Chapter 13

Ritsu awoke with a start, eyes darting around until he was sure he was safe and okay. He could hear both Mori and Honey snoring softly and he sighed, pulling himself to sit up, looking over at the two sleeping bodies. He was never a good sleeper, even before this crisis but that had to have been the longest he'd slept since this had started. Letting his hair down, he ran his fingers through those red tendrils before pulling it back up into a ponytail once more, sliding from his futon and folding it carefully. Placing it out of the way, he made his way into the living room where the others were still sleeping.

"Morning Ritsu" Ranka smiled as he fussed around in the kitchen "would you like some coffee?"

"Yes please… what time is it?" Ritsu yawned, stretching as he wandered into the kitchen.

"Oh just gone seven… you're the first one up" Ranka beamed, though that friendly smile turned to a somewhat mischievous one "which is a good thing, it means we can have a little chat!"

"A chat…?" Ritsu blinked as Ranka handed him a cup of coffee before dragging him down the hallway.

Once they were inside Ranka's bedroom, Ranka closed the door and eyed Ritsu.

"Sit" he pointed to the chair at the dressing table.

Like it was some odd inbuilt reflex, Ritsu immediately sat his ass down in the chair, eyes wide and unblinking and Ranka began to pace back and forth a little.

"What are your intentions with my darling Nanako?" he spun to face Ritsu, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Uhh… what do you mean?" Ritsu was confused… what had given Ranka the idea that he had intentions towards Nanako?

"Don't give me that!" Ranka eyed him "I have seen the way you keep an eye on her, the way you watch her with protective undertones… so I'll ask again… what are your intentions with my darling Nanako?"

Ritsu blinked a little and then it clicked, his face turned cherry red "I… uh…"

Ranka grinned, chuckling softly "I knew it… I knew it! You like her don't you?"

There was a slow nod of Ritsu's head, enough confirmation for Ranka who laughed a little before giving Ritsu a pat on the shoulder.

"You know… you aren't like the insect" of course he meant Tamaki "you actually have a level head and are capable of keeping Nanako out of harm's way… despite your upbringing"

It was really no secret that Ritsu was yakuza, pretty much anyone who knew his last name was Kasanoda knew he was yakuza.

"T-thanks?" Ritsu blinked, unsure if that was a good thing or not.

"You also respect her… you don't call her by her first name even though you are friends! Ah! It warms my heart!" Ranka swooned "does she know you like her?"

Ritsu shook his head "no… she doesn't… I don't think so anyway…"

"You should tell her!" Ranka nodded.

"Oh no… nono… I am not opening that can of worms right now. It's not the time for that" Ritsu shook his head faster now and it was a wonder how he didn't give himself whiplash.

"Why not? Would you rather her never know? Or worse… confess to her on your deathbed… the worst that can happen is she says she doesn't feel the same, that she values your friendship over anything else" Ranka shrugged.

That whole little speech there had Ritsu remember what happened in the school with Sakamoto… how he'd harboured his feelings for Nanako for so long and was left with no choice but to confess on his deathbed. It made Ritsu shudder… no he couldn't leave it until he was dying to tell her.

"Maybe when we aren't all living on top of each other" Ritsu decided "no offence Ranka, you have a nice home but if she is going to reject me, I'd rather it be when we're somewhere where we all have our own spaces to retreat to"

"That's fair" Ranka nodded "but, listen to me carefully Ritsu. If you confess and she returns your feelings, don't go breaking that girl's heart. Just because you might be some yakuza's son and that carries weight, doesn't mean I won't come for you… do you understand?"

Ranka could be so goddamn scary sometimes.

"I understand Ranka. I do" Ritsu nodded firmly, pushing his nerves down to appear calm and collected about the situation.

"Good" Ranka's face broke out into a friendly smile once more "now, let's go back out there, drink our coffee's and wait for the others to wake up so we can decide what to have for breakfast"

Slowly but surely everyone aside from Kyoya and Honey had woken up. Of course, Tamaki had risen first, only to end up sulking in the corner because Ranka kept referring to him as an annoying insect that buzzed incessantly. When Nanako had surfaced in her pyjamas, Ritsu had gone red and made some excuse before going to the window to look out over the parking lot of the apartment buildings.

"What's up with Kasanoda?" Nanako asked as she watched him retreat.

"Not a clue" Ranka answered, smirking softly as he turned to start looking through the cupboards "how does porridge sound?"

Murmurs of agreement passed through the group, so Ranka got to work on the porridge, while Haruhi set about making tea and coffee for everyone.

Once breakfast was over and done with, it apparently was time to talk about plans for what to do next. Ranka was the one that breached the subject of an upgrade to their current living quarters which surprised Nanako and Haruhi, since she and Nanako had been talking about that last night. Of course, Ranka was going off what Ritsu said but making it seem like it was his idea. He'd had a feeling maybe Haruhi wouldn't want to leave now she was home and especially without him so for him to bring it up, made it look like it was his choice and that he wasn't being made to leave, or deciding to stay. Not that he was being made to do anything of course… it was just to keep Haruhi from worrying.

The conversation turned to who's home would be better to take up shelter in but that came to a bit of a standstill. None of them had a home that could be secured and monitored with so few people, that is until Nanako remembered about her families second home that her father had purchased specifically for when his mother and relatives came to visit. As much as Nanako's father loved his mother and his other relatives, he also liked not having them under his feet so he'd bought them a house of their own to stay in. It was located at the top of a hill, sported seven bedrooms all with en suites, two bathrooms, a large kitchen, a living room, dining room, games room, two offices and a nuclear bunker at the bottom of the hill… and all of it was surrounded by a ten foot tall wall with heavy gates.

