So... It's been a while XD If it takes too long for me to post another one it't just because I'm lame and slow XD It's because i have this rule of having at least one more chapter written before posting another one... and let me tell ya: it took me forever to think of where the heck the plot is going XD i think i may have a slight idea now, but don't get your hopes up XD Anyways, this means that i have already written chapter 20 and 21 is in the works, so yay!

As always: thanks to everyone for reading, favouriting, reviewing, following and yadayada ;P

Disclaimer: I don't own Uta no Prince-sama or any of its characters.

Haruka suddenly woke up jumping up in her bed. 'It was just a nightmare' she thought relieved. As she catched her breath she looked down next to her: it seemed that somehow Otoya had fallen asleep at the other side of the bed. 'How weird! I thought he was right next to me' she thought.

In that moment someone knocked harshly on her door so she quickly got up and walked towards it. As she opened it she was surprised to find an angry looking Syo staring back at her.

"Where's Otoya?" he asked as he sighed.

"Eh? He's right inside, why?"

"No reason, can I come in?"

She moved to let him in and closed the door just as he got inside. When the blond boy found Otoya sleeping on the bed he looked back at Haruka and said: "How long has he been here?"

"… I don't know, I was sleeping"

"Oh… I see…"

"Are you going to tell me what happened?"

"… Yeah, sure, why not?" he said as the redhead rolled on the bed. Seeing as he didn't seem to have awoken, Syo added: "Why don't we talk outside?"

"Okay…"

The short boy didn't stop walking right outside her room; he kept walking all the way over to the living room at a fast pace making it harder for her to keep up.

When they arrived, Haruka was surprised to find every member of Starish plus Ringo, Ryuuya and Reiji waiting.

"What is going on?" she asked confused.

"You didn't tell her?" asked Reiji looking at Syo.

"Tell me what? What is going on?"

The senpai stood up and walking towards her, he said: "Otoyan had a… some issues today"

"Eh? What do you mean?" she scanned the room for answers but all she got was a bunch of guys avoiding her eyes which made her even more worried than she already was.

"He had a bit of a confrontation with both Ren-chan and Masa-chan" seeing her confusion, he quickly added: "Let's say that he physically assaulted them"

She stared blankly at the sweet senpai as she slowly grasped all the new information. She was about to ask what he meant exactly: had he punched them or something like that? But looking at Masato she noticed nothing new to his appearance and Ren didn't look much worse than he did before. So with that in mind, she connected the pieces of her little puzzle: the last thing she told him was how upset she was because of her discussion with the blue haired boy… maybe he also confronted Ren since she had talked to him before… But why would he react in such a violent way?

Interrupting her line of thought, Masato said: "He had every right to do it"

This triggered the discussion that they seemed to be having even before she walked into the room.

"Are you kidding? He frickin' pushed me against those frickin' machines! If my chest hurt before you have no idea how it feels now!" Ren snapped.

"Well yeah, but it could've been worse, and you did try to kiss her…" said Cecil.

"YOU ARE NOT THE ONE TO TALK, YOU MONKEY BOY! YOU TRY TO KISS HER EVERY CHANCE YOU GET!" yelled Ren.

"Well, so do you!" Cecil replied.

"Boys boys!" Ringo stood up in between them. "This isn't about who's right or who's wrong, this is about the fact that it is not okay to hit people, can we actually agree on this?"

The boys nodded in agreement as Haruka stood mortified thinking: 'This is because they tried to kiss me? Oh no…'

Ryuuya walked up to Ringo and looking at the boys, he said: "This is completely ridiculous: this is the second time you physically fight with each other, it's getting out of hand… I'm afraid you leave me no choice but cut you off of all luxuries until you learn to behave. This means no free cars, no baths longer than 5 minutes, no TV, no internet, no nothing you can think that can make you have fun"

"That's not fair! We didn't do anything!" Syo yelled.

"Yes! If someone needs to be punished, that's Otoya!" jumped Cecil.

"Wow, aren't you the nicest friends? It's decided then, you're all grounded, I'll tell your little friend about the news when he dignifies us with his presence" Ringo said.

