Chapter Fifteen

Increase Male Readership Week!

Saki stretched as she sat up on her futon, chasing the sleep from her limbs. It was still summer, quite evident by the fact she only needed a sheet to sleep and the early morning sun was already beating down on her family's tiny martial arts dojo.

"Saki-chan!" her cousin called from down the hallway. "Telephone! It's Yamamoto-chan! I'll just leave it here on the shelf here!"

"Coming!" Saki ran into the hall and snatched the old-style rotary phone from its perch on the shelf.

"Hello!"

"Hey Saki-chan! I was just talking with Rosario-nee and we were thinking about going to the pool! Wanna come?"

"Sure! I got a new bathing suit last week that I've been dying to try out! It'll be just us girls! Don't invite Sasagawa-kun or Sawada-kun or they'll ruin it!"

"How about Damiano-kun...?"

Saki blushed furiously and hissed into the phone. "Don't invite him too! What happens if the bathing suit I got looks differently in sunlight than it did in the store! I'd be horrified!"

"Don't worry... I got ya: no boys. Meet me at my house in twenty minutes. Is that enough time to get ready?"

"Plenty! See you then!"

Saki ran back down the hallway to her room as quick as she could. It was not often that they got a day to themselves like this, so she had to make sure that she was ready. After putting on her bikini top and swim shorts, she threw a shirt on and made a dash for the door, making sure to take her drawstring bag on her way out. She was in such a hurry that Saki almost forgot to put her sandals on.

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"Wow Yama-chan... that sure is a different look on you..." Saki said, doing her best not to laugh. Haruhi was standing there in a bright pink tank top and matching shorts. A rare frown was on her face, as she was flanked by her cheery mother and an equally-pleased Rosario–the perpetrators of such a vile scheme.

"Don't you think this looks adorable?" Haru asked excitedly. "If you girls are going to go to the pool, you've got to at least look your best to impress those boys!"

"Mom... please..." Haruhi groaned. She shrugged her mother's hand from her shoulder, giving Saki the chills at the un-Haruhi-ness of her friend.

"So... how'd you manage that?" laughed Hans as he walked into the kitchen in search of breakfast. The child chuckled smugly as he hopped up onto the countertop and got himself an apple. "She looks like an actual girl for once; that's new."

"Sneaking up from behind works wonders, mein Kusine!" Rosario grinned, giving a thumbs-up in unison with Haru.

"First off, I'm your Vetter, you are my Kusine. Second, you should really try doing that more often."

"I know where you sleep..." Haruhi hissed, forcing a thin smile. Hans just laughed, but any retort from Haruhi was silenced by the kitchen phone ringing.

"Hello?" Haru asked as she answered the phone. Her face lit up as she heard the voice on the other end. "Oh! Ta-kun! How is it over in Siberia? I never knew there was such a call for baseball tutors there–Haruhi-chan, it's your father–oh...? You're where? For how long? Give me an hour; sit tight. Love you too!"

"What was that about Zia Haru?" Rosario asked.

"Takeshi's stopped over in the airport while he's waiting for a flight to Sydney. He says he misses me; can you girls watch Hans today while I'm out?"

"I was gonna go hang out with Eleventh today! I don't need to be babysat like a little kid!" Hans protested. Rosario put her cousin in a crushing hug that landed his face squarely between her breasts and left his legs dangling helplessly in the air.

"Oh, I'm sure Yohi would understand if you have a bit of fun instead of working! You're only a kid! Live a little!"

"Get off me!" Hans flailed about in an attempt to relax the young woman's grip. It did not work.

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It proved to be a beautiful, sunny day. The ladies at the pool were all having fun splashing about in the water, getting each other soaked, and lounging underneath the warm sun and cool shade alike. It was only good times for the ladies, however, as Saki, Rosario and Hans were gathered outside of a changing booth impatiently waiting for the occupant to emerge.

"Just come on out, Yama-chan!" Saki pleaded. "No one's gonna laugh at you."

"I'm not coming out!" Haruhi snapped. "There's still people out there!"

"That looks normal to the girls out here!" Rosario laughed. Saki groaned a bit, as the bikini-clad woman failed to realize that she was one of the major reasons that Haruhi was being so adamant about staying hidden.

"It's just a bunch of girls and me," Hans assured, rolling his eyes. "It's actually kind of creepy now that I think about it... I don't see another guy in the entire place... what the hell...?"

"I don't care!"

"Now come on out here before I make you come out!" Rosario ordered, cracking her bullwhip. Saki and Hans exchanged wary glances as they waited for a response from the reclusive teen.

Angrily, Haruhi slammed open the door of the changing booth. Her grin was more snarl as she stared down Rosario. Haruhi's swimsuit was a light pink with a blue flower print and cut in a style that was actually quite flattering. Since this was Yamamoto Haruhi, however, the Tomboy Queen of Namimori, she was clearly upset at the bikini-style swimsuit.

"Oh, hey, look at that, you're a girl with a decent set of boobs," Hans smirked, noting Haruhi's clear mix of embarrassment and anger. She ground her fist into his skull.

