THE PAST

"I can't believe this was the best plan they could come up with," I muttered under my breath as I approached the girl sitting on a bench in the rose maze. She was pretty, with long silver blond hair and light blue eyes. I was a little curious because she didn't look Japanese.

I cautiously approached her and sat next to her on the bench. I swear if I get slapped like Tamaki, I will be slapping all the hosts twice as hard. "Uh, hi!" I said nervously, giving her a sweet smile.

My whole body aches and here I am being forced to do the Host Club's dirty bidding. I gave her a bow from where I was sitting, "My name is Setsuko Hana, do you mind if I sit here?" I asked her carefully.

She gasped and looked at me surprised, "Oh! No, not at all, sorry I didn't see you earlier. My name is Bernard Elise," She said, bowing herself. When she straightened I saw she still had tears in her eyes and a heartbroken look on her face.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, feeling guilty I was being used to gather information from her to report back to the club. Apparently no one else could because she would recognize them as club members.

She sighed sadly and looked at the roses around us. "No," She said pitifully. "When I was a child, I use to live in France, and I had a close friend. No, actually, he was my only friend, and I was hopelessly in love with him. I would always dream of us growing up together and getting married," She laughed hatefully at herself. "It seems so ridiculous now that I say it out loud," She muttered.

I had a feeling I knew where this was going, but I wanted to hear it, "No you don't!" I told her getting a sad smile in response.

"Well, when I was 8 my family had to move away, and we moved here to Japan. I used to go to an all girls school, but just recently I had heard that my friend from France was living in Japan now too, so I transferred to this school to be with him again and… he didn't even recognize me," She said bursting into tears again.

My heart broke for the poor girl. "That's horrible, I'm so sorry Elise," I said, squeezing her hand. "Did you tell him your name?" I asked her, even though I know she didn't because Tamaki didn't know her name when he sent me here to talk to her.

"No, I was so hurt that I slapped him and ran off," She sniffled.

"Hmm, well it's almost been ten years. I'm sure if her heard your name he would recognize you," I said smiling at her.

She pondered it and then collapsed, cradling her head in her hands. "Maybe, but how could I face him now! I've slapped him twice and was so mean!"

I shrugged my shoulders, "He deserved it, but maybe you can approach him and just ask if he really doesn't recognize you. I've seen him around, and he seems really shaken up about you being upset with him," I explained.

She was silent for a long time before sighing and nodding her head. "Yeah, you're right. But," She paused and looked up at me with wide sad eyes, "Will you go with me though? I don't think I could face him on my own!"

Well, I need to get my stuff from the third music room anyways… "Okay!" I beamed, "But, I'm really sore, so I have to walk slowly…" I trailed off, not really sure what to say.

"That's okay, I need to gather my thoughts as we walk, so I'll walk slowly with you!" She said happily, skipping next to me. She was tall, she had to be 5'7, and I felt as if she towered over my 5'2 height.

It took us a long time, maybe 10 minutes before we reached the third music room again. Kyoya had managed to convince them to open up the club again while I did my undercover work. I moved over to the piano, practically collapsing onto the bench. I was beyond exhausted. There were no words that could describe the pain and exhaustion I felt.

"Are you okay, Hana? Is something bothering you?" I looked up to see Kyoya watching me. I grit my teeth and gave a happy smile, not letting my mask slip.

"Nope!" I chirped. "Just need to gather my stuff, it's time for me to move on to the MA club," I grabbed my bag that I had discarded, and started to shuffle to the door. Although, I did pause to turn and watch Elise. She had shyly approached Tamaki, who didn't have any guests today.

They were quietly whispering to one another before Tamaki gasped loudly and picked Elise up, spinning them in a circle and hugging her tightly. Well, it seems he remembers who she is now. I couldn't help but peek a glance at Haruhi. I haven't asked her, but I could tell she definitely had a thing for Tamaki… I wonder if this is going to change things?

Haruhi was staring at Tamaki and Elise, no emotion showing on her face making it hard to gauge her feelings. Hmmm… I'm definitely asking her later today about her relationship with Tamaki.

With that all done and my time served, I turned around and left without anyone giving me a single goodbye.