Suddenly they all turned to face Haruka snapping her out of her thoughts. As they did, the pink haired idol said: "You're luckily out of the punishment Haru-chan, so you better not give them anything that I may consider a luxury or… I may ground you too"

"… Yes" she said in a weak voice.

"Now, the rest of you: scurry off! Your punishment begins tomorrow so you better enjoy your last moments of freedom"

As the room became almost empty, Haruka sat on one of the couches as Ringo joined her in it. Everyone else had walked outside.

"What is it, honey?"

She avoided his gaze and said: "This is just like my nightmare… In no time the only reason why Starish will still be together is to not hurt my feelings…"

"Oh, Haru-chan! You know that's not true! They may have their fights, but like every good group of friends, they'll manage"

She looked up at him and hopelessly said: "How can you be so sure?"

Ringo patted her head in a comforting manner and then replied: "I wouldn't normally be, but I know these boys, they've been through so much, they started their careers together! That's not something you can easily move past. I know now it seems like things keep getting worse and worse, but I can assure you that this storm will stop and next thing you know: a rainbow will come shining through. You just need to be patient, everything is too new right now and they're learning how to adapt to the changes, it's normal for this sort of things to happen" Haruka didn't seem to brighten up at all as she heard her former teacher, so he added: "What did you say when Starish was formed? 'I have a feeling I'll never meet people as wonderful as them'? Was it not?"

"… So?" she asked in a whisper.

"So you have to hope, hope that they will figure things out, hope that they are the same guys that agreed to become a band even through their differences and their want to be your single idol. Hope is all you can do, so at least for now: don't give up on it"

She looked him in the eyes and said: "I don't think I'm strong enough…"

Before she even got to finish the sentence, he quickly wrapped his arms around her and said: "Nonsense, you are one of the strongest ladies I ever met, you'll get through this and much more, I have faith in you"

"I don't…"

Hearing that, he pulled away and grabbing her face as to look at her eyes, he said: "Haruka, you are the composer of Starish, you got all this way with your own determination, you learnt to read music sheets and write melodies in one day for goodness sake! This is just a little stone in your shoe compared to that! And the best part is that you're not alone this time, even through all their fights, you still have the boys, you have me and you even have Tomo-chan!"

"I… Thank you…" she replied as a smile slipped into her face.

"No need to thank me, honey. I'm just reminding you of what you already know. Now: go to your crazy boyfriend before he wakes up and decides to attack everyone again" he said jokingly.

"Ringo-san!"

"I'm joking, I'm joking" he said giggling.

Haruka nodded and got up deciding she needed to face the situation she found herself in.

As he watched her walk away, Ringo couldn't help but think: 'I really hope Shining knew what he was doing…'

~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~

Reaching her bedroom, Haruka found Otoya still sleeping on her bed. So in order to wake him up: she made sure to close the door forcibly enough to make a loud noise.

Startled, he opened his eyes and quickly aimed them towards her.

"Oh… Haruka…" he said in a groggy voice.

"Yes, me… Do you care to explain me what happened?" she replied frustrated.

He moved to sit on the bed and looking at her confused, he asked: "What happened?"

"Ittoki Otoya-kun, don't play the fool with me, the boys told me you confronted them"

"Oh… that"

"Yes, that! Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

He stared at her for a moment too long and said: "Why are you mad at me?"

"Why wouldn't I be? You 'physically assaulted' them… whatever that means!"

"Yes! Because they hurt you! They made you cry and not only that; they also tried to force themselves upon you! Why aren't you mad at them?!"

Hearing him say this made most of her anger disappear as all of her emotions centered on her worry for him. She walked towards him and without giving it a second thought: she sat on his lap. This flustered him to no end: he instantly blushed and avoided her gaze with all of his strength. But she needed him to look at her, so she embraced him by the neck and making him look at her in the process.

"Otoya-kun, are you okay?"

"Eh? Of course I am"

"Why are you so angry, then?"

"I already told you, I can't stand them treating you that way…"

"Is that all there is to it? You are defending my 'honor'?"

