Author note below.

With the sun just setting below the tree line, it was truly a sight to behold. From that spot on the roof one could see the lake and the surrounding forest. The lake glittered with soft red and orange diamonds, the darkness of the forest was significantly softened by the soft color of the light. As the sun continued to set and the color changed, the shadows grew longer, yet it didn't give the frightening effect that one would expect, it just gave the impression of undiscovered mystery.

The three of them stood there until the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the trees. Then all of them turned away and went back inside. The kids have already been put to bed so all those that were still awake bid each other goodnight and retired to their respective rooms for the night.

Chapter 14: Breakfast Bullying

3 am Sunday morning found Kyoya wide awake and staring at the ceiling above his bed. The Shadow king had been completely unable to fall asleep due to his mind reeling with everything that he had learned in the last 24 hours.

Haruhi's situation bothered him greatly since he knew only a little of the full story and thus could do nothing to help. Scar was also on the forefront of his spinning thoughts. How he had looked so comfortable with all the children and teens and also the way he had so effortlessly handled Angela and kept the Hosts in line. The way all his men look up to him even though he is the youngest of them all – barely 17 years old.

Emancipated or not, Kyoya knew (from experience) that kids in a position of leadership is largely frowned upon and it took a LOT to gain the respect of the people working for you. The fact that every single one of the people in the castle listened to Scar without question showed that he either had plenty of power over them or that he is really, REALLY good at whatever it is that he does and had gained their respect the hard way. Honestly, the second option both intrigued and terrified him.

The thought that Scar had won over the loyalty of world-hardened men using the hard way, was truly a scary thought. What would he have to have done in order for them to give their loyalty so completely and not question his authority?

Turning on his side Kyoya managed to get more and more questions with absolutely no answers. Unfortunately, the only way to get answers would be to actually ask questions straight out and Kyoya seriously doubted that anyone would give him answers. Even if they did answer him, the fact that he asked questions in the first place would come out to Scar and Kyoya did not want that to happen, so he basically had to do what he always did – sit back and observe every little thing that anyone did while also keeping up with his friends to try and keep them safe.

XXX

"I hope you have a good reason for bothering me at this ungodly hour kid." A deep grouchy voice came over the video chat, the speaker just out of sight of the camera.

"My apologies for the hour, but I think you both know why I called and why it had to be at such an unusual time." Scar spoke up from where he sat behind a desk on a comfy leather chair.

"Hmph. I'm sure I can make an educated guess. Now say what's on your mind so I can get back to sleep."

"Oh come now, you and I both know you were nowhere near sleeping. Anyway let's talk and get this over with. Despite our differences you have always been honest with me, Alpha. Even with your hate for me and mine you never tried to hide it, so I know I can trust you.

"We have a mole in the ranks. I suspect that you already know that though. I have the Princess in my care currently and her safety is to be my first priority as ordered by the Chief. Despite popular belief, I can't split myself into multiple pieces, so I need you to find the one responsible for jeopardizing our missions. I have already lost 13 men because of misinformation and cannot afford to lose any more! You have till the end of the week. That is unfortunately all the time I can give you due to my current situation at home, although if you can get it done faster, all the better." Scar frowned as he spoke, concerned with the backlash from losing so many men at a time.

"THIRTEEN MEN! Why haven't you said something sooner? Idiot kid. How many are dead? "

"Seven dead and the other six will never be able to do their jobs again." Scar growled, barely audible. Speaking up again he asked "You do know about the mole then?"

"Yeah I know about the mole and I have been digging around already. I suspect that he isn't working alone though. That amount of misinformation cannot be pulled past so many people without it getting back to the source eventually. Hmm, I'll keep looking and see what I can find. Why is the Princess with you? You always said that she would never see you or your world so what changed?" Alpha was curious about that fact because since he had met Scar the kid had been adamant about never letting the Princess see their world.

