Host vs Wild
Chapter Four: Coincidences
Kyoya woke up, not to the screeching of his three alarm clocks at home or to his wonderfully warm and plush bed or to his neck-supporting fancy contour pillow. No. He woke to a hand on his face, a heavy object on his stomach, the freezing morning air, an extremely sore neck and a stiff back.
He scowled and turned onto his side, away from his snoozing sleep partner. Not even a minute passed before his shoulder grew sore and the tip of his pinky turned numb.
The Demon Lord squeezed his glasses-bare eyes shut and tried to will for sleep to return.
No such luck.
Cursing everything around him, Kyoya sat up, feeling his back give a loud crack. He rolled his shoulders and neck, feeling them crack and click back into motion. He felt around for his specs, found them and slid them on, adjusting them with his forefinger.
Obsidian eyes scanned the minuscule hut. The fire that burned out and everybody else was huddled in their emergency blankets with their sleeping partners. Everybody, except for an empty space where a certain brunette was supposed to be, the only sign of her was a neatly folded aluminum blanket. Kyoya raised a brow; it couldn't be any later than dawn or the early morning. Mori wasn't awake yet and he was usually the early riser.
Everybody was pretty exhausted from yesterday…
Kyoya got up, wincing as the wooden floor creaked. Somebody stirred as he heard the blankets rustle. He carefully made his way towards the door and climbed out.
He found Haruhi couching by the small stream that gurgled by. She had her back towards him; her small figure was still and unmoving.
Wondering what his kohai was doing, he went and sat down heavily beside her.
Haruhi gave a quiet yelp and fell back onto her tailbone in surprise. "K-Kyoya-senpai!"
Kyoya raised a brow, Haruhi wasn't usually like this, and than again, their whole situation must be taking a bigger toll on her than he thought. "Good morning to you too, Haruhi." He greeted.
"What are you doing awake so early in the morning?" Haruhi asked him, quickly recovering from her surprise. Her large caramel eyes held a look of both puzzlement and curiosity. "I thought you hated waking up early."
"I do." Kyoya answered, turning his attention to the clear water before him. Something about the girl's gaze felt intimidating to him. Not many things were deemed as 'intimidating' to the Ootori. "But Tamaki woke me up."
There was a short pause before the girl understood what he meant. Haruhi laughed, a soft giggle. "Oh, I see."
A strange sort of silence followed shortly after. Kyoya felt a sense of awkwardness but Haruhi seemed to be perfectly comfortable. Kyoya coughed, catching the brunette's attention. "Aren't you hungry?" He inquired.
Haruhi blinked, she seemed a bit surprised. Finally, she shrugged. "A little," She answered, "But I can wait. Why? Are you hungry?"
Kyoya nodded, "You don't happen to have anything to eat do you?"
Haruhi thought for a while, "I do, but I don't want to have to crawl back in that hut again." She got up, dusting off the dried grass from her pants. "Why don't we go see if there's anything around here for us to eat?" She suggested, looking at Kyoya.
He got up, "I hate this." Kyoya mumbled, dusting the dirt off his own pants. "I wish they just had maids to do the work. I don't see how you commoners manage doing all these…trivial jobs."
The girl rolled her eyes, "Kyoya-senpai, by saying that these jobs are trivial, you're also saying that the basic necessities like food is not important."
All these lack of food, comfort and sleep was to blame for his stupidity or bad choice of words. "I don't like stooping as low as this." He countered.
"I thought they got rid of the hierarchical system a long time ago?" Haruhi asked, glaring up at him. "I feel insulted."
Kyoya decided not to reply to her. Instead, he began to lead them towards the beach. Maybe there was clams or something.
Boy, steamed clams with white wine sounded so good right now.
He frowned, oh yeah. There isn't any white wine.
"Curse this island and it's lack of supplies." He grumbled darkly.
"Did you say something, Kyoya?" Haruhi asked, scrambling over a fallen coconut trunk.
"No," He replied, swatting a mosquito that had landed on his arm. He shook his head, stupid bugs. Kyoya looked up and was immediately met with a surprise. "What...?"
Haruhi finally made it to his side and looked up, "What's wro- is that a crate?"
True enough, a large wooden crate sat nestled in the sand. The wood looked worn and was a dark brown shade, pieces of kelp and plastic hung from its corners. Some parts looked dented and there was some planks missing. Kyoya furrowed his eyebrows in thought this was feeling awfully surreal. Was it too much of a coincidence? Or was it just he?
Haruhi was already walking towards the crate, "This is great!" She said, "Come on, Kyoya-senpai, let's take it back to everybody – they'll be really happy!"
