Episode 16

Road Trip with the Fujioka's!

"Alright men! Are we ready for our trip?" Tamaki's announcement was met with a few cheers, but a certain glare was the one that caught his attention, "Kyoya! Mon ami, lighten up!"

The boy in question did not lighten up, "This is incredibly pointless and you're going to upset both girls at once if we go through with this."

Tamaki gasped and pressed his hand against his chest, "How could you call this pointless?"

"Easily. I'm positive that you all still have homework to complete or something to study. We have no reason to go on this… trip, and it is unlikely that either girl will want us coming along."

The twins laughed, "But that makes it more fun!"

Honey bounced in place, "Besides, we all finished our weekend homework and brought a few books so we can study in the car! We're okay, Kyo-chan!"

Tamaki looked a little too smug for Kyoya's taste, "See, Kyoya? It'll all work out."

"But you're forgetting that we weren't invited."

"That's not important! We need to go with them!"

At that, the ravenet cocked an eyebrow, "We need to? Please, enlighten me as to why we are needed on this trip."

The blond seemed to realize he had trapped himself and started stammering, "I… I didn't exactly mean 'need', it was more like… what I mean to say is… ah…" A glance at the smile on Kyoya's face was his breaking point, "WHAT IF THEY GET INTO A CRASH? OR WHAT IF THEY GET STOPPED BY THE POLICE? WE HAVE TO BE THERE TO HELP THEM!"

The five other boys sighed in unison and glanced away from their insane 'president'. Of course that would be the whole reason behind this adventure. In fact, they'd all had a sneaking suspicion ever since they'd overheard the girl's plan two days ago while cleaning up the club room for the weekend that Tamaki would have one of his freak-outs over it.

"Tama-chan, there's no need to be worried. Jin-chan knows what she's doing."

"She got her driver's license in America! She's never driven in Japan before, so how can we know if she'll drive right?"

"Boss, really-"

"-we know it would be out of character for you to not question Jin-senpai's abilities, even after all this time-"

"-but couldn't you at least try to understand she can handle herself?"

"I'M NOT DOUBTING!" Tamaki frantically waved his hands around, somehow reigning in his voice as well, "I'm merely concerned about the fact that she'll be making an almost 8 hour round-trip on the weekend! I can not believe that her father is sending her to Koriyama by herself after she sustained such an injury only a week ago! I'm only acting as concern as a good brother should!" The twins exchanged a glance. Now he was just repeating things he's already said about Haruhi.

"That's not true, Tama-chan! She's not by herself because Haru-chan is with her!"

"But that makes it worse!"

Kyoya rolls his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose, "There's no way we can convince you otherwise, is there?"

"I'm glad you finally understand, Kyoya!"

The others fight back their groans.

"Well… it's not like we had anything better to do today, anyways."

"It might be fun to take a road trip with Jin-chan. I mean, it's not like we've really talked to her since she came home, right, Takashi?"

"Don't blame me if we can't last for 8 hours in a car together without killing someone off."

Tamaki smiled widely, "That's the spirit, men! Now, let's go!"

* Timeskip *

The six boys had been in the limo for perhaps fifteen or so minutes and they were bored already. The twins were staring out the window, eyes glazed slightly as they critiqued the clothes of the pedestrians passing their window. Kyoya was busy running through his list of study subjects for the day. Just because Jin was taking a break from their little race for top placement in class did not mean he was going to.

Tamaki noticed how the small amount of enthusiasm for the trip was waning already and tapped the floor with his foot, attempting to think of something to entertain the boys.

"So… does anyone know why Jin and Haruhi are going down to Koriyama?"

Kyoya, of course, was the one to answer, "They're driving some supplies down to a bar that works in close relation to the bar their father works at. It would seem as though there was a problem during shipping and the supplies for both establishments were delivered to the Bunkyo bar. But, as Sundays are one of the more busy days of the week for both businesses, neither one of them can spare the extra hands to drive one way or the other. So, it would seem that Mr. Fujioka mentioned the issue to his eldest daughter who took it upon herself to help out."

"Yep."

"That sure sounds like Jin-senpai."

Suddenly, the twins straightened up in their seats and pressed their faces to the window, "And that sure looks like Jin-senpai!"

" What? " Tamaki unbuckled his seatbelt and launched himself to the window opposite him. He stared in shock as a rather large vehicle passed by the limo, two familiar brunettes in the front seats.

"I thought you said they were leaving at 11:30!?"

"They were!"

"Well, it would appear that they decided to head out a little earlier."

Tamaki jumped back into his seat, "Yamez! Follow that black car!"

"Yes, sir." After a probably somewhat illegal u-turn, the hosts found themselves a part of what would become a 4-hour car chase.

* With Jin and Haruhi *

"Okay, Haru, ready for this?"

The younger sibling looked over the center console, "Are you?"

Jin's smile shrunk into more of a quirk of her lips, "Will you stop worrying already? I told you that I'm fine. I've been fine for days."

