Author Note: Eh... 100, whatever~
Review Replies!
RAWRnoname: It's Takashi not Takeshi, the latter is her son!
hisanachan: I think I reveal the rest of her problems in this chapter. 8D
SakuraHime1995: It's been mostly Haruhi in pain, but don't worry, something will happen to Takashi soon.
-Yuuki-Fukushima-: I don't see how she can relax with kid(s), business, and the entire world juggled in her hands, lol.
Chapter 10
Silent Attraction II
- Previously -
Side by side, they sat until he spoke.
Akira leaned back before he did though, "you should stop being depressed, it is something that she would not be happy about."
"I suppose they gave you news about Choko," his sons stated sternly. "It seems that something happened, so she's coming home."
"I was not talking about your daughter." He sighed gruffly for his son's ignorance. "For years, I have also been checking up on her."
It took a while for Takashi to think about what he was talking about, and then finally realized that it was about her, "you mean you—"
"From what I have heard, she might not make it to next year," the older of the two stood up. "Perhaps before her liver transplant."
Takashi stood up when hearing this from him. "Liver transplant, for what?"
"A while back after your son was born, she began to drink a bit—not constantly, but good enough. After each man's she has been with, she would drown herself in alcohol after putting her son to sleep." Akira shook his head to ignore this. "My point is, instead of being vengeance and despair. Once the tournament is over with, try to speak with her in a calm manner. If she's still alive by then."
Once his father had said this, he watched as his old man turned and walked outside of the room to leave him in front of the fireplace.
Now he knew it now more than ever, there was something most definitely wrong with everything happening…
Haruhi was in the most dangerous situation she could possibly be in, and he could not help.
Just as he was about to sit back down on the couch, he froze when thinking:
'Why would he be interested in her during all this time?'
One month of hard physical training, one month of endless mental training, one month of Hell.
Hands smoothed the white outlines of the uniform all the way down to the belt wrapped about the waist, it was time to be serious until everything was finished with the game. Hair was rustled and tossed into near perfect condition, bandages were wrapped around hands to wrist and feet to ankle for security, though it was more different to explain. Slight contact to adjust a minor hue in the eye for a seemingly darker tint to look more realistic, it was the only way to make it seem like it was not who it really was.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Takeshi called out, worried about her.
"Don't worry Lì, they'll never know." Yeah, it was Haruhi of course.
"The guys are in the lockers yet, hurry up." Ritsu whispered.
"Okay, okay." She hurried out of the girl's locker room.
"Come on, there's a slot open by mine." Takeshi nudged her.
She laughed and followed him. "Alright already, go easy on me."
Tetsuya opened the men's locker room and Haruhi set her things into a locker slot before smoothing out her uniform again, then having to tighten her belt once again as the Morinozuka and Haninozuka brothers entered the locker room. Haruhi spared them no attention in hopes of not being caught so soon before the first round, especially when she had to face Haninozuka Mitsukuni in the first round no less. After finish her little preparations, she lifted a had to signal the others that she was ready to get out of the locker rooms, allowing the other three who were entering the tournament to follow her lead as if she were Fujioka Ronin.
This is going to be Hell.
- Now -
"I do hope that you'll live, Haruhi." A voice whispered into her ear.
Haruhi jumped lightly in surprise before turning around to see him standing there with his arms crossed over his chest as usual, and she simmered down quickly when asking him what he was doing there. It turned out that Ohtori Kyouya offered his business to be the medical staff at the tournament, mainly to make sure that she would survive today's little adventure instead of the opposite. She smiled widely and threw herself on him, giving him a grateful hug that took him by surprise a little, but accepted it for a moment until he knew the others were coming. Before he let Haruhi passed him, he placed a hand on her shoulder to have her look at him while he whispered a few things to her that made her eyes wide with surprise and horror. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the Haninozuka and Morinozuka families, so she turned to Kyouya, nodding her head firmly as she now played the role of Fujioka Ronin.
But as soon as all the contestants walked out into the spotlight, the Host Club began cheering for Fujioka Ronin.
"Go Ronin!" The twins cheered, holding banners and his name on their foreheads. "You can do it Ronin!"
"YAY RONIN! PLEASE DO YOUR BEST!" Tamaki squealed. "MAKE US PROUD! YOUR D—"
Leo began strangling the idiot for attempting to say 'daddy' aloud, "you'll ruin everything."
