No time to reply to reviews, I'm kinda pressed for time today. Sorry dears! But yes, the hosts and Takashi will eventually find out what's going on with her mother and what happened to her, but that's not until later. Before that happens, Masami will be dealt with first.

~CWA

Chapter 24

I knew this was coming. It was bound to happen eventually, especially since Takashi and I have been dating for about a week now and it's only today that we are going on an official, real date. I have never really been on a date before. Or actually dated in general. Until this moment there has never really been anyone that I really wanted to date. What do people do on dates? What do people even say? Do we just act like we normally do?

The anxiety of just this one date is causing my heart to pound with worry… But Ranka is making this so much worse. No where in my mind did I imagine that it would be Ranka who gives me The Talk. It's not that birds and the bees talk. This is a whole other type of scary conversation. This is the by law I have to meet your new boyfriend before you go out on any dates because I am now your unofficial father and I have to give him a long ass speech about what not to do on your date and if he ever hurts you, I don't care who he is I will serve his ass on a silver platter because no one hurts my girl talk. Pretty sure the name of that talk speaks for itself and as Ranka drones on and on about meeting Takashi formally, I am about to die of embarrassment.

I put my head down on the coffee table inside of Haruhi's kitchen. Because I don't want to take the chance of Mother finding out about Takashi, I've been hiding out at Haruhi's to wait for Takashi to go on our date.

"Just remember if he hurts you," Ranka threatens, "I will not hesitate to hurt him."

I feel myself blush as Ranka speaks. Oh God. Kill me now. I look down toward my feet and wiggle my toes as I see how sparkly my toe nails are painting. Ranka refused to let me wear sandals if I didn't paint my toe nails with him and since I've never had someone to really dress up like this, I hate to admit I actually had fun as Ranka and I painted our nails. He even helped me pick out a cute outfit, which covers enough skin for me to feel comfortable, but not so much that I would get hot in this heat; a light, flowing shirt with floral designs and cute capri's that I think used to be Haruhi's. It would have been nice if our bonding ended there, but no, Ranka has to take it one step too far with his little speech.

"-And he is picking you up here," Ranka continues to babble, looking at me, "Right? Because I need to meet him formally! I need to put the fear of God into him so he knows not to mess with you! And he does know that you don't like touching, right dear? I don't want him to do anything that could make you uncomfortable."

"Um yeah," I whisper as I look up at Ranka, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, "He knows and Takashi is good. He never does anything I don't like."

I get a small goofy grin on my face as I think about just how considerate Takashi is. I don't realize that I'm not looking at Ranka anymore, I get a far away gleam in my eyes as I feel my face heat up slightly. God. This is actually happening. I'm actually going on a date with Takashi. I giggle a bit, giddiness washing over me, before I turn back to Ranka. His expression has softened considerably as he stares at me for just a moment. Almost like he's thinking about something. Finally, he shakes his head slightly before sitting down across from me. There's an amused grin twitching at his lips and a twinkle in his eyes.

"You really like him, don't you, Riko?"

Ranka's voice is very soft and gentle as he speaks. I can't help but sigh a bit wistfully, though I feel the blush on my face grow hotter. I put my elbow on the table and rest my cheek in my palm as I look at him with a grin.

"Yeah… Yeah I really do," I answer quietly, "…He's amazing. He watches over me and I feel so at ease with him…. In a way, he's like my best friend too. How can I not like him?"

Ranka just grins slightly at me as he leans over and after my nod of okay, he puts his hand on my shoulder. Looking so close into his eyes, I feel like a small, newborn baby while Ranka is the old wise man here to guide me to the right path in life.

"I'm glad you found someone, Riko."

With that, Ranka lets go of my shoulder and stands up with his usual carefree expression, a laugh escaping his lips slightly. I laugh to myself as well. His laugh is just so contagious it's hard not to. Though we both stop laughing as Haruhi enters the kitchen and looks at us with a quirked eyebrow, glancing between myself and Ranka before she shakes her head and points her thumb back toward the front door.

