XXx Aya xXX

I groan as I hear footsteps approaching my large air mattress on the opposite side of Haruhi's room. NO…Someone grabs hold of my shoulder and shakes it in what I assume is supposed to be a gentle gesture.

"Wake up senpai," Kaoru's whisper manages to break through my hazy morning senses. "And try not to wake Haruhi."

I squeeze my eyes shut and bury my face back into my pillow, hoping that he'll get the message and go away. From what little I've seen, it's still dark out. So that means it's still sleepy time. Just as I'm drifting off again, the covers are violently thrown off me and I'm scooped up like a rag doll.

My eyes fly open, and before I can utter a sound, a large hand clamps over my mouth and covers nearly the whole over half of my face. My eyes dart up to see Mori staring down at me and I know it's a waste of time to try and break out of his grasp.

He carries me down the halls and eventually takes me to what I assume is Misuzu's room, considering everything from the décor to the piles of makeup on the small vanity table. Mori sets me down as Kaoru waltzes out of the bathroom, juggling a bunch of hair products and nail polish bottles and even a few vials of perfume.

"It's about time," he grumbles as my feet hit the freezing floorboards. "We're fifteen minutes behind schedule."

"What are you talking about?" I ask irritably as I try to push my bands out of my face.

"Hurry up and go take a shower," Kaoru commands as he starts arranging certain products on a TV tray.

"Kaoru!" I grumble as he tries shoving me towards the bathroom. "Tell me what's going on."

"I'm getting ready for your date," he says as he looks down at me. "And you're wasting time! We were supposed to start at five."

"It's five in the morning?" I mutter in horror.

"Yes," Kaoru sighs as she gives me another shove towards the bathroom. "Now you've lost eighteen minutes on your shower! Now go get it done and remember to shave your legs."

My face flushes crimson as I punch him in the arm. He stumbles back a few steps and I run for the safety of the bathroom. I slam the door behind me and slump against it, burying my flaming face in my cool hands.

I stumbled downstairs late and still in the new pajamas I just bought.

It was like a onesie, except it cut off like a pair of shorts and had a little hood with a pair of cat ears attached to them. They were blue with a white cloud print on them. I also had on a matching pair of thigh high socks with Usako tucked under my arm.

"Morning," I mutter as I rub my eyes.

I'm met with silence so I open my eyes. Mori glances at me before turning back to the group sitting around an empty table. The Pension's dining room is empty, leaving a somewhat uncomfortable silence as I shuffle down the last steps and approach the table.

Everyone's here, except Haruhi and Hikaru.

"Send Mitsukuni and Amaya."

My eyes shoot open as I stare up at Mori.

"What's going on?

"Good idea Mori-senpai," Kaoru says with a devious glint in his eyes. "They're small, and can easily blend into a crowd. And they don't even have to ac-"

"WHY DO YOU KEEP TRYING TO SEND MY DAUGHTERS ON DATES?!"

Kaoru never gets to finish his sentence as Tamaki explodes, leaping up from his seat and grabbing Kaoru's throat.

Wait...DATE?!

"OK, I obviously picked the wrong day to sleep in," I mumble. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Apparently we're following Haru-chan and Hika-chan on their date tomorrow," Honey answers.

"WHY?" I ask, suddenly wide awake. "It's a DATE! Why would we follow them?!"

"Well, it's more like a test date," Kaoru cuts in.

"But why us?" I ask tiredly.

"Like I said earlier, you two can blend into crowds better than the rest of us. And you have the best teamwork as well. If you are caught, it won't be hard to convince the two of them you're on a date of your own."

I lower my gaze, trying to hide my face. Wow...I wonder if Honey is just as embarrassed as I am.

"And why should we do this?" I ask. "What if we say no?"

Kaoru falls silent for a moment, before a devious smile crosses his face.

"Because if the date goes horrible it could wreck Haruhi and Hikaru's relationship forever," he replies. "You wouldn't want to be responsible for that would you?"

I mull it over for a moment before I look up at him.

"You kind of make no sense, but if it gets you to shut up then fine. I'll do it."

He smiles down at me before patting my head.

"That's the spirit senpai," he snickers.

"Don't push your luck kid," I mutter as I shuffle over to get some breakfast.

I couldn't help but feel like there will be a thick blanket of awkward hanging over the pension until this date is over.

I step out of the shower, a fluffy blue robe wrapped tightly around my body. Kaoru is holding up two different sundresses, examining them with a sharp and critical eye.

The first one was a deep navy blue color with an empire waist. The neckline was plunging, which wouldn't really do much for me since my chest is almost as flat as Haruhi's, and lined with delicate silver stitching. The other was white and almost shapeless dress with a scoop neck and thin gold interlocking geometric designs all over it. It hung straight down in a way that was a little flattering, but I think I preferred the blue one.

