Disclaimer: I do not own HYD or any of its characters, but if I did ooh laa laa.

Chapter 14: Surprise kidnapping

"I don't know," I muttered under my breath.

Haru hugged me closer to his body not wanting to let me go, but I was thrust back into the reality of the situation. All I could think about was Doumyouji and the troubles that lied in our relationship. I could never go through that again. It was all too fast.

I struggled out of his arms and stood in front of him breathing heavily. My face was completely flushed and my heart pounding through my chest. "I'm sorry, but I just don't know." Tears began to run down my cheeks. I watched his gentle face looking at me with understanding. I couldn't bear with all this. It was too much to handle right now. I bolted out of the room with my hair flailing around my face sticking to the tears that flowed like a never- ending river. I kept running and running until my legs could no longer move. I fell to the ground huddled into a ball wanting to be swallowed up by the earth hidden from sight. What was this feeling? Shame for having betrayed Doumyouji or desire to love Haru?

I sat on the ground shivering watching the leaves dance across the cobblestone pathways. Did he really say what I thought he said? I closed my eyes remembering those words he managed to whisper to me as I ran past him, "I'll wait for you as long as it takes."

*******

The next morning I awoke with an earth shattering headache. I spent the entire night tossing and turning over what to do.

"Oneesan! Wake up!" Susumu screamed running into the room ripping the covers off of me exposing my face.

"What the?!" I screamed pulling my pillow over my head to hide my eyes from the cruel sunlight. "Why are you waking me up so early?! School's off for a week!"

Susumu plopped onto the ground next to me trying to pry my fluffy pillow out of my clenched fingers. "I know that's why you have to get up. I have a surprise!" he whispered to the pillow. He got up and walked over to my closet pulling out a simple lavender slip dress and tossed it on top of me. "You have fifteen minutes before the car arrives."

"Car?" I asked. Finally giving up to my own curiosity I pulled the pillow from my face. I looked around the room and realized Susumu was already gone. I picked up the dress he had thrown onto my bed and undressed. I looked at my thin body in front of the mirror. The tan and healthy extra weight I had put on from the summer had dissolved quickly this last month. I pulled the dress over my head wiggling a little to let it drop over my shoulders down the rest of my body. It was strange that it fit much better at the time I bought it, I thought to myself. I looked at the girl in front of me. My eyes were becoming sallow from all the nights of crying. Dark bags had formed underneath them, and my skin had lost its usual healthy glow. What was it about this girl that Haru and Doumyouji could ever love?

"I see you're ready" Susumu yelled from the doorway. His eyes roamed from my head to my toes. "Perfect." He walked in and offered his arm to me. "Shall we be going madam?"

I wrapped my arm into his and walked out the house wondering what surprise my little brother had concocted this time. He was always finding new ways to surprise me. We stood out in front of our building while Susumu eagerly looked towards the end of the street. "So what is this great surprise you have planned anyway?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"You'll see" he excitedly grinned. "There it is!" He released his arm from mine and ran back into the apartment disappearing for a few moments.

I watched the familiar car approaching wondering who it could be. It was unusual to see a car like that one our street. Most people were quite poor in our area and it was a rarity to see any car drive down our narrow street. It came closer and closer. The care came to a stop a few feet away from me. I tried to sneak a peek at who was inside, but couldn't see passed the tinted windows. The doors opened and two people stepped out.

"Kazuya?! Yuki?!" My eyes lit up at seeing them. "What are you two doing here?"

"Surprise!" three voices screamed.

"Surprise? What's going on?"

Susumu came stumbling out of the building from behind me carrying two large suitcases under his arms. He dropped the heavy items onto the ground with a thud and turned to me. "You're being kidnapped!" He pushed me from behind into the waiting car. And slammed the door before I could protest. It's been along time since you've had some fun, after everything that happened. I thought it would be nice for you to go on a little vacation. You're getting too skinny and pale for me. You need some sun and fun.