"He's here."

Takashi is here? I stand up swiftly and rush toward the front door, but I don't get past the doorway of the kitchen since Ranka runs out ahead of me to beat me there. Bastard. It takes me a second before I regain my balance from when Ranka ran over me to get to the front first. Scowling slightly, I glance back toward Haruhi. She just shrugs as if to say what can you do so she isn't really any help. With my balance back, I quickly run toward the front door to greet Takashi.

Like I expected, Ranka is ushering Takashi into the living room with exaggerated hand gestures, babbling on and on about how happy he is to formally meet him. There is a large grin on Ranka's face and from the expression on Takashi's face, he's not realizing the trap that Ranka is slowly pulling him into. Almost like Ranka is a spider and Takashi is the poor unfortunate fly that gets stuck in the web. He doesn't even know the horror he's walked into. I will save you Takashi!

A fierce determination sets in my eyes as I run into the living room, making a straight head on line for the door. There's smoke behind my heels and I'm blazing fire as I run, but as I pass Takashi, I grab firmly onto his arm and drag him away with me. Thank goodness he trusts me because if he suddenly decides to not be taken away by me, he's not going to be going anywhere and I'll be forced to stop. Thankfully, he just runs with me, sending a vaguely confused look in my direction, but I don't offer any explanation. I won't even speak to him until I know we're safe.

"Bye Ranka," I call out, speaking in my normally toned voice, "I'll be back here by ten! Bye Haruhi!"

Before Ranka can even protest, I slam the front door shut behind me and continue running with Takashi for fear of Ranka chasing us. I adore Ranka, really, and he's the closest thing to a father I have, but there is no way I can sit there and watch as he practically rips Takashi a new one with his I have a shovel and I know how to use it speech. I still have a heart after all.

It's not until we're safely a bit away down the street until I slow down in my running and then come completely to a stop. My heart is racing and I feel a bit hot, but it's totally worth it since we're safe from Ranka. I don't think I ever run that fast in my life. I let go of Takashi's arm in favor of hunching over with hard wheezing, desperately trying to catch my breath. My face is flushed and there's a small trail of sweat running down the nape of my neck. I glance toward Takashi. He doesn't even look flustered or winded. Damn him and his healthy, athletic body.

He raises an amused eyebrow at me causing me to grin cheekily at him as if I didn't just drag him out of the house and run down the street to get away from Ranka.

"So," I wheeze, still grinning, "Where are we going for our… date?"

I couldn't stop grinning no matter how much I tried as I walk beside Takashi. Our hands are interlocked, partly to help us from getting separated. The zoo is a rather large place after all. The zoo. We're actually at the zoo. There's a small bounce in my step and excitement is just filling me in waves. We have to see everything. I just have to. I want to see it all. The aquariums. The animals. The snakes. Birds. Giraffes. Are there even giraffes here? I want to find out. I want to see every single thing there is to see. I even have my phone in my free hand, ready to take pictures. Thankfully, since Takashi picked me up in the morning, there is plenty of time for us to explore.

There's people all around us. Families. Couples. Kids. People of all shapes, sizes, and a good portion of them are Japanese, but I can see a few foreigners too. I know it's a great day for the zoo. Apparently a lot of other people think so too. It's very crowded, but there's still enough space that I can walk comfortably with Takashi by my side. Besides, I'm too excited for this date to even be cautious of the crowd. Kind of funny to think that, just before Takashi came to pick me up, I was worrying about it. Now I see there is nothing to worry about.

I glance toward Takashi with an excited grin. Takashi, bless his heart, has made it his mission to make sure we are both comfortable during this date. He has a large backpack that is filled with water bottles, snacks, money, and just about anything else we could need. I didn't even know he had it until we got to the zoo since he had hidden it in the backseat of his limo; we both knew that I couldn't survive a walk to the zoo. To be honest, I'm not sure if he was preparing for a date or for some sort of war.

