A/N: Hi, guys. Before we get started on today's chapter, it's going to get cringetastic again. Like I said at the end of the last one, it's going to get worse before it gets better. And sPEAKING OF LAST CHAPTER...As a whole, I'd like to take a moment and say this…You little shits…How dare you? You jerks got me emotional! The outpouring of love on the last chapter was absolutely incredible and so overwhelming. In all seriousness, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all. Give yourselves a pat on the back right now…Did you do it? I was serious. Pat yourselves on the back…

To the guest comment, (and for those curious as to why I only address the guest comments in these things and not the members. It's because I talk to the members directly. They get a nice little message from me answering any and all of their questions or concerns.) I understand what you mean with the slight British accent with the title. And your Lord of the Rings tangent made me smile. And really and truly, I wish it were that simple to make this child happy and safe and ok again and let her live her life as a mermaid…But fear not, dear reader. Because that child? The one that you want to keep safe from everything that triggers her? She'll be ok. Eventually. It'll be a while, but she'll be ok. And she's going to shut up now, so you can read her new chapter. Don't worry. You'll hear from her again at the end. Enjoy!

Maybe I'll wake up and yesterday never happened. My parents weren't here on a surprise trip and I wasn't crying on Kyoya last night. Everything was fine and I was going to be ok. Slowly, I opened my eyes to see if my wish had come true. I followed the arm around my waist up to Kyoya's damp shoulder as his fingers ensnared themselves in my hair. As much as I was loving that part, I hated how it had come to fruition.

"Good morning, Lana," Kyoya cradled my face so gently in his palm.

"Morning," I rubbed my eyes, "I think I'm the only person I've ever known that can wake up still completely exhausted."

"Didn't sleep well last night?" he assumed.

"Unfortunately, no," I grumbled, "Look, I'm sorry about last night, Kyoya. And for making you stay here."

"Lana," Kyoya stopped me, "It was my pleasure. No need for an apology. I had already told you that if you ever needed me to call me without hesitation. And you did. As much as you'd like to go back to sleep, we have to go to school. By the looks of my watch we could very well be late. Now, you need to get up. You can do it. I know you can."

"Ok," I dredged out of bed, "I'll be quick."

I glanced myself over in the mirror in my bathroom and looked like a complete trainwreck. My god…I felt like I was dying. All I wanted to do was crawl back in bed. But I knew if I did that, Mom and Dad would be over in a heartbeat and as much as I love them, I wanted that like a root canal. With a quick shower, I pulled myself together as much as I could and went outside. Why in the hell was there a limo outside my…? Oh yeah. I keep forgetting Kyoya's loaded. It wouldn't surprise me if this was his.

Luckily, I breezed through the school day. I was too delirious to retain anything, but I could reread the chapter. I'd be fine. If not, I'd just have to have Kyoya tutor me again. Like that's so terrible…I wouldn't mind another trip to the library with him.

And as my regular school day came to a close and the final bell rang, the thought of going home loomed over my head like a storm cloud. I'd be ok, though. I had a music room to go to. I probably wouldn't be home for a little while yet. And I was perfectly ok with that.

I had my boys. I had my Haruhi. I had my own little family that would always be here, always waiting, and they'd always welcome me with open arms. Normally, the first one to me was Kyoya, but today, I had gotten someone a little smaller than Kyoya.

"Lana-chan!" Honey latched himself to my leg.

"Hi, Honey," I smiled, pulling him to his feet.

"Come sit with us!" he begged, "Please?"

"Sure," I nodded as I sat next to Mori, "Why not?"

"Hey, Lana-chan," Honey's soft, sweet, little voice chirped, "Can I ask you something?"

"What's on your mind?" I allowed.

"Did you and Kyo-chan ride to school together this morning?" he wondered, setting off the radars of two other curious hosts.

"Yes," I confirmed as Hikaru and Kaoru slinked behind me.

"Really…?" they asked in unison.

"You and Kyoya-senpai have gotten awfully close lately," Hikaru noticed.

"It's none of our business," Kaoru pointed out, "But…"

"What's going on with you two?"

"Hikaru, Kaoru," Kyoya joined us, "Don't you have guests to attend to? You wouldn't want to keep the young ladies waiting."

"On it!" the twins scuttled away.

"Now, Princess," Kyoya went full host on me, "Would you care to join me?"

"I'd love to," I started to turn a light shade of pink.

"But first," he took my hand, "Renge wants to speak with you."

Uh-oh…Just want I wanted. That lunatic tsundere going nuts on me again. All because of my friendship with Kyoya. It's not like we were sleeping together…Well…In the carnal sense anyway. And only after major panic attacks. Kyoya brought me over to Renge, who was carefully watching every single move every host made.

