Author's Note: 4th chapter's up now! Sorry that it's later than I planned; I was stuck without Wi-fi for most of the weekend, and was unable to update. But I'm updating now, so don't be mad at me! Disclaimer: Is still the same as in chapter 1. Sheesh, you forgetful people! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think of the story so far! Any feedback/comments/questions/criticisms are highly appreciated! Enjoy the story~

"Seiko." a voice called.

Seiko didn't want to open his eyes. He wanted to enjoy the warmth of the large hand enveloping his petite one. Wanted to enjoy the presence of another human being, even if he didn't know who it was. Wanted to enjoy the fact that someone had reached out to him.

"Seiko!" the voice called again, louder, more worried.

Just a moment longer...Just a while longer of not being anyone. Just a while longer of this sweet peace.

Seiko opened his eyes slowly, reluctantly. It was like his soul was dropped back into his body, no longer floating lightly, freely. He was Seiko again. Chained down again.

The hand tugged and Seiko went flying into the owner's chest. "Just what were you trying to do?"

Seiko looked up and immediately wished he didn't. It had to be Kyoya of all people. Seiko took his hand back and moved away slightly. "Escape the pain." Seiko picked up his cane wrapped in his uniform jacket, cradling it like a newborn child.

"I'll take you to one of my family's hospitals." Kyoya stood and offered Seiko a hand.

If it was one of Kyoya's hospitals, then that meant that Kyoya would have access to Seiko's information. No, he would not allow that to happen. He did not want anyone to know. Seiko and the boy he had been before the accident were two very different people, and he wanted it to stay that way.

Seiko draped his jacket around his shoulders and stood with the assistance of his cane. "That will not be necessary, thank you."

"At least allow me to take you home. I would like to be sure that you haven't contracted hypothermia."

Why was Kyoya being so generous? There must be something he was earning out of doing this, otherwise he wouldn't be here, Seiko knew. The only problem was that Seiko had no idea what he was gaining from this. He would just have to be on his guard. "I am capable of getting home—"

Kyoya grabbed Seiko's empty hand and pulled him towards his limo, ignoring Seiko's frustrated protests.

As soon as they were in the limo, Kyoya locked the doors. He retrieved a spare uniform from under the seat. "You need to remove your wet clothes." Kyoya said sternly, entering doctor mode.

"I will be fine until I get home." Seiko refused adamantly. He hated showing skin. Period. He hated his body. It was a constant reminder of the incident, of his old self which he tried so hard to forget.

Kyoya moved closer to Seiko, trying to undo the buttons to his shirt. "You need to change or you are going to fall ill."

Seiko ducked under Kyoya and moved to the other side of the limo. "Ten more minutes in wet clothes will do me no harm." Seiko wrung out his shirt and tie, hoping that would appease Kyoya enough to leave him alone.

Kyoya grabbed Seiko by his tie, drawing him closer. "How can you ever expect to help others when you are unable to even care for yourself properly?"

Seiko said nothing, merely stubbornly looked away. "Please release me." Seiko would not admit that what Kyoya said stung because it was true.

Kyoya hooked his finger under Seiko's chin, tilting his head back to him. "What I said must be true, no?"

"It does not matter. None of it does." Seiko stared Kyoya down coldly. He was going to hold on to the remaining bits of unfeeling self with all of his being. He would not be swept away.

Kyoya pushed Seiko down onto the seat and supported himself with one hand over Seiko's head. Seiko glared at Kyoya. He would not let go. He would not feel.

Kyoya undid one of the buttons to Seiko's shirt. Seiko forced his breathing to return to normal, forced his heart to stop beating erratically in fear.

Kyoya smirked and popped open another button. Seiko bit down on his lip to keep from saying anything. He did not care. To care was to feel, and Seiko would refuse both.

Another button. There were only two left now. Only two buttons between Kyoya and everything Seiko wanted to hide. Seiko clamped his teeth down so hard that they cut through his tongue. Blood flowed in his mouth, a welcome distraction.

