The sight that met Mori's eyes when he entered his cousin's room made him stop and stare in surprise. Haruhi was curled up under the large plush comforter, sleeping soundly, a tiny smile gracing her features. That would have been unusual enough in itself. No, what made this sight doubly odd was the fact that she was snuggled against Mitsukuni, who was also sleeping peacefully, though above the covers – and without Usa-chan. The bunny was laying neatly on the pillow behind his head. Haruhi's cheek was pressed against the boy's chest and her entire form seemed to be curled against his. Similarly Mitsukuni's arm had come up to drape over her shoulder and was holding her close while one of his ankles was laying atop hers. It was such an innocently intimate scene – especially considering his cousin – that Mori found there was only one thing he could logically be expected to do.

A few moments later his phone was back in his pocket and he was reaching forward to wake the sleeping blond. To add to the surrealistic experience, Mitsukuni woke easily and calmly with a yawn and a smile.

"Takashi, you're here! Now we can get ready to..." Mori watched as the other host looked down and realized what he'd had his arms around...and that it wasn't Usa-chan. His lips curved in a small smile and he brushed his fingertips against her hair.

"Takashi – she's so beautiful." The stoic host merely nodded his agreement and let his cousin take a moment to watch over the girl that had become so very important to them all. After a bit the blond sighed. "I guess it's time to get going, right? Let me wake up Haru-chan." He suited actions to words, reaching over to softly trace his fingers across her forehead.

"Haru-chan," he murmured. "Time to wake up." She mumbled something and pressed closer to him, snuggling into his arms. Mori saw his cousin's deep inhale, the shudder he tried to mask, the expression in his eyes. He'd never seen Mitsukuni care this deeply for anyone before and it was something Mori knew he would never forget.

"Come on Haru," the small host said a bit louder and even from his vantage point at the foot of the bed Mori found himself bewitched as her eyes fluttered open.

"Ho-Honey?" she asked a bit blearily.

"Takashi's here – it's time for us to go."

"Oh. Okay." She blinked a few times before looking around and Mori could see the exact moment that her current sleeping situation dawned on her. Her dark eyes widened in shock, her face flushed a lovely shade of red, and she began to stammer apologies as she tried to wriggle out from under the fluffy blanket.

"I am so sorry, Honey-senpai – I never meant...I mean...I don't...I've never..."

"Haruhi," Mitsukuni scolded gently. "It's okay. Breathe. It's fine." His calming words had the desired effect and though she was no less pink was slowly regaining her composure.

"I'm sorry," she began again but a shake of his head and a smile cut her off.

"Don't apologize, Haru-chan," he reassured her. "It felt really good to cuddle and nap with you." At that she turned even more red – something that had Mori wondering how it was physically possible – and looked down at the blanket. Mitsukuni hopped off the bed and grabbed Usa-chan, seeming momentarily confused to realize his beloved bunny had been laying off by itself on the pillow. Still, now with pink rabbit in tow, he helped Haruhi out of bed and after they'd re-donned their shoes the three headed down to the car that was waiting to take them to the airstrip.

The drive was peaceful, with Honey talking non-stop about how much fun they were going to have and how beautiful the beach was at this time of year. Haruhi, to Mori's silent amusement, seemed to vacillate between asking questions normally and blushing wildly whenever she actually locked eyes with the bouncy blond. The quiet host found this especially funny as his cousin – undisputed master of all things cute, sweet, and cuddly – took pleasure in the situation, unabashedly using his large eyes and innocent smiles for best effect.

Mori watched the two as he pondered. He wondered if he might ever get some time to spend with Haruhi alone. The only time they'd truly been by themselves was when the candle had cut her, and really he'd been busy fixing and bandaging her leg and using every single ounce of willpower he had to not think about the nothing that Haruhi had been wearing under her loosely-wrapped towel. He remembered how she'd looked when she lay back on her futon and draped her arm over her eyes – and he'd been very glad he could operate on medical autopilot because having her leg at the position he'd had to hold it to tend the the gashes on the back of her leg meant he'd had a view of smooth, creamy skin clear up to the inside of her thigh...a vision that still haunted him at the worst moments. Like now. He waited until she and Mitsukuni weren't watching to shift himself and refused to look at her for the rest of the trip.

Ten minutes later she laughed gleefully and he cursed his lack of control as he immediately imagined her head thrown back like that in passion rather than humor. Steeling his resolve he stared out the window.

It's going to be a long weekend.

Kaoru woke first, glancing at their clock to see he'd beaten the alarm by a whole whopping five minutes. Sighing in mild annoyance he laid back down and amused himself by watching his brother sleep. He let his mind wander as it would – thinking about the beach vacation; figuring out how to convince their admittedly non-girly best friend to model their mother's new line; whether or not to invite same friend to the poetry reading he'd been asked to recite at – and whether or not Hika would be pissed at not going along though he always complained about being bored when he did go. So deep was he in his thoughts that the alarm actually startled him, even though he'd known to expect it.

"Damn it," his brother grumbled, reaching across Kaoru's chest to turn it off. "And I was having a good dream, too." He leaned down to kiss his younger brother, a tradition of theirs that usually left them either both wanting or led to their mutual satisfaction. Today, unfortunately, they wouldn't have time to finish anything they might start and they both knew it, so they broke the kiss regretfully and made their way out of bed.

"So we're supposed to meet them at the airstrip then?" Kaoru asked around bites of breakfast. Hikaru nodded, swallowing his own mouthful before speaking.

"Yeah. Kyoya figures we'll get to the island around one in the afternoon."

"I wonder when we'll get a chance to escape to check on Haruhi," the younger mused.

"Probably not until nightfall. You know the Boss is gonna have us doing games or stupid whatever all day."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kaoru sighed. "I hope she won't mind if we drop in on her so late."

"Me too." The rest of the meal passed quietly but once the dishes were cleared and the two were getting dressed, Kaoru saw his brother pause and stare at the floor.

"Hikaru?"

"What if she chooses someone else? I mean, if she chose you I think I could live with it eventually, but..."

"Hika, what brought this on right now?"

"I dunno. I guess I've kind of been thinking about what you said, about Honey-senpai, and about how we treat her as an object. It's just..." Kaoru walked over to wrap his arms around his brother, holding him warmly.

"It'll be okay somehow," he whispered.

"I hope so. I really hope so."