Hi again :) No comment on the amount of time I take to update, it's shameful :'(

Anyway, back to Yui and Kyouya, here's the where we left them,

'Unless your genetic code has miraculously changed you are Haruhi,' Kyouya was annoyed; it was like she didn't want to remember.

'Look,' Haruhi/Not Haruhi sighed exasperatedly, 'if feel uncomfortable using her name, I know nothing about her and I don't even feel like her, it's like stealing. I'd be happier if you called me Yui,' she looked at him with tired, confused eyes, 'if I ever remember I will happily take back the name, I feel bad about forgetting my friends and family when you're trying so hard to help me.'

'I hope you remember too, Haruhi was a good person and you are one and the same in my eyes but if it makes you happy, would you like to see files of Haruhi's basic information, Yui?'

Yui smiled, 'sure.'

He handed over the files with her birthday, age, lineage and other information, Haruhi reached out and took the sheets, their hands brushing for a fraction of a second and their eyes met.

'You two, we have to leave, now,' Keiichi's urgent voice met them, both of their heads snapped up to see the boy looked through the window, the sunlight was dimming but it was still clear something was wrong by the look on his face, 'zombies.'

~.~.~.~

Yui stuffed the papers into her seemingly bottomless pocket and pulled out her guns, she followed Keiichi wordlessly out of the room; Kyouya hovered for a moment before following them, grabbing the photo of the host club without really thinking about it.

Keiichi and Yui were already halfway down the corridor when Kyouya started to run, Keiichi was yelling at the top of his voice, kids scrambled from rooms carrying an assortment of items they deemed useful. Yui stopped for a few moments to encourage a child to let go of the phone he was holding, uselessly trying to contact someone. Anyone. Somebody to bring them somewhere safe. He refused but put it in his pocket and followed them.

After passing a countless number of doors Kyouya stumbled to a stop and stared at the door that seemed even more foreboding than they had when he knew his father was waiting behind them. He pushed them open, surprised when a girl squealed and fell backwards, holding a knife shakily.

'G-Gomen, I was looking at- just-,' she pushed her too-large glasses on the bridge of her nose and swallowed nervously.

'Help me, grab whatever documents look important,' Kyouya ordered, the girl's mouth flapped uselessly, scared by his tone, 'now,' she squeaked but obeyed.

Kyouya's fingered slid rapidly over the books and files lining the walls, occasionally slipping something out, shoving it into his father's briefcase previously sitting by his desk, gathering dust. The girl handed another few sheets to him, hopping nervously from foot to foot before darting out the door. Kyouya thought she probably had the right idea, he glanced out of the window at the group of about twenty of the creatures were sniffing and shuffling their tattered stumps of feet across the front lawn.

They looked harmless. Disgusting and hideous but harmless none the less. But he had seen their shadows flickering in the dark streets, even the occasional screams. He didn't want to know whether the noises were coming from the monsters or their victims.

It wasn't safe anymore, Kyouya realised, 'as if it ever has been,' he muttered to himself then promptly followed the girl out of the door, turning his back for the last time on the room that he despised so much.

By the time he had gotten downstairs the house was nearly deserted, apart from a few hiding by the front door with a huge frozen slab of meat. They glanced through the door every now and then to see if the coast was clear outside, Kyouya could hear the noise of shouting and the occasional gunshot. He wasn't going to be much use in a fight and he knew it.

'Oi, Mr Rich Boy,' one of the young boys holding the carcass yelled to him, 'too scared to fight?'

'Scrawny thing,' another boy muttered, though he himself was rather skeletal, 'probably wouldn't do much good.'

Kyouya's eye twitched in annoyance, his pride as an Otori bubbling up, 'it would be pointless if I went out without a weapon, wouldn't it? Especially as you so kindly pointed out I am not build for fighting with my bare hands,' his voice dripped with venom tinted sarcasm.

The first boy made a noise that could have been a snort or a laugh then threw a small gun into Kyouya's hands, 'you do know how to shoot that thing, right?' in reply Kyouya shot a hole in the wood above his head then dumped his bag on the girl who had been in his father's study, he stepped out of the door.

