BONUS CHAPTER – HIDE AND SEEK

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FORWARD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi guys! This is ehnera, back 3 years later with a little bonus chapter I wrote a while go. This is meant to take place at some sort of beach mansion trip, like the one the Host Club goes on in the show. As far as timing, it happens somewhere around Chapters 18-20.

Also, if you want to go back and read the original story, I did a BUNCH of edits fixing my high school writing style and making the deal between Ivy and the twins a bit more reasonable.

Thanks to everyone who followed and commented! Hope you're all doing well.

- ehnera

"I know!" said Tamaki. "How about a game of hide and go seek?"

"I suppose that would be acceptable," said Kyoya, staring at his clipboard. "Since our guests are all rooming in a separate wing, I don't see how we'd disrupt them with a bit of fun."

"Doesn't that sound wonderful, Haruhi?" crooned Tamaki, sidling closer to her.

"I guess it's fine," grumbled Haruhi. "I wanted to catch up on sleep but I guess there's no point in arguing."

"I think it sounds great!" said Hunny. "Right, Takashi?"

Mori nodded, taking Hunny off his shoulders so he could frolic around.

The twins sidled over to Tamaki, squeezing themselves between him and Haruhi. "You'll have to be It, Boss," they told him. "You the Host King, after all."

"BUT…BUT I WANTED TO HIDE WITH HARUHI! MY LITTLE GIRL SHOULDN'T BE LEFT ALONE IN A BIG DARK MANSION!"

"I'm fine, senpai," said Haruhi, inching away from the three of them. She turned to me, where I had been standing off to the side, relieved that I wouldn't have to be It. "What do you think, Ivy-san?" she asked.

"Oh," I said, watching the club's attention turn to me. "It… could be fun. But I think we should have rules. Just to be fair."

The twins groaned.

"Americaaaa," said Kaoru.

"…Must you ruin all our fun?" said Hikaru. They leaned on each other's shoulders, giving me a disapproving look.

"I agree," said Kyoya. "Here are an official list of rules I just wrote up."

We all gathered around Kyoya to stare at the sheet, written up in neat, clear bullet points.

HIDE AND SEEK RULES

· NO HIDING TOGETHER

· START THE COUNTDOWN AT 100

· STAY WITHIN THE EASTERN WING

· THOSE WHO ARE FOUND ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GIVE AWAY OTHER HIDERS

· MOVING HIDING PLACES AFTER THE COUNTDOWN IS ACCEPTABLE

"Takashi," Hunny whined, "I can't hide with you?"

"No," said Mori. He then leaned down and looked Hunny in the eye. "It'll be fun. You can hide somewhere smaller."

With that, Hunny's concerned look burst into a smile. "Okay!"

Tamaki snatched the list away and thrust it into the air. "Everybody got that? I'm going to start counting now!" He turned to the nearest wall and curled up in his usual ball, head in his arms. "100…99…98….97…"

And with that, twins took off at a sprint with Haruhi trailing behind at a slight jog, so I decided to run down the opposite hall.

"Don't go the same direction as me, you idiot!" I heard Hikaru call out to Kaoru. I giggled. Even when trying to hide separately they ended up in the same place. When I turned back, I saw Hunny scampering next to me, and Mori walking beside him at a reasonable pace. Kyoya was somehow already nowhere to be found.

"We have to split up at some point," I whispered.

Mori smiled. "I suppose we do," he said. We reached another intersection in the hallways.

"I'm gonna go THIS WAY!" Hunny whispered, then skipped off with Usa-chan in hand.

I turned to Mori for a moment, unsure of what to do.

"Um…good luck hiding!" I blurted out, my cheeks burning. I hadn't lowered my voice, so the sound echoed down the empty halls.

"You better run," said Mori, almost with a laugh. When I looked back, he had strode off in the opposite direction.

Hearing Tamaki call out 20, I ran.

I picked a random room out of the halls of doors and closed the door behind me as as possible. Upon walking inside, I noticed a suitcase in the corner, a netbook sitting on the desk, and a small notebook on the nightstand next to the bed. Next to the nightstand was a glasses case.

I froze. Kyoya's room? Feeling like I was trespassing, I went for the door. Just then, I heard the sound of Tamaki's voice in the distance. It wasn't safe to leave now.

