OKAY. Calm down guys. Here's the next chapter XD
Haruhi woke with a start and fell out of her bed. Stumbling over herself to get to her feet, she was a little puzzled as to why the floor of her room was shaking. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and headed for the door, but when she reached the handle, the shaking stopped and was replaced with shouts. She rolled her eyes and hopped down the stairs, preparing herself for what was behind the living room door.
"What in the world is wrong with you?" she heard Tamaki shout over the twins' bickering with him.
"So it's our fault you forgot to turn down the stereo last night? The one job you had?" Hikaru interrogated back.
As Haruhi entered the room, she witnessed what looked like a television remote fly across the room and thwack one of the twins in the head. She watched as Kaoru snorted next to his brother who was rubbing his head where the remote struck.
"Don't yell at your club leader!" Tamaki yelled, turning away from the twins and folding his arms.
Hikaru grumbled and plopped on the couch in front of the now much quieter television, his brother taking the cushion next to him as Tamaki noticed Haruhi standing in the doorway still in her pajamas, her hair all askew.
"Oh Haruhi you look awful!" The blonde exclaimed, almost terrified before turning to the twins with an accusing look. "You see what you've done? You've scared our poor princess half to death!"
Haruhi rolled her eyes, ignoring the twin's rebuttal and going back upstairs to change and seriously considered staying there for the rest of the morning. After last night, she had had just about all the excitement she could handle out of America and its insane citizens and if today was going to be another pointless day she'd rather just stay in bed. But, like any kind of dream of relaxation the female had, it was crushed when Ella came up and told her Tamaki was calling a club meeting in the livingroom. Making her way downstairs, slowly and on purpose in the hopes they would start without her, she walked into the livingroom, paying no heed to the eyes on her, and sat on the only empty couch cushion left.
"Now that we're all here, I have some important business to discuss with you all," Tamaki announced, from his posistion front and center of the livingroom. "Now that we've found all of the magic emeralds around here-"
"Speaking of that," the twins cut in. "When are we going home? If we found them all shouldn't we be heading back by now? We've had about all we can handle of this country and frankly it's getting kinda boring."
"So we should all leave because you have the attention span of small dogs?" Sonic asked from the windowsill. The twins shot him a look, but he only shrugged.
"Sonic is right, you two," Tamaki told them. "There's still so much to be done!" He waved his arms excitedly as he continued on about what was so wonderful about America, and Haruhi automatically tuned him out and stared at the TV even though she hardly understood what was going on.
"What do you think, Haruhi?"
The female blinked and looked around the room trying to figure out who spoke. "Um," she hesitated. "I want breakfast."
"You can have whatever you want after we figure out something new and exciting to do, Haruhi!" Tamaki hopped to her side of the couch and squished her cheeks making her scrunch her face in displeasure.
"If you want new and exciting, why don't you go roll around in some mud?" Knuckles growled from beside Kyoya. "I bet you've never done that before."
"That doesn't sound very fun at all," the twins muttered, but Tamaki squealed in delight.
"I've just hatched the most brilliant idea I've ever had!" He ran in front of the television, breaking at least half of the room's occupants' attentions, and shouted, "We're going camping!"
The twins groaned loudly and slumped their heads on the couch. "Why? We can go camping at home too," the complained.
"Don't you know about the wonderful forests here in America? There's-"
"No, please. Don't," Haruhi interrupted. "Camping is fun, I don't see why we shouldn't," she said matter-of-factly.
Honey giggled. "It does sound like fun, and we've never been, right Takashi?" to which his cousin merely replied, "Yeah."
"Don't be such babies," Bunnie chimed from the couch across the twins. "The two o' you are paler than a couple o' marshmallows. Some sun'll do ya good."
The twins rolled their eyes in unison before Kyoya finally spoke up. "Sounds like the most affordable fun we've ever had," he said, even though he didn't sound excited exactly.
"Then it's decided!" Tamaki declared happily, clapping his hands. "We'll leave in an hour!" And with that, he zipped out the room and up the stairs so fast, Sonic was just a tiny bit impressed.
"Guess we should start packing," Sally suggested, getting to her feet.
"Not like we have much to pack," Julie-Su cleared up. "We don't need much anyway."
