Chapter 2

Welcome to Chapter 2! Thanks for continuing to read this. To all those who want fluff, I included a bit. hehe :) So yeah. Enjoy!

Tamaki POV

Kyo and Haru-nee had a very tense relationship. It bothered me. Dear Haru severely disliked wealthy boys, so she was kind of alienating Kyo, but I sensed something more to that. Haru really didn't like him, and I hoped they would make up.

Kyo was always on his laptop, typing fast and continuously. Sometimes I noticed from my desk kitty corner to his that he slept in class. His head titled back instead of forward, and he was exhausted when he was awake. I felt terrible for Kyo. I asked Haru-nee to be kinder to him, but she shook her head. "I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. If he wants to be self-destructive, that's fine with me."

I replied, "There is something wrong with him, and I think we can fix it. I want to help."

Haru shook her head again, her eyes shining with a sad light. "There are so many reasons I don't like him, and I don't need to bother you with them. And if Kyo needs us to help him, what he really needs is professional help. Let it alone, Tama."

I hugged her. "Fine, but remember to have experiences of all kinds."

She laughed sarcastically. "Kyo isn't an experience. He's trouble in an attractive package."

The week went by, Kyo slowly deteriorating, Haru not budging, and me in the middle, attempting to bring them together. Kyo didn't seem to mind me anymore, which was a relief, but when Haru-chan was near, his expression would turn slightly blanker, but his face would go a bit pinker. So maybe Haru helped a little, yet it wasn't enough.

When Friday came around, Kyo looked different than usual. His expression wavered between nervous and focused, and his cheeks were brightly flushed. Kyo didn't look healthy at all, and I told him so, but he said he was fine. A big red flag went up in my mind.

During English, Kyo's favorite class, I saw him quite obviously fall asleep, in the way you normally see people do it, their head pillowed on their hands, forward, not back. I tapped Haru-nee on the arm. Her violent gesticulations asked what I needed her for in the middle of class. I motioned to the black-haired hibernator. She made a sort of "Why would I care?" gesture. Haru ignored all my other motions, and I went to grow mushrooms in the corner.

When Kyo didn't wake up all day, I got very worried. At lunch, he didn't eat, when he was already malnourished and I couldn't tell him to eat. The end of the day came like an inchworm towards you, very slowly. I saw that Kyo hadn't woken, so I put my hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. Kyo didn't respond. I felt his forehead, but yanked my hand away: he was burning up.

Haru-nee had to listen to me, I thought. I waved her over to us. She came, a skeptical look on her face. "I think Kyo has a fever," I said.

"What do you want me to do about it?" she asked irritatedly.

My mouth dropped open. "We need to take care of him! Kyo clearly cannot and has not been taking care of himself, so we need to do it for him, at least for a little while. He is sick and," this next part was a mumble, "I think we should bring him to your basement."

Haru began to laugh, then broke off saying, "Oh wait, you were serious." She paused. "Hell no!"

"Haru-nee," I said. "We're the only ones that can fix this."

She stared at me hard for a few seconds, and then sighed. "Fine. I'm only doing this for you, though."

I smiled brightly. "You know we need help to get him out, right?"

"Time to call in the third-years."

Hani and Mori looked the black and white kings of the chessboard, Hani with his paleness and light-colored hair in white, and Mori with his dark hair in black. Their very similar heights and builds made it easy for them to carry Kyo out of the classroom. The two got to Haru's car, and I helped him in. We waited for the twins to show up for a couple of minutes. When they arrived, we all piled into the car. There were seven of us, so we couldn't wear seatbelts. Everyone told me to quit worrying about it, but I couldn't.

We experienced more traffic than usual, making Haru-nee quite frustrated. It took us a half-hour to get to her apartment, when it should have taken twenty minutes. Once there, everyone clamored out of the car, Hani and Mori taking Kyo. Haru unlocked the door, and we made our way down the stairs.

In reality, Haru-chan and her dad lived in the mostly functioning basement of an apartment building, meant to be the guest suite. Because her dad was away for the weekend, he wouldn't know we'd sneaked another person in.

Mori and Hani carefully laid Kyo on the couch, while Haru went to the kitchen to make porridge. The twins sat in opposite chairs and said, "We don't understand why this is such a big deal."

Haru yelled, "It was Tama's idea, don't blame me!"

Kaoru and Hikaru stared at me for a second, and then began laughing. "Do-gooder Tama-chan," they said. Hikaru continued speaking. "I'm fine with it, as long as I don't have to take care of him."

"I second that," Kaoru added.