"Yeah, I know, but I still worry."

"Hey! I thought I was the older sister? You're supposed to let me worry!"

Haruhi only laughed in response and rooted around in the large bag at her feet, "I'm going check our stuff one more time to make sure we didn't forget anything."

"Better hurry, Haru. We're coming up on the exit for the Tohoku expressway. No turning back once we hit the toll booth."

"Okay, okay, I'm hurrying!" The short haired girl patted the very front pocket, feeling the shapes pressed against in, "First aid kit for small injuries. Car charger for our phones." She unzipped the main pocket, "For me, two textbooks and The Lightning Thief and for you, one beginners book on the Swedish language. An aux cord. Two water bottles. Cheez-it bags for me and Jolly Ranchers for you."

"Hey, can you hand me one of those while you're at it?" Haruhi smiled and pulled one of the candies out at random. It was red, but that wasn't surprising considering Jin had ordered a "red" bag, which meant that she could've handed her sister a cherry, watermelon, fruit punch or-

"Strawberry." Her older sister tucked the hard candy into the side of her mouth, "These new flavors are pretty awesome."

"If you say so." Haruhi wasn't sure what it was, maybe the strange combination of sweet and shiver-inducing sour, but she just hadn't been able to develope a taste for her sister's favorite candy. "Anyways, as I was saying, we have everything plus a camera so we can 'document' anything interesting that happens for Dad."

Jin shook her head, "I'm both a little upset that he can't come and a little glad."

"Why? Because all three of us wouldn't have been able to fit?" Haruhi glanced into the back of the car as she spoke. The large company vehicle the girls had borrowed for the day was supposed to seat 8 people comfortably, but at the moment the middle and back seats were piled high with boxes full of frozen fruits, meats, olives, and cleaning supplies.

"Well, kind of. But mostly because I really wanted to drive. If I don't keep doing it, eventually I'll forget how. And besides," they came up to another red light and Jin threw her left arm around her sister's shoulders, pulling her into a side hug, "I wanted to spend some one-on-one time with little Haru."

Haruhi smiled and rested her head on Jin's shoulder, "Yeah yeah, you just need someone to keep you awake while you drive."

"Ouch, Haru. Words can hurt, you know." The light turned green, so Jin pressed a quick kiss to her sister's forehead and moved the car forward. Haruhi looked at the clock on the dash. 11:22. They had originally planned on leaving a few minutes later in the day, but they'd gotten everything packed up sooner than expected and decided to take off.

If the trip went according to plan, the two would reach Koriyama by 3:30ish. Unloading would take perhaps half an hour, so they'd be back on the road by 4 and dropping the car off at their father's work at 8. That way Jin wouldn't have to drive for so long in the dark on the expressway, and they'd be able to get some sleep for school the next day.

Jin flicked on her turn signal and went up the ramp that lead to the expressway, "Haru, card?" The short-haired girl ducked back down to her bag and reached into an inside zipper pocket. She pulled out a blue credit card and handed it over to her sister's outstretched hand. They pulled up to the toll booth and Haru glanced around.

Since the car they were using didn't have an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection), the girls had to pay with their father's company's credit card. The ETC lanes were clear, as per usual, and any car that approached went under the arch without even slowing down. Thankfully the girls seemed to have hit a lull in the traffic at the moment, because there was only one car ahead of them for the credit card payment line. The monetary transaction line was empty as well, but that was because almost no one used it any more.

The girl's car moved forward and Jin reached out of her window. She slid the card in and out of the ATM-like machine, punched in the PIN number, and they were good to go. (AN: I don't really know how they do it. There's only so much research I'm willing to put into this thing. Sue me.)

Jin handed the card back to her sister with a smile, then moved out from under the gates, quickly speeding up to match the traffic. Haruhi zipped the pocket back up before she leaned back in her seat and rolled her window down. As Jin picked up speed, the wind blew harder and harder in Haruhi's face, but she welcomed it. Today's weather was predicted to be an even 22° and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. The perfect day to roll down your window on the expressway.

"Hey! Out of curiosity, how much are we going to be charged for toll this trip?" She had to shout a little to be heard over the wind, but her sister seemed to hear just fine.

"12,170¥, and half is being reimbursed by the shipping company!"

"Good!" The girls lapsed into silence for another few moments, just letting the wind blast their hair back and enjoying the nice weather.

* With the hosts *

"There! I think I see them!"

"Tamaki, not every black car on this expressway is going to be their car! We've been on this road for an entire hour with no sign of them! Why won't you give up? We should go back home and forget this whole 'adventure'."

The blond huffed in his seat, but didn't make any move that might suggest he'd given up, "We already went through the toll. The ETC was scanned. If we've paid for this trip, then I suggest we take it. If you don't like it, then go ahead and walk home." Kyoya willed up all his internal strength to not launch himself at the idiot and make him turn this limousine around.

"Could you two just shut up already? Kaoru is about a pothole away from giving into carsickness and your arguing is not helping!"