The fight going on outside wasn't on a massive scale, there were only a few of the stronger or stupider zombies still hanging around, grunting and swinging at the group of people who definitely outnumbered them. It didn't look like Kyouya was needed.

Yui wandered over after smashing a zombie in the skull with the butt of one of her guns, plopping herself down on the overgrown grass she smiled cautiously up at Kyouya, 'you don't need to help fight this time, this bunch seem pretty slow,' she looked around the carnage, one zombie was missing most of his limbs but still struggled along the ground, thin blood was pouring out of different wounds. The zombie eventually seemed to give up and slumped, starting to chew on one of its dead companions.

Kyouya nodded, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the bloody mess that used to be his pristine clean front lawn.

'I wouldn't let go of that gun though, especially with the amount of ammo they found in the weapon cupboard. What did you used to stock? An army?'

'Merely a private police force of one hundred men,' Kyouya replied, Yui's eyes widened and he stared at him with her mouth hanging open.

'Rich bastard,' she muttered.

'You okay, Yui?' Keiichi joined them, wiping his bloody hands on his shirt.

'I'm fine, Nii Nii, can I come with you to get everyone ready?' she responded, getting up from the ground but she stumbled and balanced herself on Keiichi's arm before sitting back down on the ground again, rubbing her legs.

'Are your legs hurting again?' Keiichi raised a stern eyebrow then quickly glanced away, checking the people who were now all sitting on the grass, sorting out the stuff they had collected.

'Nn,' Yui shrugged dismissively, 'it's tolerable.'

Keiichi knelt down and poked Haruhi's knee causing her to wince.

'Are you hurt?' Kyouya asked, the concern not showing in his voice. Keiichi said yes at the same time Yui said no, Kyouya raised his eyebrow in amusement, 'if it's bothering you I'm sure I can find something to help, what happened anyway?'

Yui's scowl dropped and she didn't respond, Keiichi shot a warning look at Kyouya then stood up straight and clapped his hands, gaining everyone's attention.

'Right, gather everything up and divide the load, we're going to find somewhere to camp for the night,' there was too much blood to stay in the Otori grounds; it would only attract more zombies. Everyone sighed and grumbled, picking themselves from the floor. Keiichi lead the procession out of the main gates and down the road that contained the homes of long-gone millionaires.

He glanced at Kyouya and Yui who were walking beside him, 'there'll be plenty of time to catch up later, and meanwhile you can carry Haruhi,'

The girl flushed in embarrassment, 'I do not need to be carried thank you very much,' Kyouya was torn between being vaguely embarrassed and concerned.

'You can barely walk,' Kyouya mentioned quietly, it was true, the small girl's legs were shaking and she flinched with each step. Yui folded her arms and refuse to move, stubborn as Haruhi ever was. Keiichi shot Kyouya a pleading look, Kyouya sighed then grabbed Yui by the waist and swung her over his shoulder, earning a yelp then a flurry of protests and insults.

'Nii Nii,' Yui gave the boy her best sad look, somehow managing to make her eyes water, her lower lip trembling as well. Keiichi hesitated for a moment then stuck his tongue out at her childishly, leaving her to struggle in Kyouya's grip.

'You've always been small but are you sure you're eating properly?' Kyouya commented, 'I've read books heavier than you,' he could feel her ribs on his shoulder and her rapid heartbeat.

Yui stopped struggling, folding her arms and placing her chin on them, staring at the ground, 'I eat when I can, when I'm hungry. There are enough stores in Tokyo to keep us all going for ages, even if the fresh stuff runs out.'

'Sounds appetising,' Kyouya muttered.

'You'll have to deal with the same as everyone else from now on, Mr Rich Boy,'

Kyouya's mouth twitched into a smile for a moment before disappearing, 'do you know where we're going?'

Yui shrugged, 'we have a couple of places around that we know are safe but it depends. Once we've scoured an area we move on and start to look in the next.'

'Look for what?'

'Survivors. Keiichi-nii's been looking for survivors. I think he's might be looking for someone in particular but he's never told me who,'

Kyouya nodded but didn't respond, he thought about the things, and the people he was looking for. He wanted to know more about the virus that was the cause of this country's troubles but there was also the more human side of him that wanted to find his sister, if she was alive of course.

