Hiya, Hitachiin Gossip Girl here,

Omigosh. Is it possible that more of you reviewed on a Notice than on an actual chapter? I now regret deleting that notice because all of the nice reviews were on that update. Oh well.

I don't own any fandom related thing mentioned in this. Other than the plotline and my OC's.

OHSHC Chapter 21: Difficult

~Kyoya POV~

Everyone around us – doctors and patients and their families – looked at us like we were a tsunami when we came rushing into through the hospital doors. A tsunami made of frantic teenagers. Seriously though, it's not like most of them didn't act like this when they ran into the hospital for a family member or friend. Well, I assume they weren't as wild looking as we were because we were covered with dirt and a couple of leaves from our walk through the forest area.

We eventually found Mizuki waiting for us at the lobby. She was pacing around back and forth looking anxious. I mean who wouldn't be at least anxious with their sister in some sort of emergency room. And bearing in mind that the two Fujisaki step-sisters are the possibly the closest as any pair of step-sisters can be, Mizuki would be feeling way beyond anxious.

The minute she saw us running towards her, she threw her arms around a shocked looking Kaoru and began sobbing loudly. With wide eyes, Kaoru awkwardly and slowly wrapped his own arms around the weeping girl and patted her back gently.

"Kao… Mizore…can't… she can't…" Mizuki gasped through sobs. I heard Kaoru whisper a 'shh' as he run his hands through her chocolate brown hair.

"Mizuki, she'll be fine!" Kaoru smiled, although a little unsurely, "How many times do we have to get that through that thick head of yours?"

At that question, the corner of Mizu's mouth twitched into a crooked smile. She shrugged and mumbled, "Possibly a couple more times."

We all sat down in the clean white waiting room area with the company of some other random people. One of the doctors, Dr Vultisino, who I knew well from all the years of visiting the hospital for father came up to me and explained the situation MIzore was in.

Apparently, the stab in her back pierced something crucial which I honestly couldn't be bothered listening to what it was. She had lost a lot of blood from the wound so her heart began to slow down. But all in all, Mizore was currently in emergency surgery and the surgeons were doing the best they could to fix it. That's just a brief explanation – there's much more technicalities to that.

"Thank you," I smiled, politely. After asking him to keep me on an update on Mizore's well-being, he walked away.

After gathering up everyone into a slight huddle, I explained what Mizore was going through right the very second. Mizuki had covered her mouth with her hand to prevent her from gasping too loudly when I explained her situation.

"So is Mizo-chan gonna be alright?" Yaya questioned, with hopeful yet worried eyes.

As we all knew that the answer to her question was obviously unknown, we turned to the short, usually happy-go-lucky, girl. Honey, attempting to make a sweet and comforting gesture, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and whispered something into her ear. I don't know what he said but Yaya seemed content with it.

It seemed like hours of waiting in silence after I had told them about Mizore. The blonde's – Yaya, Honey and Tamaki – seemed to be restless as if the sitting silently was too much for them (which was weird because they did that in school). Haruhi was quietly chatting with Mizuki and the twins just so that they would get at the very least momentarily distracted from thinking about someone dying – which was seriously really hard in a hospital. Rina and Mori were helping each other – somewhat wordlessly per usual – with a crossword that was in a newspaper lying on the coffee table.

That left Natsuki and I staring off into space, mindlessly. No seriously – Natsu was just sitting on the chair a couple spaces from me with her hands placed poshly in her lap. She was simply staring straight ahead only, hardly ever blinking.

I noticed that her short hair was roughly hanging on her shoulders looking really messed up. She never wore make-up so I wondered why she clearly put some blush on today because you could clearly see the smudge of her powdery blush.

As if she could sense me staring at her Natsuki's shoulders tensed and her gaze moved to her shoes. But she didn't move her head to look at me. It really felt like she was guiltily avoiding me, even though I had no idea what she could possibly be guilty about. I wonder if this has anything to do with what happened on Wednesday… it's not like it was her fault she turned me down. She made it clear that she would've accepted the offer if the gesture was not like betraying the Fujisaki step-sisters for all they've done for her.