"Go Choko-chan! Go Ronin-sama!" Kirimi cheered happily, waving at the two.
Haruhi sighed in lightly annoyance--mostly in embarrassment, for her own cheering group. 'As if that did not make things any more obvious than anything, if that's the case, please kill me now.' She summoned her sound-alike tone and spoke. "I do not understand why Haruhi invited these hooligans, but I suppose the Nekozawa family is more here for Choko than me, don't you agree?"
Ritsu knew she was talking to him, so he replied sternly. "I suppose you forgot everything that was discussed at the summons."
"Good point. Kasanoda, Sendo, Takeshi, let's proceed to the ceremony." Haruhi could not be mistaken for herself, it was a shock.
"Yes sir," the other three replied in unison as they began walking. Someone rushed over and clasped Haruhi's hand though.
"Are you mad at me? You didn't say goodbye!" It was Choko, and she looked very worried. "I'm so sorry that I left the mansion!"
She nodded once. "We can talk after the tournament, your father does not look pleased." With this, she started to leave again—
"Fujioka Ronin." Takashi called out sternly—dangerously even. Haruhi and the others looked at him. "I was going to kill you."
"Was going to?" Haruhi questioned, but knew exactly what he meant by this. "Do you believe I will lose to Haninozuka Mitsukuni?"
He only nodded his head.
"I won't go easy just because you're her husband." Mitsukuni stated without any emotion.
"Wait a minute…" Satoshi came right in front of Haruhi, knowing immediately. "What are you doing?!"
"Entering a tournament, requested by my son-in-law," Haruhi knew Satoshi met Fujioka Ronin true identity.
Yasuchika grabbed him by the collar. "You're irritating your brother Satoshi, now stop causing so much trouble."
The ceremony began and ended as easily at a fast rate because there were only ten contestants.
Who would have actually thought that Takeshi and Choko, siblings, would have to be pinned against one another in the first round as the first match of the tournament? Haruhi watched as they hesitated to fight one another, Takeshi continued on the offensive as Choko stayed on the defensive side until their mother spoke to them. With her voice coated to be like her husband's, she told the girl to stop being a coward in a match, she was a Morinozuka, and furthermore, a Fujioka. Choko somehow began to build some strong confidence from this, and she began attacking her little brother as hard as she could, but then she realized it immediately after that. With a swift kick on the floor, Takeshi caused her to fall over on her butt without guilt, and pushed her into a surrendering position to show his victory… he was merely playing with her the entire time.
Winner: Fujioka Takeshi.
"Next up Morinozuka Satoshi versus Sendo Tetsuya!" The announcer stated, pointing towards both candidates.
Tetsuya knew he did not stand a chance with the younger man, but he had to give it his best shot… why did he bother participating in this tournament if he knew that he was going to be beaten in the first round. The other had said something about Haruhi that brought him out of his thoughts, and out of the ring as well, earning him a disqualification sign as he sat up. I want to talk to Haruhi. That was what Satoshi said, which meant that there was really no way in Hell that Tetsuya would have one against him with his energy so pumped. Not interested in the tournament anymore, Tetsuya came over to whisper in Haruhi's ear, telling her the message that he had to deliver from Satoshi.
"He would like to talk to you." Tetsuya whispered.
"I thought he would." Haruhi sighed softly in her usual tone before coming over to Satoshi and speaking in her male tone. "Let's go."
Satoshi smirked at her cocky tone, but he agreed because it was his request. "You got my message? Then lead the way, Fujioka."
Haruhi did as requested while Kasanoda Ritsu went up against Haninozuka Yasuchika for the third match, it was obvious that the redhead was going to lose since he would not be serious about it. Takashi on the other hand was not too thrilled about the two having a hidden conversation when it was most likely about Haruhi, but he stayed away for a good reason. There was a fair chance that Haruhi would hate him for knowing everything that he already knew, it would make things more difficult if he had to explain his knowledge.
"Haruhi, why did you enter the tournament? You shouldn't be here, it's dangerous." Satoshi frowned sadly.
She smiled, rubbing his shoulder. "Lì wanted me to participate, and so that's what I am doing."
"If you don't bail out, I will." He knew he did not take her seriously. "Fine, I'll prove it."
As he was going out, Takashi was about to start his match. "I resign my post!"
