A/N

Back! And summer vacation has never been sweeter ^.^ loving it! Hahaha :) well, here is my story! And by the by, any song that Emiko sings will be in English, unless it has Romaji lyrics (don't know what Romaji is...forget it.) So's yes!

Disclaimer: Still don't own OHSHC...BUUUUUT I own my characters :D

~The Thorn of a Rose~

Chapter 5

I stared at my phone, debating. Should I...or should I not? Was it a trick...or was it real? Did Lia really harbor feelings for Mark? Did she really ask him out? I could see Mark making this up...but what if he wasn't? And what if she did go out with him, and end up the same way I did? No. I couldn't let that happen to anyone, especially Lia, one of my band geek friends.

I rapidly made my decision, pressing 'make call'. Trembling slightly, I held the phone up to my ear, listening to it ring. Finally, she picked up. "Mmmfghu?" she muttered, sounding like she was still mostly asleep.

I swallowed my laughter. "Lia? It's Emiko."

"Emiko?" Lia asked, sounding more awake. There was a crackling sound, and she groaned. "I'm supposed to get up for school in a half an hour! You know, I could be sleeping right now!"

I laughed at her disgruntled tone. "Sorry. It's not my fault about the time distance."

"So, what's up? Didja just call to chit-chat?" Lia asked.

I licked my lips nervously. Here came the hard part. "Not...entirely. Lia, did you ask Mark out?"

"What? Um, no! I...kinda...started to date James?"

I gasped, with relief and surprise. "WHAT? James Moore? SERIOUSLY?" I started laughing.

"Whaaaaaaat?" Lia asked indignantly. "He's pretty amazing!"

Still laughing, I said, "I know! But...you and James? No way!" I collapse again, laughing.

After a few more minutes of this, she asked seriously, "Emiko, why did you think I asked Mark out?" I hesitated. "Emi, I heard that you broke up with him. He's...he's been scary. I've never seen him like this before. He goes around...muttering awful things...he looks like he's about to kill someone. He's also checking his phone. Has he...always been like this?" Disbelief colored her tone. I felt a rush of sympathy towards her. She had never known this side of Mark, luckily. I swallowed.

"...Yes. I didn't know this or I would have never started dating him. He...he's been trying to get me back. He said that you...asked him out, and that he would give you the same treatment that he gave me...I got so worried for you, Lia."

Her voice was dead serious. "Emiko, Mark abused you, didn't he?"

"...Yes."

"...WE HAVE BEEN SO FREAKIN' CLUELESS! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

"Lia! Calm down!"

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN IF I LEARNED HOW CLUELESS I AM THAT MY BESTEST BAND GEEK BUDDY HAS BEEN HIT AND PUNCHED AND WHO KNOWS WHAT BY HER BOYFRIEND AND I DID NOT KNOW? EMIKO I'M SO SORRY!"

"BANANAS!" I yelled.

There was silence. "Sorry, I went too far, didn't I?" Lia asked sheepishly. [A/N Band geeks are the best! Gotta love them! I am one so of course I'm amazing! xD]

"Yea. Just a bit."

"But, omigod! Emi, I'm so sorry! We should have put it together, the way you stopped hanging out around us, the bruises, that sad look that you got...We have been absolutely HORRIBLE friends. Can you ever forgive us?" Lia begged.

I smiled. "Of course. I should go practice. I got the leading violin part with a solo!"

"No way! What piece?"

"Pachebel's Canon in D."

"OMIGOD! I love that piece!"

"Cha. So I'll talk to you soon?"

"You better! Bye, Emi!"

"Hey, wait. Do me a favor and never say a word to Mark about my number. He kept threatening me, so one of my friends called him from my phone tricking him into thinking that I changed numbers."

"Of course! Talk to ya later!"

"Bye!"

I clicked my phone shut, and stared at it, a smile breaking over my face. Lia was safe and happily in a relationship with another band geek, James, who played percussion [A/N THE best section in the band, because I play in it xD]. Mark's real character was starting to come out, and people were noticing. I was going to be close with my friends again, and Mark wouldn't be able to contact me again. Life...was...good.

~..*..~

"Start again, from measure 32," Ogawa-sensei, my orchestra teacher, called, tapping his baton against the stand. He raised the baton again, and we all started. I concentrated, dragging the bow across the strings, letting the sound ring out before moving it again. Around me, other violinists were plucking at the strings. I grimaced as I made a mistake but kept going.

We kept going until measure 51. Ogawa-sensei stopped us, and concluded the lesson. "I expect to see you all two days from now, ready to practice!" he called. We all started to pick up our instruments.