With that decided, they began to pack up their supplies, with Haruhi making sure to pack her clothes even though Nanako assured her there would be plenty of clothes for everyone at the second home. Once they were packed, they crept from the apartment back to the bus, where Ritsu replaced the spark plugs and off they went.

Nanako's POV

I knew it wasn't going to be a short ride, not since the estate was on the other side of Ota city… but I knew once we got there things would be okay… wouldn't they? Ranka had decided to take over the driving because he couldn't bear to let Mori ruin his life by getting caught driving without a licence. Not that it mattered now the country had gone to shit!

Last thing we'd heard on the television was that cases were popping up all over the country, which considering the origin of the disease had been Kosai laboratories, it didn't look good for the pharmaceutical industry in Japan right about now… It seemed likely someone had messed up and sent a bad sample out to all the laboratories across the country that deal in the same thing… or at least that was my theory on it… I wasn't sure if I believed that it could spread as quickly as it had by only human transfer.

"So how long is it going to take to get to the estate?" Tamaki asked, peeking over his seat at me.

"Well, it's on the other side of Ota city but given how the roads are… we are probably going to be in the bus for a while" I sighed softly, sinking down in my seat.

From Haruhi's house to the estate should only take an hour tops but with the current climate and the detours we'd likely have to take, I had a feeling it was going to be a couple of hours at least until we got there, providing nothing went wrong.

Twenty minutes later…

You know how I said it would all be okay providing nothing went wrong? Well maybe I should have kept that thought out of my head.

"So what's wrong with it?" I asked, stepping off the bus to where Ritsu was poking around under the hood.

"I have no idea" he continued poking around, not looking up.

"Great" I exhaled slowly before heading back onto the bus.

We had literally been driving for all of twenty minutes before Ranka had noticed smoke was coming out from under the hood. Of course that was deemed problematic enough for us to pull off the main road and down an alley where we were at least somewhat hidden away so that Ritsu could take a look since he was the only one who really had any experience fixing vehicles.

"Guys we need to prepare to continue on foot" it wasn't the news I wanted to give them but it was looking more and more likely that we'd have to keep moving without the minibus.

"You can't be serious" Ranka spoke up "you do realise how long it would take to walk there from here… don't you?"

"Yes… I am aware" I rubbed my face "but unless Kasanoda manages to figure out what's wrong with the bus or we find another vehicle big enough for all of us… we won't have much choice"

We'd gotten lucky with the minibus in the first place and I really wasn't stupid enough to think that our luck would keep on being the good kind forever.

Flopping down in a seat near the front, I watched as Kyoya moved outside to talk with Ritsu and Honey and Mori followed behind, weapons in hand. Good, Ritsu needed people to guard him while he tinkered with the bus. Tamaki was talking with Haruhi and the twins with Ranka hovering over them like an over protective mother hen, ready to strike down Tamaki if he dared do or say anything that he deemed inappropriate.

Peering out of the bus window, I began my visual search for another vehicle. There were plenty of cars lining the street, a motorbike, a scooter, a couple of bicycles but nothing that could hold all of us. If the bus couldn't get fixed we were going to have to split up and meet at the house… at least we had enough drivers between us that we wouldn't have to move on foot.

Normal POV

Half an hour passed, yet Ritsu couldn't find out why the bus wouldn't start without smoking all over the place.

"I think it's time we look at another vehicle" Kyoya spoke up, the group gathered by the bus door.

"Yea" Ritsu agreed "the bus is done for" he brushed his hands down his jeans and shut the hood.

"Okay so, there are a couple of cars nearby… and a motorbike" Nanako looked around the group "looks like we won't be travelling together… so we should check if the vehicles work and pick who we want to travel with"

One of the cars had the keys in the ignition, the other had the keys sitting on the floor of the car, and the motorbike keys were in the lockbox on the back which had a helmet inside. Ranka decided he would take Haruhi and the twins with him in one car, Mori would take Honey, Tamaki and Kyoya, which left Ritsu and Nanako to take the motorbike.

Ranka turned the keys in the ignition and the car rumbled to life "Looks like this one is okay!" he called out.

Mori got the other car started just as Ritsu fired up the motorbike.

"Okay guys" Nanako spoke up "as we discussed we can't all move together, three vehicles would draw too much attention… so good luck… and I hope to see you soon… group hug?"

Nanako held her arms open as they all moved into a rather squishy group hug before they moved to load supplies into their respective rides.

With one last look, Nanako slid the helmet on and climbed onto the bike, watching as Ritsu stuffed a helmet he'd found in the road onto his head and they were off, pulling away from the rest of the group. She wrapped her arms around Ritsu's waist and held on as they began to pick up speed.

It was easier to navigate the roads on a motorbike, and as such they didn't need to make that many detours at all. They managed to glide through gaps between cars and were making excellent time. The others in the cars? Not so much.

Ranka was on his fifth detour and he was grumbling about it, while Mori had ended up having to drive around the longer route which was rife with displaced vehicles.

Something all of them had noticed was the level of zombie activity as they moved through the city centre. It was as if there was some kind of weird force bringing them here… could it be because the population here was higher, or was it the lights?

Ritsu and Nanako were the first to arrive, Nanako using the key code at the entrance for the big heavy gates to slowly creak open. Once they'd made the short drive up to the house, Ritsu wheeled it over to the garage and stowed it away for the moment.

"Looks like we are the first ones here… Ranka and Mori said they'd radio when they got here so we could let them in" Nanako smiled, digging a set of keys from her bag "let's go wait inside…"