I went back to my room and shut the door. I could feel myself shaking, did I really do that? I replayed the last few minutes in my head and yes, certainly, I'd left Kyoya bound and gagged in the kitchen. I could feel a tiny spark of pride rise in my heart.

Oh, crap. I thought, and I took the house phone to tell the cook that Master Ootori might be having trouble with his breakfast. Oh, go ahead and judge, but I couldn't just leave him there, he could… break something, or whatever.

I had more morning-time in my hands than I was used to and I decided to wear it out by working on my project, but I have to admit I was only half my usual productive self, every half minute I glanced at the door and listened for footsteps. But no, it was like my friends weren't even here. It was like an annoying itch inside me, although a pack of orcs would not make me admit it, but I was afraid of losing my friends to the others.

Tamaki, Haruhi, the Hitachiins, Honey and even big poker-faced Mori were really cool and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't fallen a bit in love with all of them, you know, in the sense that I'd miss them when they're gone, sort of way. And I could never blame my friends for picking them over me.

Around noon, however, they did come bursting in my room, announcing that they were going to go to town for lunch and invited me to go along.

"No, thank you." I said, pretending to be completely engrossed on my computer.

"Come on, Risa-chan, you have to go with us." Riko pleaded, "Kyoya is going to make Tamaki pay for everything for tying him up at breakfast."

I made no answer. Secretly I wanted to know if Kyoya had thanked the cook for freeing him.

"Where is it?" Chika cried from my closet, "Your dark-blue bikini-Oh, here it is."

"Risa, you can't leave me alone with those guys." Izumi said in a crying voice, "The Hitachiin twins keep teasing me."

I let out a tiny humph! "Why shouldn't I? You made it through the morning perfectly fine, didn't you?"

Chika giggled and hopped on the bed, "Are you jealous of us, Risa-chan?" she teased and tickled me, forcing me to laugh, even though it also felt like she just might crack my ribs.

"We're sorry, Risa-chan," Izumi said, widening her eyes, "we thought you were working and didn't want to be disturbed."

It was a lame excuse, since they never minded to bother me at any time, but it eased my heart a little, not enough to go out with them and the Host Club though,"Well, I'm working now, so go ahead without me."

They insisted every way they knew how, but the more they did the more I realized I'd have the house all to myself, in other words, that I wouldn't have Kyoya breathing down my neck (the literal meaning is also intended), and so they gave up and left. Plus, I had no idea what he'd planned for revenge on me.

By the time they came back, (which was almost five) I was standing in the kitchen cell phone in one hand, timer in the other. The message was supposed to ring after thirty seconds. But about one hundred and fifty two had passed with me staring at a blank screen and I could officially declare myself mentally blocked.

"Look, Risa!" Riko said jumping up in front of me, "I bought you a hat!" she put in on my head before I had a decent look at it, all I could tell was that it was wide-edged and beige. I didn't even blink, the timer kept counting the seconds and my cell phone refused to ring even though it was fully connected to the internet. "And guess what?" she continued, obviously wanting me to pay attention, "There's an amusement park open next week and it's going to have a fireworks display! Isn't that awesome!"

"Risa-chan?" Izumi gently touched my tense shoulder, "Why don't you come outside with us? We're going to take a walk and watch the sunset." she coaxed me kindly to unclench my cell phone and timer.

I felt like a failure, even after walking about a mile away from the house I couldn't shake the feeling of doom. I should start practicing signing my name Risa Ootori.

Maybe practicing looking at him, too, but I'd leave that off 'til the last minute.

I looked at the people around me, Riko had her fingers entwined with Mori's (Honey was on his shoulders), walking side by side and talking non-stop, Chika was racing (and winning) the twins to a spot where the beach gear and Kyoya, Tamaki and Haruhi were already settled, Izumi was next to me, casting worried sideways glances while she also searched for pretty shells.

It was too windy to go in the water, in fact I'd had to hold on to my new hat a couple times.

"Risa, come play volley with us." Hikaru said, suddenly appearing before me.

"Oh… no." I said, tempted but dispirited, "Thank you."

"Come on!" he insisted, "Chika said you were good."

I looked sharply at him for calling my friend by her nickname, but didn't say anything other than, "Yeah, but I'm not up for it now. Maybe later."

He glanced back, then looked at Izumi, a wolfish grin spread on his lips, "What about you, Izumi? You could ride on my shoulders if you like, unless you're afraid of breaking a nail."