"Took you long enough," Kaoru mutters as he flings the dresses on Misuzu's bed and ushers me to a small chair. "Now pass me the brush."

I glare at him and do as he says as I plop down in the chair. He begins combing through my tangles and Mori walks back in the room, his arms weighed down with various dresses. I muffle a cackle at the sight, biting down on my lip to keep from exploding in peals of laughter.

"Just hold them up so I can yay or nay them," Kaoru orders as he begins sectioning off parts of my head.

After about half an hour of this process we still have yet to make a single decision and my eyelids are drooping.

"This one," Mori suddenly says.

He holds up a cream colored sundress with a beautiful raspberry floral print on it. It's a spaghetti strap with a pastel raspberry ruffle that goes along the cut of the neckline and around to the back. There is a sash of the same color around the waist that ties in a neat bow in the back.

"We'll see," Kaoru says as he waves his comb in a dismissive manner. "Next!"

"This one," Mori insists. "Trust me."

Kaoru cocks an eyebrow at him before taking another look at the dress. He mutters sunder his breath and inspects it from all angles before finally standing back and nodding his head. I close my eyes and lean back in my chair, resting my chin in my hand.

"It'll do," Kaoru finally sighs. "Alright, now go wash the color remover out."

I eyes fly open in shock. Scanning the floor, I see the remains of sea green hair that littered the floor around the chair in loose clumps. Darting to the mirror, my eyes take in the sight of color remover penetrating what's left of the lower layers of my hair, fading the sea green my blue has become back to a pale blonde.

"When did you do this!?" I screech as I spin around to face him.

"Never mind when I did it!" he snaps back at me. "Just go wash it out so I can style it and do your nails!"

"Kaoru is all this really necessary?" I whine as my shoulders slump forward.

"Yes," he sighs in exasperation. "You can't honestly say you don't want to look your best on this date can you? It's time that one of you made a move and I'm making just making it easier for the both of you."

Against my will my cheeks flood with color. Kaoru's face softens into an almost genuine smile as he places a hand on my shoulder. I hang my head, trying to avoid any looks from him.

"Come on senpai," he murmurs. "We know you really like him, and I'm sorry that I teased you about it last time."

I glance up at him slightly. I can't tell if he really means it, but I really want to believe he does. I glance over from Kaoru to Mori, and I'm stunned to see that there's an unusual warmth in his steel grey eyes that's usually reserved for Honey.

He gives me a curt nod, as if to confirm that Kaoru's apology is genuine.

"OK," I say as I take a step towards the bathroom. "Thanks, and I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"Hey," Kaoru calls as my hand rests on the cold doorknob. "When we say it's our job to make every girl happy, that means you too senpai."

I grin before shutting the door and twisting the lock. Why is it so hard to stay mad at them?

I discard my robe on the sink and step back into the shower, exhaling slowly as my stomach continues to churn. At this rate I might just die of nerves before I even step out of the pension.

All I know is that if I can get through today without embarrassing myself then I really owe Kaoru and Mori. Not that they really need to know that.

XXx Honey xXX

I spin my straw around my glass of water while I wait for Aya to come down.

Even though this date is technically club business, it's the chance I've been waiting for. I'm not going to screw it up.

"Calm down, you'll be fine."

I look up at Takashi, who's flipping through one of the travel brochures they have up by the front desk. He takes a sip of tea before looking over the top of the laminated page at me.

"How can you be so sure?" I ask nervously, trying to steady my hands by gripping the glass. "What if I make a fool of myself?"

"It's her Mitsukuni," he sighs as his gaze moves back to the brochure. "You don't need to worry."

I swallow hard before nodding reluctantly. Everything is going to be fine, I just need to convince myself of that and it will be true. After all, she did let me put my arm around her that one time.

I wonder how long she would have let me keep it there if Hika-chan and Kao-chan hadn't butted in like that.

"So have they left already?"

I turn to see Aya-chan walking towards us and I feel my mouth go dry.

The way she looks now, it's easy to believe that she's the daughter of aristocratic family. Her hair is now a dazzling white gold color and has been curled in large loose ringlets that fall down her back like a gossamer curtain, her bangs braided and pinned neatly to the side with little pearl studded clips.

Her sundress flows elegantly around her body, making her pale legs seem longer and more elegant. Her tiny feet are placed in small red pumps with small bows at the heel. Everything about her look is light and airy.

I look away quickly before she can catch me staring.

"Hikaru left to meet Haruhi about ten minutes ago," Kao-chan answers as he flicks his cell phone closed.

He walks up to the table, pulling a slice of watermelon from the plate that Tama-chan has just walked up with.

Tama-chan is weeping openly at the sight of Aya, screeching about not wanting his innocent daughter corrupted. I glare at him from my place across the table. Just what exactly does he think I'm going to do to her?