One button left now. One button until everything Seiko had dammed up came flowing out. Seiko clenched his eyes close as Kyoya's fingers ghosted down his shirt, slowly making their way to the lone button. Seiko's breath hitched, his back arched.

"What doesn't matter?"

Seiko opened his eyes. Kyoya had moved away. The last button was still closed.

"Obviously you are not as unfeeling and emotionless as you pretend to be. It matters to you. If it didn't, you would not have reacted." Kyoya was not smirking anymore. It almost looked as if he pitied Seiko.

"I refuse to care! I refuse to feel anything!" Seiko raised his voice, sweating and breathing deeply.

Kyoya rubbed Seiko's cheek, causing him to blush bright red and swat his hand away. Kyoya, having proved his hypothesis said, "Simply because you refuse to acknowledge something does not mean that it isn't there."

Seiko had been quiet for the remainder of the car ride. There was nothing to say. The Host Club had managed to worm their way under his carefully and delicately constructed mask. Did he want them out? That question he could not answer, but he did know that if they continued behaving as they had been, his mask would, in time, crumble.

Seiko was so out of it that he did not even ask how Kyoya knew where he lived once they had arrived. "Thank you for bringing me home." Seiko said stiffly as he exited the limo. He raised an eyebrow at Kyoya when he followed.

"I am informing your parents of how to properly care for you so you won't get sick." Kyoya explained as he walked a few paces behind Seiko.

Ringo answered the door. "Seiko-chan! You're so late! And you made us all worry!" Ringo attached herself to his leg, sobbing.

Seiko smiled and rubbed her back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"It's okay! I'll go get Okaa-san!" she disappeared inside before Seiko could even reply.

"She is a very energetic child." Kyoya chuckled. "She almost reminds me of Tamaki."

"I do not think she's quite as bad as Tamaki, however." Slipping off his shoes, Seiko motioned for Kyoya to come inside.

"Oh, Seiko! We were so worried! What happened? Are you injured?" his mother came speeding down the hall, picking Seiko up and hugging him tightly.

"I am fine. I stayed after school later and got caught in the rain." After a pointed look from Seiko, his mother set him down.

"What about the blood then?" she still did not seem convinced that Seiko was fine.

"My illness." Seiko's parents knew about his condition, as did his private doctor that they had flown in from Europe, but other than that, no one else knew.

"Please make sure that Seiko rests this weekend. I am worried that he was in the rain too long and may catch a cold." Kyoya said after he had introduced himself.

"What about the cosplay?" Seiko wasn't particularly excited for it, but he didn't want to abandon the Host Club and not do his part.

"I will write the script, and I'm sure Hikaru and Kaoru won't mind coming here to fit your costume." Seiko should have known that Kyoya thought of everything.

"I'll make sure to take good care of him!"

Kyoya nodded, excusing himself. Seiko walked him to the door. "Thank you, senpai."

"Think of it as my way of apologizing for my rude behavior today."

Seiko blinked. Kyoya was apologizing? Perhaps there was a lot more to his "Mommy" than he thought. "A-apology accepted."

"I'll see you later, Seiko-chan."

"Do you need anything?" his mother peeped into his room. Again. She came to look in on him nearly every 15 minutes since he had woken up. Probably checking to make sure Seiko wasn't trying to get out of bed. Not that that would be possible, seeing as his mother had buried him under multiple blankets and pillows as soon as Kyoya had left. She had forced him to sleep, and surprisingly he had slept through the entire night and the better part of the morning. Such a waste of a Saturday. But he was, at least, feeling better.

Seiko smiled to reassure her that he was fine. "I am content, thank you. Would you mind bringing me more books please?"

The doorbell rang. "Sure, just let me answer the door first."

After his mother was gone, Seiko sighed. Seiko knew she meant well, but he was not used to being around people so much, and it was starting to tire him out. He didn't want to sleep, though, because he knew the nightmares would come. Like they always did every time he shut his eyes.

"Is Seiko okay?" Seiko heard a voice yell anxiously. Tamaki.

