A/N: Random quick note before this chapter starts, I just posted a new OHC one-shot based off the Pink song Blow Me One Last Kiss, and I would really love to get some feedback on that! Shameless plug, I know. Anyways, enjoy this chapter, please review, etc.!

Disclaimer: I don't own OHC or Tangled.

Chapter 7: In the Woods

Tamaki and Haruhi tumble out of their new hole into a river and they scramble to the bank, gasping for breath and coughing.

"We… we made it!" Haruhi gasps.

Tamaki looks stunned. "Her hair glows…" he mutters to no one in particular.

"We're alive!" Haruhi yelps. She pulls herself onto shore and runs into the trees. "I'm alive!"

"I didn't see that coming…" Tamaki mutters, running his fingers through his hair.

"Tamaki?" Haruhi calls.

"Her hair actually glows!" Tamaki exclaims to Pascal, who looks exasperated.

"Tamaki!" Haruhi calls again.

"WHY GOES HER HAIR GLOW?!" Tamaki yelps.

"TAMAKI!" Haruhi exclaims.

"WHAT?!" he yells back.

Haruhi walks slowly back towards him, pulling the rest of her thick golden hair out of the water. "It doesn't just glow…"

Tamaki glances down at Pascal, who definitely has something resembling a smile on his face. "Why is he smiling at me?" he asks in a plaintive whine.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the forest…

Benibara Gothel conceals herself behind a tree near a trapdoor with a duck drawn on it. Hearing banging and coughing noises, she draws her dagger and moves closer. But when the door opens, it isn't Tamaki and Haruhi as she expected; it is the Hitachiin twins, coughing and gasping.

"That unbelievable dumbass! Is he TRYING to get us killed?" Hikaru yelps. "Now I'd give absolutely anything to wring his neck."

"We owe him several beatings at this point… first he got us arrested because he's a clumsy idiot, now he nearly drowns us, and this isn't even counting all the times he's been a completely insufferable womanizing moron," Kaoru agrees.

"Let's go get him!" Hikaru exclaims.

"Yeah, we'll cut him off at the kingdom and get back the crown," Kaoru says with a nod.

"Oh boyyyyysss!" Benibara calls in a honey-filled voice. They both turn to stare at the woman. "Perhaps you want to stop acting like wild dogs chasing their tails and THINK for a moment!" She holds up the satchel that they recognize as the one they'd had before, the one that had held the stolen tiara. The Hitachiin twins gasp, then draw their swords. Benibara smirks. "Oh please, there's no need for that."

Benibara tosses the satchel to them, and they dive for it, quickly opening it and finding the tiara inside. They stare at her in surprise, then start cautiously moving away from her.

"Well, if that's all you desire, then be on your way," Benibara proclaims. "I was going to offer you something worth 1000 crowns, something that would have made you rich beyond belief, and that wasn't even the best part," she says with a laugh. "Oh well, c'est la vie." She waves them off and turns to walk away. "Enjoy your crown."

The twins look at each other, then back at Benibara. "What's the best part?" they ask in unison.

Benibara pulls out Tamaki's Wanted poster. "It comes with your revenge on Tamaki Suoh."

The twins grin at each other and turn back to her. "We're listening."

Standing on a cliff far above the gorge, Mori and Honey look down at the raging water. There is no sign of any living soul down there. But the current flows quickly, and it seems very likely that the guards and everyone else down there has been swept away.

"You think Haru-chan and Tama-chan are okay?" Honey asks, staring down nervously at the rapidly-flowing water.

"Yeah," Mori says calmly. Then he turns and starts walking off down into the woods.

In another place in the dark woods, Haruhi and Tamaki sit next to a gently crackling fire. Haruhi wraps a few strands of her hair around Tamaki's injured hand.

Tamaki frowns at Haruhi. "So… you're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your magic hair around my injured hand… Ow!"

Haruhi winces at his pain. "Sorry…" Then she sighs. "Just… don't… don't freak out," she pleads.

Tamaki glances down at his hand, then he fixes his violet eyes on her soft brown ones and nods for her to go ahead. Haruhi closes her eyes and clasps his hand gently between hers and starts to sing.

"Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine, heal what has been hurt, change the Fate's design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine, what once was mine." As she sings, her hair begins to glow and Tamaki can only stare in stunned silence while Pascal watches smugly next to her. As the song ends, Haruhi's hair stops glowing and she looks up at Tamaki with gigantic frightened eyes as she awaits his reaction.

Tamaki slowly unwraps her hair from his hand and sees that the deep gash in his hand has been healed completely, without leaving a single mark or scar to show that it had ever been there. "Ohhh… oh my god… Ahhh…"

"Please don't freak out!" Haruhi begs desperately, biting her lip.

Tamaki's face freezes mid-scream. His mouth opens and closes a little as Haruhi continues to look at him desperately. "Aaahhh I'm not freaking out! Are you freaking out?! Aahhh, I'm just interested in your hair and the magical qualities that it possesses. How long has it been doing that exactly?" He crosses his arms and tilts his head, trying to look calm and innocent.

