So it took me a while to update. I have been really busy now that school has started back up for me, plus I have this new guy that is really fueling the romance side of this story! I'll try to keep it calm though and update sooner.

ENJOY! :D


Chapter 7: That Night…

KPOV:

I knew the good week couldn't last, I knew it was to good to be true, it was just a dream, and I was reminded of that when father came home. I was working on a piece of art, something I had started a few weeks ago but I changed the original plan. The first half of the painting was an over grown garden in the shadows but as I painted it I didn't want to paint that scene anymore and I turned it into a garden that had been taken care of and loved, the sun was shinning and the flowers were able to grow again and as I painted I was happy and relaxed, something I don't feel often, that was until my father came home.

I had finished all of his work for the week and did everything he asked, the extra time after club had helped me finish on time, but he hated when I painted, it was something I had gotten from my mother. I was the only one of the four children to look like her, and I was the only one to have her ability to paint, I was also the youngest, and my father blamed me for her death. She became very ill when she was carrying me and she made it through my birth but she never fully recovered after. My father had always blamed me and hated when I painted because it reminded him even more of my mother.

He came home from working at the hospital and found me in my room painting. "Kyouya!" he screamed after opening my door. I didn't even notice he was home until he had entered my room, I usually hind my paintings. "What are you doing?! You know I don't allow such useful activities in my house!"

"Father… I didn't know you were home." I bowed my head. I didn't want to be beaten.

"Look at me!" I looked up and saw the anger in his eyes, I knew at that moment any hope of not being hit was gone. "Where did you get this useless shit?" he asked looking sternly at me, I could smell on his breath he had had a few drinks, just not enough to be drunk. "Answer me!"

I swallowed before I answered straightening my back and raising my chin, "I bought it sir."

"And why would you do that? You don't have enough time to finish my reports let alone do this shit!" He spat in my face with the last word.

"I finished your reports sir. I had a few extra moments in my day."

He slapped me across the face and my glasses flew off my face, I closed my eyes in pain but I wasn't going to back down. "Ootori's don't have extra time and if we do we do more important things than Art! Ootori's work for their name!" he then punched me in the gut and knocked me off my feet. "Ootori's don't let time be wasted and always succeed!" He kicked me back down when I tried to stand up again. "Ootori's aren't WIMPS!" he screamed I my face and grabbed the front of my shirt dragging me up to his face level. "You are not an Ootori to weak piece of shit!" He than dropped me and kicked my head before I could block.

"Stop!" I said completely dizzy.

"What? Did you just try to give me a command?! I am the head of this house, you don't give me commands. You obey my commands! I will stop when I damn well feel like it and right now you seam like the perfect opportunity to get all my anger out!" he laughed after he said the last part and kicked me in the stomach before grabbing my arm and dragging me off the ground almost dislocating my shoulder.

"Stop! I will not put up with being your human punching bag!" I screamed and yanked my arm away. "I wont do it anymore!" I stood up straight and looked him in the eye as I mustard all my courage and said, "I am not weak!"

"Oh, somebody is trying to grow up. Stand up to Daddy?" He then punched me in the cheek and I just barely blocked so he got my noise, breaking it instead. "Somebody is trying to be a big boy I see. To bad he's to weak to be anything!" he hooked his left arm around caught my ribs in a punch knocking the air out of me while my hands were covering my face from the broken noise I now had.

"Stop!" I said again with all the air I had left in my lungs. I was bent over in pain holding my stomach with one arm while my other hand was on my noise. "Please… Stop… please!" I said between pants.

I closed my eyes and tears rolled down my face from the pain in my head and noise and stomach. "OOTORIS DON'T BEG YOU WORTHLESS LITTLE BOY!" he screamed at me as he grabbed my chin picking it up to make me look him in the eye. "You are no son of mine." He dropped my chin and pushed me to the ground before walking out of my room.

I got off the ground when the door shut and his footsteps faded and, still catching my breath, put my painting away before he stole it and burnt it. I grabbed my book bag and called a limo, I was going to Haruhi's before Father came back completely drunk and made me pay even more. All I could think on the way over was I'm going to be safe. It was probably the nicest thought I had ever had.

HPOV:

I was sitting at my kitchen table looking out the window at seven o'clock that night and I was just thinking back on the day. There was something about the day at the mall that made me smile. Kyouya and I spent an hour together after going to the jewelry store, we just walked up and down the mall going into stores for fun. I even bought myself some candles, which were currently burning, because he liked the smell and it reminded me of him. The way he walked and held my hand so he 'wouldn't get lost' was just a thought that made me smile for no reason at all. Later we ran into Honey and Mori and we didn't hold hands after that. The four of us looked for the other three and found them causing trouble in the toy store. They had been having a fight with nerf guns. Eventually we dragged them out of the store and into the limos by threatening to use Kyouya's secret police.

Now I'm just sitting here trying to figure out what I feel for Kyouya. He was so different than I thought he was, but he's not at the same time. He's very strict and his life is scheduled for him. He shuts the world out so no one knows the truth but he opens up to me and I still feel like he's a closed box with corners I'll never know. He's strong, he thinks he's weak, and he acts as though nothing will ever bother him. He is the most mysterious man I have ever talked to.

