ATTENTION READERS: This is the Beta version of LH5W, if you want to read the official, updated version of the story, you'll have to go over to DeviantArt. com and head on over to my page. My username is Aloubell. You can also get there by going to my fanfiction. net profile which provides a link over there.
In any case, this Beta version is basically the rough draft of LH5W, my first attempt at it. Much of the plot points from this version will be the same in the official version, but there are significant and consistent characterization changes, a few (but very important) plot differences, expansion of past ideas, and overall better quality in storytelling.
All of this will be done over on DeviantArt. I no longer will write the story in traditional prose nor submit/update it here to fanfiction. net. The Beta version will remain here, just know that it isn't the 100% official story.
The official version will be written in a lazy prose mixed with play-writing elements (you'll get what I mean when you see it).
This is the new format for the story from now on.
So please head on over there if you're interested in updates to the story! Thank you for stopping by =D
-Aloe
PLEASE NOTE: The official version is being written somewhat out of order. The official version will start on chapter 46, the place where the Beta version left off. The official version will go on to complete the last chapters of Season 2. Once those are done, I will redo the story over again from Chapter 1 which will be the official version.
Having said that, if you choose to continue on reading, I hope you enjoy the Beta version and look forward to the official!
My body felt a pleasant chill as I whipped through a cloud. Seeing more in my path, I didn't hesitate to experience the feeling again. With a smile on my face, I looked down below to the earth I left behind. No matter how many times I would end up floating above it, the sight was always beautiful and fascinating—with the buildings, trees, fields, and tiny people making the scene that much more pleasant to look at. Now that I could fly—well, levitate would be the better name for what I can do, according to the spell book—I felt so free. When I'm up there, soaring with the birds, it was like I was given the ability to leave all of my problems behind way back on the ground. It's a bit hard to describe what it's like to defy gravity—it was still a bit difficult for me to even comprehend the whole idea. But in the end, it was me up the air, while others looked in envy (you know, if people other than the Host Club knew I had this ability).
Time had gone by pretty quickly after the weekend at the beach—about a couple months to be exact. Every day I was with the Host Club, and every day, the twins were there having their idiotic fun as always. The thing was, I didn't really mind them anymore. I had gotten used to having them around and accepted the fact that they were going to be around. Not only that, it was thanks to them in the first place that I was liked at Ouran and that I could levitate. They weren't as bad as I initially pinned them to be. Don't get me wrong, they still had the amazing tendency to be pains in the ass—but they were my pains in the ass. To tell you the truth, I had felt so used to them being there, that sometimes when they weren't there, I felt…naked.
Buzz Buzz
A vibration on my hip made me stop mid-air, and upside down (good thing I was wearing long pants, because a skirt would have been disastrous). The twins had gotten me a cell phone a little while ago—Haruhi got one as well—so that we could communicate should we be apart.
With the push of a button, I opened a text that was just sent.
Where r u?
Hikaru sent the message. Regarding my previous statement of how I felt naked without those two, I wasn't totally opposed to the idea of being apart from them. The cell phone kind of continued to hold the seemingly unbreakable leash that was connecting me to them (besides the video that they were still blackmailing with).
Me: Wouldn't u like 2 kno T_T
Hikaru: Yes I would ^^
Me: Ugh…-_- What's the real reason ur texting me?
Hikaru: Well~
Me: ?
Hikaru: Do u kno where Haru is?
Oh, that's the real reason he's contacted me? I had a little urge to not reply to him back. Not only was he keeping tabs on me—again—but the fact that he interrupted my flying time just to find Haruhi kind of vexed me. I knew that it wasn't just him. I'd bet anything that Kaoru was standing right next to him.
Thinking about what to type next, I had another message in my inbox.
Kaoru: Hey Aki! The boss thinks that Haru's been kidnapped er something
Thought so.
Me: lol
Kaoru: What, u kno where she's at?
As a matter of fact I did. It was finally summer break for us Ouran students and Haruhi had gone to some place called Karuizawa. The place sort of sounded familiar considering that this world was just like my world, but a different dimension. I was still in Japan, just another Japan. Nonetheless, any kind of Japan had been a whole separate world from me ever since I moved to America.
Haruhi got a part-time job at some pension in Karuizawa, and told me not to tell the rest of the Host Club. Completely understanding where she was coming from, I agreed not to tell. At least one of us deserved a vacation from them for a while—being a Host was both mentally and physically exhausting. Tamaki overreacting wasn't surprising at all. The unfortunate thing was that the whole Host Club was going to know that she was gone. And in the club was sneaky little know-it-all Kyouya who would probably catch on to where Haruhi was at before this whole text conversation was over.
Me: Maybe…
Hikaru: Tell us!
Kaoru: Tell us!
I groaned.
Me: Don't u guys have better things 2 do than waste texting min?
Kaoru: Nope!
Hikaru: We're rich, remember?
