Hikaru

I followed Haruhi up the stairs of her apartment complex to where her dad was standing right in front of the door. Her father held out a surprisingly well manicured hand.

"I'm Ryoji Fujioka, but you can call me Ranka."

I shook his hand. "Hikaru Hitachiin."

He released my hand and looked me up and down. I felt a little awkward as I could feel the judgment in his eyes as he scanned me. I wonder what Haruhi told him about me?

When he was done he looked back up at me. "So you're the guy who's been giving my daughter a hard time during your guys' tutoring sessions?"

"Uh...yeah…"

"Mhm, you're lucky you're handsome or I would have a real problem with that. So I'm going to give you a chance to redeem yourself."

"Uh...thank you..?"

Ranka winked at me and walked into the apartment. "Come in, I'll go get us some drinks. Is there anything you prefer?"

"Water's fine." I said as I walked into the apartment.

Ranka went into the kitchen to prepare the drinks and I scanned the apartment as Haruhi closed the door behind her. The apartment was small; it had about two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small dining room that was connected to the kitchen. To be honest it was bigger than I expected, but it was still too small for my liking.

"So," Haruhi walked up next to me, "what do you think?"

"It's small." I answered bluntly.

"Well yeah, it's an apartment. They're supposed to be small."

"I've seen bigger bathrooms than this."

She glared at me. "You don't have to be rude you know."

I looked at her. "Well, you asked for my opinion."

"Yeah, I got to learn to stop doing that." She murmured as she walked over to the dining room, with me following behind her.

The table was a decent size, could fit about six, seven people if you squeeze tight enough. I sat across from Haruhi and we stared at each other silently for a bit, a slight awkward silence surrounding us.

"So…" I said, trying to break the silence. "Your dad seems interesting."

Haruhi chuckled. "Yeah, I get that a lot." She put her elbows on the table and placed her head in her hand, a small smile formed on her lips. "He's always done drag, but started doing it a lot more when my mom passed away. I think it's his way to try and be a mother to me as well as a father and I really appreciate it."

I had my head in my hand as well, my glasses covering the slight sadness and envy in my eyes.

"Oh no, no, no." Ranka said as he walked into the room with a tray of drinks. "Why are you two sitting apart from each other?" He slightly nudged me with his foot. "Move to sit next to her."

I just blinked in confusion then got up and looked over at Ranka.

"Go on, she doesn't bite."

"Yeah, but he might." Haruhi muttered, causing me to glare at her.

I then sighed and made my way over to the other side of the table and sat next to Haruhi.

Ranka smiled. "See, that wasn't so bad now, was it?"

He placed the drinks on the table and Haruhi and I sat awkwardly next to each other. We kept about a five inch distance from each other and we sat with our hands in our laps, avoiding looking at each other as Ranka gave us our drinks and made himself comfortable across from us, his smile still on his face.

"So Hikaru, tell me a bit about yourself."

"Uh, what do you want to know?"

"Well, what do you do as a hobby?" Ranka asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing really. I don't really have any hobbies."

"Actually, you do have two." Haruhi said, making Ranka and me look over at her. I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "Smoking and starting fights are your main hobbies. Oh and being a complete dick too. So you have three hobbies."

I glared at her, when she responded to with a smirk.

"Yeah, those are definitely my hobbies." I said through gritted teeth.

"Oh Haruhi, don't tease him." Ranka waved off his daughter's comments before looking back towards me. "Do you have any plans for the future?"

I never really thought about my future. I wasn't really into fashion so I didn't really plan on taking over mom's business as a designer, and well for my dad's software company, he technically still owned it but someone else was taking charge until he hopefully returned, which I highly doubt would happen. I was too focused on what was happening in the present to really be thinking about my future.

"No, not really." I finally answered. "I might take over my mother's company just as an owner. I'm not really into fashion."

"What about your father, doesn't he own a company as well?"

I could feel my stomach drop at the question. My chest began to tighten and it kinda felt hard to breathe as if there were a ton of bricks lying on my chest. I didn't really like talking about my dad, it wasn't because I hated him that much, but it just hurt.

