Feels good to be writing again XD Is it me, or does this have a Haruhi Suzumiya kind of feel to it? Maybe because I've been watching it every night before I type? (I finished it, though, so let's see if the style changes any after this chapter?) Anyway. I think I'm making them do more "well, our parents aren't here and we're teenagers" kinds of things than the manga. If this is taking place in our world, which is what I mean for it to, then I know that any one I know would do the same thing in this situation. But I really follow the lyrics too closely (speaking of, I really don't know how much it takes to get a person drunk. Don't bug me on that). It would be OOC if it was in the manga/anime, but as it's AU, I think it's pretty IC. Confusing, ne? XD

I'm pretty sure there's a hint at every pairing in this chapter. If you go past what could be debated as fanservice, yes, there is a legit pair this chapter is focused on. There's at least one legit pairing in this chapter.

White Houses

All In Bloom

Jenny screams out and it's no pose
'Cause when she dances she goes and goes
Beer through the nose on an inside joke
And I'm so excited, I haven't spoken
And she's so pretty, and she's so sure
Maybe I'm more clever than a girl like her
Summer's all in bloom
Summer is ending soon

Haruhi woke up the next morning to the sound of frantic banging on the front door. She tried to get up, but when she saw that her alarm clock only said 8:30a.m., she collapsed back onto the bed. She couldn't even think coherent thoughts; how many hours of sleep had she gotten? However, as the pounding continued, she gave up; the boys were obviously not going to get it.

However, as she dragged herself out into the hallway, she saw that some of her house-mates were doing the same. The twins and Mori were quietly escaping from their rooms, intent on the same mission as she. She would've turned back and gone back to bed if they hadn't seen her.

And if they had been wearing shirts.

"As if anyone could sleep with all this noise," Kaoru tried to break the silence between the four.

"Hunny's still asleep."

The other three turned to look at Mori. They were shocked to silence that he had voluntary spoken, and so he continued.

"He's…very different in the morning. We'd better see who it is before it wakes him."

"Right…" the others mumbled (obviously, they were all still exhausted), and headed downstairs.

As soon as Hikaru opened the door, however, a mass of luggage, even more than Haruhi had brought, tumbled in.

"Honestly, what took you so long? Do you know how long I've been standing here? How late do you guys sleep in that you have to keep a young woman waiting at the door?" the girl standing in the door started babbling as soon as she saw the four. "Do you have any idea how heavy that luggage was? And…Everyone else here is a boy? Great, that means-"

"I'm a girl," Haruhi said simply.

"-I have absolutely no- What?"

Haruhi was beginning to get slightly annoyed. "I said, 'I'm a girl'." However, when the other girl embraced her in a huge hug, most traces of annoyance disappeared and were turned into surprise.

"Yay, another girl for me to hang out with! I'm sorry I thought you were a boy! Oh, and it's alright if it took you a while to get down here; I understand how we women work- heehee! Not that any of them have an excuse for making me wait so long. So carry my bags up, will you?"

"Yeah, uh, who are you?" Hikaru asked, annoyed that someone who just showed up at their door without so much as an introduction was already ordering them around. They could already see that she was way more feminine than Haruhi, from her personality to the way she looked; long brown hair with a pink bow on top, wearing a skort and pink top compared to Haruhi's short, currently messy hair and boy-ish pajamas.

"Oh, sorry, looks like I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Renge Houshakuji. And you are?"

After introductions were made, the boys begrudgingly carried Renge's luggage up to her and Haruhi's room while the two girls talked. Or rather, Renge talked and Haruhi tried to wake herself up more. Yet no matter how overly-girlish Renge was, even though she could be annoying and talked a mile a minute, and even though she now had to share her room, Haruhi felt an odd sort of friendship forming between them.

"Ah, it is a pleasure to meet our newest arrival!" Tamaki was saying about an hour later as he came down the stairs. Haruhi could tell he was trying not to show how tired he was; well, he could have alerted them to the time a bit earlier last night, so it was really all his fault, she decided.

As the two introduced themselves, Haruhi asked the twins, who had managed to wake up Tamaki and get him downstairs, where Kyoya and Hunny were.

"If you think we were waking them up after the looks they gave us, you're dead wrong," they said simultaneously.