Sighing, I reached into my pants-pocket and took out a tiny map that showed where Karuizawa was at and where specifically Haruhi was. As more seconds flew by, I knew that it was that much closer until the Host Club would make something big out of something small. You know what I realized? Those guys are so good-looking and popular that girls fainted happily just by being with them. So since that's true, then why is it that they limit themselves to only being around each other? The two concepts were such a contradiction that it drove me insane.
Maybe I should just head there now. It's only a matter of time before the rest of the club gets there. I might as well make my way there to warn the poor girl. Floating my way in the opposite direction, a familiar buzz tingled my hand.
Kaoru: Kyouya-senpai told us where Haru is. ;)
Hikaru: Tell her we'll be there soon! C ya there Aki! =)
Damn. So much for relaxing.
Dear Universe, why can't you give me a break? I'm with the Host Club (the twins) almost all the time, and once I finally have time off from school to just relax and not do any Host stuff, you suck me right back in. Haruhi had the right idea, going to the country like that—even if it was to work. Away from the Host Club is away from the Host Club. Don't get me wrong, I liked the guys and all, they were just a bit too overwhelming for my type of character.
Even though it had been about a month since the beach incident, I needed time to make sure I could use my magic without hacking blood—which was still a complete mystery to me as to why and how it even happened in the first place—and that I could control my levitating as well as navigate it. Not only that, I was in school a lot of the time as well as doing Host stuff—making magic training of any kind nearly impossible. When summer break first started, it had taken me a while to think of the idea of waking up early to avoid the twins. The day I actually manage to escape and fly high in the sky for real, I end up heading to Karuizawa to make sure that Haruhi didn't suffer alone. Damn that Kyouya for opening his big mouth to Tamaki and the twins (then to Mitsukuni and Takashi).
Things got weird the moment everyone arrived there. Being unable to fly fast just yet, I was the last to get to the location. Haruhi had a look of horror on her face when she realized that all the Hosts planned on staying. She and the owner of the pension, Misuzu Sonoda, a cross-dresser who's a close friend of Haruhi's father, didn't mind if I stayed in the same room with Haruhi, but she only had one room open for any of the remaining Hosts that wanted to stay. With a determined look on each of their faces (except Takashi's), they held a ridiculously stupid "Refreshment Contest" where they had to make the guests feel "refreshed" as best as they could.
Wasn't that pretty much the exact same thing we did in school for the fan-girls? In a way, it's like the whole "making people happy" thing was like a career. I wasn't opposed to making people happy, it's just that the way the club went about it makes a person tired. Refusing to take part in the event—I already had a room anyway—I sat on the roof watching the guy Hosts (mostly Tamaki and the twins) make fools of themselves. They were trying so hard for something so damn stupid. Those guys were rich! I couldn't see why they just didn't have a contest to see who could pay Mr. Sonoda the most for the room. But I suppose that if you're going to do something, do it with a pinch of excitement and randomness to avoid it from being boring—that was their philosophy anyway.
In the end, the twins ended up winning the contest using their "Forbidden Brotherly Love" bit. Just like at school, people just couldn't get enough of it. Tamaki whined about it, but quickly got over the fact that he lost when he and the remaining Host Club promised to come back every day and see us. Great.
Before I knew it, four days had passed and an old classmate of Haruhi's, named Arai, came to the pension to drop off something for his part-time job. The moment he recognized Haruhi, he couldn't wait but catch up with her. He mentioned how he used to have a crush on her and how Haruhi was totally oblivious to it (even now she was sort of oblivious to it). It was during this time that obvious hidden feelings began to arise.
I knew for a while that the twins were rather fond of Haruhi—you know, in a way that was more than a friend. Even if the other's weren't aware of it—which they may have been, except Tamaki who apparently shared some of Haruhi's naïve-ness –I knew only because I had a fairly good eye for these things. Though I was not really involved in social activities and such while growing up, one thing I was really good at was knowing if someone liked someone else. It was just one of those odd talents I had. Noticing things like certain body languages as well as how people interacted with each other was just an observational hobby that made me more perceptive to people's emotions. Taking all of this into account, it was obvious to me that the twins were jealous of the fact that Haruhi was paying more attention to a guy who "used to" like her rather than them.
Out of the twins, Hikaru seemed especially envious. Uncharacteristically, he yelled at Arai and Haruhi causing her to slap him. He stopped off in a jealous rage, leaving an awkward silence.
This whole ordeal left a nasty feeling at the pit of my stomach. To be honest, I wasn't really all that familiar with the thing that was going on with me. Maybe it was in my imagination, but I sort of felt like some of the twins' possessiveness had rubbed off on me, because I didn't particularly like the idea of sharing either Hikaru or Kaoru. It was completely unexpected that I would feel that way. And I knew that it was completely selfish and petty. But I couldn't deny how I felt about the situation. Usually, I preferred it when the twins put their attention on somebody else—they were both persistent and annoying—but now that their attention was really on somebody else, it ticked me off. So…was I mad at Haruhi for grabbing more of their attention? Or was I mad at Arai for making the twin's feelings more widely known? Seeing Hikaru's jealousy must have fueled my own. How... appropriate.