"If all goes well, Alpha, she will never 'see' me. As for why she's here, it was circumstances beyond my control – her father is in a coma. I know of only the Vipers who could pull off a severe head-wound without killing the victim and they are desperate enough to join forces with the Mad-Hats to get rid of me. This way, the Mad-Hats get leadership and the Vipers have my head on a silver platter." Scar commented dryly.

The branch-heads were none too happy when Scar had been named successor for the Chief. Scar had a hand in nearly all of their failed drug-trades and the busting of their human-trafficking businesses so it was no real surprise that so many of them wanted him dead at any cost.

Alpha shook his head. He knew Scar's little secret due to an unplanned rescue mission. He had saved the brat from certain death one night without really wanting to; after all, there is no love lost between the two of them. Finding out that particular secret had given the hardened warrior a healthy respect for the teenager, though he still considered the kid insane but didn't insult him by treating him any different than he normally would.

Sighing, Alpha decided to smoke out the mole and get rid of it as soon as he found even a trace. The Princess was much too important to risk for some stupid rivalry between him and a kid. Scar didn't realize just how much Alpha really knew about him and about the importance of the Princess and Alpha would prefer to keep it that way.

"I heard rumors. About Kurogasa and the Princess, are any of them true?" Alpha tried to subtly make sure that Scar was aware of the impending danger.

"Which ones would you be referring to?" Scar countered the question with one of his own.

Alpha smirked from his perch behind the camera since he knew the kid can't see him. "It involved blackmail. It also involved a very large wedding…" Alpha knew that Scar would know exactly which rumors he was referring to with that.

"Hmm." Scar indeed knew what the older man was talking about. What Scar had trouble understanding, is why Alpha would even care.
"I know those. Yeah it's true, for the most part. Kurogasa has it in his head that by forcing her hand; he would get the top spot since she would become his daughter-in-law. However, what he seems to forget, is the fact that his son will get the spot, not him. He thinks that he can control his kid, but he really can't."

Alpha nodded to himself, satisfied that Scar knew of the situation. It seems that the kid still has it, despite the accident and the uncertain months that followed.

"Alright kid. Take care of her and I'll deal with the little rodents. I'll let you know when I found something substantial."

"Please keep me updated even if you don't have good news immediately." Scar requested softly before switching back to his businesslike manner. "I apologize for the missed sleep. Good hunting." Scar closed the conversation and switched off the video-chat.

XXX

Alpha exhaled harshly as he closed his laptop. A worried frown appeared on his usually expressionless face as the conversation replayed in his mind again. It was curious that Kurogasa would allow something like the power of the Princess to fall into his son's hands; after all, the kid could barely speak in coherent sentences most of the time since he was constantly drunk.

The troubled man thought back to the first night that he had saved Scar. It was years ago.

The Chief had called Alpha in a complete panic that was so uncharacteristic of him, that Alpha had jumped into action with only one question 'where?' getting the answer, he took off to an abandoned warehouse close to his position.

Not caring about anything other than his mission, Alpha had killed all of the abductors and found a beaten, bloody mess which he finally identified as a child. Even his hardened heart had trembled when he had realized just what had been done to the poor kid. Shaking his head, Alpha had picked up the small, broken body and took the child to the best doctor he knew of, leaving the child in the doctor's care after extracting a promise from the Ohtori of not telling the child who had helped and not telling anyone the whole truth.

Shaking himself out of the memory, Alpha returned to the problem at hand. Kurogasa was up to something more than the obvious. His son wouldn't really be of any help….

That's IT! The kid was 24 years old and a drunk. Drunks can be manipulated. If the Crazy Hat married the Princess, he will control her, while Kurogasa controls him. It was so OBVIOUS, how had he not thought of that earlier?

Now, what to do about that?...

XXX

Scar sat back in his chair after his conversation with Alpha. Warily he ran both hands through his hair, revealing the left side of his face. Staring at the odd reflection of his face on the black computer screen, Scar sighed and let his hair fall back into place.

