Chapter One: The Storm
On an island beach, three young college students were enjoying the holiday from school. The girl sighed happily; her white one-piece swimsuit matching her pure-white towel. She rubbed a little more sunscreen on, as she only wished for a tan, not a burn. The dark-haired boy rolled off his blue towel to grin at her.
"Come on, Louise; this beach is begging to be searched for shells."
The golden-haired beauty giggled, and grabbed her little bag; just in case they found anything good. She looked over her shoulder, to the hypnotized man underneath an umbrella. He wasn't looking at them, but at the hypnotic waves of the ocean as his fingers brushed along his sketch pad, a small collection of colored pencils lying next to him. Unlike his companions, he wasn't dressed to get wet.
"Baron! Wanna come?"
The golden-haired man's head shot up, like he had been cruelly awakened from a dream. He looked at the couple, and guessed what they wanted.
"Thanks all the same, but I'm fine right here."
Louise scoffed.
"Come on, Baron; shouldn't your gentlemanly instincts be crying out against leaving your twin sister alone with a handsome man?"
Seeing her point, the young man sighed and closed his book, reasoning that his little sister's honor was more important than perfecting his interpretation of the ocean waves.
But they were so beautiful today… He sighed again as his best friend and little sister strode a little in front of him, occasionally grabbing a shell and debating on whether or not it was good enough to keep. Despite the fact that he was with them, he didn't truly feel like he was one of them.
'You have no one to blame but yourself. Louise even offered to call one of her friends, so that we would all have someone to talk to.' The green-eyed man sighed, knowing that such an arrangement would have been fruitless, since his sister had already managed to convince him to date all of them at least once. But, they were all so similar, that he kept messing up their names, despite the flashcards Louise had made him practice with. Things were a lot simpler before his best friend worked up the courage to ask the golden-haired beauty out. Being a trio wasn't so bad, but he had never met a girl worth turning the act into a quartet.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
About an hour later, Baron suddenly looked up at the sky and stiffened.
"We need to leave immediately."
The lovey-dovey couple turned to look at him.
"What? Why?" the girl asked. Her brother pointed up to the sky, which was steadily darkening.
"We either leave immediately, or construct a shelter and hunker down until the upcoming storm blows over."
Machida paled.
"I vote for making a shelter."
"Not me!" Louise insisted. "The boat might get damaged, and then where would we be?"
It was up to Baron, the unofficial leader of the group. He smiled grimly.
"Father may kill me for this later, but I believe we can beat the storm home."
He had no idea how this decision would affect his life.
The trio ran back to the boat, stopping just long enough to grab their towels and personals. Jumping into the boat, Baron strapped on his life jacket and pulling out the keys to the boat while his companions took the passenger seats and strapped on their own life jackets.
The ride started out pleasantly enough, though a bit choppier than Baron would have liked. However, the clouds overhead seemed to disapprove that the boat thought it could outrun it, and the darkness of night seemed to speed closer. Before the trio realized it, they were inside the storm, and the waves were not being kind to them. Louise screamed as Machida held onto her with one arm and used the other to hang onto the railing. It rapidly became even worse, making Baron wonder if he would even live to regret his decision.
Then, without warning, a huge wave tossed the boat high on the edge of the water and then, tipped it over. Baron's head smacked soundly against the steering wheel as the boat began it's tumble, but he remembered to take a deep breath before the shockingly cold water engulfed his body. Being an ex-life guard, he knew he had to take this opportunity to breathe. But he knew that Louise might not have thought to take a breath before going under.
But he couldn't come to anyone's rescue; the darkness of night blinded him. Working himself free of the boat, he swam upwards, aided by his life jacket. He broke the water's choppy surface, and took in a breath. But he took in some water too. He bobbed to the surface again, and called out desperately.
"Louise?! Machida?!" He went under the waves again, but even under the water, he could hear his little sister scream back as she was thrown about among the waves.
"Baron!"
He came to the surface again, and tried to swim to his sister, but the waves seemed to be tearing him farther from her voice, and trying to flood his body with the icy water. The rapidly reddening water around him also did not help.
Just as Baron started to drift from consciousness, he heard Machida call out.
"Haru!! I need your help now!!"
