Mami's inner thoughts
People talking in unison.
I own nothing but my own characters.
"I can't believe Kyoya would give us the day off!" I walked with a slight bounce in my step next to Haruhi. I glanced down at my younger friend. "I wonder if it's a reward because Shiro-kun was able to bring in all those extra customers."
The little elementary student had cause quiet a scene last week at the host club. Tamaki, being the bleeding heart he is, couldn't refuse to help him once he found out the young boy wanted to impress his classmate. I didn't like Shiro, he was too rough with the animals I had been showing the day he had burst into the clubroom and he was rude to my friends. I took full advantage of my contract with the host club that week and only came when I was showing the animals just to avoid being around him.
"Maybe?" Haruhi said with a shrug. "I'm just happy that I'll have time to do laundry now." Suddenly, the twin sped out from either side of us and grabbed Haruhi by the arms.
"Abduction-
"Complete!"
Just as quickly, a limo pulled up and Tamaki rolled down the window, he was still in his school uniform but he was now wearing sunglasses and lei of red hibiscuses around his neck.
"Alright, take her in."
"Roger!" Tamaki threw open the door as the twins forced Haruhi into the car while she protested loudly. I stood fixated in the same spot, just watching the strange scene happen. The blonde turned toward me with a smile.
"Get in Mami! We're having family bonding time!"
"I don't have a choice do I?" As if to answer my question, the twin's faces appeared in the doorframe with matching shit-eating grins. There was no doubt in my mind that they would have no problem forcing me into the limo like they had Haruhi. I climbed in willingly, taking a seat next to Tamaki. Haruhi sat in between the twins, with a dazed look on her face. It was almost like her brain had shut down, trying to process what exactly was going on.
"So, where exactly are we going?" I asked the boys as the driver began to leave the school grounds.
"Kyoya's family is about to open an indoor water park and we got invited to try it out." Tamaki said excitedly as he ignored the catatonic state that Haruhi was currently in. Eventually the limo stopped in front of a huge dome shaped building. Tamaki and I walked behind the twins, as they once again grabbed Haruhi and dragged her into the building.
The inside was incredible. It felt just like the tropics, palm trees were swaying in the artificial breeze, I could see and hear several tropical birds flying around as we made our way to the changing room.
I have to ask Kyoya about the animals here and make sure they have the proper care.
The underclassmen eventually stopped in front of the changing room, where two identical maids were waiting. The girls grabbed poor Haruhi and forced her into the changing room with them. I looked out at the several different pools and water slides in the distance with a slight pout.
"I wish you had told me sooner that we were going swimming, I would have brought a swim suit."
"Actually, Mami-senpai-"
"We designed a suit just for you." The twins wrapped their arms around my shoulders. I looked up at Kaoru.
"You didn't have to go through all that trouble. I have swim suits at home."
"We know." They said in unison as they came out to stand in front of me and gave a slight bow. "We're sorry for upsetting you with our fight." I could tell that they weren't entirely too happy about apologizing, especially Hikaru. He kept glaring at Tamaki, who was attempting to hide behind a large leaf a short distance away. It was obvious that he was forcing them to do this. I couldn't help the small smile that crept onto my face.
"It's okay, really."
"No, we upset you and made you worry. Friends shouldn't do that to other friends." Kaoru spoke up, now rubbing the back of his neck. "Consider the bathing suit as an apology gift. It's a Hitachiin original."
"Thank you." I gave both of them a quick hug before making my way into the changing room where Haruhi was fighting off the maids. They were trying to force her into a swimsuit that was nothing more than strings. One of them noticed me with a glint in her eye as she rushed over, grabbing my arm.
"Ah! Kusumoto-sama! Right over here, this one was picked out specifically for you." I gave Haruhi a fearful look as the other maid pulled out another provocative suit seemingly out of nowhere. Inside of the changing room I was pushed into was a single bathing suit. I was surprised at how much I liked it. It was way more conservative that the ones I saw being shoved in Haruhi's face. The top was yellow with thin straps that tied behind by neck; it came down to a subtle v and had a bit of fringe that flared out right under my breasts. The bottoms were white, high waisted and decorated with flying toucans. As I walked out of the changing room, I could hear Haruhi still fighting with the maids.
"Umm, Haruhi-chan? Are you okay?" I heard her grunt before she stuck her head out of the changing room. She had a pink swim cap that wasn't sitting quite right on her head.
"Yeah, I'm okay. We're almost done, so I'll catch up with you." Her nearly deadpan expression changed briefly to one of shock as she was yanked back into the room. I paused briefly before deciding against trying to help my younger friend out. She was probably handling them better than I ever could anyways. Once outside, I made me way toward where I could hear the boys, only stopping once my feet sunk into the ground.
"Sand?"
"My family tried to make this place as authentic as possible."
"Argh!" I stumbled away from Kyoya who had suddenly appeared by my side. I placed a hand over my chest, in a weak attempt to will my heart to stop trying to jump out of my chest. The light glinted off of his glasses as he pushed them further up his nose, with a small-amused grin on his face. "Don't do that, Kyoya-san."
