Chapter ONE:
"Help!", the Host Club's guest came running down the beach toward Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki.
"Tamaki!", she cried, tears prickling her bright, hazelnut colored eyes. "It's Haruhi!"
xxx
Atop the cliffside, the cool summer wind was whipping around Haruhi as she tried clumsily to get back on her feet. She remembered the comment the other girls had made, just a few moments before, about it being nice up here. She had to admit they were right. The breeze would have been lovely if she had been able to enjoy it. A peaceful, quiet place where she could have stared out at the ocean view. A break from whatever her Senpais had been trying to accomplish all day. She hadn't quite figured out what game they were playing this time, but as usual, it seemed to involve pestering her. She broke away from her musings, looking back toward her assailant. The red-headed 'local', as he'd called himself, was headed her way, anger plastered on his drunken face.
After his initial shock of having been pummeled with a bucket of sea creatures, the man had charged at Haruhi. "You little punk!", he had yelled, reaching back with fury and punching her left cheek. Hard.
'Too hard, honestly', thought Haruhi, gently brushing her cheek with her finger tip and wincing when she saw the red stain it came away with. 'I mean, it's not like I posed that much of a threat'. The attack had sent her sprawling onto the rocky edges of the cliff, knocking the breath out of her as her abdomen slammed into the sharp outcropping.
Haruhi thought she saw the girl that the red-headed man had been harassing run off as she looked up with watery eyes. 'Good. At least one of them is safe. Now I just need to help the other two… somehow.'
She glanced around, trying to find some type of weapon. One of the crabs she had thrown scuttled along past her foot, looking comically dazed. 'Such a waste… You would have been delicious'. She knew she wasn't thinking straight. Her head was swimming and she couldn't focus at all. She should really move. Why were her legs shaking?
Haruhi noticed the two girls still being held by the man in the hoodie. Tears falling down their faces and fear in their eyes…they were so scared… Her attention shot back in front of her as she felt herself being forcefully grabbed again, a sneering face too close to her own, breath that smelled horrendously alcoholic wafting up her nose. Her heart jumped into her throat… and she realized… she was scared too.
xxx
"We…we were up…up there on the clifftop and…and these two men ca-came and grabbed us! And, and…", the distraught girl was spluttering her words.
Tamaki noticed she was shaking with adrenaline and gently reached out and cupped her dainty, trembling hands in his, all the while his pulse beat fast in his ears. "What happened to Haruhi?", he asked as calmly as he could muster, his throat closing up around the words. The picturesque beach had seemed to fade away from his lean frame, leaving his mind spiraling around horrendous possibilities it created.
"He came and tried to save us', she said, steadied by Tamaki's warm hands. "But the man who was holding me attacked Haruhi! I'm…" She was crying whole-heartedly again. "I'm so sorry! I think he…he's hurt, and I ran away to find someone because I di-didn't know how else to help him."
She looked up through her tears at Tamaki, but was shocked that he was already gone, moving away from her, rushing up toward the cliffside. She hadn't even noticed he had let go of her hands. "Take care of her and get the others!", Tamaki yelled over his shoulder to the shell-shocked twins, dashing along the warm sand.
'She was hurt. Haruhi was hurt. She said Haruhi was hurt.' Tamaki's mind was racing as fast as his feet. 'Haruhi…no..NO! What were you thinking?!'
He knew it only took him a few minutes to make it to his destination, but it had felt like an eternity as his mind continued to assault him with visions of a wounded Haruhi calling out for him as two men pinned her down and groped her small body. 'Stop it!', he thought fiercely, both to his hallucinations and himself.
As he rounded the top of the cliff at full speed he could hear an unfamiliar voice. "Now don't you try to act all tough, you little sissy boy!" Then another man's voice laced with anger, "I've got an idea kid - How'd you like to take a dip?"
Tamaki saw her.
At the edge of the cliff a gruff looking man, maybe a few years older then himself, with a messy red pony-tail was gripping Haruhi by her baggy, dirtied shirt, pushing her along just as easily as a gust of wind could blow the blonde locks on his head. Her face was bloodied and already bruising, contorted in fear and defiance. His heart pulsed even harder.
"HARUHI!"
He lunged forward, bounding with great strides, desperate to rescue her at all costs, but he couldn't make it in time. The man mockingly sneered, "Hope you can swim!", to Haruhi as he shoved her with little effort off the cliff and toward the ocean below. All Tamaki could hear was her screaming as she left his view.
'NO!'