Haruhi sighed as she watched Honey practically drag Tails out of the living room, chattering on about what he would need. She did enjoy camping, but she was usually with her dad, and that was enough to deal with. She didn't think she'd be able to handle the whole host club. The thought of it made her shudder.
"They do realize we've spent more than half our lives living in a forest, right?" Sonic asked no one in particular before hopping off the windowsill and heading outside.
Haruhi watched him go before looking at Kyoya. "Are there even any decent places to camp around here?" She asked, considering they were smack in the middle of a city and she doubted as much.
"Yes, actually," the vice-president assured in a usual monotone. "In fact, there's a rather popular one about an hour and a half from this very city located further in the mountains. The sights are quite beautiful according to several renowned travel sites."
Not bothering to ask why Tamaki or Kyoya had been looking at travel sites when they were already on a vacation, Haruhi just shook her head and headed back upstairs to pack for the trip. Figuring she wouldn't need much since they were just staying a night (according to Tamaki who had added this one fact by shouting it up and down the halls as everyone packed), Haruhi was ready in a matter of minutes and back downstairs waiting to leave before the others. Waiting, and still hungry she realized.
Wondering if Tamaki was planning to drag them to another weird restaurant or had already eaten, Haruhi made her way to the kitchen to see what she could grab, having no faith in the blonde's choice of food places. Rummaging through the cupboards, the female withdrew a can of tuna (inappropriately labelled as "chicken of the sea" she noticed) and sighed. If she couldn't eat actual fancy tuna, she could at least pretend, right? Grabbing a can opener and a fork, the female ate her meal alone and in slience, grimacing at her meal then eyeing it unhappily. "You're so far from fancy, it's sad," she grumbled at the can before sticking her fork in the fishy meat and getting up to toss the rest in the sink.
"Haruhi!" Tamaki's voice rang out just as her mislabelled meal entered the sink. Turning on her heels, she went back to the livingroom where the rest of the group was gathered at the door, bags in hand. "Is everyone ready to go?' The blonde asked excitedly, getting about half the excitement back in replies (most of it coming from Honey).
"As we'll ever be," Hikaru nearly growled as he slunk into the limo, followed by everyone else, though they did less slunking.
"Wait a second," Tails said once they had all piled in and set off. "Can a limo even make it up to where we're going?"
"It sure can't," Tamaki told them, his tone still too happy for the others. "That's why we'll be hiking once we reach as far as the limo can go!"
"But we are going up into ze mountains," Antoine emphasized, rather unhappy at Tamaki's statement.
"I know! Isn't it grand?" The club leader squished the little coyote in one of his rib-cracking hugs even though they were sitting across from each other.
"Hopefully we'll be able to walk a couple miles! Quality bonding time with our new fuzzies!"
"Fantastic," Julie-Su said, not quite under her breath.
"Yeah, I know!" he squealed, grabbing his own face and laughing at his own giddiness. "I'm so glad I thought of it!"
"You're about the only one," Knuckles grated, but Tamaki didn't notice, the blonde was already ranting about much fun they were all going to have hiking, exploring and singing campfire songs and trying to get the latter started right there in the limo, but the idea was promptly shot down due to lack of an actual fire.
"Is he always like this?" Sally asked Haruhi who was too busy staring out the window to really notice Tamaki at all. Snapped back to reality, the only non-fuzzy female glanced over to the tall blonde who was trying to teach Tails about the two different beetles he knew about before replying with a bit of exasperation, "Always."
"Bet you're glad you're stuck here now, huh?" Sonic asked, tones dripping sarcasm as he looked at Sally, but she just shot him a look that made him smile.
"So how long are we going to spend out here anyway, Boss?" Hikaru asked dully, his chin resting on his open palm. Spending even an hour out in the wilderness with the Host Club and its new additions didn't sit too well with him.
"As long as I please, Hikaru," Tamaki stated with a wave of his hand, trying to show his irritation without words since he was really trying to concentrate on talking to Tails.
"And what exactly are we going to do out there?" Julie-Su asked, her tones the same as Hikaru's thoughts.
"Why, what everyone does when they go camping!" Tamaki nearly shouted, finally seeming to forget what he was talking about previously much to the little fox's relief. "We'll make sh'moes and sing campfire songs and tell ghost stories and go fishing and see big foot-"
"S'mores," Haruhi interrupted.
