Blame
Disclaimer: Hatori-sama owns Ouran High School Host Club.
-
Locks of gold cascaded down into brown orbs opened wide with shock on the cold ground below. Eyes of lust-filled violet locked on fumbling, calloused hands; eyebrows furrowed in drunken concentration. Grunts of annoyance broke the silence of the emptied street occasionally. The smell of fresh blood filled the surrounding space. She realized that she had to do something but the only coherent thoughts running through her mind were of panic.
Before she was able to do anything, a great pain shot through her leaving her in a shocked state of immobilization. Not soon after she felt the weight upon her lift slowly and heard struggled footsteps moving away sluggishly.
Instead of moving, she lay completely still, the pain and terror overwhelming her as tears slid slowly down her cheeks.
The trauma of the event threatened to overtake her but she pushed on. Her apartment was now only a few blocks away where she would be able to quell the shock and bury the event deep in the far recesses of her mind. As far as she was concerned, nothing had ever happened in that dark alley. She had arrived home safely after getting "lost" in her neighbourhood. Nothing had happened. But try as she might, she couldn't get one image out of her mind.
Blond hair and violet eyes only spelled one person in her mind: Tamaki. It wasn't a very accurate thought and she knew he would never do anything to hurt her but it was what was stuck in mind regardless.
-
Haruhi's week passed quickly. Long readings, hastened studying and tedious mid-terms passed in a flurry.
It had been a hectic week but was exactly what she wanted so that there was never a spare second for her mind to wander to anything other than schoolwork. It had also been a week since the "incident" and as though her prayers were finally being answered, the host club had been cancelled for the week due to the examinations. So she hadn't seen much of the host club as a whole except for the twins in her class. They had asked what was wrong but she had answered "nothing" and has smiled cheerily before asking if they had the answers to question 82 of the review. After that, they hadn't bothered to ask again but still gave her the occasional look of concern when they thought she wasn't looking.
Troublesome, but there wasn't really anything wrong. Well, nothing they could help with anyway. If she was being completely honest, she knew the real reason she had been so troubled over the past week: fear. It was her fear… fear not for a repeat of the incident (A/N: I know… she's so insanely nonchalant about it) … she was afraid to have to see him. It would be like reliving a nightmare. She couldn't see him so she had ignored his whiney phone calls and pleading texts, avoiding him like he was the plague. He had come over every hour after school until 9 at night just knocking and waiting with no doubt a mopey, kicked-puppy look no his face. He had shown up so much that her neighbours began asking about him, theorizing that he was either an annoyingly obstinate ex or her stalker, most guessing the former, either of which they offered to call the police on for her, to which she awkwardly and politely refused. Finally, he seemed to get the message when after Thursday after school, he didn't come. She felt bad that she didn't explain why she was ignoring him but she just couldn't; it would be too traumatic.
All in all it had been a hectic but decent week, and it was now Friday so after such a week, she decided that she deserved a calm, relaxing hot bath, plus her father was working the midnight shift so she would have the house to herself.
Turning on the scalding hot water and adding just enough cold so that it was bearable, she added lavender Epsom salt and began to slowly undress.
The numerous bruises she had obtained were beginning to fade, the spot of blacks turning to purple upon her ivory skin. Sighing, she stepped out of her underwear and into steaming bath.
She hadn't seen the weather forecast for the area lately but it had been a nice enough day; sunny and very hot which was unusual for an early-November day. She had been worried momentarily, reminded suddenly of a day not too long ago when she had been taking a bath, when a thunder storm hit. It hadn't been a severe storm but it had knocked out the power leaving her in the dark of her cramped bathroom, shivering with fear and from the rapidly cooling water she had been too shocked to move from, for over an hour. It had been one of the worst astraphobic experiences she had had yet and although Tamaki had promised her he would always be there for her, but she couldn't take it upon herself to ask him to come save her every time a thunder storm hit, even though, truthfully, even just being with him calmed her frayed nerves when one had hit a couple weeks before.
Again, her thoughts turned toward him.
It would be hard, but she had to relax and to do that she had to clear her mind. Breathing deeply, she settled herself lower into the water and cleared her mind of clutter, pushing her thoughts and worries out so that there was nothing.