As I pondered and stared out my window I saw a limo pull into my neighborhood, that meant one of two things, the Host Club or Kyouya, and I couldn't decide which was worse. The Host Club was a pain in my butt and I had dealt with them all day. Kyouya meant he was probably broken and bloody and it hurt me to see that. I got up and walked over to the window so I could see better and my heart dropped when the door to the limo opened, it was Kyouya and there was blood running down his face. I closed my eyes taking in a big breath before walking over to the door and opening it. Kyouya was coming up the stairs to my apartment floor and he was clutching his ribs.

"Kyouya…" I whispered. He looked up at me with a sad look in his eyes, I wanted to cry just looking at him. "Come in." He nodded and entered my apartment talking a seat at the table. "I'll make you some tea and get the bandages." I headed off to the bathroom and grabbed all the medical cleaning supplies we had and then poured him a cup of tea. I had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

KPOV:

Sitting at Haruhi's kitchen table I sighed to myself in disgust. I couldn't believe she was seeing me like this again, I should have cleaned up before coming here, but if I had done that I might not have gotten out before father noticed. Haruhi must think I was a weak little boy running away form his problems like this. When I walked up those steps she opened the door and whispered my name and I almost lost it right then and there. The way she said my name broke my heart, it was like she was holding back tears and was afraid at the same time and I was the cause of her feeling that way. I don't want to be the source of her pain.

"Kyouya, let me see you so I can clean your face up," Haruhi said as he placed some tea in front of me and pulled my chin up with her tiny fingers. I looked up at her as she removed my glasses and her eyes were filled with care and love. Two emotions I only ever see from my sister. She started to wipe my face off with some wipes and alcohol, it hurt every time she touched my noise so she tried to tape it up the best she could and then asked me if anything else was hurting.

"I… just my stomach, nothing you can do there," I looked at her with so many emotions going through my head I had no idea what she saw.

"Well then here are some pain killers. Are you hungry? I have left overs from my dinner I can give you."

"No thank you, I already eat I think I just want to relax"

She smiled at me and rubbed my cheek with her hand saying, "I think that's a wonderful idea." I leaned my head into her hand and closed my eyes. The warmth of her hand felt wonderful on my cheek. I felt my eyes water up and a tear slip from under my eyelid running down my cheek. Haruhi slowly wiped it away and I opened my eyes. She was still looking at me, when I opened my eyes she placed her forehead on mine and closed her eyes. "What happen tonight Kyouya?"

I took in a deep breath and whispered to her, "Father doesn't like when I paint and he came home early to find me painting. That's what happened."

Her eyes opened and they were full of curiosity. "You paint?" she said.

"Only on occasion. It reminds father of my mom and so I am not allowed to paint when he is home. I lost track of time and father found me painting," I turned my head away in shame. Painting was not something to be proud of, not as an Ootori, it was something to be ashamed of something that is useless.

"I'd love to see some of your art," Haruhi said guiding my chin to look at her. "I think it's a wonderful talent." She smiled at me with warmth in her eyes. My insides melted as she said this.

"My I'll show you sometime," I said to her. I couldn't believe what I had said, I have never let anyone see my art, not even my family, it was where I kept my thoughts. I thought about the black notebook that everyone thought I kept dark secrets in but it was just my pencil drawings from school. Maybe I'd show her that. Yeah one day I'd show her that.

"Come with me we can put a movie on and sit on the couch," Haruhi said standing up straight and offering me her hand. I took it standing up and fallowed her into the living room never letting go of her hand. "I don't have very many movies but what would you like to watch?" she asked me.

"I've never seen any of these, you pick."

"You've never seen these? Well you'll have to watch this one with me, it's my favorite," she smiled and put the DVD in and sat on the couch next to me. "I think you'll like the movie too." She smiled and grabbed my hand that was sitting between us of the couch. I was so surprised she had done that, I never expected her to be so bold about it. I wrapped my fingers around hers and smirked. I didn't care that my noise was broken, my stomach was hurting, my ribs felt like they were on fire or that my head was pounded, the only thing I could feel was Haruhi's hand in mine and the heat coming from her body because she was sitting so close. I couldn't care less about my family or school or work or the host club I was happy just to sit here with her.

As the movie went on Haruhi ended up falling asleep on my lap. I was okay with it, she looked so peaceful sleeping like that. I was just running my fingers through her short hair and thinking about how nice it was to be with her. I wanted nothing more than to spend every night like this, Haruhi and I watching a movie and falling asleep together. It seemed like a magical reality that couldn't be anything more than a dream. I moved to lie next to her so she was in front of me as I fished watching the movie. I wrapped one arm around her and enjoyed listening to her heart beat and soft breathing more than the movie. It felt so right to lie here with her, like there were no problems in the world, that my father had never hit me, that mother was still around, that I didn't have to be perfect, everything in this moment felt perfect and I was content to just fall asleep with Haruhi in my arms and nothing but happiness on my mind. Maybe it was the painkillers talking but I couldn't be happier than I was in this every moment in time.