Warning: Creepy themes and instances of non/dubious consent in the future.


"Haruhi!"

Tamaki, Kaoru and Hikaru bellowed as the entire Host Club— sans the commoner— stormed past the already gaping door and into Haruhi's guest room, the carpet burning against their feet as they skidded to a stop.

"Haru-chaaaan!" Hani followed, his hands cupping his mouth to expand the sound's reach. Their footsteps slowed as they entered the dark chamber to find it completely empty. Besides the general feel of greyed out despair that seemed to pervade the entire estate, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A few textbooks and an open ledger lay open on the writing desk where she'd likely been studying before she'd gone to bed. The bedsheets had been pulled back and ruffled, but not so scattered that they suspected foul play.

Mori knelt beside the bed to explore its underside as Kyoya walked past him, examining the space with a flashlight as he strode. Hani's tiny head poked in and out of the room's two closets. "I-It is creepy in here," Hani whimpered as though he were attempting to persuade himself. "Maybe she left to find another room to sleep in!"

Tamaki let out a strangled sob. "But I offered to decorate it with Kuma-chan balloons!" He held up a plastic pack filled with multi-colored bits of rubber, tiny, apathetic bear faces visible on several of them. "Maybe Haruhi doesn't like this kind?!"

"She doesn't want any stupid balloons, MiLord!" the twins almost snapped, their hands roving frantically over the objects on the writing desk and tossing a few textbooks aside as if a clue would present itself.

"Haruhi wouldn't just leave in the middle of the night," Kaoru explained.

Hikaru nodded as he tore fruitlessly through the writing desk drawers. "And where did those noises come from?!"

"Haruhi…" Tamaki slid to his knees, the silken material of his blue pajama pants stretching against the carpet, fingers tearing through his bangs. "The shadow demons…" His head snapped up, features twisted in accusation, his neck swiveling around to zone in on the twins. "We have to save her from those delinquents' shadows!" He leapt to his feet with new resolve. "They're already shady enough as it is!" He pressed his hands to his cheeks in horror. "I can't imagine all the terrible things they'd do to my daughter!"

"Hey, don't talk about us like we're not here!" the Hitachiins lashed back.

"And what makes you think it's our shadows that are after her, MiLord?!" Hikaru folded his arms, expression cold.

"You're the one always following her around," Kaoru agreed.

"Trying to dress her up in perverted clothes,"

"And calling her your daughter."

"It's probably yours," they finished together.

"What?!" The color drained slowly from Tamaki's face with every accusation they leveled at him. "N— No! I wouldn't—"

"Really? That nonsense again?" Kyoya sighed from across the room where his flashlight hovered near the window. "Have you forgotten so soon that Nekozawa-senpai was playing a trick on you?"

"But Kyoya—" Tamaki started in protest.

"While you three were squabbling, I found something," he went on, fixing the light on a particular spot on the window. "Handprints."

They all immediately drew into a large huddle around the giant panes, pulling the heavy, dark velvet curtains back on both sides to get a better view. Two vague, but nearly identical handprints marked the glass as if someone had been leaning in to get a good look at the lonely scene outside of the window. Their eyes trailed over the cliffs to the murky waters below and into the still, dark corridors of the East wing, momentarily pondering what she could have been focused on. Hani squinted, centering more on the prints than the landscape, his bright brown eyes widening.

"Th— those are too big to be Haru-chan's!"

The twins and Tamaki tensed, their stomach's dropping. Mori's brow set dangerously.

"Dammit!" Tamaki brought his fist down upon the window pane, his bare shoulders visibly shaking. "We have to find Haruhi right now! Those evil shadow twins—"

The twins' expressions soured from extreme concern to extreme disdain. "Why don't we compare hands?" they suggested, tackling his wrist before he could agree.

"What?!" He pulled back, yanking away with his entire weight as they drew him closer the glass. "It can't be me! I would never kidnap my own daughter!"

"But your shadow might," Hikaru countered with gritted teeth bending his knees to keep from being dragged by Tamaki's weight.

"And if we know it's you," Kaoru grunted.

"We know who to look for!"

"You try too, Takashi," Hani prodded his cousin's hand.

"Ah." Mori nodded, eyes solemn.

Kyoya cleared his throat, temple bulging slightly. "Are we the only ones on property with hands that could match these prints?"

There was a short silence in which darkness drew over each host's countenance, their features hardening.