"Tamaki, shut up! He might be sleeping." Seiko smiled. Haruhi would say something like that.

"Why did you even come?"

"Your face will probably just give him a headache." The twins. Seiko imagined that Tamaki was growing mushrooms in a corner now.

"SO MEAN!" Tamaki screamed. Seiko could hear him sobbing from his room. Upstairs.

Akira peeked in his room. "Jesus Christ, Seiko, what the hell was that?" Akira had headphones on her ears and looked irritated by the noise. "Are those your friends?"

Seiko hid a chuckle in his hand. "Unfortunately." Of course he was kidding. He was thankful to have them for friends. He was thankful to have friends at all.

"Good Lord. They have some fucking issues." she rolled her eyes and left.

Tamaki was the first of the hosts to come in his room. He practically took the door out on his way in, leaving it hanging by one hinge.

Seiko quirked a slender, silvery pale eyebrow. "Were you that excited to see me that you had to kill my poor door?"

Tamaki rushed at Seiko and hugged him. As best as he could with all of the blankets Seiko was covered in anyway. "Are you hurt? Sick? Don't die on me Seiko!"

Haruhi and the twins came inside, skeptically inspecting the door. "Did you wake him up, senpai?" Haruhi sighed.

Seiko waved away their concern. "I was already awake. And I am as healthy as I will ever be, Tamaki-senpai."

"What happened, anyway?" Haruhi asked. Seiko's attention, however, was on the twins who were snooping through his room.

"I do not know what you intend to find, but it is unlikely that you will find anything of interest." Seiko wasn't mad at them for snooping, or worried. Everything of importance was locked in his closet, and he owned the only key.

"Guys, you're so impolite!" Haruhi looked embarrassed by their behavior.

"How exactly did you find out where I live?"

"Kyoya."

Seiko had figured as much. "I am assuming that you're here for the costume fitting?"

"We actually came to see if you were okay," Hikaru said as he retrieved supplies from a large bag.

"But that's also why we're here." Kaoru held up Seiko's costume, smirking at the horrified look on Seiko's face.

Seiko groaned. I don't care. But, Seiko soon realized, it was pretty hard not to care about being shoved into a frilly, uncomfortable dress by twins who obviously found his discomfort amusing. Maybe he would allow himself to feel just this once. Just this once.

"Okay, class, I'm giving you a group project!" the teacher smiled a little too happily in Seiko's opinion. "You are to create a video about the scene I give you." the teacher began calling out names and scenes.

Seiko would rather get stuck with the dumbest kid in the class than Kyoya. Scratch that—Seiko would rather get hit by a bus than work with Kyoya.

"Seiko Yukio, you are with..."

Please not Kyoya, please not Kyoya, please not—

"Kyoya Ootori! And your scene is Medieval torture."

Seiko dropped his head on his desk. Working with Kyoya Ootori was already plenty torturous enough.

Seiko was a perfect student, never caused trouble, always did his work, but now, he considered not doing this project. It couldn't hurt his grade that much, right?

"Oh, by the way, class, this project will be one third of your grade this semester." the teacher shooed them off into their groups, giving them the rest of the class to discuss and plan their project.

Seiko felt a little piece of himself die inside. He wished he could follow suit.

"I propose we film our project this Saturday. I can arrange to have a dungeon and torture implements created in the Host Club room. We Ootoris pride ourself in our authenticity, after all." Kyoya whipped out paper and pen, jotting down notes for the project.

Torture implements... "Am I correct in assuming that I will be torturing you?" Seiko inquired hopefully. Sweet, sweet revenge. No. Be nice.

Kyoya chuckled, smirking evilly, and pushed up his glasses so that they reflected the glare of the light. "Of course not."

Seiko lowered his head onto his desk forcefully. "All hope is lost." Seiko mumbled under his breath, but he didn't doubt that Kyoya heard him. In reality, though, Seiko knew all hope was lost as soon as he had spoken a word to Kyoya.

"Come out of there, Seiko," Hikaru demanded impatiently from outside Seiko's changing room.

