Author's Disclaimer for this story, she does not own OHSHC…so sad, I know.

Chapter 8: Morning Rescue and Bath Time Chatter

"Well, if you guys aren't going to get off my case about it, I asked Haruhi to watch the sunset with me tomorrow. Still even if I asked that, nothing happened." Hikaru sighed in relief, and noticed Tamaki going into his tent. He saw this as a perfect time to get off the topic. He looked at Kaoru, "Did you remember to place the Boss's bear back in his tent?" Kaoru look behind him and slowly turned back, "Uh… no. I totally forgot all about it."

"BEARY!" Everyone cringed as they heard a scream of terror. The twins both slouched down in their seats, trying not to be seen by the source of the scream. Tamaki ran out of his tent and began looking around frantically, searching everywhere for his beloved, blank-stared bear. He looked at the twins and stormed up to them. "Where is my Teddy Bear?" He grabbed both Hikaru and Kaoru by the collar of their shirts. They both looked at each other and pointed up. Tamaki looked up and saw his bear on a very high branch on a tree, certainly out of his reach. He had let go of the twins and ran over to the tree and tried to climb up its trunk. Unfortunately, this tree wasn't as climbable as his other tree he normally resorts to.

"You found your teddy bear; we're going to bed now. See ya." The two said simultaneously and went to their tent to go to bed. Mori and Hunny watched as Tamaki tried to climb the tree a few more times. They too got bored and retired back to their tents. Kyouya had already left ages ago. Tamaki was determined to get his teddy bear back. He looked around; he had found a rope and instantly got an idea. He threw the rope up and lassoed it around a sturdy branch. He tugged on the rope a few times to make the rope was okay enough to climb up, which had pass the pulling test. He began to climb up the rope when he noticed that his bear was still a few branches high than the one he had lassoed. He figured he was tall, so that wasn't a setback at all.

Tamaki had finally reached the top of the rope and had lifted himself up unto the shaky branch. He stood up, holding onto another branch to keep his balance. He looked and reached his hand up to the next branch that his bear was oh-so careful placed upon. His guess was wrong, he wasn't tall enough to just grab from the branch he was standing on. He went to step on another branch with one foot and was able to retrieve his precious bear.

"I got Beary! And when I come down, you shady twins had better be ready to feel my wrath!" He stepped down and accidently stepped on the rope, causing it to unwrapped and fall to ground. "Ah! Mommy!" He called out to Kyouya and then quickly covered his mouth. He didn't care about how much of a foul mood Kyouya would be if he was woken up, especially by him. What he did care about was how much a foul mood Hunny was in when he is woken up. He began to search his pockets, "Alright, no need to panic, I'll just call Haruh…" He stopped in mid-sentenced after he searching his pockets, he didn't have his cell phone. He began to panic a bit. "Uh, What should I do?" He looked at his teddy bear and hugged it tightly, "No need to worry, someone will come out soon enough."

Thirty minutes passed. Soon an hour had passed and Tamaki had fallen asleep on the branch, clutching his bear close to his side.

The morning had arrived as the sun's rays had found their way into Haruhi's tent, shining unto her face. She stretched and took a peek outside to see if anyone had woken up yet. From her observation no one seemed to be up. 'This would be a good time to go to that water area I found earlier yesterday." She grabbed the bag that the twins gave her and a towel. She walked outside and looked up at the sky, admiring the morning light. While looking up, she noticed something in a tree. It was laying on a branch, snoring. She shielded her eyes to see if she could see what it was. To her surprise, it was Tamaki.

"How the hell did he get there? And why is he up there in the first place?" She thought aloud to herself. "Well, that's easy. Kaoru and I threw his teddy bear up there, but we couldn't get it down. And the Boss found out, and he must've gone up there to get it last night." Haruhi turned around to see Hikaru walking towards her. "Hikaru? You're up early? Where's Kaoru?" Hikaru pointed to the tent, "still sleeping of course."

Haruhi smiled a bit, "That's strange, usually, it's the other way around. Either way, you're both late sleepers." Hikaru huffed a bit, "Yeah, well, I woke up first this time," He noticed that she had some clothes and a towel in her hand. "What's that? Do you plan on showering or something?" Haruhi looked at him with the 'isn't-it-obvious' face. "Yeah, I was." Hikaru looked at her quizzically, "You were? You mean, you are going to?" Haruhi shook her head, "No, I mean I was. But I'm not going to anymore. I thought everyone was sleeping."