"I apologize for startling you, Mami-san. I thought you might be interested in the snorkeling pool. We have quite the collection of tropical fish for you to swim with."
"Really? I would love to see that. Actually, I want to talk to you-"
"Mi-Chan~!" I was nearly knocked over from the sudden weight on my back. Honey's arms wrapped around my neck as he peaked over my shoulder, "Come swim with me!" He slid down my back and pulled me by my hand toward the pool where Mori was currently standing. I glanced over my shoulder at Kyoya, who coolly took a sip of his drink.
"We can continue our chat later, Mami-san." With a sigh, I stopped my weak attempt at resisting Honey and that's when I got a good look at him. He was wearing an inner tube with a bunny pattern around his waist.
"You look cute in that, Honey-kun." He looked up at me and grinned.
"Don't I? You look really cute too, Mi-chan!" He stopped just as we got to the edge of the pool where Mori was waiting. "Lets jump in together!"
"W-wait, Hon-" Still grasping my hand, he jumped in, pulling me along with ease. I had just enough time to hold my breath before hitting the water. I caught my feet underneath me and stood up, shaking my hair out of my face in the process. The water where we were at came up to mid chest. Mori had made his way over as Honey spun around in his inner tube, giggling gleefully.
"A little warning next time would be nice, Honey-kun." I shook my head to the side in an attempt to knock the water out of my ear.
"But the best way to get into a pool is to jump in! Ne, Takashi?"
"Ah."
"Look! There's Haru-chan! I'm going to go ask if she wants to swim with us too!" Despite the fact that he couldn't touch the bottom of the pool where were at, he jumped out of the pool with ease. Honey raced over toward Haruhi, who was wearing a yellow hoodie. I placed my hands on the edge of the pool, attempted and failed to jump out myself.
How the heck did Honey do this so easily? I let out a small squeal as strong hands were placed on my hips. Without much effort, Mori lifted me up out of the water and sat me down on the edge. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as the rush of embarrassment of being unable to get myself out of the pool washed over me.
"T-thanks." I managed to squeak out before scrambling to my feet. He watched on silently with a slightly amused look on his face before he easily lifted himself out of the pool.
"Look." He pointed toward the sky. A brilliantly colored bird with a long tail soared overhead.
"A quetzal! You can tell that's a male because of the long tail feathers, the females don't have those. They were a symbol of wealth in Aztec and Maya society and it's the national symbol for Guatemala." I turned back toward Mori as the bird disappeared out of sight, to find him staring at me. "A-ah, sorry. I was rambling wasn't I?" He smiled slightly and opened his mouth to say something.
"Takashi! Lets go in the current pool!" Honey jumped on Mori's back and pointed toward one of the pools where the water was visibly moving. Mori stared at me for a second before nodding. "Mi-chan, do you want to join us?"
"I think I'm going to go find the snorkeling pool Kyoya-san was telling me about. I'll join you later though."
I found the pool fairly easily thanks to the small stand that was out in front of it with snorkels. The kind woman behind the counter walked me through how to place the mask on my face without it fogging up and showed me how to properly breath through the snorkel before guiding me around the back to rinse off. I dipped my feet into the pool as I settled the mask on my face. The water was cooler than the other pool but still pleasant. This pool had a small ledge before it dropped off into a large open space. In the center was a fake wreaked ship that the fish were swimming in and out of; there was also some fake coral and other sea decorations to go along with the theme.
I lowered myself onto the ledge before slowly pushing off it to float among the fish. I tried my hardest to fight the instinct to kick my feet, using just my hands, to push me around like the woman had told me. All around were magnificently colored fish that swam around slowly, generally ignoring my presence. Toward the bottom of the tank I saw some nursing sharks lazily swimming around. I slowly followed them, happy to have a chance to study them up close. I loved marine life and it wasn't often that I got to study these beautiful animals up close. Suddenly, they and the rest of the fish darted away and soon there was nothing left to see. I let my feet drop behind me as I lifted my head up just in time to see a large wave come crashing down.
I felt like my lungs were on fire as I coughed up water. The wave had lifted me clear out of the pool and tossed me around a bit before it slowed. I looked around at where the massive wave had left me, trying to gain my sense of direction again. All around me were tall palm trees and there was nothing familiar in sight. My fingers twitched nervously. This place was huge and I had no idea where I was or where my friends were.
"Mi-chan? Is that you?" I could hear some leaves shuffling as Honey made his way into the clearing. "You're hurt!"
"Huh?" I looked down and sure enough there was a fairly large cut on my knee and blood was slowly dripping down my leg. The adrenaline from the wave hid the pain at first but now that I was staring at it, I could feel the cut beginning to throb. "I-I'm okay, I just need to think for a second."
I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to remember what Ojiisan had taught me about first aid. First: stop the bleeding. I grabbed the fringe edge of my top at the seem and yanked it quickly to the side, successfully ripping the extra piece of cloth off. I bundled it up and held it against the wound. Apply pressure.
