Chapter Five: To the Beach!
A young girl was running along an earthy pathway, heading towards a quaint, little house sitting on the top of the hill.
Hah. . .
Hah. . .
She carried a bunch of small, assorted flowers in her tiny hands, each of which were bouncing along with every step that she made.
Hah. .
Hah. .
Upon reaching the house, she ran inside and lay all her flowers onto a small, wooden table; arranging them according to size, shape, and color. And when she had finished, she ran into the kitchen and took out a glass vase from one of the cabinets, filled it up with water, and ran back to the table. Taking care not to make a mess, she then picked up the flowers one by one and arranged them into the vase, humming a simple tune to herself as she did so. 'Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away. . '
A young boy then entered the room she was in and smiled to himself, watching as the little girl worked passionately on her flower arrangement. A lightbulb suddenly appeared over his head and he silently walked over to her, a mischievous grin forming over his lips. He made his way behind her tiny frame and casually looked over her shoulder, taking a good look at what she was making.
The girl, still unaware of that boy's presence, smiled in triumph as she inserted the last flower into the vase and sat back to admire her work. She then stood up to reward herself with a nice, cold glass of apple juice and turned around; only to find herself staring face to face with a monster.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH~~!!!!
-the entire hill rumbles-
~.~.~
Haki laughed uncontrollably at the horrified expression on his sister's face, a small flashlight held in between his fingers. She, on the other hand, was holding onto her rapidly beating heart while pointing an accusing finger at him. "H-H-Haki-niichan! That was not funny!" she screamed.
"I know!" He cried out, still laughing shamelessly. "It was hilarious! You should've seen your face, imouto-chan! It was like this-" He then distorted his face into a horrified expression and burst out into more fits of laugher after a second.
The girl pouted and grabbed her flower vase, walked pass him and headed back into the kitchen.
"Aww. . is little kitty mad at me? I'm so sowee. . " he cooed in a baby voice, following her.
"Oniichan. . " she said in a voice that said that she was going to strangle him if he didn't shut up. "Urusei."
"Tsk, tsk. So young and you're already saying things like 'shut up'."
"U. Ru. Sei." she repeated, glaring at him.
He shook his head in mock disappointment and watched as she filled the vase with water.
After setting it aside, she walked over to the refridgerator and brought out a pitcher filled with apple juice, and poured herself a cup.
"Hey, give me some." he smiled, grabbing his own cup from the cabinet.
The girl reluctantly handed him the pitcher but still avoided his gaze.
"Aww. . is the little kitty ignoring me now?. . " he cooed again, making a baby face at her.
"Stop calling me little kitty!" she yelled, throbbing a vein at him.
He merely grinned back and drank down his juice in four big gulps, then gave out a satisfied 'Ah. . ' afterwards. She rolled her eyes and sipped hers quietly.
"Ah, by the way, imouto-chan," he started, pouring himself another cup. "Mom and dad called a while ago. They said that their flight was cancelled because of the weather there, so they'll be coming home tomorrow instead."
"Oh." she blinked, lowering her glass. "Okay then, what time will they be arriving?"
"Most probably some time in the evening." he replied, taking note of her crestfallen expression over the arrangement. "Those flowers. . They were for them, weren't they?
She nodded sadly.
"Well, don't feel too bad. I'm sure they'll last until tomorrow evening." he smiled, reaching forward to ruffle her hair in a playful manner.
"But I don't think they'll be as pretty tomorrow. . " she pouted.
"Then, you can just pick some more in the morning. There's a whole lot of those in the fields anyway."
He gulped down his juice once more and this time, he gave out one very loud, very satisfied burp. She laughed at this while waving her hand in front of her nose. "You're disgusting."
"I'm a guy, I don't care." he grinned. He then stood up and placed his cup in the kitchen sink.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Takashi-kun's inviting me to his house later. You want to come along?"
She looked up at him and blinked again. "Takashi-kun? That guy you hang out with who does kendo too?"
"Yep. He called a couple of minutes ago to invite us over and aske- wait, you never met him?"
She shook her head in reply. "I've heard of him from you but I've never actually met him. . "
Groaning, he slapped his forehead and sighed inwardly. 'Some kind of brother I am. Not even remembering to introduce my own sister to my best friend.' "Alright then, I'll introduce you to him today." he grinned, recomposing himself. "You might want to pack up your stuff though, we might end up staying over at his place for the night."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. . " she mumbled, finishing her juice before heading out of the kitchen.