Izumi turned a deep red. She may very well be afraid of breaking a nail (it is part of her livelihood) but Hikaru had just made fun of her height and that made her angry enough that despite his obvious flirt she managed to audibly say: "Actually, I play better with both my feet on the ground." She said, then walked over to join Chika who suggested a girls versus boys.

I felt so left out.

Did they have to be so willing to leave me alone?

I left my flip-flops next to a beach chair and took a stroll near the water. There was a big rock in the shallow water, I walked over to it and climbed it. Man, was this the same sun-shiny, soft-sanded, cheerful beach I'd been enjoying just a few days ago?

I had about a week and a half to finish my project and it wasn't showing any results, but if it was only the future that seemed bleak I'd be okay. Thing was, the present wasn't so perky either. I sighed, what was I doing here?

This reminded me of when my high school boyfriend -oh, don't worry, I never mentioned him before because, well, he's not important to me anymore- told me that if I wore heels to our dates he wouldn't hold hands with me. It wasn't my fault we were the same height. The point is, he actually held up his word and ignored me throughout a charity event we went together, and I didn't know anybody there.

It was the same left out feeling, except I couldn't just pop on a pair of ballerina flats to get Chika, Riko and Izumi's attention back.

I decided my time would be better spent whacking my head against my keyboard, and so I walked back to my beach chair. And just before I could put my flip-flops back on I noticed something on the chair. Something brown and long and curled up with its beady eyes looking at me while its tongue shot out.

It was a snake.

Just when you think things are bad enough.

The shrill screaming rang in my ears long before I realized it was my own. I'd taken several steps backwards from the chair where the snake was still calmly resting. Riko and Izumi rushed next to me, looking desperately all over me to find what limb had been ripped off to account for my panic.

"Risa! Risa, what's the matter?" they asked.

I was trembling so hard I couldn't even speak, but I managed to extend a finger and point at the chair. I squeezed my eyes shut, I couldn't look at it anymore.

"Hikaru!" Chika roared, "I told you not to!"

"I didn't know she was that scared." He said defensively.

"Oh, Risa." Riko said, "It's just a toy. They bought it today at the mall. Look." I ventured a peek and almost fainted when I saw Riko waving the snake with one hand. "It doesn't even look real."

I forced my breath to come and go more calmly and looked at the snake more carefully.

She was right. It was actually a stuffed toy snake, you know, to terrorize and traumatize little children, why else would toy companies make a stuffed toy of a snake.

"Kotoku." Kyoya's velvet voice sounded next to me.

I jumped and stepped away from him. "How could you be so cruel?" I half-whispered, I could feel all my stress and tiredness creep over me and take over, to my mortification I felt my eyes tear up, "All of you!" I cried turning to face the hosts and my friends, "What did I ever do to you?"

"We're so sorry, Risa." Tamaki said, coming closer, "Hikaru just thought it was a friendly joke."

"Yeah, you've been so gloomy all day." Hikaru said, looking shame-faced.

I blinked and the tears rolled over, "Friendly…? You think I'm your friend?" I cried, a part of me could see that I was hurting their feelings, that I was about to say something that I wouldn't be able to take back, the other part was tired of getting her own feelings hurt, "YOU'RE NOT MY FRIENDS! NONE OF YOU ARE! You don't know what it means to be friends! You rich people never will! You're only friends to people while it's convenient to you!"

"Risa!" Riko cried reproachfully. And, despite my blurry vision, I finally saw her, she had the same hurt and shock on her face that all the others had. She came closer and touched my arm, "It was just a stupid joke."

"A joke?" I repeated weakly wrenching my arm away, I felt my chin tremble, "My whole life's a joke! I'm done with this!" I hastily put on my flip-flops, ignoring how much sand had gotten stuck in it, and walking as fast as I could without breaking into a run away from those people.

"Risa!" it was Izumi, "Please don't go!"

But I didn't even turn.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o

I was crying, not looking at where I was going, all I knew was that they were out of my sight. My breath was coming and going in staggering hiccups.

How dare they? How dare they?!

Oh sure, let's play a practical joke on Risa! Stupid Risa! Let's go ahead and see if she really is freaking phobic about snakes, let's all make fun of her for being all boring and staying home and working in a (literally) life-altering project instead of going to the mall with us, let's… let's…

And just like that I was out of steam. My hiccups became sobs.

