The day had barely started, and already Haruhi was wishing it was over.
She woke in a musty haze to the fiery furnaces of Hell.
The air tasted hot, swelteringly hot. Somehow she managed to find the energy to peel herself from her futon, heading straight into a delightfully cold shower, and ridding herself of that sticky, sweaty feeling.
Throat parched, the tap water she'd tried to down was promptly tossed into the sink, dejectedly spiralling around the plughole and falling into oblivion. Lukewarm and utterly unappealing, she instead turned to a glass of milk, and choked down a meal that felt as though it were melting.
If possible, slipping on her uniform made her feel even closer to death.
For the first time since this whole debacle began, she actually wished that Kyoya was escorting her to school. While there was no doubt that it was troublesome (no matter how much Kyoya attempted to downplay it, she knew for a fact that stopping by her neighbourhood to pick her up did indeed put them out of their way, regardless of whether or not that decision was a choice and not an obligation) his ridiculously overpriced car did come equipped with lots of useful features.
Like the magical invention that was air conditioning.
Which both the train station and the train itself would lack.
Haruhi glumly considered her options.
Of which there were very few. If walking the measly distance to catch her train wouldn't end her, the journey itself would land her straight in a casket.
With a sigh, Haruhi checked her bag one last time and spared a moment to text Kyoya, lest he think she'd died during the night. On her way to the kitchen, she collected the magazines Mei had left behind on her last spontaneous visit and moved them to the counter, where her father couldn't possibly manage to trip over them. Then, because she knew how forgetful he was, she stuck a post-it note on the fridge reminding him to eat.
One last courtesy glance around the apartment had her packing the workbook Kyoya had lent her into her already crammed bag, and with a satisfied nod, she grabbed her keys and left.
Briefly, she spared a moment to laugh at her own naivety.
If she thought that inside was hot, she wasn't quite prepared for the wave of heat that hit her the moment she opened the door.
Cars were melting into the road. The metal railings burned red in the heat. Withering under the sun, a nearby lamppost developed sentience and asked her for a glass of water.
As any self-respecting person would do, Haruhi powered through with only a few scattered curses (and a wistful fantasy or two of her marching right back around and planting herself before the ajar fridge door).
Every person she passed looked just as haggard as her, tired eyes squinting past the offending sunlight. She spared a moment of pity for a young man dressed in an all black suit. He was practically knocking on Death's door. A moment of silence for our fallen comrade, Suit Guy, who was idiotic enough to think he could defeat mother nature, and was proven spectacularly wrong.
Allowing herself a break in the shaded doorway of a shop, Haruhi tried to gather her bearings.
Tried being the operative word.
Even in the heat, a sudden chill ran down her spine.
Haruhi blinked, fighting against her automatic response to glance wildly around, and instead subtly looked off in one direction, adjusted the way her bag rested against her leg, and checked the other.
Nothing.
Well, not entirely nothing.
There were still people bustling about, children weaving to and fro, and the incessant clamour of cars, but it was nothing of consequence.
Nothing that would make the hairs stand up on her arms like so.
A deep breath, and then she was scooping her bag into her arms and leaving her sanctuary, gathering the no, you move courage that powered her towards old guys in suits until they yielded the game of sidewalk chicken to her. She may have been on the small side, but when Haruhi squared her shoulders and marched forward, she meant business, and somehow even complete strangers knew that too.
Distancing herself did nothing to relieve the tension in her body.
Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong.
It was little more than a primal feeling in her stomach, but when it was performing such outstanding aerobatics, Haruhi was inclined to listen to it.
Her head swivelled to the right.
She met a pair of beady eyes, widening with realisation.
Instinctively, Haruhi froze, mouth gaping.
A body slammed against hers— a random pedestrian with too little time, and apparently no qualms about almost knocking her straight into the road. She stumbled, managing to catch her balance with nothing but sheer luck and a whole lot of flailing.
Hands found her arms, grip too tight, too desperate, enough to draw a startled cry. Takeda was glassy eyed and utterly ecstatic, almost frighteningly so.
Pepper Spray.
Get the Pepper Spray, Haruhi.