"Where am I going?!" I screamed rolling down the window. I jiggled the knob to open the door, but Susumu pressed his entire weight against the door blocking me from opening it. "Wait! I can't go anywhere. I have to go to work this week!"

"It's already been taken care of Tsukushi," Yuki smiled as she got into the car from the other side sitting down beside me in the back seat. "I talked to our boss and explained how you needed some time off. She said it would be fine."

I looked at Yuki the co-conspirator to my kidnapping in shock. "Yuki, you were in on this too?"

"Sorry, but Susumu does have a point. You haven't been yourself lately. Just relax and let us take over." Yuki pulled me away from the door and strapped me with the seatbelt.

"This is for your own good!"

"Fine. If Yuki is coming with me too then I guess it's ok." I sighed giving up leaning back in the seat in resignation. "Wait, what about clothes? And where are we going?"

Susumu stepped aside and let Kazuya open the door to get in. Thus, I was sandwiched into the back seat between Kazuya and Yuki.

"I've already planned ahead for you. I packed all the clothes you will need on your mystery trip. You'll just have to wait and see where I'm sending you." Susumu wagged a finger at me grinning mischievously. "By the way thanks Kazuya for helping me set this up!" He grabbed Kazuya's hand and shook it rigorously causing Kazuya to wince a little at the force of Susumu's grip. "See ya later, oneesan!"

With a slap on the car hood we were off. I turned around to look out the window. Susumu was still standing there grinning like an idiot at being able to pull off his plans. As I settled into the seat beside Kazuya and Yuki I just stared ahead wondering what new adventure lay ahead. At this point anything seemed better than spending the next week working at the dango shop and agonizing over my boy problems. I watched the car whiz past the busy streets of Tokyo pulling onto the bridge out of the city. As the scenery slowly changed to mountains and trees my eyes became heavy and I drifted off to sleep dreaming about the many possibilities of our destination.

*****

"Tsukushi!" Kazuya giddily whispered into my ear rousing me from my slumber.

I drowsily opened my eyes and stretched my arms out in front of me. I looked around realizing the car had finally come to a stop.

At the same time Yuki awoke. She raised her head dreamily from my shoulder. "We're here?!" she excitedly squealed perking up right away.

Kazuya opened the door and put out his hand to escort me out. "Close your eyes."

I placed my hand in his and stepped out of the car closing my eyes waiting to see what exotic place I could be in. Kazuya lead me forward a few steps. Yuki stood on the other side of me with her hand on my shoulder. I could feel the soft cool breeze hitting my face. There was the sound of seagulls flying overhead. There was a sweet smell to the air that seemed so familiar.

"Ok. Now you can open them." Yuki said.

I opened my eyes. My jaw dropped. "It's beautiful," I uttered under my breath. I stood on a peak overlooking the most breathtaking view I had ever seen. Stretching for miles and miles ahead of me there was nothing but the crystal clear waters of the ocean. The water was so clean and clear you could almost trace the colors of the fishes' glimmering scales reflecting hues of all shades creating a rainbow under the sea. I looked down at the glitterinh grains of tan sand left completely untouched. The tides crashed against the rocks beneath us sending short sprays of cool seawater into our faces.

Yuki grabbed my arm and turned me to the side. She raised her arm and pointed at something in the distance. 'That's where we'll be staying."

I looked towards the spot her finger was pointing towards. It was exquisite. The building looked like one of those beach resort mansions you only saw in the magazines. It was massively huge and appeared extremely elegant and expensive.

"Come on we should go check in," Kazuya said breaking the silence.

We walked back to the car and I excitedly anticipated out arrival. The car pulled up the winding circular driveway stopping in front of the steps leading to two large double doors manned by servants. I stepped out of the car hoping this was not all a dream. Yuki grabbed my hand and gave me a reassuring little squeeze acknowledging that it indeed was all true. Kazuya walked ahead of us and took care of checking in while the bellhops grabbed our bags to lead us to our rooms.