The last thing Baron saw was a beautiful blue light, which he assumed was there to take him to see his mother, who had been gone for so long.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
When Baron eventually woke up, he was on a soft surface, and a warm blanket had been firmly tucked around him. He could feel the ground underneath them moving as an engine purred. Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was his sister's wonderful face, in peaceful slumber, easily illuminated by the new-risen sun. Hearing a familiar snore from summer camps of his childhood, the tawny-haired man looked down at his feet, where Machida was also sleeping like a baby. Both were also wrapped snuggly in blankets. Baron winced, touching the bandage that had been wrapped around his head.
All of them were on the cushions of a boat, and the morning rays were coming to life. He looked up, to see a strange figure at the helm of the small boat. It was a young lady, he could tell from the slim gloved fingers and long ponytail of chocolate that peeked out from underneath her woolen hat. She was in a slightly bulky overcoat and a thick blanket over her legs, to protect them from the wind chill. She adjusted course slightly, and yawned.
Suddenly, she seemed to somehow sense his attention as she turned to him and smiled. Her skin was pale and fair, but he couldn't tell much more since she was wearing huge sunglasses.
"First one up, I see." Loosening one leg slightly from the blanket, she gently kicked a small cooler toward him. "Pick something you like. Sorry, it's all cold."
A little puzzled, he sat up and worked one arm free of the blanket to see what she had. Which was a little bit of everything. Milk, drinkable yogurt, fruit juices… He grinned happily while pulling out an iced tea bottle and opened it.
"Just what the doctor ordered. Thank you, Miss."
She smiled, but wisely kept her eyes on the course in front of her.
"No problem. My name's Haru."
'Haru…' His mind gave a violent jerk.
"Machida-"
"-saw my boat, and managed to get my attention in time to save you," she said quickly. "I hope I didn't miss someone else, while I was fishing you guys out."
Baron shook his head slowly.
"No; it was just us three. How did you save us?"
She laughed a little tiredly.
"Believe me; it wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination. I didn't catch your name?"
He blinked and flushed; surprised that he had forgotten his manners.
"Baron von Gikkingen. The young lady's my sister, Louise."
A smile lit up Haru's face.
"I suspected she was Machida's wonderful Louise. He had described her to nearly how long her toenails were, when we last met."
Baron stretched, and polished off his tea before standing up.
"Have you been driving since last night?"
"Yes."
He took the needed step and gently put his hand on the wheel.
"I can steer for a while. You must be exhausted."
Haru smiled, and slipped out of the driver's seat so the golden man could take over.
"I am, and thank you." She sat into his old seat with relief. She fished around the cooler and pulled out a small jug of milk.
"How-" Baron tried to ask, but was interrupted when Machida groaned and sat up.
"Man, I'm not going on a boat again for a long time."
Haru laughed while kicking the cooler close to him.
"After what you've been through, I can't blame you."
The dark youth looked at her and blinked.
"I'm sorry miss; do I know you?"
Before Baron could make a protest that the girl knew him, Haru laughed warmly. The golden man bit his tongue, finding strange peace in the sound.
"All it takes for you to forget me is changing my hairstyle? I'm disappointed in you, Machida. I thought I made a bigger impression than this."
Out of the corner of his eye, Baron could see the slim brunette raise one hand to take off her sunglasses. Determining that the coast was clear, he turned long enough to see the girl who had rescued him. His eyes widened in disbelief.
Haru was lovely, there was no doubt of it. But what he liked was that her beauty was simple, not the overdone score that was popular nowadays. What struck him the most were her unusual eyes.
One was a rich dark brown, while the other was a lovely light blue.
Machida nearly jumped out of the boat in shock, his eyes wide and unbelieving as Haru managed to grab the sleeve of his jacket, just in case he went overboard again.
"Haru?!" The volume of his voice was loud enough to wake up his girlfriend, who groaned groggily. The dark girl released Machida and smiled at the golden girl.
"Nice to see everyone's up. We should be getting to shore in half an hour."
Louise sat up and stared at her, making her brother remember that he needed to be watching the water, not the lovely young lady that had rescued them.
"Who are you?"
"Haru, an old acquaintance of your boyfriend." She grinned and held out her milk to the girl, who took it with confusion. "You're exactly how he described you. He mentioned that you like milk."
Louise nodded, and sipped from the bottle while Haru fished around for another one in the cooler. Machida was still staring at her.
"Haru, what happened to you?!"
She laughed at him.
"I changed my hairstyle, as I said before. You shouldn't be so surprised at seeing me again; you did call for me."