It took me a long time to walk to the locker room and change out. By the time I shuffled into the gym, they were already in formation and practice was starting with warm ups.

"Nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, Princess," Sensei barked at me.

I felt my blood run cold and I looked at him in shock, but I realized he was being sarcastic. Oh… Jerk.

I gave him a happy smile, bursting with innocence, "Sorry," I apologized, "I was held up at that stupid club your brothers in," I said taking a place in the back.

I tried to follow along. I really did. But the pain in my ribs and my head made my movements sloppy and half hearted. Not to mention I felt so light headed that it was hard to keep my balance.

After ten minutes, Sensei moved from the front and was circling the group, but I could feel his eagle stare burning me, his eyes were tracking my every move. I continued to follow the exercise anyway, doing my best to ignore him and putting all my effort into my movements. If he notices I'm in pain I don't know what he will do. He doesn't seem like the type to over react like the host club so I'm sure it would be fine. Still, the best case scenario is him never knowing…

We all did a flying kick, and when I landed, it was too much for my ribs and I gasped in pain, fisting my hands tightly and squeezing my eyes shut. I held my breath as the pain radiated throughout my body before slowly releasing it and taking deep breaths. I felt so dizzy and black dots swarmed my vision. Crap. Don't pass out! Don't pass out!

"I knew it, somethings wrong with you today," A harsh voice declared.

I opened my eyes to see Yasuchika in front of me, studying me carefully. I stood up to my full height and grit my teeth and forced a pleasant smile. "Nothings wrong with me, I'm just fine," I lied.

Yasuchika acted faster than my foggy brain could comprehend, and he jabbed me right in the ribs. I yelled out in pain and hunched over, poorly swatting at his hand to keep him away from me. Yasuchika glared harshly at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," I finally relented, too exhausted to keep the charade up. "I got injured last night, nothing I can't handle, I can still practice," I told him, standing straight once more but keeping an arm wrapped across my ribs to protect myself.

"You think you're still fit to practice? Your movements are slow and sloppy, you are of no use in a fight right now. What happened?" He asked me confused, "How did you get injured? You left just fine yesterday."

I smacked my lips together, trying to think of a lie. However, my severely hurting brain could not think of a single thing. Everything hurt too much to even come up with a lie. Whatever, telling the truth can't be that bad can it? It's not like my parents will find out. Right?

"Umm, well… you see the thing is…" I was still hesitating, unwilling to tell the whole truth. What if they think I'm super weak for getting jumped and want to kick me off the team!!

"Setsuko! The truth! Now!" He backed angrily.

"Okay! Okay!" I relented, my eyes pooled with tears but I refused to let them fall. The stress of the last two days weighed down on me and I felt exhausted, like a 2 year old who got no nap. "I had to walk home by myself late at night yesterday. I made a mistake of letting my guard down and five men jumped me in a dark alley. They got a few good hits on me with a baseball bat before I was able to take them out," I confessed, my face burning with humiliation. "There. That's the truth. Are you happy now? Can we go back to practice?" I huffed angrily, refusing to look up from the ground. It's one thing to tell Sensei this, but everyone from the club had gathered around to see what was going on.

Whispers broke out and I was too ashamed to listen to what they were saying. Clearly they think I'm weak now.

"Show me," Yasuchika ordered and my head flew up, my eyes wide with shock.

"Wh-wh-what?" I stuttered.

"Your injuries, I need to see them so I can decide if you're fit to train," He explained, rolling his eyes.

"I really don't think that's necessary," I denied shaking my head but had to stop as it made me too dizzy.

Seeing his hard gaze I sighed out heavily. "Fine," I relented. "They hit me a few times in my ribs and on my back. They also hit me twice on the head," I confessed. I pulled up my shirt to just under my breasts revealing the purple and black bruises that covered my ribs. Some areas were still red and swollen. I don't know what my back looks like, but based on the gasps I'm assuming it was the same as my ribs.

I was surprised when Yasuchika swore under his breath and rushed forward, running his fingertips along my ribs. I yelped in pain and shoved him away, taking a fighting stance. What's wrong with him! That hurt!

