rozielrie: That is an interesting theory... though, I'm gonna have to say no to that. They're not close enough to manage it. But I agree with you, it would be fun.
lumigo akvo9504: Yeah, I know... but I wanna be a lawyer, cooking's just a stress-reliever and for when I'm bored hehe. Happy you liked the chapter :).
Hey, I'm back! Sorry it took so long, but I didn't want to give you guys something crappy, so I decided it was better this way. So, for the ones who didn't read the note, I'll probably gonna start taking some more time to update, but I promise I won't drop this story. It won't be much longer than usual, but I'm asking for patience here. Sadly, life is real, and most of my time is taken by it.
When the boys got back to one of the Haninozuka's many vacacional places, Nagisa raised an eyebrow as Tamaki went directly to the phone in the living room, dialing some digits frantically, getting even more stressed when the other person didn't pick up the call.
"You're being pushy, Tamaki." Kyoya was sitting in one of the sofas, writing something down in his diary.
"Are you pushy Tama-chan?" Nagisa rolled her eyes when she heard Mitsukuni's comment. He was just using his cuteness to mock Tamaki without being too obvious again, wasn't he? And they said Kyoya was the worst...
"OK, what happened and where are Kaoru and Hikaru? You didn't lost them did you?" for a moment Nagisa didn't know if to feel stressed or relieved at the thought of them being missing. That would mean peace and calm, but knowing those two... well, she didn't want to receive a call from the local police to tell her they were in jail. It could happen.
"They're staying at Misuzu's." answered Kyoya, helpful as ever, and Nagisa frowned. Oh, well, she was sorry for Haruhi but there was no way Nagisa wasn't going to take advantage of that. Not Hitachiin brothers meant no pranks while she slept, and she was only happy to stay in the sidelines. So Nagisa only nodded and hummed in acknowledgement before sitting next to her black haired friend, trying to catch a glimpse of what he was writing now.
Nagisa was probably the one person Kyoya allowed to see the things he wrote in that notebook. It was mostly random information about people, like the things they did. There were also reminders for checking the Host Club's bills and numeric things Nagisa stayed out of. But there were also things like 'Tamaki want's to make a commoner theme' and then a list of what they would need. All the cakes Mitsukuni liked were clearly wrote down next to an address and a phone number. Nagisa's own favorite sushi place was circled in red, and Mori's kendo practices were written down so he would know when to expect him for Club hours. Everybody's schedules was neatly copied, so Kyoya knew were to program Club meetings, and he was already planning what they could do for the next break.
Kyoya could act like he was a cold bastard, but he cared, he truly did. That people didn't often give him the credit he deserved enraged Nagisa to no end.
"What are you doing?" hushed Nagisa, and Kyoya glanced at her for a second before resuming his task.
"I'm making sure we will have time to pick up Haruhi and the twins before going to the market. Tamaki wanted to go." Nagisa repressed an 'aaaaawwww', and instead just smiled and quickly pecked his cheek, not bothering to look at his disturbed expression as she stood up and walked up to Mitsukuni's lap, where she settled and curled in a ball. Mitsukuni only snickered lightly, and wrapped his arms around her before resuming his almost one-sided conversation with Takashi.
All the while, Tamaki was still trying to make whoever he was calling to pick up, but he still ended up unsuccessful.
"Were you calling Haruhi?" asked Nagisa after a while. Tamaki was currently sulking in a corner and growing mushrooms (he didn't listen when Kyoya told him it was rude to grow mushrooms in other's corners), but looked up at the mention of the girl. He gave the bluenette a tentative nod, and Nagisa laughed. "You're an idiot. She turned off her phone the first day of vacations, after texting me she would be unavailable for the summer break. She won't pick up the phone. Actually, I think she leaved it in Tokyo..." her comment only made Tamaki squeak and go back into the sulking corner.
"Tama-chan's just mad because Hika-chan and Kao-chan won the contest and got the room." Nagisa raised an eyebrow, but decided she didn't want to know. "And they told him Haruhi only had friends within her contacts. So when he wasn't there, he got mad... or sad... I don't know, his expression was pretty weird." Tamaki made another whimpering sound, and Nagisa laughed while Kyoya sighed. Takashi, as always, cracked the smallest of smiles.
After dinner (aka eating cake and some proteins Nagisa practically forced down his throat), Mitsukuni went directly to his room, without saying anything more elaborated than 'goodnight'. He was tired, and laying on his bed sounded pretty alluring at the moment. So he was so focused on changing into his pajamas to sleep he almost missed the lack of more bags in the room. His were the only ones there, waiting to be unpacked, in the middle of his bed.