"Mori wasn't kidding when he said Hunny was a bit different in the morning-" Kaoru began.

"-He's like a demon or something! Same with Kyoya. I think it's best if we just leave them alone," Hikaru finished.

As if on cue, a fully-awake Hunny bounded down the stairs, Mori right behind him.

"Mm-hmm. Right," Haruhi said sarcastically as the twins stared in awe.

"Aww! What a cute little boy!" Renge exclaimed before anyone could tell her otherwise. "And how old are you?"

"…Seventeen."

Renge decided that then was a good time to unpack, and dragged Haruhi upstairs with her so the only one still in her pajamas (besides the allegedly sleeping Kyoya) could get changed.

But just because she was unpacking didn't mean Renge stopped talking. She could multitask. "So you were here with just a bunch of boys all day yesterday? And last night? Did you make a move on any of them? Or did they hit on you? Give me all the details!"

"R-Really, nothing happened," Haruhi protested, trying to forget how Tamaki had hugged and tried to overprotect her and how the twins had so casually put their arms around her.

"You're serious? Wait, so you don't like any of them? Come on, every type of guy is represented down there! They're all so hot- or cute- I guess it depends on your preference, but still, you can't tell me you're not attracted to any of them!" Renge tried again.

"N-No- Well, they are pretty attractive, but they're mostly idiots," Haruhi tried to explain. She'd never talked like this with another girl before, so she found herself feeling pretty awkward. Her shoes became amazingly interesting.

"Idiots they may be," Renge turned around from the closet to face her companion and winked, "But they're still boys."

After a week and a half had passed, it had become clear (at least to Haruhi) that Renge was the type of person who had a kind of charisma that made it hard for pretty much anyone to resist becoming her friend, and perhaps it was due to that charisma that she was able to get pretty much anyone to do pretty much anything for her. In this case, "pretty much anyone" was referring to the six boys whom they shared the house with.

Not that Haruhi (completely) disliked her. Perhaps it was the charisma that drew her in as well, or perhaps it was because she was the first female friend she found herself getting extremely close to. Either way, while Renge tended to forget her female companion in the presence of the boys, while they were alone in their room at night or in the mornings, she would treat her like her dearest friend that she had known since infancy. Haruhi concluded that she had never laughed more or harder with anyone else before.

However, Haruhi couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of her new friend. That first day without Renge, Haruhi had been the only girl in the group, and therefore unique and attention could easily be drawn to her (whether she wanted it to be or not). Now, with Renge's more outgoing personality, the boys usually only seemed to think of her as if an afterthought. It didn't bother her as much as it made her feel a bit awkward, and maybe even a little lonely, though. Because of this, she would sometimes go off by herself, initially unnoticed, whether it was to clean, do laundry, swim, etc. But the others were always sure to go after her, and let her know (in their own strange ways) just how deeply she had been missed, even if she'd only been gone for ten minutes, and would, for the rest of the day, make sure to include her in everything they did. Unless, of course, Renge decided Haruhi was cleaning up only because the boys were too messy, and made them clean up while the girls indulged themselves in the pool.

After all, Renge was capable of getting pretty much anyone to do pretty much anything.

The only one of the boys who seemed impervious to Renge's spell was Kyoya. He was the only one who seemed to find her annoying in the least, and while he hid this from her and the others well enough, Haruhi could tell. Not that he annoyed her enough that she would order him around; he, at least, knew better than to upset her.

It was on one such day, about two weeks after her arrival, that Renge had sent the twins to town on a food shopping mission, declared Tamaki should clean the house (as punishment for one thing or another), and she, Mori and Hunny were off either swimming or relaxing in the mini-house out back that Haruhi happened to find Kyoya alone.

And she found him doing something that she deemed to be most un-Kyoya-like.

Watering the flowers.

Is this really what he does in his free time? she wondered. She'd merely stepped out of the house to get away from Tamaki's whining when she saw Kyoya watering the various flowers that were positioned around the front of the house with the hose, and decided to sit down on the steps and watch him.

However, she hadn't been sitting there for more than three minutes when, without even turning to face her, he called to her, "And how long are you going to sit there watching me?"

Bewildered, the most she could stutter out was, "U-Uh! S-Sorry!" Really, did he have a sixth sense or something? She'd even closed the door quietly so Tamaki wouldn't notice she was gone. Whoops…maybe that was a bad idea…(he was probably panicking about now).