Haruhi glared at her dad. "Dad!" She hissed through her teeth

"What?" Ranka asked innocently. He then looked over at me and saw how uncomfortable I was acting. I pushed up my glasses and faced away. A light bulb went off in Ranka's head and he gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry. I totally forgot about your situation when Kaoru talked about it. I feel so stupid for bringing it up."

"No, it's ok." I sighed, facing back towards them. I had my hands cup together trying my best not to fidget so they wouldn't know how uncomfortable I was. I usually would've gotten mad if someone brought up my father. Maybe it was because they knew what it was like to lose a family member so suddenly.

"My dad disappeared about three and half years ago. He went off to work and never came back. We called his work and they said he left at his usual time, but we grew worried because he was hours late arriving home. When morning came and he still hadn't returned we called the police. We thought he got into an accident and were preparing ourselves for the worse, but we all were shocked when the police found nothing. Not his car or any trace of him." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I hated talking about my past as much as I hated talking about my father, I hated that people would start to pity me, but even though I could see that Haruhi and her father were doing the same thing, it didn't bother me as much. "When weeks went by and he didn't return home and the police found no evidence that he had been kidnapped it kinda...tore my family down...especially my mother. I could take over his company if I really wanted to, I just don't know if I could because it'll remind me too much of him."

I rolled my eyes over to Haruhi and saw by her expression that she was a bit shocked at how open I was to them and to be honest, I shocked myself a bit. What was with her and how she getting me to open up so much today?

Ranka sighed sadly and leaned back in his chair. "I somewhat understand how you feel." He said, causing me to look back over towards him. "My wife got suddenly very ill when Haruhi was four. It hit us really hard, especially Haruhi because she couldn't really understand why she wouldn't be able to see her mother anymore." He gave me a sad smile. "So we might not know how exactly how you feel, but we're here for you and Kaoru if you even need us." his smile turned bright and he raised his hands in excitement. "Ooh, you guys can be like a part of our family."

"Oh, God no." Haruhi groaned. "I'm ok with Kaoru being a part of the family but not him." She used her thumb to point to me.

"Oh hush!" Ranka waved his daughter's comment off again. "Don't listen to her, she's just being a brat, you can definitely be a part of the family." He took a look at his watch. "It's almost 6:00, I should start dinner." He looked back up at me. "What do you like to eat Hikaru?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It doesn't matter real-"

"He likes Italian food." Haruhi interrupted me.

"Ooh, I know what just to make." He said as he shot up from his chair and made his way to the kitchen.

I looked over at Haruhi in shock. "Wait, how did you-"

"Kaoru's favorite type of food is Italian. I remember him mentioning that you two have similar tastes." She smirked and looked back in front of her. "If only you two had similar attitudes, then maybe you would be a decent person."

"Hmm," I faced forward as well. "Well, at least I'm not a bitch."

"Oh yeah, you're way worse. You're a fucking asshole."

A mischievous smirk spread across my face as I rolled my eyes back over to her then looked back forward.

"Cunt."

Haruhi gasped and back handed me in the gut hard, causing me to groan in pain as I held my stomach and placed my head down on my arm.

She gasped again at what she just did and leaned towards me. "Oh my God Hikaru I'm so sorry. It was out of instinct. I really didn't mean to-"

She stopped mid sentence when she saw my shoulders began to shake and she heard muffled laughter. She stared at me in confusion as I lifted my head and continued to laugh.

"God, who knew you could hit that hard." I said as my laughter began to die down. "You hit a lot harder than most of the guys I get into fights with at school."

She blinked in confusion. "Wait, so you're not mad at me for hitting you?"

"No, why would I be?"

"Uh, well because…" She pointed to my left eye.

I understood what she was talking about and I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry about it. I literally get into fights all the time, getting hit doesn't really bother me. You know, unless it's someone I care about." I said as I brought my water to my lips before taking a drink. I then noticed the slight hurt expression on her face and it actually...made my chest hurt, as if I kicked a puppy or punched a baby.