Waking up really early the next day—making sure not to wake Haruhi—I got dressed in a pair of nice, white jeans, and a tight, cotton, olive green, no-sleeve turtle neck, complimented with gold hoop earrings. I wasn't completely sure as to how I ended up dressing so nicely, but…the damage was done and I didn't plan on getting changed again. Staying quiet, I levitated out of the room through the window. Elevating myself up a floor, I looked for Hikaru and Kaoru's room. When I found it, I looked through their window to see that they were both still sleeping in their bed.
Hmmm…now how am I going to do this?
On the day before, I overheard Kaoru talking to Mitsukuni about a plan he had for the day after. He had asked Haruhi out on a date to apologize for what Hikaru did—and she agreed. His plan was to pretend to be sick and have Hikaru go on the date instead. I had the weirdest desire to stop that specific date from happening. So, I devised my own plan.
Focusing on Water, I tried to make it manifest without a wand. When I was feeling vulnerable at the beach, I realized that using a wand for magic may eventually do me more harm than good. Knowing that I possessed the ability to use Wind without my wand, I figured that it was probably possible for the other elements as well—even if it did take much more concentration and energy than usual. This situation provided me with a good opportunity to test out that theory.
Using the moisture in the air, a tiny sphere of water manifested itself in front of Hikaru's face. Keeping the water's shape as well as controlling it without a wand was proving rather difficult because I was already developing a headache. With a wand, I had a point to focus on and more control over the elements, without one, it was like…well the best way to explain the whole situation was like a fishing rod. With a fishing rod, you have a long stick to hold the string and you have a handle on where it's aimed. If you just had a string, then you have to put more effort into where you want it to go and controlling it isn't the easiest task.
Keeping my energy steady, I successfully splashed the water into his face. Almost instantly, his eyes shot open. Sitting up, he looked around to see where exactly he was splashed from. The moment he saw me at his window, he gave me a confused look. I waved to him to meet me outside.
About twenty minutes later, he came walking out with that same puzzled look mixed with a little annoyance. It was clear that he was still a little pissed from the day before.
"What is it? Why are you up so early?"
"It's eight in the morning. I wouldn't really say that it's that early." I told him.
"We're on break. We're allowed to sleep in." He said through a yawn.
"Yeah, well I planned on my break being filled with a little less Host Club. But I learned a while ago that we can't always have what we want." Baiting him with one of my normal sarcastic remarks, I expected him to say some silly, annoying, or perverted retort like he and Kaoru always did.
This time he scoffed, completely throwing me for off. "Did you wake me up to say that?" He turned back into the building, forcing me to levitate over to the door, blocking him. "C'mon Aki. I want to go back to bed."
"You can't! Because Kaoru—" Stopping myself, I thought against telling him his brothers' plan.
"Kaoru what?"
"You…can't go back because…you might wake him…Yeah! Kaoru deserves more sleep right?"
He smiled slightly. "And I don't…because…?"
Walking up to him, I grabbed his arm and started to walk him away from the building. "Because there's something I want to show you." He didn't seem to want to argue because he went along with me.
"Okay…Umm…"
I looked at him. "What's wrong?"
His smile widened and regained its usual sneakiness. "This is a very friendly position you put us in." Realizing that both of my arms were hugging his, I immediately jumped away. When did I even do that?
We walked about four miles down a dirt road, leaving me fairly surprised that he didn't suggest riding a limo or something. He must have been really deep in thought about Haruhi to forsaken his rich side. In fact, he didn't say much at all. This was bothering me considerably.
But I had no idea what to say.
Usually it was the three of us, and now Hikaru and I were all alone. It was a bit awkward honestly. What made the whole situation more awkward was the fact that he wasn't acting himself. He was ordinarily a silly and sneaky person who loved to have fun. Now…he was being a wet blanket. Who would have thought that I would miss that side of him.
Looking around, I took in the beauty that the country had to offer. Everything was so green, the air was clean, and the lack of nearby buildings in the area made things sort of—ugh—refreshing to experience. Hearing birds singing filled the awkward silence, making me feel a smidge better.
We eventually came to a fork in the road, causing the two of us to stop. He eyed me curiously. "So, what now?"
"Umm…" I thought I knew where I wanted to go, but my perspective from the ground was different than it was in the air. And it was in the air on my way to Karuizawa that my eyes caught sight of the place.
"Do you even know where we're going?" He gave a skeptical look.
"Of course I do!" I snapped. Thinking of how I was going to solve the problem, I finally came up with something. Levitating, I hovered above him.
"Lift your arms up."