I wince as Kao-chan drags a weeping Tama-chan away from Aya by the shirt collar, calmly munching on his slice of watermelon.

"Get going before you lose them!" he commands as he pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket. "This is where they're meeting. Now remember don't let us down!"

Aya just scowls and takes the slip of paper from him, slipping it into her small clutch purse as she makes her way over to me.

"C'mon," she says a she grabs my hand. "The faster we get outta here the happier I'll be."

I nod and allow her to drag me to the exit. As soon as we're out of the pension her shoulders loses up and her pace slows. As I step up next to her she lets go of my wrist, and fiddles with the tips of her now perfectly manicured red nails.

"So do you have any idea about what we're supposed to do?" I ask her as we walk down the main town road. "I've never stalked someone on a date before."

Her eyes narrow, looking like she wants to call me out on accusing her for being familiar with stalking. But she stays quiet before she turns to me, her eyes glinting in a way that tells me that despite that she probably knows more than she wants to admit.

"Well, rule number one of being a pavement artist, if every third person is eating, eat," she says calmly. "As soon as we find them, we blend into the surrounding area as quickly as possible by picking a common action."

"Alright," I respond as we walk up to the busy street corner. "And if we get caught?"

She flushes slightly and bites her lip.

"If we get caught then just follow my lead."

We reach the main square at that moment and Aya pulls out the slip of paper from her bag.

"There," she says, pointing to a bench across from an ice cream stand.

Hika-chan and Haru-chan are sitting awkwardly off to the side, looking like they wished they were anywhere else but there. Well it looks like Kao-chan wasn't exaggerating about the date doing a number on their relationship. There's a space between them big enough to fit three people in.

"You know what? Change of plans," Aya says suddenly before turning to me. "Take my hand."

"What are you doing?" I ask nervously, but obeying nevertheless.

"You'll see in a minute," she says as she laces our finger together. "For now just pretend like you're enjoying yourself."

I nod, despite the fact that she didn't answer my question. She just takes a deep breath and pulls us out into the busy street.

"Head towards the ice cream stand," she whispers as she squeezes my hand nervously.

"Won't they see us like that?" I ask.

"That's the point," she replies with a small smile. "When they call us out act surprised and a little embarrassed. With any luck this will be better than jumping and hiding all day."

I nod as we walk up to the window. Aya detaches herself from me and walks up to the vendor, giving her order in a soft, shy voice. I'm watching Haru-chan and Hika-chan out of the corner of my eye as she steps back up to me.

"Looks like they haven't noticed us yet," I mutter as I look back down at her.

"Well we need to fix that," she sighs. "Looks like it's time to lay it on a bit thick."

She holds a single ice cream cup out to me, but it has two spoons sticking out of it. She's blushing brightly, but trying not to look embarrassed. But of course, it just makes her look incredibly cute.

"You want the first taste?" she asks.

It finally clicks in my head what she means, and I feel my own face heat up. But I'm able to shake it off rather quickly and offer her a smile.

"Fake or not, what kind of date would I be if I didn't let you have some first?"

She smiles softly, but it quickly falters as I take a spoonful of ice cream and offer it to her.

"You said to lay it on thick," I say while trying to contain my laughter. "So say 'Ahh.'"

Her face explodes into deeper shades of red, which causes me to laugh. She gives me a halfhearted glare and sighs before she actually opens her mouth. I'm almost shocked speechless.

"Well don't keep me waiting," she grumbles. "I'm just standing her like an idiot with my mouth open."

"Sorry," I mutter before slipping the spoon into her mouth.

"See, that wasn't so hard," she bluffs as she takes the other spoon from the cup. "Now it's your turn."

While it's safe to say I've definitely fantasized about what it would be like to do something like this, I never in a million years imagined I would actually do it. So if we're supposed to be acting, I'm not letting this opportunity pass me by.

I take the ice cream from her spoon, but quickly scoop up another one on mine. I hold it out to her and wait patiently for her to swallow before quickly taking the spoon and tapping the tip of her nose with it.

Her eyes widen in surprise for a minute before she narrows them at me. It's almost too comical to contain my laughter.

"What was that for?!" she snaps.

"My mistake," I say with a smile. "I'll get it."

Before she can protest I quickly lean in and kiss the tip of her nose. I pull away to see her blushing furiously, her eyes bright with confusion as her fingers come up to cup the tip of her nose.

Ok, maybe that was a bit much.

"HONEY-SENPAI? AYA-SENPAI?"

But hey, mission accomplished.

XXx Aya xXX

I jump slightly, but am still careful not to drop the ice cream.

The kiss was so unexpected that my mind went numb again. So, even though we were only supposed to be acting, the outburst from our targets actually caught me off guard.