Kyoya nodded, he picked up his pace to catch up to the excited girl. "You don't suggest we just lug the whole thing back, hmm?" He asked, sarcasm in his tone. He couldn't blame her for being so enthusiastic though.
Haruhi looked like he was about to say something but there was a quick, loud whistling sound and a rush of wind.
The silence that followed felt like it stretched on forever. Next thing he knew, there was an extreme amount of pain in his right arm. When fictional books say that sudden pain felt like a fire ripping through the body, they weren't kidding.
All Kyoya could register was the pain, he couldn't even pinpoint where exactly it was coming from. He only knew pain, and that was all. His hand, though, seemed to know where it was from. He reached up with his left hand to a wet spot on his right arm.
"Ow." He mumbled, dropping to his knees.
Haruhi recovered from her shock, her wide ochre eyes full of panic. "K-Kyoya!"
"Yes, that's my name." He grunted, closing his eyes. He didn't know why the pain was slowly turning numb. Shock, perhaps. His fingers wrapped around a slender, smooth stick. "What is it?" He asked, struggling to keep his voice stable.
"A-An arrow." Haruhi answered, quickly moving to his side. "I'm…going to try to p-pull it out, okay?"
Why was she stammering? Kyoya didn't voice his thoughts though and focused on staying awake, he just felt sleepy. Oh so sleepy. "Please. Careful."
Kyoya didn't know how Haruhi managed to pull the entire thing out of his arm. All he knew was that the feeling of having that foreign object lodged in your arm and wriggled out is a rare encounter to behold.
Haruhi ripped off the extra fabric from the hem of her shirt. She shoved away his sleeve and tied it around the wound.
Truthfully speaking, Kyoya was in such a bad mood; he didn't even bother to show it.
First, I wake up freezing cold. I have a sore neck, and I'm starving. There's not a piece of decent food here and just when things start to get interesting, I'm shot by a fucking arrow.
"Sorry," Kyoya mumbled as Haruhi lifted him up and dragged him towards camp. It felt like all energy had been drained from him, he could barely stay awake let alone walk.
"It's…no problem." She grunted, straining under his weight. Though they hadn't ventured far from camp, there were quite a few obstacles that required climbing over.
Haruhi finally gave up; she was coated in a thin layer of sweat. Gently, she sat Kyoya up against a tree. The little strip of fabric she had ripped from the hem of her shirt was nearly completely soaked with blood. She bit her lip; she wasn't going to be able to bring him back to camp in time. What if he lost too much blood? There wasn't a hospital here for him.
"I'm going to go back to camp to get some help, okay?" She finally told the older host. "You just stay here, don't go anywhere, I'll be right back."
She was about to leave when he tugged on the hem of her shirt. "Yes?" Haruhi said in alarm, whirling around.
"Be careful."
Haruhi stared at Kyoya for a while, utterly stunned that he had bothered to warn her. The pain was probably making him delusional. "Thank you." She said. Haruhi turned to leave, a heavy sense of guilt tugged at her heart. A sudden image of Kyoya dying flashed in her mind's eye. She shook her head, turned around again. She crouched down beside him, unsure as to what to do. Haruhi leaned in towards him, froze and jerked back.
Without another word, she got up, shook her head and left. He face was flushed a deep red.
.:::::::.
God knew how long he had sat there just waiting. The pain had numbed off completely and he could barely feel his arm at all. Kyoya leaned his head forward, his bangs falling forward to cover his face.
He could hear the crunching of footsteps and stiffened. Was it Haruhi?
The footsteps stopped and Kyoya opened his eyes, there was a pair of shoes on his left side. Brown, shiny combat boots. He closed his eyes again; none of the Host members wore combat boots…
"How pathetic," A deep, gravelly voice snorted. "All it took was one arrow." This person had an accent, Kyoya noted drowsily.
A rough hand cupped his forehead and shoved his head back. Kyoya opened his eyes a little his eyesight was blurry. Did his glasses fall off?
From what he could see, the man was tanned. He had short, gray hair and a deep scar running from his right brow down to his jaw line. The man had a wide face and bushy eyebrows. He was buff and wore a camo muscle shirt and brown cargo pants.
Who is he, some American general? What is he even doing here?
He snarled something under his breath; he reeked of body odor and tobacco.
"Over here!" A distant voice called.
"Shit," The man let go of Kyoya's head. He straightened up and left silently. After that, Kyoya really couldn't stand it anymore. The lull of utter darkness was too tempting. He closed his eyes and passed out.
.::::::.
As Haruhi lead Tamaki, Kaoru and Hikaru to where she left Kyoya, she felt panic rise in her gut. Something was telling her that something was wrong. Now, she wasn't usually the one to be so gutsy as she preferred to stick with solid facts but there was something different about this.