"Nekozawa-senpai…"


The journey down to the West wing where Hikaru and Kaoru had left their upperclassman bound was a harrowing one. Tamaki and the twins spat and clawed at one another one moment and embraced in mutual panic the next depending on the creakiness of the floorboards and the darkness of the halls. Hani clung relentlessly to Mori, who patted his head and smiled at him in reassurance. Tamaki attempted to take the lead more than once, but every bump in the night and trick of the narrow beam from the flashlight rendered him momentarily stricken with fear and Kyoya assumed the leadership role for the large majority of their trip.

"A—Are we close?" Tamaki stumbled over his words, his voice small, as they reached a particularly cramped corridor where intricately carved obsidian chandeliers swung overhead like stone vultures over faded crimson carpeting. His fingers dug deeply into the orange and turquoise material of the twins' pajama tees and they held onto him from both sides in return, their arms draped around the torso of his white tank top.

"It should be just around the corner," Kyoya answered, peering up ahead. It was a good thing that he'd paid attention. He could only imagine the chaos that might have ensued if Tamaki and the twins were left to navigate the estate on their own…

"Alright men!" Tamaki suddenly sprang to the head of the group, eyes set in determination. "Now that your fearless leader has led you to the battleground, we must form a game plan to win back Haruhi!" He walked backwards so that he was facing them, his arms folded smugly across his chest.

"Fearless leader?" the twins asked mockingly.

"Anyway MiLord," Hikaru yawned as they continued down the passage. "It won't be much of a battle."

Kaoru nodded bitterly. "Nekozawa-senpai is probably just waiting with Haruhi and the candle in the show room to gloat about how much he scared us."

"We can kick him around,"

"And tie him to the roof,"

"But that's about it." They shrugged together.

"I can't believe that Neko would go through all that trouble just to scare us. Even if you did vacuum Beelzenef," Hani frowned, his gaze wandering downward. "Doesn't it seem a little out of character?"

"Yeah." Tamaki's lips curled under, his fingers massaging thoughtfully at his chin. "It is strange…"

"Hey, fearless leader," Kyoya called in his usual nonchalant tone. "There's something behind you."

Tamaki yelped and dove head first back into the group, a tuft of blond slowly peeking out from over Kyoya's shoulder. "What is it?"

"The door," Kyoya responded with the faintest hint of a grin and the twins snickered, much to Tamaki's chagrin.

The aged hinges creaked and they spilled though the large, blackened wood door. The twins were the first to step out into the wider expanse, the bare ground clapping beneath their feet. The sconce lit archways added little lighting to the familiar hall, the faint orange trembling against the stone walls. They were back where they started— at the edge of the westernmost corridor, the eerie candlelight from the showroom still pulsating from its entrance.

"Alright Nekozawa-senpai!" Hikaru charged toward the show room, the rest of the club quick on his heels.

Tamaki sprinted from behind Kyoya, steps brisk. "Where's Haru—" His words died immediately in his throat. Nekozawa sat upon the black marble, his wrists bound behind a stone column, his hood slumped woefully over his eyes. Just how they'd left him.

Nekozawa glanced up fearfully, his entire form trembling. When he locked gazes with both Hitachiins and then Tamaki, he visibly relaxed.

"You came back!" He sang, tears flowing. "I assume you've seen your shadows by now." His eyes darted anxiously from face to face. "Realized I wasn't lying?" His voice finally broke. "Please don't put me on the roof! My skin burns easi—"

"So…" Hani began in a tearful voice, his eyes growing wide and then quivering. "You don't have Haru-chan?"

"Hm?" Nekozawa's brow furrowed and then arched dramatically. "I thought he was with you…"

"Nekozawa-senpai," Kyoya walked forward, the polite tone doing little to mask the rapidly worsening irritability underneath. His fingers folded tersely around the flashlight. "This stunt has gone on long enough."

"… Kyoya…" Tamaki began from his side, his voice barely a whisper.

"I realize that Tamaki damaged your property, but he's willing to pay ten times the actual cost to repair your damaged puppet," he put curtly. "You can call off whatever bizarre plan you and the security team have devised."

"Kyoya."

"My father donates quite a large sum every year to the landmark preservation group that helps to sustain this estate and—"

"Kyoya!" An agitated whisper.

"He'd be disappointed to find— what is it, Tamaki?!" he snapped around at the blond, abandoning the polite facade completely, features twisted in annoyance.

