Host vs Wild
Chapter Three: Lost and Found
Something felt incredibly hot pressed up against her skin.
There was a sharp jolt of pain and her eyelids shot open, revealing the panicked caramel eyes. There was a small animal on her finger. She sat up and shook her finger, the thing had been bright red, and looked awfully like a crab. Wait. Crab?
Her mind still drugged with sleep, Haruhi stumbled up, her hands fumbling around for something familiar. Anything. Her palm came to rest of the cool, damp surface of a large boulder. She stood up, her legs feeling awfully weak. She looked around, wide eyes drinking in her surroundings.
There was a lot of sand; she could feel the white, powdery substance inside her shoe. She could hear the ocean, calm and lapping up against the shore. Whipping around, Haruhi saw nothing more but an endless stretch of water. An ocean breeze blew past and she heard the rustling of leaves, turning around once more, Haruhi saw that thick forest laid just over a hundred meters off. Coconut trees lined the shores.
She worked to remember what had happened. The boat…sunk? She remembered thunder, so much thunder, than there was a loud crack and water. She remembered coughing up salty water and than something brushed against her foot.
Haruhi shuddered; it had felt slimy and cold.
Somebody…what had happened? Lifted up from the water, coughing, cold than nothing… Haruhi closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe. In. Out.
Recovering from the shock of it all, Haruhi tried to swallow but found her throat feeling too parched. Sweat slicked her skin and she was alone.
She coughed and managed out a whimper. Haruhi forced herself to close her eyes and think. No. She could not, must of go into a mental breakdown. What does she have to do first? Find her friends? Yes, that's the way to go. Go on. Get busy.
Haruhi left the safety of her giant rock and started to walk along the shores. She had no idea how she managed to get washed up on the shore and still be relatively okay. Bruised, maybe, but okay. She thought that those kinds of things only happened in books, or movies. She shook the thought from her mind, she had to concentrate, scan the shores for any unusual lumps.
…
The sun was beating down on her. Literally. She was sweating profusely; her throat was stinging from yelling and thirst. Haruhi had never, ever felt so scared in her life.
Imagine the utter hopelessness she felt when her foot caught on something and she tripped over, falling face-first into the sand. Haruhi was too tired to get up.
I swear. If I tripped over a dead body, I wouldn't care. If I tripped over somebody I know, it'll be a miracle. If I tripped over a rock, I'll feel sad for myself. Ugh. Just let me die already…
Delusion had led Haruhi to speak her thoughts out loud and not even know.
"You know, Haruhi." A familiar voice muttered. "That's not very optimistic at all."
There was a silence before the voice registered in Haruhi's mind. She found a sudden jolt of energy and she flipped on her back and sat up. "Kaoru!" She exclaimed, voice hoarse.
"Nice to meet you too." The younger twin said as he sat up. His auburn hair was in a mess, his amber-yellow eyes dull and his clothes torn. "You don't happen to have any water with you, do you?"
Haruhi shook her head, "Unfortunately, no." She closed her eyes and sighed, a small smile on her face. "I'm so glad you're okay." She said, her voice cracking ever so slightly.
Kaoru smiled warmly and was about to say something when a loud shout came from the forest.
"HARUHI! KAORU!"
A blond man exploded from the forest, his arms open wide and his eyes wet with tears. "You're okay!" He came to a stop by the two weak hosts, dropped to his knees and pulled them into a bear hug. "Daddy was so worried! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Tamaki let them go. You're going to suffocate them before anything." Another, deeper, calmer voice said. Haruhi could hear a hint of relief in Kyoya's tone.
Tamaki obliged and let them go, "Hani! Bring the water!"
"Hai!" There was some shuffling before the shorter host came bounding up towards them, a large canteen in hand. "Here you go, Tama-chan."
After some protest about sharing a bottle and what not, Haruhi felt incredibly grateful to feel the sweet, refreshing liquid slide down her parched throat. She held herself back from gulping down all the water.
"Where'd you guys get the water?" Haruhi asked.
"Ah, Mori-senpai still had the bags with him." Kyoya replied, folding an arm across his abdomen and nudged up his glasses with the other hand.
"Where's Hikaru?" Kaoru asked after clearing his throat. He struggled up, "Did you guys find him?" He sounded urgent, panic in his wide amber eyes.
"I'm right here, Kaoru!" Came the voice of the mentioned person. Hikaru stumbled out from behind a large fern and ran towards the group. "Geez, you guys. Couldn't at least wait for me? I wasn't kidding when I said I heard water."
"Hikaru! You're okay, good god, you got me so worried." Kaoru said with a relieved sigh.