"You idiot!" He screamed at me, "Did you even see a doctor?" He yelled and I shook my head no, too embarrassed to talk. "Those look like they might be cracked or broken! What is wrong with you! You said they hit your head too? Where, show me?" He demanded and I sighed again.

I grabbed his hand in mine, and lifted it to show him the two bumps on my head, the one on the side of my head from the bat, and the one on the back when I fell and smacked the concrete. Yasuchika winced as he felt the bumps before grabbing my chin and looking into my eyes.

"You must be the biggest idiot I have ever met. Your eyes are dilated, you probably have a concussion," He muttered under his breath. "What happened to these boys who jumped you?"

I felt my ego get bruised by him calling those grown men boys. "Hey!" I yelled at him. "They were men! And there were five of them who used the darkness to hide and get the jump on me! Obviously they would get a few good hits!"

Yasuchika rolled his eyes, "Anyone who relies on a group to attack someone and has to hide in the shadows to do so is not a man. They were cowardly boys. Now what happened to them," He demanded to know, his eyes burning with anger.

Well, at least they understand I'm not some weak girl, "I don't know who they are, and nothing happened to them, I didn't report them. One of them got hospitalized and the rest were pretty badly beat up. I don't think I have to worry about them anymore," I explained tiredly.

"You didn't report them! Are you that stupid! Why!?" Hey, why does he keep calling me names. Can't he see I've had an awful day and am in pain.

And obviously I didn't report them. The government knows who I really am, if they hear I'm fighting their citizens and putting people in the hospital, it will strain the relationship between our countries. But I couldn't tell them that. Instead I just shrugged, "I don't know, why should I? I'm just a foreigner, not to mention I put someone in the hospital, what if I get charged with assault?"

Yasuchika rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief, but didn't say anything.

"Hana Senpai!" Someone shouted from the crowd, but my vision was too blurry to see who. "Yesterday you said you had to leave to meet up with Haruhi to walk home with him. So why were you walking alone and at night?"

Uhhhh… Well, the whole school knows so I might as well tell them, "That was the plan, so I waited for Haruhi as long as I could, but Haruhi actually forgot we were supposed to walk home together so he already went home. I didn't know he went home so I waited for a while before eventually giving up," I shrugged my shoulders. "Really, it's not a big deal so can we please just continue with practice?" I said honestly for the first time, wanting the attention off me.

"You really are insane," A voice spoke up from the side, I turned around to see Honda standing there with his arms folded and an angry scowl. "You need to see a doctor Hana, those injuries are serious," He explained, and much to my surprise everyone agreed with him! A lot of them were mumbling angry things about finding those punks and teaching them a lesson about attacking lone girls. I was too tired to even argue about me being fine, so instead I just sadly nodded my head.

"Fine," I muttered looking at the ground.

"Satoshi!" Sensei barked, and Satoshi stepped forward, his normally happy positive face was twisted into an angry frown. "Take Setsuko to the nurse, everyone else, back to training!"

I dejectedly followed Satoshi out of the gym, but was surprised to see Sensei following us too. "Sensei?" I questioned, "Are you going with us?"

He was pissed, with dark energy surrounding him. "No," He growled, "I have some people I want to talk to," And with that he stormed off.

Well that was weird.

We were halfway there when I had to pause and take deep breaths, but Satoshi didn't want to stop. "Come on Hana Senpai, we need to get you to the nurse right away," He urged, grabbing my hand and forcing me to keep going. We were moving so fast, it hurt my ribs and I felt so light headed already.

"Wait, Satoshi, please," I gasped out. My head was swimming and I couldn't see straight. Black dots swarmed my vision and all of a sudden I was falling and everything went dark.

OHSHC OHSHC OHSHC OHSHC OHSHC OHSHC OHSHC OHSHC OHSHC OHSHC

I woke up with a gasp, looking around frantically. Where am I? I was laying on a soft bed, it felt softer than the bed I had back at the apartment I'm staying in.

A white curtain was pulled around me, blocking me from view. At first, I thought I was alone, but I could hear people whispering behind the curtain.

Oh gosh, I must have passed out! My whole face burned and turned beat red. That is so embarrassing!

