~Chapter Forty Three~

Friends, Foes, and Frenemies

Pretty please,
I know it's a drag.
Wipe your eyes and put up your head.
I wish you could be happy instead.
There's nothing else that I can do,
but love you the best that I can.

I know that it's hard to be stuck
With people that you love,
When nobody trusts.

I've been there, alone, and now so are you…

~ Darlin', by Avril Lavigne

Disclaimer: Me No Own; You No Sue.

The Twins, however, appear to share in my unvoiced opinion, which remains that –

"Her reactions differ greatly from that of normal girls," Kaoru muttered, his tone of voice annoyed and less calm than usual. Unnerved, Hikaru only nodded and rested his head against his back, which relaxed faintly beneath the familiar touch of his brother. He sighed, "Yeah, I know what you mean…"

– Haruhi is pretty weird.

Ever the Dramatic Host Queen, Tamaki flinched at the implications, all of which pointed to the fact that his daughter was a Strong and Hardy Tomboy. He grimaced, fairly disgusted with the manliness of his not-so-secret love interest, and whined, "Is Haruhi-chan not afraid of anything at all?"

A single lightbulb flickered to life in the fading sunlight, which Hikaru and Kaoru used to cast deceptive shadows around the mischievous edges to their Cheshire Cat Grins. "My Lord," The Twins exclaimed, their arms wrapped around the confused Host King. "Wanna join in on our new game?"

To which I could only sigh.

"Here we go again…"

Sammy's P.O.V.

"This game is incredibly sick!"

My pale face scrunched upwards, lifting into a small but noticeable mask of disgust, which I portrayed with all of the grace, expertise, and femininity of Pansy Parkinson. To be honest, I agreed wholeheartedly with Tamaki the Terrified – this game was sick! It was sick, disgusting, and downright despicable! Seriously! No one should willingly search out the fear of another person, especially when the person in question was their friend! The Twins loved Haruhi!

Why, then, would the redheaded devils want to hurt her…?

For once in his miserable life, Tamaki could claim to be correct. The Frenchman, with all of his airheaded tendencies, was actually smart enough to read between the lines and understand that the point of this particular gamewas incredibly cruel. He was completely against the idea of harming his crush and positively refused to participate in a game in which Haruhi could be mentally disturbed by their quest for her fear, which only I knew to be Ceraunophobia.

"Yeah, I guess so," Hikaru agreed, before reluctantly turning around again. He slowly walked back towards the empty white beach chairs, where I secretly waited with narrowed blue eyes, wondering just what the two redheaded devils were up to right now.

To his left, however, Kaoru smirked at some unspoken realization and gently nudged his older brother in the ribs to catch his attention. "You do know what is said about friends, though…" A hint whispered in the air when Kaoru mused, "…right, Hikaru?"

After glancing in the direction that caught the attention of his brother, Hikaru nodded slowly. "A girl will only show her weaknesses to close friends." His lips pulled upwards into his trademark smirk, the evil smile identical in mischievousness to his brother, and then Hikaru drawled, "But you are in the dark about her fears, too, so…"

In unison, Hikaru and Kaoru shrugged their slender shoulders when Tamaki flinched in shock, clearly amused by the prospect of being able to crawl beneath his skin this easily – and with only words for weapons, too! Cheshire Cat Grins were sharp, bright, and evil in the brightness of the sunshine streaming down from in between the sparse collection of white clouds above. Slowly, Hikaru and Kaoru turned to smile at Tamaki. The Twins positively reeked of mischief, I noticed, and this made me wary.

Tamaki, on the other hand, eagerly awaited their next words, which were –

"…you're not really her friend, then, are you?"

Facepalming, I scowled in distaste, my right eyebrow twitching openly at this blunt insult and subsequent blow to the pride of the very emotional and flamboyant Frenchman; Tamaki might never recover. What the fuck do Hikaru and Kaoru think that this act of idiocy is going to accomplish?