"Act your age for once," she grumbled. Haruhi stomped over to the wading pool and sat down in the shallow end so that everything up to her shoulders was covered.

"Come on... you look cute..." Rosario insisted, attempting to drag Haruhi out of the water. The younger girl simply resisted.

"I don't fill out a swimsuit like you do, Rosario-nee," Haruhi grumbled, sinking down to her chin. Rosario simple sighed, as she had made sure to pick out a bathing suit for Haruhi that was better for her chest size than if she had simply taken one of her own and put it on the teen.

"Well, since it doesn't seem like we're getting Yama-chan out of there anytime soon... now what?" Saki asked. Rosario just shrugged in response. Hans just grinned to himself.

"Well then, if you ladies don't need me anymore, I'm just gonna go and see the Eleve–AAHHH!" Hans jumped back when he turned around, as he came nose-to-nose with Annje. The girl was all smiles as she stood there in her own bright pink swimsuit and an inner tube.

"Hello! Can Annje hang out with you guys?" she asked.

"Are you capable of making noise when you move?" Hans snapped. Annje simply shook her head cheerily.

"Nope! It's part of Annje's training to not make any noise! That's what Damiano-nii told her to do! He said sneaking up on you brings me more experience points... whatever that means."

"I'm gonna kill him..." Hans growled with a clenched fist.

"Hey Annje-chan...?" Saki began, taking the younger girl off to the side. "Why don't you and Gokudera-kun go over and help Yama-chan feel better? She needs some cheering up."

"Haruhi-nee's frowning! Annje must fix this!" Annje gasped. She grabbed Hans by the wrist and dragged him over to the wading pool's edge.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hans protested. "So she's frowning! Everyone does that!"

"Not Haruhi-nee, you grumpy-puss!" Annje replied. The two children then began bickering back and forth. Before long, Hans was able to push Annje into the pool, which found him being dragged along for the ride. The fight became a splashing contest and the trouble with Haruhi was quickly forgotten.

"This is boring; I'm sorry I even suggested it," Haruhi gurgled through the pool water. "I'm never telling Mom when I go to the pool ever again." She tried to sink even lower as Rosario and Saki slipped in on either side of her, making a Haruhi sandwich.

"Hey, don't worry," Saki smiled. "As long as you've got us, you'll be fine. We won't let anyone laugh at you."

"Promise?"

"Of course!" Rosario chimed in. The three girls sat in silence and watched the other occupants of the pool as they went about their business. The water was cool and refreshing, making it so that no one really did want to move and simply take in the calming moment everything brought.

Just as Haruhi was beginning to relax, the children struck. Annje came over to the older girls, a strange girl sitting on the edge of her inner tube dressed in a sundress and a… really bad wig…?

"Who's your friend, Annje-chan?" Rosario asked.

"Oh, this is Reboko-chan!" Annje explained. "She says she knows the Vongola!"

"Do you now, little one?" Rosario bent down, very curious.

"Don't listen to it!" Hans called, splashing his way from the other side of the pool. "That's that stupid baby that tortures Eleventh!"

"Hans! Behave yourself!" Rosario scolded as she helped Reboko off the inner tube and onto the ledge of the pool. "So what do you know about the Vongola, hmm?" She sounded more amused than anything else. She was not amused, however, when Hans's splashing made a miniature tidal wave over her head, effectively drenching her in a shock of surprise.

"You meanie!" Annje yelled. "Why are you so mean? You should learn how to behave!" She took off her inner tube and began beating Hans with it. The older girls simply watched uncomfortably.

"Jeez… I wasn't that irritated," Rosario said.

"I'm sorry for Annje-chan's behavior, Reboko," Saki apologized. "She normally isn't so violent."

"I think that can be solved," Reboko said. She took a purple bazooka out of seemingly nowhere and aimed it at Annje, who now was trying to climb up to Hans's shoulders. With a bang and a puff of smoke, the cannon fired and enveloped Annje in a puff of thick, foul-smelling smoke that spread over a decent portion of the pool.

When the smoke cleared, Reboko was nowhere to be seen. There was only Older Annje, who looked like she had been in the middle of trying on swimsuits herself, almost squishing Hans. The young boy flailed around under the water, half drowning, under the weight of Annje's eighteen-year-old… assets. The fact she was kneeling on his legs certainly did not help either.

"Oh! Het spijt! Sorry!" Older Annje said. She let Hans float to the surface and spit water from his mouth in a comical little fountain.

"Uh… this is one of those space-time continuum things… right…?" Saki asked, pointing at Older Annje.

"Just remember: total bull," Rosario replied. The woman blinked and suddenly noticed that Haruhi was not there next to her. She craned her neck and saw the teen stomping off in a towel, headed straight for the dressing rooms.

"Haruhi-chan! Where are you going?"

"Home!"

"…but we just got here!"

"I don't care!" Haruhi slammed the changing booth shut, making nearly everything in the pool rattle.

"She doesn't get any better," Older Annje whispered. "Don't do this again unless you value your lives."

"Noted," Saki replied.