Disclaimer… I do not own Ouran High School Host Club and I don't own the characters, but all of you knew that.

Chapter 13 – Guilt Ridden

Eight men sat in the waiting room at the Ootori hospital waiting for news about their favorite female host. Haruhi was expected to be fine, but needed to be sewn up since the wounds on her side and face were deep enough to need stitches. Kyoya had called in one of the best plastic surgeons to do the work. He didn't want her to look at the scars and have nightmares or bad memories about what had happened today. He knew she probably didn't care as much as someone else in the club about the scars, but he did not want to take the chance. She was too precious and had so much to look forward to. If any of them could lessen the anguish in any way, they would do it and that included calling in a plastic surgeon. He would also see to it that the Fujioka family would not get a bill in regards to this hospital trip.

The six male hosts, one worried father, and one guilt ridden body guard were all waiting and were worried. Kyoya was able to talk to Haruhi's father right before everyone walked into the hospital. When his phone rang and he had seen the name on his caller id, he cringed. He did not want to have this conversation with Ranka. He wouldn't want to have this conversation with any parent. After he had told the older man what happened, he informed the father that he was sending a car to pick him up to bring him to the hospital. The call was disconnected and within 20 minutes Ranka was there and walking into the host occupied waiting room.

Ranka didn't blame any of them for what happened. Based on what he had heard, the body guard and silent host had saved his baby. She was alive with minor injuries thanks to them. He understood why Mori-senpai stayed outside of the bathroom instead of going in, but there was that thought in the back of his mind of would it have been different if he would have gone in and made sure the lunatic wasn't there. Ranka shook his head; a man that angry and crazy would have found a way to get to his daughter. He was lucky and happy that there had been people there to help.

As they waited, Ranka looked at the face of each host. He saw the look of concern on all of the faces. He knew his daughter was important to all of them and knew that they would do anything for her. They may not want to admit it or always show it (as in the case of Kyoya and Mori-senpai), but she had wormed her way into their hearts and lives. They were better men for it. He also noticed the guilty and anguished look on the tallest host's face and realized that Takashi Morinozuka was in love with his daughter. He chuckled to himself and thought, "They probably all were in some shape or form."

"Takashi, may I speak to you for a second please?" Ranka asked Mori.

Mori nodded and walked out of the room following Ranka down the hall so that they could have some privacy. When they were alone, Mori looked into the father's eyes and spoke, "I am sorry Ranka-san. Because of my lack of foresight, your daughter was injured today. I will understand if you hate me and blame me. It was my fault. I will also understand if you do not want me to be around Haruhi any longer. I wasn't able to protect her like I should have." Mori looked at the ground after his speech and jumped a little when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Takashi, I do not blame you. If it wasn't for you, Haruhi would probably be hurt worse or dead. You saved her today and she is alive because of you and that body guard. A crazy man with revenge on the mind will wait and find a way to his target no matter how long it takes. He would have gotten to her somehow and it might have ended up worse than a couple of stitches. I thank you for saving her. Do not feel guilty because of what happened today. You and Daichi did what you could in that situation. It was not your fault. The only person I blame is the person that cut her with the knife. Ok?" Ranka was looking at the tall man in front of him and hoped he truly listened to what he had to say. At his nod, Ranka hugged him and told him thank you once again and then left him standing there as he walked back to the waiting room. He knew Mori needed to work through his guilt on his own, but he hoped what he said helped him.

Mori stood there in the hall processing what Ranka said. He knew the father was right, but he still felt guilty. When he closed his eyes, he saw Akio cut her cheek and stick the knife in her side. He remembered his fear as he held her and watched her bleed as he put pressure on the stomach wound. He was so afraid of losing her today, and realized he still might if she blamed him for her injuries today. He looked up and saw the doctor walk towards the waiting room. He hurried back down the hall.

As the doctor walked into the occupied waiting area, everyone looked up. Mori-senpai walked in behind him. The doctor looked back to the tall scary man behind him and hoped that he would make it out of here alive. He knew that with the son of the owner involved, he needed to be in top form and do his best work on this girl. He cleared his throat and asked to speak to the father.

"You can speak in front of them also. They are just as much her family as I am," Ranka said surprising everyone in the room. They were her school family and her best friends, and they had a right to hear what was happening. He knew they all wanted to know and letting them all hear what the doctor had to say without having to repeat anything, was better for all concerned.

