I stirred awake, the heat still heavy on my body. I curled into a ball and heard my sore back crack and pop multiple times, relief coming with each sound. Sighing happily, I rolled back and laid my arms over my stomach lazily. Maybe the morning had cooled my room down because it didn't feel quite as hot.

I heard some voices – maybe three or four – murmuring in my room, above my head. Furrowing my brow for a second, I thought before remembering that I had company over.

The Host Club boys. All six of them. And they'd just spent the night in my room with me.

I wondered how many girls would kill me for the position I was in. Realizing how large that number was, I made a mental note to tell them to keep their mouths shut.

Although it sounded like the whispering was getting a little louder, even a few more voices joining in, I was not ready to pull myself off the ground. Judging by the light streaming into my room, I figured it was about 9:00. Okay, so I won't be able to sleep with the light coming in, but I still want to just lie here for a bit longer, I grumbled in my head.

I heard my mattress creak a little, someone rolling over. I tucked my face into the pillow, making it clear that I didn't want to be bothered; I was ignored.

"Wow, Shay," groggily harmonic voices said, just above my head. "Seems like you can't keep your clothes on around us."

It was a very strange thing to say. I frowned and pulled my arms off, patting myself. When I touched my stomach I felt the warm feel of my own skin. I frowned a little more, thinking, Now wait a minute . . . that's not right. I didn't feel that just a second ago. . .

I reached out around me, feeling for my shirt. When I found it I threw it lazily over my body, sure that it would cover most of me.

"Really?" they coursed.

"I will punch both of you right now," I grumbled, my voice scratchy from sleep. I opened my eyes slowly to see their heads hanging over the side of my bed. Hikaru was resting on Kaoru's shoulder and they wore mirrored expressions of wariness. "Why do you care? I just woke up, and it was hot," I argued feebly. I guess I must've pulled my shirt off in the middle of the night – I didn't remember purposely doing it.

I shut my eyes again, putting one hand to my face and rubbing it all over to wake myself up. I pulled both of my arms above my head again to stretch and letting my body squirm to stretch other muscles.

I thought I heard the twins say something, so I opened my eyes and looked at them again, but they just seemed to be having one of their silent conversations. I rolled my eyes, grabbing my shirt off my stomach and straining my abs to pull myself into a sitting position.

I gasped with unexpected pain halfway through and set a hand behind me to lift myself the rest of the way up. My whole stomach had screamed in pain when I tried to sit up. Unconsciously, I rested a hand on the pained spot which was just below the band of my sports bra. Soreness sank into my skin where my fingers touched my stomach. I pulled back quickly to look at my hand, still a little too drowsy to get it.

I stood up unsteadily, hearing the twins ask me where I was going and walked over to the mirror in my room without answering. I looked at my frame, clad only in a black sports bra and red soccer shorts, and tilted my head at the reflection.

There was a faded purple blotch spanning across my stomach and a little of my rib cage, the top of the bruise peeking into my bra. It looked like it was starting to turn yellow, so that meant it was healing already.

I pushed my lips out in a pout. "Hmm. Weird." I turned away, looking at the rest of my room. Honey and Mori were already sitting up on the couch. Honey was rubbing his eyes, still a little sleepy but Mori's expression didn't seem to be any different than normal. Must be a robot, I thought disjointedly.

Kyoya was already wide awake, sitting on the side of my bed with a perfectly straight back like he was waiting for an interview to start. Tamaki and the twins were sitting up in bed, but I guessed they had woken up not too long ago.

Fortunately, they were gorgeous like normal, and I swooned a little at the thought that I'd had all six of them spent the night with me in my room, even if it did sound a little weird.

Unfortunately, they looked at me and in turn the bruise on my stomach.

The twins' eyes widened instantly. Tamaki took a little longer and looked dumbfounded. Honey gasped aloud and Mori's face seemed to darken slightly. Kyoya . . . pushed up his glasses. Normally I'd find it adequate to glare at him, but to be honest I felt the same way.

"Wha. . ?" I asked the boys.

"Ah. . . Eua. . . Urgst. . ." Tamaki stuttered, not making any sense. He raised a hand to point at the bruise.

I cocked my eyebrow. "What this?" I asked, poking at my torso. "Please, it doesn't hurt." That's a total lie. "Besides, it's already starting to heal up."

"My god, Shay," Kaoru groaned tiredly as he put his head in his hand.

"What could you have possibly done to get a bruise that big up on your stomach?" Hikaru fired at me, finishing his brother.

I gave them a confused look. They were there, didn't they know? "What're you talking about?" I paused but no one answered. "I got kicked by that one kid last night. You were right next to me so I thought you saw."

Instantly I knew I made a mistake by saying that. The twins' faces darkened, deeper than Mori, and Tamaki seemed to get angry. I would've thought Honey was about to cry he was shaking so much if it weren't for the raging look in his eye.

"They . . . kicked you. . ?" the brothers said dangerously, both with clenched hands and looking mad.