"Does big foot like s'mores?" Tamaki asked, actually realizing he was being corrected.
"When we meet him, I'll be sure to ask," Sonic nearly grumbled.
Out loud, Knuckles groaned, soon followed by the twins which made the echinda glare at them which in turn made them grin sheepishly. For the rest of the trip, the limo was full of aimless chitter-chatter: Tails explaining to Honey the legend of big foot in America, the twins and grumpy guardian silently glaring at each other and everyone else talking about whatever came to mind until Tamaki announced the limo would be dopping them of in a few minutes.
"Finally!" Hikaru nearly whined.
"Like getting there is any better," Sonic mumbled, his head leaning on the back of his seat.
"I am looking forward to this trip being over already," Antoine muttered not quite under his breath and Bunnie looked at him, somewhat disappointed.
"Now Antoine, there ain't nothin' wrong with'a lil' vacation, aftah all we all deserve a break, don't ya think?" the rabbit smiled warmly.
"I couldn't agree more, Bunnie!" Tamaki stated joyously as the vehicle rolled to a stop at a dead end clearing in the forest where, between the trees, the group could see a small, well-worn path zigzagging between the shrubs. And a rather steep one at that. "We're here!" The blonde announced excitedly, practically jumping out of his seat as he opened the door to let himself out.
Almost at once the smell of pine needles and dirt filled the limo, telling anyone who thought The King was kidding that they were in fact now in the middle of nowhere and going to be forced to camp there and have the traditional outdoors experience whether they wanted to or not. As everyone exited the limo and grabbed the luggage strewn in the back, Haruhi couldn't help but notice the fact it was a little more then chilly out here making here glad she had grabbed a jacket before they left in case of such a thing.
"Whoa!" Honey's jaw dropped as he turned a complete circle in an attempt to look at all the the trees and plants in one-sitting. "It's so beautiful here!" He giggled excitedly as he grabbed Mori's hand the second the silent giant got out of the car and started to pull him towards the path. "C'mon, Takashi let's go see some more!"
As the duo began towards the path, the rest of the club followed suit, some more willing than others, mostly because some had more luggage than others thanks to Tamaki insisting the female part of the group need not carry anything because the "gentlemen" that surrounded them would be more than happy to carry their share.
Without a thought, Haruhi lifted her bags and followed the group, able to keep up with ease. Behind her, Hikaru watched her for a second before looking around to see Antoine offering to carry Bunnie's bags, which she agreed to happily, and watched as the newly weds made their way up the path. He let the interaction sink into his mind for a moment before catching up to Haruhi.
"Do you, uh, need any help?" he asked, already reaching for her bags.
She gave him a confused look for a second before simply stating, "No," and continued up the path.
Hikaru paused, his hand still outstretched in the empty air, before he understood what actually just happened. "What do you mean 'no'?" he questioned, jogging to her side.
She raised her eyebrows, her face almost showing concern. "No means the same thing it's always meant. What's wrong with you?" She never missed a beat in her stride, but Hikaru felt like he just faceplanted on concrete.
"Let me carry your bags, Haruhi," he insisted. But the female dodged his advances.
"I can handle it, Hikaru."
The red head watched as she hiked up the hill they had apparently come across and furrowed his brow in confusion.
"Ooo, tough break there, twinkletoes," Sonic mused from behind him.
"What? She didn't need help," Sally interjected, her own bags hanging from her shoulder. "At least he offered."
Hikaru noticed the blue fuzzy's empty arms and raised an eyebrow.
"What? I'm a light traveller," the hedgie said with a shrug.
Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Not what I meant," he said, glancing from the hedgehog to Sally and back again.
"I don't need help either," Sally said before Sonic had a chance to reply and she walked away, catching up to Haruhi as the two struck up a random conversation neither guy could hear.
"Of course you don't," Hikaru heard the hedgehog mutter and the twin glanced at him just long enough to see something flash behind those green eyes before Sonic looked up at him, perplexed. "What?"
"Nothing," Hikaru answered hastily looking away and continuing on the path to catch up with his brother (currently locked in a conversation with Bunnie) without looking back at the hedgehog, even though he could still feel eyes on him.
"-an' that's what happened," Bunnie was saying when he caught up, pausing just long enough to give the twin a small smile.