That statement got me thinking. Natsuki told us earlier in the evening that they were only acting like they were angry at us because they wanted us to keep a distance from Mizore. Does that also mean that she only turned down the offer because she wanted us to keep away? Or did she really not want to go on a date with me but used it as a cover? Gah, Tamaki's paranoid personality has rubbed off on me.

"KYOYA!"

I blinked a couple of times before looking up to see Mizuki hovering over me with a slightly annoyed but amused look.

"Jeez, I never knew smart-arse-Kyoya could blank out like that," She smirked. But it quickly faded once she turned around to check what –or who – I was gazing at. When Mizuki turned back to me, I could see disappointment in her eyes.

"You know Kyoya-sempai," She smiled, a little sadly, "She never meant to turn you down so cruelly – if you could call it that; Natsuki definitely does. She's beats herself up about it every night."

When the Fujisaki saw my eyes widened with my shock expression she quickly added, "Not literally, gods she's not like Mizore. I mean she bawls her eyes out for about an hour then calls me up asking if she's a horrible person for turning you down."

This statement honestly shocked me more than Mizuki's last sentence. Does Natsu really regret it that much? This is Natsuki, Mizuki's talking about right? Not some complete stranger whom I don't know.

Surely, Natsuki had once had to turn down numerous boys that had asked her out. I had no doubt that if Natsu had hung out with the Fujisaki's during her whole life; she would have had to have broken the hearts of various guys before. It's not like she'd waste her time rethinking her choice about some random date. So why react so differently to this rejection?

But before I could react physically, Mizuki continued on with her rant/lecture.

"She really did want to accept you know. I know she told you that she doesn't want to owe us but that doesn't really matter to Mizo and me – as long as all our friends are happy. So I hope you don't blame us."

I honoured Mizuki with a rare smile of mine as I told her, "Its fine – I don't blame you."

Her cheeks puffed up as she let out an unusually loud sigh of relief. Quickly, she gave me a brief hug, almost knocking off my glasses as it was so unexpected. I was quite unsure how to react to that but she released me before I really could do anything.

From both the corner of my eyes, I could see that most of the gang were staring. I could feel two people staring with an odd and weird feeling behind it. Looking up, I knew immediately the youngest Hitachiin twin was staring at Mizu with a longing look – he probably wished he was in my position. But I couldn't pinpoint the other stare quite as easily – not even who it belonged to.

I stepped a little away from Mizuki before the other girls of the group could create another ship they would fangirl over. (So far I know they ship pretty much everyone with everyone in the gang - Even weird ones that make no sense. But I know they had OTP's – I have a feeling I know what they are - which they'd prefer.)

"I have a preposition for you," Mizuki stated, narrowing her eyes a little telling me she was quite serious.

"What is it?" I wondered, slightly worried. That smirk I knew and recognised very well returned on her face even though it was small.

Placing her hands and shifting her weight to some extent to the right, she grinned, "I ask the gang if they'd offer to go do their own random thing here in the hospital - whatever they'll come up with – and while we're gone, you have to try and talk to Natsuki…and preferably get her to agree to your little date."

Technically it wasn't a date, just a trip to a movie convention.

Taking my really short silence as an apparent 'yes' – although I don't know how – she smirked then skipped off to tell the others one by one. Mizuki really doesn't let me react at all does she?

As I watched Mizuki murmur to the others, hardly secretively, I wondered how Mizuki was acting like her usual self at a time like this. I knew it was not at all ordinary but then again neither was the rest of her.

I consciously realised if Kao knew how much I was thinking about Mizuki so much this evening, he'd. Not kidding, he would, not mattering that we were in a hospital. But hey, it's not necessarily my fault that I'm thinking about someone who was talking to me.