"…" he stayed quiet as he tried to move his head to avoid answering. But she held on to him and he didn't want to hurt her, so he just stayed there and said: "I… I was angry in my own behalf too…"

"How so?"

"Well… Them making a move on you even though we're officially dating made me feel… betrayed… I got really angry… furious actually, and I just… I couldn't think properly… I'm sorry… I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble"

She grimaced and replied: "I'm perfectly okay, don't worry about me, you should think about yourself… Thanks to you now everyone is grounded… Ryuuya-san decided to cut off any sort of luxury from every member of Starish until he thinks you're acting properly again"

"Oh… If they didn't hate me before, this surely did the trick…"

She nodded and then slowly leaned in to kiss him. This took him by surprise given that he thought she hated him, but she didn't seem to notice as she moved one of her hands to grab his hair. Feeling her change of position he slightly kissed back and then pulled her away.

"Haruka… I can't… I don't… You… Did you forgive me already?"

"There is nothing to forgive, at least not for me… I understand why you did what you did… I'm not saying it was okay, violence is never the answer and I know that they regret having made a move on me and you should've listened to their side of the story before jumping to conclusions, but… As far as I know you didn't do anything wrong to me…" he looked hopeful as he closed the space between them to meet her lips again, but before he could do so, she interrupted him by saying: "You need to talk to them, I'm serious"

As he opened his mouth to reply, someone else said: "Like hell, he does"

In the shock of the moment, Haruka stood up and moved away from her boyfriend as they both turned towards the door.

"Syo-kun…"

"Yo, Otoya: What the hell is wrong with you?"

He stayed quiet for a moment and then looking at the blond boy straight in the eyes, he said: "Just answer me one question and I'll tell you everything you want to know… If the chance so presented itself: Would you try to kiss my girlfriend?"

"Eh? Where did that come from?"

"Just… answer"

"Okay okay, gloomy, aren't we? Ummm… I don't know, I guess I could tell you one thing now, but were I in the situation it's possible I would act differently than what I think now"

"… Then just tell me what you think you would do"

"Umm… So, as much as I would love to kiss her, I wouldn't want to screw you up like that… Besides, it's clear she wants to be with you… Unless she told me explicitly that: things with you aren't working out and she wants to be with me, I wouldn't really try anything"

As he finished, the couple sighed relieved.

"Now, why-" he started saying, but before he could even formulate his question, a superfast and clingy Otoya jumped over him hugging him as tightly as he could.

"O-Otoya, let go! You're hurting me! Have you been hanging out with Natsuki recently?" he said as he tried to push his friend away.

Coming back to his senses, the redhead stepped backwards and said: "Sorry, sorry"

Syo dusted himself off and replied: "It's okay, but now you have to tell me what happened"

"Ummm… Okay, long story short: both Masa and Ren tried to kiss Haruka… so I got a little too angry as you might expect"

"Yeah… I heard, but I didn't expect you to go ballistics just because of that…"

As awkward silence settled in, Haruka stepped forward and said: "Syo-kun, how is everyone?"

"Umm… Pretty angry I guess… but mostly confused… except for Masato that is… he's pretty depressed"

"Why don't you go talk to him now?" Haruka asked turning towards Otoya.

He sighed and replied: "I… Maybe tomorrow… I don't think I can talk to him or Ren without attempting murder right now…"

"Otoya-kun!"

"What?!"

"Just… I don't… Why are you reacting so… angrily now? You would normally just need a little apology and you would smile everything off… They already apologized to me and I'm sure they did to you too… It's understandable, isn't it? What would you have done if I had rejected you?"

"Well… First off, just like Syo said I would've stepped off and let you be in a relationship with whoever you had chosen… who would I be to get in the way of that? And secondly: I would've encouraged you to be with the person you love no matter how much it would hurt me… Because if it makes you happy… I can't help but be happy too"

She walked closer to him and putting a hand to his face, she replied: "Well, aren't you an excellent person? If I needed another reason to love you it would be this one…" As she finished, she stepped on her tiptoes to kiss him, but he stepped backwards as he got away from her.