"What sort of man can bring himself to hurt a girl in anyway, especially physically?" Tamaki spouted. It sounded a little like how he ranted in the club but actually serious and a little angry. "No one should ever lay a hand on a woman in order to hurt her! Kyoya!" he said sternly, ignoring my bewildered look. "Get your private force on the line! Have them find those boys and-!"

"Already done," Kyoya replied calmly, keeping his back towards Tamaki. "I called them last night, so they should've already gotten them from wherever Shay's friend dumped them at the club."

"Ah, guys. . ?" I said quietly, but no one heard me.

"Good!" the twins said viciously at Kyoya's words. "They deserve to rot behind bars!" Tamaki and Mori nodded sharply at their words. I felt a sinking in my bruised stomach. I have to make this seem better, seem okay, I thought frantically.

"Kyoya," Honey said very quietly, in a controlled voice. It made my spine freeze up as he spoke. "Let me at them. I'll make sure they never hurt anyone again." My eyebrows came down on my face at his comment.

"No, Mitsukuni," Mori ordered. "They could die."

That's what set me off.

"Hey, I don't get what the big problem is!" I said strongly, all eyes whipping back to me. "Yeah, hurting a girl is a bad thing, but you all seem a little harsh about the punishments." I blew a strand of hair out of my face and set my hands on my hips, relaxing a little. "Besides, I've had it worse before."

Oh god.

Worst. Mistake. Ever.

"WHAT?" they all exploded.

"You mean there are other guys that have done this to you?" the twins raged.

"How often does it happen?" Tamaki asked exasperatingly.

"Do you remember what they looked like?" Kyoya asked coolly. The calm coming from him was almost scarier than the angered faces of the rest of the boys.

"I'll take care of them for you, Shay," Honey mumbled, probably to himself more than anything. Mori stayed silent, but seemed to shake a little bit.

I put my hands in front of me, fingers spread, trying to get them to stop. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" I called out, over all of their voices. When they all stopped I put a hand to my face, thinking quickly.

When I had said I'd had it worse I'd been talking about coming back from work. Obviously I couldn't use that, and the fact that it was men that ended up leaving me with bruises on my way home probably wouldn't convince them to drop the subject.

So I went to my failsafe – soccer. Although it wasn't entirely true, I had gotten pretty badly beat up every now and then. Just not from actual fights, only scuffles on the field and falling down hard. But it'd have to work; seeing the boys so worked up made me antsy, and I didn't like the way I felt about them wanting to protect me so securely.

"Okay, look, what I meant was that I've had some worse injuries than this. Knowing my body, this'll be gone by tomorrow." It'd still be sore, but you wouldn't be able to tell that just by looking. Thank god, I thought as I remembered I had to work tonight. "And I agree, I think he should be punished, but the look in all of your eyes is kind of scaring me."

"Ah, we're sorry," Tamaki said sheepishly as the twins looked up blankly and said, "Oh."

Time to make them forget about this. At the thought I jumped on my bed, landing on all fours, giving the boys surprised faces a bland look. "Don't let that leave a bad taste in your mouth; it happened, so you have to get over it." The twins looked reluctant to let it go, but I fixed them with a hard look. "If you don't then I won't let you go."

They looked at each other then back at me, confused. "Let us go?"

To answer them I dove forward, ignoring the pain, wrapping my arms around their necks and pulling them in towards me. At first they thought it was a hug and started to reach around me as well, but when I put more pressure against their heads they started to squirm.

"Ow! Hey let go!" they yelled, slightly fearful.

"No," I said, an evil gleam in my eye. "Not until you let it go."

"Okay we're letting it go then! Get off of us!"

I squeezed a little tighter and heard them yelp in response. "You're lying," I almost growled. "Now say it like you mean it."

"Ahh!" they cried under the power of my grip. "Mori!"

Next thing I knew I was being restrained by Mori and the twins were holding their necks and giving me dark scowls. "Hey!" I thrashed about in Mori's arms, doing my best not to upset my stomach. "Lemme go!" Mori looked down apologetically, then blushed slightly when he realized his arms were right under my bust, looking away.

"That was so rude!" the twins shouted at me.

"And you two are being hard asses!" I said defiantly. "You two needed to lighten up, and I had no choice but to jump you."

"At least we're fully clothed!" they retorted. Mori set me down and I brushed myself off a little.

Huh. They're right, I noticed. I grabbed my shirt off from the ground and pulled it over my head. "There. Now stop using that damn card," I said. I walked out of my door, shouting over my shoulder, "What, aren't you guys gonna come and eat breakfast?"

At the mention of food the boys came pouring out of my room, hot on my heels to the kitchen. They all started talking at the same time, asking for this and that and I couldn't understand a word.

"Hold up! All I have is cereal, and I can make toast and . . . pancakes and . . . eggs and . . . yeah I think that's it," I offered.

They all deflated visibly. "Man, we have to have a commoner's breakfast," the twins grumbled, though Tamaki seemed to brighten at the mention.