Then I remembered who I was really meant to be thinking about. Jesus Christ, what am I going to say to her? Mizo and Mizu said you don't owe them anything? Think about it? Give me another chance? Wait, not that because I really did nothing.

While I tried to come up with a really natural and cool thing to say to her, I watched as Mizuki's plan to clear the room of the people we knew, unfold in a totally ordinary way. Watching the group disperse, I came to realise I seriously underestimated the gang's acting skills. Like really seriously.

Honey and Yaya started their act with Mori and Rina doing absolutely nothing.

"Takashi, Takashi," Honey begged, in his whiney voice, "I'm hungry!"

Then Yaya joined in pouting, "Rina-neesan, can we get cake?"

Then the two rushed off, dragging their respective silent friends with them. Nothing seemed out of the blue because really – this is how they usually acted. And with the depressing mood, they probably needed cake more than ever.

Tamaki and Haruhi were next, despite how much Tamaki didn't want to leave saying "Daddy needed to be there when the doctor came back saying how my daughter was."

But Haruhi apparently learnt well from the Fujisaki's but never showed it because she used Tamaki's wail it to her advantage. She sighed, "Tamaki-sempai, let's get you away from here before you get any crazier. You really need to calm down. Besides, you're not even her real father!"

She dragged him away before he could protest, probably to distract him with some commoner game or something.

Finally it was Mizuki and the Hitachiin's turn ... and they literally just up and left. No really, they grabbed Arai – whom I actually forgot was still here – and got up and walked away. So much for perfect and natural acting. Way to ruin the image, guys.

But it wasn't till they were completely out of sight that I realised why. When I turned to look at Natsuki, turns out she really believes their acting because she totally lost interest and began reading a book that had a white and a black cloud with a light blue background.

I observed (in a totally not stalker-ish way) the little tiny details of the way Natsuki was when she read a book. She would always curl up into a comfortable – well comfortable to her anyways; most of them looked really unnatural – and keep a finger ready to turn to the next page despite she just had just turned the previous page ... if that makes any sense.

Natsuki expressions where a little amusing, too. At times when I assume she's reading a funny part, she would bite her lip to refrain from laughing out loud and smile. Then when it looks like she's reading an upsetting scene, her eyes would grow gloomy and she would cover her mouth with her hand. And at really weird scenes when I'm assuming a character said something sarcastic, she would stop reading and hold the book in one hand as she mouthed the words in repeat of the character – as if she suddenly became them. She had a sarcastic look when she did that. I'm still not sure whether she was the only one I knew who did that.

"Please, don't stare at me like that," Natsuki suddenly sneered, not taking her eyes off of the pages, which made it hard to figure out she was talking to me. That snapped me out of my trance as I noticed that it been a while that I had been gazing at her. But it didn't change my line of sight.

"Well, I thought ladies loved when they caught the eye of a gentleman," I snickered back, smiling as her cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. But she scoffed, which totally ruined it.

Natsuki took out her bookmark which had a Ravenclaw emblem on it and marked the page she was up to in the book. She put it in her bag then turned to me, with her hands in her lap and her posture really straight and proper.

"Not necessarily," She smirked, "After all those years hanging with Mizo and Mizu, attention is something I learned to loathe."

I smirked along with her, thinking in the back of my mind Yep this is Natsuki. Despite what Mizuki told me about Natsuki bawling every night – which I knew was true from Mizuki's expression when she told me – Natsuki would never give any clues in publicity (meaning in front of me) that she had done that.

"I will actually agree with you on that," I agreed. Then I scrunched up my nose in a little annoyance, "Especially when most of the attention you get mostly comes from Tamaki."

She giggled when I said this, but quickly covered her mouth as if it was a bad thing, in shock of what she had just done. Natsuki stared at me, wide-eyed and gulped, "I do not do that, like, ever."

My smirk grew a centimetre wider at her panicky expression. And before I knew it, I had unintentionally told her, "Its suits you."

Natsuki froze, her cheeks turning unbelievably red. Then she rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face into her palms. Her black hair flew down across her face like a closed curtain. After a moment I could her muffled mumbling but I couldn't make out the words.

