Chapter 8, The Bakery

We'd left the hotel and had now been travelling for a total of almost two hours. I was sitting on a crowded seat, squashed between Hikaru and Kaoru's tall lean bodies, the strong sent of their cologne throwing off the scent of sweaty bodies and dirt as we bumped along the dirt track.

"Uh boss, where did you say this bakery was again?" the Kaoru asked, and a cheery Tamaki turned around looking over the spacious front seat.

" Middle of commoner territory! Bit of a shortcut and the roads are less than adequate but I had to make sure we got the best of the best in commoner bakeries!"

I groaned and slumped forward as far as my seatbelt would let me. Mori and Honey were in the seats behind us, Honey talking away about something and Mori politely nodding and raising an interested eyebrow every now and then. Surprisingly the twins had been particularly quiet for the most of the two hours, aside from the first ten minutes when my father had rang to see how I was going and the boys snatched the phone out of my hand and went on and on and on, only encouraging his irrational nature.

Leaning back I blew my long fringe out of my eyes and tried to ignore how warm the air was outside and how hot the boys legs were pressed to mine. I was starting to get quite thirsty and if we didn't stop soon I would fall asleep, no questions asked.

"Haruhi?" Hikaru started, his voice had almost a nervous tremor to it. His big eyes stared down into mine and his red hair fell shyly out over his face, un-styled today for a change. I knew what he was going to say, I knew he felt terribly and I knew he felt he had betrayed me. I was still angry, so much so that my jaw ached from grinding my teeth, especially when I found out Kyoya wasn't even coming today. The coward. But my anger was in no way directed at Hikaru, he had done nothing wrong.

I looked up at him and smiled a little before cutting his apology off with an, "it's okay. I know."

He smiled again, sympathetically though and let his hand fall from off his knee to lightly touch the back of mine and left it there laying by his side. A small gesture, but an appreciated one nonetheless.

"Hikaru…" Kaoru piped up, breaking our little moment.

"Yes, Kaoru?"

"It's been awfully quiet, shall we play a game?"

"Well, that depends on what kind of game,"

"A fun one. I'll start and you'll have to follow at irregular intervals.."

"I think I know where you are going with this, and I very much agree. This will be fun."

I grew a little nauseous watching their devilish smiles creep back on.

"Guys…don-" I growled, but to no avail being cut off by a loud Kaoru.

"Haruhi, you did what with him?"

1, 2, 3…

"HARUHI did WHAT with WHOM? Haruhi my little princess WHAT DID YOU DO? And who with? Who was it? Daddy has a right to KNOW! You shouldn't be kissing boys! You're only a child! Hikarou, Karou, what did she dooooo!?" A distraught Tamaki cried into the back of his chair. The twins sat there silently however, doing there best to pull off an innocent and confused face.

"What are you talking about boss?"

"Yeah we didn't say anything?"

They shrugged and turned to one another, poor Tamaki looked rather pale before going beet red turned back to the front.

"Guys, please don't. You're being unfair, it's not funny," I whispered harshly, trying to not catch the ear of the falcon in the front.

"On the contrary Haruhi, it is rather hilarious."

"You can't just play with people's emotions like that guys." I said, with more hatred than I should have used probably. They both looked quite taken aback, well Kaoru did at least, Hikaru already knew why I was being the way I was.

"She's right Kaoru, let's just turn it down this trip. We can have fun with him another time" Hikarou soothed, but his voice gave away the depth of a having a secret. Kaoru already knew there was something that we were keeping from him and it hurt, we could visibly see the hurt in his eyes. Hikaru reached over me and touched Kaoru's shoulder.

"Please..."

Kaoru nodded stiffly and turned back to the front respecting his brother's request.

When we finally arrived, it was a shabby little town in the middle of nowhere. There were old buildings leaning against one another, clinging for support. The biggest building along the main road was labeled 'Town Hall' and next to that was a cute little cottage with a sign in the window boasting "Best Bakery since 1962".

I prepared myself for the hurl of insensitive comments from all five of the boys but surprisingly they all just stood behind me silent, not even really taking in their surroundings. I was confused at first but then I remembered what I had made them promise earlier and felt smug that it had actually worked, maybe today would actually be… alright.

We walked over and there was a slight tinkle noise from a high up bell as I pushed the door open. A cute brunette stood behind the counter, her long hair pulled up in a braid and secured with a black ribbon. Her apron was too big for her and I decided it must have belonged to either a parent or older sibling before her.

"Hi and welcome!" She grinned and the boys all smiled back waving, she blushed at the troupe of attractive boys.

"Ma said we'd be expecting a few of you, but I didn't expect you all to be so handsome," she said shyly and I could feel Tamaki beside me almost begging with puppy dog eyes to take off his vow of silence just to be his usual princely self on this poor girl. I shook my head at him and went forward and shook the girls hand.

"I'm Haruhi, and this is Hikaru, Kaoru, Mori, Tamaki and Honey Sempai" I smiled and tried to be as warm as I could manage.