"Everything's set. Here are your keys ladies." Kazuya dangled a shiny silver key in front of me with the number 10 on it.

I followed the bellhop to my room glancing all around me at my surroundings with wide eyes. It was a really posh place we were staying at. I looked at the wall noticing a painting. It was a Monet. I took a deep breath wondering how I was ever going to be able to pay for all this or had Kazuya paid for it all. It didn't matter because I would never accept all this from him. I would just pay him back as soon as we got back to Tokyo. We finally reached the room with the large number 10 on the door. The bellhop swung open the door leading me in. I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun around.

"Tsukushi, I'm going to settle into my room, but I'm just next door if you need me."

"Yeah my room is just down the hall. How about we meet in half an hour and we'll hit the beach!" Kazuya cheered.

I stood alone in my room dumbstruck. The room was huge. As I walked further in I could smell the cool salty breeze drifting into the room. I followed the trail of wind blowing into the room and stood in front of the large, open glass doors. The transparent curtains blew towards me rising in waves up in the air. I stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the entire beach. "Thank you Susumu," I whispered to myself. I stood outside leaning against the railing listening to the calm roar of the waves feeling the warm sun hit my pale face.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I reached into my purse and pulled out my cell phone. The screen lit up 'Susumu'.

"Hello."

"Yo oneesan. I hope you've arrived already. So were you surprised? I was hoping Kazuya and Yuki wouldn't spill the truth."

"I just got to my room. Thank you Susumu." I could hear my voice beginning to crack on the verge of crying. I couldn't contain my happiness anymore as tears began to well up in my eyes.

"It was nothing," Susumu muttered on the other line.

"But how can we afford this?! Don't tell me you asked Kazuya to pay for all this. I can't accept that!" I screamed into the phone wondering where he got the funds to pay for such an expensive trip.

"Ooowwww..You're hurting my ears. Don't worry I've taken care of everything. Let's just say a friend of mine owns a few resorts all over Japan and he was able to pull some strings for me. All I have to do is do his homework for the next 6 months," he quickly blurted out.

"What?!" You shouldn't have agreed to that! You have your own work to do and now your going to take on someone else's!" I screamed holding the phone up to my face.

The line crackled from Susumu's end. "Doo Doo Doo. I'm sorry the number you have called has been disconnected. Please try again," Susumu said in perfect English. I could hear his laughs over the other end.

"Hey! Don't pretend you're not there!"

Click.

"Idiot!" I smiled to myself. Susumu had really put a lot of effort into planning all this from what I could see. I must really look terrible if he went through all this trouble. I spread my arms over my head reaching up to the heavens above.

After about 20 minutes passed I quickly dragged one of the heavy suitcases onto the bed unzipping it to see what clothes my little brother had picked out for me. I prepared myself for the worst wondering what he could have picked out. On top of the pile there was a note written in marker with the large words: "Have some faith in my choice of clothing. P.S. Yuki came over and watched me the entire time so don't worry. -Susumu"

Looking at his crudely written note in a chicken scratch handwriting I burst out laughing. It had been a long time since I had felt this good to laugh. Susumu really knew how to cheer me up. I slammed the suitcase closed and looked at my watch. It was already noon and I was supposed to meet Yuki and Kazuya. I took one last look around my room and something caught my eye. I had already found the closet and bathroom, but there was another door.

It must be to the adjoining room. Wait Yuki's room is next to mine so we must have adjoining rooms. How convenient. A devilish grin spread over my face. I thought it would be funny if I scared Yuki by popping through the door. Feeling euphoric I slowly turned the knob to the door opening it a crack. BOOM! I kicked the door open and jumped through the doorway screaming, "YUKI!"

"AAHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I fell to the ground with a loud thud. Sitting in a chair looking out towards the view was someone who definitely wasn't Yuki.