CHAPTER FIVE

The girl yawned and stretched her long legs out in front of her. Unfortunately for her, the sofa was a little cramped and not long enough, so her neck felt stiff and her legs were sore.

Knock, knock.

"Jesus, can't a girl get a good night's sleep - and a peaceful morning - even after an evening of exhausting events?" Kiyoko grumbled and got up, trudging over to the door. "Yeah what?"

"Huh?" The annoying PIG from yesterday was standing there, holding a bundle of flowers. "Oh, it's you. I thought Haru-chan would be here." He said, immediately relaxing and throwing down the flowers.

"A-ki-ya-ma Ko-i-chi." She pronounced every syllable as if it was a disgusting slug. "Who's Haru- oh you mean your cousin Haruhi?"

He smiled. "Yes, Haru-chan. And you remember my name!"

"Well, how do I put it, I have a very good memory." Kiyoko stated sarcastically. "So what are you doing here? I would've thought no weirdos come to school this early."

Koichi grinned slyly. "I was looking for Haru-chan."

She rolled her eyes. "Flowers for her? You like her?" She sniggered.

"A-ah? Well yeah I guess..." He looked uncomfortable for a moment, then his face cleared and looked bright and happy again. "Anyway where is she?"

"Dude, no one comes to school so early in the morning, and even if she does she doesn't come here, she goes to her classroom." Kiyoko sighed.

"Right..." He nodded slowly.

Not wanting to keep talking to him, she grabbed her stuff and stood. "Well it was real interesting talking to you but I gotta skedaddle now so bye, you can go look for Haruhi!" She made a quick escape, slamming the door harder than necessary behind her as she left.

"Great, now I've got nowhere to go cos this PIG decided to invade my area..." The girl grumbled.

She sniffed indignantly and set off walking about in this over-sized school. She passed a huge willow tree, and saw a gap between the leaves and the hedge behind, so she ducked under to investigate. It turned out to be an awesome little place, with enough space to lie down and relax, but also small enough to feel secure and cosy. The top was covered with dry leaves and branches, in fact there was so much that it probably wouldn't leak when it rains. The sides were hedges and one side was the smooth trunk of the willow tree.

It would be her secret little hiding place.

Kiyoko stayed there, doodling randomly into her books and finishing homework she couldn't be bothered to do yesterday, until it was time for school. She reluctantly got up and crawled out of the 'Secret Garden', as she now called it, dragging her bag along.


"What. Did you just say?!" Her expression turned stormy.

The twins just grinned. "Well, the host club is having another special event today because of the beautiful blooming sakuras. We are going to be having a flower-viewing session, complete with afternoon tea!"

"Oh, awesome..." Kiyoko sighed. Hikaru (well she was pretty sure it was Hikaru anyway) shoved some clothing at her and she grabbed it and changed - it was a waitress's outfit, which matched the others.

She jogged outside to see Kyoya brandishing some photo albums or something and girls waving money at him. What the heck...

Since there wasn't anyone who wanted to request her at the moment, she went over to the twins, seeing as though they seemed slightly bored.

Hikaru knocked over a hot cup of tea just as she went over, so that it didn't hit it's target Kaoru, but instead spilt onto Kiyoko's hand.

"Ouch! Shit that hurts." She cussed.

Unable to do their digusting 'brotherly love' thing, Kaoru grabbed her hand and lightly kissed the burnt part. Hikaru just randomly kissed her other hand.

She responded by withdrawing both hands, then bunching them into fists and hitting them on the head simultaneously.

Over on the other side, she saw Tamaki shamelessly flirting with Haruhi yet again, and was apparently going on and on about how handsome he was. Conceited much.

Kiyoko decided to have some food and talk to the girls (even though she hated them) while the host club was off sprouting more nonsense about something she did not give a fudge for.

Gawd, how peaceful her life would be without the stupid host club... Except that they did constantly provide amusement and distraction. They were actually alright as people, just a little annoying, maybe, but she and the twins got along pretty well when they weren't busy doing the gross incest stuff.

"Oi! Come join us, Ki-Ki!" Hikaru called teasingly.

She instantly shot him an 'Are-you-serious-I-am-so-grossed-out-by-that-nickname' look, but made her excuses to the girls and stood anyway.

"Hurry up, Ki-Ki! We're all gonna play a game!" Kaoru called, making the same irritating expression as his brother.

The girl jogged over to the waiting people. "Yeah what?"

"Well hello to you too, Kiyoko." Kyoya said, looking mildly pissed at her greeting.

She ignored him. "We're playing a game? What game? Sounds like a bore to me."

"WE'RE PLAYING A COMMONER GAME! HARUHI, MY DAUGHTER HARUHI TAUGHT US! IT'S CALLED HIDE-AND-SEEK!" Tamaki yelled excitedly, probably not aware that he was, in fact, hollering in Kiyoko's ear.

"Great." She said in a fakey, sarcastic sing-song voice. "Hide-and-seek. I can't believe you've never heard of hide-and-seek before. Oh god... Rich people these days." She drew her hand across her forehead dramatically.

Tamaki was too happy to care. "Great! Well Honey here offered to count first, so everyone else hides! Honey, 60 seconds, no cheating."

"Yes sir!" Honey whirled in a circle and saluted. Then he faced a tree, covering his eyes. "60, 59, 58..."

Kiyoko rolled her eyes but started sprinting. She knew exactly where to go, where no one would find her.

As she crawled through the thin gap between the tree trunk and the hedge, she saw the light filtered in through the leaves, looking green and making the spot seem even cosier. Grinning, she sat down in a pile of olive-green leaves and laid her head on the smooth coolness of the trunk.

She must've dozed off, because she heard a voice calling to her faintly, in the dark... Wait, no. Mori was bobbed down at the entrance, blocking most of the light.

"Kiyoko." He said in that deep voice of his. She started, that being the first time she ever heard him speak. In fact, she almost thought he was mute or something.

"Y-yeah?"

He blinked. "I need a place to hide. Mitsukuni is coming."

"Fine. Come in."

The giant just managed to squeeze himself in before they heard footsteps. Kiyoko shushed him, even though there was no need - he only talked when he absolutely needed to.

"Takashi! Kiyoko!" The boy called, pouting when there was no response.

From a small hole in the hedge, the girl watched him walk away, then breathed a sigh of relief.

She turned to Mori with an accusing glare. "How did you find this place anyway? It's my secret hiding spot."

"I was just walking around and I saw a gap, so went to have a look." He murmured, still stoic as ever.

The boy shuffled forward a little, getting comfortable, and Kiyoko was suddenly aware of the fact that this place was so very cramped with this huge guy in it. But then again, it was kinda fun, playing with everyone, running around, even hiding with a person in a space that really wasn't supposed to fit him.

Mori blinked, trying to make sure his grey eyes weren't deceiving him.

The girl was smiling. Like, actually smiling for the first time since they met her. There was a faraway look in her silvery-blue eyes, and the grin etched onto her face made her seem younger somehow, and like a much more optimistic person.

Was this how she used to be like? What happened in between to turn her into her cold, sarcastic self?

Well, no one knew the answers, but something happened, that was for sure.