~Chapter Twenty-Five~

Past, Present, and Future – Part I

I'm Losing Sight.
Don't Count On Me.
I Chase the Sun; It Chases Me.

You Know My Name;
You Know My Face.
You'd Know My Heart,
If You Knew My Place.

I'll Follow You,
If You Follow Me.

~Follow, by Breaking Benjamin

Disclaimer: Me No Own; You No Sue.

I'll be with you soon enough, Sarah. I smiled at the thought, giving in to the urge to close my eyes and rest. My lungs, my brain, my heart screamed at me to fight against the call of the siren. But, I was so tired, and I couldn't fight anymore. I gave up.

Black pain beckoned to me. I welcomed it, reveling in the cold, numb feeling that shot through my body like a bullet in the midst of a golden blitzkrieg. It rippled through my flesh, muscles, veins, and cells. And as I drifted into unconsciousness, my last thought was of someone gripping my hand tightly in theirs as we fell through the sky.

Don't let go of my hand, Sarah…

Takashi's P.O.V.

I calmly walked over to the edge of the makeshift pool and crouched down beside it, surveying the vast expanse of water with a critical eye. This particular pool didn't appear to be very deep on this particular end; in fact, the water only came to my waist, and that meant the edge of the basin was about three feet in height. On the other hand, my older cousin was a little shorter than most people our age. His small stature made it difficult for him to swim properly in such a large pool. Mitsukuni was almost five feet tall, though, and he could safely wander into this particular end of the pool without stupidly risking his life – or mine.

In conclusion, the water park had my seal of approval. I'd done my duty as his protector to keep him from drowning in the kiddies' pool. And now, I could take a seat at the side of the pool and attempt to relax whilst my cousin managed to entertain himself for once. I might even catch a glimpse of my girlfriend in her little bikini…

"Takashi~!"

Or, I could just babysit my cousin for another three hours and cater to his every silly whim. That sounded fun, too. Sigh.

I withdrew my hand from the water, which was actually a lot warmer than expected, and placed it on my thigh. It was used to slowly push my lanky form into an upright position. Hesitantly, I turned my dark gray gaze towards the person standing beside me, trying to delay his inevitable demands for constant fun, laughter, and chaos. I was much too tired to deal with his nonsense right now. The only thing that sounded any fun at the moment was taking a nap on one of the nice white leisure chairs in the shade, preferably with my girlfriend wrapped tightly in my arms.

It was a little embarrassing for me to admit this, but I really liked to cuddle. And Pome could attest to that fact, as well. That poor little guy was probably feeling rather smothered as of late, thanks to my almost nightly dreams of kissing Sammy…

Mitsukuni glanced upwards at my face, observed my distant, somewhat blank expression, and promptly sweatdropped. He nervously cleared his throat and asked, "Are you okay, Takashi?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumbled, before sighing wearily and running a hand through my damp, black hair. It was getting a little long, but Kyoya wouldn't let me get it cut, for fear of losing his precious customers.

Damn Shadow King…

He scowled up at me in annoyance and snapped, "Don't patronize me! I am not an idiot, you know!" Oh, yes – that was definitely the dark side of the moon coming out. It was probably his time of the month again.

"I know." With a small smile, I crouched down beside him and ruffled his blonde hair, casually admitting, "I feel a little tired, but other than that…" I shrugged nonchalantly. "Honestly, I'm fine, Mitsukuni. You needn't worry about me."

"Why are you so tired, anyway?" My cousin raised an eyebrow at me; then, the reason for my exhaustion appeared to finally dawn upon him, because he answered his own question. "Oh, right! You've had all of those extra kendo practices with your sensei, haven't you?"

I nodded in the affirmative. "Ah…"

He sniffled pathetically, swiped a small hand over his eyes, and loudly wailed, "Poor Takashi~! Itachi-sensei is going to kill you with all of this extra training…!" His brown eyes widened dramatically at the mere thought. "And then, I won't have a little cousin anymore. Waa~!"