Tamaki ran as fast as his legs would take him, a racing, desperate feeling in his chest. He pushing past the man he swore vengeance on and dived, head first, after Haruhi. He made no thought of the danger to himself, the distance he would fall, the possibility of rocks below ready to crush and tear at him should he be so unlucky to find them. Nothing. Only getting to her.
xxx
'Tamaki!'
Haruhi had seen the Host Club President sprinting toward her as she felt a shove to her shoulders and the ground leave her feet, her brown eyes growing even larger in her shock. She shouted out in utter terror as she fell, grasping at the air for anything to save herself, the wind whipping her hair and clothing around her as she plummeted.
'Please, no!' She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die! ...But she was going to.
Even through her panic, her fuzzy mind was processing the fact that she would never make it out of the current below. She could swim, but in no way would she be considered a strong swimmer... not even a mediocre swimmer really. She never had much experience with with pools or beaches growing up. She seemed to remember her parent's taking her to a beach once when she was a child. Too long ago now to have a vivid memory of the occasion though. There was also a time some friends from her middle school had wanted to take her with them to some classes at a public pool, but she had stayed home to study, determined to earn her way into Ouran Academy. She wished now she had gone with them. Maybe then she wouldn't be about to drown.
Horrible thoughts hit her all at once. She would never see her doting Father again… What would he do without her? Would he eat right? Who would take care of the house for him and cook for him? …She would never finish school and become a lawyer. Her dream since watching her Mother walk out their door on the first day at her job. …She would never get to goof around with the Host Club again. Hunny, Mori, Kyoya, Hikaru, Kaoru, Tamaki… As much as a pain in the neck as they were, she had found herself enjoying her time with them more and more…
Haruhi felt as though the world was slowing as all these revelations came to her. Was this a cursed blessing for those at death's door? A prolonged moment of clarity to accept your own fate? Is this what her Mother had felt just before…
She thought she saw a fleeting vision of Tamaki as she felt a sudden agonizing sting slash her back and coldness engulfed her… 'I wish I could have fallen in love…'
xxx
Tamaki winced slightly as he crashed into the water, reaching with all his might toward Haruhi who was just out of his grasp. She had disappeared into the ocean just seconds before him and for a moment he lost track of her. His eyes stung in the salty water, but he refused to close them. The current greedily dragged him down and he didn't fight it, letting it command him and pull him until he saw her.
Her eyes were closed and her body was limp as she dropped deeper into the darkness in front of him. He swam hard to her, completely focused on the bubbles leaving her parted lips. Finally he reached her and felt his hand brush gently across Haruhi's face before he pulled her into his chest. 'Hold on, Haruhi!'
His legs were aching from his run before and his constant kicking now, and his feet were stinging from the salty water entering the cuts he feet had earned while dashing across the rocks above. He looked up and saw sunlight through the waves. He pushed his body to keep moving as his lungs burned, begging for air. He hadn't thought to take a deep breath before leaping from the cliff.
He felt the weight of Haruhi brush against him, focusing him with what felt like an electric shock. With a sudden renewed strength, Tamaki kicked with all his might until he felt the warm air whip his face as his head burst out of the water. Quickly, he pulled Haruhi's head up with him, and almost forgot to keep swimming…
She was pale and still. A stream of bright blood immediately began running down from a cut on her swollen cheek. The salt from the water hastening its flow.
"Haruhi!" Tamaki began shaking her as he continued to try to stay afloat. "Haruhi! Wake up! You have to wake up!" A wave crashed into them making him choke and threatening to pull them back under.
Panic was rising in his gut as he looked around himself for land. There! The beach. He pulled Haruhi against his chest again, her head bobbing loosely, dark brown hair swaying in the water. Sheer terror was overtaking him. 'No. No! This isn't happening! This isn't happening!'
He swam until he could feel mushy sand beneath his feet and then he desperately trudged out of the water, Haruhi lying limply in his arms. When he was finally safe out of the tide's reach he gently laid her down onto the warm sand with shuddering arms.
"Haruhi, breath! You have to breath!" He tried shaking her again and again, but her head simply lolled back and forth as if telling him no. She was still and quiet. Unabashed tears poured down Tamaki's cheeks. He felt himself turn cold and weak as his long trembling fingers caressed Haruhi's pale, lovely face. The face he had instantly fallen in... fallen in... 'No…'
"Tamaki! MOVE!"
xxx
Kyoya Ootori had been fussing with the calculations on his clipboard when he heard a commotion coming from his left. He sighed with exasperation and a hint of amusement as he pushed his glasses back up into position, a glint of light reflecting off of them, turning to see what moronic stunt was being pulled by his fellow Hosts now. He was the steady one, the calculating member of their tight nit group. Always a step ahead, a plan already in motion. But he allowed himself to chuckle softly at their antics. His guilty pleasure of a sort.