"What do you mean by water, Hika-chan?" Hani asked, looking up at the panting twin. His eyes were stretched wide, marigold eyes held a hopeful look.
"There's a…stream that leads to this pond. There's a waterfall too. Really! It's quite the oasis."
Coming from somebody like Hikaru, the place must have been really nice. Haruhi frowned; the pond should have clean water. If there's a running stream and a waterfall…
"We should probably go there now." Tamaki said, standing up. He helped the weak Haruhi up as well.
Kyoya nodded in approval, "Before it gets dark. I think it's best to build some sort of shelter. Has anybody taken outdoor education?"
There was a short silence. Haruhi sighed quietly; she had a gut feeling that taking outdoor education would come in handy, but she had went with debate instead. Hani and Mori shared a look; "We took outdoor education back in middle school." Hani told them. "But I can't remember everything…"
The loli-shouta looked up at his taller cousin, "Do you remember how to build that hut?"
The senior nodded, "Yes."
Hani grinned and punched the air in joy, "Great! We should be good than, now, let's go!"
"Ahh, Mori-senpai, you're a life saver!" Tamaki exclaimed as everybody began to pick their way back to the forest.
Behind them, the sun was beginning to set. A chopper flew, a few thousand feet away.
A man dressed in black leaned out the open door, thick headphones over his ear, a tight rope tied around his waist and a pair of binoculars held up to his eyes. He lowered the heavy-looking gadget and leaned back into the helicopter.
"All seven of them are safe, sir. They are going to the designated area right now." The man spoke to the microphone that hung over his mouth.
There was a sound of static and a good fuzzy, "Good job. Return now. I will report to Ootori-san and the President."
The man nodded and signaled to the pilot. They made a sharp turn and the door swung shut.
…
When they arrived at the little oasis that Hikaru had described, the sun was already touching the horizon. The sky was streaked with warm colors.
The oasis was, indeed, very beautiful. A pool was pushed up against a rock face and a strong waterfall glided, gracefully down the smooth stone. A creek emptied out from the pool and gurgled its way towards the ocean, the water it carried was clear and flowed steadily. Under the setting sun, everything seemed to hold a warm, reddish glow. There was a small clearing across the creek; trees and all sorts of underbrush surrounded them.
Haruhi let a small smile grace her tired features. The place was breath-taking and had a soothing kind of feel to it.
The group stood there in silence, just taking a while to enjoy the peace. Even Kyoya seemed entranced.
"Well," Kaoru was first to break the silence. "We should hurry, the sun is setting fast."
"Yes, we should…" Haruhi agreed, albeit rather regretfully. She felt like just sitting down and going to sleep. But she couldn't complain.
I'm sure everybody else is just as tired as I am.
Kyoya coughed, successfully pulling everybody's attention towards him. "Mori-senpai, Hani-senpai, please start working on that shelter. It's our top priority right now. Haruhi, Hikaru and Kaoru will go search for some sort of food while Tamaki and I will search for some firewood." He looked up, allowing the opaque reflection to leave his glasses. "Now let's hurry."
Tamaki opened his mouth, he looked like he was going to protest with the group arrangements but Kyoya shot him a glare.
Don't you dare argue right now, Tamaki.
The King Host caught the glare and clamped his mouth shut.
"Let's go, Haruhi!" Kaoru said, grabbing Haruhi's wrist. He smiled and tried to sound cheerful. "Hopefully we don't find anything poisonous."
"Kaoru, you're such an optimist." Hikaru muttered sarcastically as he took Haruhi's other wrist and started into the forest.
"Well, at least I'm not all dark and gloomy."
"Guys…"
Their voice grew fainter as they picked their way through the thick underbrush.
Kyoya turned to Tamaki, "Finding wood isn't hard, Tamaki. Haruhi will be fine, why do you think I assigned her with the twins?" He turned around and started towards the beach. "Come on, maybe we can find some driftwood…"
Tamaki casted one more wistful look at where the trio had disappeared before following his best friend back to the beach.
Only the two seniors were left. Hani smiled, a little bit less cheerfully and turned towards his taller cousin. "Well, shall we get to work?" He asked.
Mori nodded and started to clean up any access debris from the clearing. Hani helped him, while as humming a cheerful tune under his breath.
..:::..
Tamaki trailed gloomily behind Kyouya. He wasn't exactly tired, but he was most definitely worried. For once, Tamaki was worried for everybody at once.
What if they never got back home?
What if something really horrendous happened?
What if…
"Tamaki, stop cursing us with such thoughts."
The blond looked up from the ground, startled. "Were you invading my private thoughts, Kyouya? You know that's very rude of you."