"Why?"
"Why do you think?" Slowly raising his arms, I took hold of his wrists and he held onto mine. Using more energy and effort, I lifted him from the ground and into the air. I smiled a bit when I saw the amazed look in his eyes when he felt the sudden weightlessness. It may have been more of a hassle to be carrying someone—especially since flying was still a bit new to me—but it was nice to share the awesome feeling with someone. Raising ourselves above the trees and up to some of the lower clouds, a picked a perfect height where I could see the land below for miles.
"Doesn't this feel great?" I asked him.
"Yeah…" He was still in a tiny but of shock—the good kind.
"You know…it's because of you that I was even able to learn to do this." Talking to him was much easier in this free atmosphere. Not only that, I didn't have to look into those "I'm thinking about Haruhi" eyes.
"Me?" He looked up.
Not returning his gaze, I nodded. "Yeah. Let's just say that you helped me to stop thinking so much. Then it just sort of came naturally."
"I can't believe that you're able to do this! It's amazing! I can see for miles!" I couldn't help but smile at his reaction. "This is the coolest thing I've ever seen Aki."
I continued to fly without saying anything. Slowly watching how he was reverting back to his old self was satisfying for me. Looking into the distance, I spotted our destination. In order to avoid detection (because we all know that we couldn't have a bunch of civilians seeing me use any kind of magic), we descended. Lowering him down carefully, I gradually let go of his wrists before reuniting with the ground myself.
Hikaru's face beamed. "I never thought that I'd say I was actually flying."
Giving a skeptical chuckle, I told him, "Excuse me? I flew. You held on."
"I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that I was the wind beneath your wings." Catching the joke, I playfully punched him in the arm as he laughed a little.
"You wish dude."
He looked around. "So, what was this thing you wanted to show me?"
"You honestly didn't see it when we were up there?"
"See what?"
I pointed down the road. "There's a huge festival happening over there you idiot!" His eyes followed my finger towards a colorful busy area filled with a few theme rides, carnival games, and loud music. I think being there would get his mind off Haruhi.
Staring at the festivities, his head slowly turned around to face me—wearing a look of amusement. "Oh, now everything makes sense. This is a date, right?"
Feeling my face heat up, I got defensive. "As if! Of course it isn't a date you moron! Get over yourself." Crossing my arms, I turned away from him.
He put both of his hands on my shoulders as he whispered playfully in my ear from behind. "You say that, but why else would you be dressed so nicely?" The feel of his warm breath on my skin gave me goosebumps. "A person usually does that when their trying to impress someone."
Sliding from his touch, I tried to remain calm. "This outfit happened by chance. And who cares about what I'm wearing anyway? Can we just go?"
He sighed, keeping the grin on his face. "Okay. Whatever. Let's go then."
The moment we bought our tickets and walked in, Hikaru wanted to go on and play pretty much everything. So I let him go off and be giddy while I found a place to sit and watch. Fun, social events like this were never really my thing. Whenever I actually decided to go to a party—that Saru dragged me to—all I did was sit in the corner watching everybody else have fun. The whole thing was so unnatural to me, so I never enjoyed myself. No one bothered to get me involved in the activities, and Saru usually saw a bunch of other friends and ditched me, leaving me alone during the whole thing. In the end, she would tell me how I needed to just let loose and relax, how she shouldn't have to stay with me the whole time in order for me to have a good time. Well, that would have been good and all, but isn't the point of social events to be social? It's just sad to be going on your own for hours pretending like you're actually having a good time. There wasn't any point in kidding myself.
I eventually lost sight of Hikaru in the crowd, and accepted the fact that he left me there, just like Saru used to do. This time, it was on my own free will, so I wasn't going to complain about it. I was already happy knowing that he was pretty much back to his old self. It was the least I could do for him after he made me feel better about being in this world.
"Because I wanted to see you smile."
The memory made my face get hot as I looked to the ground. Why did I suddenly remember that? That was when a thought came into my head. Wait a second…what if…
"Hey Aki!" Hikaru ran up and grabbed my arm. "Let's go have some fun!"
"No, it's okay…"
He sat down next to me. "C'mon! You think that you can't have as much fun down here as you can in the sky?" I gave him a look. "Okay, maybe not. But we can come pretty close!"
"No, really. It's okay. These things aren't really my style."
"You invited me here."
"Yeah but…It's just not my thing."
I could feel him staring at me, trying to figure out what I was thinking. His eyes seemed so piercing at that moment, making me freeze up slightly. Has Hikaru always had this effect on me? When did this start to happen?
"You're not a real social person are you?" The question came up sort of suddenly so I faced him. "You just seem too unnatural when there is a bunch of people around. Even in the club room—you suddenly turned shy in front of the ladies." He looked up as if he were thinking. Suddenly he dropped the bomb. "Are you—are you used to having friends Aki?"