"Oh, yeah, Kai-chan, one more thing." he called out.
"What is it?" she asked, poking her head through the door.
"Imouto-chan, you've got to-" Wake up. .
"H-huh?" she blinked confusedly, a small question mark appearing over her head.
The boy smiled and nodded his head.
"Wait, I didn't catch what you were saying, oniichan."
She then stepped back into the kitchen and gasped when a bright light suddenly engulfed everything around her completely.
Oniichan?!
Oniichan!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxo
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Kai-kun. .
zzZ. .
It's time to wake up, Kai-kun. .
zZ- Huh? What?
Kai-kun. .
Who's calling me? Darn it, I feel so tired. .
Kaaaiiiii-kuuunnnnn. . .
Go away and lemme sleep. .
Kai-kun! Hey! Psssst!
Groaning, I reluctantly forced my eyes to open as slowly as possibly, and looked up. The moment I did, I screamed as loud as I possibly could and slammed my fist against the intruder looming over me. Then, grabbing my pepper spray from out of nowhere, I quickly sat up and pointed it at the strangely familiar silhouette of. .
". . Tamaki-sempai?"
Indeed, the person looking back at me with the big, welled-up eyes was none other than my overly-dramatic sempai. I lowered my pepper spray and immediately pulled the covers over my head so he wouldn't see my long hair.
"Kai-kun! You punched me!" I heard him cry out. "How could you?"
"Well, what did you expect me to do?!" I yelled from under the sheets. "You freakin' scared the crap out of me! Why- How the hell did you even get into my house?"
"Oh, there was a spare key underneath your doormat." he smiled, suddenly sitting up casually. "Haruhi told me that it's normal for commoners to hide their spare keys there just in case the original key's not in hand. Genius of them, right? And since you weren't answering your phone, I let myself in."
"F-Fujioka-san did, did he?"
Darn it.
It is way too early for something like this to be happening. Sighing, I glanced down at my cellphone and picked it up to check the time.
-crickets chirp-
W. . .T. . F. . .H. . .
"Sempai, are you crazy?!?" I yelled, laying back down angrily with my head still covered. "It's 4:32 in the friggin' morning! You're two and a half hours early! Come back later!"
"Ah, but the earlier we leave, the earlier we get to the beach." he smiled, poking my ribs playfully. "C'mon, Kai-kun. Everyone's already outside in my limousine waiting for you."
"Tell them to sleep downstairs, then. I'm sure you all can fit in the living room, somehow. Goodnight."
"Aww, don't be like that, Kai-kun. Hya!"
I yelped when sempai suddenly pulled my blanket away and stepped back, grinning at me with the cloth in his hands. I quickly grabbed my pillow to hide myself and thanked kami that I've kept my curtains closed so no moonlight exposed anything.
"Eh? It's so dark in here, Kai-kun." he said, disappointed that he didn't see my surprised expression. "Where's the light switch? Mind if I turn the lights on?"
Shimatta.
"Don't sempai. There's no need. " I sighed, sitting up on my futon. "I'll get ready now. Give me five minutes."
"Great!" he exclaimed, giving me what I thought was a thumbs up and a wink. "Then I'll be waiting for you downstairs."
"Hai, hai."
He then left my room and shut the doors behind him, dropping my blanket over my study desk on the way out.
Groaning, I flomped back down onto my bed and sighed deeply.
It's definitely too early for this to be happening.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Here in Japan, people love having certain kinds of plants and trees in their homes. Every single house you'd in the residential areas would have at least one garden, a backyard, or a koi pond (to symoblize the status or wealth of the person living in that house). I don't know why we're like that, but I suppose anyone would just love and appreciate the presence of nature in their own place. In my case, it's the apple tree growing in the corner of my backyard. It's a young tree, really, probably just as old as I am; and it bears quite a lot of red, juicy apples for me to pluck off whenever I'm in a dire need of a snack. During the summer, I would pick the fruits off their stems and have an endless supply of freshly squeezed apple juice; and I would always enjoy sipping one, cold glass of it while sitting underneath the shade of that tree of mine. I originally had planned to bring some of those apples to share it with the host club, but by the time I went down five minutes later, Tamaki-sempai had gone all out and plucked the entire bottom-half of my beloved tree clean. My eye twitched.
