(A/N: This fic is like crack to me, writing-wise. I just can't stop typing it! I really love where I'm going with it! I own nothing; not Ouran, not lyrics, not songs….etc. I hope you all enjoy this!)

Chapter 7: Help Is On the Way

Sam was still smiling when she woke up the next morning. That in and of itself was highly unusual for her. (Though not quite as much as of late.) Her phone also had an unopened text notification on its screen. Curious, she clicked on it and then smiled. It was from her Kyoya.

Good morning! Did you sleep well? –Kyoya

Rapidly, she replied.

I slept very well, some dashing gentleman that wears perhaps the most awesome glasses ever took me out on the best date ever last night!...you wouldn't know him. ;) –Sam

She fiddled with her lip ring, perhaps that was a bit much…..just then her phone pinged with a response.

Oh? Could you tell me the name of the idiot? He seems to be under the delusion that he can steal my girlfriend. –Kyoya

Sam burst out laughing; she should have known that Kyoya would have taken that suavely as always.

So, Dashing Gentleman with the most awesome glasses, how has your morning been? –Sam

She couldn't resist turning his response against him. It was too easy. Plus, she had a feeling that it would make him chuckle.

I'm convinced that your presence proves to be some sort of narcotic to me, because I actually thought it was a good idea to invite the idiot over this morning. –Kyoya

Sam smiled indulgently and just shook her head.

Or maybe you actually just wanted to spend time with Tamaki? He IS your best friend; you aren't kidding anyone with that "idiot" nonsense. : ) Speaking of intoxicating presences, I may want to apologize to Haruhi…..-Sam

Sam had just remembered that in her excitement, she had told the twins Haruhi's apartment number.

What did you do? –Kyoya

She could practically see the smirk that was no-doubt on her boyfriend's face at this very moment.

In my excitement last night, I might have told the twins Haruhi's apartment number to get rid of them. I blame you. ;) –Sam

She wished she could see his reaction to that. It could go many ways with him. It was one of her favorite things about him.

##Kyoya POV##

Kyoya raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend's last text and grinned. There was her snark, again. It was one of his favorite things about her.

He was formulating a response, when he noticed a suspicious lack of Tamaki's constant chatter and that the boy was trying to sneak up behind him to read his conversation with Sam. So he deleted what he was going to type and instead sent a different message.

I have to go, the idiot thinks he can sneak up on me and read our conversation. –Kyoya

Kyoya smirked as his friend froze behind him and Sam's response was almost instantaneous.

Wow, talk about falling into the stereotype of "dumb blondes." I've had to fight that all these years, and then he just has to go on to reaffirm it in people's minds. I'll talk to you later, Kyoya. (If Haruhi doesn't maim me to the point where I can't text)- Sam

Kyoya burst out laughing as Tamaki went into his "corner of woe." His Sam was really something!

That reminded him. "Oh, you know she was joking! I actually called you here for a reason, idiot!"

Tamaki looked up at him with a pout. "You both are so mean to me! But what do you need Mommy?"

His eyebrow twitched at being addressed as a woman for the thousandth time, but he continued. "Sam has been overworking herself and I need your help to make this plan work…."

##Sam POV##

She was knocking on Haruhi's door in her typical boy clothes.

Ranka opened the door, exuberantly. "Hello, Sam-chan! How are you today?"

Sam smiled at the caring man. "I'm doing fantastic, Ranka-san! Do you think I could come in to visit with Haruhi-chan?"

Ranka seemed even more excited, "My Haruhi has so many adorable friends! Those mischievous twins were over just last night! Come in!"

Sam smiled weakly at that, she was still pretty sure that Haruhi was going to maim her for that. "Is she in her room?"

"Sempai. Why don't you join me in here?" She heard her friend call from her room in a strangled sort of voice.

Sam winced at the tone, but made her way to the room. She took a deep breath before going in. "In my defense, I wasn't in a proper state of mind to have any sort of good judgment last night."

Haruhi, whose hair was still stuck in some sort of intricately braided hairstyle (from the night before apparently), raised an eyebrow and said calmly. "Explain."

"Well, last night I was nervous and excited for my first date with Kyoya. I had asked them over to do my make-up and procure a wig for me so that I could go on my date with Kyoya as a girl. They went above and beyond my expectations, and I was ecstatic. However, they weren't leaving and it was almost time for Kyoya to pick me up and I panicked. So I said the first thing I could think of that would make them leave without too much fuss. At your expense. I'm sorry." Sam bowed slightly, because she really should have known better.