"Here, Mi-chan." Honey kneeled down next to me and wrapped a bit of vine that he had ripped from a nearby tree around my knee as I held the cloth in place. He rocked back on his heels once he was done and stared at my blood stained leg.
"It looks worse than it is. Besides, it not like we're lost in a real jungle. We'll get help soon enough."
"You're right! Let's go find the others!" He pumped a first and helped me stand back up. It was difficult to bend my leg with the vine wrapped around it. "Which way do you think we should go first?"
"Well, we came in from the south." I glanced up toward the glass dome overhead and caught a glimpse of the sun. "We should go that way."
"Lets go, Mi-chan!" Honey bounced in the direction where I pointed, singing a cheerful song. He would frequently interrupt himself to ask me a question or to point out a cool plant or animal along the way. His over the top cheerfulness made me feel better as I watched him skip ahead. If I had to be lost in the fake jungle with anyone, Honey would definitely be my first pick. My smile quickly dropped as I grabbed him by the upper arm, stopping him in his tracks.
"Watch out!" Just in front of him was a fairly large pond, which he had almost skipped into, that had some familiar fish swimming around. The silvery-orange and black fish swam a bit closer to the edge; there was no mistaking them. My anxiety from the lost necklace was briefly pushed to the side as anger welled up. "I'm going to kill Kyoya! Who puts a pond of piranhas in a relaxation resort without any sort of safety measures?"
As soon as I said that, the sky opened up and started to pour. It was Honey's turn to pull me away toward some large leaves for shelter.
"Kyo-chan's family really does think of everything, huh?" Honey said as we waited for the squall to pass. As I watched the rainfall in sheets around us, my anger and anxiety began to ebb away with each raindrop that dripped down off the leaf in front of us.
"You know, I'm really glad you joined host club." Honey spoke up suddenly. I glanced over at him. He was staring out at the rain with a serious look on his face.
"I'm glad I did too, Honey-kun."
"Have you noticed that you talk to people more, even outside of the club?"
"I…I didn't, but I guess you're right." He looked up at me with a smile.
"I'm glad you're opening up more, Mi-chan." Honey was right. Since joining the host club, I had changed. If you had told me even half a year ago that I would be wandering around a fake jungle in nothing but a bathing suit in search of my friends and not having a panic attack, I never would have believed it. I was a bit more comfortable around people now as well, I even started conversations when in a small group. True, a lot of things still made me anxious but not at all like they used to. Being around my friends made me feel comfortable and safe.
"Me too."
We shared a smile before he suddenly looked to the right. He jumped up, pulling me along, and ran deeper into the woods, with me limping behind him, before he stopped in a small clearing. I looked down at him, noticing that his whole aura had changed. His body was tense and his face showed his true age as clear as day. Through a clearing in the leaves we had a perfect view of what was causing this sudden change. Mori was holding Haruhi protectively in his arms as men in tactical gear and guns surrounded them. They were shouting at Mori and pointing the guns at them. Honey looked up at me quickly.
"Mami, stay here until it's safe, okay?" The fact that he didn't use my nickname was enough for me to agree. I watched nervously as he quickly scaled a tree, grabbed a nearby vine and leapt out toward our friends. I had seen Honey spar with his brother before, but watching him easily take out six men easily twice his size was something else. I hadn't realized I was frozen in place until he called out for me, snapping me out of my amazement.
"Mi-chan! You can come out now." Tamaki almost knocked me over as I made my way into the clearing, stepping over one of the passed out men.
"Mami! I was so worried! I was afraid you were going to get eaten by a crocodile. What happened to your leg?" He rambled on at a million miles a minute.
"I'm okay Tamaki. Wait, did you say crocodile?" I immediately whipped my head around. "Kyoya."
"We'll have a discussion about those minor fixes later, Mami-san. For right now, we should head to first-aid to get your leg cleaned. They're already expecting us." He turned and began to walk toward what I assumed where the entrance was. I grumbled under my breath as I began to follow him, finally free from Tamaki's grasp. I managed to limp forward just a couple of steps before I was suddenly swept off my feet. With one arm under my legs and another under my shoulders, Mori began to walk after the rest of the group.
"Y-You don't have to carry me, I'm okay, Mori-kun." My face felt like it was on fire. I silently hoped that the twins wouldn't turn around, knowing I would never hear the end of it. He looked down.
"You're hurt."
"I can still walk." He shook his head and seemed to pull me closer to his chest. I could almost hear his heart beat I was so close. I stopped resisting and rested my head on his chest as fatigue of what had happened that day began to over come me. I found myself being lulled to sleep as I listened to his steady heartbeat. At first being this close made me nervous but now all I could think about was how comfortable and safe I felt in that moment.
Author's note:
I appologize for the late update, between the holidays and having to work a bunch of over time to cover for sick coworkers, it was hard to find time to sit down and write. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate the kind words.
I like to imagine that Tamaki helped the twins realize that they're actions have consequences, which leads to Kaoru being the bigger person during the date episode, so I tried to set some back story to that.
I haven't written the next chapter yet but I have some ideas but I mostly want to get some more interaction with Mori just to build that relationship a bit more. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you all for your patience!