"Shut up rich kids!" I said, hitting them both on the head. I pointedly turned away from them as they made protests. "If anyone wants something simple that will take some time to cook, ask me and I'll see what I can do. I'm not letting any of you near my appliances," I growled, setting to work getting the ingredients out of the fridge and pantry. "Cereal is on the top shelf."

"Where are the bowls?" Tamaki asked delight. I pointed to the cabinet.

"What about spoons?" the double-edged voice said and I showed them. "What about the milk? Ow!" they shouted as I hit them again. "What the hell was that for?"

"You idiots, where do you think the milk is?" I answered sourly. They grumbled and turned away from me with their food as I mixed the ingredients for pancakes together.

"Do you mind if I make tea?" Hikaru asked, raiding my pantry. I took the few steps over to search with him, pulling it out a few seconds later and handing him the bags. He looked displeased that it was a bag but the look I gave him kept him from complaining.

"You'll have to heat the water up in this," I said shortly as I handed him a microwavable cup that could hold a few cups of water. "Sugar's there and cups are there." I went back to mixing, adding another few ingredients and stirring furiously. The boys sat around the table eating their cereal quietly.

I paused, and looked behind me at Hikaru. He seemed like he was having a staring contest with the microwave. "Do you even know how to use it?" I asked, popping up at his side. He jumped and looked down at me, flustered. I noticed how much taller than me he was and again how handsome he was. My features softened instantly.

"Uh, no, I don't know," he said, embarrassed, handing the cup to me. "You do it."

I shrugged and set the timer, telling him what to do when it was done. I checked to make sure the pancakes weren't burning.

"Whatever you're making smells delicious!" Honey piped up happily.

I smiled at him; it seemed like the natural thing to do when he spoke. "Thank you. For that you can have extra pancakes."

After a few more minutes I had used up all the batter for the pancakes, creating a large stack on a plate. It's a good thing the boys are here. I could never eat all of these, I thought, setting it in the middle of the table. They attacked the food instantly yet politely. I snatched a couple for myself and nibbled on them as I started to clear the dishes. Again Tamaki offered to help, this time around a mouthful of pancake, but I refused.

"Can you reheat this for me," Kaoru said, handing me his cup of tea. I nodded and put it in the microwave, punching in the numbers. I sat back, waiting for it to be done, but within the first few seconds I saw blue flashes from behind the door.

"What the-?" I swung the door open. As I suspected, the metal spoon sat inside the cup, ringing with the recent electricity. "Kaoru! Why did you leave the spoon in?"

"What?" he said pleadingly. "What does the spoon have to do with anything?"

"It's metal," I said slowly.

"And?" It didn't seem like he thought there was a problem with it.

I groaned. "You never, never put metal in the microwave. It'll break it."

"Oh, well sorry. How was I supposed to know that?" he said, sounding a little hurt.

I gave him a sidelong scowl, sure he was testing me. "It's common knowledge, dude."

He humpfed. "Not to me." With that he stalked back to the table and I dumped his tea. I guess he really wouldn't know that rule since he'd never been in his own kitchen that much, but it seemed a little too obvious for me to let it go.

"So Shay," Tamaki started, turning in his chair to look at me. His messy hair only added to the beautiful European look and I felt my eyes glaze for a second. "What're you planning on doing for the rest of the day?"

I raised an eyebrow at the question. I hadn't really thought past four in the morning for today. "Uhm, I guess I'll exercise for a bit, try and clean up the mess you guys made, and maybe hang out with the neighborhood kids?" I said, sort of thinking aloud.

"Hmm. Sounds boring," the twins rebuffed, sticking their noses in the air.

I irked, but got myself back under control. "Okay, then what are you two doing?"

I was sorry I asked. They started babbling about fashion and design and helping their mom choose pieces for her next show. I didn't know any of the names that they threw around, but the rest of the group seemed to understand. I rolled my eyes, going to start on the dishes.

"Shay? Hello? Didn't you hear us?" the twins rang out. I jumped and looked up into annoyed faces.

"Ah, no. What's up?" I put my hands on my hips, not sure what they wanted.

They sighed. "We want you to come back to our house, so we have someone to play with."

"Sounds more like you'll be playing cats while I'm the mouse," I said reproachfully. "Sorry, but I can't."

"But you don't even know what you're doing today!" Hikaru exasperated.

"It'd be more fun for you to spend the day with us," Kaoru grumbled, slanting his eyes away.

"Yeah, I'm sure it'd be more fun." Their faces brightened, only to fall with my next line. "But I have other things to do. I have to clean my house today, and that's gonna take a while. I might even have to go shopping. Look, thanks for the invitation, but I can't make it. Sorry guys," I said, genuinely regretful.

"Whatever," they replied, let down.

-X-

A/N: Well, I had a much longer day than I expected. Wonderful, but long. So this'll probably be the only one tonight. I went back and edited this a few times over, to make it flow a little better. So that's why it's late, if anyone cares. Just trying to make it easier and more interesting for you guys :D. So yeah – R&R please please, and enjoy. See you next update (no idea how long the next one will be – probably a little longer though. I'll try to break it up.).

I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Ouran High School Host Club.