"This is my first time to the zoo," my voice is a bit louder and higher pitched than normal, matching someone's normal speaking tone, "My parents have always been too busy to take me anywhere that wasn't business related. I think I've been to more business picnics and parties than I have been to school. How many animals do you think they have here anyway?"

I beam up at him with wide, curious eyes. I don't know what types of animals they have here, but I assume there will be a lot. I mean it is one of Japan's largest zoos for a reason. Not to mention expensive; I lost count of how many times I have thanked Takashi for paying for my entrance fee. Takashi gives me a small grin as he points toward a nearby map. Understanding his suggestion, I all but drag our asses over there so I can see for myself just how big this zoo is and how many animals they have.

The map shows a lot more than I expected to my surprise. With wide eyes, I look it over with awe, taking in all the exhibits/habitats that the map shows. It's huge. Penguins. Polar bears and all other sorts of bears actually- kola bears included. There's even different types of pandas, monkeys, lemurs, and this is all just so much. My mouth is gaping at all the different types of animals. I am not sure what I want to go to first. But as soon as my eyes hit that there is a reptilian house/snake house as well as a barn that's sure to have habitats of bats, owls and spiders.

"Takashi, Takashi," I repeat his name, bouncing up and down slightly as I point toward the two houses, "We have to go there! And the aquarium! And lions, Takashi! They have lions! And the map shows that there is a feeding time for the alligators. If we hurry to the houses and go through them, by the time we're done, we can hurry over to the alligators to watch! Please."

I stress each word with excitement as I beg and plead for us to go to the snake house and the barn first. I give him my best puppy dog expression with batty eyelashes and pouting, plump lips. Like usual, my begging expression works as Takashi gets a faint blush on his cheeks and looks away slightly before slowly nodding his head. Cheering slightly, thrilled that I can go see the snakes and creepy critters of the night first, I run toward the correct path that will lead us there.

"Careful."

I stop at the sound of Takashi's voice as he lets go off my hand in favor of putting his arm straight out in front of me to make me stop. I look at him briefly in confusion before I look ahead of me. In my excitement, I didn't see the tram that's currently moving across its tracks in front of us. If Takashi didn't stop me, I would have been tram road kill. I let out a sigh of relief and give Takashi a small thankful smile that he returns with a nod.

It's not until after the tram passes that we continue on to the snake house.

I wonder if I'll see any of Cuddles' relatives there.

I grin stupidly as I flip through the pictures on my phone as I walk by Takashi on our way to the alligators. Now that we are out of the barn, I can look at the pictures that I took. I am not, by any means, a photographer. But I think they came out pretty good. There's pictures of different owls, some staring right at the camera. Though my favorite is the picture of the one owl with its head turned all the way around like something from The Exorcist. I got pictures of bats, snakes, hissing cockroaches (that reminded me too much of the sna-cock-rat for comfort), and many more. And that was only from two places (the snake house and the barn). Think of all the other animals I will get to see and take pictures of!

There's also a few pictures of Takashi and I. Cute pictures that get me blushing slightly as I look at them with a goofy grin plastered on my face. My grin matches the ones I am making in the pictures. There's one showing us in front of a snake tank with me gesturing toward it as Takashi watches with an amused grin. I couldn't help it though. The snake reminds me so much of Cuddles that I got excited. There's another that's just a selfie of us in front of the creepy Exorcist owl, its eyes staring at the camera despite its head being turned a complete 180. Do owls even have neck bones? There's a few more that I don't really like, but still make me grin.

"There," Takashi states clearly, gesturing toward something ahead of us.

Bringing my head up, I stare at the large crowd that's gathered in the front of one of the habitats. The alligators no doubt. With it being feeding time, there's quite a bunch of people to watch. Oh man. How are we going to get through the crowd? Just push our way through? The thought of all the unnecessary touching made me shiver with distaste. I glance toward Takashi. He's tall enough that even if he stands at the edge of the crowd, he'd be able to see it just fine. Tall bastard. I stick my tongue out slightly before I shake my head.