My eyes went wide. How had he been so perceptive about me? This topic I knew about all too well, and I wasn't afraid to share my feelings about it. "Let's see, friends…Where I come from, I've given up on trying making friends. It's always been impossible to keep anyone close. Friendship was just a joke. Sure, they'd stay around for a little while—I'd listen to what they had to say and give advice. But the moment they lost interest or realized that they had to listen to me too, they would either distance themselves or dump me as a friend altogether. Draining their happiness, wasn't particularly fun either. So, instead of the extra hurt, I figured why I should even try trusting people. I keep my expectations low so that I never get disappointed. Distancing myself saves both time and effort."
He gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, I know that feeling."
I looked at him in disbelief. "How could you? You have Kaoru, you've always had him with you. You were never alone. Even if there's nobody else, you'll still have him. I lost my older sister seven years ago. She was the only one who ever cared about me. But that's all over." My tone had gotten darker as the mere mention of my sister left my lips.
"How did she die?" He spoke with such sympathy that I had never heard from him before. It was different, but kind of nice that I was able to see so many different sides of him all in one day. Despite that, I just couldn't answer him. "Look, Kaoru and I both know how you feel. How do you think it feels to be mixed with him all the time? Can't really call someone your friend if they can't even tell the difference between you and your brother. Two separate, completely different people. It's hard to trust someone who doesn't even know the real you."
"But you have the Host Club. They all know the difference." Especially Haruhi.
"Yeah, now we have the Host Club. Before the boss invited us, it was a completely different story." But now you're mixing people up on purpose. As if reading my mind, he answered my question with a shrug. "We fool people now because we know that at least someone knows the difference. So it's all good. Besides, we get a kick out of seeing the ladies guess at it and accept us whether they get it right or not." Seeing the look on my face, he turned the subject around. "You have the Host Club now too. So why are you still so hesitant to move things forward?"
This brought me back to those previous feelings of sadness I had for leaving my friends—how upsetting it was to know that they had forgotten about me. I knew that there were things that I had to keep a secret, but if I didn't tell somebody something, then I was eventually going to explode. And it wasn't a good idea to keep in hidden feelings when you have powers that could potentially cause a deadly tornado.
"Some things I'm not able to tell you. But what I can say is that I've been searching for something for a while now. Something that eventually lead me to the outside of your mansion."
"Like what?"
I hesitated while resting my hands on the top of my thighs. "I can't tell you. But because of the journey I'm on to find it, I've been forced to leave the places that I was in before. I had a few friends and I thought I was happy. But when it turned out that what I was looking for wasn't there, I had to leave immediately. The people I had formed friendships with had to lose any memory they had of me." He had a shocked look on his face when he heard that part.
"How is that possible?"
"I'm…not sure. But you can imagine that making friends would be hard if you knew that your time in a certain place was only temporary and that the people there would just forget about you anyway." Squeezing my fists, my whole body tensed up. "My whole anti-social thing—because of messed up home life—mixed with circumstances on this journey make for a very twisted situation."
"Wait a second, let me make sure I have this straight. You might leave here at any time? Literally anytime?" I nodded. "And I'll forget about you? There's nothing I, or we, can do to stop it?" I shook my head.
We just sat there for a few minutes not saying anything. This silence was even worse than before because it had me wondering. What does he think of me now? Will he not want to be my friend now that he knows that I could leave soon?
Just as I was about to say something, a catchy ringtone broke the silence first. Hikaru reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
"It's Kaoru…" He said while keeping his eye on his device. Well that's no surprise. I'm actually a little surprised it took him this long to ask where his brother was. I smiled deviously to myself. I wonder how his date with Haruhi is going…
The ringing persisted. "Are you going to pick it up?"
When the music subsided, he began to tap at the keys, then returned his phone to his pocket. "I sent him a text."
Nodding, I looked back at the ground. I can't believe he didn't talk to him...
Before too long, he decided to speak up. "So, I'm guessing that you don't have a boyfriend?" My stomach turned at the question. Quickly passing him a glance, it was hard to really give him an answer. I didn't know what reason he had for asking—after all, it was a bit random. "By that reaction I'm going to say that you don't. Perhaps you never did—"
"Shut up!" I had heard things like that from people way too many times before back in my world. They would make fun of my lack of friends and how I wasn't compatible with anybody. The whispers in the crowd at the mall before I left rang in my ears.
"How pathetic…"
"…that long?"
"Is there something wrong with her?"
"…must be true, she's not arguing…"
"Self-pity? What a turn-off."
"Aki!" Hikaru's calling me snapped me out of my memories. "I didn't mean it in a bad way. Why do you always take things as an insult?" Calming down, I noticed that he scooted himself closer to me. Again, my stomach jumped with my heart following it. "So, I'm also going to assume that you haven't had your first kiss yet either?" He slowly and gently held my chin and turned my head towards his. Seeing the soft, serious look in his eyes made me start to melt in his touch. I gulped slightly, unable to speak. "Maybe we could both get it over with now. You know, to see what it's like. What do you say?" My voice wouldn't work for me to protest. He had to have noticed my face flushing because he smiled as he tilted my chin up with him gradually leaning in.