Raiden, who played cello, wandered over to where I was busy rearranging my sheet music. "Hey, Emiko," he said cheerfully. I looked up and smiled.

"Hi, Raiden. What's up?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to compliment you on your solo. It sounds really good so far!"

I laughed slightly. "Thanks, but I still have a long way to go on it."

"Well, good luck on it, then," he said cheerfully.

I smiled. "Thanks! You, too." I cheerfully finished packing up and made my way out of the school, chatting with Raiden the whole way. Once we were out of the school, I was suddenly grabbed from both sides.

"Target..."

"Captured," two horribly familiar voices said, with similar Cheshire cat grins on their faces.

I gulped. "Whaaaa?"

"What's going on...?" Raiden asked, sweatdropping.

A limo rolled up and the window rolled down, revealing Tamaki wearing a Hawaiin shirt, a lei, and in sunglasses. "Good work! Now throw her in, let's go!" Tamaki rolled the window up again, and the twins grinned evilly.

"Where are you taking me?" I yelled as another limo pulled up and I was thrown in, leaving Raiden looking horrified and terribly confused.

Kidnapped...? He thought, sweatdropping.

~..*..~

"Question: What am I doing here, exactly?" I asked, staring around at the water park.

"You are here to simply enjoy yourself. This water park is owned by my family, and you have been allowed into enjoy it," Kyouya said from behind me. I turned around to see him in a Hawaiin shirt similar to Tamaki's, reading a book. He looked at me over his glasses and gave me a fake smile. "Please, use our facility at your discretion."

"Hey, what did I tell you about that fake smile of yours?" I asked irritably. Kyouya sent me a dark look. "And come on, I'd rather be home practicing."

"I know what you mean. I have a pile of homework and laundry to do," Haruhi muttered from next to me, picking at her yellow hoodie.

I was wearing a thin, zip-up black jacket with shorts. As soon as Haruhi and I had come out of the changing rooms, we were wearing swimsuits that those evil maid dopplegangers forced on us. Tamaki had gone all red as soon as he saw Haruhi, and he made us wear these over it, something about 'not showing that much skin until after you're married'. I really didn't care, because I didn't know if I wanted to be here.

"Haru-chan! Emi-chaaan!" Hunni called, running up to us in a pink bunny float. I looked over and grinned, he just looked so cute. "Want to come swimming with us?" he called.

"Sure!" I said, deciding that if I had to be here, I'd just make the best out of it. I unzipped my jacket, revealing my black bikini underneath, and tossed it onto Kyouya with much delight. When he glared at me, tearing the jacket away from him and throwing it onto the ground, I gave him a wave and an impish grin before I ran with Hunni to the edge of the pool. "CANNONBALL!" I yelled and jumped, scrunching up my body into a ball. I created a huge splash, and came up gasping for air. I started laughing.

"Wow, Emi-chan, that was a huge splash!" Hunni said.

I grinned. "Yep!" I swam around for a while, while Mori and Hunni were swimming. Mori was swimming against the current and I grinned at how cute they were.

I watched everyone having a good time, and I pulled myself up out of the water and toward Kyouya. He was sitting in a chair and writing in his notebook. I sat at the end of the chair, and he looked up. "Yes?"

"Why are you sitting here being a loner? Come on, let's go swimming!" I said.

"No thank you," he replied in a disinterested voice.

"Awww, come on, you're no fun. Pleeeeeeease?" I begged, giving him a pouting look.

He looked up at me and smirked. "That isn't going to work on me, Emiko."

I gave him a glare and threw my hands up dramatically. "Fine. I give up." I stalked back towards the water. "Shadow King," I muttered under my breath.

I joined Hunni back in the water. Mori had taken a break, and so Hunni and I started having a splash war. The twins and Tamaki were engaged in a squirtgun fight, when I noticed Tamaki getting knocked into a totem pole. It started to light up ominously. I heard a rumbling and looked up to see a huge wave heading right for me and Hunni!

I yelled with surprise as the wave engulfed us, and I felt Hunni grab onto me before I went under, getting dragged away by the current. The few times I managed to surface, I gasped for air before getting dragged under again. Finally, after what seemed like hours we washed up on the shore. I groaned, gasping from breath. Hunni knelt down next to me. "Emi-chan, are you okay?" he asked urgently.

I winced as I stood, breathing hard. "Yeah. I'm fine, I think. Just a little winded." I looked around with Hunni. "Where are we?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but come on! Let's get back to the others, kay?"

