Chapter 3

A/N: I know the last chapter was a bit of a cliffie, but I don't think I've kept anyone waiting for too long. This chapter is a bit longer than the last one, at least.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran Host Club.

Everyone in the room turned towards the doorway at Haruhi's words. Sure enough, the tall figure of Mori graced the doorway of Music Room 3. He had a bandage wrapped around his forehead, his left arm was in a cast and a sling, there was a piece of plaster on his cheek and another on his neck and he seemed to be trying to keep weight off his right leg or ankle, but he was there and he was alive, just as they'd been told. But it was one thing to hear that he was alive, and quite another to see him standing there.

Mori shuffled his feet nervously, looking embarrassed by the stares. For several moments, no one seemed to know what to do. Then Kyouya stood up and moved towards Mori.

"Welcome back, Mori. May I offer my condolences?" he said in that soft voice of his, properly sincere as he spoke.

That seemed to lift the floodgates, and Tamaki and twins also hurried over to express their delight that he had returned, as well as their sorrow over Honey's loss.

Haruhi had to set the vase of flowers on the nearest table. Her palms were slick with sweat and her hands were shaking. She had not expected it would be so hard to see Mori like this, injured and without his cousin. But she couldn't stop herself from trembling. She took a deep breath, then grabbed the vase properly, placed it on Honey's shrine, and finally turned to face the tall senior.

For just a moment, she envied the rich bastards. They had all been brought up with thousands of lessons on what to say and how to say it for every conceivable scenario, and it was rare for any of them to be at a loss for words. Haruhi had always relied on her instincts in situations like this, but even that failed her as she stared up at those dark brown eyes, so sorrow-laden that they made her want to cry.

Well, she had to say something, it would be unspeakably rude not to. So she settled for laying a hand on his arm. "Oh Mori…" she whispered, but tears threatened to choke her and her hand reflexively squeezed his arm.

He didn't say anything to her, though that wasn't unusual. He also didn't remove her hand from his arm, which WAS unusual. But there wasn't much time to dwell on this, as the bell began to ring and the twins grabbed her and dragged her off to their classroom.

The entire school was buzzing, and it was perfectly obvious that the afternoon at the Host Club would be chaotic. Haruhi mentally winced, sympathizing with Mori… This was so hard for him already, and so much attention… She shook her head and tried to focus on the lesson.

There had been no plans to dress up in costumes that afternoon, and everyone was too interested in talking to Mori to mind anyways. The twins and Tamaki were all sitting at a table with the silent senior, and the girls were all crowded around, making such a din as they all tried to talk at once. Kyouya kept his distance from the crowd, typing away at his laptop. Haruhi hovered a short distance away.

"He doesn't like any of this," she thought, and then suddenly realized she'd spoke out loud when the Shadow King turned to look at her.

"No, I'm sure he doesn't. Mori has never been one for crowds," he agreed softly.

"Can't we tell the girls to leave?" she asked, softly as possible so no one else would hear the suggestion.

Kyouya adjusted his glasses. "Don't get me wrong, I would like to… but it would be dreadfully impolite. They're only trying to offer their condolences, after all."

Haruhi exhaled, making a snorting noise as she did so. "You damn rich people and your formalities."

Kyouya's mouth twitched. Perhaps under different circumstances, he might have favored her with that amused half-smile he sometimes wore. "I agree that they are sometimes inconvenient, but surely even you can admit that it's nice to know exactly what you are expected to say under unpleasant circumstances."

Haruhi gulped. That line was unpleasantly close to what she had thought this morning. She wondered, not for the first time, whether Kyouya could read her mind. "Still, I wish there was a way to rescue him," she said, trying to squash any thoughts of a telepathic Kyouya… that was just bad news for everyone.

"It won't last long," Kyouya assured her. "After the funeral…"

But then he stopped speaking abruptly. Haruhi felt as though she'd been punched in the gut. Honey's funeral… she didn't even want to contemplate the idea…

Tamaki's voice rose above the crowd. "Now ladies, I know we're all just delighted to have our dear Mori-senpai back with us, but you must remember that he is injured and it's his first day back, so I think he deserves a little space, don't you, my lovely princesses?"

Several girls swooned at Tamaki's exaggerated mannerisms, but slowly they began to file out, leaving the Host Club alone at last. The twins leaned over Mori's shoulders.

"So how are you doing, senpai?" they asked in unison. "Can we get you anything?"

"'m fine," Mori mumbled, fingers running nervously across his cast.

"Are you sure?" Tamaki asked almost eagerly. "We're just so glad to have you back… Are you sure you don't need anything?"

Mori nodded his head, one quick jerk.

Haruhi finally moved towards the group. "Tea, anyone?" she asked, holding up the tray.