The moment she was about to ask him what was going on, he nervously said (while avoiding her gaze): "… Now that we're talking about this: Why?"

"Why?"

"Yes: Why do you love me? I mean… there are six other guys that are not only nice people but also talented and attractive… I guess… So… Why me? What makes me different than them?"

"Thanks dude, that was nice" Syo said before walking outside to give them some privacy.

As she looked at her boyfriend with tender eyes, she said: "I don't think I could possibly tell you all the reasons, but at least I'll try: You make me happy; when you smile I can't help but follow; your voice inspires me to keep moving forward, to never give up; you are quite handsome yourself; you are my best friend; you taught me (among other things) to believe in myself; you are a wonderful and kindhearted human being; you help everyone, even if you don't know them, with anything they might need; when I'm with you I feel like I can do anything, I'm safe… I can go on if you want, but I'm sure I would never end" she said smiling brightly.

He stared at her for a second and as tears filled his eyes, he smiled so much that a little giggle escaped his mouth right before he crushed his lips against hers as he held her face. As she kissed him back, he moved his arms towards her waist to pull her closer right as she put hers around his neck.

When tongue on tongue action began, they heard a soft knock on the door which they quickly ignored giving that they were much too focused on each other. The door was unlocked and open afterall, so whoever it was, he or she could wait.

Not too long after that, the knocking started once again. This time it was much louder, it seemed that the person was quite impatient by then. So even though they didn't want to stop any time soon, they did need to breathe and this individual clearly wanted to speak to them, so they pulled away from each other.

As the redheads turned towards the door, they were greeted by the sight of both Masato and Ren. They didn't look particularly angry about the whole 'getting hit and then grounded' situation, but they didn't look very happy either.

"Hello Ikki, Little Lamb" he said nodding in their direction.

Looking at him, Otoya's expression changed from blissfully happy to murderous angry in the blink of an eye. Noticing this, Ren quickly added: "Listen Ikki, we come in peace, we don't want any trouble… just listen to us"

When the redhead opened his mouth to reject the idea, Haruka grabbed his hand making him look at her. She had an easy to read expression: it was a pleading one and judging by the context, she clearly was asking him to hear them out. So with her in mind, he replied: "Fine, but be short"

Ren cleared his throat and took a quick look at Masato before turning towards Otoya to speak.

"I will only speak for myself to avoid any type of confusion or misunderstanding... What I did, or try to do, was incredibly wrong, I know that, I realized it as The Little Lamb squinted her eyes standing away from me: I shouldn't have made any sort of move on her regardless of that though, you are my friend and what I did was certainly a way of betrayal. I do not expect any sort of forgiveness, nor do I ask for it, I just want to at least maintain a cordial professional relationship"

As he finished, Otoya stared back at him and said: "Huh…" in a surprised manner.

"… I know it seems like it would be a lie, but I'm truly sorry about what I did, really" Ren said.

"Thank you, I really appreciate that" the redhead replied "I hope one day we can put all of this behind us"

Ren nodded in response and Masato stepped forward. The blue haired boy bowed yet again and said: "I will never be able to express my deep regret for my actions, but I am truly and irrevocably sorry for them. Sorry!"

"… Masa, you don't have to be so formal" said Otoya.

Masato lifted his head slightly and replied: "Yes, I do. I'm really sorry, I mean it. I never intended to cause any sort of trouble, but I guess my body didn't care much for logic. Nanami, Otoya… I'm sorry. You are both an important part of my life and I… I screwed up…"

"Hijirikawa-san…" said Haruka sadly.

"It's true, I did… But just like Ren said: I don't aim on maintaining our relationship as it was before, but I would no doubt make the effort to support a professional one"

"… It's good to know" Otoya replied.

After he said that, awkward silence filled in the room as they looked at each other and as time went by: they looked at various spots in the place itself.

Realizing this was going nowhere, Ren spoke up: "So… Meet ya later Ikki, gotta change my bandages" and slowly walked away.

As he exited the room, Masato followed him, but not before saying: "I hope we can continue this conversation in the future…" as he looked at the redheads.