"Yes, well alright then. Your daughter received a two inch long cut on her right cheek. We were able to stitch it up and it should have minimal scarring, but there will be a small scar. The wound on her side was a bit more severe. The knife used was jagged and the stab wound was a little over an inch long. The good news is that the knife went less than an inch inward and did not hit anything. The bad news is that it did bleed quite a bit. We were able to stitch that up as well, but she did need a transfusion due to the blood loss. We also went ahead and gave her some IV antibiotics to stave off infection. Due to the blood loss, I want to keep her overnight just to monitor her. If no complications arise, you can take her home tomorrow. She will need to take it easy for the next few days and then she can get up and start moving around. I would recommend she stay home from school for at least a week. We can re-evaluate her after a week and see how she is healing. She may need more time off of school, but we will cross that bridge later. Do you have any questions for me?"

Everyone was breathing a sigh of relief at the doctor's words that she would be ok, but they were a little worried and freaked out that she had to have a transfusion. Everyone was silent looking at everyone else. Ranka spoke up, "It does not appear that we do have any questions right now. When can I see her? Or I guess I should say we."

"She is getting moved to her room now, so you should be able to see her in a few minutes. I will have the nurse come get you when she gets to her room. I will not put a limit on the number of visitors since she is not in ICU, but please remember that she will need to rest." Everyone nodded and the doctor turned to leave the room. He had to skirt around the intimidating man behind him and released a breath that he survived the ordeal.

Everyone in the waiting room was offering prayers of thanksgiving for the news that Haruhi was going to be fine. She had survived the lunatic's attack and she would be back to normal soon enough. Ranka was not looking forward to telling his daughter that she would be out of school for a week and maybe more. She hated missing school. "Maybe I can let Kyoya break that news to her," he thought to himself.

Soon enough the nurse came to retrieve everyone to take them to Haruhi's room. She did not realize the son of the owner was in the crowd and knew she needed to be professional and not delay them any longer. "If you all will follow me, I will take you to Miss Fujioka's room. She is still sleeping, but should wake up soon. Please make sure that you let her rest as much as possible. She may be in a bit of pain from her side, but that will be normal. We have given her some medicine for that."

The group followed her to the designated room and stopped just outside of the closed door. "Ranka, why don't you go in and see her first alone and when you are ready, we will come in at that time." Kyoya knew that the father probably wanted a little bit of alone time with his daughter first and this was confirmed when Ranka smiled and thanked him before walking into the room alone.

He looked at everyone gathered around the room and no one was arguing or had a defiant look at his decision. They all knew it was the right one. His eyes fell on Daichi, the body guard assigned to protect Haruhi. He had been on the phone organizing the troops to pick up Akio when Haruhi decided she needed to go to the rest room. She was at least smart enough not to go alone. The guard looked like he was beating himself up about what happened. "Daichi, follow me."

The body guard looked up from his position along the wall and nodded. He followed his employer to an empty family room a couple of doors down. "Master Ootori, I apologize for my failure to protect your friend. It was due to my carelessness that she is injured and in the hospital. I submit myself to your mercy and understand if I need to find employment elsewhere." Daichi bowed towards his young employer waiting for the worst.

"Daichi, I did not call you in here to punish, fire, or berate you." The other man's head snapped up and looked at the youngest Ootori son. "I brought you in here because I wanted to tell you that it was not your fault. Just like it is not Mori-Senpai's fault that this happened. You were following my orders by organizing a task force to apprehend that monster. Due to you and Mori-senpai, she is alive and only had minor injuries. You are not going to be fired and you do not need my mercy. I do not blame you. I do want you to still protect her though. I am not sure his family will not try something when they find out we have him in custody. Make sure that anyone that enters the room is approved by me and has been checked out thoroughly before they enter. The only people from school allowed into her room or her apartment will be the hosts. Ranka is her only family."

"Yes, sir I will do that. I understand. I will get the list of people working this ward today and tomorrow from the nurse now and start the background checks with pictures. I will have a couple of guards stationed on the floor in case something happens and make sure they have the pictures of the approved staff. Thank you."

"Excellent. No need to thank me. Now, let us go and see how she is doing." Both men left the small room and walked back to Haruhi's room. As they arrived, Ranka opened the door and allowed everyone to enter.