"How dare you…!" Tamaki yelped, mouth dropping open at this offense. He paused, internally debating with himself about the ill nature of the game in direct comparison with his morals, but knowing that this could be his chance to get closer to Haruhi. Sweat collected in little beads along his brow.

Finally, Tamaki swallowed his pride, which neared perhaps the hundreds of thousands of millions of gigabytes in size, and stuttered, "W-w-what shall the rules be for your game?"

Invisible flames of fire leaking from between parted pink lips, I snarled in anger. Mein Gott, I can't believe him! The nerve of these idioten, wanting to hurt Haruhi! Meine kleine Schwester! I growled, hissed, and rampaged towards Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki, known forevermore to me as The Three Stooges. I'll kill 'em! Just you wait…!

As one entity, Hikaru and Kaoru twirled back around, their heels spinning in the sand. Hikaru placed both hands to his slender hips, fingers scrunched around the red waist of his swim trunks, while Kaoru played with the stings of his black and blue shorts. "That's the spirit, My Lord!"

Propping his hip outwards and against his brother, Hikaru grinned widely at the King of the Host Club. He examined his thin wrist, glancing at an imaginary watch, and loudly declared, "Our game ends tomorrow, at sunset!"

Kaoru crossed his arms around his lightly muscled chest, nodded firmly in agreement with the deadline created by his counterpart, and then explained, "The first to figure out her weakness wins the game!"

"What of the prize…?" I growled from directly behind the Twins, standing there like the Creeper from Minecraft.

Yeah, Hikaru and Kaoru looked about ready to jump right out of their skin now. Neither realized that I'd slowly slithered from my chair, down the beach, and right behind the bickering Host Club, it seemed. Served the little sneaks right, too! I was going to rip 'em apart! Zombie Apocalypse is here! BEWARE!

As if feeling the malicious intent hidden behind this question, Hikaru and Kaoru paled, beautiful oriental skin becoming a pasty yellow in color. Hikaru twitched; Kaoru gulped. The Twins, as one, glanced backwards and hesitantly muttered, "Uh…"

Glasses flashed in the sunlight, which warned the masses of the impending arrival of the dreaded Shadow King. "I will provide the incentive, Sammy-senpai," Kyoya purred, his smile widening with the thought of adding to the general chaos of this unscheduled event.

My stomach clenched tightly in apprehension, and I frowned, carefully listening to the frightened warnings my instincts wished to scream out. Well, Kyoya is using my actual birth name now, just like Mitsukuni, which means…

Le gasp! The Schatten König wanted to manipulate us again! Oh noez…!

Ignoring the wary and thoughtful expression that glimmered in my eyes, which I used to glare at him, Kyoya cheerfully continued, "Allow me to offer these delightful pictures as a prize." He smiled.

The Shadow King flipped through the pile of glossy photographs that appeared mysteriously in his hands. He picked three in particular and lifted the prizes higher into the air, ignoring the fact that Tamaki was attempting to devour the photos with his violet eyes. He continually shifted the pictures in his hold, moving the collection from left to right to keep Tamaki from catching more than the quickest of glimpses. The Host King persistently tried, but failed miserably in the end, of course.

Me, though, I could tell that the pictures were older, from the time when Haruhi had long streams of beautiful chocolate brown hair. I observed each picture with interest, wanting to see more of the girl that I'd become so very close to in the last few months. In the first, Haruhi was wearing her sailor girl school uniform and brushing back several flyaway strands of her hair. She was wearing a gym shirt and dark shorts in the second, seemingly aiming to strike back the white volleyball tossed to her from another student.

What a surprise! Haruhi seems so sweet and happily oblivious in these pictures! I mused while glancing from the first photograph to the second, smiling gently to myself; then, I turned to stare up at the third picture.

In the last, I could just make out Haruhi, her back turned to the camera. She seemed to be happy, talking to her old friend from middle school – Arai, I think – and walking to her next class. The first two pictures made Tamaki smile, violet stare blank beneath his daydreaming. This picture, however, seemed only to upset and further incite Tamaki. He pouted when Kyoya deliberately shoved the picture into his face before whipping it away, as if to show his friend just what – or rather, who – would remain forever out of his reach.