"Finally—" He was saying, as Haruhi tried to reach into her bag, fingers stretched with pure desperation for the zipper. "I've been waiting for so long— It's been so hard to even find you again but I just knew it was you—" She couldn't reach it. Oh god she couldn't reach it. Her arms were locked in place, immoveable against his strength. He started to tug her, still talking maniacally, away from the safety of the crowd.
She stumbled, legs buckling, and somehow, by some divine intervention, by some grace of an angel, she slipped from his grasp.
Clawing manically back to her feet, Haruhi aimed wildly and kicked.
Takeda crumpled like a sack of bricks, clutching pitifully at his crotch.
Eyes blown wide with panic, Haruhi wretched herself away from the thick, reaching fingers and sprinted away.
The crowd was her savouir.
She was small enough that she could dart her way through, but Takeda was far too tall and bulky— it was like wading through treacle. All bow-legged from her fatal blow, he stumbled clumsily after her.
Even his height advantage proved no use if he couldn't locate her in the first place.
Once free from his surveillance, she ducked inside a nearby post office, inching out of sight of the windows.
That was so close.
That was way too close.
With shaking hands, she dug out her phone. The time it displayed did not leave her in high spirits at all.
At this hour, Kyoya would already be at school. It would take far too long for him to run for Tachibana and come and get her, and she wanted to get the hell out of dodge now. Unfortunately, (in this instance at least) punctuality was also something that Tamaki, Honey and Mori also had in common.
The twins, on the other hand, were an entirely different story. They could always be relied on for three things: mischief, lateness, and a constant supply of headaches.
With that in mind, Haruhi dialled Hikaru's number, trying to steady her breathing.
He answered on the third ring, and she was almost deafened by the background noise. "What?"
"Can you please come and pick me up?"
Please, please please.
"Oh, it's you. I thought it was the boss calling again. He's been driving me up the wall." Hikaru's biting tone brightened into something much more friendly. "What's up?"
Haruhi froze, right in the middle of formulating whatever bold faced lie she needed to explain her sudden request. There were more pressing matters to attend to. Namely whatever chaos was happening at the Hitachiin mansion. Somewhat concerned, she asked, "Why does it sound like you're in the middle of a riot?"
"Oh, that? Kaoru can't find his tie."
Her foot tapped impatiently. One eye was trained on the doorway to her left. "You guys have sixteen identical ties. Can't he use one of those?"
Hikaru snorted, and muttered an amused, "Commoners." Haruhi forced herself not to hang up. "What happened, anyway? It's not like you to suddenly ask for favours like this."
"About that… I, um. I kinda missed my train. I don't want to be a bother, but would you be able to give me a lift?"
Hurry, hurry. God, please get here quickly.
"Anything for our favourite toy." For once, she didn't correct him. Hikaru clicked his tongue, and then said a hurried, "Hold on a second. Kaoru! Have you found it yet?" His yell had her jerking the device away from her ear, wincing.
From the speaker, the muffled, tinny voice of his twin returned, "It was in your laundry pile, Hikaru!"
Hesitantly pulling the phone back to her ear, she heard a scattered curse. "I'll call you back once we're in the car." Hikaru promised, before hanging up.
Briefly, she wondered whether she would regret reaching out to them for help.
The answer was yes. Yes she would. But, aside from changing her name and moving to America, she wasn't entirely sure how she could escape them. And even then that would probably fail.
By now, she was resigned to her fate.
Less than ten minutes later, she found herself crammed in the twin's car. Thankfully, for the sake of her sanity and their continued existence, they didn't rock up in a limo. The instant it pulled up outside, Haruhi had bailed through the door, scrambling into the car as if her life depended on it.
Which, she figured it kinda did.
The car itself was actually very spacious, but the twins had insisted on the three of them occupying the back seat, and had promptly sandwiched her between them.
As the car pulled away, she caught a glimpse of some very familiar eyes disappearing around the street corner.
Kaoru probably, most definitely, absolutely noticed her shaking. He shot her a concerned look, yet said nothing. Instead, his hand tightened over hers by just the slightest amount, a silent support that she was much appreciative of. Outwardly, she pretended not to notice, which was pretty easy when Hikaru threw his arm around her shoulders and started babbling on about something she wasn't paying attention to.
They pulled into the grounds of Ouran after an agonisingly long journey (it was really only about fifteen minutes, which was twenty minutes too long, in her opinion). Still, the extended car ride had allowed her the opportunity to calm down.
