08.28.11

THE WISH

I wasn't going to update this soon, and I wasn't going to include this story either, but I remembered it last night while getting ready for bed. It doesn't have much to do with anything, just one of Hikaru and Kaoru's random flights of fancy. I thought maybe you guys would enjoy it.

About a week after the events of ROCK and Lobelia Inc., I was doing my homework in the kitchen when they suddenly got on their knees and begged me to go to the beach with them.

"It's almost winter," Hikaru said.

"We want to see the ocean before it freezes over," Kaoru implored.

Which was probably the stupidest thing they could've used to convince me. All they had to do was say, 'Hey, let's go to the beach'.

We went on Saturday, which did end up being the last truly hot day of summer. The next day would see the start of a week of constant downpours, so you'd better believe I was proud of my own foresight. I had a purple one-piece buried in a box full of 'adorable' clothes my dad bought me that I swore I'd never wear. It was actually pretty respectable, not like old-fashioned Western long underwear, but concealing enough that I didn't feel exposed as we walked along the sand.

It was past noon when we got there, but the beach was mostly empty. Just a few families spread out along the shoreline. We found a spot near a cliff and set our blankets down. No one else was nearby, so we had the whole area to ourselves, which made it the perfect place to hold a sandcastle contest.

"The rules are simple!" Hunny stood on top of a rock taller than Mori and pointed down at us. "Whoever makes the best sandcastle gets a prize."

"What's the prize?" asked the twins.

"I can't tell you because it's top secret," Hunny said resolutely, "but it's definitely not a cake."

We split into groups of two. In an effort to shake things up, Kaoru worked with Kyoya while Hikaru teamed up with Mori. That left me and Tamaki to combine our talents to create a sandy paradise the likes of which no beachgoer had ever seen before.

Except neither of us had any talent for sandcastle building and we ended up with little more than the bottom of a potential sand snowman. Tamaki did stick a seashell he found on top, so it had at least that to distinguish it from all the other piles of sand around us. I hope I don't sound ungrateful or like a buzzkill. It really was fun dragging buckets of wet around in a vain attempt to give our castle some kind of shape. Tamaki kept coming up with convoluted strategies that didn't make sense and did little to help. I humored him anyway and reassured him when his plans didn't come into fruition.

"We've still got a better castle than Mori and Kaoru," I said.

It was only kind of true. We had a taller hill, but they had more seashells. They seemed to have given up on infrastructure and were now concentrating solely on design. They'd gathered a bunch of clam shells and set up a really nice pattern around the perimeter.

If there was a clear winner, it was Kyoya and Hikaru. Like the big fat cheater he was, Kyoya had a secret weapon: castle molds. I don't know where he got them, but he didn't share. Within five minutes, a small but perfect castle stood proudly before them. Hikaru carefully stuck a small flag made from twigs and paper into the tower. They even dug a moat.

Then it came time to announce the winner. Hunny examined our work with an analytical eye. As the only judge, he was obligated to pass fair judgment and make the right choice.

"They're all amazing and I can't decide. Everybody wins!"

Tamaki and the twins cheered. Mori gave a thumbs up. Kyoya just smiled and went back to tapping on his phone. I rested on my blanket for a while under an umbrella. It was partly cloudy that day, but when the sun was out, it just roasted everything in its path. The sand was hot under my feet, so I'd spent some time in the water to cool off. The twins joined me and we had fun splashing each other until they decided to sneak up behind Tamaki with a bucket of water. An hour later, he still hadn't caught them, though not for lack of trying.

I eventually got bored watching them attempt to climb the cliffside and glanced at Kyoya. He was the only one who hadn't dressed for the occasion. Instead of a swimsuit, he had knee-length khakis and a tropical print shirt. It should've looked ridiculous on him, just like anything that wasn't a three-piece suit, but he made it work. He was looking, dare I say it, pretty cool.

"Anything interesting?" I asked.

He hummed and put the phone away. "Stock prices are stable for now and there's nothing of note in the business section. I did receive an email from Dr. Suoh. The contract arrived this morning and everything has been taken care of."

The transfer of ownership paperwork had come in the mail on Thursday. Per Kyoya's advice, I'd overnighted it back with a guaranteed Saturday delivery. Nice to know I could trust the post office. I was afraid that thirteen hundred yen would go to waste.

I smiled softly. "That's good."

Despite what you may think, there was no need to celebrate. There was now an official document on file stating that the six of them belonged with me, but all that did was confirm what I've always known.

"Haruhi!" Hikaru waved at me from the beach volleyball court. Kaoru was with him, while Mori stood on the other side of the net. "Come on, we need one more!"