Fujioka Haruhi…

Hands clenched tightly together, fingernails biting into my palms with the force of this reaction, I kicked at the sand. Damn Shadow King really knows how to rub people the wrong way! He was only doing this because Kiki refused to visit the beach with us! She liked messing with him and teased him whenever Haruhi, The Host Club, and I went to Simply Sweets, but Kiki positively refused to entertain the idea of dating/courting/whatever with Kyoya. Over the past month, Kyoya seemed to have fallen for her tough girl attitude and flirty charms, in spite of telling himself not to do so. As for Kiki…

She hated his guts.

As do I!

Just when I lurched forward to slug him for messing with the tender heart of his supposed best friend, I sensed another person near me, reaching down. He grabbed onto my shoulders, which continued to shake with anger, and gently curled his fingers under the straps of the bikini top I donned. As I realized that these hands belonged to Takashi, I did not flinch, scream, or move. However, I wished desperately to punch him, since Takashi was successfully preventing my escape – and thus the coldblooded murder of the Ootori Heir, too! Scheiẞe!

Another presence made itself known with little effort, letting others know that the person with these sneaky actions could only be the kickass ninja in the group. "Takashi and I want to play, too, Kyo-kun!" Naruto – I mean, Mitsukuni – loudly exclaimed, while clapping his hands together with glee.

My mouth dropped wide open.

He winked at me.

Oh…

"Traitorous fiends…!" I gasped out from between parted lips, hand to my mouth to cover my secretive smile, which paled beneath the supposed horror in my eyes. Pretended that I was an offended noblewoman, or some other such shit, I guess. Like Walburga Black!

Oblivious to this brief exchange, Kyoya smirked down at his black notebook, where our names, conversations, and various notes were written. He clicked his blue pen closed and brightly said, "Well then, I do believe that all members of the Host Club will be participating –"

Fucking Steve! Blue eyes glimmered with fire, lighting, and thunder. He knows how to be sweet to his friends, offering kind words and suggestions, but then the asshole pulls the rug right out from beneath their feet! My frown became more pronounced. What the fuck? Bitter Bastard! He needs to get laid! Lips pursed in a weird mix between a scowl and smirk, kinda like Frankenstein with PMS. Preferably by Kiki!

Snorting at this train of thought, I mock glared at Takashi and stiffly jerked both shoulders forward, removing his hands. My face dark with honest-to-God frustration, I huffed out in annoyance and harshly muttered, "Count me out, Shadow Weenie!"

Yeah! You heard right! I just implied that his manly parts were smaller than usual. What of it, Bitchez?

"You need not participate, Sammy-senpai," Kyoya easily said, his smile deceptively sweet and innocent as another sentence crawled out from between his sharp teeth – "We already know your (not so) secret fear, anyway."

Slowly, I glanced at him from amused blue eyes and permitted him the chance to glimpse into the intelligence that I buried beneath playful pranks, stupid questions, and social awkwardness, the latter of which happened to be real most of the time. He stilled for the briefest of seconds, making note of the emotions that burned around the edges of this higher-than-average IQ. I smiled slowly and leaned forward, bowing to acknowledge that I did indeed understand his words. Right this moment, however, I would not retaliate.

No, I would do that when Kyoya least expected it…

My eyes instantly locked to the figure in the distance, which stooped down to pick out another unlucky crustacean from the river of red and pink crabs beneath her feet, and I frowned. Kyoya continued to stare to me, suspicious of this distracted expression, and clicked his pen open. So, I casually smiled and pretended to head towards the bathroom – at the last moment, I veered to the left, changing my course. Only when Kyoya looked back to the others did I walk right up to the bottom of the cliffs.