The twins ventured into the sunlight first, yawning and stretching languidly.
As an afterthought, Hikaru turned and stooped down into a cheeky bow. "Milady," With a roguish smile, he offered her his hand.
"I can do it myself, you know." She replied, amused, yet she allowed him to help her out all the same.
Squinting against the brightness, her eyes sought the main building at precisely the right moment to catch Kyoya's face collapsing into utter relief.
Shit.
She didn't call him. Or even so much as give him a simple text to let him know she wasn't dead in some ditch somewhere.
He'd been expecting her to arrive a good ten minutes ago.
He was going to slaughter her.
Absently raking a hand through his hair, Kyoya waited for the three of them to make their way over to him. After all, why would he, the self-respecting Shadow King of the Host Club waste effort walking? It was basic, almost insulting in its simplicity. They had perfectly functioning legs, they would damn well use them. Especially after whatever fresh Hell he'd probably been through.
Tamaki, however, had different ideas.
All of a sudden a blur of blond shot past him and pounced on the unsuspecting girl.
As ever, Tamaki squeezed her hard enough to crush all her internal organs. But who cares? It's not like she needed working lungs anyway.
"Oh great, a hug."
"You're late." Kyoya painfully ignored the way she was being swung around like a ragdoll.
"I missed my train." The dead-eyed way she was staring at him suggested a proper explanation would be in order later, when it was just the two of them— well, three if Mori could slip away— and her feet were not acting much like a propeller from Tamaki's incessant spinning.
"You didn't answer my calls."
"My phone was on silent." An apology, cleverly disguised as an excuse. "Tamaki-senpai, you're really not helping my headache right now."
Tamaki, oblivious, had thankfully stopped spinning her, but was still ranting nonsense in her ear.
Hauhi sighed. "Cut it out, Senpai— Ouch! Don't squeeze that tight, you're hurting me." When he apparently didn't hear her request, she pinched the fleshy part of his underarm, and prised the excitable boy off her.
Whimpering pitifully, Tamaki was seized by the twins and promptly ribbed ten ways to Sunday.
Meanwhile, Honey had popped out of thin air, her arm a prisoner to his, and was gazing up at her with teary eyes. "Are you really sick, Haru-chan? Are you gonna be okay?"
"It's nothing serious, I'll be fine." She assured, before reeling back as something cold touched her cheek. The bottle was glazed with condensation, held in front of her face by a rather aloof Kyoya. "Um... senpai?"
"You're feeling dizzy, are you not?" Kyoya had perfected that annoying skill of talking in a way that would have been condescending, had it come from anyone who needed to resort to condescension to put across the point that they were better than you. "You're dehydrated. Drink some water and you should feel better soon."
"Oh. Thanks, I guess." Haruhi took an uncertain sip, before freezing, eyes skirting back to the boy. "Please don't tell me this water comes from some spring of the gods or something."
She didn't add the 'that I would then have to pay for' in case he took it as an invitation.
Kyoya adjusted his glasses. "Don't be ridiculous, it's just regular spring water." He held out his hand, expectant. "May I see your arm?"
Ah, so Kyoya had caught onto that.
She extended the limb, watching the way he deftly rolled her sleeve up, brows drawn tight as he examined the skin. Tamaki's squeezing had caused the redness to flare back up and Kyoya zeroed in on the affected area immediately, the pad of his thumb lightly tracing the indistinct indents left behind from Takeda.
"What exactly happened?" He asked, quietly.
He still hadn't let her go.
His hand was warm and feather-light, exploring every inch of her flushed skin with the utmost care.
"Oh, nothing big." She said, with a shrug dripping with fake nonchalance. Honey was still nearby, watching the exchange with wide, intelligent eyes. "It was a bit crowded earlier, I think I was mistaken for somebody else. It happens sometimes."
Kyoya digested this information remarkably well. His smile was convincingly clinical, hands holding a barely-detectable tremor that even she would have missed, had she not been looking for it. "Everything seems to be alright. I doubt they'll even be a bruise." And then, his frown deepening, he continued. "The amount of care people take is laughable, public transportation really is a cesspool."
"Wow!" Honey exclaimed, crashing against her back and breaking what would have been an incredibly awkward silence. Haruhi just barely managed to stop herself from spilling the water everywhere. "You're so smart, Kyo-Chan!"
