Chapter 25: Surface Deep

"Ok. The principle is pretty simple; you jump off the tower into the water and voila! The thrills are provided. Any questions? No, good. Oh, and little miss, yeah, you, the brunette, you'll have to tie up your hair, otherwise you'll get scalped."

"Err, what did he say?" Tohru whispered into Yuki's ear, the worry in her voice evident.

"Tie up your hair." Yuki whispered back.

"But I don't have-" Kyo stuffed an elastic into Tohru's small hand forcefully, "oh, thank you," She responded gratefully.

"Don't thank me, thank that person." Kyo pointed at the hair band donator, "she gave it to me." Tohru turned to thank the lady Kyo had indicated, bowing gratefully as she did so but the lady shrugged her off, mumbling something along the lines of, "It's fine".

Where the majority of the group bustled to form some sort of line were the supervisors were, the three edged away towards the side of the structure. All around them was a dense leafy forest, spanning a good five kilometres and above a blue sky mimicking the colour of the lake far below.

Kyo's brow furrowed as he leaned dangerously over the edge, "we aren't really that high up are we?"

"umm," Tohru shuffled her feet nervously in response, "I-I think it's more than high enough."

Yuki slipped his arm around Tohru's waist and pulled her towards him, "Do not worry yourself Ms Honda, we can always go back down if you really want to."

Kyo scoffed, "Tohru's fine. You're the one that's freaking her out if ya ask me."

The firm grip around her waist disappeared and nervous laugh escaped Tohru's lips as the boys commenced their usual bickering, exchanging insults and trying to intimidate one another.

A scream came from the first person to jump, the fluro orange bungee cord unwinding as they fell. Thoru shuffled to the other side of the building to admire the scenery. She was genuinely surprised at how little the prospect of jumping off a rather high tower was actually scaring her and she was once again flooded by the thought of how much fun the rest of this trip was going to be. She smiled to herself as she listened to Kyo and Yuki argue about which of them should jump first or some such topic before closing her eyes and breathing in the smell of the rainforest below.

It was so peaceful just standing there, on the top of the world; the serene landscape proving the perfect place to get lost in thought. Eventually Thoru turned to find only Kyo, Yuki and herself left standing on the platform.

"Looks like it's your shot kitty," Yuki drawled, smiling sweetly at the scruffy, orange topped boy.

Kyo cracked his neck, smirking at his cousin competitively before marching over to the supervisor, "Ok mate, which way you wanna face?" they asked.

Kyo shifted uncomfortably "Uhhh, pardon?"

"You wanna fall forwards or backwards?"

"Oh, umm forwards."

I slight flush rose in Kyo's cheeks from sheer excitement and he tapped his fingers on his thighs impatiently as the bungee cord was secured around his waist. He glanced over his shoulder at the other two, smiling broadly.

"Uhh, good luck Kyo kun!" Tohru gushed joyfully, offering him a small, nervous wave. A brief salute was his only response before he was given the all clear and he disappeared off the edge of the tower.

"You ready?" Yuki asked, turning to face Tohru who nodded enthusiastically. She was about to wander towards the edge of the platform when Yuki planted a brief kiss on her cheek. Tohru could feel her face turning bright red as she smiled and avoided Yuki's gaze, stepping towards the spot from which Kyo had just jumped. She felt a lot more nervous now that she was so close to the edge and it was getting rather hard to breathe properly.

After the cord had been retrieved and Tohru safely harnessed in, she stood at the edge of the platform thinking, or more, trying not to think. Her heartbeat had elevated as well as her anxiety levels and the lake was beginning to look a lot further away than it had ten minutes ago.

The supervisor nodded encouragingly from her left side, "Whenever you're ready."

"Be careful Ms Honda." Yuki called from behind her as she turned to face him with a reluctant smile. It was now or never. She had to do this just to prove to herself that she wasn't afraid; that she could do anything. Her mother would have been so proud to see her doing such adventurous things. So it was with the image of her mother in her mind that Tohru took a deep breath and jumped forwards with her arms outstretched and her eyes closed.

The fall was exhilarating to say the least and it soon became clear why Kyo had wanted to do this so much. Tohru was helped into a boat waiting on the lake by a grinning Kyo and babbled about how glad she was that she had jumped and might even consider skydiving one day. Kyo listened intently as they watched Yuki fall backwards from the tower and the three of them were taken back ashore to get changed before taking the twenty-minute trip back to town.

. . .

They spent the rest of the afternoon in their hotel room playing with the various board games they found there (the most competitive being 'Ticket to Ride'. It had taken them a while to decipher the rules but it had been worth it – they had spent a whole hour and a quarter on their third game). Tohru made dinner as, although no one admitted it, they were all missing the taste of home.

Finally, the three companions settled on the couch and fell asleep in a jumble of limbs.

. . .

Tohru's eyes widened in wonder as the scene around her emerged more clearly. She was enveloped by a sense of such awe at the array of colours and different creatures around her, she didn't think she had ever seen such a vibrant place in her entire life. Everywhere she looked there was colourful coral and exotic fish drifting through the crystal clear ocean. The wetsuit felt smooth against her skin and the pale morning sun filtered through the water to spread light onto the magnificent rainbow below. Clownfish filtered in and out of jelly-like anemones and schools of yellowtail fish brushed against her side. She cocked her head at a parrot fish that was eating a cream coloured coral when suddenly she became aware that she had forgotten about breathing and rushed to bring her head above the water despite the fact that she was wearing a snorkel.

Sunlight flooded her eyes and, gasping, she looked around at the sea. The reef was not nearly as spectacular above the water; it looked as though a pale green filter had been put over it and removed all trace of the different colours.

Some five meters away, Kyo's head was bobbing above the water. He looked physically uncomfortable and very out of place in the open sea.

"Ah, Kyo kun," Tohru rushed over to him, "you simply must go under the water, it's so beautiful down there."

Kyo frowned, "Yeah, well you better take a good look at it before coral bleaching and shit kills the whole thing."

It was Tohru's turn to frown, "I didn't know you were interested in science."

Kyo looked rather alarmed at this and was quick to avert his gaze and stick his hand awkwardly behind his head, "Well if interested is the same as not entirely opposed to then yeah, I s'pose."

Tohru laughed at this but her mind was still churning over this new information. She knew for a fact that Kyo hated school and considered it a waste of time, but seeing as science (especially climate change science) was a rather rational thing to be concerned about it made sense that Kyo would see it as necessary.

"Come on," she said, taking his hand and pulling him out further into the reef, "you still do not get out seeing all the fish." Kyo groaned at this but still followed obligingly. "Ready?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he responded, pulling his goggles over his eyes and taking a deep breath. Together they dived under the surface.

. . .

The three's remaining time was spent walking through various rainforests in search of cassowaries, lazing on the sunny beach and taking several surfing lessons however it eventually became time to move on. Farewells were said to the hotel and the three caught a taxi to the bus station where they boarded the vehicle they would be calling home for the next twenty-six hours.

A/N:

Hey guys, long time no see. No apologies to give really because I really felt like I needed a break so I took one and now I'm back and hopefully this fic will get better, yay! Sorry though if I am a bit slow to get back into this/have spelling errors/actually have no idea of the storyline so far but *dramatic pause* please enjoy and, as always, read and review.

Thx!