"It's fine, Sempai." Haruhi said with more of her normal tone of voice. Sam looked up and Haruhi had a slight grin on her face. "Just please don't give Tamaki-sempai my address, and we'll be fine."

Sam laughed. "No danger of me doing that, Haruhi. I quite like living, thank you!"

Haruhi smiled and shook her head. "So, how did you date go?"

Sam smiled dreamily and decided to help her friend since she was being so kind about the whole thing. "I'll tell you about it as I undo your hair from the puzzle the twins turned it into. That can't be comfortable."

Haruhi looked at her gratefully. Sam deftly moved behind her friend and started undoing braids and removing bobby pins as she started. "Well first off, when he came to get me…he brought me a single black calla lily. He remembered that from the one time I've mentioned it. Then he took us to this really high-end American themed restaurant and we just talked as we ate. It was so great. By the end of dessert, though, he had that smirk working its way back onto his face."

Sam paused and let the memory of that particular moment of the date wash over her again. Haruhi brought her back to reality, "What happened next?"

"He took me to a concert of one my favorite bands in the world. Black Veil Brides. But not only did he get VIP tickets, he also got us back. Stage. Passes! We danced together during the whole concert, which was pretty freaking awesome. Then we got to go back and meet the band. They didn't speak more than a couple of words of Japanese; they're from America like me, and not many schools offer the option of learning it. So I spoke to them in English, because the whole thing was going to be terribly awkward otherwise and they were actually really nice guys. They asked me to play one of my songs for them, and I was freaking out; but Kyoya reassured me and I went for it. They think I have genuine talent, Haruhi! Then, I challenged the guitarists to a guitar solo battle and that's how we spent the rest of the designated time. It was amazing, and I've now got all of the band's cell numbers. Kyoya then took me home and walked me to my apartment like the gentleman he is." Sam finished, whilst undoing the last braid with flourish. She had omitted the kissing because it was private and would embarrass the hell out of her and Haruhi to discuss.

Haruhi turned and smiled at her sempai. "I'm really happy for you, Sempai. It sounds like the Shadow King can also use his powers for good."

Sam smiled, "Do you want to scroll through the pictures on my phone, while I brush the curls left by the braids into some semblance of order?"

Haruhi smiled and said, "Sure, Sempai."

Sam whipped out her phone, clicked on the right folder, handed it to Haruhi, and began brushing out the insane curls left by the twins' madness.

##Ranka POV##

Ranka smiled as he heard the laughter coming from his daughter's room. It had been a while since he had heard quite so much of his adorable daughter's laugh. Sam was a really good sisterly role model for his Haruhi. Perhaps just one peek.

He quietly snuck over to his daughter's room and slid the door open a fraction. The scene before him warmed his heart.

Sam was brushing his daughter's hair and Haruhi was asking about some silly picture on Sam's cell phone.

Smiling, he slid the door back and went to work.

##Sam POV##

Sam smiled as she saw Ranka close the door. He was such a great dad to Haruhi. She leaned over Haruhi's shoulder to see what picture she meant. It was one of her doing the guitar solo from "Crazy Train" to start out the guitar battle while Jake and Jinxx stared at her with their jaws gaping. Kyoya had taken it upon himself to take pictures and send them to himself throughout the part the backstage portion of their date.

"Well, that one was one Kyoya took when I completely floored the guitarists Jake and Jinxx with my mad guitar skills. Those expressions only lasted about a second before they got themselves together and became dead set on showing me up. Trash talk abounded and the guitar riffs were absolutely insane. I think my fingers might actually be feeling a phantom-ache just remembering it." Sam flexed her fingers reflexively around the brush. Haruhi's hair was completely straight at this point.

Haruhi turned to her incredulously, "I still can't believe you challenged world-famous guitarists to a guitar battle."

Sam shrugged, "It's something I promised myself that I would do if I ever got the chance. I had the opportunity, and I took it."

Haruhi smiled. "I'm glad. So, when are you and Kyoya-sempai going on your next date?"

Sam blushed and responded, "I don't know, but I do know that I want to be the one to plan it. Last night, we did things I liked and so I think it's Kyoya's turn for the same consideration."

####

Kyoya and Tamaki were up to something; that was one thing that Sam was sure of when she spotted them Monday before class started.