"My family has an interest in the medical business. It's only natural." While everyone was distracted, he mouthed a sharp; Meet me at lunch at the girl.
Yep, she was totally fucked.
With that said, and a skywards glance as he clearly asked for strength, Kyoya snagged Tamaki from the twin's clutches. "Come on, moron. Class is starting soon."
They swiftly excused themselves, Kyoya sending a quick text to reign back Tachibana and his team from tearing up Tokyo looking for a certain brunette.
"Fujioka!"
The brunette turned at the sound of her name, smile ready. Kasanoda ambled towards her, genial, the brightest she'd seen him all day. He waved, but she barely noticed because there in his hands was a box of strawberries. From above, the heavens sang, illuminating the fruits with an ethereal glow. She could almost smell the sweet, godly scent from where she was standing and was sure there were stars in her eyes.
Kasanoda must have noticed, too, for he chuckled and held them out of her reach.
Denied of her precious strawberries, she shook her head out, finally looking at him properly. "Hey there."
His eyes swept up and down her— but not in a lecherous way. The way Kyoya's did every day, a quick, not entirely subtle once-over assessment to check her condition. "You're looking a lot better today."
Haruhi smiled ruefully. "It's the strawberries."
"Ha. Of course it is."
He took a seat on the grass.
She settled down next to him without question, thankful they were in the shade, and flopped down on her back. "You know, I'm not the only one that looks happier today. You're smiling for once, did something good happen?"
The question was entirely innocent, so she was surprised when he turned evasive.
"Nothing." Kasanoda shrugged, playing with a stray thread from his uniform. Haruhi continued to stare pointedly, at which point he flushed bright red. "I said it's nothing, quit staring already!"
"Okay, if you're sure." She said, because that's what she did when Kyoya skirted around topics. Sometimes his guard was still too high for her to breech, secrets kept too tight to his chest. She didn't despair, though. Little by little, he was letting her in. It just took time, and she was more than willing to wait.
Haruhi plucked a strawberry from the bowl.
Kasanoda focused on the clouds overhead, on hand tucked underneath his head. "You'll only laugh at me."
There it is.
"What makes you think that?"
His face turned into his arm, an adorable attempt to hide. "Because it's a stupid thing to be happy about."
Haruhi refrained from pointing out that there was nothing really stupid that you could possibly be happy about, as he seemed on the verge of opening up. Or, alternatively, opening up a wound. His fiddling with the thread had increased in aggressiveness, and was now threatening to split his thumb open.
"I won't laugh." She promised.
"It's just… Nice that people aren't so scared of me anymore… I guess. I can walk in a room without everyone freaking out about it. This morning I even caught eyes with this chick... I didn't even know her, and before looking at any chick would terrify her, but she just... smiled at me. It was— ow!"
He cut off, ears a brilliant scarlet, and sucked on his thumb.
Haruhi propped herself up, concerned. "Did you cut yourself?"
"Yeah. Damn thing."
"Hold on, I'm sure I have a plaster in my bag." After rummaging around, she pulled out the box, taking in the cutesy designs. "Oh. You don't mind, do you?" Upon hearing confirmation, Haruhi carefully stuck an offendingly bright one over his wound. In her defence, it was the first one she grabbed. Also seeing him decked in a teddy bear plaster was just plain funny.
"You're a lifesaver." Kasanoda said, with a smile.
Haruhi herself thought the title of "Little Shit" was more appropriate, but she didn't dispute it
He picked at a strawberry, so she took this distraction as an opportunity to chip in her two cents. "You know, I don't think that's stupid at all. It seems like you're making new friends, I'm glad to hear that."
Shyly, he muttered through what was most definitely not a pout, shut up, "Class has been a whole lot better since you all helped me out. It's… kinda nice to get involved with everything."
"Like the Gardening Club?"
At this, she was treated to a rare Kasanoda True Smile™.
"Yeah. I like it a lot. Everyone there is loud, but it reminds me of the Host Club... and they're all pretty cool guys, too. Well, uh, and girls, I guess. We're growing all sorts of cool stuff in there, and they said I can take some home if I want. Do you want any?"
"I would, but my apartment block shares a communal garden, I don't think we're allowed to plant things. I appreciate you thinking about me, though."