Everyone halted, turning to Morinozuka Satoshi, did… did he just quit?
In the audience, his mother was muttering her frustration as she was tearing up the brochure she received at the front desk, asking herself why he would give up so soon. Confused as to what happened, Takashi knocked his opponent out of the ring with a shove and went down to ask him what was going on all of a sudden. Leaving his back turned to Fujioka Ronin and Haninozuka Mitsukuni to start their little match as the last group of the day; not many people participated with so many dangerous opponents. Ritsu, and pretty much everyone else that knew Haruhi's identity right now, were watching intently to make sure that she was going to be fine.
Mitsukuni threw a kick at her face, "you threatened Takashi's family."
She blocked it and replied as a male, "did I really, Mitsukuni?"
"Don't speak so casually." He threw a punch and she caught it.
"Don't be so mean Mitsukuni." Haruhi whispered lightly in her usual tone, causing him to freeze immediately. "I'm sorry about this." With her victim still in shock, she pulled his hand towards her so she could shoulder him off the stage, but it was a little too rough.
As Mitsukuni was falling off the three-foot tall stage, Haruhi grabbed his obi to make sure he would not get hurt, and then gently plopped him down on the ground before walking down the steps herself. The entire stadium was in complete silence as the Haninozuka Mitsukuni, was disqualified in the first round of the matches in the tournament, and Takashi slowly turned to look. It was impossible that his cousin was defeated—no, wait, Haruhi could have told him everything that he needed to know in order to defeat him of course. With Satoshi out of the tournament, that means he would fight Fujioka Ronin in the next round, and despite knowing that he would be disqualified as well, he would kill him. The man began walking towards him to comment on the situation until Satoshi intervened, begging him to avoid angering his older brother, otherwise he would have to tell him the truth of who he really was.
Haruhi waved it off and began to walk off towards the others, then suddenly fell to a knee while trying to resist holding her side.
"Fujioka!" Ritsu called carefully, rushing to her side to make sure that she was okay. "What is it? What happened? Ohtori!"
"Calm down, he most likely stretched an unfortunate muscle." Kyouya sighed as he helped her up. "You should resign as well."
"N-No," Haruhi seethed through her teeth as she was set on a bench. "I have to give Morinozuka Takashi what he wants."
He grasped her chin to have her look in his eyes. "It isn't just me that wants to make sure that you come out alive."
"I know that, but Takashi needs to vent." The posing male stood up weakly. "If he needs to use me, that's fine."
"Suicidal…" before he could continue, Kyouya walked away.
Without anyone paying attention, Fujioka Takeshi defeated Haninozuka Yasuchika.
Takashi now wanted his revenge against this man who married the one woman whom he had ever loved.
Due to technical difficulties and Haruhi's minor pain issues, the match had been postponed for thirty minutes, which caused a slight uproar in the stadium after the first fifteen minutes. Yet, there they were now, standing on the stage to have their match, Takashi had a fierce look in his eyes that she had not seen before—she was going to get hurt. Cautiously, she had to make sure that her footing did not get tangled as they began stalking one another in a circle to find out what way would be best to win. It did not seem like luck was going to be on Haruhi's side today after being stressed for the past two months, and it was going to cost her dearly.
Takashi saw that his opponent was a little out of it and struck him in the head with a powerful foot kick, but it was just barely shoved away with a fist just as quickly. Suddenly everyone realized that it was a decoy as his elbow arched upwards from behind so that he could give a deadly punch in the chest in hopes of ending it. Ritsu called out Haruhi's name at the last second in fear when she was not paying attention to the soon to be fatal attack, yet he was too late for her. A powerful fist hit her in the stomach, possibly breaking something inside of her body as blood slowly oozed out of her mouth while wavering. Kyouya immediately jumped up on the stage and gave a right-handed punch to Takashi's face before catching Haruhi as she was falling backwards slowly. Was it all Takashi's imagination or did Kyouya actually interfere to punch him in the face—wait, did Kasanoda Ritsu just say Haruhi's name?
"Taka…shi…" blood spilt even more out of her mouth.
"Haruhi!" Ritsu rushed over to her side, and then looked at Kyouya. "Is she alright?!"
"I need a stretcher here!" Kyouya beckoned on looking medical staff members.
"Mama!" Choko and Takeshi called out in horror as they also rushed over to check on her.
