Author's Note: It's uyay and don't-even-ask1 again coming at you with yet ANOTHER chapter! Can you believe how fast we're going? So, thanks to the reviews, follows, and favorites! It means a lot! Now the reason to review: what'd do you think of Haruhi's new power? Did you, the readers, understand it and how it works? Thanks for reading, and see you soon!

Chapter Nine

Friends Help Friends

"Kyoya?" a voice asked on the cell.

"Yeah. What do you need Senpai?" Kyoya answered.

"I can't get a hold of Haruhi, and it's urgent."

"What's wrong?" Kyoya asked, sitting up straighter in his seat.

"I had a vision of her being attacked again. They were mages this time, and they overpowered her. I need you and the others to go to her rescue."

"Overpowered? This is the girl that….. Never mind. Where was she when she was attacked?" He quickly jotted down the instructions Nekozawa gave him.

…. With Haruhi…

"Okay, tuna? Check. That's it. Now to pay and go home," Haruhi murmured to herself after dumping some cans of tuna in her shopping basket. She made her way to the check out and put her groceries on the counter.

"I see you took advantage of our sale," pointed out the cashier. She smiled slightly.

"I always do," Haruhi said, smiling back. She quickly paid and exited the market.

On her way home she spotted a park she used to play in as a kid. It couldn't hurt…. She ran into the center of the park where a large fountain was. She used to use her magic to entertain the other kids with the water. Just like then, there were kids playing around the fountain.

Haruhi raised her hand and a stream of water flowed towards her. She split it into three strands and started braiding them. Some of the girls ran up and watched. She smiled at them, bringing the water towards them and letting them run their fingers through the strands. They started laughing at the tickling feeling. She turned the braid into a plane and sent it flying in the clouds above, catching the interest of some of the boys.

"Beautiful!" Haruhi heard someone say behind her, clapping. "Too bad you won't be here long enough to do any more water magic." Before she could turn to look at the owner of the voice, their hand went over her mouth. Some of the kids fled, while others watched in shock. Haruhi bit the hand and spun around.

Instead of one man like she expected, there were three. All were dressed completely dressed in black. "How cliche," Haruhi stated. "What do you want?" They laughed.

"You," The one on the right said. He shot out a black beam, which Haruhi barely avoided.

"A dark element mage, huh? I wouldn't do that if I were you," Haruhi warned the three.

"Why?" Haruhi spun around to find three more men had approached behind her. All at once streams of all elements, besides water, reached out and bound her arms. "I don't see how you can threaten us, seeing the position you're in." Haruhi scowled and struggled against the binds which only tightened in response. She cried out and one of them teased, "Aww, little girl, did that hurt?"

"What do you want with me!?" Haruhi spat out as the last of the children left.

"It's very simple. You dead." Haruhi glared at the man who spoke.

"We won't let you hurt Haru-chan!" Everyone turned to see Hani approaching with the rest of the host club. Haruhi couldn't bring herself to call him cute at the moment, since he was scowling and glaring at them very angrily. He was looking quite scary, in fact.

"Is this a joke?" one of the men asked, laughter obvious in his voice. "Who are you guys?"

"People you don't want to cross," Kyoya stated, pushing up his glasses with his middle finger, discretely flipping the man off. Haruhi was surprised to see he was empty handed, along with Hani, both without their beloved notebook and bunny.

Mori sent out a wave of earth, knocking four of the men down and surprising all of them with his sudden attack. The binds on Haruhi's arms broke.

"Thanks," she greeted them as she rushed over to their side.

Tamaki said loudly, "Daughter! Are you okay?"

Haruhi rubbed her arms subconsciously. "I'm fine. Let's get this over with…" They all dropped into their fighting stances as the strange men stood up.

"Very well," one of them said as they too got into fighting positions. "Finish them off and get the girl! Don't kill her, they want her alive for now!" he shouted orders at the others. A blur of motions and elements ensued from their side, and Haruhi could only focus on so much.

"Don't worry about what we're doing," Mori instructed her between exchanging blows, "Focus on protecting yourself." She nodded, and soon after was attacked.

A wave of light made its way at her, followed by the man who sent it. She set up a wave of water to absorb it with one hand, and blocked his fist with her opposite arm. She kicked at him, pushing him away from her. Another beam of light came at her, and she ducked while kicking his feet out from under him. He landed hard on his back. Ooh, that's gotta hurt, Haruhi thought, wincing as she remembered a similar attack from Mori. She quickly shot a stream of water at him and bound his arms flat against his body. She froze them in place and created a ball of ice. She threw the ball at his head, successfully rendering him unconscious.

When she looked around she found that everyone else was still fighting, besides Tamaki who was keeping a watchful eye on her. "I've got your back," he mouthed, surprisingly serious. She nodded.

Looking to her right, she saw Mori fighting another earth mage. A spear of dirt went through his right side and Haruhi's eyes widened in worry. Mori dropped to the ground and the man was ready to give the final strike through Mori's chest. Mori looked up in fear and winced as he realized that the last hit would happen soon.

"Mori-senpai!" she shouted, hardly able to hear herself over the fighting mages. She closed her eyes as anger boiled in the pit of her stomach. She imagined the man who had struck Mori and let the rage fuel her power. The earth mage's hands rose and he bound his own hands with rock and sat down. Mori looked at him with shock.