So deep was she in relaxation, that she didn't notice the severe thunder storm growing quickly outside.
-
Tamaki sat upon the piano stool in one of the many living rooms of the third mansion as intricate, solemn pieces by Mozart and Beethoven filled the large, ornately-decorated room.
For him, playing the piano was a therapeutic thing and helped him think when he was troubled, which he was, very much, right now.
Haruhi, his beloved daughter was ignoring him and she had never even told him why. He felt rejected and confused and he didn't know what he could do. He had tried to communicate with her in several different forms, even going so far to ask the twins what was wrong but to no avail as she had lied and brushed it off. He also had been going to her apartment every night to try to talk to her face to face but since she hadn't even acknowledged that he was there, he had decided that he would give up and stop waiting in front of her apartment, besides, a lot of her neighbours were giving him weird -some murderous- looks. It hurt that she hadn't even told him why she was avoiding him. The last time he had even talked to her had been last Sunday afternoon after he had dropped her off at her apartment after spending the day with her at the commoner's carnival, and had seemed all right then. It wasn't a happily-made decision, but he had realized that if she wouldn't even talk to him, she obviously needed time to think alone so he let her.
He was going to leave her alone until she decided to talk to him again, but things had now gotten complicated and that was now an option that seemed quite too harsh to carry on with. Besides, he had made her a promise and gentlemen never broke their promises.
Angry cumulonimbus clouds raced across the ominously dark sky, all forms of wildlife quickly disappearing from the tranquil, rose-filled garden outside the long French windows throughout the room.
He had sat there, letting his fingers flow over the keys whilst his mind tried valiantly to figure out what he should do for three hours now so that he could be sure that his decision wasn't rash, but time was running out quickly. It was now or never. Playing the last few chords of the melody of a nocturne he had written, he nodded to himself grimly and closed the lid over the ivory and ebony coloured piano keys.
Paging his driver so that he would meet him in front, he dashed down the many grand staircases, through the lavish main hall, past Antoinette, who began to bound after him quickly the moment she saw him, to whom he gave a quick apologetic pet for not spending much time with her over the last week, through the double doors and into his limo which then sped off immediately to Haruhi's apartment as his chauffer was well aware of Tamaki's predicament and what he would do before Tamaki even knew. (A/N: Long sentence there; not too sure about all the punctuation either, forgive me.)
-
As the limo pulled up at her apartment, it just started to rain. Giant raindrops sped to the ground, soaking Tamaki to the bone mere seconds after stepping out. Suddenly, lightning danced across the tenebrous sky above and seconds later thunder struck; it was close. Not good. As he began to dash up the stairs leading to her apartment, another bolt of thunder struck. Lights in houses and the nearby lamppost flickered and went out. The situation had just gone from bad to worse in the course of a minute.
"Fuck!"
His voice echoed in the rainy silence of the many apartment buildings around him. Reaching the door, he grabbed desperately for the handle, knowing that Haruhi would be inside, alone and scared to death; a thought which seemed so repulsive to him, that it only spurred him on more. And of course, the door was locked. (A/N: Most obviously. –sweat drop-)
Banging on it with both hands he yelled her name as loudly as he could hoping she would hear and could respond to it. After a few minutes of this, he realized she probably was too afraid to even move. He had once read a survival guide that had said that the best way to kick open a door was to aim as close as one could to the handle with their foot. What better time and place to test this theory?
Aiming his foot just slightly to the right of the handle, he pulled back and kicked as hard as he could, breaking the flimsy handle lock so that the door swung open wildly. It hit the wall behind it with a loud thud resounding for a second, but Tamaki hadn't heard this as he was already running throughout the relatively small apartment looking for her. Her school bag and shoes were here so their owner had to be here too.
With a flash of intuition, he realized that there was only one place he hadn't checked: the bathroom.
-
Haruhi sat relaxing in the hot, steamy water when a sudden flash of light outside the window lit the entirety of the bathroom. Bracing herself for the explosion of noise she knew would come soon after, she still jumped, startled at how close it was, spilling copious amounts of water onto the floor below. Another thunder bolt struck causing an impromptu power failure.