"Over here!" She called back, walking around a dense fern bush.
When they finally reached Kyoya, he was leaning heavily on the trunk, his forehead was smudged with dirt and he was unconscious.
"Kyoya!" Tamaki cried, bounding forward to kneel by his best friend's side. "No! You don't deserve to die!"
"He's not dead, Tono." Kaoru said calmly as he pushed past Haruhi to play two fingers on his wrist. He checked his forehead, cheeks and neck. "A bit feverish but fine."
"What did you say happen, Haruhi?" Hikaru asked, walking to stop beside the girl.
"Well, we were going to check out a crate but than he got shot by some arrow…" Haruhi explained sounding a bit dazed.
"Where's the crate?" The elder twin asked curiously.
"It's on the beach," She answered, nodding towards the way they had gone. "It looked pretty full but we didn't have a chance to inspect it."
Tamaki stood up with Kyoya's left arm draped over his shoulder. "Kaoru, could you help me please?" He asked, suddenly looking serious. "Haruhi and Hikaru, go see what is in the crate. Do be careful, we can't have another one of us injured."
Kaoru stepped forward to help the King Host. He carefully picked Kyoya up by the waist and arm.
"Okay." Hikaru nodded, before reaching to take Haruhi's hand. "Come on, Haruhi, let's go."
"Is holding hands really necessary?" Haruhi asked as Hikaru led her away.
The twin blushed, "Yes, of course! Tamaki said to protect you, right? So it is, most definitely, necessary." He answered quickly and tightened his grip around her small hand.
Haruhi frowned but said nothing, she looked over her shoulder and watched Tamaki's tall figure disappear behind a giant fern.
.::::.
When they walked up to the crate, Haruhi was tensed and on high alert. She constantly looked around, squinting at the ocean and peering through the dense shrubs. It didn't seem like there was anybody around at all.
"Stop being so fidgety," Hikaru said with a roll of his eyes. "Nothing is going to happen. Whoever was here is probably gone – they've already injured somebody, haven't they?"
"Yes, but you can never be too careful, he might still be here." Haruhi mumbled nervously. "Well, we should open this and see what's inside."
Hikaru nodded, an eager grin on his face. He knocked the crate with the hooked branch they had picked up along the way. "It sounds pretty full. I hope there's something good in there." He hooked the curved end of the branch over the edge of the plank and pulled. The piece of wood cracked and came off. They repeated this until a whole section of the crate was removed.
The two of them peered into the dark, gaping hole. Hikaru was sweaty and tired, "You don't happen to have a flashlight, do you?" He asked, breathily.
"Mori-senpai gave me one." Haruhi said, silently thanking the older student for being so considerate. She fished into her pocket and brought out the small, rechargeable flashlight. She gave the crank a few turns and switched it on.
The beam of light illuminated the whole crate. Inside were smaller boxes, stacked neatly on top of one another. Cautiously, she stepped in and ran a hand down a tall tower of boxes. She furrowed her brows in puzzlement.
"What is it, Haruhi?" Hikaru asked, stepping in as well. The boxes were labeled very vaguely. His eyes widened, "It's supplies!"
"There's food, clothing, wow! Isn't this a great find?"
"Uh-huh…" Haruhi's mind was occupied with something else, but she wasn't about to let Hikaru know. "Why don't we look for the first aid box? That's what we need now. We'll come back for more later."
Hikaru was already carrying three boxes. They were labeled 'Food', 'Gear' and 'Clothing'. "You can look for that, Haruhi. I'll bring these back." He grinned, excitedly. "We have to bring back as much as possible! What if the crate disappears if we leave it? You stay here, okay? I'll be right back!" And with that, he turned and hurried across the beach.
Haruhi blinked, "Oh…Okay.". She watched as Hikaru walked out of sight. She sighed and began to rummage through the boxes.
.:::.
By the time they returned with the last of the boxes, it was already well into the afternoon. Everybody was excited about the newfound supplies.
"Look, Haru-chan! There's sweets!" Hani exclaimed happily as he tore open a box.
"Look, isn't this amazing?" Tamaki asked, shoving a piece of plastic in Haruhi's face. It was red, with a fork in one end and a spoon on the other. "It's called a 'spork'!"
"And look! These clothes are pretty stylish." Kaoru grinned, holding up a gray and orange shirt. He turned it around and looked it over. "Funny how the style is so similar to our mom, hmm, Hikaru?"
"Yeah." Hikaru nodded, bending down to open another box. He gasped, "Intant coffee! Wow! We really hit the jackpot on this, didn't we, Haruhi?"