I looked one more time at Kyoya, but he was back on his phone and I didn't want to bother him. I rushed over and took my place at Mori's side. I'd never actually played beach volleyball before, or any volleyball at all, but there's a first time for everything.

Once again, I'll skip the finer details. I didn't get any hits; Hikaru and Kaoru got maybe five or six between them; Mori utterly dominated. Because of course, he did, he's Mori. I don't know what the twins were thinking when they challenged him. The game ended when he hit the ball too hard and popped a hole in it. The deflated husk landed at Hikaru's feet, and he kicked it away in frustration.

"You cheated," he snapped.

I just laughed. 'Sore loser' must've been a new feature.

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time writing this entry. You'd think all the kidnappings and fight scenes would be the difficult parts, and while they weren't easy to write, the words certainly flowed better then than they do now. One thing I'm finding out about writing is that in order to tell a good story, you really do need that edge. That conflict. Without it, you're just rambling on about a bunch of people on the beach doing nothing of note.

I think when I'm finished with this blog, I won't make the transition into fiction writing. I have a newfound respect for storytellers of all kinds: their job is way harder than it looks.

Okay, now that I've gotten all the whining out of my system, let's get back to the fun.

At the end of the night, we had a bonfire. I brought myself some marshmallows and gave a few to my friends so they could try cooking them. Unsurprisingly, only Hunny got it right. Mine was only burned on one side, so I ate the browned parts. Other than that, our firewood was soon covered in a charred mess of fluff. We kept trying anyway. It was the principle of the thing.

"Here's to us!" Hikaru said, holding his stick aloft. "To us and to Haruhi, the best friend a life-sized lover figure could ask for."

"The best sandcastle maker, too!" Hunny interjected.

I snorted. "You guys are exaggerating. Especially you, Hunny."

"I am not. Your castle was perfect," he said, folding his arms. "Because if we had to shrink down to an inch tall, it was big enough to fit all of us."

That did not make any sense at all. I still blushed.

Six sticks met in the center, around which time I realized Tamaki was missing. I looked around and I couldn't find him. Kaoru read my mind and pointed at the ocean, which he just walking out of.

"What are you doing?" I ran over to meet him. He was soaking wet and held a small shell in his hands.

"I saw this in the water." He placed it in my open palm. It was a pure white clamshell, not much different from the ones Mori and Kaoru used for their sandcastle. "For you."

"You jumped into the ocean to get me a shell?"

"Of course," he said like this was the most obvious thing in the world. And in a way, it was. We started walking back, taking our time to enjoy the air and each other's company. "It reminds me of a story I read, The Little Mermaid. Do you know it?"

"I saw the movie once. It was okay."

Tamaki shook his head. "The original story is different. Did you know she doesn't end up marrying the prince in the end?"

"She doesn't?"

"No. He marries someone else, and in her grief, she jumps into the ocean and drowns."

He said that like it was a whimsical little tale for children of all ages. "I… wow, that's pretty sad."

"Maybe," he replied, "but then she goes to heaven and she's given the chance to earn a real soul. I think that's a nice ending."

"I guess it depends on your point of view."

Tamaki slowed to a stop. "Haruhi, what do you think a soul is?"

At this point, I was beyond confused. Let me remind you, this was Tamaki. Tamaki, the guy who slept with a stuffed bear and could wax poetic about my shoes, having a philosophical discussion about spirituality and the nature of the human condition.

"I… don't know," I said. "There's a lot of different ideas out there, and I've never really thought about it."

"I see," he said, taking my hand. "Personally, I think a soul comes from love and the people we choose to give our love to. We may not be human, Haruhi, but I believe we've earned our souls, and that's because of you. You make us more than we are."

He kissed my forehead, and I almost lifted my chin. Though he said no more, I was thinking about his words for a long time, not sure how to respond. I still don't know how. All I can say is… they made me more than I am, too.

As the fire burned out, we watched the stars twinkle in the night. A flash of light zoomed past us, and Hunny pointed excitedly.

"A shooting star!"

"Everyone make a wish!"

Even Kyoya shut his eyes, and I wish I'd asked him what he wished for. I never asked any of them, and they didn't ask me.

As I lay there in the center, with Tamaki, Hikaru, and Hunny on one side, and Kyoya, Kaoru, and Mori on the other, there was only one thing in the world I wanted. And so I threw aside my disbelief in the power of magic, and I wished with all my heart.

'Let us be together forever.'

Posted by Haruhi at 7:00 pm 0 comments