Where were Nagisa's?
"Nagi?" he called out, and her response came from the hall outside the room. Moment's later, the bluenette entered the room, already wearing her pajamas. It was a pair of cloth shorts and a simple tank top, nothing fancy, but to Mitsukuni she looked as beautiful as ever... and hella hot, that too.
"You called?" she leaned on the door frame, making her hips look so tempting... Mitsukuni forced those thoughts out of his head.
'Pure thoughts, Mitsukuni. Think about cake, and Usa-chan, and how beautiful Nagisa's eyes are... and her mouth... and her as—PURE THOUGHTS!' as you can see, not an easy job when you were a hormonal eighteen year old guy with a beautiful girlfriend... that thing of having pure thoughts was actually hard.
'That's not the only thing that's ha—WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT PURE THOUGHTS?!'
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I... where's your stuff?" he asked, and Nagisa tilted her head, confused. Her things?
"Well, they're in my room... the one besides this one. But if you want me to move to another room, I don't have a problem with it..." the bluenette was still looking a bit lost. What was the matter? Maybe that room was forbidden? But it would have been locked then, right?
"Oh, you... picked another room?" the disappointment washed over him like a giant wave. Mitsukuni should have known she wouldn't want to share a room with him, that had been a stupid notion of his.
'Stupid. Why would she want to?' hurtful as it was, that voice in his head was probably telling the truth.
"Another one? What do you mean? You had like a special room for me or something?" honestly, Nagisa was more confused by the second, and Mitsukuni tried to explain himself without sounding too embarrassing.
"Uh... no. I mean... I was kinda hoping we... you know... that we would share a room?" Nagisa's eyes widened, and both her eyebrows raised to their maxim. She had not expected that. Looking at her expression, Mitsukuni panicked. "But you don't have to if you don't want, it's totally your choice. You know what? Forget I said anything, it was stupid, I..." Mitsukuni stopped when Nagisa started laughing. "What are you laughing about?" but Nagisa was too busy laughing to answer. Her lungs actually hurt, and tears accumulated in her eyes. Mitsukuni had so not expecting that reaction.
"You're just too cute." she finally said, still a bit breathless. "Of course I would like to share a room silly. I just didn't know if it would be appropriate. But considering there's no one to rattle us out... I say we can go for it." and then she winked flirty at Mitsukuni, and he had to remind himself to breath again.
"Ye-eah. Sure." he managed to squeak in a high-pitched tone, and Nagisa giggled.
"I'll go get my bags then." she said, and then turned around. "Oh, and I pick the left side." she said, not turning too look at him as she got out of the room, closing the door behind her.
'Well, fuck. Those leg—PURE THOUGHTS MITSUKUNI!' that girl was going to be the death of him, wasn't she?
Kaoru sighed, sure that his brother was finally asleep. After that stressful day, plus the revelation of Mori-senpai having a thing for Haruhi and everyone approving... well, it had taken Kaoru quite some time and dedication to calm down her brother enough for him to be able to sleep.
Turning on his phone, Kaoru saw Nagisa's text, coincidentally talking about Hikaru.
Ka-chan the best Hitachiin twin: Thanks for the worries. He's fine, just managed to make him sleep.
Nagi-chan deadly fluffy ball: That's good. You should go to sleep too, it's late.
Ka-chan the best Hitachiin twin: Don't worry, I will. Good night.
Nagisa deadly fluffy ball: Good night :)
Then Nagisa disconnected, and of course, Kaoru didn't.
He just needed to make sure there were no recent messages from her, and then he would go to sleep.
Reiko: I hope you have a delightful summer break with your friends, Kaoru. Thanks for worrying about me, but there's no need for it. I'll be visiting Switzerland with my family the whole break. Have a good night.
That was sent two hours ago. Kaoru sighed, and a smiled formed in his lips without his consent. She was so... polite and... cute at the same time, it made his heart pump faster by the second. Kaoru typed a quick—not really quick—respond and then turned off his phone, leaving it in the nightstand before he regretted it and waited for Reiko's reply.
'I'm not sure it's entirely healthy...' but he so not cared... Reiko was just amazing. Just imagining her soft dark hair, and her delineated eyes, matching her pale and smooth skin. Her velvety voice, and her usual dark dresses she used for her club activities. And the way she talked, always so proper and mysterious, it had a soothing effect on Kaoru. And even though he hadn't told Hikaru of her yet—he felt like it would stop being something only he had with her, as silly as that was—, he had a feeling his brother already knew there was something going on between the two of them. Well, at least from Kaoru's side. He had no idea if Reiko felt remotely the same way he did.