Hikaru and Haruhi are standing slack-jawed on the other side of the street, as if they're witnessing someone's head popping off and giving birth to an alien.

"H-Hika-chan...Haru-chan," Honey stammers. "What are you doing here?"

"I knew it! You two are going out!" Hikaru smirks, completely ignoring the question.

"W-well yeah," I stammer, trying to look irritated. "We're kinda on a date right now so if you don't mind..."

Hikaru's smirk widens as I make a blunt shooing motion with my hand. Haruhi grabs onto his arm, trying to pull him away from us.

"Of course senpai," she says. "We'll leave you to it. Have fun!"

"Thanks," I say with a smile. "But please keep quiet about it ok?"

"Oh?" Hikaru asks, his trademark Cheshire grin adorning his face. "Why not? You two like each other right? Why do you care about who knows or not?"

"W-well," Honey stammers. "Think about how Tama-chan would react if he found out."

"You know that just makes me want to tell him even more," Hikaru replies, his smile widening.

I fix him with a hard stare and he freezes.

"Alright, alright, fine..." he sighs. "But just because it's for you senpai."

He ruffles our hair before he allows Haruhi to drag him away, yelling over his shoulder that they'll see us back at the pension.

"I think I get why you did that now," Honey says as we watch them disappear into the crowd of shoppers. "Now if they see us later they won't think anything of it."

"Correct," I say, giving him a small smile. "Well, let's go."

The rest of the day passed in a blur.

At some point, the awkward tension dissolved between us and I really began enjoying myself. And now I can't remember ever having this much fun.

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but we lost Hikaru and Haruhi at some point, but by then we were having too much fun to go looking for them again. We spent hours just shopping and talking and laughing, and the scary thing is, I found myself wanting to spend every day like this.

And it's all thanks to the Loli boy standing next to me. Haruhi and Hikaru are well out of sight and we're still holding hands. And it feels like the most natural thing in this world. Even as we stand in these little shops, we stand closer to each other than necessary.

I gaze at the jewelry in the display case before me, my eyes lingering on a little bunny necklace.

It's has a beautifully cut large diamond for a head and two smaller diamonds for each ear with one of them accented with a tiny gold bow. It hangs on a delicate gold chain, and mounted on a lonely model.

"Is there something I can help you with?" the lady behind the counter asks.

"Yes," I reply. "I'll take that one please."

She smiles and wraps it up for me just as Honey steps up from the other side of the shop.

"Hey Aya-chan," he says. "I think we should head back now, it looks like it's going to rain."

"Alright," I reply as I finish paying for my necklace.

I walk over to him and let my hand slip back into his, trying not to feel too disappointed.

We get halfway down the block before the rain starts falling. Honey quickly pulls us under an awning before taking off his jacket wrapping it around me snuggly.

"Stay here for a second ok?" he says before he steps out to hail a cab.

I exhale heavily and follow him back out into the rain. As I step up next to him he looks down at me in surprise. I ignore his questioning look and just drape the jacket over the both of us.

"Fake or not, what kind of date would I be if I let you stand out in the rain by yourself?"

He smiles down ant me and puts his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him.

"Then stay close. I don't want you to catch a cold."

I feel the blush from earlier creep back into my cheeks, but push it aside and lean into him, knowing I won't have an excuse to do this until the next time it rains.

XXX

I step out on the back porch of Pension Misuzu, stretching out my arms and laying out on one of the deck chairs.

I set my phone down on the table next to me and open my book, trying to focus on reading for a while. The chair creaks as I lean back in it, the only other sound being the soft melody coming from my phone and the rhythmic splatter of rain on the awning above me.

Minutes pass and I find myself reading the same paragraph that I started on, and I have retained absolutely nothing from it. I close it and stand back up, the cool air carrying the scent of wet asphalt up to me.

I wrinkle my nose. It's not a smell I'm fond of. But lucky for me, the countryside has less asphalt than the city, so it's overpowered by the smell of wet plants.

Curiosity takes over me as I take one step out from under the protection of the awning. Is country rain warmer than city rain? And will the water taste cleaner? Before I know it I'm soaked to the skin, the fabric of my oversized sweater clinging to my body and strands of hair sticking to my arms and my back. Despite all that, I'm in a strange state of bliss.

My mind registers a lively beat coming from my phone and I began swaying without much thought.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to see a pair of large mahogany eyes smiling at me. His hands grab mine and spin me around in a circle.

A laugh escapes my lips as I flow with it, not really giving much thought to what kind of dance it is or the timing, but just going with what moves seem right.

I'm not sure how long we stayed out there dancing, but I woke up the next morning with a cold.

It was completely worth it.

Xxx Author's Notes xxX

Thanks for sticking around this long

Lotsa love, Krystal