A/n: Chapter 13 everyone! I'm really sorry for the late updates :/

I promise they'll be regular from the next chapter. Well, more RinHaru, Rin's feelings, Haru trying to understand him, Kou's feelings and feels in general in this chapter.

Also, for all the Mikoshiba fans, no offence, but I for some reason picture him as this hyper active, slightly annoying character that people generally don't take seriously. I really don't know why. I love him though, so xD

That's all of my babbling, Review, favorite and Follow!

More RinHaru from the next chapter. Actually, I might just have to change the rating of this fic soon...

Love~

Chapter 13

Kou stared at the clock on top of her study table. It read 4 a.m and she sighed. She hadn't been able to get more than an hour or two of sleep in the past 48 hours. She was tired and wanted nothing more than to sink into dreamland, but obviously that was impossible now. She sat up and stared at her hands in the dark. Her mind continued to wander and she tried to remember the last time her family had spent time together. Kou found the task impossible, because she had been very young when their father had died. Rin himself barely remembered their father. So she thought of the time when Rin had forced their mother to take them to the new amusement park that had come up on one of the nearby islands. Rin had been scared to go on most of the rides and Kou didn't reach the height requirement, so they had ended up going on the Ferris wheel about five times. Despite her constant complaining, she remembered the day to have been extremely fun. She found herself smiling fondly at the memory. Even though Rin had left and gone to follow his dreams or whatever, Kou missed him. She missed what little time she ever spent with her brother. And now he had vanished again. Kou clenched her hands into fists and frowned at them. If Rin was stubborn, so was she. They shared the same blood after all. She wasn't going to let him run away from his life again. This time she'd find him and drag him back if she had to. Kou swore to herself that she'd bring her brother back if it were the last thing she ever did. She wasn't going to let him shut himself away from the world and drown himself in his sorrows again. Kou lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. The day was going to be long and she wanted to get atleast an hour of rest before setting out on the search for her stupid, irresponsible brother.

Haruka raised his hand to shade his eyes, as he squinted into the distance. He tried to figure out which of the three islands Rin was most likely to be on. He continued to stare but could barely make out anything on the islands from that distance. He sighed and took a wild guess.

"So you're saying we're going to go to every single island around here looking for Matsuoka?"

"You know.. I'm Matsuoka too. And anyway, I said we're going to look on the three islands closest to here. Don't you ever listen when people are talking?" Kou crossed her arms and looked at Mikoshiba. The latter ruffled his hair and shrugged.

"Eitherways it'd be impossible to find Matsuo- Rin with just the six of us." Kou didn't want to agree with him. She looked around at the faces of the people she'd gathered to look for Rin. Nagisa and Nitori looked extremely determined. Rei looked tired and confused. Mikoshiba was just getting on her nerves and Haruka hadn't opened his mouth once and continued to stare off into the distance. Kou started to wonder if they'd ever manage to find Rin.

"Well anyway we'll start off by searching that island." Kou pointed to the smallest of the three closest islands that was on the far right. Haruka was the first to agree.

"Yeah I have a feeling Rin might be there." Mikoshiba raised an eyebrow at Haruka.

"You have a feeling? We're going on a manhunt based on nothing but a feeling? Don't joke with me! What makes you think Matsu- Rin will be on that island?"

"Instinct." Both Haruka and Kou said in unison. Mikoshiba had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Are you serious?!" Everyone ignored him and followed Kou as she walked to the pier. She stopped near a fairly large fishing boat that was off white and peeling with age and lack of use. It said 'Kin' on the side, meaning Gold but was actually a portmanteau (A/n: wiki/Portmanteau) of her and her brother's names, Kou and Rin. She climbed on to it and waited for the boat to stop swaying. The others followed on board and inspected the vessel.

"So please tell me you know how to move this thing." Mikoshiba patted the boat and said to Kou. The girl merely shrugged and looked around at their small group.

"I was hoping one of you would know."

"I thought as much." Mikoshiba groaned and sunk to the floor. Kou frowned. Suddenly they were all thrown back as the boat lunged forward and bounced across the water. They flew forwards as the rope that connected the boat to the dock pulled them back. Everyone turned to gawk at Haruka as the male stared at the controls with concentration. Rei had the sense to untie them before the boat ripped in half. The second the boat was lose, it flew across the water and zigged and zagged as Haruka struggled to gain control over it. The group on deck was thrown all over the place until the boat sputtered to a stop. Several dishelved teens turned once again to look at Haruka in the control room. The latter nodded and stroked his chin.

"Yeah I think I got it."

