Chapter 10

~oOo~

"Haru, you ok?" Kaoru asked.

Her head snapped up. "I'm fine. Why?"

"Because it's the end of class and your notebook is still empty. Your notebook is never empty."

"Oh. Um. I'm just ... distracted." She couldn't bring herself to tell them why. She'd already lost one parent; she was about to lose the other. These two had never lost anything. None of them really did had. Well, maybe Tamaki. He might understand. But as much as she wanted to go cry on his shoulder, she knew he wouldn't let her get that close, which meant there was no point in even trying. Kyoya was never a good shoulder for crying, so much for leaning on the boyfriend. Mori? If he was going to be here today? She felt pathetic going down the list like that. If she didn't want to be an object of pity, she shouldn't act like one. She bit her lip and swallowed the pain to try and forestall the tears.

"Yeah, no kidding." Kaoru said.

Hikaru leaned in. "Distracted by what? A pair of luscious golden eyes perhaps?"

"You wish," she said pushing Hikaru away. She grasped at the first plausible excuse that leapt to mind.

"I'm supposed to have dinner with Kyoya's family tonight. I'm kind of nervous."

"Eww." Hikaru gave a shutter that was only half mocking.

"The food will be good, the company will suck," Kaoru said.

"We could kidnap you and spare you," Hikaru offered. "No, seriously. We could have you in Kyoto before the car shows to pick you up."

For second, she looked like she was considering it. Then she shook her head. "Probably not a good idea at this time."

"Alternatively, you could sit with us at lunch and we can teach you how to eat," Kaoru said.

"Thank you, but I know how to eat."

"Not that kind of meal you don't," Hikaru said.

"Besides," she protested, "I can't afford the cafeteria."

"Our treat!" The twins said together.

"So what are you having for dinner?" Hikaru asked once they made it to the cafeteria.

"I don't know."

"Hm. That makes a lot tougher. We better order some of everything," Kaoru said.

About the time they loaded up the fourth tray she finally protested. "I can't eat that much."

"Fancy meals aren't about eating, Haruhi," Hikaru said. "They're about making you feel bad if you don't know how."

"Damn rich people" she muttered under her breath.

Kaoru loaded up a fifth tray then they headed to a table half way across the cafeteria from where Kyoya and Tamaki were sitting.

Kyoya noticed and got up from his seat next to Tamaki. "What are you doing?"

"Back off! She can eat with us if she wants!" Hikaru said.

Surprised at the rebuff, Kyoya looked at Haruhi who had a hand over her face in a moment of supreme embarrassment. Rather than make it worse, Kyoya adjusted his glasses and walked back to his seat, though he and Tamaki kept looking over their shoulders at the trio.

Momoka wandered up and sat across the table from Haruhi. "What are you guys making such a scene about? Oh, you're teaching her table etiquette."

"Yeah," Kaoru said. "She's got a fancy dinner coming up."

"That's sweet of you," Momoka smiled. "You have a salad knife in the wrong place," she said pointing at the offending object.

"We do not."

No really, it goes on the outside."

"It really doesn't."

"Hey Toru, you're an expert on tableware. Come over and correct these cretins."

Toru Suzushima wandered over and took a look. "Depending on the order of the meal, the salad knife can be there too. But you definitely have the demitasse spoon where the desert spoon goes."

"This," Hikaru said, whacking him on the knuckles with the offending spoon, "is too big to be a demitasse spoon."

"What kind of crappy silver do your parents own?"

Haruhu put her head down on the plate. "Can I just eat with chopsticks?"

~oOo~

She wore the dress the twins had given her for dinner at the resort. Kyoya had liked it, so that boded well. She slipped on the ring he gave her. It was costume jewelry, but it gave her courage.

~oOo~

Kyoya's mother played with the pendant of her necklace in an irritated manner. She'd looked at the file. Whatever her husband had seen in this girl was not apparent to her. And at the spa this afternoon, the women had all been gossiping about how Shizue Suoh had had to pay a fortune to get some trashy tramp away from her grandson. That same little tramp now had her claws in Kyoya.

While Fuyumi made her apologies to her father for her husband's absence that night (he had a prior business engagement), Kyoya's mother looked at her other sons. "What do you know of this girl?"

Akito shrugged. "She's the Suoh heir's castoff."

"Apparently she has a taste for boys with money. My friend's sister Ayanokoji was the third year when this girl was a first. She said this girl has never seen boy whose parents are worth less than ¥5 billion and when they went up to Karuizawa, she ran into an ex-boyfriend of hers who obviously still had feelings for her and she pretended they had never gone out."