'But I know someone who could.' Kaoru made a mental note to ask Nagisa about that next time he saw her. How that girl managed to know almost everyone in Ouran was still something he had no answer too, but damn if it wasn't useful.
Nagisa was supposed to comfortably wake up on her own, with her boyfriend by her side, cuddling in bed, having a nice vacation. Instead, she was woken up at 5:30 in the morning by Tamaki's screams. She also heard him entering Kyoya's room, and how suddenly the screaming had stopped. There were two options then: one, Kyoya had shut Tamaki up with a passionate kiss and now were heavily making out in his bed; or two, Kyoya had given Tamaki his let-me-sleep-you-brainless-idiot-or-I'll-murder-you look and the blond was currently under a fear-induced shock.
Unfortunately, Nagisa had a feeling it was the latter. Oh well, that only meant she would need to intervene again soon then. But for the time being, she would enjoy her boyfriend's arms around her, and just be.
Of course, she just couldn't be left alone, because only minutes later the door was opened, and Tamaki's distinctive voice got to her again.
"Honey-senpai we need to...!" and then he saw Nagisa's blue hair poking from under the bed sheets.
Three...
Two...
One...
"NAGISA?!" and there it was. Nagisa just groaned, really not apt for Tamaki's antics that early in the morning. Just no.
"Five more hours, could ya'? I promise I won't poke you with a knife if you leave now." she said, her groggy voice muffled by the pillows. Tamaki wasn't able to repress the shudder he felt went she said 'poke you with a knife'. Like, what the fuck? Why was his friend so aggressive and... deadly?
But, poor Tamaki, his screaming did not only woke Nagisa up. Nope, he woke the demon too.
It was slow at first, only subtle movement. But then, Mitsukuni's head slowly pocked out from under the sheets too, only he didn't look just tired. No, he looked murderous.
Now. We have to clarify that there's a difference between Kyoya and Mitsukuni when they were woken up by Tamaki. The thing was, Kyoya was in love with the guy, so he wouldn't really hurt him—physically, that is—. Mitsukuni had not such a problem, and would no hesitate to kill the Host Club King, principally because he was not awaken enough to understand what was really going on.
So when Tamaki saw those obscureced honey eyes, that dark expression in Honey-senpai's face, he actually feared for his life... and then his senpai caught a glimpse of Nagisa's baby blue hair.
The change was instant. His eyes were no longer dark, and his expression had enlightened. He just looked cutely tired now, and one of his hands was clutching Usa-chan. Totally forgetting about Tamaki, he plopped his body back on the mattress, moving closer to Nagisa and hugging her from behind.
The Host Club King, knowing that was his chance to escape unharmed, stepped away and closed the door behind him, a soft smile already forming in his lips. It seemed like Honey-senpai had finally found someone who could calm the beast.
Sighting, Tamaki decided to go alone, as Kyoya had initially suggested. Assuming that was the correct wording for Kyoya's doing, of course.
Getting out of the house, Tamaki inhaled Kuruizawa's fresh air, and a smile spread across his face. When he passed besides Mori-senpai, who was doing his daily kendo routine, he softly said hi too him—Tamaki knew better than to disturb Mori-senpai in the middle of his morning routine, he knew how important it was for him—, getting a 'hmm' in return.
Humming contently, Tamaki decided that was all he needed to start his day that morning. Even if almost no one else agreed with him.
'Should I stop waking Kyoya up in the mornings?' after a moment of deliberation, Tamaki decided that yes, it would be better for his well being if he stopped waking Kyoya up early. But he also knew he wouldn't do it. There was something... charming in Kyoya's deadly stares.
Maybe that was the reason why Tamaki's father, Yuzuru, had scheduled an appointment with the family's doctor last week. But Tamaki would never find out about that.
The day was... exhausting. Nagisa knew she had to expect anything from her rich friends, but she was not ready. She was in summer break, she wasn't supposed to be with all of them until classes started again! So she was emotionally tired. And with that storm, she had been actually afraid of what could happen to Haruhi. But fortunately it was all good now, and Nagisa would be able to properly rest. Maybe have a few days of peace and quiet before going back to Tokyo, where all of her friends were waiting for her, still a bit mad she missed their meeting at the Arcade.
If only.
Just as the bluenette was looking for her pajamas so she could slip into bed and sleep until noon, her phone rang. Sighting loudly, she went to pick it up, groaning when she saw the ID number. What did Karasuma-sensei needed now?