"Sempai. . what are you doing?" I asked, dropping my bag.
"Oh! Kai-kun! You're ready already?" he smiled, climbing down my tree with a full basket in his hands. "Sorry, the apples looked like they were ripe already so I picked some. We can eat these on our way to the beach!"
I just nodded blankly and sighed.
Well, at least he saved me the trouble of gathering the apples. He placed the basket down on the grass and rinsed them off with the garden hose, and once he finished, he walked over to me and dumped the whole thing onto my arms. I yelped and stumbled forward slightly from the sudden weight, and watched as sempai reached down to grab my much lighter bag.
"W-wha?"
"Hurry up, Kai-kun! The beach awaits our arrival!" he then called out to me, waving his hand in the air. My vein throbbed.
Of all the- -censored--censored--censored--censored--censored- ! I oughtta -censored--censored--censored--censored--censored-his -censored--censored--censored--censored- and -censored-censored--censored- ! That -censored--censored--censored-!
"Kai-kun!" he yelled once more while waving innocently at me.
-CENSORED-!!!!!!
Haa. . Okay Kai, be cool. Tamaki-sempai's just oblivious, that's all. Accept him for that. You should thank him for at least inviting you to this trip and for cutting your debt off by a third.
I then forced a smile and struggled to walk casually, but the basket was so heavy that my arms were trembling, and every step that I took seemed more like an awkward stomp. Two long minutes later, I finally stepped out of the house, locked the doors, and looked up to see sempai's limousine parked along the sidewalk, waiting.
"Kai-kun!" he waved at me once more, handing his chauffeur my bag. It was a good thing the latter was kind enough to take the heavy basket off my arms too.
Once everything was placed in the back, sempai held the door open and I swooped into the vehicle.
And so it begins.
~.~.~
Tamaki-sempai's limo was bigger than I expected, but it was also a bit too stuffy for me. Just to share, when I was in junior high, I had this friend who was the daughter of some famous inventor, and she would give me a lift to school in her limo every single day. So it was because of her that I got used to riding long, fancy limousines. She's in France right now and we still keep in touch through letters and emails.
I relaxed into the seats and looked around at my surroundings and saw that indeed, everyone was there already. Mori-sempai, Hunny-sempai and Haruhi-kun (he insists I call him that) sat on the seat to my left, while the little devils and the devil himself, whom I assumed was the one with the sleeping mask on, sat on the seat to my right. Tamaki-sempai and I sat on the far back seat, in between the door and a small fridge with some drinks inside. There on the other end across us was a flat screen TV and a tiny cabinet filled with DVDs and video tapes, and in the middle of everything sat a small coffee table with some of Hunny-sempai's boxes (filled with cake, no doubt) underneath the glass.
Haruhi-kun, Hunny-sempai (both who were leaning on Mori-sempai) and Kyouya-sempai were still asleep, and the twins were snickering to themselves as they took some blackmail pictures of the sleeping shadow king (good luck to them when he finds out). We've been on the road for half an hour already and. . okay, I'm not gonna lie, I'm damn bored.
Sighing, I grabbed an apple from the pockets of my jacket and munched on it. The sky was still dark and we were thirteen hours away from the beach.
It's going to be a long day. .
xoxoxoxoxoxo
xoxoxoxoxoxo
THE ROAD TRIP : PART I
-normal view-
"Anou. . sempai, we don't really need to use limos or any expensive cars for a road trip, you know. . ." Haruhi said, blue eyes appearing next to her and Kai's eyes.
"Yeah." the latter agreed, nodding her head. "A normal car, or even a jeep, will do just fine."
The sun was on the verge of rising and the eight hosts were now standing in front of the Suoh car-house, which was located a few miles away from Ouran. All the extra limos, convertibles, jeeps, brand new cars, bikes, and minivans, which all belonged to the Suoh family, were parked there; and Tamaki was taking his sweet time deciding which vehicle they would be using for the rest of their trip.