In an effort to calm the small blonde, I opened my mouth to remind him that my brother, Satoshi, would still be alive; however, a wide yawn escaped through my parted lips, instead. I reached over the small distance between us and gently wiped away the tears gathering at the corners of his wide, brown eyes. Mitsukuni promptly buried his wet face in my stomach, before blowing his nose on the navy colored material of my (…brand…new…) swim trunks. I might be a man, but that still pretty damn gross. In fact, that was a bit of an understatement – descriptive words like disgusting, horrifying, and traumatizing were probably more accurate.

And I had a reason for thinking such overdramatic thoughts. You see, I knew that there would undoubtedly be a thick wad of yellow snot clinging to my (…brand…fucking…new…) swim trunks. These damn shorts cost over six hundred dollars, too.

Kami, I really needed a vacation, and one that did notinclude the members of the Host Club, either. Preferably a vacation on a nice, secluded beach, without our clingy customers, or my crazy cousins, or those goddamn Kings…

I'm so glad that this country is not a monarchy! That thought slowly crawled over the tired, and bruised, and overworked organ that was once my mind. I cannot handle anymore dealings with members of the royal family. My loyalties have already been divided into about five different directions, anyway!

Mitsukuni dryly stated, "I'm still here, you know!" He immediately assumed his pouting stance, which typically included crossing both of his arms over his chest and tapping a small, bare foot impatiently on the ground. "…hello?"

Oh, man…

I had a bad feeling that this conversation was going to end very badly. Well, it would certainly end badly for me. Because I would have to be the one to put my foot down – figuratively – and tell the small blonde that he was not allowed to go swimming just yet. He would have to wait at least another thirty minutes, considering that he had just eaten over half of his weight in hot tea and foreign sweets. Mitsukuni must have been an ant in a previous life – that was the only possible explanation for such a terrifying talent. He was a damn menace to cupcakes everywhere.

It made me feel rather bad for Gir, that strange green creature that my girlfriend was so in love with at the moment. It made me feel a little jealous, to be sure – every one of her comments had something to do with eating cupcakes, or taking over the world. And Sammy had also developed this strange habit of flailing her arms around in a wild, panicked manner. Of course, my crazy girlfriend loved cupcakes, and she'd always had a fascination with world domination, so that might not be a recent development. I'm quite certain that the arm movements were new, though…

"Takashi!" Mitsukuni protested, tugging quickly on a handful of my blue shorts. "Pay attention to me, okay?"

"Right," I mumbled, rolling my gray eyes at his continued pouting. "Please forgive me for ignoring you for a few seconds, o' great ninja." That sarcasm was certainly a testament to my girlfriend and her younger brothers.

Mitsukuni stared at me through narrowed eyes, and he pointed in the direction of our friends, all of whom were acting crazy, per the norm. The small blonde accusingly stated, "…you were thinking about your girlfriend again, weren't you?"

It was a rhetorical question, but I still answered him, lest my silence anger him further. "No…" I stubbornly muttered, trying to ignore the blush of embarrassment that was still crawling over my nose.

"Ha! You are such a liar, Takashi!" My cousin crowed, triumphantly, and with a smug smirk on his small face. He gleefully added, "I can tell by the blush on your face, too!"

I glared down at him from my impressive height in an (please insert: rather pathetic) attempt to frighten him into silence, or at least submission. But it was hard to intimidate a martial artist, especially when that martial artist was also a karate and judo champion. Thus, I'd only managed to accomplish one thing by acting like a thug, and that was to irritate him further. Mitsukuni was originally wearing a pair of bright yellow swim trunks with blue bands at the bottom of the cloth legs; now, the older male was also wearing a rather annoyed expression on his face, too. Hereally hated being intimidated and/or ignored.

So, I immediately turned my attention to tending to his needs, as any good babysitter – er, cousin or guardian – should do in such a situation. This situation was one that inspired within me a fear for my very life. My older cousin was a dangerous little midget. In fact, he was like an oompa loompa on steroids.

"The water is nice and warm," I admitted, after finally gathering the courage required to stare into the dark and scary 'Eyes of the Beast.' Silently, I prayed that he wouldn't eat me. It would give him indigestion.