When everyone walked in Haruhi's eyes were opened and she gave everyone a small smile. She looked tired and pale, but her eyes sparkled and she was alive. A bandage covered her right cheek and they imagined there was also a dressing on her side where her other wound was.

"Hi guys. Don't look so sad. I am still here and can still give you hell," she smirked trying to lighten the atmosphere and mood that followed the hosts in. Everyone smiled at her attempt at humor. She was going to be ok.

"So does this mean that…" Hikaru started walking up to her bed and his brother joined him putting an arm around his shoulders and finished with, "We can dress our toy while she is bedridden?" They both gave her a large menacing smile.

"NO!" She said emphatically. Dress up with the twins when she could not argue or fight them off gave her the chills. They laughed at her look of horror.

"Haru-Chan, I brought you cake so that you will feel better. It is strawberry and I had them add extra strawberries. If you want, you can also have Usa-chan until you feel better," Hunny-senpai said as he ran up to the other side of her bed.

"Thank you Hunny-senpai, but why don't you keep Usa-chan instead. I think he would miss you too much," she winked at the blonde. He smiled back at her and nodded.

Tamaki knew better than to start up his daddy/daughter routine with her real father sitting in the room. He looked at her and thought about how close he came to losing her and shivered. "Are you really ok Haruhi? Don't worry about our feelings. How do you really feel?"

"I am ok Tamaki," she gave him a small crooked smile since it hurt her too much to use the right side of her face to smile. "A little sore, but that is to be expected. I am alive and only have minor injuries. I will be back to normal in no time."

"Glad to know you are ok Haruhi, I would hate for all of my efforts of bringing you my hospital to go to waste on you," Kyoya gave her a true smile.

She knew that he was joking. "Yes, Kyoya everyone did a great job and you can let everyone keep their jobs. I think the hospital staff is just as afraid of you as most of the other people you come into contact with." He smirked at her statement knowing that they better be.

She looked at Mori-senpai. He was standing against the wall near the door and looking at her. Although he was a very silent man, the look of guilt on his face tore at her heart. The silence right now was not comfortable, it was deafening. She knew he blamed himself, but it wasn't his fault. He looked as if he was ready for her to blame him like he did himself. She wouldn't give him that though. She needed to talk to him, but she knew that it would have to be alone. This conversation did not need to happen in front of everyone.

Her father noticed where she was looking and asked everyone if they would come get something to drink with him and maybe get something to eat for her. She gave her father a look of gratitude. Everyone readily followed and Mori looked like he was going to walk out the door also, "Takashi, please stay with Haruhi. We will make sure Mitsukuni is ok."

He looked at his cousin who agreed with her father and he nodded his assent. This was it; it was time to face the music because he was unable to protect her. He flinched when she heard her call his name after everyone left and the door was closed.

"Mori-senpai, come here and sit down please," she quietly bade him. He walked over to her bed and sat down in the chair she indicated. "What's wrong?" She asked, but she knew from the look on his face what was wrong.

"I didn't protect you like I said I would. Now you are here. I am so sorry Haruhi. I should have done better."

"There was nothing you could have done. You protected me Mori-senpai. You were able to get me away from Akio. There is nothing for you to be sorry about. You did what you could for me and for that I am thankful and grateful to you. You saved my life," she stated simply staring at the man sitting next to her bed. She was forever grateful for him for more than just what he had done for her with Akio. He had saved her and protected her on more than one occasion. He was always there for her and she had a feeling that he always would be. Everyone else in the club was a little off the wall and could drive her crazy, but he and Kyoya were the constants. He was a protector and a rock that you could depend on, Kyoya was forever manipulating and using the resources at his disposal to make sure everything was taken care of efficiently and effectively. She could always count on them both. She knew that everyone in the club was there for her and she had come to depend on them all, but everyone else was a little on the crazy and irritating side (not that Kyoya wasn't irritating with his money making schemes, he did love profit).

"No Haruhi, you are injured because of me. I should have checked the bathroom before you went in."

"Then he might have been waiting for me in the hall."

"Then I should have gone in with you and made sure everything was ok."

"And you would have freaked out the girls that were in the bathroom when I went in."

"It shouldn't have mattered."