'Why are you suddenly so calm around me?' he spoke again after a few moments, Yui stirred and lifted her head and he wondered if she had been sleeping, 'you seemed nervous earlier.'

'I'm not sure really,' Yui muttered, staring into the darkness that was quickly falling upon them and at the happy group of people that had become her friends and family over the past weeks, 'maybe Haruhi's in my head somewhere telling me I know you. Besides, if I caused a fuss and was scared of you it would make things harder for Keiichi-nii.'

'He's important to you isn't he?' it wasn't something Kyouya understood, reliance on people was seen as a weakness in his father's eyes and his mother had left when he was five years old so there was nobody to rely on. His sister was the closest thing to a parent he'd ever had.

'He's the one who found me and he saved my life from-,' she stopped, falling silent immediately and lowering her head again. Kyouya thought of everything he knew and tried to piece them together.

'You were attacked by something,' he stated, Yui nodded, encouraging him to guess more, 'were you living in the streets by yourself?' shake, 'in your home?' nod, 'so something got it?' she shook her head again.

'It was already in the house to begin with,' she whispered, Kyouya felt a bed feeling in the pit of his stomach, he didn't think pushing her any further would do any good but she started to speak again.

*Flashback time*

The girl opened her eyes and looked around the unfamiliar room, rubbing her eyes with hands she didn't recognise.

She felt there was something missing in her head; it was light and empty in comparison to the dark and almost suffocating room she was situated in. She glanced around the room then picked a letter up from her pillow, squinting to read it from the light pushing through a crack in a board on the wall.

Who was Haruhi? The girl in the picture looked happy with the woman, or was it a man? She wondered where they were and why she had the girl's letter it sounded like the girl had been sick and had locked her up for her own protection but the girl didn't know what this Haruhi would need to be protected from.

A shuffling sound came from the direction of the door, making her jump. Maybe she was like Haruhi and she was locked up for her own protection. Maybe she was a mental patient, which would explain why she was locked up for 'her protection.' She laughed quietly, wondering how many times she had woken up like this and forgotten who she was, maybe she was a serial killer or maybe she hadn't done anything wrong but that didn't matter when you didn't know who you were.

There was more shuffling from behind the door, the girl assumed it was a guard or some kind of personnel. She got up from her futon unsteadily, he legs felt weak and she wondered how long she'd been sleeping. Never mind that, how long had she lived in this room? It looked like a normal bedroom, maybe a little sparsely decorated but normal nonetheless. She gulped greedily from a water bottle she found on the floor and chewed a very stale piece of bread as she looked for anything useful in the room.

As her eyes adjusted to the darks she flicked trough a few books that we sitting on shelves, mostly textbooks and a couple of photo albums. She squinted at photos filled with people she didn't know. Haruhi's face appeared more than a few times showing different stages of her life, the woman that looked like her disappeared from the photos when the Haruhi girl was around five or six. The girl didn't feel any connection to this girl, she was almost jealous of her. Living in this world the girl understood in her mind but failed to grasp any experiences of living in it. Did she know Haruhi? She must have done to have so many photos of her or maybe this was her old room and the girl had recently moved in.

Had Haruhi died? Had she been locked in here? This place must be a hospital then because Haruhi didn't look like a mental patient.

The shuffling outside kept getting louder, a grunt occasionally or a snarl, the girl called out for food once but all she was give was a roar and heavy banging on the door.

She came to the conclusion that it wasn't a guard outside, it sounded like an animal of some form, a dog perhaps. But something didn't settle right with her, where was everybody? It was eerily silent and no matter how hungry she felt her stomach felt heavy with a feeling of nervousness. The fear of this room was building in her mind and she was desperate to get out, claustrophobia gnawing at her empty mind and stomach.

After an undetermined number of hours and eight bloody fingers later the crack in the boarding on the window fell away creating a hole big enough for the girl to peer out of. She rammed her thin fingers in the hold and tried to pull it further but her fingers were slippery with blood and torn skin so she fell backwards, hitting her head on the corner of the dresser. She cursed loudly, earning a snarl and more banging from the thing on the other side of the door.