Scar thought back to the letter he had received from the Chief the day before he had found Haruhi in the hospital. In it, he had been given very clear orders that he is to protect Haruhi at all cost and to keep her out of the greedy hands of the other branch-heads. Being the heir to the biggest yakuza group in Japan was never easy.

The dire situation was not lost on the teen. He too was in a position that, technically, he needed protection. Despite that, he still went out into the world to save kids who lived in fear, hurt and terror. But Scar was so different than Haruhi, because he can take care of himself just fine, she can't.

Scar absentmindedly rubbed the small white scar on his wrist, wondering for the millionth time where he could have gotten it. His memory was still only bits and pieces from before he was 8 years old. He could remember some of the pain and the scars still remain, but the actual memories of ages 5 until 8 years were hazy or completely missing in some (if not most) parts. Not to mention that the accident 10 months ago had also affected his memory…

Once again he sighed irritably and glanced at the clock. 5:20 am? Had he really been lost in thought for an HOUR? Well, since it was already so late, he decided to head to the kitchen and see if Bunny needed help with breakfast.

XXX

While Scar had sat lost in his own thoughts, the blond Host club King had awakened. Tamaki opened his eyes to a strange room that was very clearly not his own, since the sheets were not silk. As he sat up, Tamaki noticed something quite unusual. Kyoya was already awake and dressed for the day.

Tamaki blinked once, twice, the image didn't fade so he was not hallucinating. He turned and looked for his phone to check the time. Only 4:45am? What on earth was Kyoya doing up at this hour? He usually didn't wake until noon.

Kyoya sat in the same position he had been sitting in since 45minutes prior. He had gotten about 20 minutes of rest, not true sleep, when he had once more woken up to questions buzzing in his head. Unable to fall back asleep, Kyoya had decided that he might as well get up and get dressed.

It took a little while before Kyoya even became aware of the fact that Tamaki had also woken up and was still staring at him. With an inward sigh Kyoya turned to his best friend.

"Morning."

"Kyoya? Why are you up so early? It's not even 5am yet." Tamaki said in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

"I couldn't sleep. Too much has happened." Kyoya answered truthfully.

Tamaki nodded. He could understand the confusion; after all, he had had a rough day himself.

"So, since we're up, do you want to get some breakfast?" Tamaki asked sort of timidly.

Kyoya stared a little while before answering. "Only if someone is awake at this hour to help make it. I don't know about you, but I don't know the first thing about cooking." He admitted without batting an eye.

Tamaki smiled his bright smile and hopped off the bed to get dressed as well. Kyoya sighed softly; he could really use some very strong coffee right about then. When Tamaki bounced back into the room they agreed to breakfast or if no one was up, at least a cup of coffee, after all, how hard could be to turn on a coffeemaker?

What neither teen knew was that a rather large surprise awaited them on the stairs. Thus, completely oblivious to what was coming they walked out of their shared room and on the way to the stairs.

Tamaki was the first to reach the stairs and so the first to see the VERY large Grey wolf standing on the staircase as though he belonged there. The Host club King froze on the spot, unable to tear his eyes away from the glaring eyes of the seemingly hungry wolf.

"What are you staring at pipsqueak?"

"EEEYYYYAAA! IT TALKS!" Tamaki jumped behind Kyoya the second he realized that the wolf was speaking in an understandable language. Kyoya's face drained of all color when he saw just what had triggered his insane best friend's over-the-top reaction that was clearly not so over the top this time.

A second, smaller wolf came from one of the rooms and took in the situation before she realized that her mate was growling at the humans and obviously scaring the poor things half to death.

"Now darling, stop growling, can't you see you're scaring the poor dears?" She affectionately rubbed her head below her mate's as she spoke.

"GGYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Tamaki screamed again as he practically dug his nails into Kyoya's shoulder, simultaneously trying to see the wolves while wanting to hide behind Kyoya. Unfortunately his screaming only angered the large grey wolf. Luckily, Scar came around the corner from his office at that moment.

"Oh hey Shadow, Snow. What are you guys doing inside at this time of the morning? I thought we were meeting later?" Scar said, completely ignoring the rich-kids still standing on the stairs staring at the talking wolves.