"Oh," she jumped as Kyoya tapped her shoulder, "Lana…Hi…"

"Renge," Kyoya scolded, "Isn't there something you'd like to say to her?"

"I'm sorry about yesterday," she apologized, "I didn't realize it would have affected you the way it did. I will try harder to learn from my actions, so I will not repeat them in the future."

"Thank you," I spoke softly. Even though she sounded like she was reading from a script, it was still appreciated.

"It's just that…" Renge added, "You were getting a bit too close to my Kyoya."

"Renge," Kyoya stopped her, "We talked about this. We're not a couple."

"Sorry," Renge corrected herself. Now, that one was genuine.

I was practically superglued to Kyoya's hip for the rest of the day. I wasn't sure what it was about watching him work, but I found it oddly mesmerizing. Any time I'd even slightly begin to feel anxious, I'd watch Kyoya write. His handwriting was so beautiful and his pen strokes were so fluid. It was like watching those calligraphy videos on the internet my doctor in London told me about. Such a stunning distraction.

But soon enough, the host club had started thinning out and it was time for everyone else to go home. There goes my good feeling. All good things, I guess. I rested my head on Kyoya's shoulder, "I don't want to go…"

"I know, Lana," his arm snaked behind me, "I'll walk you home, ok?"

"Ok."

As soon as everyone else was out of eye shot, Kyoya slipped his fingers between mine. I loved having his hand in mine. It offered such a comfort. Like my headphones when I needed to come down, only warmer and a little more reassuring. Having Kyoya at my hip would make the next part so much easier. I hope.

"Lana!" my dad screeched upon my homecoming. That's funny. They weren't here when I left this morning. Almost immediately, before they could see anything, I threw Kyoya's hand down.

"Finally!" my mom joined us in my living room, "Where were you? You got out of school two hours ago."

"I had a thing." That I already told you about when you got here and asked what was new in my life…That you blatantly ignored me about…

"Who is this?" And that you're ignoring me about again, "Is he one of your little friends from school?"

"Yeah…" I looked down at my feet, pulling on my cardigan sleeve, "This is-"

"Excuse me," Mom scanned Kyoya over like he was some sort of strange object she's never seen before, speaking slowly to him like he was a moron, "Hi. Do you speak English?"

And Kyoya could tell that she thought he wasn't the brightest bulb. I bit down on my bottom lip, grumbling to myself, "Mom, don't…"

"Can you understand me?" she spoke even slower. I could see the vein in Kyoya's forehead, yet he managed to stay so calm. And that worried me.

"Sumimasen (Excuse me)?" Kyoya gave her a look.

"I'm sorry, what?" Mom met him with the same look.

"Lana," Dad demanded, "Translate."

"Wakarimasen (I don't understand)," Kyoya went on.

"Kyoya," I stopped him from being such a troll, "Shinaide kudasai… (Please don't…)"

"Yes," he obliged, "I speak perfect English."

"Oh!" Mom beamed, "That's a relief…"

"Lana," Kyoya looked over to me, "Anata wa watashi nashide daijobudeshou ka (Will you be alright without me?)?"

"Yoku wakarimasen (I'm not sure)," I could already feel my hands shaking.

"If the next word out of either one of your mouths isn't English," Dad got angry, "I'm taking it as an insult."

"Sorry," I apologized, "Kyoya, will you please stay for dinner?"

"Of course I will," he agreed.

"Thank you," I let out a heavy sigh of relief, "These are my parents. Mom, Dad, this is Kyoya…"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Smith," Kyoya bowed politely.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Kyoya," Mom smiled, "Come on. Dinner's done."

I helped Mom set my table and brought dinner out. This was either going to be another quiet, boring, mundane dinner like they've always been or it was going to be a complete and absolute disaster. Never have I ever wished, hoped, prayed so hard for boring in my life. The room was dead silent. I guess that was a good sign.

"So, Kyoya," my dad broke the silence. Not good, "You got a girlfriend?"

I choked on my water. My father was never really the talkative type. He could have an entirely new religion in his head brought to him by the gods and still not say a word. Yet the first thing to come out of his mouth is that? Fantastic. Just wonderful.

"No," Kyoya kept his head.

"Do you have a job?" Dad went on.

"No," he explained, "There's a strict policy at Ouran Academy that students aren't allowed to have jobs while they're enrolled."

"Are you interested in pursuing my daughter?"

"Um…" Kyoya froze, "That's a question I'm uncomfortable answering at this juncture."

"That's a yes," Mom gave Dad a nudge. This was going downhill fast. And I wasn't mentally equipped to handle an avalanche tonight. No. I'm not doing this. I am not spiraling. Not happening. No. No, no, no. Not doing it. No. Kyoya took my hand under the table, giving me the slight reassurance I needed at this point.