"Takashi, look at me," she said getting his attention. "I am alive and with minor injuries because you were there for me once again. You are forever the gentleman and you would never go into a ladies room. None of us thought that he could be in there waiting for me. We have our own restrooms, so how he knew I would use that one, no one could have predicted. He was lying in wait. If he didn't get me today, he would have found a way to get me another day, regardless of Kyoya had him picked up or not. Stop blaming yourself. No one else is blaming you: not me, not my dad, and not the other hosts. If it hadn't been for you and Daichi, I have no doubt that I would be dead right now and before he killed me, I am sure he would have done other things to me. The torture would have been acute. You prevented all of that from happening."

His face softened when she had used his name. He got butterflies as it rolled off her tongue and he realized how much he liked it. He listened to everything she said and finally nodded. He felt better, but there was still that pang of guilt. That would just take time and he would make sure this never happened to her again. He would protect her and make sure she was safe and no more harm came to her. He grabbed her hand and said a simple thank you to the small woman lying there. She squeezed his hand and yawned. "Sleep," was the simple command he gave. She closed her eyes and was asleep moments later.

He continued to sit there and watch her sleep. He watched her even breaths and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. He brought that same hand to his lips and kissed it. "I love you Haruhi," he whispered so softly there was no way she would have heard it even if she had been conscious.

A few minutes later the moment was broken with the return of everyone except Kyoya. He was outside talking with Daichi about the staff. He walked in a couple of minutes later. Everyone quieted down when they realized that she was sleeping again. They did not want to wake her, she needed her rest.

Everyone had visited the gift shop while they were out. They had flowers and balloons for her. Hunny-senpai gave her a purple bunny that said Get Well Soon on its belly that he found in the store. He looked at his cousin as he put in on the bed next to her. He looked like he was handling things better, but he could still see he struggled. There was nothing anyone could say that would make him get over all of his guilt in one day. That was just who Takashi was.

Everyone stayed a while longer before Kyoya said it was probably best that everyone leave. Everyone took one last look at Haruhi and walked out the door. Ranka stopped Kyoya as he was about to follow everyone else, "Can you wait a few minutes Kyoya?"

"Yes, what can I do for you Ranka?" Kyoya asked. He would do anything he could for the man.

"I need to make a call and I don't want to disturb her. Can you sit with her for a few minutes while I do that?" He had completely forgotten to call and check in with the bar. They knew something happened, but he was supposed to call and check in and it had slipped his mind.

Kyoya nodded and sat down in the chair next to the bed as Ranka left the room. Kyoya knew that Haruhi had received another dose of pain meds about half an hour ago, so she was going to be dead to the world for a while. He grabbed her hand and noticed how soft and small it was. "I'm sorry that this happened Haruhi, but I am forever grateful that you are alive and still with me, with us. We would all miss you. We all love you, even me. I love you and I cannot imagine a world without you. So please stop doing stupid things so that we can make sure that you are around until we are all old and in the ground. That would help my nerves a great deal." He kissed her hand and waited for her father to return. He knew in the end that he may not win her, but he would rather have her in the world and happy with someone else, than gone forever.

Ranka returned and thanked the young man for staying a bit longer. He had a feeling that Kyoya needed some alone time with his daughter even if she was out for the count, which is why he had asked him to stay while he made the phone call. They said their good-byes and Kyoya left. Ranka knew that the hosts would descend upon the hospital again in the morning and silently wondered how much peace and quiet his daughter would really get over the next week. He laughed to himself and looked at his daughter, "You are very lucky Haruhi. You have six men that love and adore you. They would do anything for you. You have some very good friends. Kotoko, our daughter is growing up and she is a wonderful woman. She has people that love her and friends that want to take care of her. We could not ask for more for her right now. I just hope she realizes that she will have a decision to make sooner or later. Give her guidance to make the right decision for her. I look at her with those young men and I miss you so much." He watched his daughter sleep a while longer before he closed his eyes and entered dreamland to be with his wife while he slept.

A/N: I hope you like the story. I am about to leave for vacation next week and am planning on finishing up this story before I leave. For the host that loses Haruhi in this story, I will be writing a new story for him and Haruhi as my next fan fic. So don't worry if your host was not chosen this time. If you still have an opinion, you can let me know who you would like, but this will be the last chapter for that. Thank you everyone. Please read and review.