His head drooped, disappointed, but only for a brief second. "Then you can just visit mine. Tetsuya and I are already planning on what to fill it with— he's fighting for a big peach tree." He spread his arms wide, excited. "We're going to make a herb garden as well, and have lots of flowering trees."
"That'll be nice." Haruhi enthused, around a strawberry. "Hey, how about you make a massive project out of it? Instead of it just being you and Tetsuya, why not give everyone at your syndicate a chance to get involved? You're always saying you want to hang out with them more. This is the perfect chance to bond with them."
He paused, shy with uncertainty.
"Do you think they'll want to?"
Haruhi frowned, as she thought it through. "Well, you never know unless you ask. But I would think they'll be really happy. From the way you talk about them, they obviously enjoy being around you. This'll be fun for all of you."
"Yeah. I'll ask them tonight." At her reassurance, Kasanoda regained his confidence. He gave a content sigh. "They… They want to make today a regular game night, too. Tetsuya is organising it all. He said it's a surprise, so I'm not allowed to know much."
"Oh, really?" A soft breeze tickled her hair, and a fond sense of reminiscence washed over her. "I used to like playing board games with my friends in middle school. It was a nice way to pass the time when it was wet outside. I'm sure you'll like it."
"Yeah?" He was back to picking at threads. "I don't know. I've never really… played games with anyone before."
"Hey, you don't need to worry so much about it." She assured, lightly. "It'll be fine."
He was still all slumped over. "But what if they expect me to be good at them?"
"Well, they won't think any less of you for not knowing— you surround yourself with really genuine people, after all." Haruhi's hand came to rest over the crook of his elbow. "The rules are easy to pick up, and someone will be willing to teach you. You'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. If you're shy about asking for help, maybe go to Tetsuya? He's always nice."
Kasanoda managed a crooked smile, which swiftly evolved into a real one, so bright it was almost blinding. "Thanks, Fujioka. You're really good at this… Talking and stuff."
"You did bring me food. It's the least I could do."
They lapsed into silence, staring up at the clouds.
"You keep looking at your phone." He murmured, after a while.
Observant. She'd have to take notice of that. "I'm wondering where Kyoya-senpai is. His bag's disappeared. He told me to go on ahead while he looked for it, but it sure is taking him a while. Maybe he really is murdering the twins, and just didn't want me to see."
"Maybe he left already?"
"Well, I hope he hasn't." Haruhi laughed. "He's supposed to be driving me home."
"That's kind of him. Didn't think Ootori was the generous sort."
"Kyoya-senpai prides himself on being a walking contradiction." She agreed, amicably. "In any case, it's just because he doesn't want me taking the train anymore. It's too risky, apparently."
In all honesty, Haruhi herself didn't feel like she was even up to taking the train for the foreseeable future. Her arm burned white hot, a phantom pain from where she had been grabbed earlier. Absently, she rubbed the spot with her hand.
"Risky?" Kasanoda echoed, forehead creased with concern. "Why would it be risky?"
"Um. No reason." It was said in her most hopeful tone, as though she was sure Kasanoda wouldn't accept it, but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to try anyway. When his expression still didn't change, Haruhi softened into tentative reassurance. "You don't have to be so worried about me. I'm alright, I promise."
"You're my friend."
He didn't even look at her. Kasanoda merely remained with his head tilted up, eyes closed, expression one of utter peace, aside from the unhappy twist in his mouth.
She smiled. "Yeah. Text me about how the game night goes, alright? And don't forget to ask about the garden."
"I will. And you call if you need someone to talk to. Or for anything, really."
"Right." She said, and he almost shoved his pinkie up her nostril in an attempt to get it noticed. With a laugh, she carefully moved the offending limb just enough that it wasn't an immediate concern to her eyeballs. "What are you doing?"
"A promise. The chicks in the club said you can't break it, or your finger falls off." Haruhi bit back her instinct to tease him, and obediently hooked pinkies with him. "Good. You better keep to your word."
"I do want to keep all ten fingers." She said, teasingly .
While Haruhi had a mini existential crisis about whether she'd consider herself to have ten fingers, or two thumbs and eight fingers, a shadow fell over them. Haruhi blinked passed the sun, Kyoya's disgruntled figure blurring into view.