"Well," Dad grabbed his plate and Mom's plate and put them in my sink, "It's getting kind of late. You're not busy tomorrow, right, Lana?"

"Um…" I didn't know what to say. I probably had some things I needed to do. I needed to go grocery shopping. I needed to do laundry. I needed to keep what little sanity I had.

"Then, we'll see you in the morning!" Mom kissed the top of my head and the two of them left Kyoya and me in the middle of my apartment completely dumbfounded.

"Kyoya…" I spoke softly, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"For what, Lana?" he caught me as I fell into his arms, "You don't need to apologize for them. I completely understand why you didn't want to leave the host club today. I wouldn't want to either. Or why you called last night."

"I'm sorry," my voice broke, "You really didn't have to stay. I'm just making more trouble than it's worth."

"Lana, no," I was honestly waiting for Kyoya to pull out either a spray bottle or a newspaper, "I wasn't going to leave you like that. It would've been far too irresponsible. And you didn't deserve to go through that alone."

"I caught you nodding off in biology," I pointed out, "And it was all because of me."

"It's biology," he chuckled a little, "Can you blame me? You're in the same class. You know what it's like."

"I guess I can't…" I nuzzled into his chest, "So…Are you staying again? It is getting kind of late."

"Would you like me to?" he offered.

"Maybe…"

"Let me rephrase that," Kyoya pulled me down to my couch, cradling me in his arms, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," I shook it off.

"Do you need me to stay?"

"I feel fine," I assured, "I'll be ok."

"Do you want me to stay?" Kyoya held me tighter.

I thought it over for a minute or two, "If it's not too much to ask…"

I felt a smile appear on his face, "Never."

"Ok," I rested my head on his chest, listening to the hypnotic rhythm of his heartbeat. Slow, steady, even beats. Mixed with the warmth of his body, Kyoya always knew how to calm me down. And he didn't even have to do much. But all of a sudden, that slow, steady beating started to quicken.

"Lana," Kyoya held me, "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," I cuddled into him, "What is it?"

"Do you remember what your father asked me about you?" he refreshed my memory.

"Yeah," I nodded, "What about it?"

"The reason why I didn't answer him," Kyoya elaborated, "I wanted to tell you alone first before I told anyone else."

My stomach dropped, "What do you mean?"

"Well," his embrace tightened. Much like my chest, "You're very special to me, Lana."

"What…?"

"I care about you," Kyoya went on, "If anyone else would have called me at two in the morning, I would've hung up on them, but not without some very colorful language before doing so."

"I'm sorry…" Uh-oh…I started to feel the lump in my throat again. I thought I was going to be ok. I thought this was going to hold off. Sure enough, here comes the rain, "I don't think anyone's ever sincerely told me that before."

"Sincerely told you?" he wondered.

"When I was living in England," I told, my body shaking a little, "I would get a handful of boys that would hit on me, but they never meant it. They would make me feel special, but then, they'd all laugh about it behind my back. I was a bet to them."

"I promise you," Kyoya assured, "You're not a bet to me. You're so much more than that, Lana. If you were just a bet, I wouldn't be staying with you tonight. But here I am, laying on your couch with you while you come down from a panic attack."

I started to breathe out my tears and hid a slight smile from him, "Thank you, Kyoya…"

"You're welcome," he pushed the hair out of my face, "Come on. Let's go to bed. I know you're probably very tired."

All I did was nod and Kyoya scooped me up in his arms. He brought me to my bed and I drifted off in his arms. Perfectly content with the world. I knew I would have to deal with my parents in the morning, but somehow, this moment made everything ok.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt a tickle in the palm of my hand. My bare arm was outstretched across Kyoya's lap. At least I wasn't alone. A mixture of light blue and red lotus blossoms and some light pink cherry blossom petals were beautifully scrawled on my arms. These looked like something Rhiannon would have on the walls at her station. I watched as Kyoya kept moving up my arms, paying particular attention to color over my scars. He really had quite a talent.

I studied Kyoya's face from the corner of my eye and noticed him smile, not breaking his concentration, filling both my heart and my stomach with butterflies. His confession from last night made me see him in a whole new light. Even more so than when we were comparing scars in the library. Kyoya might have been a little broken and a little flawed, but he and I were the same…

A/N: See? That wasn't so bad. Still a little cringetastic, but it got better. As for Kyoya's morning doodles on Lana's arm? I'm going to have a sort of reference on Tumblr later. I've been procrastination drawing on my hand for the past few minutes and I'm really liking it. The coloring on it kind of sucks, but it gets the point across. I have an addiction when it comes to drawing lotus blossoms and they can mean so many things. And I'll explain what Lana's arm means in the next chapter. So, I guess, I'll see you guys then? Yeah? Golly, I hope so. Kyoya's a sweetheart and I'll see you next chapter. xx