She pecked Kyoya on the cheek and then frankly asked, "What are you two plotting?"

Tamaki froze slightly before stammering, "W-what makes you think that, Sam?"

Kyoya shot Tamaki a look and then "innocently" asked, "Yes, why would we be plotting anything? That's the twins' job."

Sam rolled her eyes. "You two suddenly stopped your conversation when I walked into the room. That is suspicious. And then there's the fact that you're trying to deflect my questions right now."

Kyoya just smirked and said, "Then you'll just have to wait and see for yourself what we might have been planning."

Sam sighed and decided that this was a 'pick your battles' moment. "So, I'm getting my stitches out after club hours today, correct?"

"Actually, we're not having club today. The only time our best doctor was available was at that time." Kyoya responded, pushing up his glasses and smiling at her.

Sam felt her heart soar at that; she knew that Kyoya treats the club like a business and that he would shut it down just so that she could have her stitches removed by the best possible specialist was mind boggling.

####

"That was thoughtful, but odd of the doctor to give me those waterproof band-aids for swimming." Sam commented as she got into Kyoya's limo after finally having her stitches removed.

Kyoya smirked and replied, "Well, you never know what sort of antics the club will get into. They may come in handy."

Sam leaned against her boyfriend and smirked also. "Well, if that doesn't tell me where we're headed instead of my apartment; I don't know what will."

Kyoya's eyes widened slightly. Sam's smirk widened. "I've been on high-alert about my surroundings for weeks and also Tamaki wouldn't shut up about how relaxing he finds swimming all day. Add that to the fact that you told me that your family is opening a therapeutic water park during our date on Friday and all that leaves me to wondering is this: what made you feel the need to hide this trip from me and trick me into going on it?"

He sighed and Sam looked at him, waiting for a response. "You've been over-working yourself, and it's been worrying me. So I decided to surprise you with a trip to help you relax a little, because if I out-right told you to relax…..we both know you wouldn't take that well."

Sam's eyes darkened a little. Did he really think that this was the better way to go about helping her? "So you thought manipulating me into doing what you think is best for me is better than telling me your worries so that we can work out a compromise? That going behind my back would be better than just asking if I wanted to go on a trip with you all?"

He lowered his head, but didn't say anything. "Kyoya, you're my boyfriend. I care about your opinion and I would have listened. But you need to be open with me. You don't need to manipulate me into spending time with you. Especially times where I could potentially see you without a shirt on." Sam just had to add that last remark.

Kyoya finally looked up with wide eyes that were dancing with amusement and softly remarked, "Just when I think I have you figured out; you never cease to surprise me in the most remarkable way."

She blushed at that and kissed him on the cheek. "So I suppose the twins will be waiting to bombard Haruhi and I with swimsuits?"

Kyoya laughed.

####

"Hmmmm…. Not a bad selection; but there's entirely too much pink in here." Sam commented surveying the legion of swimsuit clad mannequins.

"That's your problem with this? Not how skimpy some of these are?!" Haruhi exclaimed as she held up a red tangle of strings that was apparently a swimsuit.

"Oh, I thought that that was a part of another swimsuit that came off of one of the others. But I don't mind baring a little skin. I've never had much reason to be modest considering I only swam by myself at the mansion. Now, I have a boyfriend out there who I want to make speechless. Just pick something you would like to wear and have fun with it, Haruhi!" Sam said, as one of the suits caught her eye. There we go.

####

"Tamaki, is there any particular reason you're standing outside of the ladies changing room?" Sam asked, raising a brow.

The comment didn't even seem to reach her classmate, however. His eyes were solely focused on Haruhi in her adorably modest swimsuit and a blush was consuming his entire face. Interesting.

Sam smirked as her clueless friend thrust a dowdy sweatshirt and baggy shorts at her equally clueless little sister, spouting some nonsense about how ladies shouldn't bare that much skin.

Shaking her head, Sam snuck up behind Kyoya and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Wha-" Kyoya started and then he proceeded to gape and blush. Mission accomplished.

Sam was rather proud of the swimsuit she had chosen. It was a violet strapless bikini, where the top had a black rose pattern on it and a short black ruffled skirt as the bottom. It was her style and just so happened to be in Kyoya's rose color. Looking down at her bare stomach, Sam idly decided that her next piercing would be her belly button.