"I told you not to call me." she whined the moment she picked up the call. The bluenette heard Bitch-sensei cackling in the background, but chose to ignore it. "What is it?"
"We found something." Nagisa, who was lying in the bed, sat upright, now really listening.
"What is it?" she was eager to know. After months of searching and digging into piles of classified files and documents, and infiltrating all kind of places, they had actually found something.
"A name. We're still trying to decode it, it's encrypted and not in the database, so Ritsu can't help us. But we know it's important."
"How?" Karasuma-sensei took his time to answer.
"We lost Dozuke in the operation." Nagisa closed her eyes, letting out a sharp sigh. Dozuke wasn't one Nagisa had talked to that much, but she knew him and his death still pained her.
"I'll inform Haninozuka-san, myself. Tell me if there's an update, sensei." Karasuma-sensei didn't say anything, but Nagisa was already used to that. "Sensei... if there's something I can do, you know I'm just one call away."
"I know, Nagisa. Irina or I will call you when we decode the intel."
"When I'm back, I'll take a look to that, see if I can do anything." she knew better than to ask for it over the phone. Anyone could be listening, even if the line was secure. 'Maybe I'll call Lovro-san...' it had been a while since Nagisa had any contact with him. It didn't do any harm to say hello and ask for a little help, right?
"OK." and without any more words, Karasuma-sensei finished the call.
Nagisa sighed again. She knew where she was getting into when she took the job the Ministry offered it to her, but... there was just something strange in all that mess. Something just wasn't adding up, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what.
She could think about that later. Right now she needed to call Haninozuka-san... her boyfriend's father. Technically her father-in-law... nope, she wasn't about to go there, not now. There were more pressing matters to take care off.
Scrolling through her contacts, looking for Haninozuka-san's number, Nagisa was already thinking what she would say to him about what she had just been informed about. He picked up after the second ring.
"Nagisa, it's good to hear from you. If I'm correct, my son kidnapped you." Nagisa deadpanned at the amused tone in her pseudo-boss' voice. The fact that he knew about the whole ordeal and still did nothing only made it worse.
"You could at least try to sound a little less amused by it, Haninozuka-san." she mumbled, rolling her eyes.
"I already told you, you can call me Yorihisa." that was the first topic of every single conversation they had.
"But I don't want to, Haninozuka-san." she put an emphasis in his name, and he chuckled.
"I'll get you around soon." he said as he laughed lightly. "But I assume you weren't calling to discuss my naming, am I correct?"
Nagisa sighed. She had been sighing a lot lately.
"We got a name. Well, a coded one. They're looking at it as we speak. Just thought you would want to know." the other side of the line went silent for a moment. "I'm gonna examine it myself when I get back to Tokyo, and probably I'll have something else for you then."
"Alright. See you there, then. In the meantime, have a good time, Nagisa." if he was worried, Nagisa couldn't tell on the phone.
"Thank you, Haninozuka-san, you too."
"It's Yorihi—you know what? We'll have a conversation about that when you come back."
"Alright, see you soon." she laughed, and soon after the call ended.
The bluenette sat on the bed, finally on her pajamas and without her pigtails. Her long, baby blue hair, was freely falling down to her hips, and Nagisa expertly tied it in a loose braid. It was an habit she was still trying to make, because otherwise her hair would be unmanageable the next morning.
Code word: trying. Most of the time, she totally forgot about it, and she payed the prize the next day, with her tangled hair full of knots.
Now ready to sleep, Nagisa turned the lights off, briefly wondering where Mitsukuni was. Probably eating some more cake before going to bed, or talking with Tamaki about his schedule for the next day. Nagisa really hoped it wouldn't be as troubling as the day they had had just now.
Deciding to care about that—aka, make everything in her power not to let Tamaki follow his plans—later, Nagisa laid on the mattress, relaxing slightly.
She could deal about her other troubles later. For now, she would try to enjoy her vacations.
Little did she know, there was someone else outside the room, someone who had listened to the whole conversation she had had with both Karasuma Tadaomi, and Haninozuka Yorihisa. Someone who was already connecting the dots very quickly in his mind.
Mitsukuni, frozen at the other side of the bedroom door, swallowed thickly. What had he just listened to? What was Nagisa not telling him?
And what did his father have to do with it?
Unaware of his cousin's predicament, Takashi sat on his bedroom floor, doing some light meditation before wrapping up and calling it a day. That wasn't something unusual for him, meditation was fundamental for the Morinozuka family. Even Satoshi could manage to stay calmed enough to meditate most of the time, which was really impressive, given that the boy had the necessary energy to light up Tokyo all by himself and still be bouncing like a madman. Even now, Takashi was still trying to figure out where had all that energy come from, because sure as hell it wasn't from any of their parents.