The Ootori matriarch pursed her lips as the couple walked in.

~oOo~

Rather than just sending a car, Kyoya had gone to pick Haruhi up. That had probably been prudent, because being kidnapped to Kyoto was sounding better and better every minute.

~oOo~

Fuyumi was instantly at Haruhi's side. "Oh Haru-chan! That dress is stunning! Dior?"

"Hitachiin."

The matriarch's eyes skimmed over Haruhi. That dress cost more than the girl's father made in a month. She must have really stuck it to old lady Suoh. Well, the Ootoris would not be so crass as to resort to money.

As they sat down to dinner, Mrs. Ootori said, "I understand you are the scholarship student at Ouran."

Haruhi nodded. "I am."

"I must say, I am impressed," Yuuichi said. "A difficult feat. And especially stressful because if you let your grades slip even a little, even one time, you know you will be expelled because you can't afford the tuition."

"Yuuichi," his father warned.

"I meant no disrespect father. I merely wish to express my admiration for her hard work and dedication under what must be considerable pressure."

"Particularly given how many activities and clubs are available at that school," Akito added. "You met Kyoya through a club didn't you?"

"I thought that club was boys only," Yuuichi's wife said.

Haruhi glanced at Kyoya uncomfortably. Fortunately, he smoothly interjected "We made a special exception for Haruhi."

"How open-minded of you," she answered with a touch of condescension. "We'll convince you women are the equal of men yet."

"I have always felt women are the equal of men. I just do not believe the two are the same," Kyoya replied unruffled.

"He's splitting hairs Fujioka-san. You mustn't let him get away with that."

The way they were all looking at her ... were they expecting her to start some sort of a fight with Kyoya in front of his highly conservative father? Her parents had never had much use for traditional roles, but she was aware of societal norms. She cast her eyes down, partially to appear demure but mostly so she could gather her thoughts under their uncomfortable stares. "There are of course areas were a person's sex does not matter: academics, or business – certainly I would not expect Ootori-sama to go easy in a business negotiation because the other company's head was a woman - but there are other situations in which a person sex definitely does matter." She was thinking of Okinawa, and not the afternoon on the beach. She glanced up without moving her head. Ootori-sama looked pleased. Kyoya's sister-in-law, not so much.

"Oh, she's smart," the woman said. "You're going to have a hard time controlling this one Kyoya-kun."

"There would be no point in choosing a partner you could control," Kyoya said quietly.

Interesting. Kyoya wanted a partner, a consort. Not just another asset. His father would have chosen based on property and alliances, but preferably someone the family could control. So who was controlling Yuuichi's wife? Her husband or her mother-in-law? Haruhi twisted the ring on her finger absentmindedly. "Lovely ring," commented Yoshio.

"Thank you," she said not taking her eyes from it. "It's just an inexpensive piece of costume jewelry, but I'm very fond of it."

"Funny how the objective value of a thing often shows little resemblance to its true worth." Kyoya adjusted his glasses.

"Yes, appearances can be so deceiving," Akito said smoothly. "Tell me Miss Fujioka, when you were in that club of my brother's did you entertain boys or girls?"

" 'Entertain' is a grand word for having tea and conversation. But by that definition, both I suppose," Haruhi answered honestly.

"Did you ever kiss any of your clients?"

"Enough Akito!" Yoshio said angrily.

"Your father's quite right," his mother agreed. "That is not suitable conversation for the dinner table."

Haruhi sincerely hoped Kaoru was right about the food, because he was dead on about the company.

His mother gave a less than sincere smile. "Tell us about your family, Miss Fujioka."

I'd rather go back to talking about the clients I kissed, she thought, than give you grounds to snipe at them. "My mother was an attorney," Haruhi answered politely.

"Was?" asked Yuuichi.

"She passed away a few years ago."

"I am sorry. And your father?"

"He...works at a club." There was a hitch in her voice as she answered. What sort of monsters were these people to tear into a man who was in the hospital losing the battle for his life? They didn't know, she reminded herself. Although if they did, at best they would change their deliberate cruelty for pity. She'd rather have their cruelty. Well, Kaoru had warned her. "That cool, calculating bastard is actually the nice one in his family."

"Fuyumi seems nice."

"She doesn't count. They knew from the day she was born she'd be bartered off. They raised her to be a negotiable asset, not a true Ootori."

Haruhi came back to the present at the sound of Yuuichi's voice. "Any club we might have been to?"

"Unlikely. It caters to a specialty clientele," Kyoya put in in a tone of voice that said the matter was settled.

But apparently it wasn't. "Is he a manager at the club?"