"Come on, Tashi," I sigh, "We can catch the feeding another time."

I try to not let the disappointment show in my voice, but I kind of hope the use of the nickname Tashi will distract him enough so that he doesn't notice the disappointed look on my face. I try to walk away, attempting to drag him along with me, but I don't move anywhere because he refuses to move. I look back at him, but his eyes are focused on the alligators.

"Guess it must look pretty cool huh," I nudge him slightly, trying desperately to ignore the pain that stabs through my chest.

I'm sure it looks pretty cool and if Takashi wants to watch it, I'll stay here with him even if I can't see it myself. Though it kind of hurts. Not that he can see it and I can't. What hurts is that I was so excited for this, so pumped up to see the feeding, and all I get is… nothing. I sigh slightly and try to force a smile on my face as Takashi looks down at me. He gives me a reassuring smile before he kneels down, letting go off my hand to gesture toward his shoulders.

"Get on."

I feel my face heat up and I eye his shoulders a bit hesitantly, but there's no time to think this over. I mean, I really want to see the alligator feeding and if I wait too long, it's going to be over. Gulping, but trusting Takashi to not drop me, I slip myself onto his shoulders like I've seen Hunny do many, many times. Instantly, I feel myself being lifted into the air as he stands up, his hands grasping my legs.

"Can you see?"

"Yeah," I answer, my eyes going straight toward the alligators, "I can see."

A large grin spreads across my face as I can easily see the large alligators attack the food that's given to them. It's like watching a bunch of piranhas. I love it. I'm sure the grin on my face is almost sadistic. This is so cool though. I didn't know alligators even did this. They are just attacking that. And their jaws are just so… Oh my God this is just amazing. I hit Takashi lightly on the shoulder with my hand in an excited manner,

"Are you seeing this Tashi?! Do you see that?! Did you see that?!"

I glance down toward him slightly, which is kind of hard to do in my position. Our faces are really close with me hunched over like this and his grasp on me is tight to keep me from falling. I grin stupidly at him and I can see that he's smiling at me as well and there's a faint blush on his cheeks. It's… cute. He's really cute actually. I crinkle my nose at him as I give him an Eskimo kiss, rubbing are noses together with a giggle before I pull away.

"…Cute."

Takashi's voice is so faint and quiet that it takes me a moment to even realize what he's said. Cute. Is he… Is he talking about me? I blush and giggle a bit nervously, running my fingers through my hair as my eyes dart around a bit nervously, trying to find something to change the subject. Unfortunately, my eye gazing has caused me to realize something. We have a few watchers.

An elderly couple and what seems to be their grandchildren is watching us with fond smiles on their faces. Though the kids are more focused on the alligator show. The couple gives us a small wave and the grandmother seems to be whispering things to her husband about us, but judging from their smiles and the love shining in their eyes I think it's all good things that she's saying.

"Doesn't that bring back memories," I can hear her whisper, "Oh to be in love and young again."

She sighs wistfully and gives us another, last fond smile before they all leave, leaving both me and Takashi with faces as red as cherries. Oh God. I ran away from Ranka to avoid embarrassment, but at this point, I'm not sure if this is better or worse than what Ranka would have caused. I bury my face into my hands to hide my blush, my heart pounding wildly, but I still can't help but grin.

"Hey Tashi," I whisper, poking him in the cheek as soon as my embarrassment passes, after he looks up at me, I continue, "Can I stay up here? It's… It's fun."

Oh God kill me now. I'm pulling a Hunny. I actually do like it up on his shoulders. I can see everything and he is giving my legs a break from all the running we've been doing. Even if we haven't been here long, my legs are already killing me. Besides, it is so much fun being up here. I feel like a queen or a princess. But oh man, what if he doesn't want me up here for any longer?

To my relief, Takashi gives me a small smile and a nod, giving me the okay.

To be honest, now that he's said I can stay up here, I'm pretty sure that I will be up here for the rest of the date…