"You two obviously won't be able to understand what would happen if we chose to ride what you call a 'normal car'." Kyouya hissed. "We represent some of the most influencial families in the continent and we have extremely high standards. If any of us were to be seen riding this 'normal car' of yours, people might assume that we're losing our power and wealth. It may sound exaggerated, but small things like these do lead to large scandals, and we wouldn't want that to happen now, do we?"
"Woah, chill, sempai." Haruhi sweatdropped, backing away from the annoyed second year.
"Y'know, I don't really think anyone would care if you rode a scooter or a taxi either way." Kai stated, looking at him in the eyes. "Isn't a road trip all about going to some far-away destination, miles away from home, with your friends? The fun lies in how you get there and what you do together; taking turns driving, listening to music that comes out of the radio -or your friends' mouths-, taking snapshots of every single thing that you see, and getting into some trouble along the way! If we're just going to stay in a limo the whole way with a hired driver, then what's the point?"
"Our only goal is to get to the beach before sunset." he glared. "And what kind of person wouldn't give up the chance of having a chauffeur drive him to his destination? You can still do everything that you just said either way. Well, except for driving."
"See, this is where we're different."
"Indeed."
"Okay! That's enough, you two." Haruhi sweatdropped, stepping in between them and pushing Kai away from the shadow king. "I'm sure Kyouya-sempai didn't mean anything that he just said. He's probably just feeling a bit cranky because Tamaki-sempai's an idiot and woke him up too early." she whispered into her ear.
"So, what, Kyouya-sempai's not a morning person?"
"Basically, yeah."
A sly grin then formed on her lips and Haruhi sweatdropped. "A-anou, Kai-ku-?"
"Haruhi!!!" Tamaki suddenly cried out, latching himself onto the brown-haired girl. "Help otousan choose a car! Any car! Kyouya's demon side is going to show up any second if we don't decide quickly!"
"E-eh?! Don't involve me in this!" she yelled back, attempting to push him away. Kai blinked and stepped away from them.
"Oy, tono." Hikaru grumbled, looming darkly over them. "Why are you hugging Haruhi like that. . you pervert."
Two arrows suddenly pierced the blonde's chest and Haruhi took this chance to pull away completely, accidentally stumbling backward into the Hitachiin's arms. Kaoru then walked over to them, laughing at the gloomy state their king was in. "Refusal and Pervert, eh?" he chuckled, reading the arrows.
"I-is he going to be alright?" Kai asked, blue lines appearing next to her eyes when a white spirit suddenly left the second year's mouth.
"He'll be fine." the twins grinned.
"Guys~ let's use this one!" Hunny waved, standing next to a large, wrangler-type jeep with an open back. "Five of us can stay in the front, and three can stay at the back! It's perfect!"
"It's a bit tacky-looking, isn't it?" Kyouya mumbled, walking over to them with heavy-looking eyes.
"It's not." Kai sighed, pushing him into the vehicle. "Just stay inside and get some more sleep. Good job, Hunny-sempai." she grinned at the blonde.
"I wanna sit next to Kai-chan!" he smiled, jumping onto her back playfully.
"Cake buddies should stick together anyway." Hikaru snickered, sitting at the open area at the back.
"Ah." Kaoru nodded, taking a picture of the two.
Haruhi climbed in next to the older twin and was about to help Kaoru up when he was suddenly pushed to the side by the suddenly recovered Tamaki.
"Wait, wait!" he exclaimed. "There's only enough space for the eight of us in this!"
"So?" Hunny asked, helping Kaoru up.
"So?! Where's the driver supposed to sit?"
Kai, resisting the urge to scream and punch the king in the face, sighed exasperatedly and raised her hand up. "Anou, sempai, if it's alright with you, I can drive us there for the first few hours. That way, we won't have any problems. . "
"Eh?" he blinked. "Kai-kun, you can drive? Won't that hurt your shoulder?"
"Yes, I can drive, and no, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't bother my shoulder in the slightest." she replied, getting into the driver's seat and starting up the engine.
"Waii~ let's go then, Kao-chan!" Hunny smiled happily, pushing the younger Hitachiin into the space next to Kyouya. Mori then walked over with all their luggage and placed them in the back impassively, right in front of Hikaru and Haruhi's feet. Tamaki sat down next to them, Mori got into the vehicle and sat next Kaoru, and Hunny sat on the passenger seat with Usa-chan in his arms.