"Sounds better then most honeymoons if you ask me," Kaoru replied, throughly confusing his brother. Seeing this, the younger twin gave him a quick recap on Bunnie's story, mainly how her and Antoine's recent honeymoon was anything but peaceful seeing as how they had an encounter with a group of fugitives and had been forced to cut their vacation short to deal with the villians and their plan to take over Cocoa Island.
"It iz typically for us," Antoine explained when Hikaru said nothing and just looked at them, puzzled. "After all, a hero's work iz never done."
"So you guys actually like hurt other... animals... and stuff?" Hikaru asked, trying to wrap his head around the concept.
Bunnie nodded. "But they usually start it," she noted.
The dumbfounded twin was at a loss for words when Tamaki finally announced that this spot right here was the perfect spot and that they should set up camp immediately.
"Alright, now what?" Hikaru asked, more than ready for the trip to be over with.
"Don't we need to set up tents?" Kaoru asked, scanning everyone's luggage to see something tent-shaped before slowly coming to a realization.
"Tents?" Tamaki asked, swiveling around to face the twins, his face covered with annoyance. "Do you even know what camping is?! It's about enjoying the nature around you, the wildlife, the TREES." And with that, he practically skipped to the nearest one and stroked it lovingly. "It's beautiful, no?"
The group was silent for a moment before Hikaru plopped his bags on the ground with a groan. "You've got to be kidding me," the growled, stomping away. The rest watched as he headed back in the direction they came when Karou placed his bags, much more lightly than his brother, on the ground and followed him.
"What iz that all about?" Antoine asked, looking to the human part of the club for an answer and recieving nothing but shrugs or puzzled looks.
"Just ignore it, they do that," Haruhi sort of explained, putting her bags on the ground next to the twins' and unpacking her little sleeping bag. She was as ready as them redheads for this trip to be over, but she knew there was nothing she could really do about it.
"We'll get some sticks to make a fire!" Honey shouted excitedly, grabbing both Mori and Tails' hands and leading them through the trees.
"Excellent idea, Honey-senpai!" Tamaki praised, proudly. "The rest of you start unpacking immediatly!" And with that, the club leader lifted his bag off his shoulder and poured its contents on the ground uncerimoniously. Haruhi watched as she saw nothing but chocolate bars, marshmallows and a pillow fall out.
"Something tells me he won't be doing much sleeping," Julie-Su said, sounding rather displeased by the fact as Knuckles just grunted in what Haruhi assumed was agreement.
"Might make for some entertainment later," Sonic shrugged, wondering just how much different The King could be hyped up on nothing but sugar.
And after spending all night out here, we'll need some, Haruhi thought dully, looking over to where the twins had walked off and noticing, for once, no one seemed too concerned with following them. Wondering briefly if she should be the one to do just that, the female was just about to make up her mind when, instead, Bunnie walked back to where they had disappeared.
She didn't have to walk all that far either, seeing as how the brothers where standing not twenty feet from their campground, facing each other with hushed voices.
"Now what are you two doin' out here and by yerselves?" Bunnie questioned, catching both guys off guard as they turned to face her, looking almost shocked at her presence.
"Actually, we were just headed back. Right, Hikaru?"
The cranky twin scowled at the trees before letting out a sigh. "Yeah, whatever," he muttered.
"Now hold on just a sec'," Bunnie told them as they started walking back, stopping them dead in their tracks. Looking at the two of them with a mix of disappointment and, as far as they could tell, amusement, the newer Fuzzie folded her arms as she looked up at them. "Now, Ah may not know much about you two, where ya come from or what yer really like away from all the drama of yer lil' club. But Ah do know that ya'll are lucky tah have people like that who care enough tah want tah brave the great outdoors just tah spend some quality time together." She said, noticing with some annoyance that Hikaru rolled his eyes. "An' Ah also know yer attitude isn't gonna help anyone, sugah."
"And just how do you know that?" The eldest twin asked and, without waiting for an answer, he turned and started to head back until a sudden, strong grip on his arm stopped him from going any further.
"Ah know," Bunnie began without releasing him and ignoring the glare Hikaru threw his way. "Because, keeping people like that at bay, like you are, is goin' tah do nothin' but make ya lonely, hon. An' with such wondahful people around ya, ah suggest ya take the chance while it's still willin' tah wait."