I rolled my eyes again and huffed as I put my drink down. "Don't make that fucking face. I don't mean it like that."

Haruhi blinked a bit, realizing the face she was making and turned her expression neutral. "What face? I wasn't making a face."

I let out a short laugh. "Yeah right, you were hurt because I said I don't care if people I don't give two fucks about hit me." I smirked at her. "I knew it was playful. So calm down before you blow up from worrying."

Haruhi opened her mouth to protest but then noticed what I said. She smiled. "So you're saying you care about me?"

"...I never said that."

"Yes you did. You told me that you didn't mean what you said to me and that you didn't care that I hit you because it was playful, but I bet if I actually did hit you, you would be hurt." She scooted closer to me. "Admit it, you do care about me."

"No."

"Come on, admit that you actually give two fucks about me."

I glared at her. "No I don't." I faced away from her and picked up my drink again. "I just don't give one fuck about you."

Haruhi smiled grew. "Well, we're making progress then, and I'm happy with that."

I glared harder at her then noticed a small shrine at the corner of the room with a picture of a woman in the center of it. My glare softened.

"Is that your mom?" I asked, motioning to the shrine.

Haruhi's smile somewhat faltered as she looked at his shrine. "Uh yeah, that's my mom. Her name was Kotoko." Haruhi smile soon turned bittersweet. "She was a really great lawyer and I really looked up to her, so that's why I really want to follow in her footsteps and become a lawyer myself."

I could see her eyes start to water a bit, but not enough to make her cry. She then turned towards me, a slight smirk on her lips. "And who knows, maybe I can be your lawyer when you get in trouble with the law."

I snickered. "We can only hope so."

I didn't understand she was doing it, but she was opening me up way more then I liked, but yet for some reason, I didn't care.

I sighed and put my head in my hand. "I don't understand."

"Understand what?"

"How you're getting me to open up so much. No one has ever done that before besides Kaoru. Not even the counselors that Chairman Suoh forced me to get, but you, I don't know how you fucking did it."

"Maybe it's because you are subconsciously starting to trust me after you broke down to me earlier today. You even hugged me."

"Ugh," I groaned, "don't even talk about that."

"No I'm serious." She said, causing me to look back at her. "You literally hated me and I hated you. Usually that would mean we wouldn't tell each other anything personal but when I told you about my mom I believed that caused you to open up about your matter because we were both in pain."

Maybe she was right, that because she was the only one I knew who felt a similar pain so I felt safe to open up to her, but yet I also didn't feel like I could fully trust her yet...or could I?

"Let's make a deal." She said.

"What kind of deal?"

"That we don't have to be friends right now, but you at least try and give me a chance." She held out her hand for me to shake. "We can be frenemies."

"Frenemies?"

"Yeah, we're kinda friends, but also enemies."

"Since when have we been friends?"

She scowled at me. "For fucks sake Hikaru, will you at least try and stop being a fucking dick?!"

I huffed. "Fine." I shook her hand. "We're frenemies, alright?"

She smiled. "Great."

We let each other's hands go and I checked my clock on my phone. "I really should get going."

"Really, you have to go right now?"

I stood up and straightened my shirt. "Yeah, I told you I'll only stay for ten minutes and it's been fifteen, so I'm going to head out."

"But my dad's making dinner." Haruhi said as she stood up as well and followed me as I began walking towards the door. "You have to stay for that."

"I don't have to stay for anything. I already kept my promise of staying ten minutes."

"Hikaru!" She whined.

"Haruhi." I mocked her whine.

She glared at me then ran ahead of me and used her body to block the door. I stopped in front of her and gave her an annoyed look.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm not letting you leave this early."

I rolled my eyes. "You're being childish."

I went to go reach for the doorknob but Haruhi slapped my hand away. I stared at her, shocked by her action, but soon that shock turned into anger and I went to reach for the doorknob again but she just slapped my hand away again.

"Haruhi, "I growled, my patience running thin," if you would fucking move that would be great."