She ran over to him, trying not to notice how much he was bleeding. Oh my god! her mind cried as she failed miserably and looked at the pool of blood next to him. "Mori-senpai!" She called to him as she crouched down in front of him. "He was going to kill you." Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she looked at his dilated ones. "Here." She raised a hand and healed part of his wound. "That will stop the bleeding, but the rest will have to wait for after the danger's gone."

"Did you see that?" Mori asked her weakly. When Haruhi didn't acknowledge that he spoke, he continued, "Oh, and thanks. I'm fine." He noticed she still wasn't answering. "Shouldn't you be watching your own back like I told you?" he reprimanded. "You should have been paying attention to any threats to you, not me."

"What would you have done then? Let the mage finish you off or bleed to death?" Haruhi asked angrily. She took a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone, "Besides, I defeated the light mage so Tamaki's keeping an eye out for me."

"I would have healed myself," Mori insisted. Haruhi shook her head at his response.

"Right. With what energy?" He didn't answer. She heard footsteps behind her, and Hani sat down and put his arms around his cousin.

"Are you ok?" he asked Mori, who nodded in response.

"My daughter!" yelled Tamaki who brought Haruhi into a tight embrace. "I'm so proud of you! And so glad you're unharmed!"

"Good job," the twins said, pulling Tamaki off of her only to replace him in hugging her tightly.

"Are all the attackers unconscious?"

"Of course!" Hikaru said.

Kaoru added, "Did you really think they would be a challenge for us?"

They both clutched at their hearts dramatically. "That hurts, Haruhi," they shouted together.

"Who were they?" Kyoya asked her, "And what did they want with you?"

"I'm not sure who they were. The only thing they told me was that they wanted me," Haruhi explained.

"No!" Tamaki appeared and yelled. "More men are after my daughter's innocence!"

"I don't think that's what they meant, Senpai…" Haruhi told him, but he was too busy in his inner theater to hear her.

"I will protect you!" The twins hit him on the head and he stopped, much to Haruhi's relief.

"What happened to him?" Kyoya asked, motioning to the shocked, evil earth mage who was muttering something about it not being him.

"He used his own magic against himself," Tamaki said. "I noticed when I was scoping the scene out for Haruhi. It was really weird."

"Well that would explain why he's muttering 'it wasn't me', but if it wasn't him, who was it?" Hani asked worriedly. Everyone opened their mouths to say something, but Haruhi cut them off.

"It was me…" Haruhi admitted.

"My daughter, that can't be true!" Tamaki cried in denial. "You couldn't have had control over rock; you're an water elemental...It can't be true!"

"It is, Tamaki. And I'm not your daughter," Haruhi groaned. Tamaki somehow managed to find a corner to start growing mushrooms in. "And I didn't do it using the rock element."

"How, then?" Kyoya pressed for answers. "And why didn't you tell us when we asked if there was anything else special that you could do?"

"I figured other mages could control people…. You do realise that people are mostly made of water, right?" At the club's blank stares, she continued, " All you have to do is find that water and use it. Making him use his own power against himself was part of that."

"Why didn't you use that ability?" Kaoru asked.

"I don't like to use it unless absolutely necessary. I was about to use it when you showed up. It's dangerous when I have friends on the battlefield because it could accidentally hit and harm you guys. To the earth mage, instead of using the power on the outside, I used it from the inside, containing it. Does that make sense?"

"Kinda….. No water mage has figured out that power I guess," Hani shrugged. "Not the water inside a human body thing, anyways."

"That's an interesting notion in it's own way," Kyoya complimented her. "Good job." Haruhi nodded.

"Thanks, Senpai." Haruhi turned back to Mori. "Lie down on your side…"

Mori complied reluctantly muttering about how 'she should have been paying attention to her own security, not his.' Haruhi decided to ignore his mutterings and had him roll over slightly, giving her better access to his wound. She closed her eyes and focused, feeling her energy leave her body and enter the wound. She could tell it was deep and just missed his organs.

"This might hurt," she warned him. He tensed, but was quick to relax after collecting his courage. Her energy started on the nerves, muscle, and other damaged parts, nursing them and quickening the healing process. It took a while due to the large amount of damage, but it healed. Haruhi opened her eyes and looked at him. "It's done, but be careful. I can't fully heal damage like that, so it will still hurt for a few days. Do yourself a favor and don't try to heal it yourself. By the time you have enough energy to heal it correctly, it will be healed. You're dry on magic."

He nodded. "Thanks, for both saving me and for healing me."

Haruhi nodded. "You're my friend. I help my friends. So, what are you going to do, now that you know I can control people like that?" she asked, turning to the others. They looked at each other and nodded, seemingly in agreement.

"Nothing," the twins said.

"We trust you, Haru-chan!" Hani cheered.

Kyoya tapped his chin thoughtfully and told her, "You could be of merit to us."

"My daughter's so awesome!" Tamaki jumped on her, giving her a hug.

"Umm, thanks?" she asked, unsure how she should feel about some of their responses: cough Kyoya cough.

"Now let's go to Haru-chan's house and eat cake!" Hani shouted, already turning to leave.

Haruhi sighed and looked at Mori. "I want to keep an eye on your wound for the next couple of hours, so you're coming too."

Mori gave a small smile and said, "Okay."

Haruhi laughed and joined him in following Hani and the others.