'Sad, cruel irony,' Haruhi thought to herself, 'probably the only words to be applied here.'
There seemed to be a standstill in the storm, though rain still drenched the window, rain pouring down the glass in torrents, so she decided that it really wasn't in her best interest to have a repeat situation so shortly after it first happened to her.
Climbing out, she grabbed a long, teal towel and threw it quickly around her. Suddenly another bolt of thunder struck, sending her dripping-wet form cowering to the cold tile floor.
No clear thoughts were running through her mind but when she heard loud banging noises accompanied by feeble shouting, which almost seemed to be calling her name, and a couple seconds later, frantic, hurried footsteps in the apartment, a terror apart from the routine one seized through her.
Huddled on the floor in her towel incapable of moving, she prayed silently to herself that they would only take what they want and get out. It was all she could really hope for since she was too scared to move at the moment.
Tears silently leaked out of her eyes, rolling down her face before dripping onto her exposed knees. This was too much to handle.
-
When he tore open the bathroom door, she was directly in his line of sight. Huddled on the damp floor, at first, she shivered delicately wrapped in a thin teal towel. Worry coursed through his at this sight. She was already cold and afraid and to make it worse, seconds after opening the door, her shivering turned quickly to violent trembling.
Realizing that she obviously didn't know who he was as she hadn't even moved her head to see who had so brusquely broken into her home in the first place, he spoke in a soothing, quiet voice, standing completely still so as not to scare her further.
"Haruhi? It's me, Tamaki. Its okay now, you're going to be fine now. I'm here."
When she seemed to have heard him, he knelt on the tile close to her. As he inched closer, she scuttled away from him, still not opening her tear-stained lids. Silent sobs wracked treacherously through her small frame.
Although he had been hoping that he wouldn't need to acknowledge the current problem between the two of them, it seemed he would have to, as, if things hadn't been peachy between them, she would've already leapt into his arms at the first crash of thunder.
"Haruhi," He started softly sighing softly at how awkward what he was about to say was, "I really don't understand what I've done to make you act this way towards me but… just know that I care about you and I would never hurt you in any way. I don't expect you to tell me how I've wronged you and I can plainly see that it is keeping you from even looking at me so… I'm sorry. Deeply and truly sorry."
At this he bowed for a second in wordless remorse.
"But regardless, I, a gentleman, would never leave a lady when she's afraid and alone." He stated, chuckling to himself, in the matter-of-fact tone he usually only used on clients at the host club.
She seemed to struggle for a second inwardly, but finally sat up, her eyes not quite meeting his as thunder crashed and lightning raced across the sky in the small window above their heads, the trace amount of light in the room coming from the frequent but random lightning bolts.
"Senpai?" Haruhi began softly, in whisper, her voice quiet and unsteady with fear, "I'm…"
As she began to utter her sentence, another thunder crash occurred sending her into his ready and waiting open arms, her towel flying off due to the sudden movement, in a flurry of teal. (A/N: Déjà vu much? Sorry if it annoys you that it's been done… in the anime no less.)
"I'm sorry! So sorry!" She yelled simultaneous with yet another thunder crash. "Please! Don't leave me!" Her voice cracked with fear and worry on the last word as tears began to roll down her already wet cheeks.
Tamaki pulled her closer, being extremely careful to keep his eyes averted as she was now towel less. (A/N: Hard ne, Tama-chan? :3)
"Never. I will never leave you, Haruhi." He murmured tenderly into her sweet-smelling, soft hair.
Although her heart rate had sped up three times what a normal human heart rate should be, it seemed to be slowing down now.
'Thank goodness,' Tamaki thought, sighing inwardly with relief as he held her tightly to himself as the storm blew wildly outside.
-
As the person who had broken into her apartment tore open her bathroom tore, her heart rate went into hyperdrive.
Not daring to move as she knew it would only attract unwanted attention, (A/N: Especially since she's only wearing a towel…) she sat there waiting for the person standing before her to make their move: steal all her toilet paper or … make a move towards her, in her compromised-clothing status.
Instead of moving towards her and taking advantage of the situation like she had been
expecting the intruder to do, they began to speak in a voice she knew all too well.