Haruhi nodded, "Um, what about Kyoya?" She asked.
"Oh, Mori is in the hut, looking after him. He said that he'll be okay."
The girl nodded and carefully picked her way through the mess of boxes and crawled into the hut. "Mori-senpai?" She called.
"Hmm?" Came the warm, deep rumble.
"You can go have lunch with the others, I'll look after Kyoya." She said, moving to sit, cross-legged beside him.
"You're not eating?"
"Not hungry, thank you." Haruhi said.
"Okay." Mori got up and made his way outside where Haruhi could hear Hani greeting him.
Except for the excited cheers and muffled talking outside, the hut was pretty quiet. Haruhi stared at Kyoya, a small fire was striving beside him. Kyoya looked peaceful in his sleep, his head was propped up on a pile of thermal blankets and his glasses lay beside him.
Haruhi sighed, closing her eyes. She bit her bottom lip and moved to place a hand over his forehead, cheek and neck. "Good, there's no fever." She mumbled to herself.
"What are you doing?" Haruhi jumped, jerking her hand away.
"You're awake!" She said, surprised.
Kyoya furrowed his brows together, "Water, please." His voice sounded hoarse and gravelly.
Haruhi looked around the hut frantically, where did Mori put the water? She finally found the canteen right by where the elder host had been sitting at. She picked it up, unscrewed the cap and offered it to Kyoya. "Here."
There was a pause before he sighed. "Do you expect me to drink it myself?"
Confused, Haruhi nodded. "Yes, why can't you?"
"I'm an injured patient, Haruhi."
She blinked, thought for a while than sighed. "Oh you rich bastard." She muttered and moved to prop Kyoya up against her. She carefully touched the rim of the canteen to his lip. "Hurry up and drink." She told him, not minding their close proximity.
He obeyed and nearly drained the whole canteen of its water. "Good, now go back to sleep." Haruhi said and she gently laid Kyoya back down. There was a small smirk on his face as he gazed up at her.
"What?" Haruhi asked, irritably. "You've already had your water, what do you want now? A massage?"
"That would be nice, thank you."
She snorted, "In your dreams, Kyoya." She paused and sighed, "Hey, Kyoya?"
"Yes, Haruhi?"
"Don't you want to know what was in that crate?"
"Not really, that thing nearly got me killed."
Haruhi ignored him, "There was food and clothing. There's everything we need."
Kyoya raised a brow, "And that's a bad thing?"
"No, but don't you find it…odd that it was just, you know, there?" Haruhi frowned, "And they had all the things everybody liked too. Instant coffee, fashionable stuff, sweets…"
"You're saying that it was too much of a coincidence." Kyoya concluded, his eyelids drooping.
Haruhi looked at him and nodded. "I'm beginning to get suspicious, but you should rest Kyoya." She patted his forehead and smiled warmly. "I'll be here so just go to sleep."
Kyoya stared at her for a while before closing his eyes. "One last request, Haruhi?"
"Hmm?"
"Could I use your lap as a pillow? This thing isn't doing much to help my sore neck."
Haruhi blinked, she imagined what Tamaki and the twins would do if they found out but she also didn't want Kyoya to be in any more pain. Finally she nodded, "Okay…"
She scooted forward and Kyoya moved to lie down on her lap, a barely visible look of triumph on his face. "Thank you." He said.
"You owe me, Kyoya." Haruhi told him, patting his forehead and brushing away bangs from his eyes.
He chuckled sleepily
Hey everybody! Sorry for the late update, I've been drowning in work. Finals, projects, vacations and stuff. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and thank you, everybody for your reviews and encouragement. Heck, I check my story traffic lists ever week and epic thank you for all the people who read this! :D
Thanks to!
hypnotic flames: Glad you liked, thanks!
Lizzy-Chan-InuYasha-Fan: Thank you so much for your review, it made me really happy. Especially since I was in a grumpy mood the time I read your review.
MikeyEllzBellz: Thank you! I do try very hard to keep readers curious. xD
Pixieguitarbook46: Thanks for your motivation, haha! :3
Raines: I tried to put in some actual romance action here, but these things can't be rushed. (: Thank you for reviewing!
Meganes Ultimate Fangirl: Rich bastards will be rich bastards. They're also innovative with high-class education. :D
GOGOgirl103: Thanks for you're idea, I may consider it. :x I'm glad you liked it, thanks for reviewing! - (A rose for you? xD)
I was browsing through my story traffic and looking at the many different countries there. Needless to say I was amazed at the variety.
To those Malaysian readers, HEY! :3 I am Malaysian too!