"What difference does that make?" He looked at her. "Do you really think I'm going to bathe around guys? If you guys were sleeping, then yeah. But If not, no."

"That's right! Haruhi deserves to bathe with her father!" The two looked up to see where the sound came from. Of course, Tamaki was bright eyed and bushy-tailed. Haruhi shot him a glare, "No way in hell, Senpai." He whimpered a bit and hid his face behind his teddy bear. Haruhi looked up at him in question, "Senpai, why are you up in a tree in the first place? Just an observation." He looked down, "Well, if someone or more should I say "if somebodies" didn't throw my teddy bear in this tree, I wouldn't be in it." He looked at Hikaru with a glare.

Hikaru shrugged his shoulders, "He kinda ticked off Kaoru last night, you know. Interrupting your conversation every two seconds." Haruhi looked at him, "Kaoru threw the bear in the tree?" She found that hard to believe. "Well, not without my help after all," He flashed her fox-like smile. "I kinda figured that. Well, can you guys do me a favor?" Tamaki was already and alert to hear what she had to say. "Whatever you want us to do, I'll assure that it will happen!" Hikaru looked at Tamaki and then focused his attention on Haruhi. "He's in a tree, there's not much he can do."

Haruhi sighed, "But we have to get him down somehow. He can't stay up there forever." She picked up the rope and tossed it to Hikaru, "Can you throw it to Tamaki-Senpai? If I do it, the rope won't make it pass the first branch." Hikaru looked at the rope and looked up at Tamaki, "Alright Boss, I'm going to throw the rope for you to catch. Do you think you can handle it?" Tamaki nodded his head in determination, ready to catch the rope.

Hikaru tossed the rope up and it came back to him. "Hmm… that wasn't high enough, was it Boss?" Tamaki looked down at them. "You might want to throw it higher, Hikaru." Haruhi looked at Hikaru, "Could you stop playing around and give him the rope?"

"Fine." Hikaru tossed the rope up and Tamaki was able to catch it. "Alright, now tie the rope around the branch and climb down it." Haruhi looked at Hikaru and smiled, "So, You're helping him after all." He glanced at her and looked up to see if Tamaki tied the knot right to come down. "Only because you yelled at me."

Tamaki slowly started to descend from the tree with his teddy bear tucked underneath his arm. "Damn twins, making me sleep in a tree for an entire night. How so un-host-like of them. As a new rule as of today, no more truth or dare." He had finally reached the ground and went to his tent.

Haruhi was satisfied that Tamaki was down from the tree and gathered up her clothes and towel. "Well, I should hurry and bathe quickly before everyone else starts waking up." She spoken to herself and began walking to the spring. "You know you really shouldn't go alone. At least not in these woods." A familiar voice had caught her attention. She turned around, only to lock eyes once more with the amber irises of a twin. Haruhi blushed softly and spun around abruptly. A flashback of the game had come back to her. She shook the memory away.

"Hikaru, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." She reassured him, hoping he would okay with it and let her go. But she should have known better that he wouldn't. "Just let me walk you there and be a lookout. I promise I won't look at you. That would be indecent of me." Haruhi was shocked at his words and tone of voice. He sounded really sincere and worried about her well being. Something not very common in Hikaru. She couldn't help but give in to him.

"Fine, you can tag along, but you have to stay true to your word and no dirty tricks and no loopholes." Hikaru nodded, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got it. No dirty tricks or loopholes." He gave her thumbs up in acknowledgement. Haruhi sighed and began walking, almost mindlessly. 'I would most rather go alone, but Hikaru is right. I really shouldn't go alone. It would help a lot if Renge was here though.'

Hikaru looked at her, "So, what are you thinking about? You seem pretty concentrated." She looked up and placed a finger on her chin, "Just thinking about how far you should be from spring, being that you're a guy and guys will be guys." Hikaru took offense to her comment. "We-we're not like typical guys." Haruhi looked at him quizzically.

"We?" Hikaru nodded, placing his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, Kaoru and I. Actually, I don't think anyone is like that, maybe with an exception of the Boss. But even he has decency to let girls have their privacy. It's that nosey Bossa-Nova we have to worry about." Haruhi laughed a bit, "Of course you would bring that up."