"Quit staring at the sand and start helping." Without really knowing, they had come to a stop beside a scattered pile of wood.
The wood looked like it had previously been boards. However, they were all smashed up and broken that it was hard to tell what it had been previously used for. Tamaki sighed.
He crouched down and started to carefully gather the wood. Hopefully he wouldn't cut himself..."Ow!"
Nevermind, he had cut himself.
The tip of the finger had sliced open, though the cut wasn't deep, a ruby jewel sat on the right end of the cut. Tamaki pouted, gazing worriedly at his morbidly injured finger. "Mootthheer…"
"Deal with it Tamaki. It's just a cut."
"B-Bu-But…"
"I don't have anything with me."
Tamaki pouted even more, he knew Kyouya had won. Reluctantly, he wiped his finger on his shirt and sucked on the wound. If Haruhi were with them, she would be fretting over him now.
"Oh, Tamaki! You're bleeding!" Haruhi wailed, grabbing the blond's wrist. Tears threatened to flow out of her wide, panicked eyes.
"It's fine, Haruhi. It's fine." Tamaki said soothingly though the pain was obvious in his eyes.
"No it's not, Tamaki! What if you die? What if…"Haruhi was starting to cry, her sentence broken up between gasps of breaths.
"Haruhi…"
"Sayonara Tamaki." Kyoya's voice snapped the daydreaming King back to reality. The Shadow King was already starting to stroll back to camp, a stack of wood in his arms.
Tamaki glanced down at his own pathetic pile and panicked. He scrambled around for more wood, determined to return with the most wood. After feeling satisfied with his pile, Tamaki got up and hurried after Kyoya. "Hey, wait for meee!"
…:::…
"Hey, Hikaru, do you think this is edible?"
Kaoru was bent over a patch of colorful mushrooms. The colors were so vibrant, so…earthy, so tempting. He was about to reach for it when a hand came and slapped his hand away. Startled, Kaoru looked up at the attacker.
"Don't touch that! It's poisonous!" Haruhi snapped, "Don't you know the basics? If the mushroom is colorful, it's probably dangerous!"
"Aw, don't be so snappy, Haruhi. It's not like we've studied about this." Hikaru called from behind a bush.
"Maybe that's why you guys should read more than!"
Kaoru straightened up and rose up both palms, "Okay, okay. Maybe we should. Calm down, Haruhi."
The girl glared at Kaoru before closing her eyes. After a while she sighed, "Okay. I'm sorry, Kaoru. I'm just really tired right now."
Hikaru clambered towards them, swatting a mosquito away from his face. "Maybe we should head back, the last thing we need is for Haruhi to pass out on us."
"She doesn't pass out that easily, Hikaru."
"How would you know? You're not her."
Haruhi sighed once more. She had never seen the twins argue so often in one day before. It was definitely not one of their fake arguments, she knew that much. Lifted up their bundle. Hikaru had offered to take off his track jacket to hold whatever goods they found. She opened it up a bit and jutted out her lower lip at how little they had scavenged.
There were two very small coconuts that they had found on the sand, a small handful of white button mushrooms and three, crabs. The crabs weren't even big enough to be considered to be small, they were "the dwarf version of small" as Hikaru had stated.
"That really isn't a lot." Kaoru commented, peering into their bundle.
"Hardly enough to fill me up."
"Uh-huh. What are you going to make with that? I doubt anything decent."
"I want to eat some garlicky catfish bouillabaisse…"
"Me too."
Haruhi closed the bundle and crumpled up the excess fabric in her fist. She bit the tip of her tongue. Rich bastards. Rich bastards. Spoiled bastards. Don't expect much from them. Calm down, calm down.
"There isn't any catfish on this island," She started carefully, "Hell, there isn't any other sign of civilization on this island except for us! Now, will you please stop complaining?" Whipping around, she started to march back towards camp.
"Haruhi! Wait for us!"' Kaoru called.
"We were just joking!" They chimed before hurrying after her.
…:::…
By the time they reached camp, Hani and Mori was just about done with their shelter.
Haruhi nearly dropped her bundle in shock. Had they been gone that long?
In the middle of the clearing stood the most…fancy survival shelter she had ever seen. The roof was a flat cone made up of layers and layers of coconut leaves, eight sturdy-looking poles held up the roof and was the structure. The walls were made up of more young tree trunks and the little hut stood on its eight poles, the base of it was elevated off the ground. Hell, there was even a door and windows.
Hani was leaning out of one of the windows, curtains made of banana leaves were pushed aside "Hi Haru-chan!" He called, "Do you like our new house?"