"Thank you for shutting him up." The large grey, obviously he had to be 'Shadow' since the other was a pure white, only her nose and eyes were a different color.

"Yeah Pup, we weren't supposed to meet until later, but there is something we thought you should know sooner rather than later." Snow said then asked if they could talk alone.

"Does this have something to do with why you two weren't with the pack yesterday morning?" Scar had to cover all bases. Shadow nodded in the affirmative and Scar knew it had to be something big so he led them to his office, leaving behind two very confused teenagers.

XXX

Takumi and Rex had come running when Tamaki screamed, but did not make themselves known until Scar and the wolves had left. Takumi coughed lightly to announce their arrival, making Tamaki nearly jump into Kyoya's arms.

Takumi couldn't help but laugh at the jittery blond. He put a friendly hand on both teen's shoulders and led them to the kitchen. Bunny was already up and busy chopping toppings. She briefly looked up to greet them before turning back to her work.

Rex joined Bunny in her chopping; it seemed that omelets were on the menu for breakfast for those who didn't want cereal. Breakfast wasn't for another two hours though, so only the chopping had to be done, otherwise the food would be cold long before anyone could touch it.

Takumi took Kyoya and Tamaki to the other side of the kitchen and quietly spoke to the still-shocked teens.

"Don't worry about the wolves. Did you notice the collars they were wearing?" At the nods, Takumi continued, "Those collars are the reason they can speak. Scar, Daichi and Rex had created those exactly for that purpose. Now the wolves' speech is translated into understandable language for the rest of us, although Scar never needed any help to understand them."

The last part was muttered mostly to himself, but both Tamaki and Kyoya heard him. Rex shook his head at Takumi. Nobody needs to know anything that they did at the Castle, because the rich kids would be leaving in six days and had no right to know anything so private.

XXX

"So? What happened?" Scar asked as soon as the door closed behind the three of them. The serious tone that Shadow had used when asking to speak to him had him concerned.

"We know that you are busy, but we thought you should know that the Fox had been on the property last night, and early this morning he was seen with a group 15 people heading to the tree and the hidden cave. We don't know what they are up to. Last report we got, they haven't found the entrance, but it could just be a matter of time."

Scar's expression became positively murderous at the news. Had that guy not learned his lesson? Despite their fight the night before, how can that, that, thing just decide to trespass on his property again?

"That's not all." Snow took over the explanation after Scar took a few deep breaths. "They brought dogs. Sight-hunters mostly, a few cross-breeds. Nothing we can't handle, but I thought you should know. Our dogs are all fine, as is the new one. Please be careful Pup, we cannot afford to lose you as well."

With that, Snow turned and left the room through the window to get back to her post. Shadow watched his mate walk away with trepidation twisting in his gut. He did not like the fact that she is not where he can see and protect her.

Scar took another calming breath before he spoke the one sentence that Shadow had been waiting for.

"We're going hunting."

XXX

By 7am, everyone was awake and all the regular inhabitants of the Castle were up and getting ready for breakfast. The first down was Setsuka and Shizuka, always the early risers. They gave only a sideways glance to Tamaki and Kyoya, greeting only Bunny and asking politely for omelets.

Eiji and Angela followed shortly afterwards, followed quickly by all the rest (sans Hosts). All requested omelets for breakfast so Eiji and Angela helped to make it, since Rex had finished the chopping. Just as the last one was finished, the Hosts walked in with Emmy-chan clinging to Haruhi's hand.

Angela tensed but didn't look at any of them. After the scene the previous day, most of the Hosts were much more subdued, except of course Hikaru. Seeing the girl who had dared to argue with him the night before, he immediately set about trying to annoy her. Unfortunately, he had the wrong twin in his sight.

Shizuka froze as the red-head approached her. She could see the malicious spark in his eyes and had no idea what to do. Setsuka was currently on the other side of the kitchen and Scar was nowhere to be seen. Her breathing sped up and she started shaking lightly, but as always, Hikaru paid no mind to anything except what he wanted and at that moment he wanted to argue just for the heck of it.