"Hika-chan, don't shout at Tama-chan and Kyo-chan! And Kyo-chan stop shouting at Tama-chan! Maybe it is their car, we don't know!"

" I didn't even want to come on this stupid drive! "

The other red head who was hunched over in his seat let out a humorless chuckle, "But you did~ Probably because no matter what you say you were excited to see your-"

"If you make another idiotic wisecrack about the completely non existent and mythical idea that Jin Fujioka and I might ever even come close to the possibility of becoming a couple for even a second , I will physically throw you out of this moving vehicle, Hitachiin ."

The red-heads just laughed, sounding more malicious by the second.

" See, I told you he was in denial! "

" It's all over his face! How stupid can you get? "

Kyoya's hands were at his seat belt buckle by the time Tamaki started smacking at his right shoulder, "It is them! I can see Jin!"

Kyoya turned his head and looked out the window behind him. True to Tamaki's word, Jin was sitting at the steering wheel of the black car they were currently driving by. Her eyes were staring straight ahead, but she seemed to be speaking.

"I knew we'd find them!" The blond's friend was about a heartbeat away from responding with 'Because you're a moron', but just then the girl they were staring at happened to glance out at the passing lane. Her eye's went wide and her jaw dropped.

Kyoya couldn't help but smirk and flick a wave. Despite how he'd been ready to violently attack the twins seated across from him, he couldn't help but admit that things were starting to become a little more interesting.

* With Jin and Haruhi *

Their day had been going so well…

After finishing her math homework (with maybe a tiny bit of assistance from the mathematician in the driver's seat), and having Jin run through a few Swedish phrases, Haruhi had pulled The Lightning Thief out of the bag. One requirement for her English lessons was to read at least three English books, cover to cover, by the end of the school year. She had asked her sister if she'd found any recommendations while overseas, and boy did she ever.

Haruhi was perhaps a little more than halfway done with the first Percy Jackson novel, and Haruhi knew, deep down, that she was hooked. Jin was already done with the first series, now waiting patiently for her school workload to shrink before running out to find The Lost Hero .

And, as per her sister's request, Haruhi was reading the book out loud, the windows rolled back up so she wouldn't have to shout.

"The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. 'Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible...Echidna?'"

Haruhi paused, waiting for her sister to provide her with the proper pronunciation. Because, on top of absolutely everything else that her sister was good at or did in her spare time, she was also a big mythology buff. Norse, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Hindu, you name it, Jin probably knew a fair few of the myths and gods (since it was almost impossible to remember them all).

But her sister remained silent.

Haruhi looked over and saw her sister staring out the window to her right, "Nēchan?"

Her sister looked back out to the road, "Haru… they've found us."

The short-haired girl was confused. Normally, as a joke, whenever the two saw a police car driving down the same road they were, one of them would say, 'They found me!' and pretend to hide from the cops. But Jin looked far too serious for her to be teasing about that. And besides, Haruhi couldn't see any police cars nearby.

"Nēchan, what are you talking about?"

"The host club." Jin started snickering, "They… they're in the limo next to our car…" she started laughing out loud, releasing the steering wheel with her left hand to cradle her forehead. "Oh my god! I can't believe them sometimes! Hahaha!"

"Are you kidding me?" Haruhi pulled at her seat belt until it loosened enough for her to tuck her legs onto her seat and kneel, giving her a better angle to look out her sister's window.

And there they were. Tamaki, Hikaru, Kaoru, and Honey had their faces pressed against the windows of the limousine driving alongside their car, and if Haruhi squinted, she could make out Kyoya and Mori as well. The boys were all smiling, a few waving and trying to motion for Jin to roll down her window, probably so they could talk.

Haruhi wrapped her right arm around the headrest of her seat and laughed into it. Normally she'd be a bit angry that the hosts were butting in on a day that was supposed to be just between her and Jin, but the idea that the boys had put so much effort into following them was simply too ridiculous to be upset about. At the moment.

Suddenly, an idea surfaced in Haruhi's mind.

"Nēchan… how fast are you going right now?"

The long-haired girl flicked her gaze down and back up, "Same as usual, Haru."

Haruhi smiled mischievously, "Care to step on it?" With the smile on her sister's face, she figured that Jin didn't mind at all.

She flicked the cruise control off and placed her foot back on the gas pedal, keeping them at 105 kph for another few seconds before picking up speed. Haruhi was still on her knees and she watched the boy's faces as the girl's speedometer inched its way up.

Tamaki was the first to notice that they were falling behind. He tapped at the glass of the window and stared at Haruhi questionably. She laughed harder and waved. Then all the boy's faces changed. Mostly they looked surprised or shocked, but Tamaki (of course) seemed to be falling into a full-blown panic. He pulled away from the window only to pop his torso out of the sunroof a second later, calling after them.

The girl's merely laughed harder.