Maybe it's not so much the twins I don't want to share…perhaps it's just him. Maybe I just wanted to keep Hikaru…
After the initial shock of reality washed away, my eyes were starting to close in compliance as his lips began to meet with mine. Before he actually made contact, he quickly pulled away and started to laugh hysterically.
Seeing my look of confusion, he wiped his tears from laughter. "I can't believe you actually thought I was going to do it! You should see the look on your face! It's priceless!"
In disbelief, and through a completely warmed face, I snapped at him for playing me that way. "You are such a jerk!" It would have been completely justified for me to have clobbered him at that moment. But then again... Noticing how he was laughing and acting more like his teasing old self, I couldn't help but smile a little as well—trying to contain my own laughter that was building up.
In the center of the festival, a happy melody began to play, causing people to start dancing happily. Hikaru instantly stood up and held out his hand. "Let's go and have some fun."
Shaking my head, I asked him. "So does this mean that you're not thinking about Haruhi anymore? You're back to your old self again?" His hand started to drop. "I mean…it's good to see that you're yourself again."
"You brought me here so that I could take my mind off of things didn't you?"
Trying to sound cool, I closed my eyes and tucked my hair behind my ear on one side. "Well, it was annoying me that you weren't annoying me. In a world where either Hikaru or Kaoru Hitachiin are not their usual irritating, hyped-up selves is just…weird. I like you guys better when you're yourselves." I smiled at him. "It's no fun to yell at you two when you're being serious. Besides, I needed to thank you somehow for getting me to focus on other things than the things I was sad at when I arrived here." Now that I think about it, this is the longest conversation that I've had with either of the twins. I was usually trying to avoid them or yelling at them for something. It was kind of a relief not being mad at them for once.
Without saying a word, he took my hand and lifted me to my feet—leading me towards the music. I tried to resist.
"No, Hikaru, I told you that these sorts of thing aren't my style—"
"Just trust me, okay? You'll have fun." It sounded like Hikaru, but something was different. He had calmed down in a way that was uncharacteristic for him—which had unsettled me since I thought he was finally back to being happy.
In the middle of all the dancing, I felt unnatural being in the middle of all those people making my body freeze a bit. Placing a hand on my waist and continuing to hold my other hand, he looked me in the eye.
"Relax. Don't focus on the crowd. Just feel the music and I'll help you." Listening to the music, his feet started to move, motivating mine to do the same. I was still a bit frozen (and sloppy) from being in a crowd doing something I never thought I'd do. My body swung from back to forth, twirling while admiring how well Hikaru was doing this. Leave it to rich people to know how to dance as well as this. Who would've thought that Hikaru had a classy bone in his body?
Right as I was starting to loosen up, a loud boom echoed around causing mostly everyone to stop dancing—including us. Looking up at the sky, we noticed that the whole sky was covered with dark, fluffy storm clouds. Not too much longer, there was a bright flash followed by another earth-shaking boom. Soon there was one rain-drop. Then another. Then the whole area was drenched with rain. Huh. You think one of us would have noticed clouds like that in the sky when we were up there. My bangs—and clothes—were so soaked that they were hugging my body more than usual. Looking at Hikaru, the same seemed to go for him.
As everyone around is scattered away, the both of us just stared up at the marvels of the stormy sky. When we finally snapped out of it, we—unlike the other people—decided to stay around while standing under one of the festival ground's large umbrellas. Without a word between us, I wanted to finally take the initiative and speak first.
"I used to be afraid of lightning and thunder when I was younger." He looked at me. "But when I realized just how magical lightning was to look at, I wasn't afraid anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"On a normal clear day, all you see is the blue sky that we are so familiar with. But during storms like this, we get to experience something that isn't exactly status quo. Haven't you ever noticed how cool lightning bolts look? They are so amazing especially because of how short they last. That's what people are so intrigued by fireworks. We get to experience their incredible beauty for only a few seconds."
After a few more minutes of silence, he chuckled. "You're so random."
I gave him a look. "Someone has to be." Hearing movement coming from him, I glanced over to see what he was doing. Hikaru pulled out what looked like a one inch wide white plastic headband with a white fake Dahlia flower at on the side of it.
Facing me, he presented it. "You know how we made you cut your bangs so that we could see your eyes?" I nodded slowly. "Well, with this, we can finally see your ears too, along with the rest of your face that's usually hidden." Placing the headband on my head, he smoothed my wet hair behind my ears to fit the headband on better. When it was finally situated on my head, I raised my hand to feel it only to be stopped by Hikaru's hand.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"N-nothing." Lowering his hand, he smiled a little. "Thanks for today Aki."