Haruhi smiled meekly. "Uh… forever? I guess?" Then her expression became serious. "Benibara says when I was a baby, people tried to cut it. They wanted to take it for themselves. But once it's cut, it turns brown and loses its power." She lifts her hair back, revealing a small brown lock buried deep under the rest of her hair. "A gift like that… it has to be protected. That's why Beni never let me…" She bit her tongue and shook her head. "That's why I never left and…" She stops speaking altogether and wraps her arms around her knees, unable to meet Tamaki's eyes.

"You never left that tower…" Tamaki gasps in realization. She looks up at him with a tiny smile, relieved that he finally understands. "And you're still going to go back?" Tamaki asks incredulously.

"No," Haruhi says forcefully. Then her resolve falls away. "Yes…" Then she puts her face into her hands and sighs. "It's… complicated."

Pascal nuzzles against her foot comfortingly. Then she pulls her hair away from her face and tries to smile at him.

"So… tell me something more about yourself, now that you know all my deep dark secrets," she says shyly, trying very obviously to change the subject.

Tamaki tilts his head back and smiles endearingly at her. "Well, I'll spare you the sob story of poor orphan Tamaki Suoh. It's a little bit of a downer." Haruhi scoots closer to him on the log, looking interested. "There was this book I used to read every night to the younger kids… The Tales of Flynnigan Rider. Swashbuckling rouge, richest man alive, not bad with the ladies either. Not that he'd brag about it, of course."

"Was he a thief too?" Haruhi asks.

Tamaki looks a little embarrassed. "Um… well, no. He had enough money to do anything that he wanted to do. He could go anywhere that he wanted to go. And…and for a kid…with nothing… I don't know. It… just seemed like the better option. You can't tell anyone about this, okay? It could ruin my whole reputation," he adds with a smirk.

"Ah. Of course. We wouldn't want that," Haruhi mutters, sounding both amused and annoyed.

"Well, a fake reputation is all a man has," Tamaki tells her with a grin. Haruhi manages a wry chuckle and Tamaki stands up and starts to walk into the forest. "I… I should… I should get more firewood."

He starts to walk away, but Haruhi grabs his hand. He freezes and stares back at her. "Tamaki… I'm glad you're with me," she says softly.

"You'd be the first…" Tamaki says with a sad sort of smile. "But thank you. I'm glad to be helping you."

She smiles at him and he turns and walks into the woods. He's been gone for only a few moments when Haruhi hears a voice behind her.

"Well! I thought he'd never leave!" Benibara exclaims.

Haruhi whirls around in shock. "Beni?!"

"Hello dear," she says pleasantly.

Haruhi gapes wordlessly for a moment. "I… I did… how did you find me?"

Benibara hugs her and strokes her hair. "Oh, it was easy, really. I just listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that."

"Beni…"

Benibara pulls her towards the woods. "We're going home now."

"You don't understand! I've been on this incredible journey, and I've seen and learned so much. I… I even met someone!" she adds breathlessly.

"Yes, the wanted thief… Your poor mother would be so proud," Benibara says sarcastically. "Come on, Haruhi."

"Beni, wait. I think… I think he likes me!" Haruhi gasps, so hopeful and eager.

"Likes you? Please, Haruhi, that's demented!"

"But Beni, I…"

"This is why you never should have left. Dear, this whole romance that you've invented just proves you're too naïve to be here. Why would he like you? Come on, now really." She runs her fingers through the girl's hair. "Look at you! You think that he's impressed? Don't be a dummy. Come with me, lovey." She started to sing, "Beniii…"

"NO!" Haruhi exclaims, furiously cutting off Benibara's derogatory song.

For a moment, Benibara is shocked into silence. "'No?'" she repeats slowly. "Oh. I see how it is." Now she sings again. "Haruhi knows best, Haruhi's so mature now. Such a clever grown-up miss. Haruhi knows best. Fine, if you're so sure now… Go ahead and give him THIS!" And with a flourish, she pulls out the satchel and holds it in front of Haruhi's face.

Haruhi stares in confusion. "How did you…?"

"This is why he's here, don't let him deceive you. Give it to him, watch, you'll see," Benibara sings, tossing the tiara to Haruhi, who catches it almost defiantly.

"I will!"

"Trust me, my dear," Benibara sings, snapping her fingers, "that's how fast he'll leave you, I won't say I told you so. No, Haruhi knows best. So if he's such a dreamboat, go and put him to the test!"

"Mother, wait!" Haruhi pleads.

"If he's lying, don't come crying… Beni… knows best." And with that, she vanishes into the foliage, leaving Haruhi standing in stunned silence. Then she gasps in surprise when she hears Tamaki's voice behind her.

"So! Can I ask you something?" he calls, as he walks over holding a pile of firewood. "Is there any chance that I'm going to get super strength in my hand? Because I'm not gonna lie… that would be stupendous." He notices that she looks startled and dazed. "Hey… You all right?"

Haruhi quickly nudges the tiara inside its satchel beneath some tree roots. "Oh! Sorry, yes. Just lost in thought, I guess…"

Tamaki looks quizzically at her, then sits down with the firewood. "Here's the thing… Superhuman good looks, I've always had them. Born with them," he adds, posing and preening a little. Haruhi barely notices as she makes sure the satchel is concealed. "But superhuman strength… Can you imagine the possibilities of this?!"

Some distance away, Benibara and the Hitachiin twins watch the scene play out. The twins look eager to go thrash Tamaki, but Benibara stays them.

"Patience, boys. All good things… to those who wait," she says with a predatory smile.