"Well, of course I would. He knows you are a girl, so it only makes sense that he is curious about you." He placed his arms behind his head and continued to walk, looking up the sky. Haruhi looked at him, "Funny that you would say such a thing, Hikaru. Being that you, yourself, know that I'm a girl." He was startled by her response to his statement. She tilted her head a bit. "Does that mean you're curious about me, too?" Hikaru looked at her quite flustered, "Where would you pull an idea like that from? Stop assuming things like that. When you assume, you make an ass out of 'U' and me!" She laughed a little bit because of his reaction. "I was only kidding, you know. No need to get on the offensive side of things." Hikaru looked down, hiding his blush from her. "I should've known." He said with a deadpan sound in his voice.

They walked for a bit in silence with only the sound of rustling leaves in the wind. They weren't there mentally though. Hikaru was fighting with himself, internally. And as for Haruhi, she had reoccurring tingling feeling on her lips from the game. She was completely out of it until she had heard the sound of running water. She looked ahead and saw the beautiful that she had discovered earlier. It seemed more beautiful now that morning sun was reflecting off the water. She noticed a very large rock on the side of the spring. Large enough that a person could stand behind it and keep watch, while another bathes. She smiled with relief. She looked at her 'body-guard', who seemed to be a trance of his own.

Hikaru just gazed at the beautiful scene in front of him. 'How is it she finds a place as awesome as this?' He thought to himself. Haruhi looked at him and point to large rock. "That is where you'll be standing and watching for anything, alright?" He looked at the rock and stood in front of it, "So, I should just stand here like this?" Haruhi nodded, "Yup, you're doing a good job already. And I'll bathe directly behind the rock, so I'll be unseen." She went behind the rock and began to undress. Hikaru leaned against the rock, "Would it be okay to hold a conversation with you?" Haruhi got into the water, about neck-deep and looked at the rock, knowing that his voice was coming from that direction. "What kind of question is that? Of course you can talk to me. Just as long as you keep looking that way."

Hikaru looked up at the sun beaming through the trees, feeling the breeze gently pass him. "I guess I should've known the answer to that question." He smiled to himself. He liked the feeling of being able to talk to Haruhi like he was now. "So, Haruhi, what do you plan on doing when you get back from camping?" Haruhi thought for a bit, "I would like to get started on our summer homework before school starts again. But I guess I could put that off for a few days. What about yourself? What do you plan on doing?" Hikaru looked at his wrist in boredom, "I don't know, honestly. But who knows what we'll be able to with the Boss hovering around. He'll probably make us do something totally outrageous like usual.

Haruhi treaded water for a bit, "I don't know why, but sometimes I don't mind Tamaki's ridiculous ideas. Keyword being 'sometimes.' He means well most of the time. Tamaki is the type of person who loves to see others happy, but will sacrifice his own happiness in return." Hikaru looked down, "Yeah, it's just in his personality to do stuff like that, though. Like an instinct." Haruhi smiled, "And I admire that a lot in him. He maybe an airhead, but he is what makes the Host-Club the Host-Club. You remember when we almost lost him? To Lady Elcair Tonnere?" He remembered it all too well. He had broken his arm racing after him in a horse and carriage, endangering not only his life, but Kaoru's and Haruhi's. He was glad that they were able to have Tamaki back in the Host-Club. But he was uncertain about Haruhi, because she seemed to be interested in Tamaki. But afterwards, everything seemed to be back to normal.

Hikaru played with his bracelets that were on his wrists, "Yeah, I remember when that happened. But we got the idiot back. That's all that mattered. He was so stupid for thinking he could just leave the Host-Club like that." Haruhi laughed a bit, "Yeah, true." She would hate to know what the host club would do if she tried to leave now. She was finished bathing and had gotten out of the water. Drying herself off, she remembered that she was suppose to watch the sunset with Hikaru today. She got dressed and peeked around the rock? "Hikaru?" He laughed a bit, "I was worried that you forgot I was here. You're finished?" Haruhi nodded, gathering up all of her items.

"Yeah, lets head back so we don't worry everyone especially Tamaki. Who knows what he'll do if we don't come back soon." Hikaru began walking, "Well alright, lets head back then." She followed and thought about what was left to do while they were camping. They pretty much did everything. That wasn't good. The Host Club being bored meant they would come up with their own things to do and, ultimately, meaning that they would drag her along, too.

I'm So So So Sorry about the wait, got a few emails and decided to start up again. Hopefully I won't have such a wait like that again. My laptop had bailed out on me and had caused such delay. Hopefully you liked this chapter because Chapter 9 is in the making. Once again, my apologies. Thanks Love-bugs. Remember Read and Review.

Electrical Fox