I returned the smile. "No problem. I didn't really do anything—just brought you to some place." Blushing some more, I tried to avoid his eyes. "Th-thank you for the headband."
"Yeah. Just make sure you're always wearing it. Kaoru wants you to have it too."
"Really now?"
"Yeah…" He turned away with a playful look on his face. "I wonder if Haruhi will look cuter with it on. That kind of thing doesn't really seem like a witch's style."
Smacking him hard upside the head, I placed my hands on my hips. "Don't you dare start up with that again."
"Witch, witch, witch…" He sang as he started to run through the rain.
Dashing after him, I shouted, "You can't run from me you stupid Gemini!"
When we had finally gotten back to the pension, we found that Haruhi's and Kaoru's date went by pretty smoothly. He scolded Hikaru a bit for running off without saying anything. But since it's them, they made up pretty quickly.
After that, the whole Host Club went through their "normal" routines even after the pension stopped being the new hotspot: Haruhi continued to work, Tamaki fussed over her and continued to be fascinated with "commoner" lifestyle, Kyouya conjured up some evil scheme that we probably wouldn't know about until later, Mitsukuni ate more pastries and sweets, and…Takashi was just there.
The twins were the only ones who were acting somewhat…odd…you know, for them. Well, maybe "odd" isn't the best description to how they were. You see, as twins, they upped their game in being persistent and the whole never-leaving-me-alone thing. It was like they were everywhere—more than usual. Getting more used to flying, I would be high in the sky when, all of a sudden, I either hear one of the loudest megaphones with the twins calling my name, or a helicopter comes out of absolutely nowhere with the twins in it. Even if I was in town or something, they would come running out of a store to meet me. All of this was making me wonder two things: if I was too early in saying how I didn't want to share the twins—because at that moment, I wasn't against sharing them with the closest, sorry person to walk by, and how the heck they were able to find me wherever I went. Before, I had some time to myself, because they didn't know where to find me, so I would just get some annoying calls or texts to check in on me. Now, they always knew where I was at and meeting me there. Last time I had said that they were with me twenty four seven, it was a joke, this time I was dead serious. It was literally all twins, all the time.
The other weird thing was that whenever—by chance—I was able to get Hikaru alone, he would act kind of awkward and he wouldn't touch me at all—unlike when he and Kaoru were together and they constantly tried to hug me or lean on me. The whole oxymoron, fire and ice thing was really getting on my nerves and I had no idea what to do about it. All of that was starting to make me wonder if I had done anything wrong back in Karuizawa.
"And they're everywhere Haruhi. They won't leave me alone!"
I was with Haruhi one day near the end of break, helping her do some grocery shopping. Luckily, I hadn't run into the twins at all that day, but I knew that it was inevitable.
She gave me a puzzled look. "I thought you patched things up with the twins. Aren't you guys friends now?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose, but that doesn't mean that we need to be together all of the time. They're suffocating me. I remember the good ol' days when you were on their favorites list too."
"What are you talking about? They're still around me too a lot of the time." She said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, but we used to share their attention more equally. Now the scale is heavier on my side now more than ever." Keeping up with her in the aisle, I suddenly remember something. "If they keep finding me everywhere, I won't have any time to look for a good enough birthday present for them."
Actually the twins' seventeenth birthday was on June ninth, way before summer break started. Back then, though, I really didn't like them and didn't really follow all that closely to the lives of the other Host Club members. I didn't find out about their birthday until a few days after. You'd think that with rich people, their birthday would have been so big, it was like they were celebrating some national holiday. But it turned out that the twins didn't want any fuss about their birthday or any party at all until their mother had gotten home to celebrate it with them. She was a big-shot fashion designer and wasn't home a lot of the time. I still hadn't met her yet. But since she was coming back to finally celebrate the twins' birthday, there was going to be an outrageous party. But what do you get for two people who could afford almost literally everything?
"You'll have time to get them something. Don't worry about it."
"What did you get them?" I cocked an eyebrow.
"Since they were so crazy about it, I got them about twenty different brands of instant coffee in a basket…wrapped in a big bow." Giggling at her choice, I thought it was cute how she came up with that idea. The twins were probably going to love that present.
Haruhi paid for her groceries and ended up carrying to bags full of stuff. I offered to carry one, but she insisted that she did it on her own and that she was used to it anyway.
Walking down the street, I continued with my rant. "Their party is in two days, and the twins won't give me a chance to do anything secretive like buy a present. Who am I kidding, I don't even have any money! Hikaru and Kaoru have been buying me whatever I needed. I can't have them by their own present for me for them. That's just wrong!"
"Well then, why don't you just tell them to back off for a while?"
I gave her a "what do you think" look which made her blush slightly in embarrassment. Alright! I made Haruhi blush! Cross that out on the "things I absolutely have to do before I die" list.