Kaoru noticed a little too late that Hikaru had approached the wrong twin, but he was way too late to stop his brother from physically getting too close, so he took the risk and yelled, knowing that he might scare some of the others as well, but he didn't really give it more than a passing thought. The thought on the forefront of his mind was the tears and obvious fear on the girl's face the day before, and the unexplainable want to protect her from it.

"Hikaru DON'T! It's the wrong twin!" Kaoru shouted, panic obvious in his voice. Everybody in the kitchen jumped at the sudden shout, but Setsuka had chosen that moment to turn around and saw what was happening a second before Kaoru shouted.

"NO!" Setsuka ran for all she was worth, knowing that she would be too late; Shizuka had already retreated into her mind, making her body react on instinct and not thought. A silver flash made everyone freeze on the spot.

Hikaru's pained scream caused the Rex, Takumi and Mori to react immediately. Rex went to grab Shizuka, who was already reaching for the knife on her other side and he had to be careful not to hurt her or get hurt in the process.

Takumi and Mori raced for Hikaru, to see how bad the damage is and to pull him away from Shizuka. Setsuka had regained her ability to move and ran to find the only person that Shizuka would react to now. She knew that for whatever reason, Shizuka never reacted to her presence in times like these, only to Scar.

It turned out that Hikaru had been stabbed with a fork and not a knife as Takumi had feared. That was good, Shizuka had not started eating yet, so the fork would have been clean and fork-wounds were much easier to deal with than knife wounds.

"It's alright people, it was only a fork." Takumi addressed the others in the kitchen.

"What the hell do you mean 'only a fork'? That little ***** stabbed me! I will have her thrown in prison for this! How dare she harm me?!" Hikaru continued yelling and cursing the air blue, doing exactly what Tamaki had done: scaring the kids in the room without a care for them, only for himself.

Kaoru decided that enough was enough. Yes he was worried about his brother getting stabbed, but even he could tell that it wasn't all that bad, since the fork had barely broken the skin. Kaoru walked over to Hikaru, but instead of crying over him or ranting or trying to comfort him like the Hosts expected, Kaoru slapped him, hard.

Hikaru immediately shut up from pure shock of having anybody, let alone Kaoru hit him. He couldn't understand what had made Kaoru of all people mad enough to slap him.

"You selfish, ignorant, uncaring b******! If you had been paying attention to more than just yourself, you would have noticed that you were approaching the wrong twin! If you had been paying attention, you would have seen that she was scared of you! Have you not paid attention to anything that had happened yesterday?" Kaoru was breathing heavily at the end of his tirade and a few tears escaped his disappointment-filled eyes as he looked at Hikaru.

All the Hosts gaped in shock and surprise as Kaoru yelled at Hikaru and walked over to where Rex had gently restrained Shizuka, asking if there was something he could do to help. Rex told him to clear a path so that Shizuka's kicking wouldn't harm anyone else.

As they reached the door, Setsuka ran back in, fear obvious on her face.

"I can't find Scar." She was breathing heavily and had tears of absolute terror for her sister running down her face.

"I'm here." Scar rushed in, he had blood on his clothes, but he didn't care about that. Shizuka was still kicking to get free, but Rex held steady. "Put her down." Scar ordered when he stood right in front of them.

Rex gently put the struggling girl down and Scar immediately put his hands on both sides of her face, noticing the vacant look in her eyes. "Look at me. Come on sweetheart, please look at me." Scar practically begged. "Come now, I know you can see me. Please look at me." Scar stared at Shizuka as she stopped fighting.

"It's ok. He can't hurt you anymore. You are safe here, with me. Do you believe me?" Scar still spoke softly. Shizuka slowly came to, as though coming out of a daze and nodded at the question. Scar smiled and gently pulled Shizuka into a hug, giving her plenty of chance to pull away if she wanted to.