"Haruhi!" The Host Club audience, plus Leo and the Nekozawa siblings jumped out of the stadium.
Impossible…
It was… it was Haruhi…
It was not—no, it really was possible.
"One of her ribs might be broken and pressed against her lungs, I need immediate scans!" Kyouya barked at the staff that came.
"Damn it, I knew this would happen!" Ritsu jumped up to his feet furiously and kept Choko and Takeshi back. "Give her space!"
"I'm just fine—" Haruhi tried to get up until she cringed in pain while coughing absurd amounts of blood. "M-My side…!"
"Damn it, it's pressured against her lungs!" Kyouya carefully placed her on the stretcher. "Get her out of here!"
"O-Ohtori, we don't have any medical files on this opponent." One of the staff members frowned worriedly.
"All of her records are in the emergency room." He stood up slowly, fixing his tie.
Ritsu was also at his side, "you know I wouldn't want to kill someone Haruhi knew."
"Cursing the father of her children was not something I planned." Umehito hissed angrily.
"Settle down you three, leaving him be will be more than enough pain." Takashi's father stated, stabbing even more needles against his entire being. "We should go stay at Haruhi-san's side right now." With this said to the men, everyone left as Akira had said to.
Even Takashi.
"Uh… what about the tournament…?" The announcer asked the insanely large group of people leaving. "Anyone? Hello?"
"I believe the tournament will be canceled this time." Mitsukuni and Yasuchika's father stated from the sideline before leaving.
His head dipped as he wallowed sadly at this. "I can't entertain the stadium for another hour… there's not even a victor in this!!!"
"She's still unconscious because she was in so much pain after the hits she took." Kyouya stated quietly, looking at Haruhi's face.
Ritsu hissed in annoyance despite complementing. "I guess it was a good call to find that liver donor for today, good job Ohtori."
"So hurry up and give Mama the transplant so she'll get better!" Takeshi demanded worriedly. "You can do it, you're the best!"
"I'm too involved with her, having her as my patient would have a bad affect." Kyouya sighed. "Besides, I don't do this type."
"You got to do something!" Tamaki fumed as he grabbed his best friend. "We can't lose Haruhi!"
"There is nothing I can do." He scowled at the blond-haired fool. "It isn't my fault she's like this."
Takashi flinched when hearing this; knowing that it was his fault. "I… didn't know… I thought…"
"You let your rage consume you, so you would not even notice the dramatic height difference."
Takashi looked at Haruhi barely breathing form as he tried to think about it, there was about twelve inches different between Fujioka Ronin and Fujioka Haruhi, but that did not explain something. Why would she go through such lengths to pretend being someone that she was not, was there any particular reason for doing such a ridiculous thing? Nothing could really up at the moment for some reason, well… everyone knew why, they just did not want to believe that it would be the reason of her participation.
A surgeon walked in casually with a clipboard in hand.
"It is an interesting case, a wife posing as a husband for a tournament, can someone explain why?" The man asked seriously.
"We were going to participate in the tournament, her son had wanted her to join in, so—by her request—had her entry changed to match her husband's alias." Everyone looked towards Ritsu as if in shock, causing him to sigh. "It doesn't matter at this point, with her out of it still, there is no reason to keep hiding everything if we want our plan to work out." A noise appeared from behind.
"I'm…not dead yet… Ritsu…" Haruhi's rasped voice groaned as she began to stir awake.
He turned to her, grasping her hand, "h-hey, did you just wake up? What did you hear?"
"What plan…?" No one answered her, and she winced in pain. "Kyouya…"
"There will be time after your surgery to explain." The former Shadow King replied.
"Something's… not right…" She tried to sit up—and a large hand grasped her shoulder.
"Stay down, please." Takashi spoke in a barely audible tone, still beating himself up.
Haruhi smirked for the moment before settling back, "just how many people can fit into one room." She looked around to see two families, her children, some friends, some ex-boyfriends, her husband, and asked weakly. "Is this a Host Club meeting, Tamaki?"
"H-How could you joke at a time like this?!" Tamaki sobbed in a corner uncomfortably.
"Indeed, you have multiple broken ribs, your lungs are scratched, but your liver is severely damaged—you need an immediately operation." The doctor spoke up while motioning a hand towards Kyouya. "A donated liver has been brought by Ohtori-sensei, and with your approval, I would like to set up a room for the transplant seeing how you had a—" he was interrupted instantly.