Haruhi looked down at the speedometer as Jin started to level out. 115 kph. 15 over the limit. Not really a big problem, as they were actually now going the same speed as a lot of cars that had passed them earlier in the hour, but it was still faster than their dad would've appreciated.

"Hey, Haru, keep an eye out for Toyota Crowns for me, will you?" The two laughed again and Haruhi sat back down in her seat properly.

"If you want, but I don't think there'll be a big problem, Nēchan."

"Yeah," Jin looked out her side mirror with a big smile, "I'd be more worried for the boys, because I think they're trying to catch up to us."

Haruhi whipped herself around in her seat and looked out the back window over all the boxes. Sure enough, a black limo was picking up speed behind them. Tamaki was no longer hanging out of the sunroof, but Haruhi had no doubt it was the same car.

She smack the center armrest rapidly, "We've gotta lose them, Nēchan!"

"We can try!" A thrill of excitement was pulsing through the girls. This little chase was actually a lot of fun, and it was only funnier when they tried to imagine how the boys were reacting in their car.

* With the hosts *

"Yamez, can't you go faster?"

"I'm already pushing 115, sir. Being stopped by police would only slow us down, sir."

Tamaki pouted and bounced his knees, "Why would they run?"

His friend beside him readjusted his glasses, doing a poor job at hiding his small smile, "Perhaps it could be that they don't want to see us today. But that's only a possibility, of course."

"But why? We're a pleasure to be with, right gentlemen?" His uplifting smile was short lived as he viewed the other boys.

"Kaoru! You kicked me!"

"I didn't mean to! Maybe you should stop sprawling over seats that aren't yours! "

"Hika-chan! Kao-chan! You're being-"

"Shut up, Honey-senpai!"

"Hey!"

"Takashi, don't get mad!"

"My back is getting sore!"

The blond refused to look his friend in the eye, "We're probably just tired of being cramped in this car together. Outside of a moving vehicle, anyone would want to be around us."

Kyoya leaned back in his seat, a little too uncomfortable to be completely satisfied, "Except for the Fujioka girls, it would seem. And don't forget the original plan was for us to be in the same car as them, which would've been even more cramped. Face it, Tamaki, you didn't think this 'trip' all the way through."

"Kyoya, I'm going to politely tell you to shut up."

"Sir, I've lost them! We're trapped behind a pair of semi-trucks going 100!"

There was silence in the car after Yamez's announcement and Tamaki blatantly ignored Kyoya's smug smirk.

"Nēchan, we need to take the upcoming exit, okay?" The older girl nodded and swung safely into the left lane, her blinker flashing at a gentle pulse. She glanced at the time and smiled. 3:04. After their little run in with the hosts and speeding up, they'd managed to shave a couple minutes off of their driving time. And speaking of the hosts, the girls hadn't seen the limo in over two hours. Haruhi assumed they'd lost them for the rest of the day, which was a good thing for her mood.

"Alright, Haru, do you have the map ready?"

"All set, Nēchan." Haruhi held the hand-drawn map in her hand. It was scribbled on a napkin from the bar, so it was a little messy, but on the other side were written instructions that told them exactly what streets to take to get to their destination.

"Alright, once we get through the toll, you're going to take the fourth left we come across."

"Got it."

For the following ten minutes, the girls repeated this trend. Haruhi would read the instructions to her older sister, and once Jin completed it, she'd read the next one. And at 3:15, the two pulled into the back of the bar and waved at the two employees waiting for them.

Jin turned the car off and they hopped out of the vehicle, "Hello! We've got your things!"

The two men ran forward, smiling widely and hugging the girls, "Thank you both so much for doing this!"

"You have no idea how much this means to everyone here!"

"Oh, and you're both so cute! I just want to wrap you up and take you home myself! And you're wearing matching shirts! That's adorable! "

Jin and Haruhi took it in stride. Their father and a good half of his co-workers behaved this way as well, so it was nothing new to them. And they'd both received the same treatment while packing up the car back in Bunkyo, shirt comment and everything. The two simply waited until the employees released them and got started on the job. It took them all four trips between the car and the bar to move everything inside. The other employees were just as equally grateful for the girl's help and asked often if they were sure they didn't want to be paid for the job.

"No thanks. It's kind of against our school's policies, especially as scholarship students."

"Besides, our dad is treating us to a dinner out this week to repay us, but thank you."

The girls were, obviously, a big hit, and they ended up not leaving the establishment until around 3:48. All the employees wanted to hug them both just one last time .

The girls sighed in relief once they finally got to walk out of the doors, "Okay, Haru. Do you still want to grab a quick bite to eat or just head on home? We've got another four hours to drive and-"

"Haruhi! Jin!"

The girls stopped short as Tamaki came flying out at them out of nowhere. The girl's were quickly wrapped up in a pair of arms that didn't seem willing to let go. Over his shoulder Jin could see the five other host club boys climbing out of the limo and stretching their legs, and they appeared to be scowling at each other.

"T-Tamaki-senpai?"