Her glare hardened, challenging mine. "Yeah, I'm sure you would."

I clenched my fists in anger, growing less and less patient with her. "Just fucking move!"

"Make me!" She challenged.

"Fine!"

I wrapped my arms around her waist, causing her to yelp in surprise by the sudden action and I lifted her up. She began punching my shoulder and kicking her legs as she struggled to try and get out of my grip.

"Put me down Hikaru!"

"My pleasure." I replied curtly as I turned around and tried to place her down.

But as her feet touched the floor she wrapped her arms around my neck and held my head down. I grabbed her arms and tried to get her to release her grip.

"Fucking let go of me!"

"No, not until you agree to stay and mean it!"

"Fine, I'll stay!"

"You're fucking lying and I know it!"

My glare grew furious as I bared my teeth as if I was a wild animal and she just hardened her glare, challenging me. Maybe if I lifted her again I could get her to release or at least loosen her grip around my neck. God, for a petite girl she sure had a strong grip. I wrapped my arms around her waist, but before I could lift her up again…

"What's happening here?"

Both Haruhi's and my glare immediately fell and we looked over towards the voice and saw Ranka holding a tray of chicken, looking at us confused. Haruhi and I looked back at each other and noticed the position we were in. Our faces were only a couple of inches apart, our noses almost touching. She had her arms around my neck and mine around her waist. It looked like we were about to passionately kiss each other. We both blushed and quickly let go of each other.

"Dad, it's not it looks like, I promise. We were just-just…"

"Practicing dancing." I answered for her. "The Host Club is having another ball soon and she needed some practice because her beat was off because she's used to doing the male role."

Haruhi looked at me in shock, probably about how I knew about all that information.

Ranka smiled. "Oh ok, I was worried a little you two got a little too cozy when I was making dinner." He was obviously joking, but that didn't stop our blushes growing darker. "Come sit down while I get the rest of dinner out." He said as he put the chicken down on the table.

"I really have to get-"

"Sure thing dad." Haruhi interrupted me as she grabbed my arm and dragged me back to the table.

She forced me to sit back down in my chair before she took her own seat. After Ranka went back to the kitchen I glared over at her.

"I told you I was fucking leaving!" I hissed.

"Well I'm not allowing you to be a fucking bastard to my father by leaving while he's making dinner for you!" She hissed back.

"I didn't ask him to make dinner; you were the one who told him what I liked!"

"Can you please be a decent person for once and do this one thing for me?!" She sighed out of exhaustion. "I know that we butt heads a lot, but I want to try and be friends, because you need some."

"I don't need friends."

Her glare returned back on her face. "That's bull shit and you know it. I've seen you alone around the school looking miserable because Kaoru's not around. So don't fucking lie to me."

I wouldn't admit it to her, but she was right. With Kaoru gone I was miserable, I had no one to hang out with. I would be lying if I said I hadn't tried talking to people, at least trying to make acquaintances with them, but because of my reputation no one wanted to really be near me. Unless it was a fucking girl trying to hook up. So because of that I usually was alone, and I aslo usually ate lunch alone in the courtyard. Watching mostly couples have lunch dates or a group of friends hang out. Again I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous, being alone wasn't the best feeling in the world, and seeing Kaoru have all these friends and hanging with them made me feel even worse.

But yet I also didn't hate being alone all the time. I didn't have to deal with drama from friends if we had a stupid fight. Won't have to deal with their problems. Though there are a lot more cons than pros for being alone.

I huffed, blowing my bangs out of my face. "Fine I'll stay, but you owe me."

"Owe you what?"

I smirked at her and gave her a wink. "You'll see."

Haruhi just forwarded her eyebrows in slight confusion and before she could say anything else Ranka returned from the kitchen with the rest of the food along with the plates and utensils.

"Alright, so on today's menu is chicken parmesan with broccoli and French bread." He said as he passed out the plated and the utensils. "Bon appétit."

