Chapter Three: Arrival

Hikaru's eyes fluttered open as a high-pitched squeak resonated from his left; he looked to see Haruhi curled up against Tamaki with the prince's headphones clasped tightly over her ears. Tamaki looked towards the twin and smiled eagerly, like a cat that had gotten the cream. Hikaru rolled his tired eyes and turned to look at Kaoru; he'd been asleep all this time and Hikaru was thankful for it, at least it'd kept him calm. Hikaru turned and…

"Kaoru?" The older twin got to his feet and peered over Honey's seat, "Where's Kaoru?"

Three pairs of confused eyes looked back at him and Kyoya pressed his middle finger to his face before realising his glasses were no longer there. He cleared his throat, a little embarrassed and responded in his 'motherly' way,

"He was with you wasn't he?"

"Well now he isn't!" Hikaru bit his lip, without his brother to calm him down his emotions were getting the better of him. Honey looked up at the lonely twin with huge eyes,

"Where did you last see him?"

"He's not a lost dog!" Hikaru snapped and Honey slumped back in his seat mumbling 'sorry'.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom," Kyoya offered.

Without another word Hikaru slid into the aisle and made his way towards the green curtain that separated the first and second class areas. Between the curtains were two toilet cubicles. He knocked gingerly on the first door and was greeted by a large woman bustling out of it quickly. Hikaru turned to the other door and knocked. This time there was no response.

"Kaoru?"

A muffled sort of whimper came from behind the door as a bright flash of lightening lit up the plane like a giant fluorescent light bulb. Hikaru shouted his brother's name but his voice was drowned out by another BOOM of thunder. The seatbelt sign lit up once more and the air hostess who had crushed Kyoya's glasses emerged from behind the curtain. She picked up a phone resting on the wall and spoke into it like a well-trained robot,

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are shortly going to be experiencing some turbulence so could you please make your way back to your seats and fasten your seatbelts," she hung the phone back onto it's hook and turned to Hikaru, "You too please, sir."

Hikaru ignored her and started to pull on the handle to the cubicle. Behind the door Kaoru was sitting on the floor with his arms wrapped around his legs. He'd woken up about 20 minutes earlier only to find the plane in the midst of a thunderstorm and, having already been terrified about simply flying, he'd completely freaked out and hidden himself in the toilet cubicle. He listened as Hikaru banged loudly on the door but couldn't bring himself to move, he was just so scared.

"Sir, you need to sit back down," the hostess touched Hikaru's shoulder and he shrugged her off forcefully,

"NO!" he banged on the door with his fist, "Kaoru! I'll protect you! Come out!"

Seemingly out of nowhere the plane began to rattle and shake and Hikaru lost his balance and knocked his shoulder against the wall. He hissed through his teeth and held his hand against the forming bruise. Moments later he heard something rustle behind the door and then it slowly opened, revealing a slightly teary-eyed Kaoru. Hikaru sighed and another bout of turbulence rocked the plane; Kaoru lost his footing and ended up ploughing into his twin, knocking them both to the ground. He gripped Hikaru's shirt tightly and whispered,

"I'm sorry Hikaru."

The elder twin stood up, bringing his brother with him, and held Kaoru's face in his hands, "Its okay, you're going to be fine." Kaoru nodded sheepishly and they made their way back to their seats clumsily as the cabin rolled and shook. Once seated the twins held one another's hand until, finally, the plane landed in Hawaii.

~ o o O o o ~

"Wow!" Honey ducked his head as Mori stepped off the plane (Honey was seated on his shoulders as usual) so as not to bang it on the doorframe, "It's hot!"

"Mmm…" Mori replied, as talkative as ever.

Tamaki and Haruhi followed, Tamaki's headphones were still around Haruhi's neck but the prince didn't mind, in fact he actually liked them there. They walked down the stairs and waited with Mori and Honey on the warm tarmac. Kyoya stepped out next; he raised his hand to block the glaring sun and gripped the handrail tightly as he blindly made his way down the stairs. Without his glasses he could only make out loose shapes and smudges. Finally the twins emerged from the plane; Hikaru's shoulder was turning purple but he was the one supporting his brother, who still looked a little wobbly. Haruhi smiled at Kaoru,

"How are you feeling?"

Kaoru's face reddened and he sank back a little behind Hikaru, "Fine," he mumbled.

A bright white bus with a blue streak across it pulled up next to the plane and the passengers boarded it. It was one of those that bend in the middle and the twins quickly became distracted by the way it swooped along the runway. When it stopped at the airport they all stepped off quickly and made their way to the baggage area. A large crowd of people filled the space and Haruhi was fascinated by the strange snake-like contraption that delivered the suitcases to everyone. It was like a huge black caterpillar that handed out a never ending stream of luggage. Haruhi turned to ask Tamaki what it was called but was instead standing next to Honey, who had dismounted Mori's shoulders. The tiny boy looked stricken with worry and his eyes were brimming with tears.

"Honey?" Haruhi bent down so that she was looking at him directly, "What's the matter?"

He didn't speak. He didn't even look at her. Instead he stared blankly in front of him with the sleeve of his shirt in his mouth. He really did look very young. A large tear spilled over the edge of his eye and his mouth began to tremble fiercely.

"Huh?" the twins looked at him with their heads tipped to one side and said in unison, "What's wrong with Honey?"

"I dnn ee t," Honey mumbled into the material in his mouth and more tears began to flow from his eyes. He suddenly turned and looked at Haruhi, "I DON'T NEED IT!"

"He's lost the plot," Hikaru chided.

"Totally crazy," added Kaoru.

"Honey? What don't you ne-", Haruhi stopped mid-sentence and stared at Honey. Both his hands were free (well, one was stuffed into his mouth), he wasn't carrying anything. He wasn't carrying anything! "Honey?" Haruhi placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Where's Bun-Bun?"

The small blonde looked up at Haruhi, his face slick with tears. Haruhi watched as Honey's face slowly crumpled and he began to cry uncontrollably,

"I left him on the plaaaaaane!" he wailed.

"Ah, this cannot be!" Tamaki slapped the back of his hand against his forehead and crumpled to the ground like a rag doll. The twins tried to console him, much to Haruhi's annoyance, and Mori loomed over Honey. The tall, dark-haired teen spoke quickly in his bass voice,

"I will get him back." He turned to march outside but Kyoya was standing in his way; he pressed his finger to his glasses-free nose and quickly dropped his hand to his side before saying calmly,

"It's not on the plane."

Honey looked like he might fold inside-out as he cried, "He's GONE?"

Kyoya shook his head and smiled patiently, "Here," he brought his other hand from behind his back and there, as if by magic, was Bun-Bun. Honey took the rabbit and spun him around and around squealing 'WEEEEE!'

"Ah," the twins chorused, "Kyoya had him all along."

Tamaki got to his feet with a sudden burst of energy and bounded over to where the others were standing. He swung his arms around Haruhi and sang, "Oh, what a wonderful ending!"

Haruhi pushed him off and shoved his headphones into his chest, "Here," she said bluntly, "You can have these back now."

Tamaki gripped his chest like he was having a heart attack and sank to his knees in defeat, "Haru… hi… Do you not want my gift of love?"

Ignoring their 'prince' the others made their way to the conveyer belt that was distributing their luggage and began to gather their suitcases. It was all going quite well until Kyoya offered to get the bags and suitcases himself and it was too late to call the others back once he realised he couldn't actually see the labels or ID tags.

"Oh well, Kyoya said to himself, "I'll just have to guess which are ours."