Tamaki lifted a quivering finger toward him to point downward. Brow knitted, Kyoya followed his terrified gaze, half expecting to find a black cat or some other notorious object that the Host King, the twins and Hani would no doubt project their superstitions onto for the rest of the night. Instead, he found nothing but his own feet bathed in white light from his flashlight. He grimaced.

"What the hell are you going on abo—" He huffed before trailing off, realization oozing over him in cold trickles down the back of his neck.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru choked, trembling arms clutching his brother.

"Kaoru!"

"Takashi…" Hani cried, one arm wrapped firmly over Mori's shoulders, the other holding Usa-chan tightly to his chest. "H— He…"

"He doesn't have a shadow…" Nekozawa remarked, eyes roving the ground with immense curiosity. "None of you do."

There was a brief moment of silence before the room erupted into a shrill cacophony of shrieks and incoherent babbling from all, but Mori and Kyoya— the former of which who comforted his cousin while the latter waved the flashlight repeatedly over his limbs in stunned disbelief as if his shadow would suddenly materialize from the movement.

"Calm down! Calm down!" Nekozawa warned. "I need to do something important, but you have to untie me first."

Tamaki, the twins, Mori and Hani all herded around him, their hands loosening and tearing at the duct tape as if he'd requested a bomb diffusal and there were ten seconds left til detonation. When the ravaged tape fell around Nekozawa's waist and he'd rid himself of most of the residue around his wrists, he reached under his jet black robes and fumbled for something while they all watched in anticipation. Breathing hurried, he finally yanked a smartphone from his pocket and aimed it out at all of them, his trembling fingers hovering over a button at the top.

"A photo?" Tamaki leaned into the tiny lens, amethyst eyes confused.

"What's that going to do?" the twins asked.

"Oh, nothing." Nekozawa squinted into the screen as he snapped several shots in a row. "I've just never seen black magic of this caliber before! Fufufu," he chuckled in spite of his fear. "Suoh-kun, can you back up a few ste—"

Nekozawa flinched as Tamaki's arm thrashed out to knock the phone from his hands. It smacked against the stone and clattered to the ground, the back end cracking.

"Haven't you been listening?!" Tamaki demanded, eyes maddened. "Haruhi's in trouble!"

"Right!" the twins agreed, fists clenched. "MiLord's shadow—!"

"MY shadow?!" he seethed.

"Poor Fujioka-kun," Nekozawa lowered his head as if in mourning, a fist closed over his chest. "He was always kind to the Black Magic Club..."

"WAS?!" Tamaki, the twins and Hani boomed at him.

"Don't talk about Haruhi that way!" Tamaki cried before turning to address them all. "We have to move now! Let's plan our search parties!"

"Yessir!" the twins saluted.

"Security," Mori put in and Tamaki nodded resolutely.

"Mori-senpai is right! We have to use all of our resources!" He snapped his fingers. "Nekozawa-senpai! Have the security here aid us as a third search team!"

"But you broke my phone, Suoh-kun," Nekozawa stared forlornly at the battered mix of metal and plastic. "Besides, they're usually patrolling this part of the estate around this time." He stood to peer further down the dimly lit corridors. "They should have shown up by now…"

"Probably busy getting their heads bashed in," the twins offered an explanation from behind and Tamaki grimaced in disgust. "Hikaru. Kaoru," he reprimanded. "Is this really the time to make those kinds of vulgar—" He turned half way to scowl at them only to realize that the twins were standing right in front of him, their shoulders trembling, skin ashen white.

"…jokes," Tamaki croaked, the corridor's sudden silence pressing on his ears, his limbs lead heavy as he exchanged silent gapes of horror with the twins. He felt a sudden tap on his shoulder and swallowed hard. Willing himself not to pass out, he turned from the twins to face an identical pair of faces with a very different set of emotions.

The second pair of twins stared at him for what seemed like a long while, their wicked features abnormally still, as though they were frozen in time, waiting to spring from oblivion and into terrifying reality when he least expected it. Their hands were the first to move, unclasping and releasing something that Tamaki hadn't even realized they'd been holding. A man fell face first onto the marble, limp and unconscious, a trickle of something thick and dark oozing from his head. Nausea seized Tamaki as he recognized him as the head of the estate's security.

"Who said we were joking?"


Thanks so much for your reviews! You guys are good guessers. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!