The fear had cleared away and the anger had barely been there to begin with. The bitter guilt that had been building in my stomach had grown to envelop and crush my heart and clog my throat.

Oh, I felt horrible. I could tell my mind was trying to justify myself. After all, I couldn't help being a skeptic, the people I had felt the closest to had been the ones to humiliate me and show me exactly how friendship works in the Real Rich World.

How could I?

They had been so nice, and Honey had shared with me about his girlfriend, Mori had taken my advise, Tamaki and Haruhi had made that cake, the twins were always teasing and trying to make me laugh, and Izumi, Chika and Riko had ignored their own vacation plans to come and make me some company while I worked. And I ruined everything, I'd personally stabbed each and every one of them.

I am a horrible, horrible human being. Why couldn't I just shut up?

I felt empty and sour inside, what had I accomplished being so mad and closed up? The only ones who could stand being around me were Riko, Izumi and Chika, and if I kept acting like a total jerk I wouldn't even have them.

A big gust of wind suddenly blew up, I had to close my eyes to keep sand from getting in, then I felt the hat get swept off my head.

I gasped and lunged for it, but it flew away inside a big rocky, cave.

I felt my eyes tear up again. That hat had been a gift from Riko. And I hadn't even thanked her. Like the horrible, ungrateful friend that I am.

I gulped and climbed a few rocks till I was at the mouth of the cave. The setting sun was casting a reddish glow on the entrance, but the inside was completely dark.

"You should watch out then, Tamaki once filled an entire bucket with poisonous snakes…"

Hikaru's voice echoed in my head. I felt as if my bones turned into jelly. If there were snakes in Kyoya's garden, God knew what was inside-

I stopped that train of thought and gulped, if I started thinking like that now, I'd never get the courage to go inside the cave. So with a trembling foot I took one step, then another, and soon I was engulfed in the darkness.

I needed that hat back.

I could hear the echo of the waves breaking behind me, my heart was thumping about a hundred miles an hour. My breath kept coming and going in short gasps.

As soon as my eyes adjusted, I scanned the inside of the cave, ignoring the holes and spots so dark I couldn't see, you know, the warm, snuggly places for a, oh, I don't know, a snake, to curl under.

Oh, how I hate irrational phobic fears.

Then, just as I was imagining hissing noises, I saw it, my big, beige hat, that had a big bow on top that circled the head, it was very pretty actually, I really should've taken a better look at it and thanked her properly.

It was stuck on a rock about fifteen feet from the ground.

I slowly made my way to it, and started climbing, and to distract myself I remembered how my ex high school boyfriend had called me an amazon monkey because of my big hands and feet, so I called him a lil' leprechaun that brought good luck into my life.

He did not appreciate that.

Another strong wind blew inside the cave, howling as it hit the rocks, the hat flew a few more feet away, I sighed, but quickly saw a way towards it. Okay, so one… I put a foot on a higher rock, two… the other foot followed, I was glad I was wearing my sandals because those rocks felt pretty sharp even with my rubber soles protecting me.

I supported my right hand on the rock nearest to me and stretched out my left hand, three-ee… I finished slowly and my index and middle finger pinched the edge of the hat. I let out the breath I was holding. And that was a mistake.

I lost my balance and sandals never were the recommended footwear for rock-climbing anyway, my foot actually slipped away from the sandal and scrapped heavily, and painfully! on the sharp ridges of the rock as I tumbled down to an even darker and deeper corner of the cave.

Ow! Ahck! Ooph!

I groaned and rolled over. Slowly adjusting my back into place. Note to self: skipping those yoga classes was not very smart.

"Ahhgh!" I screamed, sharp pain was stabbing my foot and I was pretty sure that when I looked at it, it would look like those scratch marks the actors got in movies like Jurassic Park.

It was really dark, I was in a sort of crater where only a small shaft of red sunshine peaked over the rock I'd fallen from, I patted my pockets.

Where the hell is my cell phone?

Oh, no. Oh, no no no no. My heart sank. I remembered Izumi's kind hands prying the cell away from my hands in an attempt to ease my stress.

Great. Now how was I supposed to call for help? Hey, at least I'd gotten my hat.

One of my sandals was broken and my foot, well, it hurt pretty bad and bleeding, so I guessed I should probably close the wound, I gingerly touched the wound with my finger, "Ow!" Okay, never mind that. I'll just bleed out and die here.