Deciding that it was time to bring her boyfriend back to reality she decided to make a sassy comment. "Well, this is just unfair. You get to see me like this, and you decide to be the only host to wear a shirt. I feel robbed!"

Shifting his glasses and coughing slightly, he responded. "You are more than welcome to take my shirt as compensation."

Sam smirked deviously, she saw right through that. "Ah, but I'm going to be swimming a lot; I wouldn't want to ruin your shirt!"

"Nice choice, Sempai!" The twins chorused both wrapping an arm a-piece around each side of her.

"Thanks for having swimsuits available, you two! You may want to remove your arms from my person, though. I have a boyfriend who is less than two meters away and he is rather possessive. Also, I might have to flip you both if you move your hands any closer to where they're migrating." Sam had crossed her arms at this point and was tensing up to prepare herself to exert such force. Kyoya was giving the twins his most frightening glare.

They quickly left to go bother Haruhi about her not showing off her swimsuit, while at the same time teasing Tamaki. Sam rolled her eyes and sat down next to her boyfriend to try and calm him.

"Relax, sweetheart! They're like little brothers to me and they were only trying to ruffle your feathers." Sam said soothingly whilst placing a hand on his arm. "I'll get my revenge on them for being creepy later."

"What did that term mean? That you just called me." A calmer Kyoya asked curiously.

Sam blushed, she hadn't realized that she had slipped back into English or that she had said something quite so sappy aloud. "Um….sweetheart? That's an American term used for one's significant other that roughly translates to sweet heart. Does that bother you? It just kinda slipped out."

Kyoya flushed slightly and smiled just a little. "Actually, I rather like it. As long as you keep calling me that in English. I'd rather not have to use my blackmail material on the twins for something so frivolous."

Sam smiled brightly. "Oh, I had planned on it. I don't want them to think I've gone soft, either. I'm going to go join Honey-sempai in the current pool. I'll be back, sweetheart!"

She pecked him on the cheek and cannon balled right next to her sempai. Actually, on closer examination, sempais. Mori seemed to be keeping them both in one place by swimming really fast against the current.

"Hi, Sam-chan! Your swimsuit is really pretty!" Honey exclaimed sweetly.

"Thanks, sempai! Are you both having fun?" Sam replied evenly as she focused on staying in that spot only using her legs.

"Yes! Isn't that right, Takashi?" Honey looked down at his cousin.

Mori carefully moved Honey off of his shoulders, maneuvered into an upright position and said, "Yeah. I'm going to get a drink."

Just then, Sam heard the screechy voice of Renge; so she ducked down behind Honey and decided to swim underwater until she left. Thank goodness for my singing, or I probably wouldn't be able to hold my breath this long. Honey tapped her on the shoulder when it was safe.

"Thanks, Sempai!" Sam gasped. "May I hold on to your floating ring for a moment? I need to catch my breath."

"Sure, Sam-chan! It was really impressive that you could hold your breath for that long!" Honey chirped, but there was a hint of concern on his face.

"Y'know what? I think I may go take a break." Sam admitted, but then froze as she heard an ominous gurgling at the end of the pool.

Then she saw the wave. Her eyes widened and she paled.

She quickly grabbed onto her sempai and the last thing she heard before the wave hit them was this:

"Mitsukuni!" Mori shouted.

"Honey-Sempai! Sam-Sempai!" Haruhi exclaimed.

"Sam!" Her boyfriend yelled.

And then she and Honey were underwater. This time, she was without the luxury of a full amount of oxygen in her lungs and she was struggling to get to the surface. The current wasn't letting her move higher, though. Her lungs were on fire and her vision was getting a little hazy when her Sempai displayed his hidden strength and pulled them both to the surface and then to the shore.

Sam flopped down on the shore and gulped down as much air as she could, while Honey was doing the same to a lesser extent.

"Are you okay, Sam-chan?" Honey asked, without his usual cutesy tone.

After a couple more deep breaths, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna prank the hell out of Tamaki and the twins, though. And my boyfriend is getting quite the talking to about taking us to un-tested theme parks."

Honey smiled at her response. "Focus on revenge later, Sam-chan. We need to get back to Takashi and the others. They must be really worried about us."

Sam sat up and winced a little. Her band-aids had come off at some point during their impromptu trip downstream and the chlorine was making the sensitive scars inflamed. Honey looked at her scar with wide eyes.