"How'd you guys find us?"

The blond was still holding them tightly as he explained, "Kyoya knew which bar you were heading to, so you weren't hard to find! But why did you run? Do you not like us?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest-"

"Sir!" Finally, Tamaki released his hold on the girls and faced his driver, who looked nervous about something, "I performed a check on the car and, it would seem as though we have a flat tire."

Tamaki paled and staggered over to the limo. Sure enough, the back left tire was flat.

"When did that happen?"

"I believe we ran over something sharp during the last half hour on the expressway and it's been slowly leaking since then." The driver ducked his head slightly, "Sir."

The blond nodded, "Well, it's okay. I mean, we have a spare tire in the trunk, yes?"

His driver looked away nervously, "Yes, but I'm afraid I don't know how to change a tire..."

Honey finally spoke up, though his smile seemed a little lack-luster, "That's okay, Yamez. I'm sure Jin-chan can help you!"

The boys all turned to face the tall girl, expectant looks on their faces. Jin, however, bit at her lower lip and scratched the back on her head, "Um… well, there's a… about that. I-uh… I'm afraid I get a little lost around cars… and car maintenance."

She gave the group a sheepish smile, and they responded with complete disbelief.

"Jin-senpai-"

"-can't fix a car?"

The girl shook her head with a side smile, "Mm-mm." The boys continued to stare, and she couldn't help but laugh lightly, "Okay, I'm flattered by how shocked you all look, but come on, no one is great at everything."

Haruhi pressed her hands to her hips, "Now if you could stop making Nēchan feel bad about not being able to help, how about we figure out how you boys are going to get home?"

At that, Yamez, which was apparently the name of their driver, looked back down at the popped tire, "I believe I can call to have the car taken to a shop nearby, but I'm unsure how long it may take to replace the tire or how busy they may be at this time of day."

Honey suddenly started bouncing on his toes, "Does that mean we get to ride with Haru-chan and Jin-chan like we planned to?"

Haruhi blanched and took a step back, "Ride? With us? Wh-why?" She looked to her sister for some backup. However, Jin was nodding thoughtfully.

"It does look that way, Honey-senpai. We can fit all of you in the car, but it'll be a bit of a squeeze." The boys who had started to look excited suddenly looked at their shoes.

"Well, we don't really need to head home just yet."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to step in on your sister-time."

"Koriyama might be an interesting little town."

Jin frowned and crossed her arms, "Do you boys just not want to ride with us? Is that it?"

Tamaki jumped forward, "No! No no no, that's not it at all, right gentlemen?" The other boys were quick to agree, so the long-haired brunette smiled and stuck her hands into her jean pockets.

"Well, that's good. And since you boys probably don't want to get home around midnight, especially since we have school tomorrow, piling into our car would probably be the best option, right?"

The hosts exchanged glances.

"Well… if you put it that way…"

*Timeskip*

Haruhi wasn't sure exactly how her sister had managed to convince the boys to squeeze into their car, but she was very sure that this was the most awkward road trip she'd ever taken.

To make sure that everyone fit inside the 8-seat car without wanting to strangle anyone else too badly, Jin had been quick to arrange a seating chart, of sorts. The two sisters would keep their seats in the front, obviously. Tamaki was behind Jin, Mori-senpai was behind Haruhi, and Honey-senpai was on the 'hump' seat between them. And in the back was Hikaru, Kaoru, and Kyoya. Kyoya was behind Tamaki, probably to make sure that the redheads didn't antagonize the blond too much.

The seating worked, but it had been a very quiet and tense half hour. The boys didn't speak and seemed to be trying their best not to touch each other (though it was hard when their sides were squeezed together) and neither Jin nor Haruhi could think of anything to say.

Until Jin's cell phone went off.

The gentle chimes make everyone jump in their seats, the tension putting everyone's nerves on edge. Haruhi grabbed the iPhone going off from the empty cup holder in the center console and answered it.

"Hello? Hi Dad."

Jin gave her sister a side glance before returning her attention back to the road.

"Uh huh. Yes, we just left." The short-haired girl was silent for a longer moment before looking at the back seat, "Um… nope. Nothing terribly interesting to report. We're still on time and what not." Jin snorted from her chair, but otherwise said nothing.

"Yeah. Okay, then. See you tonight. Love you."

Jin leaned over the center console and Haruhi held the phone up to her ear, "I love you, too, Dad." She paused before laughing a bit, "Fine, if I have too. Okay. Bye!"

Haruhi pulled the phone back onto her side and hung up, "So, what did Dad tell you?"

"To not kill us in a fiery explosion."

The short-haired girl laughed and leaned back in her seat, finally feeling a bit relaxed. In turn, the boys started subconsciously relaxing as well. She looked down at the iPhone in her hands and turned it over a few times.

"Hey, do you guys mind if we listen to some music?" Jin visibly perked up in her seat at Haruhi's suggestion, which the others noticed.