Damn them. They knew the answers before they asked the questions. They were just trying to make her answer to embarrass her. Voltaire was right. "No, he's a bartender," she said bluntly.

"Being a skilled bartender requires as much creativity as being a top chef," Akito smiled. "Does he have other creative hobbies?"

Haruhi stood up in anger before she was even aware of her actions. They were all staring at her. She bowed respectfully to Kyoya's father and said, "Please excuse me Ootori-sama." As she left the room, she could hear the argument starting behind her.

"How dare you disrespect me at my own table?"

"You?"

"You disrespect my guest, you disrespect me."

"You bring a social climbing jade into my house a require me welcome her like family," the Ootori matriarch's fury was palpable.

Fuyumi was indignant. "Mother! I did not think it was possible to be a worse judge of character than Akito, but clearly I am wrong."

"Take off your blinders, Fuyumi," Yuuichi's wife spat out. "She is a grasping little harlot who brings nothing to this family."

Kyoya tilted his head so the glare on his glasses vanished and his brothers could see his eyes clearly. "If any of you ever speak to her or of her that way again, I will destroy you." He quite deliberately rose and bowed to the head of the table. "Father."

"Am I supposed to be cowed by the idle threat of a third son?" Akito's voice trailed after him.

Without turning around Kyoya said "pack up your household. You leave Tokyo by the end of the week," and left the room.

"Am I supposed to take that seriously?"

His father cocked a cynical eyebrow. "When you disrespect the intended of the man who owns the company you work for, there will be consequences."

"Owns?" His wife gasped. "You gave the company to Kyoya?"

"I gave him nothing. He seized control of the company in a hostile takeover a year ago."

"What do you mean?" Akito said stunned.

"You have an MBA. I would think you would be familiar with the term."

~oOo~

Kyoya had hoped to hell she had gone to the bathroom. She hadn't. Or onto the patio for air. She hadn't.

The butler came up. "Did she call for a car?" Kyoya asked.

"No sir, she walked. But she did ask if I would give you this." He handed Kyoya the ring.

The crappy little ¥500 ring. She wouldn't even keep that. Somewhere, two very third-rate hospitals in miserable backwater towns with horrible weather were each about to get a very first-rate doctor.

He swore as he turned for the garage. He slid into his Acura NSX and was in second gear even before he cleared the driveway. He slammed it into third as soon as he hit the street.

How he didn't get a ticket ripping through the streets of downtown Tokyo at those speeds was a question only the gods of broken romance could answer. He tried calling her cell, but it immediately rolled over to voicemail. She probably turned it off so it wouldn't ring during dinner. He got to her apartment and took the stairs two at a time. The apartment was dark and no one answered when he beat on the door. Years ago Ranka had given him a key; he opened the door and went in. "Haruhi?" His voice sounded hollow even in his own ears, what must sound like in hers?

She wasn't there.

Think! He enjoined himself. If she walked or took public transit or even a cab, he got here ahead of her. He moved the car so that he could see her approach but she was unlikely to see him waiting for her. Just in case. A half hour passed. She didn't come. He drove very slowly back to his house along the route she was most likely to take. There was no sign of her. Where else would she go? He drove from his house to Suoh Mansion #2 looking all the way. Again, no sign of her. Parked out in front, he called Tamaki.

"Is she there?"

"Who? Haruhi? Isn't she having dinner with you tonight?"

Kyoya caught his breath. "My family ambushed her. She walked out ... I don't know where she went."

"You try her apartment?"

"Of course I tried her apartment you idiot! That's the first place I checked." He adjusted his glasses, though there was no one to hide his eyes from. "I was... hoping she'd come to you."

"She can't come to me. Not anymore." Tamaki's voice betrayed as much pain as Kyoya's. "Why did you let them attack her? Why didn't you protect her?"

"I thought she could take them on her own. Then she... she just folded."

"And all this time we thought my grandmother would be the biggest threat to Haruhi."

"Your grandmother is not absolved. There's no way four members of my family turned on Haruhi on the same night in direct opposition to my father's wishes without some serious manipulation."

"I'll be right over."

"Don't bother. I'm out front of your house now."

Tamaki was down in a flash. He slid into the passenger seat. "You know this car is a two seater."

"Yeah...?"

"If you find her, you have to throw me out on the street."

"I'll pay your cab fare."

"Maybe we should use one of my cars. Besides, she'll be less likely to bolt if she recognizes my car."

"I don't want a god damned driver tonight." He put the car into gear and took off. "My security team will be along anytime now anyway as soon as they figure out that I've flown without them."

"This car have a tracer on it?"