"Hey, Haruhi-chan," I softly said, hoping to convey my seriousness with this calm tone of voice. My blue eyes glanced to her face, which carried the expression of surprise, obviously curious as to why I was – willingly– acting my age and not the size of the Converse that I liked to wear. "Can I have a second to speak with you in private?"

With her hands still glued to a momentarily stunned lobster, Haruhi inclined her head. She moved to place the crustacean in her plastic bucket, wiped her hands along the bottoms of her shorts, and politely asked, "What do you need to talk about, Sammy-chan?"

When I said and did nothing in way of explanation, Haruhi sighed and lifted her hands in the air, apparently frustrated with this stubborn silence. She stared straight at me, annoyed, and slowly drawled, "Yes…?"

I wanted to tell her, really I did, but I was afraid that Haruhi would not take me seriously, given that I always joked around and played pranks on people. While I did not prank Haruhi, I did like to tease her and confuse the younger girl with intricately worded riddles, jokes, and questions. I cringed. She would probably not believe me now. I mean, seriously! I was akin to The Girl That Cried Wolf! Like Horo, from Spice and Wolf. Without the tail, fur, or ears, anyway…

Finally, I steeled myself against her possible explosion, and hastily blurted, "Hika-chan and Ru-chan are currently planning to figure out your worst fear by tricking Tamaki-san into playing a game with the entire Host Club!"

Crickets chirped in the background, during which time I wondered why I could hear hundreds of chirping insects in the middle of the day, by the beach. Blankly, Haruhi stared at me, a small frown curling her lips downward. I stared right back at her. She blinked. I blinked. We blinked. Think: We are Siamese~!

Then, Haruhi snickered, clutching her stomach in amusement. "You expect me to believe that Hikaru and Kaoru, your partners in crime, are planning to prank me – " Here, Haruhi snorted with laughter and disbelievingly continued, " – without help from you, their beloved Onee-chan?"

Pink lips opening and closing in surprise, I hastened to find another good, honest explanation. I hesitantly stuttered, "Well, I…I just think that their game is mean…since I don't like others knowing my worst fear…and I…I didn't want you to get hurt…"

As if finally realizing that I might be telling the truth, Haruhi narrowed her chocolate eyes, and then groaned. She scowled, thoroughly irritated, and placed her hands to her hips, impatiently tapping her feet in the sand. "Why do Hikaru and Kaoru want to know what I fear?"

Shrugging to show that I did not know for certain, I honestly explained, "Um, I can only surmise the reason, but…" I pursed pink lips together in consideration and then grinned. "…I think that the purpose of this prank is only to convince Tamaki-san of his feelings for you!"

"…what?" Haruhi rhetorically asked, with her voice low and dark with anger, eyes narrowed in suspicion, expression carefully blank. She seemed calm enough, but I had the strangest feeling that I was about to kick out at an enraged Thorin Oakenshield…

"You know!" I flushed bright red beneath the scrutiny in her eyes, sensing that everything I said and did would be analyzed, and sheepishly mumbled, "Since Tamaki-san likes you and all, Hika-chan and Ru-chan wanted to help speed everything along by –"

"What I find interesting is that Hikaru and Kaoru know that I like him at all," Haruhi quietly interrupted, brown bangs falling into her eyes and effectively hiding her expression. She paused, turned to stare out at the ocean, and then asked, "How do Hikaru and Kaoru know that I like Tamaki-senpai in the first place, Sammy-chan?"

Nervously, I swallowed down the hysteria threatening to consume me whole. My dry lips appeared to crack beneath the heat of embarrassment burning my cheeks, and I admitted, "Well, Haruhi-chan…I, uh…I might have…told The Twins…that you're in love…with Tamaki-san?"

My normally composed best friend suddenly snapped. Her anger and pain shattered these walls of calm, much like the time that Tamaki copied her old school picture, made the image bigger, and then framed the final product. "Why, Sammy-chan?" Haruhi demanded, voice high, and with tears in her eyes. "I trusted that secret to you, and at the first chance you're given, you jump to tell the two best pranksters in the entire city!"

