The next morning Haruhi went through her normal routine on autopilot as she thought about how to handle the Akito situation. Kazue was scheduled for a one on one tea at the host club that evening, the easiest way to have Akito stop bothering her was to not talk to Kazue anymore.
As she pulled on her shirt of the Ouran boy's uniform, she winced from the soreness of her ribs and shoulder. Thankfully they were only lightly bruised, and the slight discoloration and pain should be gone in about a week. Carefully sliding on the blazer, she looked at her boyish appearance in the mirror, and wondered why guys were so quick to fight.
That was her first in person interaction with Akito. Prior to yesterday she had only heard good things about him from her talks with Kazue. Walking into her classroom yesterday morning, Haruhi had been very surprised to find a threatening note at her desk from him.
It would be unfortunate to lose a request client, when she needed so many to clear her host club debt. Maybe she could just let Kazue know Akito was sensitive about his girlfriend talking about another guy so much.
Exiting her apartment, Haruhi stopped just in time to avoid running into Mori, who was walking up to the door with Hunny on his shoulders.
"Haruhi, Haruhi! Good Morning! We came to give you a lift to school!" Hunny exclaimed cheerfully from his high perch, one arm slung around his stuffed rabbit, positioned to sit atop Mori's head. Haruhi fought to keep a smile from her face at the sight. While she was a bit relieved not to have to enter school grounds on her own with Akito looking to pick a fight, the members of the host club had boundary issues and it wouldn't do to encourage them too much when they had not run their plan by her first. As the saying went, give them an inch and they'll take a mile.
"Good morning Hunny senpai, Mori senpai." She decided not to argue about them showing up unannounced just yet, the two well-to-do Ouran students had arrived in a large almost limo sized car and were attracting a lot of attention from her neighbors already. No need to add to the spectacle and future gossip.
Entering the vehicle proved that it was a small limo, with two sets of seating that faced each other and a beverage and snacks compartment. Haruhi sat facing the rear of the car, across from Mori, while Hunny jumped seats to sit by Mori and then Haruhi and back again continually until they pulled on to the faster moving highway and Mori strapped Hunny in the seat next to him.
Haruhi declined their offers of a snack and drink. "Thank you both for the ride however isn't my house in the opposite direction of the school from where you live?"
"Yes, but Usa-chan wanted to go for a long drive this morning, and Takashi was worried about you riding the crowded train with your injuries."
Haruhi looked over to Mori, who quickly turned to look out the window. "Oh, thanks for thinking about me, but I'm not injured. I could take the train." Mori turned back to look at her with a slight arch of one eyebrow, she could tell that he didn't believe her. "Ok, I have a couple, small, barely there bruises, but they don't bother me any."
"Haru-chan…" Hunny sighed out, "Even if we didn't see how hard that guy hit you, do you think we could leave you on your own when we know someone is threatening you?"
"I don't think it's that big a deal, to need escorted to school, he said what he wanted to say so he'll probably leave me alone now." She argued, not comfortable with relying on others.
Mori's gazed sharpened into a disapproving glare, "Akito was waiting for you after club hours yesterday." Her eyes widened, she hadn't thought that the two older students had seen Akito lurking near the school gates yesterday.
"…" Haruhi looked down, feeling like a burden to her fellow host club members. "I can handle it. Now that I know there's a problem, I can talk to him or Kazue."
A hand gently tipped up her chin, causing her to look back up to see Mori pulling back his hand when she made eye contact. "Ok, you can try to talk to them, but we want to make sure you're safe when you do." Haruhi gave a small nod, and turned to look out the window, the familiar shops they were passing let her know they were close to the school.
Haruhi kept a sharp eye out but didn't see Akito anywhere. It seemed this car trip was thankfully unnecessary, and she finally felt she could relax. The C classes were in a different wing of the school from their A classes so it was unlikely she would run into Akito unless he wanted to miss class. Mori and Hunny still followed her to her room, and made her promise to wait for them after school so they could walk with her to the host club room, before they left for their own class room.
Haruhi smiled at Kazue as she placed the tea tray down at their small and elegant round table. "Good evening Kazue. I hope you had a good day." Her smile morphed into a concerned expression when she took in how stiff Kazue was sitting, one hand was pulling at a lock of her gold hair in a self-comforting manner. "Is something troubling you?" she asked as she placed her client's tea cup in front of her.
"I thought you were a good person Haruhi," Kazue said as she glared at the host club member.
"Im sorry, have I done something to upset you?" Haruhi was puzzled at Kazue's attitude. When she last saw the blonde, Kazue was happy and bubbly, going on about the beautiful necklace Akito had just bought her.
Kazue gripped her tea cup tightly, and Haruhi worried that the expensive china might snap under the pressure. Kyoya would surely add that onto her debt. "My Akito arrived at our date yesterday evening with the worst bruise on his face, he said that you threw a book at his head!" Her voice had started off level but got louder as she went on. Haruhi tried to interject with a denial but was cut off, "How could you hurt my boyfriend! I can't believe that I wasted so much time talking to such a brute! You seemed so nice and sensitive but really your one of those possessive creeps!" She pushed away from the table and stood up. "Just because a girl talks to you doesn't mean she belongs to you! Stay away from me and stay away from Akito!" At this she tossed the hot tea at Haruhi, slammed down the cup and walked out of the room.
Haruhi had gotten her arm up in time to block the scalding tea from hitting her face, but some splashed hot onto the skin of her neck and she quickly dabbed at it with the towel on the tea tray.
Most of the other host club members quickly appeared at her table, asking her if she was alright. She looked beyond them to see the other clients staring at her while whispering to each other, as Kyoya tried to get their attention and apologize for the scene.
"I'm alright" She reassured, but Tamaki went into full dramatics about how his precious daughter was burned and would only quite down when she agreed to go to the nurse. Everyone wanted to escort her to the nurses but Kyoya appointed Mori to the task and sent everyone else back to their clients.