"You guys okay there at the back?" Kai asked, poking her head out the window.
"No." Haruhi replied dully, caught in between the two bickering boys. "Can someone please change places with me in front?"
"NO!" Hikaru and Tamaki suddenly exclaimed, wrapping their arms around her neck at the same time.
She giggled and sent Haruhi a 'good luck' smile before stepping down on the gas pedal. "We're off then!"
And they sped off.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Two hours later. .
"276 bottles of beer on the wall, 276 bottles of beer; Take one down, pass it around, 275 bottles of beer on the wall! 275 bottles of beer on the wall, 275 bottles of beer. . . "
The jeep overtook some cars and made a curve to the right, heading up the road of a mountain.
"Take one down, pass it around, 274 bottles of beer on the wall! 274 bottles of beer on the wall, 274 bottles of beer. . . "
Mori reached down and grabbed a few apples from the basket and passed them around to everyone.
"Take one down, pass it around, 273 bottles of beer on the wall! 273 bottles of beer on the wall, 273 bottles of beer; take one down, pass it around, 272 bottles of beer on the wall! 272 bottles of beer on the wall, 272 bottles of beer; Take one down, pass it around, 271 bottles of beer on the wall! 271 bottles of-"
"WILL YOU PLEASE, PLEASE, JUST SING ANOTHER STUPID SONG?!" Kai yelled/begged at her five singing clubmates.
"Why? I think this song is rather catchy!" Tamaki replied happily from the back.
"You know, sempai, the reason why we call it 'a hundred bottles of beer' is because we start singing the song with a hundred bottles of beer! Not a friggin' five hundred!" she yelled, throbbing a vein.
"But you know, Hika-chan was the one who suggested we start from 500. That way, when the song ends, your time of driving would be up and he would drive next!" Hunny smiled cutely.
"Hunny-sempai, keep singing that tune over and over again and you'll get tired of it soon enough."
"I'm sure that won't happen! It really is a catchy tune!"
He then proceeded to bounce up and down on his seat while humming the acursed song.
The poor girl groaned and looked at Mori from the rear-view mirror with a 'how-the hell-can-you-stand-all-this-?-?-?' expression on her face. The stoic senior just shrugged and pointed at his ears, which had earplugs on them. She sweatdropped and faced the road once more as the five hosts continued to sing gleefully. She then realized how lucky Kyouya was to be sleeping through the noise.
'I wonder how he does it. . ' she sighed, not noticing the earphones attached to shadow king's right ear.
"270 bottles of beer on the wall, 270 bottles of beer; Take one down, pass it around, 269 bottles of beer on the. . "
~.~.~
Another two hours later. . .
". . wall! 42 bottles of beer on the wall, 42 bottles of beer; take one down, pass it around, 41 bottles of beer on the wall! 41 bottles of beer on the wall,. . "
"Aren't you tired, Kai-chan?" Hunny asked, sitting up and looking at her. "Do you want me to call Hika-chan to take over the wheel now? You've been driving for four hours straight, after all. . "
"Iie, I'm fine. It's not the driving that's making me tired but rather. . " she trailed off and glanced at the four singing hosts behind them.
"41 bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, 40 bottles of beer on the wall!"
Sighing, she returned her gaze to the road ahead of her and accelerated, going up at 90 km/ph. They travelled down the mountain for a few more minutes until they reached an intersection right in the middle of the mountainside; Kai pressed her foot down against the brakes and halted the jeep completely.
"Ora? Kai-kun, what's wrong?" Tamaki asked, leaning over the side of the vehicle.
"The road splits off to three different directions at this point." she replied, rolling down the window and facing him. "Sempai, you're the one with the map, right? What direction should I drive through?"
"What makes you think I have a map?"
"Don't you. . ?" she sweatdropped.
"Well, I was just told to follow the main road until we reach the beach."
"And the main road splits into north west, northeast, and east here. Which one should I pass through?"
"Just go through the closest one. They'll probably lead us to the same place anyway."
"Alright, you said that, not me" she mumbled as she started the car once more. They then went eastward, not noticing the broken sign laying flat on the ground which said: 'Danger: Wild Bears Ahead!'
Chapter Five: To the Beach!