Shizuka grabbed ahold of Scar's blood-stained shirt with a grip that wouldn't let go for a long time. For a few seconds they just stood there before Shizuka broke into sobs, wracking her whole body. Scar turned and led the sobbing girl and her concerned twin out to his room.

XXX

Rex lightly shook his head at the ease with which Scar can handle the kids. Then again, it probably shouldn't surprise him too much. Scar could personally relate to their circumstances and he spends so much time building a close relationship with the kids; learning what their triggers are and how to calm them etc. etc.

Takumi had used the distraction to pull Hikaru out of the kitchen to the room they have turned into a sort of infirmary. Mori and Kyoya had followed to keep an eye on their friend. Hikaru was still ranting about the audacity of that girl to harm a Hittachin, even after his own brother had hit him for his inconsideration.

Takumi mentally beat the redhead to a bloody speck on the ground for his self-centeredness. When he pulled out the fork, he was as rough as possible while looking like he was trying his best to be gentle. Mori noticed, but didn't say anything. He could understand the older man's feelings quite well.

Kyoya, even though he was in the room, was deep in thought about the scene in the kitchen and, of course, Scar. Setsuka had said that she couldn't find him, so how had he known to come to the kitchen? Not to mention, where did all that blood come from? It couldn't possibly have come from the wolves, they seemed too close for Scar to wish to harm any of them, and those two had stopped Scar from harming Sunny the day before, so they could obviously take Scar if a fight broke out.

Kyoya shook his head, determined not to think of all the confusing questions anymore and tried to focus on Hikaru and his injury.

"He should be taken to a hospital where he could receive professional care." Kyoya spoke up when he saw the rough way that Takumi was working with Hikaru. Takumi only gave him a look and turned back to his work without bothering to answer the Ohtori. Yuichi had been a classmate of Takumi's in med-school, so he knew a lot about Kyoya from Yuichi. Even so, he kept his mouth shut and didn't give any indication that he knew him so well.

Hikaru complained loudly about the rough treatment until Takumi finally couldn't take it anymore and snapped at him.

"Listen here you ungrateful piece of ****. Either you shut that hole on face and show some respect for your betters or I will purposely make this wound get infected and I will personally make sure that you die in the most painful manner that an infected wound can cause. Do I make myself clear, BOY?" The last sentence was hissed out between clenched teeth.

Hikaru immediately shut his mouth because he could see the pure hatred in the older man's eyes. Even he was not so stupid as to think that the guy was making an idle threat. Mori showed nothing but a blank expression on his face, but he was very disturbed at the threat. The people who lived and worked with Scar and the kids didn't seem like the type of people who are able make idle threats; that fact greatly disturbed him.

Kyoya was also put on high-alert after that threat. After what he had seen and heard of the seven obvious fighters in the mansion, (Takumi, Scar, Daichi, Michio, Hajime, Rex and Kei), they were not people to take lightly for any reason. Every one of them were dangerous and thus a threat to him and all of his friends. Kyoya's mind worked overtime to try to figure out how to protect his friends. The obvious answer would be to get out of there as fast as possible, but somehow, Kyoya did not think that that would be an option at all.

Daichi chose that moment to walk in. He had heard what Takumi had threatened to do and could only shake his head at the hothead. Takumi was usually the calmest out of them all, but when it came to Scar and the kids, he was particularly short-tempered. Daichi quietly caught Kyoya's attention and led him out of the room, leaving Mori to oversee the last of Hikaru's treatment. Once out of earshot, Daichi spoke up.

"There is no need to be concerned about what Takumi had said in there, he would never intentionally hurt someone."

"I disagree. He was unnecessarily rough with Hikaru's treatment. Does he even know what he is doing? I would feel much better if he was taken to a hospital for proper treatment." Kyoya spoke without bothering to sound polite.

"Takumi might not look like it, but he is a qualified doctor. As for the threats," Daichi let out a deep sigh before speaking again. "He is very overprotective of Scar and the kids, so please, try to keep your friends in line and out of trouble if it is at all within your power. Takumi won't really hurt him, but he might lock him up in the basement or do what Scar did yesterday to your blond friend."

