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She thought it was nearly time to go.

"So, after the sun goes down, we're supposed to have a bonfire on the beach," a girl said as she passed by her and Kotone. Kagome's face lost some of its' color.

"Yeah. And I hear there's going to be karaoke. Isn't that exciting?" the girl's friend giggled, making the miko groan and bury her face in her knees.

"Kagome-kun?" Kotone asked, putting a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I really was hoping that we were going home soon," the former time traveler muttered, lifting her gaze and settling it on the ocean. With the way the sun was setting, it looked as though the water was on fire. It was beautiful, and she never wanted to swim so badly.

"We have the whole day and night, though!" the brunette seemed surprised at the other senior's resistence. "I wish you had gone swimming with all of us. It was wonderful!"

"Yeah. I'm sure it was," Kagome sighed, turning her gaze to the girl next to her, "But you do realize that if I had gotten in the water, then my cover-up would have probably washed off."

"Your... Oh! For..."

"Yep."

"... I honestly forgot all about it," Kotone spoke quietly, a flush on her cheeks as she looked at the miko. Kagome had slipped up when getting dressed that morning. Kotone had seen the flash of red on her wrist and hadn't stopped asking until she'd been grudgingly shown the lotus tattoo.

A commotion drew their attention and they scrambled to their feet as three younger girls came running up to everyone else.

"Help!"

"It's Haruhi! He's in trouble!"

Kagome was immediately tense as she listened in.

"What happened!" Tamaki asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"We were up at the top of the cove watching the sunset, and these drunk boys tried to make us-!"

The miko didn't need to hear anymore; she took off like a shot, with Honey, Mori, and Tamaki close on her heels.

"Wait, Kago-chan! You shouldn't go!" She ignored the tiny blonde senior and pushed herself faster. She needed to get there! She couldn't let that innocent spark in Haurhi be tainted! The boys were surprised at how quickly she moved, but froze when they saw the boys hassling the small disguised girl.

Kagome hissed angrily as her fists clenched, then took two steps closer before she was physically restrained by Mori as he grabbed her arm.

"Why don't you go for a swim!" one of Haruhi's antagonizers growled as he shoved her over the edge of the cliff. She screamed, and in the split second of horror, the other girl in their group reacted and dove for her younger classmate, following her over the side.

"Haruhi!"

"Kago-chan!"

The two girls crashed into the water, tumbling with the tide for a moment before Kagome was able to re-orient herself and snag Haruhi's arm to drag her to the surface. They broke the surface and gasped, paddling against the current as they floated there.

"Haruhi! Kagome-sempai! Are you two okay?!" they heard Tamaki yell from the top of the cove and began to make their way to the shore.

"We're fine, sempai! We're heading to the beach!" Haruhi shouted, slipping under the water for a second until Kagome jerked her back up for air.

"Listen to me. Can you swim?"

"A little," the brunette answered, struggling to stay up, "but not very well."

"Okay. I want you to relax completely. I'm going to loop my arm over you and pull you with me back to shallow water," the senior girl explained carefully, wrapping an arm around the petite brunette and propelling them back to shore. She took absent notice of the boys congregating on the beach; once they made it into the shallows, several pairs of hands pulled the two girls out of the water, voices blending together in concern as they were fawned over needlessly.

"Okay! That's enough! Back off!" Kagome snapped, shoving her long hair out of her face and throwing it over her shoulder. It had come undone at some point and was plastered all over her. Glancing at her wrist, she scowled at the make up that had worn off and made sure to hide it. The last thing she wanted was for these idiots to think she was injured or something.

She was wrapped in an extremely exuberent hug from a tiny blonde. A second later, she felt a large hand land on her head. "W-What the hell! Get off me!"

"We're real proud of you, Kago-chan!" Honey exclaimed, smiling up at the miko. "You didn't attack those guys!"

The girl blinked slowly in comprehension. Her first instinct had been to go after Haruhi...

"Good for you," Mori murmured, rubbing her hair and giving her a small rare smile. She snorted and shoved his hand away as she disentangled herself from the smaller senior. Huffing in annoyance to cover up the fact that she was embarrassed, she smoothed down her soaked dress pointlessly and moved to check on Haruhi as she was being scolded by Tamaki.

"I was just doing what I could. It doesn't matter that they were guys and I'm a girl!"

"Are you serious?!"

"That's enough! Both of you!" the older girl rationalized, pushing the two away from eachother and stepping in the middle. She turned to Tamaki and pinned him with a 'Look'. "Don't start that sexist crap. She did what she could in that situation." She then moved on to Haruhi and continued, "and you should have considered your own safety. People would have really worried if you had gotten hurt, Fujioka-san. Don't ever do something so reckless again!"

"Yeah, Haru-chan. We were really worried."

Big brown eyes stared at the group of boys in muted shock. "... Really?"

"You caused quite a commotion, Haruhi," Kyoya spoke up quietly, tipping his glasses back up his nose. "We had to send all the girls back to their hotel. We also took the licenses of the young men and asked them politely to leave."

"Wait-! What?" Kagome gasped, staring at the Ootori boy as though he'd grown a second head.

"The girls were quite distraught," the dark-haired boy shrugged, folding his arms across his chest, "It only made sense to get them back into a safe environment."

"But... What about me?! What the hell am I supposed to do?!" the miko growled, snagging the collar of his shirt and dragging him down to her level. Furious blue met cool grey in a battle of wills.

"You could just-" Hikaru started.

"-stay with us," Kaoru finished as they both shrugged simultaneously.

"Absolutely not," the senior countered immediately, holding her arms in an X across her body. "There's no way in hell!"

"It won't be so bad, Kago-chan!" Honey mused cutely, tilting his head. "You could have dinner with us!"

Kagome scowled and opened her mouth, however, Tamaki interrupted. "A perfect idea for the brave noble lady that saved our beloved secret princess!" As much as she tried to argue against the idea, she was hauled off back to the place the boys were staying, wrapped up in an enormous beach towel to keep her warm.

She had no idea what was going to be in store for her.

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