I bolt up in my bed, beads of sweat causing my hair to stick to my forehead. My heart pounds frantically in my ears and my chest. I suck in a gulp of air and slowly breathe it out. Calm down, it was just a bad dream. Rubbing my eyes and yawning, my heart beat goes back to normal. I look at the clock on my night stand, seeing it reads 8:23. My gaze travels around my room, eyes resting on nothing in particular. While the sun seeps in through the blinds, the birds outside chirp cheerfully as they stretch their wings. My eyes drift over to the framed photo of STARISH on my night stand. I smile at the memory of the concert and how I felt at the time. Though the concert was just a few months ago, every moment of it was fresh in my mind.

Looking down at the brightly colored bed sheets, I notice the few drops of sweat on them. Frowning, I furrow my brow. What was that dream about? I concentrate the best I can on it, but the memory of it is blurred and unreadable. Was I… In danger of something? Someone suddenly knocks on the door and I jolt from being suddenly pulled back to reality. "Uh, yes?"

Otoya's voice comes through it. "Haruka, it's time to get up! Masato and Ren made breakfast!"

"Ok, I'll be there in a moment!" Quickly getting out of bed, I straighten out the sheets before putting on a pastel skirt and white blouse. I run to the sink in my bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. Satisfied, I open the door to see Otoya standing there with a dazzling smile. He was a person of moderate height with bright red hair and eyes. He seems like he's the 'big brother' type of person. "Thanks for waking me up!"

"No problem. I was on my way to breakfast anyway and thought I should see if you were getting ready." His smile widens. "We should hurry before the food gets too cold."

"Okay."

The walk to the dining room was relatively quiet; Otoya and I mostly made idle talk of what to get for breakfast and what jobs were coming up. Thankfully, he never asked how I slept last night. If I told him of the nightmare I had last night, he would be worrying over me a dream I couldn't even remember. We round a corner into another hall, a faint smell of lemon cleaner drifts through it as rays of sunlight flow through the windows. Mornings are always beautiful here. I smile fondly.

As soon as we walk into the dining area, a wave of baked goods and other delicious smells hit us. We smile at the comforting scent and briskly walk towards the others at the table. We both grab a cup of tea and our food; fruit salad for me and French toast for Otoya. I notice Natsuki, a tall blonde with wavy hair and green eyes, talking to Syo, a shorter blonde with blue eyes and sporting a fedora, and attempting to feed him a muffin he made with Syo trying to tell him he had enough on his plate.

Masato and Tokiya were both discussing and pointing at something in a magazine. Both of them were tall with blue hair and stoic expressions, though Tokiya's hair was spiky compared to Masato's hime cut. Cecil, a foreigner to this country with tan skin and dark brown hair, asked a question occasionally about the article while Ren, another tall blonde who usually has a smirk on his face, didn't seem too interested in the conversations around him and was eating his food in silence. As we walk closer to the others, they notice us and say their "good mornings".

We respond with a smile and say, "Morning everyone!"

"How'd you guys sleep last night?" Syo asked after a long sip of his juice.

I think back to the nightmare from earlier. I wish I knew what scared me so much, but I'm sure it isn't anything worth bringing up. "I slept just fine." I respond.

"I slept so-so. There was a ruckus outside and it woke me up." Otoya takes his seat and immediately starts eating.

"I didn't hear a ruckus last night." Tokiya looks over. "You sure you weren't hearing things?"

Otoya takes a moment to drink his tea before saying, "It was the middle of the night. You and Reiji were both sound asleep. I guess I'm just a light sleeper or something." He shrugs and takes a bite of his French toast.

"Alright, enough chit-chat, you all have some work to do today." Camus walks in, a series of papers in hand. "These are work offers. You'll be doing them for today. Let's see…" He shuffles through the paper stacks for a moment before saying, "Natsuki and Ren, you both have photo shoots. Otoya and Cecil, the broadcast you guys were on before asked you for another episode. Syo, Tokiya, Masato; you guys have interviews for a couple of magazines. Is that clear?" A collective 'Yes' goes around. "Good, hurry and finish breakfast." Everyone finishes the last of their breakfast before grabbing their plates and taking them to the kitchen.

I take my time with the last of my food, urging the others that I can take care of the cleanup and that they should all head to work. As soon as they leave, I take the last bite of my fruit salad then start grabbing the dishes lying around. Carefully I stack them up and take them to the sink before placing them in. I start washing the various dishes carefully before drying them and putting them away. Before I leave, I do a quick check around for anything out of place. I bound out of the kitchen and make a turn down the hallway. My pace slows as I take my time walking down the halls towards my room. I notice the brightly decorated walls, intricate patterns sewn into them through the eyes of an artist. Glancing out one of the windows I pause.

Wow, it looks beautiful outside today! I quickly head down the hall, around the corner, and down the front steps. It feels great! I smile up at the sky and sun. It seems like a good day to go for a walk. I slow down to a walk and continue down the side of the building. When I was younger, I used to take walks on nice days with my grandma. We'd play I-spy games and point out the flowers and clouds. Grandma would tell me about when she was younger and she'd go on walks with her grandmother too. The white fluffy wisps in the sky catch my attention. That one looks like a music note. A smile forms on my lips as I stop by a flower bush and look at the colorful designs in each petal. They reminded me of the flowers we would see on our walks. I sniff one of them before getting up and continuing my walk. A single thought crosses my mind. Smiling, I rush back to my room to grab a pencil and music paper. After grabbing them, I walk down to the lake and sit on one of the benches near the water. Pausing for a moment I hurriedly write something down.