"She doesn't need to know about it." Kyouya stated defensively with a hidden tone.
Haruhi caught this though and looked at him worriedly. "Kyou," she called out casually, trying to inform him that it would be okay. "What does he want to tell me? I understand that I went through a traumatic hit, but I've survived Takashi's attacks before."
Kyouya looked at her for the longest time ever as everyone was looking at him, hoping that he would shed some light on the cloud of mystery, something he was obviously trying to have hidden. He was doing his best to protect the former Host Club Princess from when they were all practically immature kids, but he knew that he could not hide anything from her. His mind had to calculate every little issue that could happen if he told her—especially in a room with everyone in the room with her, including her boyfriend.
"I had ordered some blood work from each participant before the tournament started, but I only got the results fifteen minutes ago after having you rushed to the hospital." Kyouya did not want to say anymore than that. "The rest is confidential for your ears only."
"Is it because Takashi is here?" Everyone looked at her, shocked and surprised that it sounded like it did not bother her. "Well?"
"More along the lines of everyone being in here, that, and you mental state can't handle the news." He looked away from now on.
Ritsu also knew about what he was trying to avoid, and tried to help by comforting Haruhi. "It's best that you don't know Haruhi."
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you both, but you should know that I'm not going take that as an—ow!" Haruhi began hissing at her lower abdomen and froze in horror when noticing something immediately. "No… I can't have… no! Ow! No… no I couldn't have!"
Her heart rate started to become erratically and the doctor shoved her down so Kyouya could sedate her to calm her down while Ritsu left her side to look out the window. No one else knew what the Hell was going on until Mitsukuni's eyes widened in realization as to what the commotion was all about, but kept silent for now. The doctor took Haruhi away to place her in the preparation room for the transplant before she started to act up again, allowing the small blonde-haired male to ask out.
"She lost another baby, didn't she?" Everyone but Kyouya and Ritsu looked at him. "Is it just as bad as last time?"
"I don't know how severe it was this time, the chances of not having kids anymore is unfortunately higher now." Kyouya whispered.
Satoshi went into the conversation. "Are you saying that Haruhi was pregnant… and that Takashi killed the baby inside her?"
"We didn't know that she was pregnant, she took medication to prevent it…" Ritsu continued staring out the window.
"What do you mean, another baby?" Takashi questioned suspiciously.
"Six years ago, she married her husband because they could benefit from it, but you'd be surprised at how close they got despite how they were supposed to be business partners." Ritsu stated quietly, arms now crossed. "When Haruhi began to actually move forward, they thought of being an appropriate family by having a kid. It took a turn for the worst when her child was conceived in her tube outside the ovary, doctors did what they could… and failed." He moved a hand up to stroke the bridge of his nose. "All of those thought of losing that unborn child had thrown her into a bad condition, leading to the heart surgeries—her children kept her from a near suicide attempt." His attention went towards Takashi. "Her husband regretted the pain that only she could bare, and left her."
What was worse for him to accept?
The fact that she had gone through such a horrid past of what happened after leaving him, or that he killed her child with another?
"I'm sorry," Takashi apologized blankly. "I didn't…"
"Just shut the Hell up." Ritsu spat in his face. "No matter how long we stayed with her or how much we understood about her, none of us made a difference because—whether she admitted it or not—she was always hung up on you and never let go!" Yorihisa and Akira held him back from attacking Takashi. "Damn it, wee you aware that her second heart surgery was because of you?!"
There was a knock on the door before the doctor returned with the clipboard, and noticed the dark aura in the room.
"My…apologies.." He brought the clipboard up in the air to show. "I need her husband's signature."
"Fujioka Ronin is a made up person though." Tamaki received everyone's attention. "That's what she said…"
"She is married to someone for certain, and I need his consent since she can't." The doctor announced impatiently.
Ritsu sighed while scratching his head. "I hate to say it, but they filed for divorce sometime a month ago, so there not—"
"No, not yet we're not." Haruhi's husband stated with reluctance. "I wanted her to wait until after the tournament to submit the file into the directory." He signed it without much hesitation. "We both knew that she would not be able to give her permission for this."
Everyone stared at the unsuspected man… he was Fujioka Ronin during all of this time?
Takashi barely whispered his name. "…Kyouya..."