I nodded and started to follow him. For reasons unknown to me, he seemed to know where he was going. When it started to pour, we took refuge under a large tree. I shivered, starting to grow cold. I was in nothing but a bikini, after all.

After the rain past, we continued on, with Hunni assuring me we'd be okay. Suddenly, Hunni stiffened, and said, "Stay right here, kay?"

"But-" Before I could protest, Hunni jumped into the tree above us and grabbed hold of a vine, and swung out of sight, emitting a Tarzan sound. I sighed, but sat down on the damp tree root, shivering. Strange bird calls echoed throughout the trees. After sitting there for a little bit, I groaned and put my head in my heads. "I knew I should have stayed home."

"But you would have missed all the fun," a familiar voice said. I looked up to see Kyouya standing in front of me, relief filling his eyes before he turned his face so the light reflected off the frames of the glasses.

I stood up and walked to where he was standing. "I'm not sure I would call this fun," I remarked dryly.

He looked at me. "You just can't seem to stop make us worrying, can you."

"What?"

"Do you know how worried everyone was, especially Tamaki?"

"It wasn't exactly my fault, you know. If you want to blame someone, blame that baka for crashing into the totem pole in the first place."

He shook his head at me, and grabbed me, pulling me against his chest. "You idiot," he muttered, hugging me.

I felt shocked. What was he doing? Why is he...Did he...I started to blush. "Sorry?"

He quickly let go of me and turned away, barriers in place once more. "Come on, we should get back to the others so you can get changed. You must be freezing."

I rolled my eyes. "Just a tiny bit," I said sarcastically, still thinking over that hug. Sure, everyone else in the host club had given me hugs before, but Kyouya was different. He was...unreachable. He put up barriers to keep other people out, but yet here he was, worried for me. What merit did he get from me?

Or maybe...

As we walked back towards the others, I thought over that possibility in my head. He cared about me, but then again he cared about everyone in the host club...didn't he? Or did he stay with them for merit? I shook my head, too confused, and put all thoughts out of my head. I was too tired to think about that now.

"You're okay!" the twins cheered as we arrived. I smiled at them, shivering with exhaustion, as I was attacked by hugs from the twins.

There was a huge rumbling sound, and the twins were pushed to the side as Tamaki appeared. "IMOTO-CHAN!" he screamed, grabbing me and pulling me into a huge hug. "YOU'RE OKAY!"

"Onii-san," I complained. "Put me down."

"Tamaki is a pervert~ Tamaki is a pervert~" the twins chanted, dancing around Tamaki.

"I am not a pervert!" Tamaki yelled at them, but the twins kept chanting.

I groaned. "I wanna go home."

"Yea, me too," Haruhi grumbled.

Mori nodded, and motioned for us to follow him and Hunni. Kyouya, Haruhi, Mori, Hunni, and I started walking to the exit leaving the twins and Tamaki to their little game. Presently, we heard yelling as they hurried to catch up with us.

When we got back to the main part of the park, I grabbed my abandoned jacket and shorts and quickly put them back on. Kyouya handed me a towel which I gratefully accepted. Soon afterwards, we all headed towards the entrance of the park.

I climbed into the limo, sitting next to Haruhi. Kyouya scooted over to sit next to me, with the twins and the two seniors sitting across from us. Tamaki was sitting on Haruhi's side. Haruhi and the twins were talking. "We should go to the beach next," Haruhi said.

"I'd like that. I miss the ocean. Living in Maine, I used to see it all the time," I said. Everyone started talking about random things among themselves.

"That was fun," I said drowsily to no one in particular.

"Even though you almost drowned?" Kyouya murmured to me.

"Except for that part," I said, leaning back and closing my eyes.

I could just imagine him smirking. "Of course."

"Shut up," I said automatically in English.

"I can speak English, you know," Kyouya said in English.

"I know. I'm just too tired to speak Japanese right now." I could feel myself falling asleep.

"Sleep well," Kyouya said so quietly that I could have imagined it. I felt the darkness rushing to me, and I gratefully fell asleep.

~..*..~

I felt like I was being carried up some stairs. I could hear something that sounded like a door unlocking, and then I felt warmth as the person carried me inside. I felt myself being set down on a soft, warm bed with a blanket being pulled over me. I felt a cool pair of lips brush my forehead, and an oh-so-familiar voice murmured, "Good night, Emiko." I could hear his footsteps leave the room, and I sank back into deeper unconsciousness.

A/N

Yayy it's done :) having no school has been amazing :) I've taken up an oath to try to write a chapter a day! Pleeeeeeease review and you will get a pirate turtle. Limited time offer only! xD