"What was that?" I asked her, slightly worried of her answer.

She turned her head to face me and looked at me between her fingers, her brown eyes looking a darker shade than usual. Her voice came out much clearer this time, "I said, 'What do you want from me?'"

Clearly, this was a question I had no answer to, other than you, but that's just cheesy.

"Well, you did say that you didn't want to owe the Fujisaki's anything, didn't you?" I grinned, knowing that to her this was completely random and out of the blue.

Natsuki removed her face from her hands and I had to refrain from smirking because there were faint red handprints on her face from leaning into her palms too hard. The expression on her face was undoubtedly confused. She raised an eyebrow but had a slight scowl on her face, "I know that, I'm not stupid. I know what I said."

"Oh I know you aren't stupid." I answered, trying not to smirk but trying to give her my absolutely best attempt at a caring smile. It seemed to take her by shock because her eyebrows rose.

"All I ask is one thing," I grinned. I held up my index finger to indicate the number one.

Natsuki tilted her head in confusion but had a smug and worried look on her beautiful face, "And what exactly is that?"

"Don't."

'Not the answer she was expecting' is probably the best words to explain her expression right now. "Pardon? What's that supposed to mean?" Natsuki inquired.

I knew I was being cheeky but I replied to her with, "Obviously, an abbreviation of 'Do Not'."

She quite visibly face-palmed at my retort – rather loudly too, which can't have been good. When she removed it, my attempt at a polite and caring smile turned back to its usual smirk because the red hand-print mark was back.

"Oh, cut the crap, Kyo," Natsuki sighed, using a nickname that I only ever heard her use – which I still don't know how I feel about that - , "Just tell me."

I raised both my eyebrows rather highly; a little shocked at why she didn't respond to my retort with her own even more sarcastic comeback. That's what she would've usually done. Natsuki must've been really so mixed with emotions – upset because of Mizore, tired from how much searching she's been doing, confused about me, and possibly a couple of other stuff – to be even this much unresponsive.

But I decided to answer her anyway, "It means 'don't think of yourself so lowly that you would even have to pay back your best friends –whom may I add, you have known your whole life and been through so much together – in such a notion like that."

Silence fell around us, suddenly making me aware of the other family and friends sitting in the waiting room. Have they heard what we've been talking about? That's not possible though because the closest strangers sitting near us weren't about five or so seats away because of the vacancy of the rest of the gang.

Something suddenly sparkled on Natsuki's cheek. And that's when I realised it was a stray teardrop. Natsuki's chocolate eyes were full of them in a matter of seconds, threatening violently to come out.

Then in a next second, she leaped from her seat a couple of ways away and her skinny – and cold from the wind – arms were wrapped around my neck. Natsuki buried her face into the crook of my neck, which normally I would've expected to be highly uncomfortable but it wasn't at all.

My shirt began to feel cold and damp as her tears splatter onto it harshly. In fact it began to stick to my skin.

"Oh Gods, I'm so sorry," Natsuki suddenly exclaimed, jumping slightly and unravelling her arms from my neck. Instead of going back to her seat she simply took the seat beside me so she wouldn't have to move too far. She wiped her tears away from her eyes with her somewhat pale hands as she hiccupped, "I … uh… I don't usually break down like that. Well, not in public anyways…"

I gently took hold of both her hands and placed them between us.

"Of course you don't," I told her softly, "But sometimes that's okay."

Haha. When it said 'And that's when I realised it was a stray teardrop" I really wanted to put "And that's when I realised… I was narrating out loud." Mithrus Christ, NigaHiga is hilarious.

Anyways onto general stuff. Yes this is a filler chapter and was rushed. Yes I loved all your reviews. No I don't own.

Hehe yeah well at least I got it up within the time I promised. (I had like three PowerPoint presentations due tomorrow I had to rush so…)

Ex oh ex oh, Hitachiin Gossip Girl.