. This was quite rare. I wonder if it had something to do with talking with Candi at 2:30 in the morning. Odd.

I remembered the one-sided conversation, and smiled. I had talked more than a teenage girl on weed, and she didn't say a word. She just listened as I simply talked and talked about my previous opinions of her. I wonder why she needed to talk to me. I wonder if she would mind me going over to her house and hanging out. I shouldn't ask her why she called me, since she was close to crying when she did call.

I wonder if she had another nightmare. I had heard her mention that she had nightmares where her imagination would create various monstrous forms of Helena.

I sighed, and walked out of my room to get out of the house. However, I was walking down the hall when my father walked out of his office.

"Ah, Kyouya. We need to talk" he said, stepping back into his office without giving me another glance. I didn't let any sort of reaction show on my face, since this was my father. Even if I wanted to go to Candi's house, I couldn't if Father needed me.

"Yes, Father?" I asked politely as I sat down across from him at his large desk.

"Kyouya, I need to know the nature of your relationship with Candi Shadburn" he said bluntly. Seems we are getting straight to the point. Or rather, his point. He must really want to know this information

"We are close enough to feel comfortable without honorifics. She trusts me with what I believe to be all her secrets. She b-"

"I didn't ask what you guys do together. I asked about the nature of your relationship."

Sht. I was not prepared for that question. I loved her, but she was gay, so I can't quite say romantic. "We are very close friends."

"Closer than the Suou boy?"

"Yes" I said without thinking. Crap, what if he wanted me to be the closest to Tamaki?

"Good" he said. I gave an inward sigh of relief. "You may go."

"Thank you" I said, bowing.

Candi's POV

I sighed, staring at the ceiling. I was officially bored. It was the weekend, so I probably wouldn't see Kyouya today. I remembered the 'conversation' we had last night. He had talked and talked, and didn't question why I needed him. My lips pulled into a smile. He's awesome.

Suddenly, I felt someone tackle me in my bed. I screamed softly in surprise. "Jessica!" I yelled with some irritation.

"Nope" Kyouya's voice said. My eyes widened when I realized the man of my dreams was on top of me. He was grinning, one of his lenses reflecting the light of the sun.

"Kyo!" I whined. Way too many perverted thoughts were running through my mind at this moment. He could kiss me this very moment, and I wouldn't be able to get out from under his arms that were forming a cage-like barrier. Then again, I wouldn't really want to leave…

"You need to drink water missy" he said, looking at me over his glasses. I barely heard him, since I remembered what his abs and chest looked like very vividly. It was way too easy to imagine him without a shirt. Or pants for that matter, but that though certainly did not help.

"You need to get off of me, freak" I murmured, glaring at him. He chuckled.

"You sure you're not an AB blood type?"

"Yes. I'm an O."

"Hm. We are completely opposite" he noted. He touched his forehead to mine. This guy was the worst. He was teasing me way too much.

"I hate you" I said, glaring at him.

"I love you too" he said sarcastically. If I wasn't blushing already, I had to have pink on my cheeks by now. He was on top of me, an inch away from kissing me, and saying the exact words 'I love you'. If I didn't know it would never happen, I'd expect he'd be kissing me already. Why does this awesome guy have to mock my feelings?

"Off me, weirdo" I said gruffly, not moving an inch. I was wearing a sports bra, but my boobs were still a millimeter from touching his chest. Why was he so close, yet so far?

"Are you just going to stay in bed?" he asked expectantly.

"Yes" I replied, not missing a beat.

"Well then" he said, falling down and facing the ceiling next to me. "I agree with this notion."

I laughed. "Why didn't you stay in bed at your own house? Did you have to come and annoy me?"

"Yes. Plus, my dad was home, so I needed to look like I was doing something" Kyouya replied.

"Ah. Well, then I excuse you for surprising me, but it'll take a while to get over the fact that you didn't get off of me when I told you to."

"Sorry your Highness" he said, rolling his eyes. I chuckled. Last night, I had wished he was beside me. Well, he's here now, but I want him to… not. "What's so funny!?"

"Ah, nothing" I said, shaking my head. I rolled over so I was facing him. "Was I really that weird to everyone at first?"

"Yes" he said, not missing a beat. I grabbed a pillow, and hit him squarely on face with it.

"How long are you going to be bugging me?"

"At least a couple hours."

"Buddha help me" I said, sighing.

"You're Buddhist?" he asked in surprise. I arched an eyebrow at him.

"They teach that peace is happiness, and I'm certainly one for peace."

He laughed. "That makes sense."

"So why don't you leave if you understand that?"

"Because I'm not."

"Why are you even my friend?"

"Because you wouldn't last a day without me."

"Shut up!" I cried indignantly, hitting him in the face once again. He smiled, shaking his head.

"You didn't deny it~"

"I said shut it!"

*Ame translated is candy. Coincidence?