"You can drive this thing?!" Haruka looked back at five pairs of wide eyes and frowned.

"Makoto's dad took us on a lot of fishing trips when we were kids. He taught us how to handle a fishing boat. This one's a slightly older model but the controls are basically the same so we should be okay." It took several more seconds for all of them to get to their feet and get over the shock that Haruka could steer a boat. Once they were settled, the vessel whizzed across the ocean and towards the island closest to them. Despite the lack of use and maintenance, the old boat was doing a fine job of speeding over the water – much to Haruka's delight. It took them a good portion of an hour to reach their destination. Once they were there, they moored the boat at one of the docks and decided to split off and look for Rin. After two hours of searching, Mikoshiba had called to them from a small hill. The group had trooped over to him and he had proudly displayed his discovery.

"Huh? Don't you think this is evidence enough that Rin was here?" Kou walked past him and stared down to part of the beach that continued from the hill.

"Or it could be the remnants of a campsite made by a bunch of families on vacation." Everyone came to stand beside her and look at the groups of families scattered across the beach playing volleyball and relaxing. Mikoshiba's shoulders slumped with obvious disappointment. Rei pushed up his glasses.

"Maybe we could ask them if they saw Rin san." Kou thought for a moment and nodded.

"Yeah that could save us a lot of time and effort." And so the group went forth questioning the tourists whether they had seen a redhead with shark like teeth and a haughty look. Nagisa was the one to get any valuable information.

"I found him~ Apparently Rin chan's near here and the island there." Mikoshiba scoffed and said, "I told you he wouldn't be here." Nagisa gave him a look and continued-

"Apparently he had stayed over night with the families here and had gone to help them fish in the morning since the fish there are bigger or something." Kou wanted to hit her brother. What idiot runs away from home and goes fishing with a random group of tourists?! She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"And did they say when they might be coming back?" Nagisa shrugged.

"Maybe an hour, maybe a few hours, maybe tomorrow."

"I am not spending the night on some island with a bunch of guys." Kou stomped towards three women, bent upon getting some answers. The others just shrugged and began to relax, knowing that they'd have to wait anyway.

It was well past sunset when the men had returned in two fishing boats – one that Kou recognized as the one missing from their garage. The group had stomped over to Rin and grabbed the confused teen before he could make a run for it. They had tied Rin up to a coconut tree and stood around their hostage, Kou at the head. She tapped her foot on the sand and looked down at her shame-faced brother.

"Well? Are you perhaps going to explain yourself, Oh brother of mine?" Rin simply growled and turned away, a stubborn look on his face. A vein popped on Kou's forehead. She stomped over to him, squatted, plucked his chin up and forced him to look at her.

"What were you thinking when you ran away Onii chan?" Rin refused to answer. She frowned as tears pooled in her eyes. Again she forced him to look at her, red eyes reflecting in each other.

"Did you even stop for a moment and think how worried we would be that you had disappeared?!" Rin dropped his gaze as angry tears slid down Kou's face.

"Onii chan you really are an idiot.." Kou whispered. Sighing, she got up and stomped off to god knows where. Thankfully Rei and Nagisa followed after her. Next, Haruka came and squatted in front of Rin.

"What? Are you going to give me a lecture too?" Rin spat at his rival.

"Makoto nearly died because of you." Rin's eyebrows met in a frown as confusion washed over his face.

"Huh?" Then Haruka narrated an exaggerated tale of how Makoto nearly got hit by a truck because Rin had caused him to become mentally unstable. That obviously affected Rin a whole lot more than Haruka thought it would. He hung his head and muttered an apology. Nitori and Mikoshiba had wandered off – probably to look for the others and save themselves from being in an awkward situation – leaving Haruka alone with a tied up Rin.

"You won't come back will you?"

Rin looked up slowly to stare into Haruka's earnest blue eyes. He scowled and opened his mouth, but couldn't find the right words to say.

"It's alright Rin. We forgive you. So don't do this to yourself."

Rin snorted and looked away, his hair hanging limply over his face like a red curtain. Haruka sighed and sat cross-legged in front of him. Neither teen moved nor did Haruka untie Rin, lest he should run away and Kou would have Haruka's head. They sat in silence for several minutes, the only sounds coming from the campsite of the tourists farther down the beach.

"Why?" Rin finally said, his voice cracked and tired. Rin's question could have meant a lot of things, especially to Haruka, but the answer seemed obvious.