The twins grabbed cups, and she handed a cup first to Tamaki, then to Mori. At first it looked as though he wasn't going to take it, but then he reached out and their fingertips brushed. He finally glanced up to meet her eyes, and she managed what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Those deep dark eyes, normally so warm and friendly, were dull and almost lifeless. It made Haruhi sick to see.

Tamaki and the twins tried to get Mori to talk, but he would not be drawn out of his shell and eventually talk moved to other topics. Everyone carefully avoided the topic of Honey. And it wasn't long before Mori stood, quietly said he would see them all tomorrow, and walked out.

Haruhi walked to the window and stared out, watching Mori limp through the courtyard. He glanced briefly in the direction of the large shrine to his cousin, then looked away again, keeping his eyes on the ground as he slowly made his way off school grounds.

Haruhi left school only a few minutes later. Everyone else was still talking, but she just wanted to be alone to think. Thankfully her father was already at work by the time she got home, so the house was quiet. As she cleaned the house, she organized her thoughts along with the kitchen cabinets. Mori's return to the school so soon had been unexpected, but seeing him in person… He needed help. She'd known he would need help though… of course he would. Losing his cousin, his best friend, in such a sudden and traumatic way… it would hurt anyone. But how to reach out and help this quiet young man heal? Haruhi was at a loss.

The question was not answered the next day either. Again, Mori was swamped with well-meaning people, and it only seemed to make him withdraw further into himself. Haruhi could not bring herself to approach him in these moments, although she wanted to do something to help and to show him that she cared.

Sitting next to Kyouya and working on her homework, she glanced over at their guests. The girls were swarming all around Mori, nearly ignoring the rest of the Host Club. She glanced at Kyouya, but wasn't comfortable talking about her innermost thoughts with the calculating Shadow King.

"The Host Club has never had so many guests at one time," Kyouya said softly.

Haruhi brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked up. Kyouya was gazing impassively at the screen of his laptop, and Haruhi wondered if he meant for her to respond.

Kyouya crossed his arms, leaning back from the screen. "So why do I want to put a stop to this?" he asked, still not seeming to be asking anyone in particular.

Haruhi lifted an eyebrow. "Maybe because even you can see that this isn't doing anything good for Mori at all, and you want to help him?"

Kyouya gave her a withering look. "You say that as though I don't care about the members of this club."

"You care," she said mildly. "As long as it doesn't interfere too much with the bottom line."

The light flashed off the lenses of Kyouya's glasses. "Not funny."

"You're right," Haruhi said, putting the book down. "That was mean. I'm sorry."

"These last couple weeks have been hard on all of us," Kyouya said at last. And although he didn't smile, his face seemed to relax a little as he looked at her. "I'm going to ask everyone to leave." And he stood up and walked over to the large crowd of girls, gently asking them to leave lest they tire Mori overmuch.

Haruhi remained seated at the table, tapping her pencil against the book in front of her. As the girls began to leave the room, she expected Kyouya to join her again, but he remained with the rest of the Club, so she stood and walked towards the group. The twins were sitting on either side of Tamaki on a couch, and Mori and Kyouya were sitting on opposite ends of a second couch facing them, forcing Haruhi to choose between sitting between Mori and Kyouya or pulling up a chair. Deciding that going to the effort of dragging over a chair was too awkward, she stepped over Kyouya's foot with a soft 'excuse me', neatly dodging the leg he'd crossed, and landing gracefully between her two senpais.

Everyone was talking inconsequentially except for Haruhi and Mori. Mori was staring off into space, not really paying attention to the rest of the group. The hand that was not in a cast rested on the cushion of the couch between them. Haruhi glanced at everyone else. No one was looking at her or Mori as Tamaki chattered about the latest party while Kyouya tried to dissuade him from being too extravagant, and the twins just egged the boys on. She hesitated a moment longer, then reached out, the tips of her fingers just barely touching the back of Mori's hand.

He would never have done something obvious like jerk his hand away or whip around to stare at her. But his hand tensed slightly under her touch, and his eyes flicked towards her for a moment before staring away again. But then they flicked back to look at her.

Haruhi was not going to insult him by asking if he was okay… of course he wasn't okay. But she looked at him, not moving her fingertips away from his hand, silently letting him know that she was there for him.

His eyes rested on her for a moment, then they flicked away again, but the hand beneath her fingertips relaxed just a little and he didn't pull away. It was such a small thing, but he was accepting them small amount of comfort she was able to give him.

It wasn't long, however, before Mori stood up to leave. Haruhi thought about following him, but decided against it. Surely he would prefer to be alone.

But her heart ached as she watched him go, and she resolved to redouble her efforts to help him through this crisis.

A/N: Well, I hope that was an enjoyable chapter. The next chapter was going to be Honey's funeral, but I actually didn't get quite as far as I wanted to get in this chapter (that seems to happen to me a lot… I get carried away…), so there's gonna be some other stuff instead. It's gonna be awesome though!