"Wow…" She breathed than grinned broadly, "Yeah! It's really, uh, well-done!" Probably overdone but I'm not complaining.
"Eh. It's so small." Hikaru complained with a frown.
"And so outdated! Where are the glass paned windows, paint and furniture?" Kaoru frowned, after peering in through the wide-open doorway.
"Guys…" Haruhi didn't finish her sentence when her eyes landed on the 'curtains'. "Wait, banana leaves?"
"Yup! We found a whole bunch of banana trees when we were looking for wood." Hani nodded. He ducked back into the hut, the curtains swung close. After a while, the loli-shouta appeared again at the doorway, a ripe, yellow fruit in his hand. "There were lots of bananas!"
The twins leapt across the stream and made a mad dash towards the senior. "Bananas! Where are them, bananas?"
Hani squeaked and dove back into the safety of the hut. The twins followed him into the hut. There was a brief pause than a joyful whoop, "Bananas!"
Haruhi blinked, the shock still wearing off. She carefully made her way across the stream, hoping that she wouldn't step on any one of those extremely random banana peels. She tied up the extra fabric of their bundle and set it down.
Thwack!
Haruhi jumped at the loud noise and whirled around, confused and stunned.
Mori was walking across the clearing, his face as calm as ever, a broken tree trunk on his shoulder. Noticing Haruhi, he nodded in greeting and proceeded to add the trunk to the shelter.
Haruhi half wondered how much of the forest they had cleared, with all the wood they were using. She turned back around and prepared to climb into the hut when a loud and familiar cry rang through the dense forest.
"Haaarruuuhhiii!" Tamaki came crashing into the clearing, an armload of splintered wood in his arms. Dropping the pile, he quickly yanked the miserable girl out of the shelter and into a massive hug. "Daddy's bleeeediiiing!"
Kyoya sauntered in, carrying a smaller pile. He left his goods along with Tamaki's pile.
Haruhi shot him a questioning look, which was quickly followed by a silent plea for help.
The Shadow King merely smirked and offered her a shrug.
"Sen…pai…" Haruhi groaned, she was tired and did not have any energy to wriggle her way out of the King Host's clutches. "Let…me go…!"
"Oh! I'm so sorry, my dear daughter!" Tamaki dropped his arms and stood back, giving the girl some space. He pouted, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Haruhi answered, a little breathless. Her face was flushed, "Now. What was it about blood?"
That reminded Tamaki of his deathly wound as he immediately threw an arm across his eyes and clutched his chest. "A-Ah! The pain, the pain!" He held out his injured hand, "Blood...There was so much blood!"
"Tamaki-senpai..." She closed her eyes, trying to suppress her irritation.
"Oh! Haruhi!" The older host threw his arms around Haruhi's shoulders once more. "I was worried that I would never be able to see your cute face ever again!"
"Senpai..."
"Haruhi!"
"Tamaki, I suggest you let her go now." Another voice interjected. Haruhi opened her eyes in relief as the weight was lifted off her shoulders. She looked around to see who had spoken up for her. It was Kyoya. Haruhi widened her eyes a bit in surprise. The Great Kyoya, Shadow King and Low Blood Pressure Demon Lord was … helping her?
"But Mommy wouldn't give my boo-boo a kiss!" Tamaki whined holding out his splintered finger for Haruhi to inspect.
Haruhi rolled her eyes, the wound was already starting to close up and it looked perfectly fine. She brought the finger up to her lips and gave it a quick kiss. "There. Happy now?" She could feel both Tamaki and Kyoya's stunned gaze on her. "What?"
Tamaki pulled his hand away, his face was tinged a bright red. "Ah, uh, thank you, Haruhi! I'll..." He glanced around frantically, "Go...see where the two devils are!" Tamaki finished quickly and dove into the hut.
Haruhi raised a brow at the blond's strange behavior but didn't question it. After being with the Host Club for so long, she had kinda just got used to all the strange-ness. Instead, ocre-eyes met onyx.
Kyoya had on his usual stoic face, though both eyebrows were raised in question. Haruhi didn't need to ask to know what he wanted to ask. Why'd you do that?
"To make him shut up." Haruhi answered, she let out a yawn and looked up at the sky. The stars were plentiful and brighter than the ones from Tokyo. "We should probably sleep soon, where is Mori-senpai?"
"Here." Said person walked up from behind Haruhi, a small, smoking bundle in his hand. "I've got fire." Mori looked at the girl and the Ootori before carefully sliding into the hut.