"Awh, well it's nice to meet you all. I'm Keianne but everyone calls me Kei, I think I'm supposed to give you a tour of the bakery before you have some afternoon tea?"

"Yes, I think so, that sounds wonderful."

Overflowing, Tamaki raced up beside me and burst, "Kei, what a pretty name, for a pretty princess I'm sure it is fitting. It must have been fate that we stumbled into your humble bakery and I locked eyes with the most beautiful girl I have ever seen!"

She of course was a mess after that, blushing and stumbling and trying not to make eye contact and every time she did, she would giggle and shuffle her feet. I gave Tamaki the biggest death stare and he slide to the back of the group, afraid I'd throw him in one of the hot ovens and turn him into a nice Vienna loaf.

The tour of the bakery went down wonderfully, the boys stayed the quiet the whole time and I managed to learn a thing of two about baking. Not that I ever would, I don't think I ever had it in me to be a baker but I admired her skill, and the way her soft hands kneaded the bread in demonstration. We walked outside and sat down in the shade of a few trees for afternoon tea and I finally let the silence be lifted, grudgingly of course.

"FINALLY! CAKES!" Honey Sempai jumped up and down in joy.

"That was actually, rather nice…" Hikaru started and I looked up at him in surprise.

"Except for the completely inferior machinery and techniques and immature staff. Also did I mention that they didn't even have hospital grade soap?"

"No?" Kaoru responded horrified.

"Not even hospital grade" Hikaru shook his head as if it was the saddest thing he had ever witnessed. I slumped and felt the annoyance creep back in. Rich bastards.

"What? Unhygienic!? MY Haruhi will not consume such filth! It's probably crawling with diseases!" Tamaki grabbed as sponge cake out of my hand and the others lowered theirs in distaste. I bubbled with rage before standing up and screaming.

"EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU WILL CONSUME ALL THE WONDERFUL CAKES KEI MADE US OR SO HELP ME I WILL FORCE THEM DOWN YOUR THROATS! THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THEM!"

Everyone looked scared and then gorged themselves on the cakes, shoveling them down and looking up at me weakly murmuring scared whispers of how yummy they tasted. I sat down calm again and tucked in to my cakes. Rich bastards.

The grass and trees were a dark green in this area, contrary to the dirt, dry road that lead us here it was a rather beautiful place once you got past how isolated it was. Kei had recommended that I check out the local markets and such before I left and I told her I would, I had no intention however of putting up with these boys as I did that.

"Let's explore the area, you all go up that way, and I'll go down here? Okay? Good" I smiled curtly and turned away before being turned right back around by two hands.

"Oh no you don't, you're not going anywhere alone. I know you might think that after one session with Honey and Mori Sempai you might be a martial art champion, but I insist that I come with you, I'll be silent again if you want, but we all agree you shall not go alone" Hikaru spoke gently and I sighed looking at the others who nodded in agreement.

"Fine. But no one else, I can only put up with so much in one day" I said back, they looked hurt so I apologized, "sorry guys, it's been a tough week. You know I love you guys" And instantly I was swept into a group hug of "It's okay Haruhi! We love you too! You're so CUTE".

I escaped and set off down the road with a quiet Hikaru by my side. The silence was nice and I breathed in deeply the sent of the trees, the bricks and the town musk.

My mind still buzzed around the same thing though, all I wanted to do was ask Hikaru about Kyoya's father. Sensing that I had changed my mood to something more solemn Hikaru slung his arm around me and I leaned into his hard body, walking slowly together. It was nice to have someone to lean against and without knowing it; the words were out of my mouth, "What happened the other night? What did he say?"

Hikaru sighed and hugged me tighter, he pulled me out of his grip and looked me in the eye, "how about we enjoy today and we talk about this later? I know it's been on your mind but I think if we bring it up now you'll only be angry for the rest of the day"

I objected but he cut me off, "besides, I don't want to sit next to a murderous Haruhi on the way home. Let's be honest, it's not pleasant for anyone involved"

I laughed a little and saw his point, maybe I could just enjoy today.

Looking up at him, I smiled to myself. He could be so observant, so all-knowing when it came to everyone else. He knew me, and he knew who I really was.

His hair was swept out of his eyes and they bored forward analyzing the street and the people we walked past, observing and learning. The same eyes that looked at me with such concern, the same eyes that look so defeated when he can't help the ones he loves, such beautiful eyes for the story they hold. Curved lips that sometimes look like they are set in a permanent sneer, but to those who know him, know its far more common to see them in a loose smile, lips that have been let down to many times when he has to say "no, I'm Hikaru".

We kept walking towards the markets where people were abundant and happy, trading and laughing. I felt my hand bump against Hikaru's again; I hadn't realized I was walking so close to him.

Bump.

There it was again, he didn't look fazed so I started to wonder why I was. Why did it matter to me that our hands kept touching?

I slid my fingers in his and held his hand as we walked into town, he didn't look at me but a small smile crawled onto his face, we swung our arms together and I felt the same one crawl onto mine.