Pulling out of the rabbit's grip (only because she let him, he knew), Hikaru looked to his brother for a moment, expecting support but saw a sort of pitiful look instead. Sighing, the older twin just turned and went back to the where the others were, leaving Bunnie and Kaoru on the path.
"Sorry about him," Kaoru said softly. "Sometimes I don't think he's as grown up as he thinks he is."
Bunnie smiled up at him. "He'll learn eventually, sugah." She patted his arm lightly. "Just give 'im time." And with that, she headed back to camp.
Left alone for a second, Kaoru watched her go. Well...maybe not all little fuzzy aliens were annoying, it seemed. Making his way back to camp, he found Tamaki trying, unsuccessfully, to light the sticks and twings brought back by Honey, Tails and Mori who, judging by the size of some of the sticks, had done most of the carrying.
After about 30 more seconds of this, Haruhi snatched the sticks from his hands and started a fire almost immediately.
"And that's how it's done," Sonic stated from his usual perch in some nearby tree, where he hadn't bothered to help with the unpacking, not really seeing the point behind it all.
""Haruhi how did you learn to do that?" Honey asked, picking up two different sticks and rubbing them together trying to have the same effect.
"My dad and I used to go camping a lot when I was little," Haruhi explained, tending to the fire, making the flames shoot up.
"My little Haruhi is so talented!" Tamaki squeed, scooping the female into a dramatic hug. "What would we ever do without you?"
"Freeze, probably." Knuckles grumbled, but no one paid him much attention.
"Okay, so we've hiked and made a fire. Can we go home now?" Hikaru grumbled from his spot sitting on a tree root a few feet away. "I've had about as much excitement as I can take."
"Excitement? We haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet!" Tamaki said, grabbing one of his many bags of marshmallows and holding it up to his face for everyone to see. "It's S'more time!"
"Hoo-ray!" Honey cheered, throwing his arms into the air, Usa-chan along with them. "I can't wait!"
"Now who actually knows how to make s'mores?" Kaoru asked plainly, not know how himself and doubting the rest of the Host Club, with the exception of Haruhi, did either.
All most at once, all heads turned to the female in question, an expectant silence filling the campsite.
Haruhi sighed audibly then said, "I'll teach you. It's pretty easy, even for you guys."
"Yay!" Honey exclaimed, plopping next to the female who was ripping open a package of graham crackers.
Watching as she opened a package of chocolate next, Tamaki stood by in amazement, his attention rapt on what she was doing.
"You just put the chocolate on the cracker like this," Haruhi informed, demonstrating her expert s'more making skills, making Tamaki gasp in excitement. Grabbing a marshmallow, the female showed the group how to properly stab it with a stick and roast it to perfection.
"Truely an amazing job, Haruhi!" Tamaki said, grabbing a stick of his own and running it through another puffy marshmallow, placing it over the fire with obvious joy at the fact he know knew how to properly stab and roast a marshmallow. "Let's all try it now, shall we?"
"Whatever you say, boss," Hikaru grumbled, reluctently picking up another stick, knowing if he didn't it would just mean more nagging from everyone else. That, and he was secretly excited to try this special commoners food. Not that he'd admit it. Ever.
By the time Hikaru's marshmallow was in proper roasting order, Tamaki stood up suddenly, his dessert aflame. He waved it back and forth in the air in front of him, yelling incoherently, a still very bored looking Haruhi still sitting beside him. In fact, no one seemed too concerned with Tamaki's dilemma, and he went on to run around the campground waving his flaming snack around until it fell to the ground. He stomped on it irratically until the flames died, wiped his forehead of nonexitant sweat and sauntered back to the group announcing that all was well.
"You wasted a perfectly good marshmallow, doofus," Sonic muttered with a mouth full of said snack.
"It's not like we don't have more," Haruhi stated dully, gesturing to the handful of bags next to Tamaki, who had decided to try his hand at roasting once more, though this time he withdrew his snack from the fire every three seconds while eyeing it fearfully.
"Does he really expect us to eat all of those?" Julie-Su wondered aloud as she twirled her own marshmallow over the flames.
"I don't see a problem," Sonic said, popping another marshmallow in his mouth.
"Says the one with the black hole for a stomach," Sally laughed, raising her perfectly roasted marshmallow from the fire that made Tamaki look at his marshmallow with a pout.