Haruhi stepped aside as Mori clambered in, "Well, we should probably find something to light..." Kyoya coughed and she looked his way. The pile of wood he and Tamaki had collected lay, neatly by his feet.
"I believe that it why I went with Tamaki to gather wood." Kyoya stooped down and picked up and armful of wood.
"Oh, right." Haruhi laughed sheepishly. She felt so stupid. "Well, um, I'm going to go in first." Hoping she wouldn't be interrupted yet again, Haruhi turned towards the entrance and crawled in.
Kyoya followed her in and found that the hut was incredibly cramped inside. He bit back a complaint. No. As an Ootori he was not allowed to complain. Besides, it was not the best time to complain right now. There was a small, raised circular platform made out rocks in the middle of the hut. The twins and Hani were busy munching on bananas and Tamaki was sulking. Mori was crouched by the platform, waiting for Kyoya. Kyoya gave a nod and set down the pile of wood on top of the platform. Mori uttered thanks and set down his burning bundle. It wasn't long before the bright orange flame started to lick and eat away at the wood. The hut warmed up considerably.
Kyoya felt his stomach give a quiet growl. "Hani-senpai," He called. When the older boy looked up from his meal, Kyoya countinued. "Would you pass me some of that please?" Hani nodded and grabbed a bundle before passing it to Kyoya with a wide grin.
"Enjoy!"
Kyoya thanked his elder and pulled at one banana. After peeling it away, he took a bite and sighed after swallowing. Bananas never tasted so good. After he finished one, Kyoya began to realize that there was a certain brunette missing from the cluster of people in front of him. Curious, he looked around and saw a small figure huddled away in one dark corner not too far from him. The figure wasn't moving.
Feeling an odd sense of worry tug at him, Kyoya got to his knees and carefully picked his way towards the figure. Yes. It was most definitely Haruhi. He reached down and gave her shoulders a shake. The girl was lying down on her side, hugging her knees closely and she was shivering.
"Haruhi." He called, keeping his voice low. "Haruhi, wake up."
"Ngh." Was the reply he got. Haruhi tried to turn away from his hand.
"Haruhi, go sleep by the fire, it's warmer there." No response.
Suddenly, there was another person crouching beside Kyoya. He looked up, startled. It was Tamaki. The blond was crouched beside him, the warm glow of the fire seemed to make him glow too. "Just let her be, Kyoya." He said, softly. A certain look of gentle-ness came across the French's handsome features.
"She's freezing, Tamaki." Kyoya said, a hint of bitterness in his tone. He didn't understand why he felt jealous of his best friend than. Nor did he comprehend why he was suddenly overcome with a certain feel of possessiveness when he noticed Tamaki's face.
"It's fine. The others were heating the thermal blankets over the fire." Tamaki said reaching to his side, he unfolded a shiny, aluminum blanket. To Kyoya, it looked like a giant piece of tinfoil, but he could feel the heat radiating from the thing. Gently, Tamaki placed the blanket over Haruhi and tucked in the corners. The girl looked like a baked potato in the blanket.
"We have to share a blanket though," Tamaki said sheepishly. "I don't think any of us should sleep with Haruhi, so I guess it's best for her to have one of her own. But than there isn't enough for all of us so we have to share." He looked up at Kyoya, "That's fine with you, right?"
"Yes, it's fine." Kyoya got up, having suddenly lost his appetite, "I'm going to sleep first. Goodnight, Tamaki."
"Night, Kyoya."
Kyoya went towards Mori, who was holding the blankets over the fire, and requested for one. After retrieving the warm item, he found another quiet corner and laid down, huddling into the steamy-warm blanket. The floor felt hard and extremely uncomfortable pressed up against his shoulders and hip, but it had to do.
Tomorrow, I'm going to find a bed of sort. This is ridiculous.
Well, here it is! The awfully delayed chapter three! It's not as long as I'd like it, but I was worried that if I didn't post it soon, I'd jut completely forget about this story. And I liked to finish this story, but I'm loosing the spark fast. Ugh.
Whoever can bring that spark back, a lifetime supply of pie for you! :]
Special thanks to the following reviewers!
Meganes Ultimate Fangirl: Thanks for your review! It's nice to have a review from one of my favorite authors. :D By the way, you're laugh reminded me of Renge. :P
Scherherazade: Kyoya's my favorite host too. :] And your guess is close, but not quite, I figured that it would be too easy if it was just like that, haha! Thanks for the review!
Kaori Takaguchi: I have updating problems too. :[ See? This chapter took like a month to finish. For reasons that were stated above, haha! Thanks for your review!
Raines: Yeah. Even Low Blood Pressure Demon Lords need some slack.
Have a nice day!