Tamaki leaned forward, wrapping an arm around Jin's headrest, "Of course not, Haruhi! We'd all love to hear your commoner's music! What are we going to listen to first?"

Jin laughed and reached back with her left hand to pat the blond on the head, "Tamaki, we're going to be listening to some music my friends from America sent me."

"Really?" Honey leaned forward this time, eyes wide with curiosity, "Do they still talk to you?"

"Oh, yeah! I get emails and messages from them all the time. About half of them are lists of songs they think I should listen to."

"Why? Do you send them Japanese songs in return?"

Haruhi started plugging the aux cord into the car, "Nēchan tends to favor English songs. It's pretty much all we listen to, so she asked her friends back in America to send her songs that she might like."

The boys watched as Haruhi scrolled through the music list. Or more like, shift down a bit before smirking at the screen.

"Haru? Have you found one?"

"Yeah… but I'm not sure if the boys are going to appreciate it."

Jin turned her head a bit, "Oh? How so?"

"I want to go through our mixed favorites... alphabetically."

The long-haired brunette smiled and chuckled, "Go ahead. It's not like I'm going to say no." With one last smirk towards the back of the car, Haruhi pressed her thumb to the screen. The speakers softly let out a few notes. Like how a music box in a horror movie might sound. A dog barked, and it sounded so realistic Tamaki jumped and looked out the window.

Then the lyrics began without so much as a warning: " She's an American beauty! I'm an American Psycho! She's an American beauty! I'm an American- I'm an American- American Psycho! Woah! Woah! Woah! "

The boy's felt their jaws drop as Haruhi and Jin started jamming out in the front seats. The song was fast paced and the English words came and went so fast the boys hardly had any time to translate them mentally. Haruhi was mouthing the words like a professional lip-syncer, but Jin was actually singing aloud, matching the words note for note. They didn't even skip over the sex references!

The hosts had a feeling this was going to be an… interesting ride.

'American Beauty/American Psycho' was the first song of many the group listened to, and there were a few different ways the guys were dealing with it. Tamaki recognized a few of the songs, as he used to visit the UK often when he lived in France, so he had been introduced to a lot of English artists. He sang along, sometimes stumbling over a word or two, but he had a good voice.

The twins bounced to the rhythms, as most of them were dance tunes. Occasionally they requested a song they'd already heard just so they could dance again. Honey joined in with them. 'American Beauty/American Psycho' was actually played twice again after it's debut. Mori would bob his head to the music and tap his foot, but he would only watch the others with their dances. Sometimes he'd find himself humming along to the tune.

Kyoya wasn't sure what to think. He actually liked the songs, which was surprising. He tried to keep his mind off of that fact by finding a general thread in all the songs. But it was hard. Sure, most of them were songs to dance to, but some of them were the exact opposite. And the genres bounced all over the place. There were even a few instrumental pieces and Acapella groups sprinkled into the selection.

But the fun ended right after they finished a duet with the car beside them. Their windows had been rolled down to let in some much needed breeze when Haruhi had selected 'All Star'. As they reached the second chorus, Tamaki noticed that the car on their right had started singing along. Soon, the passengers of each car were singing to each other, smiling and laughing and genuinely having a good time.

At the end of the song, Haruhi touched the phone and quickly withdrew her hand, "Woah, this thing is getting hot. Maybe we should let it cool down for a while."

Jin nodded, "Sounds like a good idea." The boys whined as Haruhi unplugged the phone.

"Now what are we going to do? We have almost another 3 hours!"

"How about we play a car game I learned in America?"

The twins leaned forward, their eyes gleaming at the idea of a 'game', "What's it called?"

"Easy, you two. It's not meant to embarrass anyone. It's called 'Don't get me Started'. Basically, you give someone a random topic and they have to go on a minute long rant about it."

"That sounds stupid."

"Hey! Don't knock it til you try it!"

The boys offered each other shrugs before consenting to the game. Oddly enough, the previous tension they'd been holding between each other had dispersed over the past hour. No one was complaining about how cramped the car was, or how the leather seats were uncomfortably warm with their body heat. A few of the hosts didn't even notice it.

"How about I start us off? Haru, give me a topic."

"Hm…" Haruhi stared out the window, eyes narrowing in concentration, "How about… trees?"

The driver immediately straightened up in her seat, "Oh, my, gosh, don't get me started ! Where do I begin? I mean, look at them? Why do they all look different? How are we supposed to know what they're called? And their leaves ! What, they show up for about half the year, change color, and then just fall ! All over the place! Ugg! It's such a pain to rake them up! And yeah, they give us air to breathe but at what cost? "

The boys couldn't help but stare. As Jin continued with her complaints, they could almost imagine that, yes, this girl absolutely hated trees with a burning passion.

"Time!" Jin shut up and smiled as Haruhi spun around in her seat, "Who wants to go next?"

"Me! I want to go!"

Jin laughed, "Okay, Honey! Your topic... is ants."