Kyoya was still not convinced, but he nodded anyway. Somehow he would get a background check on all of the people he and his friends were currently dealing with.

XXX

Back in the kitchen, things had calmed down remarkably quickly after the fiasco with Hikaru and Shizuka. Angela had only relaxed slightly after Hikaru was removed, but she still didn't come near any of the hosts. Little Aiko had started wailing which had set off Isamu as well.

Kei had grabbed Isamu and took him out of the room after he pushed Hani towards the wailing four-year old. Hani was a little frozen. He hadn't the slightest idea how to calm a crying, screaming child. Haruhi spoke up softly from behind him, urging him to just hug her. She would do it herself, but Emmy-chan was still attached to her one had, refusing to let go.

Hani still felt uncertain as he approached Aiko, but steeled his resolve and gently hugged her, allowing plenty of room if she wanted to pull away. To his great surprise, she only held on tighter and stopped screaming, though she still sniffled occasionally.

Bunny and Michio shared a secret smile as they watched the drama before them play out into a cavity-worthy sweet scene. Bunny gave Hani a bottle of vitamin-supplement in liquid form for Aiko. He only looked at the bottle in confusion until Aiko herself grabbed the bottle from his hand.

Eiji gave a relieved little laugh before stating jokingly "Well, at least we're all awake now." At which Hajime and Michio only glared at him.

Eiji gulped, "Um, how about breakfast then?" The hopeful way he spoke made Bunny and Sunny laugh before they continued what they were doing before the whole drama started.

When they had all calmed down, breakfast was resumed without those who left the room.

XXX

Scar gently cradled the crying Shizuka in his arms as Setsuka sat beside him on the queen-sized bed with her head on Scar's shoulder. The earlier incident in the kitchen had brought back all of the fear and old pain and shame from their earlier childhood.

Scar didn't say anything for a long while. He only held Shizuka until the worst of her sobbing calmed down a little. He wasn't all that worried about Setsuka at the moment since he knew that her worst fear was more for her sister than for herself.

"Shizuka," Scar gently called for her attention; she only gave a slight nod to indicate that she had heard, but didn't make a sound.

"I am so very proud of you right now." Scar spoke into her hair as he softly rested his head on top of hers.

"Why would you be proud of me? I stabbed the guy with a fork! A friggen FORK!" Shizuka was clearly still distraught about the whole ordeal, which was why her head snapped up when she felt Scar shaking and suddenly bursting out into laughter. She wanted to feel mad that he was laughing at her, but she was so astonished at the fact that he was laughing and not scolding her that she could only sit there in stunned silence.

Setsuka tried, she really did try to keep her laughter in, but seeing Scar crack up and her twin's face was just too much. She too, started laughing.

When Scar got himself under control, he explained his reasons.

"I am proud of you, because you didn't run. I am proud of you for defending yourself instead of just standing by. The fact that your weapon of choice was a fork was just a hilarity-bonus."

Shizuka stilled as she thought back to the incident. In retrospect she could clearly see Hikaru coming at her, looking like he wanted to hurt her, she could feel clearly the fear in her heart and she could see the way her hand automatically felt behind her for a weapon to defend herself with.

Now that she was calming down, Shizuka could see what she had failed to see before due to the shock: She had defended herself. She didn't cower away or let him get too close, she fought back. She fought back!

She raised her eyes to Scar's smiling face and she could see the pride and the understanding in his eyes. Impulsively, Shizuka hugged the person who had always supported her and took care of her, yet never asked for anything. Setsuka looked between the two and realized something she had tried to ignore until now, Scar was becoming more important to Shizuka than her, and she felt left-out until a slender hand pulled her into the hug. Looking at Scar's face, she could see the understanding in his eyes

and it hurt.

