"Kyoya. What are you up to tonight?"
Hands in his pockets, he coupled a smirk with a shrug. "Tachibana called when he noticed an unfamiliar male entering Haruhi's building. By his description, I figured it was you, so I stopped on over."
"Ah. Are you busy?"
"Always. But let's go somewhere, anyway."
Ignoring the waiting car, the two of them proceeded to walk further into town. Moving along in silence, Takashi glanced over at Kyoya, whose demeanor was as unreadable as ever. They continued on wordlessly until ducking inside a small coffee shop. Seating themselves across from one another, Takashi waited for his company to speak. Kyoya spent several minutes staring at him, instead.
"So, Mori. Did you have a good time tonight?"
Narrowing his eyes in anger, Takashi stood up and prepared to leave, only to have Kyoya offer an apologetic wave. He motioned for him to sit back down.
"I'm sorry, that was out of line."
"I don't owe you an apology."
"I know. I know Hani wasn't able to tell you what was going on, and that Haruhi stopped corresponding. To be honest, after a while I tried convincing her to start talking to you, considering that she practically counted down the days until your return."
"Mitsukuni told me you were there to help after it happened. I'm glad she had the two of you."
Remembering that night, Kyoya frowned but nodded. "She looked like hell, Takashi. Terrified, all bruised and scraped up. Nothing broken, though. Maybe she didn't know who her attacker was, but from her description, it was none too difficult to assess who on campus matches that variety of scum..."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning the resources at my disposal are superior to those of the local police force, and I have a rather keen memory for the people I meet around campus. Perhaps other lowlife students will think twice before dragging girls away from the front of their dorms from now on."
Understanding the situation to have been taken care of, Takashi decided to move on to other topics.
"How has Haruhi been since then?"
Taking a long sip of his coffee, Kyoya raised an eyebrow as his mind sifted through the past several months.
"Pick a day... Right after it happened, Haruhi went into overdrive trying to keep busy. She didn't want anybody touching her, but she also didn't want to be left alone. Hani wanted to teach her some defense moves, with she agreed to. It was pretty obvious, though, that even with him she had problems being touched. The twins aren't a problem right now, as they're still studying in Spain. I managed to rein in Tamaki by 'admitting' my jealousy from all of his affections toward his precious daughter. Which, not surprisingly, he believed."
Despite the intensity behind the situation, this latest piece of information elicited a small laugh from each of them.
"What about now? How has she been lately?"
"Decent. There are bad days, of course, but she's much better than a few months ago. For a while she couldn't deal with being alone. She'd have Mei over for days at a time, or go back and forth between staying with Hani, then with me and Tamaki. Now, though, Haruhi's mostly content to do her own thing. I suppose she'd stay busy no matter what, but at night she's usually confident enough to go home alone."
Takashi exhaled a troubled breath. There was no reason to discount what Mitsukuni and Kyoya were saying. Their assurances that Haruhi was doing better were comforting, but the few interactions he'd had with her since being home told him different.
"Kyoya, are you certain she's fine?"
"Don't be so quick to flatter yourself into thinking you see something I don't. Let me ask you something: Before you found out about all of this, what were your intentions with Haruhi?"
For a moment he allowed the question to hang in the air.
Had she not stopped communicating with me, I'd planned to cut to the chase and ask Haruhi to be with me. After months of not hearing from her, I needed to rethink my plans in case someone else had entered her life. Either way, ultimately, my intentions...
Takashi sighed and answered him. "Marriage."
"I see. Well. As you've clearly seen, Haruhi still needs help. But it's not for me, or Hani, or anyone else to give. Even though we've tried, more than anything else, she wants you. Personally, I think that's what hurts her the most.
"From the day you stayed and we came back, she's waited for you. That didn't change after some bastard decided to have his way with her, and now she's left craving something that her instincts refuse to let her have. None of us are going away, obviously. But whatever is left to do is all on Haruhi, and perhaps on yourself."
Draining the last of his coffee mug, the expression in Kyoya's eyes indicated that his monologue was nearly over. As he motioned toward the exit, Takashi stood up in agreement, and the two men proceeded on their way.
Taking him by the shoulder, Kyoya brought them to a stop as they neared Takashi's apartment building.
"I've decided that I need to tell you one other thing."
"Hn?"
"I'm only telling you this because I'm certain you'll eventually be seeing, anyway. Technically, without peeking at her medical report, I don't know this, either. Haruhi has a scar on her left hip, where he carved his initials into her."
While the evening had been rife with upsetting news, Takashi found himself seething for the first time since hearing of her assault in the first place.
"It's small, but it's a rather blatant scar that won't be going away any time soon. I'm not sure if it helps, but for what it's worth, I was able to convince a plastic surgeon that the area needed extra attention, so there's a little less trace of that bastard on her."
"You said he was taken care of. He's in prison?"
"He's got a five year sentence, for now. But he's a young, first-time offender. What do you think is going to happen?"
Recounting the several times he'd encountered lewd men on crowded train cars, Takashi just shook his head.
"Indeed."
Once again finding themselves standing in front of Kyoya's car, the two of them held fast to their spots, staring up at Haruhi's apartment building. For a moment, neither said a word.
.
Laying quietly atop her bed, Haruhi tried her best to chase down sleep. Too much had transpired in one day, leaving her emotions entwined somewhere between elation and dread.
Thrilled to have Takashi back home, the question looming in her mind was from now on, how would he approach her?
As some broken thing to be mended? A weakling who let her guard down and deserved what she got? No. He may be mad for being left in the dark, sure, but he'll be okay. I'll know for sure if he starts staring at me the way Mitsukuni and Kyoya do. Please, God, don't let him look at me with the same brand of concern that they do...
One of these nights, I'm just going to walk down there to that damn car, knock on Tachibana's window, and ask him how he's doing. Maybe I'll bake him a cake with a nice little note on it for Kyoya...
Ah, but that's not fair, either. I'd be lying not to admit that their attention and discretion isn't appreciated. Or comforting.
Looking over at her calendar, Haruhi scowled.
I want things to be the way they used to be. I need to get back to normal before the twins get home for the holidays. They'll be all over me. That used to be fun. I miss fun... Poor Mitsukuni hasn't gotten a hug from me since last year. I'm so sick of putting up walls and ridiculous pretenses. Perhaps I could just acknowledge that something awful happened to me.
Could I do that? What would happen then?
Turning over on her side, Haruhi let out a deep breath. Sitting on the nightstand was a picture of them all. Their last day of everyone still in high school. The seven of them perched happily on and around a plush, velour couch. If nothing else, this picture was always a promised smile.
Good job, Tamaki. You set out to create a real family, and that is exactly what you did.
.
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Well hello, Chapter 3! Didn't expect to be seeing you so soon... I hope this story is finding you all well. This is a seemingly light week for me, so I'm hoping to get more of this done. We shall see... If it suits your fancy, please let me know what you think!