"Personally, I believe Hika-chan and Ru-chan to be the best pranksters in the entire country, but…" I hesitantly started but trailed off at the dark look in her brown eyes, which promised that I would most assuredly be dragged to nearest public toilet and then dunked, repeatedly, into the basin of filthy water.

"Sometimes, Sammy-chan," Haruhi softly muttered, her glare lessened by the glow of betrayal and defeat glimmering in their depths, "I really wonder why I'm friends with you…"

My heart stopped, refusing to start again for what seemed to be five minutes at least; I could not breathe through the shock of her words. The words whispered from her mouth, like when Haruhi and I visited the library together, but I could hear that one sentence – Sometimes, I really wonder why I'm friends with you – ringing in my ears. As if Haruhi screamed the words at me instead. As if Haruhi wanted the whole world to know. As if Haruhi hated me…

Turning from her, I desperately rubbed at my arms in the hopes of increasing my circulation, which slowed down to a cold trickle beneath the frost in her voice. I shivered, uncomfortably cold, though the sunshine continued to blanket the golden sand in heat and warmth. But I could not warm myself again. Panic flitted around in my veins, fueling the thoughts of what if? What if Hikaru and Kaoru decided to tell Tamaki? What if Kyoya discovered her feelings? What if Hikaru, Kaoru, Tamaki, and Kyoya really did discover her fear?

…what if Haruhi didn't want to be friends with me anymore?

Frightened, I glanced upwards to see my closest friend glaring at me, and I cringed, before hesitantly reaching out to her. God, I wanted her forgiveness. I would beg for it, really! So I desperately whispered, "Haruhi-chan, I'm sorry…" My voice cracked at the end.

She jerked backwards, standing much too far for me to reach her now, and stared straight at me, incredulous. "'Sorry' doesn't change the fact that you promised not to tell the others that I like Tamaki-senpai!" Face turned to the side, Haruhi sighed faintly, hugged her arms with all of her might, and quietly whispered, "It doesn't change the fact that you up and did it anyway, either."

With that said, Haruhi turned around to leave me alone and to the thoughts screaming inside, but I caught her left hand in both of mine, desperate to keep her here, with me. "Please, Haruhi!" I begged, forgetting the honorific in my scattered state of mind. I was much too busy trying to keep hold of the girl that I called Best Friend to notice the slipup. "I only wanted to help!"

"Leave me alone, Senpai!" Haruhi shouted, before forcefully pulling her hand out from between mine. It hurt my palm, but I would heal. Her use of that particular title, rather than the nickname I preferred, hurt far worse. "I don't need help from you! I don't want it! And I never will!"

Stunned at this almost violent reaction, I let my open palm drop down to swing at my side, useless and empty. "Haruhi, I…" My mouth moved to form the pleading words that I wanted to speak, to scream out – Please, Haruhi, I love you! We're best friends! You can't leave me – but nothing escaped.

She finally slowed down in her running, having traveled down half the beach in the span of only two minutes, but only to glare at me in disgust. Haruhi whispered three little words that I could not hear, but I could still make out the horrible sentence. You see, when I lived back at the old orphanage, I became frustrated because there were conversations there that I was not privy to without that skill. Over time, I learned the useful talent of reading lips, and became adept at hearing things that remained better off unsaid, like the words Haruhi just mouthed at me –

"I hate you!"

***Author's Note***

Okay, okay, okay! I know that this is mean. But I think that Sammy and Haruhi are at that stage where there needs to be a good old fashioned fight between friends! The two are very close and all, but there are pretty big differences between the two. Haruhi is usually more mature and certain of herself. Sammy makes mistakes all the time, which is why she accidentally let it slip to her brothers that Haruhi likes Tamaki! More on that in the next chapter... :)

P.S. THANKS FOR THE BUNCH OF REVIEWS! You all ROCK! :D

P.P.S. Can I have more...? Like 555 or so? PLEASE? PLEASE?

LOL. I'm tired...