Fortunately, Mitsukuni appeared to have eaten a few hundred sweets before we left the school premises – the human garbage disposal wasn't very hungry at the moment, it seemed. He was also in a rather forgiving mood, and the older male merely chose to smile up at me in apparent glee, instead of threatening to permanently remove my head from its perch upon my shoulders. In fact, I had survived the encounter with all of my limbs intact. And I wouldn't have to run around without my head, like that evil, murderous mercenary in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

That had to count for something, right? Yeah, I thought so, too…

Mitsukuni threw his hands up in the air and twirled around in excitement. "Yay~!" he exclaimed with a small, happy squeal. It actually reminded me of a little piglet. (By the way, I'd rather that no one in the audience told him that…)

"I'm gonna go play in the water now, okay?" Mitsukuni added, and his brown eyes glittered up at my taller form, practically daring me to go against his wishes. "See ya later, Takashi~!"

Obviously, Mitsukuni didn't wait for my permission to do so. I had to admit that this was also wishful thinking on my part! He hadn't even waited for my acknowledgment, so there was no reason for me to assume that he would wait for my permission, either. Nope. That little bastard refused to listen to anyone else. Mitsukuni had decided to swim; thus, he was going to swim, and there was nothing in this world capable of stopping him. I doubted that an army of trained police could prevent him from reaching that pool. Not even the members of elite force in the service of the Ootori family were strong enough to stop him.

Mitsukuni took a deep breath, scampered towards the edge of the nearby pool, and leapt into the warm water, all the while screaming, "Geronimo!" My cousin floundered about in the water for a moment, and it appeared as though he were actually drowning, too.

I facepalmed, darkly thinking to myself: Of course, Mitsukuni would choose to drown on a day that he was in my care, wouldn't he? Sigh. That will undoubtedly ruin the relationship between our families, too. Dammit.

And, Mitsukuni still appeared to be drowning in the blue depths of the kiddies' pool….

This little act reeked of mischief and mayhem, but that was my cousin down there! I hastily swallowed my skepticism. I bolted over to the edge of the manmade pool and lifted my arms over my head, preparing to dive into the pool and rescue my older cousin from a watery – and early – grave. It was at this moment in time, however, that the little faker decided that enough was enough. He kicked his two small feet underwater and easily resurfaced a moment later, thanks to his precious swim ring, which was decorated with scratch n' sniff bunny stickers.

Admittedly, I was rather confused at this sudden turn of events, even though he'd had that swim ring with him. Mitsukuni was not the best swimmer in the world; however, my cousin could stay afloat on his own, should the need actually arise for him to do so. But, Mitsukuni should have hit the cement bottom of that manmade pool, and it was incomprehensible to me that he had avoided doing so. I really did not understand this situation – it didn't make any sense to me. None at all!

Earlier this afternoon, Mitsukuni had consumed a grand total of eight strawberry cakes, all of which had multiple layers and a number of decorative – and thankfully edible – toppings. He'd also eaten seventeen éclairs, a pan of white fudge brownies, and over three dozen chocolate chip cookies. That blonde glutton should have dropped through the water like a ton of bricks. In fact, I'd thought that he would crack his head wide open on the cement lining, consequentially falling unconscious at the bottom of the pool, just out of my reach.

That wasn't the case, though, and it appeared that my mischievous cousin was merely trying to annoy me. Mitsukuni was still alive and kicking – literally!

I was immensely relieved that he was safe, because my cousin was one of the most important people in my life, even during times such as this – it was difficult to concentrate on keeping him safe and happy at the same time. Mitsukuni was a thrill seeker, and he lived for that quick high that a rush of adrenaline appeared to give him, too. In other words, Mitsukuni was an adrenaline junkie. Oh, well. I supposed that it was better than havin him addicted to cocaine, or some other dangerous substance that might actually force his metabolism to recognize the eight thousand calories that he consumed on a daily basis.

Nevertheless, I scratched my head in confusion and continued to stare into the watery depths of the pool, admittedly at a bit of a loss. And I was only vaguely aware that my girlfriend was now watching the very same water with a pair of sad, blue eyes. It would have been so much easier for me to predict the events of the day, if only that stubborn girl had admitted to being afraid of something. But, Sammy hated being forced to admit that she was anything other than immortal, and she constantly made jokes to compensate for that inability to do so. It was just another little imperfection in her glass mask.