My eyes trailed back over to the notebook on the nightstand. My hands started to shake. For all I knew, the unpredictable cosmic abyss could be hidden within its pages. I took a step towards it and felt instant guilt. It felt like I was about to open the cursed coffin of an ancient tomb. Pandora's Box. Anything but a notebook. And yet I was so curious…

I touched the cover, trying to will myself to peek just a little. It seemed to be buzzing with energy.

Then I heard the door handle turn.

I froze.

Mori slipped into the room. He grabbed my hand and led me away from the nightstand. Startled, I let him lead, fascinated with the sensation of his enormous hand wrapped around mine. The next thing I knew, I was in a closet, crouching on the ground, shaking like crazy. I couldn't tell if it was the adrenaline from touching the journal, or the thrill of hide and go seek, or Mori's body heat drifting towards me where we crouched side by side. I realized his hand was still around my wrist.

Seconds later I heard Tamaki's voice loud and clear, ringing through the hallway just outside the room. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Then, quieter, "Are you sure they went this way?"

"C'mon Boss, we told you, we have no idea!" I heard Kaoru say.

"Besides," added Hikaru, "It's against the rules to tell."

The grumbling and exasperated yells faded down the hallway, leaving us in relative silence.

I turned to look at Mori. Even in the dim light from the crack in the closet, I could see his solemn profile.

"Safe," he said, his deep voice almost a rumble. "I'm sorry for grabbing you like that."

"Oh! No! It's fine," I whispered. "I would've been found out for sure." I found I had to look away, my cheeks burning. I could feel Mori's giant frame almost eclipsing me.

"Are you alright?" he whispered. He was letting go of my wrist.

I couldn't reply for a second. Then, "…I'm not sure."

"Ivy." I was forced to look back up. Mori's face was serious, a look far past his usual neutral gaze. "That notebook…"

"-I never would have-I didn't mean to trespass-I mean, I was just curious—" I began with an anxious whisper.

A finger touched my lips.

Mori's eyes glinted. "You wouldn't want to know," he said. He withdrew his finger.

I waited a moment to speak, trying to study the look in his eyes. "…have you seen what Kyoya's writing down all the time?"

He didn't reply, and looked away. I was afraid to ask anything else, or think about it further. I felt like all I would get is silence, the kind neither of us liked. The dead kind.

Numerous questions and doubts repressed, I began to shake again. "I w-wonder where everyone else is," I said.

I felt an arm around my shoulder, gentle and calm. I was pulled closer, until my body was in the crook of his frame, his chin almost sitting atop my head. Our knees brushed together as I curled up against him. There was something so tender and innocent about his gesture, and I began to wonder if I had already gone to sleep tonight and this was just a dream.

But it all felt too real. The floors were hard and cold beneath us, the closet a bit stuffy and dank, and dark, of course. I felt Mori's breath move in and out of his chest, and his hand rested on my upper arm.

"Feel any better?" he rumbled.

Afraid to break the spell, I nodded. The space he had created for me felt secure and secret.

I don't know how long we stayed like this. It could've been 5 minutes or a half an hour. After a while, it was time to go back and find the others. I felt Mori shift, and his hand slipped to grab mine, where he helped me stand up. For a moment I was standing close to him in this tiny stuffy closet, my head only reaching his chest, his hand holding mine.

Overcome with sudden embarrassment, I poked at the closet door, opening it a crack so we could squeeze through. This time, I led Mori out.

Once in the room, he turned and looked at me with that slight smile. Embarrassment still pervading, I tried to think of something to say, a way to thank him for his gentle care, and nothing came to mind. So I squeezed his hand, smiled, and let go.

Seconds later, the door burst open, with Tamaki, the Twins, Haruhi, and Hunny taking up the frame.

"Takashi!" said Hunny.

"THERE you are!" shrieked Tamaki. "I've searched every single room in this godforsaken wing and I still couldn't find you or Kyoya."

The Twins were wearing their special all-knowing grin, their eyes on me like darts. "And you're disqualified for hiding together," they said. I looked down as the two of us walked out. But I heard Hikaru whisper as I walked by "…if that's all you were doing."

As it turned out, Kyoya was the last to be found. And, much to Tamaki's immense frustration, he had been hiding behind the curtain next to where Tamaki had counted the entire time. Reading a novel, no less.

"It makes sense, really," he crooned with his all-important look. "Of course they'll never expect you to hide right next to the enemy."