"Kyoya!"
He was genuinely surprised to hear the urgency in the normally mischievous Hikaru's voice and to see him bolting down the beach toward him. The unordinary action had also seemed to catch the attention of Hunny and Mori as he noticed they left their guests with a quick apology and came to join Kyoya.
"Kyoya, it's Haruhi! She's been hurt!" Hikaru was breathing heavily from his run, his eyes gleaming with determination. Kyoya bit back a remark about keeping his voice down when addressing Haruhi as a "she" when in such close proximity to their clients. There would be another, more appropriate, time.
"Oh, no. Poor Haru-chan.", said Hunny beside them. Even when he was concerned he couldn't help but be innocently adorable, Kyoya heard a few female voices make "Aww-ing" sounds. 'They shouldn't be hearing this.'
"Tamaki went after her, he needs help!"
Kyoya clenched his jaw silently, making his appearance stern, but still somehow calm. It was always this look, which he had perfected after years of observing his father, that let everyone around him know who was quietly yet truly in charge. He looked from the Hosts to the guests who were beginning to grow closer, interested to know what type of drama could be unfolding. "Ladies.", Kyoya said with a sweet tone. "I do apologize, but I'm afraid we must cut our exposition short today. Please, accept my apologies. If you would kindly follow the dear Captain here, he will be happy to escort you to your accommodations for the evening."
The large, bulky 'dear Captain' of the Ootori family police force came dutifully up to Kyoya. "Sir? Your orders?"
"Captain, please politely round up all of our guests and make sure they get to their hotel safely. There seems to be some business I need to attend to. Thank you."
The teenage girls in earshot around the beach seemed a bit put out, puffing out their lips and humming with disapproval, but followed their instructions none the less. Kyoya could hear mutterings of "I wonder what all this is about.", and "Did Hikaru say Haruhi was hurt?", flutter about as the girls packed up. He would need to make this up to them.
He turned back to Hikaru who was growing impatient. "Please, lead the way Hikaru."
"About time.", Hikaru huffed, looking peeved. He turned and ran back the way he came, Hunny and Mori at his heals and Kyoya bringing up the rear as he made some phone calls along the way. A doctor would be needed. Flowers for the girls. He, of course, would be adding the cost to Haruhi's tab. On the surface it would be seen as a purely financial motive, which was perfectly fine by him. Only he would know these were the tactical efforts he engaged in to keep the doey eyed girl in their presence for the foreseeable future. She had been good for business, yes. But she had also brought a new energy to the other members of the Host Club. An energy Kyoya feared was now a vital component of their business and lives.
As they neared, they saw Kaoru anxiously bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited with a rather emotionally distraught girl. Kyoya made a call to his Captain to immediately retrieve her and no sooner had the other boys made it to the duo then four members of the police force were also in toe. Kyoya watched as they guided the girl away while she animatedly pointed to the cliffside. It seemed almost magically that ,within moments, more officers appeared and began heading the way that she had instructed.
"Now, Hikaru, Kaoru, what is this-"
"There! It's the boss!", Hikaru yelled, cutting off Kyoya's questioning. Down the beach a bit from them with the sun fading behind their backs, Kyoya could see Tamaki desperately trudging through the water toward the beach, the small, limp figure of Haruhi cradled in his arms.
Kyoya didn't notice his clipboard slipping from his grasp and thudding onto the sand. Before any of the other Hosts could move or say another word, he ran.
xxx
"Kyoya?", Tamaki groggily said, his mind spinning with confusion at everything and everyone around him as he was pushed away, landing clumsily on his side making sand stick to his wet skin and hair. 'What is happening?' 'Haruhi…'
He watched, feeling drunk, as Kyoya bent down over the pale girl before him. Suddenly a shock ran through him like lightning, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on edge. He was touching her! Kyoya was touching her! His hands were on her chest! His cheeks flushed like crimson and Tamaki lurched forward with unbridled anger as he saw Kyoya begin to press his lips to Haruhi's.
"How dare you!"
"No, Tamaki!", He felt strong arms clamp around him, holding him back through his rage and struggles. "You have to let him be! He's trying to help her!" It took a moment for what Kaoru had said to sink in and the note of desperation in his voice. He usually had trouble distinguishing the twins apart, but for some indescribable reason he knew distinctively that this was Kaoru.