My gaze subconsciously traveled over the perimeters of the park, scanning the extensive area and cataloging which of my friends were safe, calm, acting crazy, or near the water. Kyoya, Haruhi, and Kiki were all discussing an important topic, judging by the serious expressions on their faces, and all three of them were a safe distance away from the water. Mitsukuni appeared to be swimming happily in the middle of the giant pool, but he had a swimming ring, two arm floats, and his ninja speed to keep himself out of trouble. Hence, I decided that those four did not really warrant my concern at the moment, as none of them were in any immediate danger.

I glanced in the opposite direction, cataloging the locations of the remaining five individuals that completed our group of friends. Tamaki was stalking his precious little daughter from about two yards away; thus, he was also in a relatively safe area of the park. The Twins continued to rifle through a traveling bag that had been confiscated a little over ten minutes ago, searching for the water guns that the commoner girl, Kiki, had stashed within one of the pockets. Each of them was closer to the smaller pool than the larger one, so the water was not an issue at the moment, either. It didn't pose much of a threat from over seven yards away.

Lastly, Kotoko and Sammy had made themselves comfortable on a patch of grass near the edge of the larger pool. The two young women were chatting idly about something that appeared to be making my girlfriend more nervous than normal, and the crazy girl was thusly avoiding any and all eye contact with our classmate, Kotoko. Neither one of them was in any danger at the moment, but there was no indication that the two of them were capable of swimming, either. I would have to pay close attention to them, above all else.

Yes, there were far too many people for me to protect on this trip.

A piercing headache roared to life beneath my skull. The exhaustion was obviously beginning to take a toll on my mind and – consequentially – the remaining bit of sanity in its grasp. I couldn't act as a guardian to my crazy cousin andpay attention to every single one of my troublesome friends at the same time, let alone think straight.

Honestly! I was staring at the blue water, now, feeling absolutely dumfounded. This was an impossible situation for me to figure out! How the fuck had my cousin avoided bashing his skull on the hard bottom of that pool? Mitsukuni was short, but he wasn't thatshort – he should have been able to swim comfortably in this particular division of the pool without needing to stand on his tiptoes. Thus, Mitsukuni should be as dead as a doornail at this particular moment!

Upon further inspection of the various water levels, however, it occurred to me that the little sneak had actually chosen to dive into the deeper end of the pool. Mitsukuni was swimming happily in the section labeled for people capable of swimming in water that was about ten feet deep. And he had done it without my knowledge, too.

I bit back a dark growl of anger, trying to quell the almost overwhelming desire to jump into the water and strangle the small, blonde male. Inwardly, I'd already given in to this urge to murder my cousin in a black fit of rage, and my hands were wrapped around his thin neck, shaking him like a rubber chicken. I was perfectly calm on the outside, however, save for the twitching of my left eye. My training had instilled within me the patience of a lion that was calmly stalking his prey. That lion apparently had epilepsy, though.

Mitsukuni resurfaced yet again and began to wave at me, cheerfully calling, "Oh, wow! There's a whole school of yellow fish down here, Takashi!" He grinned, lifting a tiny fish up by its tail for my inspection; it appeared to have blue eyes. "Hey! This one looks like Sammy-chan!"

Oh, for the love of…! I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration and began cursing violently in the confines of my own mind. Damn him for being so fucking cute!

Finally, I managed to shove those thoughts aside and replied, "Ah…"

I smiled nervously at his excitement, sensing the beginning of a very long and arduous day. The Host Club had only been at this water park for about two hours; now, it was already too difficult for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I had a nasty feeling that something horrible was about to happen in the near future, as well. These surroundings were altogether unfamiliar, and there were at least ten people for me to consider, two of which were merely acquaintances. Sammy was acting very strange, too.

Oh, Kami. This was not going to end well.

***Author's Note***

This particular chapter focuses on Takashi's relationship with his cousin, in which we realize begin to realize that there is a bit of jealousy. The next one will focus on their love interests, too. :) I hope that you guys enjoyed it, despite the fact that it was short.

P.S. I am editing the current chapters of the "Past, Present, and Future" Arc, because there are some serious issues going on with the next chapter. And I was a little irked that Takashi was out of character, even if it was my intention to portray him that way. I'll update with a real chapter this weekend, though!