Mori raised his hand. "Mitsukune and I have an appointment to keep."

Hani, with a surprised glance to Mori, started saying something, but Mori put a finger on Hani's lips. "I'll show you when we get there," he murmured. Hani's eyes were bathed in a mischievous light; he took Mori's hand, and they headed out of the basement.

Hika and Kao left soon after, bored of Kyo's sleeping figure. I expected that: if something was boring, the twins abandoned it. It's probably why they hadn't left Haru and I. The night grew darker, and my eyes began to droop at maybe 12 am. "It's alright," Haru-nee whispered. "You can go home now. I'll be there when he wakes up."

Takashi POV

Mitsukune's hand was warm in mine. I hoped more than I probably should have that he would like what I'd prepared, I was always the nervous one before our dates. This was the first date I'd planned after all. He instantly put me at ease with a smile, saying, "I'm sure I'll love it."

"So where are we going?" he asked.

I grinned. "You and I are going to a restaurant. I can't tell you which one yet." Hani stuck his tongue out, but let me pull him along.

Just walking, we made it to the food center of Tokyo in about twenty minutes. Foreigners were milling around everywhere, with their stuttering Japanese and full pockets, but Mitsukune loved to watch them. People stared at our clasped hands in a sort of horror, but oddly enough, the foreigners just smiled. Soon we reached a small, warmly lit building. He turned to look at me. "Takashi, how did you...?"

"I did a few odd jobs around the place and started waiting tables. After a couple of weeks, the owner had given me enough money for the two of us to eat here," I said, a hint of pride creeping into my voice.

Hani wrapped his arms around me. "I never tell you enough how much I love you, do I?"

I blushed darkly. Only he could get to me like that. When we met, it was very early in our lives. Our families had been best friends for a really long time, and so Mitsukune and I were introduced at about age four. We were practically inseparable: no one ever referred to one of us without referring to the other. As we grew up, I had this feeling that maybe Hani meant more to me than just friends. It was confirmed when the car crash that had killed our moms happened. I reached over to protect him without a second thought, taking most of the damage. Laying in the hospital bed, I hoped I wouldn't die so I could stay with him. I told him I loved him in that room, when neither of us were sure I'd live. But I stuck it out, and we started dating soon after. Hani meant everything to me, and this date was me trying to prove that to him.

We walked into the restaurant and a co-worker led us to a secluded table near the back. She winked at us, and went to grab our menus. The two of us laughed and talked while waiting for our food to arrive. He had put his hand on the table and linked it with mine. "And remember Usa-chan?" Hani asked.

"That stuffed toy? I had to wrench it away from you on the first day of middle school!" I exclaimed. "You still have it, don't you?"

"Yep!" he replied nodding. I smiled. "You were so short then."

"You are very glad I grew, aren't you?" Hani said, a glint in his eyes.

"Most definitely," I agreed.

"Your food, gentlemen," another coworker said, walking up with two plates. When he looked up and noticed us, his face twisted into a sneer. "Oh look, it's the..."

"Don't even go there," I interrupted. "Kuze, leave us alone."

"What if I don't? Will you do disgusting things with my back turned like the bastards you are?" Kuze asked angrily, waving his dishcloth at us.

"Kuze," a voice said from behind him, "we need to be professionals. I understand you don't like them, but you need to make a good impression at this establishment." The voice was dangerously quiet. Surprisingly, Kuze backed off, but not without flipping us off.

"I apologize for his behavior," the voice said, emerging from the shadows. It belonged to a white-haired, pale-skinned, prince-looking boy that I was certain went to our school. "He won't do it again."

"Thank you," Mitsukune said, speaking up. The boy nodded, and turned back to his work. Hani looked at me for a second. "Why do you always end up protecting me?" he said softly.

"Because I love you," I replied. Mitsukune blushed.

"You'd make a very terrible bad guy," I said with a small smile. "You're too adorable and everyone would just want to eat you up."

"Well, I am available for eating," he said mischievously. I kissed him, not caring if anyone was watching, I didn't even care if Kuze was watching. My fingers wound in his curly hair as he kissed me back. After a few minutes of this, we split apart and ate our dinners.

Nighttime fell around us when we left. Hand in hand, we walked home. "You are amazing, Mitsukune," I said when we got to the door.

"No, I'm not," he replied. I tried to protest, but his fingers touched where he'd kissed earlier. "You are the amazing one, Takashi."

There's my fluff for this week! It's longer than usual, but I had some time. I seem to be going back and forth between the main two characters and other characters. Weird. I hadn't meant to do that originally. There will be more with Tama later, just you wait!