"Probably. Tachibana is not incompetent. Also I have my cell phone on."

"So where are we headed?"

"Honey's."

Tamaki nodded cautiously. "She might go there. Honey and Mori are solid in a crisis. But you know she's more likely to…"

"No. She can't go there." Because if she went there, he had lost her. The twins were both crazy about her, and their parents adored her. It's not like she would be welcomed into the bosom of a warm and close knit family; the parents couldn't even take time for their own children, they weren't going to rearrange their lives for an outsider. Still, being adored by someone in their spare time beat the hell out of being despised in their spare time.

Tamaki short circuited the process. He punched a number into his cell phone. "Honey? Is Haruhi over there?"

"Isn't she having dinner at the Ootoris' tonight?"

"That… didn't go so well."

"Why didn't Kyo-chan protect her?"

"He wanted them to see she had claws of her own so they would leave her alone."

"But Haru-chan doesn't have claws. She wouldn't have put up with us for two years if she had."

"We are just trying to make sure she landed somewhere safe."

"Did you try her apartment?"

"Of course we tried her apartment!" Kyoya fairly shouted across the car.

"I can call Takashi and the twins if you want," Honey offered. "They'll be less likely to hide her from me."

"Good thinking. And it's ok if she doesn't want to talk to us. We just want to know she's safe," Tamaki said.

"It is NOT ok if she doesn't want to talk to us," Kyoya said.

"Thanks, Honey." Tamaki ended the call. "First things first. We have to figure out where she is."

They ended up back at her apartment, sitting on the stairs. The twins showed up about five minutes later. "Did you knock on the door?"

"Of course we knocked."

Hikaru slid past them. "Maybe she's just not answering 'cause it's you. Maybe she'd answer for me."

"I have the key to the apartment, Hikaru. She's not there."

"What time does her dad get off? If she went over to Mei or Momoko's, she'd at least call him to let him know, right?"

Honey and Mori arrived as well, but after an hour in the winter cold, they had to concede she wasn't coming home tonight.

"We'll just have to catch her at school tomorrow," Kaoru said.

~oOo~

Haruhi had gone from the Ootori house to the hospital. She snuck into her father's room in case he was asleep. He looked over at her bleary eyed from exhaustion and the painkillers. "How did it go, baby girl?"

She bit her lip and smiled. "It was great dad. The food was amazing. I could eat that every day and never get tired of it." She tried to recall everything she'd had for lunch in case he asked detailed questions. But he skipped to what was really important.

"And did you like his family?"

"His sister is the sweetest person ever born. And his father actually seemed to approve."

"How could they not approve of my brilliant and beautiful daughter..." He drifted off under the painkillers again. She stayed there holding his hand for the rest of the night.

The junior nurse of the ward whispered softly to her superior "Visiting hours are over. Should we...?"

The older woman shook her head. "No, he doesn't have much time left. Let her stay."

~oOo~

Haruhi didn't show up for school the next day. At first they all thought she was just avoiding the music room, but she didn't show for class either. Half way through first period, Hikaru had developed a nasty cough.

"Sensei," Kaoru said, "I think I need to take my brother to the nurse."

"Nice try, Mr. Hitachiin. But I know you have a chemistry exam next period."

*cough*cough*wheeze*

"No really, sensei, he had an attack of something over the weekend. I really think we need to call our dad."

Mom was always an easier touch with this sort of thing, but she was out of the country going over fabric selections with one of her manufacturers.

The teacher sighed. "Fine, you may call from the nurse's office."

Since his father knew full well he hadn't had an attack of anything the previous weekend, Hikaru made every effort to sound particularly weak. "Hi dad...?"

"The nurse tells me even the thought of your chemistry test is making you physically ill."

Well, shit. Cards on the table time. "Dad, please let me out of here. Haruhi didn't come to school today."

"I see. And the sole reason I pay your exorbitant tuition to that school is so you can sit next to a girl."

"It's not like that..."

"You were hoping to copy from her on the test?"

"She went to the Ootori's last night and they hurt her."

"Is it actionable in a court of law?"

"Well, no."

"So let me get this straight – you want me to excuse you from a chemistry test so you can go and make a pass at your closest friend's girlfriend who is mad at your friend because his family are all a bunch of jerks."

"Um ... yeah?"

"Go take your chemistry test."

"Can I leave after the test?"

"If you leave so much as one minute before the final bell, I will tell security there to break your ankles. Get back to class."

"Dad, how did you know what happened?"

"Because we designed the software that runs some of their medical equipment so I've worked with Ootori-sama and his sons. I know they're jerks."