"…There's not really anything to be sorry about. But you could have at least said something," Kyoya said, again without turning to face the girl, which snapped her out of her thinking. Guess Tamaki's distraught-ness would have to wait.

"Sorry. I just didn't want to bother you."

"You mean, you thought if you said something, I'd stop what I was doing out of embarrassment or something."

"…"

"Why don't you come over here?" he invited.

Unable to deny him, Haruhi found herself walking over to Kyoya and the lilies. She had to admit, with the water droplets clinging to their fragile petals, they looked beautiful. If she had a camera, she'd want to take a picture of them.

"Give my arm a break," Kyoya broke the silence, and held the hose out to Haruhi.

After a minute or two of silence, which consisted of the two moving on from the lilies and onto the two rose bushes, Haruhi felt as though she had to break the heretofore-mentioned silence.

"This is actually kind of relaxing," she said quietly, moving the hose slowly over the flowers. "We don't have a garden at home, so I've never gotten to do this before. On my way home from school, if it's sunny, the flowers are dry, and if it's raining, I'm too busy running to notice them. But like this, with the little droplets of water all over them, they're kind of pretty. Even more than they usually are."

Kyoya didn't speak for a moment. He turned to look at Haruhi, who was now wondering if the silence was only more awkward because she had spoken, and smiled. "Yeah. Pretty." After a moment, though, he noticed that Haruhi had been spraying the same spot for several minutes (because she had been talking and thinking too hard). "You're gonna drown them," he reprimanded.

"Huh?" Haruhi blinked at him, not quite having heard him.

Kyoya, rather than repeating himself, merely sighed, then placed his hands over hers on the hose and moved it with her, showering the bush with the water.

Haruhi couldn't help blushing. Perhaps it was because this was the first time she had had physical contact with him, or perhaps it was the physical contact itself, or maybe it was how close he was standing to her in order for said physical contact to occur. Whatever it was, she couldn't keep her heart rate down. "Um, Kyoya…I can do this, you know. I was only daydreaming for a moment back there; I don't need to be guided like a little kid."

However, Kyoya made no move to show that he had heard her, and she sighed in defeat, letting him guide her.

It was hours later when the twins finally returned ("Hey, we had to walk there, you know!" they protested, but had a glint of mischievousness in their eyes that the others didn't seem to catch). However, most of the group was really too hungry to care, and aside from making mental notes to not wait until all of their food had run out before buying more, they concentrated all of their energy into making a simple dinner.

It was only until after everyone had eaten (during which time, Hikaru and Kaoru had been exchanging mischievous glances) and everyone was just sort of sitting around that the two brothers told everyone to go to the mini-house out back, because they had a surprise there. They left through the front door to retrieve the surprise, which they claimed was hidden behind the rosebushes. Once they retrieved it, they went around back to meet the others, who followed the brothers' request, despite their gut feelings.

"…Alcohol?"

"Yeah?" Kaoru asked, looking innocently bored.

"That was your surprise?"

"Yeah…so?" Kaoru questioned again as his brother began to look more and more annoyed.

"But that's against the law! Where did you get it, anyway? I mean, who would sell two cases of beer to minors, anyway?"

Finally, Hikaru exploded. "What, are you all freakin' angels or something!? You act as if you've never done anything wrong in your life! Look, our parents aren't here. If none of us tell, who's to know? And anyway, if you don't get totally wasted, what's going to happen? This is our vacation. I can guarantee you any other teenagers in the same situation would do the same." (A/N I probably wouldn't. Goody-too-shoes…)

Everyone was silent for a moment. Yes, it was tempting.

"Kay!" everyone turned to Renge, who was currently reaching out for an ice-cold bottle.

"Haha! Now that's the spirit!" Hikaru said happily, handing her a bottle. Pretty soon, everyone had given in and taken a bottle of their own. The twins, who had obviously done this before, downed theirs pretty fast, as did Renge, and therefore got a second bottle quickly. Haruhi merely sipped at hers, not quite as into it as the others. Then again, Hunny didn't seem so thrilled to be drinking it, either, and were thankful they sat next to each other. It seemed to have minimal effects on Mori, as well as Kyoya (though he did seem to be laughing a bit more that usual). Of course, the one who already appeared to be on drugs and/or alcohol half the time was the one who got the last bottle. As if Tamaki needed to be any more…hyper, was it?

