Okay, so second one today :) woohoo!

Hope you R&R both, so... thanks xx


They stared at one another for a while, gawking, and I could almost sense the tension in the air.

"I haven't seen you for a while..." she said, staring at him.

"Yeah, not since middle school." he replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

I sighed, decided to leave them to it, and walked into the large kitchen to grab a snack. Misuzu saw me making a break for it, and quickly asked me to wash the few dishes in there. I agreed, I mean, what's a little manual labor?

However, upon walking into the kitchen I saw a pile of plates, cups dishes and whatever else stacked as high as... me.

"Crap it all." I muttered, grabbing one of the smaller stacks and taking it over to the sink. I ran the water, stuck my hands in to make sure it was warm enough, but not scalding, and then started washing... I didn't even get a snack.

After finishing off the first pile, I went to get a second. It was a lot taller, and a lot heavier... and my hands were slippy and....

Well, you guess what happened next.

Only three from the top slipped off because I wasn't holding them straight, and I hastily put down the rest before I could cause more damage. I then turned, but the floor was damp from the water that had dripped from my hands, and I slipped.

Add my scream as I fell to the crashes that had happened five seconds before and it wasn't long before Takashi and Kyouya (followed by everyone else) rushed into the room.

"I'm okay!" I said, flustered and embarrassed. I heaved myself up and grabbed a brush that was leaning against a cupboard.

"Saori, calm down..." Kyouya had walked over and was trying to pry the broom from my hands. I held on stubbornly and only let go when Takashi came and pulled my hands off it.

"But I have to clean up!" I whined.

"We have to make sure you're not hurt." Kyouya said firmly, giving the broom to Haruhi.

"I'm not hurt, I only slipped a little and I didn't even land on the plates." I said hurriedly, reaching for the broom.

"Well, I'm going to check anyway. You might not have noticed of you just cut you-"

"I'm not a fucking idiot! I know if I'm hurt or not!" I said loudly, glaring at him, cutting him off. I wriggled free from Takashi's arms, grabbed the broom off Haruhi and pointed to the door.

"Out." I snapped.

They looked at me startled, and then filed out. Kyouya threw me a reprimanding look, then walked off.

I sighed, knowing they were all annoyed at me, and proceeded to sweep up.

* * *

"finished." I smiled. Washing up always relaxed me... funnily enough.

I wiped my hands and dried them off, then I tentatively walked back into the main room.

Everyone was sat down with Arai, all except Hikaru and Kaoru, who were a ways off, Hikaru was sulking, and Kaoru was trying to comfort him.

I watched absently as Hikaru started mouthing off about 'some people' being boring and why would 'anyone' want to be friends with them? He was on about Arai... and it was obvious. Arai bowed his head and looked pretty darn upset, so I walked over to him and patted him on the head while Haruhi walked past me.

And slapped Hikaru.

"You don't have the right to call anyone like that!" she yelled.

"Why do you need him as a friend? Why won't we do?"

The red headed teen ran upstairs, and was followed by his twin. Haruhi sighed, and slumped her shoulders a little, so I walked to her and patted her on the head.

"Is this your best comforting strategy?" she asked, looking at me from the corner of her eyes.

"Well, no. But hugging you would seem inappropriate."

"I wouldn't care..." she muttered, looking away.

"Fine then." I pulled her into a huge hug (glomp), ruffled her hair, and then held her at arms length. She was laughing slightly, and gave me a funny look.

"That was your comforting strategy?" she laughed.

"No. I just thought it'd be funny."

I smiled, then let her go. She walked back to everyone else and I went outside. It was a lovely day and I fancied a walk.

Arai, Haruhi and the guys all followed, and just before he went, Kaoru came out dressed as Hikaru and he apologized.

We waved goodbye, and then Haruhi and I pulled him.

"Why did you apologize Kaoru?" I asked. I saw him twitch: caught in the act.

"Hikaru's a bit sore..." he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Whatever." I left Haruhi to it from then, and I started walking down the road.

"Where are you going Sa-Chan?" shouted Honey, jogging a bit to catch up to me.

"I'm looking around the town. If I'm not back by sunset I've either run away or I've been kidnapped, murdered or sold into the sex slave trade."

"Oh... okay~"

He jogged back to the others, and I had an inkling he replayed our conversation to everyone else as half way down the road I heard Tamaki yell:

"No! Saori, come back! Daddy doesn't want you hurt!"

I looked back over my shoulder.

"You're not my dad!" I shouted, then smirked as he threw himself on the floor in despair.

* * *

I'd walked around about a dozen shops, looking at all the different things. It was actually pretty nice, but boring too. I sighed and turned to go back to the others, when I ran smack bang into someone. I stumbled back, shocked, and blurted out apologies.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there, I just turned and-"

I was cut off by someone pressing their lips to mine. I struggled for a second, then when they broke away, I realized who it was... because I finally looked up at them.

"Calm down." hushed Takashi, stroking my hair back.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still kind of in shock from where he kissed me.

"I was looking for you. It's sunset."

And sure enough, it was. I seriously had to start paying attention to my surroundings.

"Let's get you back to the cottage." he wrapped an arm around my waist, and pulled me closer, kissing me lightly on the lips before we walked off.

* * *

"SAORI, MORI-SEMPAI, WAKE UP IT'S AN EMERGANCY!!"

I heard Tamaki yelling our names, and I heard that it was an emergency. I felt arms pulling at me, clothes being shoved into my arms and I was pushed into the bathroom before I had even woken up properly.

I sleepily dragged on the clothes, realized I had my pajamas on under, so I had to pull everything off and try again. When I was finally dressed, I stumbled out of the bathroom and heard several gasps.

"Saori is this what you look like in the morning?"

"You look terrible..."

"She looks ill."

"I'm tired. I just got woke up, by an extremely rude bunch of boys. I am still half a-fucking-sleep. So piss off while I sort myself out."

They looked at me before Hikaru tutted and Tamaki waved one reprimanding finger.

"There's no need for that, now, is there? We'll sort you out, just sit and relax." he said, winking at me.

"If I relax, I will sleep again."

They chuckled amongst themselves, Kyouya stood at the side pointing out the flaws in my appearance, when a disheveled Takashi trudged in, so they finished me off and moved onto him.

I looked in the mirror and nearly didn't recognize myself.

I was in a light blue frock, with a white sash and pumps. My short hair had had extensions put in and was now waist length again, with what looked like pearl daisy's twisted into my hair. They'd put large silver loopy earrings in, and I was wearing a silver necklace with a delicate diamond 'S' dangling down.

"Is all of this really necessary?" I grumbled, pulling at the hem of the dress that came to about my thighs.

They all smirked at me, Takashi included.

"Of course. We have an image to uphold, and we want you dressed as stylishly as possible so you don't ruin all out hard work."

I glared at Tamaki, before tugging at a few of the extensions...

I hate my life.

* * *

"We're spying on them?" I asked, looking around the corner at Hikaru ad Haruhi walking along the high street.

Haruhi seemed to be enjoying herself, looking around the shops, while Hikaru tagged along.

"We have to make sure Hikaru doesn't do anything stupid." said Kaoru.

I was starting to wonder... how was Hikaru stupid? Tamaki was now pretending to be an ice cream man, and Honey was out on the front pretending to own a market stall on wheels, and Takashi had to run out to stop him.

I sighed, reached up, grabbed a cone and made myself an ice cream. I got sprinkles, and then dropped cash (plus a tip) in the till.

The man nodded at me numbly, then I walked out.

Time to get to business then.