"See? Haruhi doesn't deserve to wind up in a family like that."

"Count your blessings," their dad said drily. "When Ootori discovered he needed our expertise to create the software interface, he tried to buy the company. Had you two been born girls, one of you would be engaged to Kyoya now."

The twins screamed in horror. "Oh God dad, there are some things you can never unhear!"

~oOo~

Kyoya did have to wonder why the twins stared at him with open mouthed terror and revulsion all the way through lunch.

~oOo~

Even though Kyoya left the minute the final bell rung, by the time he got to the car Honey was already sitting on the hood and Mori was leaning against the car. The twins, cross armed, were blocking the car door. Tamaki came up behind him completing the encirclement by semi hostile forces. "Look, I made a bad call," he said. "But since I made the mistake myself, it would be better if I fixed it myself."

"Yeah, that's not happening," said Hikaru. "We're not giving you a second chance to hurt her."

"I didn't..."

"You permitted it to happen," said Mori. He opened the door to the limo and Honey hopped off the hood and got in first. Then Kyoya. Then the others piled in. As though they were concerned he might try to drive off without them. Which he would have. It was not a small car, but six large guys was still a bit much.

And while his family's behavior had been offensive, this whole backlash was excessive. He wondered if she had any idea of the power she wielded.

They knocked at the apartment door and when no one answered, let themselves in. Funny, they would never have considered it an option at any of the others' houses, Kyoya thought. Intimacy, a lack of respect, or just an awareness that the others' houses all had a full time staff? "Anyone home?" he called out.

No answer.

They fanned out in the tiny apartment, past the living room with its sundry pictures and TV, into the kitchen. It was clean, but it usually was, so that didn't signify. The garbage hadn't been taken out which was unusual but it wasn't overflowing. He looked in. Two uneaten omelets and some sliced but withered strawberries.

"What's this doing out?" came Kaoru's voice from the bedroom. There, laying neatly on the bed, was Kaoru's dress.

"Haruhi wore it last night," Kyoya answered. It hadn't been there last night when Kyoya checked the apartment, so she'd been home between now and then.

"Um ... has this always been here...?" Tamaki asked from the living room.

There, on the little alter next to her mother's picture, was Ranka's.

"Oh no," Kyoya breathed in a barely audible voice.

"Kyoya?" Tamaki said. The others all stared aghast.

"The oncologist said three or four months."

"Oncologist?" Tamaki's voice had an edge. "Why didn't you tell us?!"

"I couldn't tell you, Ranka hadn't told Haruhi."

"Then how did you find out!?" Hikaru demanded

"My father turned it up in a background check." He pulled a phone out of his coat pocket. Not his usual phone, a burner phone. He punched in the number for his father's secretary. "This is K.O. I need you to search through all admissions records for all Ootori own facilities for a Ryoji Fujioka.

"I DON'T CARE IF IT VIOLATES PRIVACY RULES, DO IT!"

Kaoru looked with distaste at the ancient desktop computer in the corner. He dug in Haruhi's book bag, pulled out the laptop Hikaru had given her and began typing.

"What are you guys doing?" Honey asked.

"He wasn't taken to an Ootori owned facility," Kyoya said.

"Got it," Kaoru said.

"Oh please," Hikaru answered. "Our dad runs one of the most cutting edge software companies in Japan. Just because we design women's clothing for fun, you think we can't hack something as basic as a minimally secured public service network?"

"Ambulance dispatched to this address at 11:50 a.m. Sunday morning. Patient breathing but unresponsive. Taken to Tokyo General." Kaoru filled them all in.

~oOo~

They found Haruhi standing at the nurses' station, her hand on a piece of paper, a pen in her fingers. She wasn't writing. She wasn't moving. Like she was in a state of semi-shock. Like whatever auto pilot had brought her to that point had disengaged and left her void.

"Haruhi?"

She didn't acknowledge them. She just kept staring ahead.

Kyoya walked over to her slowly. He took the pen from her and set it on the counter. He picked up her hand and slid the ¥500 ring back on her finger. He wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him and begin stroking her hair with the other hand. Tamaki came over and squeezed her arm and put one hand in the middle of her back. She drew a ragged breath and let out a noise more animal than human. Fat tears soaked through Kyoya's shirt. Honey came up and wrapped his arms around her waist. The twins came over and hugged her on the other side. Mori loomed over them all and kissed her softly on the top of her head. Her knees buckled and the only thing keeping her upright was the support from the Hosts. The grief counselor from the hospital came up, took one look at this mass of the best of humanity, and realized he had nothing more to offer her. He left them in peace.