"Obviously you haven't seen Honey around sweets," Hikaru said, pointing to the little blonde whose face was almost as stuffed as the blue hedgie's.
"That cannot be ze healthy," Antoine said, a slight distaste in his voice as he watched Honey grab a handful of marshmallows and shove them in his face with a smile.
"It's just 'healthy', hon." Bunnie corrected automatically, handing the coyote a marshmallow of his own, which he took willingly enough.
In the end, none of them could quite believe that they had managed to work their way through all but three bags of the gooey snacks and vowed to never do such a thing again. Keeping true to the camping spirit, once the queasy feelings passed and the sun had gone down, Tamaki, who was no doubt feeling the effects of the sugar, declared it the perfect time to tell traditional ghost stories to which about half the group rolled their eyes in response.
"Please tell us you're joking, boss," Hikaru groaned, leaning on his brother.
"Can't we just go to bed?" Kaoru moaned.
"Of course not!" The King declared with way more force than strictly necessary and the majourity of the group sweatdropped in response. "The most exciting camping part of all is scaring the daylights out of friends! It's truly a bonding experience!"
"And how does that bring us 'closer' exactly?" Knuckles questioned, not at all amused with the blonde's wanting to tell fables about the one thing in the world the echinda refused to believe in.
"I'm so glad you asked!" Tamaki practically squealed, clapping his hands together in excitement. "After our wits are good and scared out here in the wild wilderness, we'll have no one but each other to rely on to keep us safe from the-" he paused, for effect Haruhi figured, before stage-whispering- "ghosts."
"There's no such thing as ghosts," Haruhi and Knuckles said in unision, glancing at each other before looking back at the blonde.
"Don't say that! You'll upset them!" Tamaki cried, running over to the two of them and covering their mouths.
Hikaru shook his head. "What kind of ghosts would be in a forest?" He thought the idea was ridiculous.
"Oh? You mean you haven't heard of the Truffula Disaster?" Kyoya asked with no particular interest, it seemed but level enough that no one could tell if he was joking or not.
"The what?" the twins asked.
"The Truffula Disaster!" Tamaki yelled, running over to the twins and gripping their shoulders. "It was the single-most disasterous thing to happen around here EVER!" He shook them a couple times before they slid away.
"That's pretty vague," Haruhi muttered, thinking the fact they were all here would be a pretty bad event in itself, and for the time being couldn't thing of anything worse.
"Basically," Kyoya began without much enthusiasm. "About a hundred years or so ago, this entire forest was once called 'the most beautiful place' in the world until a greedy tycoon began cutting down each and every tree for his new business until nothing was left." As the vice president continued blandly, Tamaki stood behind Haruhi, terrified. "Realizing he had made a mistake, he closed down his business forever and locked himself in a shack not to far from here, waiting for the time when the trees woud return. They say he never got to see the forest at it's full beauty again."
It was silent around the fire for a moment before Hikaru blurted, "That's it? How is that scary?"
"Don't you SEE?!" the king shouted from behind Haruhi who didn't flinch at all. "The ghosts of the trees! And the greedy, heartbroken man! They're here! Can't you FEEL THEM?"
The group sat silently for another moment, until the fire in the middle popped loudly making almost everyone jump, except for Tamaki who screamed and cowered behind Haruhi.
The female sighed and got to her feet, exposing a trembling Tamaki. "Well, I'm gonna go to bed. It's getting pretty late." Before she could take a step, the tall blonde gripped her wrist and cried, "DON'T LEAVE ME, HARUHI!"
Haruhi yanked her wrist from The King's grasp, more due to reflex than anything. "I'm not 'leaving'," she told him then pointed to a spot no more than five feet away where her sleeping bag had the fortune of being distanced from the madness of the campfire. "I'll be right there, senpai."
"But-!" the trembling blonde began.
"I'll see you in the morning," Haruhi cut off, walking away before the blonde could utter another word and was soon followed by the rest of the club members (plus the non-members) who exchanged quick 'good nights' and went in their sleeping bags, leaving Tamaki alone in the waning light of the campfire.
"I hate camping..." He whimpered before scrambling to his own cushiony safety.
Random chapter is random but at least it's here right? We warned you collage would be killer? x' But if you read we love you a TON 3