The girl cursed again as she stood, shoving papers and bottles from the dresser in frustration, she looked up and flinched from new light from the hole reflecting off the mirror. Blinking rapidly a few times the girl stared at the small, messy girl staring back at her. Her hair was matted and filthy, falling in her face and eyes. Her own angry eyes stared back at her and she sensed familiarity, tilting her head she tried to remember, maybe seeing her pathetic self going to help her gain some memories to explain this unexplainable situation.

Then it hit her like a punch in the stomach, the girl staring back at her was a skeletal version of the girl in the photos, the girl in the letter, and the girl in the photo stuck to the letter with that man-woman that claimed to be Haruhi's father.

She was Haruhi. This was her bedroom and she had been ill and that man-woman was her father. She was Haruhi.

But not anymore. Haruhi was dead, the new girl didn't have a name. But that wasn't important because that thing outside wasn't a guard dog for a mental girl in a hospital and it most certainly wasn't human. Almost on cue it started to roar and throw itself at the splintering door. Haru-no the girl was scared, but all she could do as the door buckled and moaned on its hinges, locks rattling as they bent and fell from the door frame was scream and back into the corner, clawing desperately at the tiny hole she had made in the plywood board on the window.

Then the door gave a final moan and the thing pushed itself into the room, snuffling on the floor in the gloom, its red hair falling across its face and dragging on the floor.

The girl's body shook and she turned to face the thing, what had happened to the world while she had been sleeping? The thing froze and it caught her scent and turned to face her, amber eyes fixing her wide brown ones with a hungry, half lidded stare.

The thing was almost as thin as the girl was herself but that wasn't what paused her in her hear, it was a man, with a few days of stubble on his bruise and disfigured chin. But he was feminine looking with a ripped and stained purple blouse. It was her father.

But it didn't care, it was hungry. With a final, nearly gleeful roar it lunged. Its shrieks mixing with the girl's in the quiet air.

'That was when Keiichi-nii found me, he shot the thing through the hole in the board to hold it off then pushed a gun when the others had made the hole big enough. I shot the thing until it was dead,'

Kyouya was silent. He could understand the fixation she seemed to have with Keiichi; he has saved her as well as being the first real person she could remember communicating with. It was the first time since he had seen Yui/Haruhi that he was almost glad she had lost her memory. Haruhi was a strong girl; she may have recovered with being attacked by her father but to kill him? He doubted she would have been the same, not that she was the same right now but he didn't want to think about that.

'That's when you got hurt then,' Kyouya muttered. It was a statement more than a question.

Haruhi didn't reply.

'She's asleep,' the girl, Chi, from earlier patted the sleeping girl on the head, 'by the way, I'm Chi. I'd shake your hand or something but my hands are hardly clean,' she smiled showing him her mud and blood caked hands, 'I am- or was Keiichi's fiancée, I don't think anyone's going to get married in Japan for a long time at least,' she laughed which seemed odd to Kyouya.

'Neither of you got sick?'

'Nope, I guess that's why I don't mind if we never get married, we're lucky to still have each other at all,' she continued to grin, brushing her dark hair from her eyes, 'well, that's enough about me, what about you? I want to know everything, like how you know little Yui, why you came with us. You're the first of the rich people we've found that's been prepared to come with our group, not that many are still alive.'

'I'm the first?'

'Yeah, we found about three other live ones living in huge houses but two of them were determined they were safe indoors and another even shot one of the kids and called us vermin. That's why we take precautions and pointed a gun at you. Sorry about that, by the way.'

'Only three others,' Kyouya repeated, dread creeping into his chest.

'You sound surprised,' Chi eyes narrowed slightly and she tilted her head thoughtfully, 'most of the dead rich people had been killed by the freaks. I heard there was an experimental vaccine being sold for ridiculous amounts; it's true, isn't it? That's how you're alive.'

That took Kyouya by surprise more than the previous comment, 'not that I know of, nobody in our family was offered it if it does exist. I know that one of my brothers died of the disease as well as my father so they didn't receive one either.'

'Oh well, it's not going to cure any freaks so it doesn't really matter anymore,' she sat down on the ground, it was then Kyouya realised that everyone else was stopping, some were already gathering wood and throwing other debris into a fire. They were in the middle of a huge crossroad near the centre of Bunkyō's* busiest district. Silence seemed to blanket the quiet murmur of the group.