Blinking, I notice the light around me seemed more orange then before. I look up to see the sun setting in the east. "Huh? But it was just barely noon a few minutes ago!" Glancing to my left, I see a stack of several music sheets and even a few crumpled up ones. "Eh?! Did I spend the whole day outside writing?" I look at the silver watch on my wrist to see that dinner starts in just ten minutes. Scrapping together the pieces of papers, I hug them close to my chest. I was about to start running to my room to put my stuff away, but I notice something on the ground, just under the shrubbery. Stopping, I stare for a moment before slowly crouch down to the fresh earth. Brushing a few of the leaves out of the way, I see a large indent there in the ground. It's most likely a footprint, but it looked like someone was shuffling their feet for a long period of time, so it appeared 'smudged' in a way. I place my hand down on the ground near it for a size comparison, and see it's slightly bigger than my palm. "That's strange." It looked like it was a relatively new print; the edges around it weren't even dry yet. I would have thought more about it before realizing that I'm already late for dinner and hastily stand back up again, rushing to my room to put the papers away and to clean up a bit before dinner.

When I get to the dining room, Cecil, Otoya, and Tokiya are already there. "Good afternoon!" I smile cheerily.

"Hey Haruka, good afternoon to you to!" Otoya say to me. "How was your day?"

"To be honest I spent the whole day writing new songs." I blush from embarrassment.

"Really? I look forward to hearing what new songs you've created." Tokiya smiles at me. "The others are running a bit late, but they'll be here soon enough." Just as he said that, Natsuki comes in dragging Syo behind him, Syo attempting to put up a fight but failing.

"We're here! Just in time, right Syo?" Natsuki smiles down at Syo.

"You didn't have to drag me here! I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own!" Syo glares up at Natsuki, but the look doesn't seem to faze him.

We start placing dishes on the tables, one table where STARISH usually sits and another table where QUARTET NIGHT sits. As we finish placing the last of the dishes, the rest of QUARTET NIGHT show up along with Masato. Noting that we were missing someone, I ask. "Is Ren not home yet?"

"He must be late at work." Tokiya replied, setting down the last of the plates. "Natsuki, any idea where he might be?"

"He was still working when I finished. He told me to go ahead." Natsuki replied an assortment of napkins in hand. "Apparently the magazine wanted to take plenty of good photos, so they asked if he could stay a bit longer than usual." Tokiya nods his head in acknowledgement before placing down the last of the silverware.

We all grab our spots at the table and grab our food. The conversation doesn't go in any particular direction, and mostly stays on the subject of the work we did today. Everything went smoothly at the interviews and the photo shoots, and the variety show was another hit. Nothing out of the usual happened. I glance at my watch to see that Ren is already 15 minutes late. It shouldn't be a surprise that Ren is late, as he often is, but he's usually only late by a few minutes.

After about 10 more minutes, Ren strolls into the dining room, a slight frown on his face.

"Hey Ren," Syo looks up. "You were later than usual today." Ren doesn't respond to him. "Hey, Ren!"

Ren looks up in surprise but quickly replaces it with a grin. "Huh? Oh, sorry. Work held me up." He quickly grabs his seat, but doesn't put much food on his plate. At this point all eyes are on Ren.

"You okay?" Otoya ask him.

"Yea, just a long day at work. No need to worry." He replies, a smirk on his face. He looks in my direction, "Especially not you, Lady."

Huh? Did I really look that worried? A faint blush starts to rise in my cheeks and the others chuckle at it.

Dinner was finished rather quickly, and after a few words we all say our goodnights. I stayed behind again to clean up the mess, Otoya staying to help as well.

"You know, I didn't expect Ren to come so late this evening." Otoya ask me, hands around a soap covered dish. Drops of water were on his arm and clothes, though he didn't seem to be bothered by them.

"Yea, he was a bit late wasn't he?" I place the dish I'm holding in the cabinet before picking up another and drying it off.

"I don't know if you saw, but he was rubbing his arm a lot during the last quarter of dinner." We look at each other, Otoya's face marked with a fake smile.

"Do you think he might have gotten hurt in some way?" I ask.

"Well, no. Ren is a strong person. He was punched by Masato once and seemed just fine." He hands me the last of the dishes and drains the sink. The drain sputters and the last drops of water go down. "Still, it's like us to worry over our friends."

I let out a yawn, feet partially dragging. "I'm so tired. I hope I said goodnight to everyone." The lights of the hall have been dimmed down. My pace increases, attempting to avoid being left in the dark, until a muffled voice flows into my ear.

"You lucky Ranmaru hasn't noticed yet." Huh? That's Masato's voice.

"Are you worried about me?" And Ren?

I turn towards the door of Ren and Masato's room. Taking a step closer, I slowly press my ear to the door.

"...He'll find out eventually you know."

"Eventually isn't anytime soon. I'll handle the situation myself. Besides I wouldn't want the little lamb to worry about me." A hiss of pain comes from Ren. My heart seems to beat a little faster in my chest. Is Ren hurt or something?

"You really should do something about it though. It looks like a nasty scratch." Someone opens a cabinet and then the tear of what I guess is a bandage wrap echoes off the walls.

"Don't worry about me, just a scratch. Like I said, can't have people worrying over me."

"Hm. Try not to get blood on anything, Ranmaru will notice for sure if you do."

I step back from the door, hand over my heart. Quietly, I stroll to my room. Ren is definitely hurt, but he's strong too. He's fine, right?

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Feels a bit strange to be making fanfiction again. As a quick note, (For some reason I felt the need to post this at 3 in the morning. Terrible idea.) Originally this story was meant to be the cheesiest fanfiction in history but somewhere along the line stopped being that. Rereading it now, it seems a bit slow, but I guarantee it will pick up the pace and be an entertaining story.