(A/N Thought this would help with visualization. Here's the circle they're sitting in: Tamaki, Haruhi, Hunny, Mori, Renge, Kyoya, Hikaru, Kaoru, etc.)

"Ok! Now let's really get this party started!" the twins declared after everyone was about halfway done with their first or second bottle, respectively.

Oh, so it's a party now? Haruhi thought. Everyone seemed fairly sober, though…except for Tamaki, but as previously stated, he always seemed like he was drunk, so he didn't really count.

"Alright!!" Renge exclaimed, and laughed, "So what're we 'onna do?"

The brothers grinned at each other. "Why, Spin The Bottle of course!" they exclaimed, placing one of their empty bottles in the middle of the messy circle of people.

"You seem pretty insistent on that idea," Haruhi murmured, recalling the first time they had sat in a circle like this.

"It'll be more fun thish time," Hikaru said, winking at her.

"Only if there'sh same-gender kissin' allowed," Renge declared.

"Why, you wanna kiss Haruhi or somethin'?" Kaoru asked her.

"Now listen, you, you…Haruhi ish a very dear friend o' mine. Of coursh I only requested thish because I 'anna see you boysh kissh!"

Haruhi silently thanked any god-like beings that the twins had only brought back two cases of the alcohol.

Yet before either could answer Renge's demand, Tamaki exclaimed, "YEUR OHN!"

Despite the fact that they had been the ones who wanted to play, the twins decided to let Renge spin first. Haruhi was thankful that the other girl had landed on Kyoya and not her. She leaned over the black-haired boy, ready to kiss him, when suddenly she realized something. "Honestly," she murmured, taking his glasses off. She kissed him, roughly, and would have had him completely on the floor had Mori not pulled her off of him, though she began giggling the whole while.

Please, Haruhi prayed, Don't let her kiss me…

When she snapped back to reality, Kyoya had already spun and, coincidentally, landed on his roommate, Tamaki. He stood up and walked over to the side of the room the blonde was on, and yanked him to his feet. However, it was Tamaki who seemed to get the most pleasure out of the kiss, as he began leaning onto Kyoya and wrapped his arms around his neck. Apparently, either Kyoya didn't mind or the alcohol had impaired his mind to a point where he didn't care, because, to Renge's enjoyment (and perhaps Haruhi's, too?) he let his friend do this for a few moments before pulling away, causing the blonde to topple to the floor, and going back to his seat, looking as composed as ever.

Tamaki spun, and landed on Hikaru. "Er…Am I supposhed to kissh dem bofh?"

Drunken speech and all, he made a valid point. Last time, the twins had pretty much acted as one person; this time would be a bit harder.

"I don't see why not," Kaoru answered with a sly smile.

And so, Tamaki leaned over to kiss Kaoru. Their lips were pressed firmly together, but it only lasted for a few moments, as the pressure Tamaki put on the other boy was about to make him fall backwards. As soon as Kaoru pulled away, Tamaki felt Hikaru's lips being pressed against his own, and it soon felt as though they were competing to see who could kiss with more force. Ultimately, Tamaki lost, and ended up falling on Kaoru anyway, who Tamaki was leaning over to reach his older brother.

The twins, to the jealousy of the other boys (as jealous as they could feel, anyway), managed to land on a girl. That girl happened to be Haruhi. Well…It had to happen sooner or later, I suppose, she thought miserably, But why did it have to be them!? The brothers yanked her to her feet, similarly to how Kyoya had done to Tamaki. As soon as she was standing, she felt her lips collide with one of the twins…Hikaru? No, it had to be Kaoru. But then where was Hi—

"Ahh…" she groaned against Kaoru's mouth as she felt his brother kissing at her neck. So this is how they can still operate as one, she thought, but that soon became difficult to do. How are they so good at this? She wondered, involuntarily moving her lips against Kaoru's. In fact, it felt so good…Oh my god…I am not getting turned on by these two! She began to thank the heavens when their lips left their body, but was interrupted when she felt a different set of lips on hers, and realized that they had merely switched jobs. It felt different, but still so good…perhaps too good... Hikaru was putting more pressure on her lips than Kaoru had, and something about that felt amazing. Wait…when had she wrapped her arms around Hikaru's neck? And when had Kaoru wrapped his around her waist?