"Ootori-senpai." Kasanoda greeted, with a little acknowledging nod.
"Kasanoda."
"Did you find your bag in the end?" As an afterthought, she extended the box to him. "Strawberry?"
Only mildly bemused, he took one before holding his bag up as evidence. "The twins thought it would be utterly hilarious if they hid it from me. They were mistaken."
Haruhi brushed the dirt from her clothes, and gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder. "At ease, soldier. I'm sure they won't be eager to repeat that mistake any time soon."
He shrugged, the movement holding such grace. "I suppose so. In any case, Tachibana is waiting for us."
Haruhi smiled at the redhead. "See you tomorrow, Kasanoda. And thank you for the strawberries, they were delicious."
"You can keep the rest. I'll see you around."
They traded waves, and parted ways.
The moment he was out of earshot, Kyoya returned to business.
"Despite your disappearing act at lunch, I did manage to grab a quick word with Mori-senpai." He dismissed her protests with a wave of his hand. "Yes, I am perfectly aware that Hikaru and Kaoru kidnapped you. The fact remains that you still weren't present, so I'll do my best to fill you in on the important details."
"Which are?"
"That he is aware of the entire situation that happened before school, and is equally disappointed that you didn't text to let us know what had happened." Which she had been expecting. Kyoya, after getting over his emotional constipation, had glared at her the whole of hosting hours for scaring the absolute crap out of him, and Mori hadn't done a thing to stop him. "He put his hands on you, Haruhi. If he had succeeded in dragging you away, or god forbid had found where you were hiding, we may not have found out until it was too late."
"I know." A sigh. "I'm sorry, senpai. I panicked, I wasn't thinking straight."
He looked away, awkward.
Apparently actually scolding her hadn't been his intention. Considering he'd been giving her shit the entire day, he likely saw that as punishment enough.
"Regardless of that, I can assure you it won't happen again. I simply won't allow him the opportunity to attempt anything like that in the future." His confidence was refreshing, to say the least. When Kyoya spoke with such certainty, she couldn't help but believe him.
"Now, on other matters, Mori has offered to help bring you to and from school, which I thought would be useful. We don't want him memorising our cars and being able to follow us back to your home. Or ours for that matter. I trust you have no problem with that?" Haruhi nodded in confirmation. "Also, there are several people at Mori-senpai's dojo that he trusts without question. While they haven't been briefed on the finer details as of yet, there is a young couple who are prepared to do some digging on Takeda for us."
"Nothing illegal, I hope." She said, lightly.
Kyoya smothered a smile, having noticed the underlying threat. "Haruhi, you know I wouldn't ask an incriminating favour of anyone. Not even Tamaki, despite the fact that there's no doubt he'd be more than willing."
"He'd call a massive intervention, more like. Complete with a hundred and ten slide animated powerpoint presentation detailing a plan to correct your entire life."
Kyoya actually took a moment to consider that.
In the end, he made no effort to deny it.
"The plan is to have this couple casually converse with some of Takeda's neighbours, acting as though the two are interested in moving into the area. Hopefully this probing will lead to some information we could find useful. Even then, it'll be an asset to have connections in Takeda's neighbourhood."
She studied him.
The frown, the tension in his jaw. The way he closed in on himself.
"You don't think it'll do any good." She said, slowly.
"I think," He pulled open the door with more force than necessary, waving her inside first. "I think it's a useless attempt. I have some reservations about how forthcoming these people will be to a couple of strangers, no matter how charming they could be. But maybe that could just be the pessimist in me talking."
"In conclusion?"
He reclined into the seat, chin moving in a smooth upwards arc. "I think we shouldn't get our hopes up, that's all."
"That'll be easy." Haruhi said, with a sad smile.
He nudged her gently, an action which she returned, and Haruhi wished life could be simple again.
A/N: Here I am, ready for another sugar-induced late night post. Chap was delayed because this young bean has just returned from a second holiday without WiFi, which was just fabulous. (Sarcasm aside, it was super fun, despite a mishap with an injured toe, and how banged up my hands got from an entire day spent scrambling up and down rocks)
Parts of this was literally in the works of being re-written not too long ago, so fingers crossed it flows well and all
Thank you for everyone who supported the last chapter, hearing your feedback/ seeing your favs and follows really makes my day. Hopefully this one is just as good