Shizuka looked on in stunned amazement as Setsuka broke down right in front of her eyes. Setsuka began shaking, trying to hold in her tears, but she couldn't and she began sobbing in earnest. Scar made a motion with his head to Shizuka, telling her to take care of her sister; not because he couldn't or didn't want to, but he understood that Setsuka felt like she was losing her sister to him and that she needed Shizuka's reassurance, not his. Even so, he didn't leave; he just made room for Shizuka to switch places with him.

Scar gave Shizuka a grateful smile as they swapped places on the large bed. The scene in the kitchen and the aftermath with Shizuka's breakdown had not only brought bad memories for the twins, but also for Scar. Scar let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding when Shizuka had hugged him. Shizuka had become remarkably good at sensing Scar's moods so she knew that he needed the hug.

After some time, Setsuka had cried herself to sleep and Shizuka sat running her hands lightly through her sister's hair. She looked up at Scar, who had become very quiet.

"You should change." She commented softly, to not wake her sister.

"Hm?" Scar pulled out of his thoughts and looked down at his blood-splattered clothing. With a grimace, he got up and grabbed some clean clothes to get a shower and change. Before closing the door to the en-suite bathroom, he gave a small smile and a grateful 'thanks'.

Shizuka kept running her hand through Setsuka's waist-length hair as she waited for Scar to finish. She didn't pay much attention when Scar led her out of the kitchen, but now she saw that she was also covered in blood. A frown marred her pretty face as she wondered what had happened this time. It wasn't the first time that she saw Scar covered in blood, but she knew what had happened sometimes in the past for Scar to look like that and she was worried. 'What happened this time?'

XXX

'I'm sorry Shizuka; I didn't' want you to see me like this again.' Scar barely glanced at the bloodied shirt before tossing it into the garbage bin in the bathroom – kept there for that exact reason. With a sigh, Scar took a knife from the top shelf in a hidden cabinet. It only took one clean slice to make the bandages around Scar's torso fall away. Scar breathed deeply just to feel the ever-elusive feeling of freedom.

The bandages and pants joined the shirt in the garbage before Scar finally stepped under the strong spray of the shower. Scar decided to take his time, hoping that the girls would both be asleep by the time he finished.

Shizuka had always been very perceptive for her age, sometimes scarily so, and Scar didn't feel like answering questions at the moment. Especially not with those memories assaulting him from all angles, reminding him what he had been forced to become. Remembering things from his past was never easy and always left him moody and at times violent. There was no need to scare the kids. They had been through enough.

The morning's hunt went well. The wolves had managed to round up all but one of the trespassers. Scar had some fun with them before allowing the wolves to tear them apart. Of course, the bodies had to be hidden, thus all the blood. Nonetheless, watching and at times assisting in the killing of men had always left Scar feeling dirty, empty and just completely out of sorts.

The water scalded the multiple scars all over his body, but Scar paid no mind to the pain. The physical pain merely allowed him to focus on the here-and-now instead of the blood threatening to take over all of his senses otherwise. After standing under the scalding water for 10 minutes, Scar turned the water to its coldest before scrubbing the blood off of him.

A quick rubdown was followed by a search for more bandages. Pulling on a clean pair of pants, Scar combed through all the hidden cabinets luckily finding enough spare bandages to wrap up his torso again. No need to let anyone who didn't already know in on his biggest secret.

Hey all! I apologize for the yearlong wait... Not to be making excuses or anything, but I have completely lost my train of thought on this story and suffered from major writer's block. I tried writing other stuff to get my creative juices going (failed epically) and I have tried just writing through it - thus this chapter.

I am not completely happy with it, but hopefully it helps to console all my readers that I am doing my best to pick up this story again. I WILL finish it, I just have no idea when...

Oh yeah, I changed Scar's age from 15 to 17 years old - after re-reading the whole thing, I realized that 15 is completely unrealistic (even keeping in mind that this is a fictional story).

Thanks to all of you for being so patient! ^.^

Kitty

ps: If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know, I could really use a little inspirational boost :-p

Edited: 7-17-2016