"Haruhi? It's me, Tamaki. Its okay now, you're going to be fine now. I'm here." He said soothingly, his tone exuding worry.
He then knelt beside her and slowly began to move closer to which she moved away from him.
She wasn't prepared for this! She couldn't even look at him much less be anywhere near him! She wanted to ask him to leave, the first few words she'd have said to him in a week, but weather, which seemed to be getting worse with each passing second, outside the window prevented this as she couldn't will her lips to move and say something to him.
"Haruhi," Tamaki began in a hurt voice with a sigh, "I really don't understand what I've done to make you act this way towards me but… just know that I care about you and I would never hurt you in any way. I don't expect you to tell me how I've wronged you and I can plainly see that it is keeping you from even looking at me so… I'm sorry. Deeply and truly sorry." He ended with a bow, touching his forehead to the floor by her feet apologetically.
'This was too much!' Haruhi thought with remorse. 'He's apologizing to me! I'm the one who owes him an apology!'
At these thoughts, a few more tears rolled down her cheeks landing heavily on her clenched fists.
'It's my place to apologize! Not his! This is all my fault! I'm blaming him for something he doesn't even know about!' She thought angrily. 'I'm afraid but I have to get over it and face facts! Tamaki isn't who I should be blaming! I shouldn't be afraid of him!'
Determined to apologize, she peeked up through her bangs warily.
"But regardless, I, a gentleman, would never leave a lady when she's afraid and alone." He finished with his usual princely-host type bravado.
Inwardly shaking her head, she steeled herself t apologize to him, finally peering up at his handsome face, his golden hair faintly catching the few glimpses of light from lightning before, seconds later, the inevitable thunder struck, making her jump again.
"Tamaki," she began, whispering, "I'm…"
Before the next word was even out of her mouth, a monstrous thunderbolt crashed and before she was even aware of doing it, she was in his warm arms, the soft material of his t-shirt brushing against the bare skin of her chest, as, embarrassingly enough, her towel had come off with her sudden movement.
Blushing slightly, she murmured just loud enough to hear over the thunder, "I'm sorry! So sorry! Please! Don't leave me!" Her voice broke on the last word and tears began to meander down her cheeks again due to the sudden rush of remorse she felt towards him but she was glad that she was finally able to apologize and didn't turn him away. As long as he didn't leave, she would be okay. Forever.
At this, he pulled her closer wrapping his arms snuggly around her, his eyes looking everywhere but down.
"Never. I will never leave you, Haurhi." His voice was quiet with tenderness yet strong with a determined passion.
Though the storm still raged outside, she had never felt safer in her entire life, then when she was I his arms now. Everything was okay again.
~Owari~
-
^W^
Sorry if the ending -or the entire thing- seemed too rushed. I've been wanting to write a TamaHaru fanfic for quite a while now so I'm happy that I finally finished it (it only took me 3 months...)
Btw, the nocturne Tamaki was playing on the piano before he left for Haruhi's house is 'Nocturne pour Tamaki'. If you haven't heard it yet and you are an Ouran fan, shame on you! Go here: " h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = B 6 G d M d F T A W k & f m t = 1 8 " to listen to the song, or here: " h t t p : / / w w w . o u r a n - k o u k o u . o r g / " to download the song or basically find nearly anything to do with Ouran. (Obviously, take the spaces out of the links.)
Also, the whole raped-by-a-look-alike idea was inspired by The OC when Ryan's older brother, Trey, almost raped Marissa so that when Ryan was making out with her she thought of Trey and was afraid of and avoiding Ryan for a while. As for the storm idea where Tamaki rushed in to be her knight in shinig armour, I've kinda always wanted to write something stemming on that idea. ^-~ Another issue I should probably address: Don't even ask who raped her, cause I seriously don't know. P:
Sorry if the perpectives are confusing. I really need to work on that in my writing, thus it's a good thing in a couple days, semester two starts and I'll have English thus my readers won't have to suffer from headaches from reading my fanfics. Sorry again!
Before I finish this note, lemme just say that I too am very disappointed that Tamaki didn't take advantage of the situation (and possibly have consensual sex. X3)
R&R? Plz and ty. :)