After what seemed like forever but had really been less than a minute, the twins left her, and she sat down again. She stared at the bottle lying in the middle for a moment before she realized it was her turn to spin it. I swear, if I get those two again, I'm going to kill myself.

Lucky for her, she landed on Hunny, who, seeming to sense her confusion, bewilderment, and…whatever else she was feeling, merely smiled and made their kiss short and sweet. Literally sweet; he tasted like vanilla. Haruhi was thankful to lean against the wall and collect her bearings as Hunny spun, and landed on Renge. His kiss with her was only a moment longer than the one he had shared with Haruhi, and she assumed it had felt the same to the other girl.

Ironically, when Renge spun, she landed on Mori. As she leaned over and kissed him, he surprisingly closed his eyes and held her until she ended it a few moments later. When she did, it looked like she smiled at him for a moment before sitting back down, but Haruhi couldn't tell for sure. The mouth of the bottle seemed to be attracted to Hunny, because that's who Mori landed on. However, their kiss lasted longer than all the ones they had shared with the girls combined, yet it appeared to be just as sweet, with no battle for power, and when they parted, Hunny giggled.

Hunny landed on Tamaki, shared a brief kiss, and then Tamaki landed on Mori, sharing another brief kiss. Mori didn't seem to mind spinning again so soon…until he landed on the twins. He decided to kiss Kaoru first, and while it wasn't all that bad of an experience, Hikaru was able to pick up the fact that he wasn't exactly enjoying it all. Therefore, when he kissed Hikaru, Hikaru made sure to throw his arms around Mori's neck and deepen the kiss as much as he could, practically pulling the older boy on top of him. When they pulled away, Mori was bewildered, though he tried to keep his composure, and as he went back to his seat next to Hunny, Hikaru and Kaoru laughed and finished the rest of their drinks.

Again, when the twins spun they landed on a girl, but this time the girl was Renge. While they gave her the same treatment they had given Haruhi, she seemed less sober, which made it a bit harder. The kisses were sloppy and Renge ended up laughing throughout them. It ended when she leaned a bit too far into Hikaru's kiss, and the three ended up on the floor.

Yet when Renge spun, it was time for the boys to get some enjoyment out of the situation; she landed on Haruhi. W-W-Why? Why do I have to get the worst people to kiss? Haruhi thought as her less-than-sober friend took her in her arms and pressed her lips against hers. Oddly enough, it didn't feel as bad as Haruhi expected, especially when she didn't think about the fact that she was kissing a girl. Perhaps applying lip balm every five minutes wasn't such a bad thing; her lips were amazingly soft. But their lips were separated before long, and Haruhi found herself spinning yet again. This time, she landed on Mori. He smiled at her, as if to reassure her that it wouldn't be as bad as the other kisses she'd had (minus Hunny's, which wasn't so bad). Their kiss was soft and enjoyable; it was a girl's dream first kiss, and she actually almost regretted it ending so soon.

Mori spun and landed on Kyoya, kissing briefly, though when they pulled away, they did so slowly and almost reluctantly (or so it appeared). Kyoya got the bad luck of landing on Renge again, though was glad he got to control the kiss, because when she wrapped her arms around him and tried to pull him down, he pulled away.

Again, Renge spun, and this time landed on Tamaki. Everyone could see how enjoyable the kiss was; in fact, when they finally pulled apart, Renge murmured, "Wow…" as she stumbled back to her seat.

Stupid drunk bastard, Haruhi thought, but was soon surprised to see that the bottle had landed on her. Though she was reluctant at first, she soon became very passionate about the kiss as he moved his lips against hers, and she leaned forward on her hands to press against his lips more (they were sitting down). He returned this favor by wrapping his arms around her waist, and pulled her even closer. She felt her heart rate going off the charts again; she was pressed so tightly against him…It wasn't quite as sweet as Hunny's, but not nearly as erotic as the twins'. But when she felt his mouth opening against hers, trying to get her to do the same, she pulled back, flustered.