I stood up wobbling a little, a hand on the wall of the cave for support and keeping my hurt foot away from the ground, "Hello-o! Help! Is anybody out there?! Help!"

I sighed and slid back down to the floor, oh, it served me right anyway. I didn't deserve any of the people anyway, I was a failure professionally and personally.

I can't even finish a project after three freaking years to make the first freaking opportunity that came my way. And a thousand times worse than that, I don't deserve my friends.

"Kotoku? Kotoku!"

No.

Oh, God, just no.

"Kotoku! Can you hear me?!" his voice echoed in the darkness.

But there he was. The last person I wanted to see, God knew what state I was in.

I held my breath, I'd drag my blood-drained legs out of this cave before I called for help from that doke.

But it was too late, his handsome head showed up a few feet above me, the light gleaming off his glasses, an evil smile on his thins lips.

"Well, look at what we have here?" he said, crouching close to the edge of the mini-crater I was in, "Do you usually throw tantrums like that, or were you really trying to offend my friends?"

I cringed at his words, looked away and hugged my knees (actually, just knee, the other leg had to stay stretched out because it had a wide gaping wound on it). I wasn't going to let him see me cry.

"Shut up, doke." I grumbled, "Leave me alone."

"Don't worry, that's exactly my plan. After you left me tied up and gagged, I figured I should make you go through something similar. Do you realize how hard it is to drag a chair to a phone so I could call the staff for help?"

I looked up frowning, "But I called the cook-" I clamped my mouth shut and glared at him, he'd gotten the truth from me so easily.

"Yes, I figured as much."

"What are doing here, anyway?" I asked, irritated, "Couldn't have been concern for my well-being."

"Of course I have concern for your well being, toroi. You're my fiancée, remember?" I rolled my eyes, yeah, yeah, no pressure, Risa. "Plus, you were going the wrong way, the house is the other way."

"Oh, crap." I said, I brought my hurt foot closer to me again, squinting to see it in the dark, "Now how am I supposed to get out of here?" I asked myself, hopping the whole way back wasn't very appealing, but then again, stepping my open gash into the salty sand sounded just as painful.

"Oh, don't worry." Kyoya answered my rhetorical question sarcastically, "Now that I see your problem, I'll go ahead and lock myself in my room and call someone from the staff to come and pick you up."

"Yeah, that sounds great, actually." I waved my hand at him, "You go ahead and do that!"

Then his face transformed, from that evilish, sarcastic, bunny-smile, his eyebrowns came together and his entire face was serious. I remembered how very alone we were in that cave.

"Is that blood?" he asked me.

My eyes focused on my hand and I gave a tiny gasp of surprise. "Whoa." I whispered, I'd bled enough to paint my hand red when I'd touched my foot.

Immediately Kyoya began climbing down, his hands and feet moving expertly down the sharp rocks in a very Mission Impossible/Tom Cruise style. My back pressed against the wall, that was very hot, how fair is it that he's smart and athletic?

He crouched in front of me and took my bloodied hand in his, "Where does it hurt?" he asked in this hoarse, sensual voice.

Oh, wow, everywhere mister. "Mm… my foot." I managed to mumble.

He scooted back and looked at my foot he took out his cell phone and used its light to take a better look. I may have exaggerated, though it was bleeding, it didn't look as bad as it felt.

Kyoya's eyes went to my neck, I gulped. "I'd better borrow this." He said, removing my ascot, my pulse quickened when his fingers touched my throat.

Then he expertly wrapped the ascot around my foot to stop the bleeding. "Thanks." I said, lamely, then, "Ow!" as he tied the knot with more force than strictly needed.

He didn't answer me at all.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably. "Look, I'm sorry I said those things. I just-"

"It's not me you should be apologizing to." He cut me short.

"Yes, it is." I told him. I had no idea why, but I couldn't bear to have him think badly of me, I needed to make him understand, at least, if not forgive. "Well, I'm gonna apologize to the others too, but-" I gulped, I had his full-on attention, he sat across from me with his elbow resting on an upraised knee, his face hard and eyes focused on mine. I sighed, "It's been so long since I've had to trust other people." I gulped, am I really going to tell him? "All my life I trusted people easily, too easily, I'm a bit shy at first but, it was common for me to plan my lunches so I could go to different classrooms with my friends and make new friends, I guess you could even call me popular. Anyway, when I was in my last year of high school, my grandfather died, leaving everything to my father, who made a few changes on how to run the company.