I slowly sat up, my ribs protesting at the movement. I slid my legs off the bed and threw the curtain open, shocking the Host club, Satoshi, and Yasuchika. Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru all screamed at the curtain suddenly being thrown open, making me scream in return at the shock of them all being there and scaring me with their screams.

After a second I stopped screaming and threw the pillow I had at Tamaki, "Why did you scare me like that!" I yelled at him.

"You scared me!" Tamaki defended himself, flailing his arms and hiding behind Kyoya.

"I think it's safe to say you scared all of us, Hana," Haruhi said, she stomped forward, her hands curled into fists, her jaw was clenched, and she was glaring at me. "You lied to me again! You told me that you didn't know what happened in the alley, and that it was probably just some gang fight! Why didn't you tell us you were injured!" I felt so small with Haruhi yelling at me, she was really angry this time.

I sighed and rubbed at my face, my eyes brimming with us she'd tears. "I just didn't want my parents to find out. If they think I'm in danger they'll make me go back home," I explained to them. Although it was only half true. Yes I lied to stop my parents from finding out, but that's because if they think I'm in danger they'll send the royal guards to stay with me and move me into a really nice mansion with a personal drive, and everyone would find out who I really am. I like not being the princess, if everyone knew who I really was, they would pretend to be my friend and treat me differently.

"That is no excuse! Your health should come first! You still should have told us and seen a doctor or at the very least the school nurse right away! We wouldn't have forced you to make a police report or tell your parents, but you still have to take care of yourself!" She yelled, still angry.

"I am taking care of myself!" I argued back, how dare she say I can't take care of myself! I'm 17, not a baby!

Haruhi suddenly grabbed my backpack from off the ground and ripped my still uneaten lunch out of it. " This is what you call taking care of yourself!" She screamed waving the brown paper bag around.

My whole face turned red in embarrassment as everyone looked at me. "Don't go through my things!" I yelled, I have no way to defend myself from that, it was stupid of me to not eat…

"Enough!" A strict voice suddenly barked out. An elderly women rushed forward and forced me to lay back down before turning to the group gathered around us, specifically staring at Haruhi. "Right now none of you are helping my patient heal, so unless your willing to stop yelling and fighting you have to leave right now!" She didn't exactly yell at them, but she wasn't being nice either.

The group all nodded their heads looking slightly guilty. The nurse turned to me and gave me a sweet smile, she looked very motherly with warm brown eyes that seemed to look into my very soul. "Now, child, you have very serious injuries, you cannot ignore these things or you will make it worse. You are very lucky though, you only have a minor hairline fracture on one of your ribs, the rest are just badly bruised. But you need to be extremely careful, any more hits to the ribs even lightly can result in a more severe break, which can lead to even more dangerous injuries. You need to make sure that you take it easy and rest, and do not wrap anything around your ribs because it will restrict your breathing, your ribs will heal on their own. You should ice your right side often though, and make sure you take constant deep breaths, the biggest risk of a broken rib is it can lead to pneumonia." She explained looking at me very seriously and I nodded along, feeling like a small child being warned to not run out into the street. "Okay, the other thing to worry about it you do have a concussion, you should have not returned to school today or tomorrow, to allow yourself both physical and mental recovery-"

"What! No! I can't miss school!" I argued trying to sit up, but she kept a calm patient hand on my shoulder and kept me in bed.

"You can and you will, I have already informed the Headmaster as well as your teachers," She said, looking down at me with very serious eyes. All I could do was sadly nod my head like a little kid who was caught being naughty. Does this mean someone contacted my parents? I better call them as soon as possible!

"Have you told my parents as well?" I asked her carefully, maybe I will get lucky!

"I have not," She said, her voice going back to motherly and gentle. I smiled widely, thank goodness! Maybe this won't be so bad after all! "But the Headmaster has, he thought it would be better if he talked to your parents instead of me," She said, crushing my dreams.

Crap.

I sighed heavily and closed my eyes in defeat, nodding my head.

"Now, your body is trying to heal itself and it needs the proper nutrients to do so, meaning you need to make sure you are eating all three meals, but I see you missed lunch. I need to know when your last meal was," She said, staring into my very soul with those all knowing eyes of hers.