"Because we care Rin." After what seemed like several agonizing minutes, Rin finally looked at Haruka. His face was contorted in an expression that was a mixture of rage, hatred, confusion, helplessness and possibly gratitude. Haruka reached over and tucked Rin's hair behind a ear.

"You don't have to do this to yourself Rin." The blue haired teen said again, in a softer voice. Rin shook his head and hung it in shame, like he didn't deserve their kindness. Haruka shifted and made a final effort to reach out to Rin.

"Talk to me Rin." Haruka's sentence seemed to have an effect on Rin. He slowly raised his head and rasped, "Untie me. I won't run away." Haruka hesitated for a moment – more so in thought of Kou's reaction to when she saw Rin was untied, than to the fact that Rin would run away – and finally pulled off the ropes that held the redhead. Rin winced and rubbed his arms and wrists where the rope had cut into his skin. Then he leaned against the tree and stared at the cluster of stars above.

"What do you want me to say?"

Haruka shrugged but didn't answer. Several more minutes of silence followed and Rin continued to stare at the ink blue sky just as Haruka continued to stare at the redhead. Finally Rin spoke again,

"Well I'm sure the reason why I ran away is obvious." Haruka shifted and said in a soft voice, "I'm dumb Rin. I won't know unless you tell me."

Rin snorted and smirked at Haruka. "That I won't argue with. Your head is filled with nothing other than water related thoughts." Haruka frowned but didn't say anything. Rin turned his head skyward again.

"Haaaaah how do I even start? Should I say that I ran away because I thought I didn't have a place with you guys anymore? Or should I say I ran away because I wanted to end my relationship with you guys? Or maybe I should say I'm a big fat fucking idiot who thought by running away I'd solve a lot of your problems." Rin's voice was strained and caught several times, like the effort of talking was too great. Haruka's heart grew heavy as he listened to Rin. He knew that the other blamed himself for everything. Haruka wanted to say something to reassure Rin that everyone still loved and cared about him, but nothing he could say would convince the redhead otherwise.

"Rin-"

"Don't Haru. Just don't. I don't want your sympathy or pity. I brought this on myself and I'll deal with it on my own."

"By running away? Is that how you're going to deal with it?" Rin didn't have an answer to that. Haruka then thought back to the previous day and said what he thought Makoto would say-

"If not for any of us or even for yourself, go back for Kou, Rin. Go back for your family." Rin's eyes shone with guilt and hatred towards himself.

"I can't Haru. I can't go back. I can't hurt Kou anymore than I already have. I can't stand the thought of hurting my little sister anymore."

And Rin cried.

Haruka was startled that Rin was so deeply disturbed that he had hurt Kou. He pulled Rin towards him. The other resisted initially but then gave in, if only for a moment. Then again Rin looked at Haru with hard eyes,

"I told you I don't want your pity Haru."

"It's not pity Rin-"

"I know Haru. Just, don't okay?" Haruka felt torn between his need to comfort Rin and his want to slap some sense into the other. Haruka couldn't for the life of him, understand why Rin was doing this to himself. Rin obviously knew all the answers to his questions, yet he continued to punish himself – there by punishing everyone who cared for him. If Rin were to say 'I know you'll let me come back if I apologize', Haruka knew that Rin himself knew what the response to that would be. They'd say they wanted no apology but just for Rin to come back. Haruka knew this and Haruka knew Rin knew it too. Yet he continued to harass himself in such a manner that Haruka found completely ununderstandable. Makoto had once told Haruka that it was Rin's pride that was making him do whatever he was doing. But what Haruka didn't understand was why Rin was letting his pride get the best of him knowingly.

Rin knew what the source of the problem was, yet he failed to grasp the solution. Rin would rather push away the solution to his problem and dwell in his suffering than put an end to it. And Haruka simply could not understand this. He wondered if Kou or anyone else realized this. Maybe if they did, they could come up with another solution for Rin. Haruka knew that Rin would never be able to handle this problem on his own. There were too many minute details interwoven among themselves causing the problem to be more complicated than it actually was. Or maybe, Haruka thought, maybe the problem itself was simple but they were all complicating it for no reason at all. Haruka rubbed his eyes. He was tired. As he knew everyone else, including Rin, was. Why couldn't they simply end this without dragging it out much longer? He had said the question out loud and Rin gave him the answer just as he himself came upon it.

"Because Haru, the problem itself is me."

A/n: The next update will be over a week from now because i am going on a shitty college trip that I Absolutely DO NOT Want To Go On. But I don't have a choice, T_T So-

See you guys in a week!

The only thing I can leave you with, is the hope for a lot more RinHaru to come.

Love~