And, as it turned out, one of those changes involved cutting ties with a certain company, problem was, Kotoku Inc. was one of that company's greatest contacts and it had bankruptcy looming over it with the loss of our contract." I paused for breath, "So, one of my new friends was the heiress to that company and she took it out on me."

"Risa, I need to talk to you." She told me during lunch break.

I twirled my waist-long hair around my fingers and followed her. My grandfather's death was still a shock to me, I knew my eyes were red.

"She led me to the back of the school, near the dumpsters,"

"What's the matter?" I asked lamely, my grieving brain barely registering that four other girls had showed up behind her.

"Do you realize what your father did to us?! He destroyed Papa! We had to sell our summer house because of you!"

"She and a few other girls beat me up and threw trash on me and—cut my hair." I sniffed, remembering the shock rendering me silent and with no reaction as they dug their shoes in my stomach, and pulled my hair back only to hear the snips of the scissors cutting my hair close to the scalp. "Then Riko and Chiko showed up, Izumi was in Ouran, -oh, but you knew that, and well, they beat them half to death and sent them running to the hills." I laughed weakly, then gave up on my attempt at humor.

I sighed, "After that I went home, pretended I was sick, called my stylist and had her fix my hair, at least I still had bangs so—anyway, I missed a couple days of school. And when I came back I was a little in denial of what happened, so I went to talk to her about it, but she shooed me off, telling me that the only reason she- and anyone else ever talked to me was to make good business… she also said I had fat thighs and was too tall for a girl, but that's not the point—the point is, I never trusted anyone else since that day. Well, except for Riko and Chika because, well, they became the meanest body guards I ever had, they almost beat me up when I said I wasn't going to report what happened, and I never managed to shake them off. And Izumi, 'cause we were friends since we were, like, five."

"So you let one nasty bratty bitch change your entire view on people?" Kyoya asked, I blinked, then a strangled laugh escaped my throat.

"I guess I did." I said, laughing, "Wow," I exhaled heavily, "I never told anyone about that before. I mean, Riko and Chika were there and they told Izumi themselves… It's seems smaller, somehow. Less important." Why did I let one bad person control how I lived the rest of my life? "I am such an idiot." I shook my head.

"You were vulnerable, toroi." He said softly. "But yes, you were an idiot." He adjusted his glasses.

I laughed and hit his arm, "Shut up, doke."

"I thought I was 'sweetums'." He said, his evil smile returning.

We stopped, gaping at each other. The pain on my foot actually brought me back to focus. Oh, shit, why the hell am I gawking at him for? He's got his freakin' shirt on.

"So… do you know a short way out of this cave?" I asked him, scrambling myself up to break whatever was holding our gazes together.

Twenty minutes later we were walking on the beach heading toward the house. That is, Kyoya was walking and I (after a good ten minutes of arguing that there was no way I - ) was riding piggyback so I wouldn't get sand on my foot.

"Doke," I started, breaking the weird silence we were in ever since, you know, I climbed on him, "I know that your friends are your friends and that we only have about a week and a half until we hopefully never see each other again, 'xcept for company meetings or whatever, but, would you mind if we shared our friends?"

He gave me his evil smile again, that for some reason gave me a shiver of pleasure, "What's mine is yours, isn't that the way it should be, sweetums?"

A/N: Thank you for the patience! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

Response to reviews:

Extended Experience: In your review you're talking to Risa, so it's only fair for Risa to answer - Oh, um, thank you, lol, yeah, am I right? God knows when I'll get the upper hand again. That snotty little jerk. Not that I like revenges, but that was fun, yes. Plus, we were, you know, all alone, I didn't know what he'd do if got loose. Last time that'd happened, well, you know. *blushes*

GIR3c: Damn writer's block. But screw it, I'm finishing this story. And, yeah, though, as you see in this chapter how Risa is incapable of being completely mean, she needed to show Kyoya she wasn't going to be a push-over puppet for him to play with. *snaps fingers and purses lips*

Kamili: Kyoya doesn't get pissed. Unless it's someone close to him who is in serious danger, he is very calm when it comes to payback time, as you see. I'm really glad you're enjoying it, keep reading there's lots more fun ahead. *evil smile*