I stared deeply into her warm brown eyes, she was so kind and motherly… "Breakfast," I mumbled gently, pulling the blanket up to my chin and fiddling with it.

"So you ate breakfast today?" She asked, leaning her head down and giving me a no nonsense kind of look.

"What?" I asked playing dumb.

"I am clarifying with you when your last meal was. All you said was breakfast, so I need to know, did you eat breakfast this morning?" She asked me, but I felt like she already knew the answer.

I slowly shook my head and heard the hosts around us gasp in shock and start yelling at me again. I actually kinda forgot they were there…

"Excuse me!" The nurse snapped, turning to them with fire burning around her. "I thought I already told you all to not yell at my patient!" She snapped at them.

They all shut up real quick, Tamaki, Hikaru, Kaoru, and Honey all hiding behind the others, and they all nodded their heads quickly swearing to be good. Why are they even here? It was just Satoshi and me earlier? I looked over to see Satoshi and Yasuchika in the background watching me closely. Satoshi looked pale and was shaking slightly, gripping onto Yasuchika's arm tightly, and Yasuchika looked furious. He was glaring at me with fire burning in his eyes.

I gulped and looked back to the nice nurse, who was facing me again with a patient smile, "So, if you didn't eat breakfast today, when was the last time you ate?" She asked, and I had a feeling this was the last time she would ask nicely.

I could lie to her… I lie to everyone all the time to make them not worry about me, but… there was something about her nice patient eyes and loving smile that made me want to tell her the truth. I closed my eyes and burrowed deeper into the bed, trying to hide from everyone who was watching me. "The last meal I ate was breakfast yesterday," I said and when everyone gasped in horror I quickly sat up trying to defend myself. "It wasn't like I meant to! I kept trying to eat but things got in my way! Like yesterday for lunch, by the time I found somewhere to eat the bell rang! And then I got beat up and fell asleep before I could eat dinner! And then when I tried to eat breakfast today, I felt so sick that I ended up throwing it all up as soon as I ate!" I defended myself but they all still looked at me sadly. Great. They probably think I starve myself on purpose or something.

The nurse sighed sadly and looked at me with fierce eyes, "You need to take better care of yourself. If you run out of time to eat you will come see me immediately, do you understand?" She asked me sternly and I quickly nodded my head, "I will write you a late pass for whatever class your late to so that you can eat. That is more important than getting to class on time, do you understand," She asked me and again I nodded my head. "No! Do not just nod your head, I need to hear you say it!" She reprimanded me.

"Okay I understand," I mumbled under my breath.

"Understand what?" She asked me.

Oh, gosh. Is she really going to make me say it? I looked at her and she just stared right back, unwilling to budge. Jeeze, she's just like my mother! "Okay, I understand that I need to ensure to eat all three meals. I will come see you if I run out of time to eat for a late pass," I sighed out giving in to her.

She studied me for a long moment before nodding her head satisfied. "Godd," She hummed. She then turned to the guest huddled around us. "Now, I will be going into my office, but if I hear you raising your voice or causing stress for my patient then I will give you all detention!" She reprimanded them finally standing up and walking into a room off to the side and closing the door giving us privacy.

I was surprised when it was Satoshi who rushed forward first, "Hana Senpai! Are you alright! I'm so sorry for rushing you!" He burst out, tears filling his eyes.

What?

It took a moment for my mind to catch up and remember that he was taking me to the nurse when I passed out. Oh no, that must have sacred him! I gave Satshoi a real smile, touched that he cared so much and I reached up to ruffle his hair. Which was hard given how tall he was…

Satoshi looked at me shocked, "Don't worry Satoshi, I'm okay! I'm tough!" I made a fist to prove my point and he snorted a laugh. Yeah, it was pretty silly, but I got him to smile so it was worth it. "You were just being a good friend Satoshi," I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze, "Thank you," I said smiling again.

We were interrupted when Haruhi stepped forward, "I'm sorry for yelling at you Hana, but you really scared me," She said sternly and I did feel bad for Haruhi. She is no doubt thinking this is her fault since she ditched me. She was the reason I was walking late at night and by myself.