He looked up at the twin and saw he had lost all the color in his face so much so that his eyes had seemed to pale as well, as he stared at the scene before him. a similarly dispositioned Hikaru placed a shaky, heavy hand on his brother's shoulder. Perhaps for Kaoru's benefit or perhaps for his own. Beside them, Tamaki heard the hiccuping cries of Hunny and saw Mori somberly kneel down to comfort his small friend. 'How…How is this happening?'
"Come on.", he heard Kyoya growl. He turned back to see Kyoya, teeth gritted and eyes aflame, pressing down on Haruhi's chest again before lifting her delicate chin to breath into her mouth, then back to his rhythmic compressions. "COME ON!"
'Haruhi…'
Without warning, there was a gasp, a watery cough, then another sucking gasping sound. "Spit it out.", Kyoya breathed, turning Haruhi's coughing form on her side while patting her back with force.
Tamaki's breath caught in his throat. "...Haruhi?", his voice was barely over a whisper as he moved like a ghost to Haruhi's side and collapsed onto his knees in the sand next to her. …She was breathing. …She was alive.
Without thinking he swept her up into him. He hold tightly as she wheezed and coughed, shaking with relief as tears poured down his face, completely forgetting anyone else was there to witness them.
"Haruhi?", Tamaki looked down at Haruhi, her once white-washed cheeks flooded with pink now. His heart skipped as she looked back up at him, her large, brown eyes glassy, but focusing on his equally glassy violet ones.
"Senpai?"
He pulled her close again, hugging her with gentle tenderness. He felt her warm breath on his bare chest, filling it back up after the emptiness that had settled there before. He pressed his tear stained cheek into her hair and closed his eyes wanting to breath her in for a moment more.
"A doctor is on his way now.", Tamaki tore himself away from the place he wanted to stay, to look up and to see Kyoya standing, brushing sand off of his knees and shorts. Kyoya seemed uncharacteristically disheveled, pale and sweating. 'He saved her.'
"Kyoya", Tamaki was looking at his best friend with all the gratitude and honesty he had within him, "Thank you."
"Of course."
"I'm fine, you guys.", came a small, slightly raspy voice from Tamaki's chest. "I don't need a doctor."
All the relief and happiness that Tamaki had felt after seeing Haruhi was breathing and alive suddenly became flooded by anger. He backed away slightly to look at her fully. The bruise on her cheek was already turning a dark purple color and the now trickle of blood from her cut was still oozing. He was furious. "What were you thinking?", he asked her with a serious, quiet tone.
"Huh?", she was glancing up at him with confusion. Tamaki's stomach rolled again looking at her. He had almost lost her.
"You know, you're not like Hunny-Senpai. You're not a martial arts master." Tamaki grabbed onto Haruhi's shoulders firmly but still with the gentleness he knew he would always have for her, leaning in to look closely into the eyes. "Why did you confront them? What made you think you would stand a chance? You against two boys?"
She looked back at him defiantly, unblinking, "But it doesn't matter that they're boys and I'm a girl. I was there, I had to do something. There wasn't any time to think - "
"That's no excuse, you idiot!" 'Why couldn't she understand this?!' "Don't forget! You're a girl!"
The comment immediately got under Haruhi's skin. "Look, I'm sorry you had to come and save me, Senpai. But I don't understand why you're so mad at me right now." 'Why couldn't he understand this?!' "I don't think I did anything wrong!"
Tamaki let go of Haruhi's shoulders, frustration, anger and a slew of other emotions coursing through him. He tried to remain calm. "You don't think so? Fine. Whatever you say.", he got up from her and began walking away from his friends, from Haruhi. "But I'm not speaking to you until you can admit that you were wrong!"
Haruhi twisted to watch him go, feeling her cheeks go hot with anger. Around her there was a sudden silence.
"Come, Haruhi.", Kyoya was helping her to her feet, seemingly indifferent to the situation. "The doctor is here. At least let him patch the wound on your cheek."
***** To be continued.
Notes:
There you go! "The Beach, The Sun and The Host Club" was one of my favorite episodes, but as a Hurt-Comfort/Drama lover I couldn't help but think it could use a little more. ;-) I'm thinking there might be two more chapters after this, but please let me know if you think I should continue!
And of course, I don't own any of the Host Club members, I just unfortunately like to torture them. Mwahahaha!