Despite this, Haruhi spun, making sure not to look at Tamaki again. This time, however, she landed on Kyoya. But she didn't walk over to him. All she could think about was the feeling of his hands on hers, how close he had stood to her earlier that day. H-How am I supposed to kiss him after all that? Even though I'm sure it's nothing…I can't!

Luckily, Hunny seemed to be looking out for her that night, and pointed out the time; it was after midnight. "Well, you know what happened last time we stayed up too late!" With this said, everyone headed in.

"Ahw, man! I kinna wanted tuh see Hikaru 'n' Kaoru kissh. I mean, really, how hot would that be?" Renge complained.

She's a fangirl at heart, Haruhi thought, rolling her eyes.

"Well, if you insist…" Kaoru said, leaned over, and kissed his brother. Though the older one seemed surprised at first, they soon seemed to be getting quite into it, with what looked like open mouths and roaming hands, and despite Renge's cheering, Haruhi felt she had to stop it.

"Bed!" was the only thing she could think to say.

The twins pulled apart and looked at her. "Eh? You wanna see ush in bed? Haruhi, I never thought…from you…"

Haruhi felt herself blushing. "No-NO! I mean, everyone get inside. We're going to bed now!"

Everyone stumbled inside rather quietly, Tamaki being practically dragged by Kyoya and Renge being led by Haruhi. They each went to their respective rooms and mumbled goodnight to the others.

"Ah, whoopsie, Haruhi!" Renge said almost as soon as they had gotten into their room. "I gotta go to the bafroom for…er…girl thingsh?"

Haruhi sighed and sent her off with the needed resolution. I should probably go with her to make sure she doesn't do something stupid, Haruhi thought. However, when she opened the door to follow after her slightly-drunken friend, Kyoya was standing there. "K-Kyoya? Why are you here? Is Tamaki alright?" she asked. Oh god, oh god, oh god! Why now? And why am I so nervous? He's just my friend, and hardly that.

"He's fine; he fell asleep as soon as I made him lay down," came the reply.

"Oh…then what brings you here?"

"I never got my kiss," he answered, taking a step forward and surprising the young woman in front of him. Though her mind was too muddled to think it, her body instinctively took a step back. As he continued to approach her and she continued to back away, she soon found herself backed against her bed. Shit…this is worse than before! she thought, panicked. She thought she saw a smirk on his face; she felt his hands grasp her wrists, and though she tried to struggle, she was much smaller than he, and he was able to push her onto the bed without much trouble. Her mind blurred; she felt him pin both of her hands above her head with one hand, and though she could feel herself thrusting her head back and forth, still trying to break free, he managed to catch her chin in his free hand. A moment after that, she felt his lips press against hers, warm. Against her struggle for freedom, she found his lips oddly calming, and within a few minutes no longer struggled. Finding her no longer resisting, Kyoya let go of her hands and chin, and instead placed his hands on either side of her head. Haruhi's mind was still in a whirlwind, feeling those same feelings she had felt when the twins had kissed her, and could hardly process what was going on, though she did feel his lips part hers, his tongue sneaking in, caressing hers. She was tempted to do the same, and probably would have done so, had they not heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and quickly parted, standing up and composing themselves.

"That was all I wanted; nothing more," was what he whispered in her ear, and without her noticing, was gone. Not a moment later, Renge walked through the door.

"Hey…Wush that Kyoya who jus' lef'? Wut wush he doin' in here?"

Haruhi, however, decided to ignore her and just collapse into the bed- the same one on which she had been pinned to, helplessly only moments before.

Hmm…was that really all Kyoya wanted? Hmm…YES, it was based on the 9th chapter of the manga. Which I just re-read down the shore. I'm scared some people are gonna yell about this one lol. Don't be too harsh, as I have zero self-esteem as it is :D But this is AU, so not being totally IC is actually probably IC for an AU…make sense? XD That's just how I feel, but whatever. OH AND THE ALCOHOL LOL. Yeah…They never do anything "bad" in this series. Sand Chronicles is also about teens, and they drink, so…pretend it's set in that universe? XD Or in ours. By the way…17, and never had alcohol :D I'M GOING STRONG!

Oh. And anyone think it was Renge who was gonna show up? ;D

Anyway. Working on the next chapter. The stanza doesn't give me much to work with DX I'll make it work…