I bit my lip in guilt as I stared at Haruhi and sighed, "I'm sorry for not telling you Haruhi, but I didn't want to make you worry. I'm not really used to telling people when I need help or when something is wrong. I just… deal with it," I explained. And it was true, I never wanted to worry my parents or the royal guards back home so if something was wrong I always just dealt with it myself. Not to mention I don't even know these people, why would I bother them with my problems when they don't know me and we aren't even friends.

"Well, you better get used to it Hana Chan," A stern voice spoke up and I looked up surprised to see it was Honey Senpai who spoke. He looked very serious, in fact all the hosts looked serious.

"We all care about you, your our friend, and you better start telling us when you need help," Kaoru said sternly and I gulped, guilt eating at my stomach.

"That's true, Hana. You need to take better care of yourself," Kyoya stated and Mori Senpai hummed in agreement.

Tamaki flaunced forward and grabbed my hand, "Hana, you are a member of our club, but its more than that. You're our friend too, and friends help each other, and they don't keep secrets," Tamaki explained.

I looked at all of them and they all looked at me seriously, meaning every word they said. We're friends? But… why?

"More importantly, you are a warrior are you not?" Yasuchika snapped, stomping forward, bringing hell fire with him. "I was led to believe the people of Meltesia were strong warriors and yet here you are unable to even feed yourself appropriately!" He reprimanded me without raising his voice and keeping his composure which scared me even more. He really is acting like a sensei, how can someone so young be so mature? The way he held himself and reprimanded me earned my respect even more, and I felt guilty for causing so many problems.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make everyone worry," I said

"It's more than that Setsuko!" He snapped and I looked up surprised and confused.

"You shouldn't apologize for making us worry. You need to apologize for not taking care of yourself and possibly allowing your wounds to get worse," Mori explained and I was surprised to hear him actually talk. Has his voice always been so deep and alluring?

"Yeah, Hana Chan, you need to swear to us that you will take your health more seriously," Honey said, his own voice deep and serious.

I bit my lip anxiously, "Okay, I promise. I really am sorry,"

Honey returned back to normal, smiling brightly with flowers floating around him, "We know! Just don't let it happen again! Okay?" He shouted brightly and I nodded. What a switch, it almost made me wonder if he wore a mask himself. Maybe that was why he always paid closer attention to me, recognizing my own mask.

"Good, because if this happens again, or if you don't tell me about injuries and try to practice again like that, I will have no choice but to kick you out of the MA club," Yasuchika threatened, and I knew he was being truthful and really would kick me out.

"Speaking of clubs, because of this stunt, we had to close the club early and the profits we lost will be added to your debt," Kyoya cut in, ahhh, there's the normal host club I recognize.

"How did you guys even know that I was here! That is completely unfair! I didn't ask you to come!" I argued even though I knew it was futile.

Hikaru shrugged his shoulders, slinging his arms around Kaoru's shoulders and leaning into him. "Well, Yasuchika burst into the club room and was berating Haruhi for being a bad friend and for making you get hurt."

Kaoru nodded and continued where Hikaru left off, "Yeah he was really laying into her," At that I sent a glare at Yasuchika but he didn't seem bothered.

"That was when Satoshi burst in screaming for Yasuchika, he was crying and saying you passed out and wouldn't wake up. Apparently you were really pale and he thought you had died," The twins finished together shrugging, acting as if that was normal and not a big deal.

I could only cringe as I imagined the chaos that must have ensued after and looked at Satoshi again who was still a little pale but looked better overall.

"I really am sorry everyone, I promise not to let it happen again," I swore to all of them looking at them with wide eyes that were brimming with tears.

"AWWWW!" The hosts all chorused and suddenly we were all in a group hug. "You're so cute Hana! We know you will do better!" Tamaki cheered as they snuggled into me. I mean I guess, being truthful can't be so awful.

Although, what will happen when they find out who I really am? Are they going to be angry that I didn't tell them sooner? I mean, I'm not exactly lying because they never asked…

For some reason, a feeling of dread settled in my stomach no matter how much I tried to ignore it.