Sam lowered her face and looked at the angry red and purple dented patch of new scar tissue adorning her front and probably looking worse on her back. She gave a wry laugh, "It's not so pretty, but I suppose it's better than….y'know…..being dead."

Honey gave her a look and said, "That isn't why I was staring. None of us realized how close that bullet came to your lung."

Sam was growing uncomfortable with the topic, so she decided to make a light comment about it. "Well, it missed! So everything's a-okay!"

Honey gave her another look and replied. "No, it isn't. Someone still shot at you with the intent to kill you. They escaped. Do you really value yourself so little?"

Sam answered him honestly and fervently, "If I hadn't thrown Kyoya out of the way, he'd be d-dead right now. If there's a choice between one of us being shot, I'll take the bullet every time!"

Honey looked at her with a calculating expression on his face, "You already love him, don't you?"

Sam gaped, but searched inside herself and couldn't deny it. "Yes."

Honey suddenly brightened back into his childish persona and exclaimed, "Then we better go find the others, Sam-chan!"

Right as he said that and they started walking two things happened.

It started pouring rain and freaking ALLIGATORS started advancing toward them.

####

After about an hour of swinging from tree to tree using the vines, Sam was about ready to breathe fire. She was wet and cold which meant that when they were taking breaks, she had to cross her arms over her chest for decency. Her side was aching because of how much she was straining herself. Also, more than once she had almost grabbed a venomous snake instead of a vine.

She and Honey were taking another break when they heard a disturbance below them. A bunch of men with high-powered rifles were surrounding Mori and Haruhi, about to attack.

"You take the ones on the left; I take the ones on the right?" Sam breathed at her sempai. He nodded and they swung down kicking the goons in their paths.

Sam crossed her arms over her chest and took them on with her legs only so that her swimsuit top wouldn't slip off during the scuffle. She executed several flipping kicks mixed in with some good old fashioned, Chuck Norris style roundhouse kicks to the men's guts. With Honey, it only took them a matter of minutes to knock out all of the men that dared threaten their friends.

Haruhi was gaping at them and Mori only looked mildly interested at Sam's display. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I might be working on my training for my Ni-dan* in Karate." Sam admitted and then shivered, now that she was calming down she was getting cold again. Her arms tightened around her front.

At that point, the other hosts showed up and looked bemused at the twitching circle of armed men on the ground. Well, most of them.

Kyoya rushed over to her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

She snuggled closer to him because he was warm and then she replied in a would-be calm tone. "Oh, I'm only cold because of the damn storm, aching from swinging on vines to avoid the fucking alligators that were everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I ended up with chlorine in my scars. I demand your shirt and a piggyback ride to the car in compensation, sweetheart."

At the end of her little rant, she gave him a Look. Kyoya gulped, swiftly unbuttoned his shirt, and handed it to her.

She put it on whilst watching in amusement as Honey put the fear of god into Kyoya's police force.

When it was evident they were going to leave, she jumped onto Kyoya's back and said, "Onward."

Her boyfriend sighed, but accepted it because he probably realized just how much he had put her through. And he probably valued his limbs being intact.

Sam smiled and rested her head sideways on his bare shoulder. She listened as the twins suggested the beach next.

She chuckled as Tamaki automatically refused, thinking that it would please Haruhi only to be countered by the object of his affections. Kyoya turned his head and they shared a knowing look.

"I'm up for the beach." Sam put in lazily. She was pretty worn out from her adventures of the day.

##Kyoya's POV##

On the way back to Sam's apartment, he couldn't stop berating himself. It seemed like his plans to get his girlfriend to relax and rest backfired on all counts.

"I can hear you thinking." Sam murmured.

She had been leaning against his side with her eyes closed, and he had thought that she was asleep.

"I just can't seem to stop failing you, it seems." He muttered bitterly. He was furious at himself and-

"And here I was thinking the opposite. Sweetheart, you planned this trip with only the best intentions for me and the group. Never once during our date did you do anything but make me feel like I actually mattered for once. You are one of the kindest guys I know and I am proud as hell to call you my boyfriend." His Sam interrupted his thoughts and once again blew him away.

He did the only logical thing he could in response to such a speech, he kissed his girlfriend passionately before walking her to her apartment and wishing her a good night.

####

(A/N: This was an interesting chapter to type. Next chapter's going to be even more interesting, y'know, with the beach episode. Let me know what you all think!

*: Ni-dan is the second degree of a black belt in Karate. Yes, I had to google it.)