He placed Yui gently onto the floor; Chi put her small rucksack under the girl's head and smiled at her. Kyouya glanced around the area for the girl he had left the documents with, he spotted her near the edge of the open expanse, sitting on the bonnet (hood) of a broken down car. She wasn't wearing the glasses she had been earlier.

She turned her head and stared at him, she slowly slipped from the car and picked the briefcase from the floor, Chi followed Kyouya's gaze and watched the approaching girl warily.

'Do you know her?' she asked quietly.

'No, she helped me gather some... important documents from my father's study,' Chi simply nodded, her eyes still fixed on the girl who stopped in front of them, her expression far more confident than it had been earlier, almost angry. She dumped the briefcase in Kyouya's lap.

'You're Nami at the moment, right?'

'Yeah, Ren was the one that helped this cocky guy here, stupid wimp was terrified of him,' the girl glared daggers and Kyouya, her hand hovering over her pocket, 'he was pushing her around like she was some kind of slave.

'Though so, go off and play with your knives and leave this guy alone,'

'Fine, but if this guy doesn't learn some manners I'll be playing with knives all over his face,' she hesitated for a moment the slid a knife from her belt and twirled it casually between her fingers as she walked away.

Kyouya turned his head slowly to look at Chi.

'Multiple personality disorder,' she explained, still watching Nami-Ren walking away, 'each side is aware of the other though, Ren as you seem to have met earlier is the 'nice' side, smart but pretty weak when it comes to looking after herself. And Nami, well, she's good with knives. That's what got her out of the institution and in our group.'

She turned and gave Kyouya a look that made him feel strangely like a scolded child, 'you already seem to have got on her bad side, Nami is very protective of Ren so be careful next time or you're going to lose your face,' she gave him one reassuring pat on the shoulder then stood up to join Keiichi who was sitting with in a circle with the older people of the group.

Kyouya could only nod dumbly and after the experiences of the day he realised what a sheltered life he had been living, maybe Haruhi had been right all of those times she had said how unaware they were of what happened outside of their own lives.

Speaking of Haruhi, Yui rolled over and opened her eyes, looking around groggily. She rolled onto her knees then hissed in pain, lying back down on the ground.

'Are you going to let me treat your legs or are you going to let the wounds fester until you have no legs,' Kyouya glanced down at the girl who scowled up at him.

'With what medical supplies?' she questioned through a yawn.

'These,' Kyouya pulled a first aid kit from beside him; it was one of the few that had been taken from his household. Yui's frown deepened more but she didn't object, instead she sat up and started to unwind the bandages on her legs from the ankles up, she stopped a few inches above her knees.

Kyouya didn't say anything, so Yui attempted to fill the silence, 'well... they're redder than last time.'

The former rich-boy tried to say something, the gashed didn't look like something a human could inflict, something Ranka could inflict on his daughter. Some of the scratches were little more than that, a nearly healed line on her skin but others, the skin seemed almost to have split open in a way that Kyouya was amazed Yui could walk.

'Are you sure there was no weapon?' he asked the solemn girl, who was still gazing at her tattered legs.

'No,' she looked up at him sharply, 'the thing used its nails, and it wasn't human. This disease that's been affecting everybody, I think it attacks DNA directly, it changes them. Haven't you seen?'

'Yes,' Kyouya replied eventually, then applied antibiotic solution to her legs without warning, he could feel breath intake and her muscles tense, 'I want to know everything about it, where it came from, what it is, why it was released. That is why I'm going to my father's hospital.'

'Released,' Yui repeated then gritted her teeth as he dabbed at her legs. He nodded.

'This was no natural disease and I think my family was involved,'

Well I've finished now, phew. 8 pages though :DD

Just in case anyone was wondering, Keiichi and Chi are in their early to mid twenties, I was going to have them younger initially but because he's leader of the group I thought he should be older. I'm probably not going to bother giving most of the group names because they're not really important, there are about 20 – 30 people in the group ranging from very young to about mid 30's older people are affected by the virus as it attacks the genetic information and the brain is starting to deteriorate, like some genetic disorders only appear with age.

*This is where Ouran Academy is based in Tokyo, one of the 23 special wards in Tokyo.