"Or we'll drag you out!" Kaoru completed his brother's threat.

Seiko glared at the mirror in embarrassment. How utterly demeaning. He was in his Peach costume, complete with a blonde wig and tiara. The twins were kind enough to make him a scepter that could double as a walking stick, but it was their fault for refusing to allow him to use his own in the first place. They had not, thankfully, forced him into high heels or makeup. They'd sure as hell tried though.

Seiko took a few deep breaths, returning himself to his calm state, and timidly slid back the curtain that divided him and the Host Club.

"Aw, you're so cute!" the twins, Hunny, and Tamaki cooed. Haruhi, dressed in her Daisy costume, sent Seiko a sympathetic glance.

Hunny made a very convincing Yoshi; he was the perfect height. Hikaru was Mario, and Kaoru was Luigi; they too were wearing wigs. Mori's towering stature made him an ideal Waluigi, but as for Tamaki, he was nowhere near fat enough (or evil enough) to make a convincing Waluigi.

Seiko took one look at Kyoya and had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. The twins had taken their own creative liberty over Kyoya's costume after he had refused to wear a fat dinosaur costume. Adorning his head were large black demon horns, and a black cloak covered in spikes (the spikes themselves were silver, splattered in red paint to give the effect of blood) enshrouded most of his body. His pants and shirt were both black, ripped in multiple places and showing a moderate amount of skin.

"You guys, Kyoya's supposed to be Bowser, not the freaking devil!" Haruhi scolded them after she had laughed at Kyoya's outfit.

"But Haruhi, he is the devil," Hikaru patted Kyoya on the shoulder.

"So he should dress like it." Kaoru patted his other shoulder.

"If one's attire should reflect themselves, then you, Hikaru and Kaoru, should be dressed like imbeciles." Kyoya retorted coldly, but everyone knew by the slight upturn of his lips that he was kidding.

"Nah, that'd be the boss." the twins high-fived each other for their outstanding comeback.

Seiko did laugh this time as Tamaki went to his "mushroom corner." Mother, Father, I hope you will be willing to forgive me for deciding to enjoy myself just this once. I promise on your deaths that it will be just this once.

"Hikaru, Kaoru, while your costumes are astounding, Kyoya is not the devil. One look from Kyoya would be enough to send the devil running from the depths of Hell." Seiko commented, and everyone save Mori (chuckling) and Kyoya (death glaring) fell on the floor laughing.

"Oh God, Seiko,"

"You should act like this more often!" the twins gasped out between tears of laughter as they pounded their fists of the floor.

Haruhi wiped a tear from her eye. "Having you around sure makes things a lot more interesting, Seiko."

Tamaki threw Seiko into the air, catching him in his arms. "What would we do without you? Who would stand up to your demon Mommy?"

Seiko smiled but said nothing. However, in his mind, he said all he needed to say. You know what they would do without you. Go on living life as if you never existed. You are nothing, and it would do you a lot of good to remember that.

"Aw, Seiko's so adorable!" Seiko resisted the urge to cover his ears as his customers screamed. They were outside in the garden, so they didn't have to keep their voices down. (Not like they kept their voices down inside either.) There were two large castles set up; one, pink and happy (Peach's), the other, dark and ominous (Bowser's). Seiko, Hikaru, Kaoru, and Kyoya were performing on one side of the garden, and Haruhi, Hunny, Mori, and Tamaki were on the other side. Kyoya had made Tamaki pay for the photographers for both events since it was his idea and the club was already over their budget.

Seeing as Tamaki was not here, Kyoya greeted the guests. "On the behalf of Tamaki, our king, I would like to welcome you to our Mario themed cosplay and show."

All the girls cheered, some even stood on their seats and clapped.

Seiko curtsied like the hosts had taught him; he picked up the movement easily and was able to perform it fluently and with grace despite his enormous fluffy dress. "Without further adieu," Seiko didn't change his voice to portray Peach, as it was already naturally rather soft and higher pitched than most males, "let the show begin!"