Honey's excited face vanished quickly, "Oh. Okay. Um... Ants. They're... there's always a lot of them. And they, uh, eat your picnic! Yeah! And some of them bite! They can hurt! Um... uh, and, uh, they..." the blond boy's face scrunched up as he tried to think of something else to say on the fly. It didn't help that the twins were cracking up behind him. "They-"

"Time!"

The redheads kept laughing, "You couldn't think of anything for ants? Really?"

"Why don't you try it? It's harder than it looks!"

Kaoru shrugged, "Alright. Give me a topic."

Haruhi waved a hand, "I've got one! Kaoru, your topic is women's bathrooms."

The redhead leaned back, confused, "Women's... bathrooms?" The others laughed at the subtle hint of horror in the boy's question.

"Yup! Go!"

"Uh... well.. I'm not, I don't really... I-I can't believe how much time women spend in the bathroom!" The other boys couldn't hold their laughter in as the younger twin blushed at the words that came out of his mouth, "I mean... um, they do everything in there it seems. Makeup, hair, socialize, it's a bathroom for goodness sake! Even in movies the girl's bathroom is used for meeting places or they're shown to have a long line-"

"Time. Nice job, Kaoru."

Hikaru snickered, "Yeah... nice job. You sure know a bit about women's bathrooms, then, huh?"

His brother narrowed his eyes, "Then how about I give you a topic?"

"Aww! But I wanted to go next!" The redhead shrugged and turned to Tamaki.

"You sure?"

"Yeah!"

"Your topic is... chimneys."

Tamaki's smile fell flat, "Oh. Right. Chimneys... let's see. Um, how dare they get so dirty?" At the blank looks the others are giving him, Tamaki finds himself oddly grasping for words, "I mean, uh, who even has a chimney any more? All they do is get dirty and sooty and are a fire hazard! Good riddance is all I can say!" He smiled, obviously pleased at his argument. The others were snickering.

"30 more seconds, Tamaki."

The blond blinked, "30 more? Oh... um, what else is there to say? They're, ah, a waste of brick? And they might make a house look... rustic, but they're too much hassle to actually use and... and... who wants an actual fire in their house? So... what would be the point of a chimney?"

"Time!"

"Wow, Tama-chan! That was actually pretty good!"

The taller blond rubbed at his forehead, "The timing was the only problem!"

"Okay, now it's my turn-"

Screech!

"AHH!" The car braked really hard and the eight occupants were sent forward, being caught by their seat belts. They screamed and clutched at each other or various parts of the car interior. Kyoya's glasses slipped off the end of his nose and fell onto the floor before he could snag them.

" Merde! "

The car stopped braking and everyone was sent back into their seats with racing heartbeats. Kyoya reached down and felt around for his glasses. Thankfully they hadn't fallen beneath the seat in front of him, and he quickly jammed them onto his face. He looked towards the front of the car. Jin had her left arm swung out in front of Haruhi, but retracted it as soon as Kyoya saw and placed both hands back on the steering wheel.

She snarled at the car in front of them and slammed her hand on the horn for two seconds, " Salaud! Enule! Va te faire voir! "

Tamaki lets out a strangled gasp and stares at the girl, horrified, "JIN FUJIOKA!"

Everyone but the two girls look at Tamaki in surprise. Haruhi is now trying to muffle her laughs while Jin's shoulders tense up.

"Oops… sorry, Tamaki."

"MY MOTHER WOULD'VE THROWN ME INTO MY ROOM WITHOUT FOOD FOR A DAY IF I'D SAID THOSE WORDS!"

"He cut us off! We could've been in a crash-"

"MY PRECIOUS SISTER, HOW COULD YOU?

"Wait, what did Jin-chan say?"

"WHERE DID YOU EVEN LEARN THOSE WORDS?"

"Um… I took a French class… and excelled at it… so I'd take extra lessons and, um, check out books? And there was this tiny little book I'd picked up while doing so that read… um… swears around the world?"

Tamaki looked like he was about to have a stroke and Haruhi couldn't hold her laughter in anymore. She was joined by the twins who were cracking up in the backseat.

"Oh man! You should see your face, boss!"

"I can't take it! Who would've thought Jin-senpai would know how to swear in French?"

Haruhi turned around to face the boys, "It's a bad habit of hers. She swears in a lot of different languages, actually."

"Haru…"

"What? All I'm saying is you probably should've stuck to Swedish or Italian while Tamaki-senpai was in the car, Nēchan."

Jin cleared her throat, "Okay! How about we continue with the game? Mori, your turn!"

* Timeskip *

If you had asked Kyoya yesterday what he normally likes to do during a car trip, he probably would've said studying or catching up on all the sleep he misses during the week. And if you'd asked him to come up with minute long 'rants' about pens, straws, curtains, or vending machines, he'd think you were insane or a child. And yet, he'd done just that in the past hour and a half. Though, he had to admit it was much more fun and amusing than a game of I Spy or trivia pursuit. He even found himself laughing along as Mori-senpai came up with a very serious list of complaints about kittens.