"But seriously Haruhi, I don't know what to do! It's like…It's like their tracking me or some—" Stopping in my spot, my face went serious. Reaching up at the headband, I ripped off the fake flower and inspected it. "—thing." Feeling around, my fingers felt something unusual. Moving away some of the petals, I saw a small black and green computer chip. Clenching the flower in my fist, my whole body started to shake in anger.
"Aki-senpai?" Throwing off the remaining headband to the ground, I turned away from Haruhi.
Suddenly, the wind started to blow fiercely making people panic and grab onto something to prevent them from flying off. In all of the confusion, I lifted myself off of the ground and into the air. I can't believe those two would do something like this!
Standing in front of the mansion, I clenched the bugged flower in my hand. The only thing running through my mind was the fury of knowing that the two people who had been with me from the very beginning, who said they enjoyed being with me, had completely betrayed my trust. Eventually, the twin's limo drove up and they jumped out with their usual and annoyingly giddy selves. The mere sight of them made me growl.
"Hey Aki! You made the chase too easy for us!"
"Maybe she wanted to have some fun here at the mansion."
"Why start so big? Maybe she wanted some fun in our room."
Not amused, I continued to stare them down. Sensing that something was wrong, the atmosphere around them changed.
Hikaru laughed nervously. "Hey, umm…where's your headband Aki?" Slowly walking up to them I stopped about four feet short, extending my hand with the flower in it.
"What the hell is this?" Speaking through gritted teeth, I looked into their guilty golden eyes. They both shifted uncomfortably from side to side.
Kaoru started to speak. "We don't know—"
"Tell me the truth! What the hell is this damn thing!"
Hesitating, Hikaru spoke up. "Don't blame Kaoru, it was all my idea."
"What was your idea?"
"I-it's…it's a tracking device so that—"
"—we would always know where you were at—" Their speech was cut off when I used my energy to make the flower bust into an instant flame, burning it completely to ashes.
"I knew it…I knew this whole time that you guys never cared about me as a friend."
"Aki, you are our friend—"
"No I'm not! Friends don't treat each other like they own them. Friends don't bug their friends so that they could constantly keep tabs on them. You make me seem like some kind of pet. Am I a pet to you?" Hikaru was about to speak, but I didn't give him the chance. "You saw me in front of your house as a stray, you take me in, feed me, give me a leash, take me out for walks, show me to your friends, play with me until you're satisfied then…then you put a chip on me just in case I get lost!"
"No that's not what we—I was trying to do…"
"You're such a liar! I open up to you and you end up treating me just as bad as the people back home did. Apparently, I just exist for your amusement. You just toy with me and toy with me. The moment you get bored of me, you'll just dump me on some curve and go back to your precious Haruhi."
"Hikaru didn't mean for any of this to happen Aki." Kaoru tried to reason.
I faced him with a piercing look. "And you…why the hell would you allow him to do something this stupid? Why would you go along with it? I know he's your brother and all, but it was wrong! And you just played along! You're just as bad as him."
"You're not listening to us. You have to calm down." Kaoru was the only one pitching things out there. Hikaru just stood there with an unreadable look on his face. "You see, the chip was originally meant for Haruhi—"
"Are you kidding me? Not only did you totally kill my privacy and my trust for you, but the 'gift' you ended up giving me was meant for someone else? Then…then there really was absolutely no emotions or heart put into the present." I faced Hikaru. "When you put the headband on my head, were you thinking of her?" Starting to back up slowly, I shook my head. "You guys must really think that I'm some sort of idiot…because I played right into your twisted little game. Well, I'm done with this game and I'm done with you!"
Flying off in a rage, I kept going and didn't look back.
ATTENTION READERS: This is the Beta version of LH5W, if you want to read the official, updated version of the story, you'll have to go over to DeviantArt. com and head on over to my page. My username is Aloubell. You can also get there by going to my fanfiction. net profile which provides a link over there.
In any case, this Beta version is basically the rough draft of LH5W, my first attempt at it. Much of the plot points from this version will be the same in the official version, but there are significant and consistent characterization changes, a few (but very important) plot differences, expansion of past ideas, and overall better quality in storytelling.
All of this will be done over on DeviantArt. I no longer will write the story in traditional prose nor submit/update it here to fanfiction. net. The Beta version will remain here, just know that it isn't the 100% official story.
The official version will be written in a lazy prose mixed with play-writing elements (you'll get what I mean when you see it).
This is the new format for the story from now on.
So please head on over there if you're interested in updates to the story! Thank you for stopping by =D
-Aloe
PLEASE NOTE: The official version is being written somewhat out of order. The official version will start on chapter 46, the place where the Beta version left off. The official version will go on to complete the last chapters of Season 2. Once those are done, I will redo the story over again from Chapter 1 which will be the official version.
Having said that, if you choose to continue on reading, I hope you enjoy the Beta version and look forward to the official!