But back to more pressing matters, Takashi was meditating. Oh, yes, he still could. Not even his thoughts about Haruhi could take that away from him.
And now he'd done it. Of course his head filled with thoughts of Haruhi the second he grasped the idea. Wonderful, just... wonderful.
'Why can't I get her out of my mind?' he thought, frustration quickly growing around him. She was in every thought, every action, every single step he took. It was exhausting, he just couldn't escape his own thoughts. Specially because she didn't seem to be anywhere near being interested in him. Though, that could be because of her bluntness, but he highly doubted. Haruhi would notice her own feelings... right?
'Thinking back, I'm not really sure.' unsurprisingly, that didn't ease his mind. Oh, joy.
Sighting loudly, Takashi stood up, rubbing his eyes in a vain attempt of clearing his mind.
He knew what he needed to do. It was cristal clear, it had been for a long time. But there was something that kept him from doing it. Something that made him feel shivers down his spine with the mere thought of it.
Fear.
It unnerved him. Takashi had never, ever, felt fear for something like this. For something like love. Fear for Mitsukuni, and how he could get hurt? All the time. It was something he had been taught to feel since he could remember. Fear for Satoshi, or Chika, or the ones he cared about? Yes, he had felt that too.
But Takashi had never been afraid of loving someone. Of loving someone who didn't love you back. That was starting to get to him, and he still couldn't get a way out.
He'd considered talking to Nagisa about it, knowing she was probably his best bet in matters of emotions and normal behavior according to it—because let's face it, all of his other friends were pretty useless in that area—, but there was one problem: Nagisa loved to think she was the perfect match-maker. If Takashi were to tell her about his problems, he could be mostly confident of some ambush to lock him up with Haruhi in some closet. It had happened before, and the Morinozuka heir was not sure he was up for it.
Even knowing that, Takashi was starting to realize that Nagisa was maybe his only choice. If not... his heart ached painfully at the thought of Haruhi rejecting him like she did with that old friend of hers, the one who went to middle school with her. He was not sure he could take that blunt rejection.
If only he knew Haruhi was not as blind as they all thought she was, and that she could actually understand her own feelings. If only he knew that the brunette felt the same way, and that she was keeping quiet for the same reason he was. If only he knew.
But he didn't.
Far away from Kuruisawa, far away from all the troubles and problems all teenagers had—well, most of them, at least—, two people were talking. Their voices were down, not wanting to be heard by anyone else. They were in a dangerous place after all, and even the smallest of things could make everything they'd worked for crumble.
"Do they suspect anything?" the voice belonged to a tall and lean man, who kept a straight face and kept giving glances to his surroundings, making sure there was no one to hear them.
"No, they think they have a lead. They're desperate enough to just go with it instead of checking the source. Typical government move." the second voice belonged to a woman, who chuckled. She, unlike the man, didn't look nervous at all, calmly smoking a cigarette even though they were indoors, an amused smirk dancing on her face.
"Good. I want you to keep it that way."
"Aye aye, boss. Just make sure you can let me in, and we'll be all set." she said, sending a smoke cloud towards the man. He didn't look phased by it at all.
His plans were finally starting to move, and soon he would take revenge in everyone who ever dared make a move against him. He drew a small knife from his pocket, and stared at it for a moment.
'Starting with you, Shiota Nagisa.' the knife embedded in the wall, where there was a picture of a girl with baby blue hair. The knife struck in the middle of her face, tearing down the paper.
Helloooooo! How'd you been beauties?
Now, what do think of the cuteness in the beginning of the chapter? I'm sorry it turned out to be more of the same dark stuff, I swear this wasn't supposed to end this way! But before I knew it, I had like one thousand and five hundred words of it, and I just couldn't delete it. What can I say? My soul's a dark place.
What do you think will happen with Mitsukuni? He finally knows there's something going on, but what could it be? Oh, I'm gonna have fun writing this... or not... I'm not really sure I'm gonna have fun, if I think about it again...
(here's when I change the topic)
And what do you think about Takashi's sappy thoughts? I think I should consider making something good happen to him, it's starting to be really depressing, and Tamaki with Kyoya are already depressive enough.
Oh, before I forget. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT LITTLE SCENE IN THE END? I swear I don't know where that came from, I wasn't supposed to show you guys this until later. But I guess it's time... well, tell me your thoughts about them. Who are they? And what are they doing?
That's all for now. Hope you liked it and see ya' next chapter!
Patolemus.