Still, he kept an eye on the clock. The leather seat he was using was now almost uncomfortably warm. The open windows were nice and all, but it wasn't much help for the lower half of his body. And they still had another hour and a half. It was only 6:29. He sighed and tuned back into the game as Haruhi threw her hands around.

"How can they even call it art? It's literally a lump of metal twisted in a spiral shape! Modern art is not art !"

The twins were cracking up beside Kyoya, leaning up against each other as per usual. Kyoya could almost imagine that they'd never had a single moment today where they'd been at each other's throats. He looked back towards the front of the car and found his eyes drawn to the back of Jin's head. She was certainly a very interesting woman. Skilled, intelligent... a real renaissance woman. There weren't many girls like her at their school, in fact there definitely weren't, so it was almost no wonder that she fit in well with the host club. The other seven were all strange in their own ways, enough so that they always stood out in a crowd, and not just for their looks.

Jin turned her head all of the sudden and Kyoya pretended he was still paying attention to Haruhi's turn.

"Hey, guys, Sky appreciation moment." The six boys blinked and looked at each other. Was this another game? What did she mean?

Haruhi, however, was quick to turn and look out the window. She gasped as her eyes grew wide. One glance at her big smile and five of the hosts pressed close to the windows to the left of the car. Tamaki, being on the right, partially climbed over Honey and stared out over Mori's shoulders. Kyoya didn't move at first. He was stuck in the back seat, far right corner. Everyone was looking out of the left side of the car (except Jin, of course, she had to watch the road) and he didn't feel like fighting with the twins over a spot to look outside.

But then he turned his head anyway to see his friend's reactions, and the view from the back window caught his attention. Turning his body, Kyoya felt the air in his lungs rush out.

It was the sunset.

The sky was lit up with beautiful pinks, oranges, yellows, blues, and purples. A few clouds dotted the sky, making it look like a watercolor painting. Kyoya knew he shouldn't be staring like this, but it was hard. He couldn't remember ever seeing something as beautiful. Watching the sunset wasn't exactly something he did regularly. Sure, the photos and paintings were lovely, but now he knew that those recreations would never be able to hold a candle to the real thing.

The others seemed to agree.

For about two whole minutes, the boys do nothing but stare in silence. Eventually Haruhi went back to facing the front, but the rest of the host club was content to watch the changing colors of the sky. Eventually Jin's voice hummed softly from the driver's seat.

" A little different than the ones you see in the city, huh? "

Tamaki whispered in return, " We don't really look at those either… "

Kyoya can't see her face, but he assumes that Jin is smiling.

* Timeskip *

" Haruhi, get the camera out! "

"Hm?" The short-haired girl pulls her eyes away from the dark passing landscape to face her sister, "Why?"

" Take a look behind us. " Haruhi blinked, but turned around in her seat and looked at the boys. They were all fast asleep. Most of them leaning on each other and letting out soft sleep noises. Despite the underlying feeling of her day out with her sister being intruded on, Haruhi had to admit that she'd still had a lot of fun during the ride. After the sing-along and game playing portion of the ride, the last hour of their drive had been surprisingly mellow.

The boys had watched the sun set until the stars started coming out. Then they stared at those for a while. Honey had spotted a couple deer hanging out in a field with the help of the moon light, and it was easy to tell that most of the hosts had been more excited about that than they'd care to admit. It was kind of funny.

And speaking of funny, at some point during the last half hour Jin had shared some stories from her time in America. All of them funny occurrences when she was a part of the school's marching band. Haruhi had already heard most of them, but even she was laughing to the point of tears at Jin's stories. The boys seemed to have had a fun time and while she didn't really want to admit it out loud... Haruhi had enjoyed the boy's company. Yes, even Tamaki and Kyoya's.

" Okay, so they're sleeping. Why a camera? "

" Can you take a picture for me? I think this is adorable of them. "

Haruhi rolled her eyes, but did it anyways. Even with the flash on, the six hosts remained dead to the world. Tamaki's head fell sideways off of his headrest and smacked onto the window, but his eyes stayed closed. Haru couldn't help but snort with laughter. I guess there's no denying his thick skull now.

" This trip turned out better than I expected. "

" Even with the boys hitching a ride? "

Jin smiled, " No. Because the boys hitched a ride. "

Her sister's comment caught Haruhi off guard, " So... you're glad they came with us in the end? "

" Yeah... a little bit. You do notice how they don't hang out together outside of the host club, right? Well, I looked into it a little more and, they don't really hang out with anyone but each other, but only at the club or for club activities. And I think they're too important to each other to only see those sides. With this trip, they were actually allowed to relax and be themselves for each other. So, yeah, I'm happy they came with us. "

Haruhi gave the backseats another look, " Maybe... but they're still annoying, possessive idiots. "

Jin laughed and ruffled her sister's hair, " Yeah, but they're our annoying, possessive idiots. "