He sat down and we all began serving ourselves some food. I stared at the food for a bit on my plate, a little unsure if I actually wanted to eat this. It wasn't because it looked unappetizing, it actually looked quite good and smelled amazing, but even though I had less money than before I was still a rich kid with rich kid tastes.

I picked up for my fork and knife and cut a piece of chicken, staring at it, still a bit unsure. It did smell really nice; a lot better than the shitty meal I had over at my new neighbors' house last night. I ate the piece of chicken and instantly a burst of flavor filled my mouth. Holy fuck, our old chiefs couldn't even make anything this amazing.

"I can see you like it." Ranka chuckled, breaking me out of my trance.

"It's amazing," I complemented, which was a rare thing for me to do, "and I'm not the biggest fan of chicken."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, but I can't take any credit for it." He motioned his head over towards his daughter, causing me to look over at her. "She made the chicken this morning before going to school. I just put foil over them to keep them fresh and warmed them back up for dinner. We made an extra one for leftovers, but we don't mind you having it.

Haruhi looked over at me and saw my shocked expression. She gave me a slight smirk. "Thank you for the compliment. I didn't know you were capable of doing that."

I glared at her and faced away, sticking my nose up. "It could be better; it's not even close to the best thing I ever tasted."

Haruhi scoffed. "Your facial expression tells a different story."

Both of our glares hardened as we locked into another battle. It would've lasted a lot longer, but Ranka's laughter broke us out of our battle. We looked over at him confused.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, trying his best to calm his laughter down. "But I can tell you guys like each other, even if you guys don't even show it."

"I wouldn't go that far yet dad." Haruhi grumbled.

"That I can agree on, minus the yet part." I added, causing Haruhi to glare at me again.

"Oh stop it, your mother and I had the same type of relationship when we first met. A love hate relationship."

"Love?!" Haruhi exclaimed, a slight blush warming her cheeks. "Dad, I think you got the wrong idea."

"Oh, are you sure about that? Because by the blushes on your guys faces are saying otherwise."

Haruhi looked over at me and saw that I was facing away from them, a slight blush warming my cheeks as well, a small scowl on my face.

Ranka chuckled. "I'm just teasing; I know it's not that kind of love." He smiled at both of us. "But I wouldn't deny that. I wouldn't mind you two going out. It would be a lot better than-"

"We already talked about this dad." Haruhi interrupted Ranka, causing me to move my eyes over to look at her. "I don't want to have another argument about this, especially now because we have a guest here."

I forwarded my eyebrows in confusion, not really understanding what they were talking about, but I let it go.

For the rest of the dinner I mostly remained silent, only speaking if Ranka or Haruhi spoke to me. After dinner I somewhat helped clean, if bringing my dish to the sink counts as helping. After everything was cleaned up Ranka and Haruhi walked me to the door.

Ranka shook my hand again. "It was very nice to meet you Hikaru. Hopefully you can come over again soon."

I was just about to thank him for dinner until Haruhi spoke up first.

"Hey dad, I'm going to have a quick conversation with Hikaru outside."

"Oh, alright." He winked. "Don't get too crazy out there. We don't want to disturb the neighbors."

"Dad!"

"Oh I'm just teasing again, go talk you two." He said as he waved for us to go."

Haruhi grabbed my wrist and led me outside, closing the door on the way out. She faced me and saw the look of minor annoyance I was giving her.

She cocked an eyebrow. "What's with that look?" She then looked down and noticed that she was still holding my wrist. She quickly let it go. "I'm sorry, I forgot you don't like being touched."

I rubbed my wrist where she held it." "Yeah, you seem to forget that a lot." I put my hands in my jacket pockets, feeling the cool autumn breeze blow past us. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Do you have my number?"

I cocked an eyebrow at her, then pulled out my phone and looked through my contacts. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Mr. Suoh kind of forced me to put you number in so I most likely have it." I looked back up at her. "Why do you ask?"

"I just…" Haruhi bit her lip nervously, as if she was trying to piece together what she was going to say. "I just want to make sure that you're safe. I don't want your mother to hurt you badly." She looked back at me, trying to look into my eyes through my sunglasses. "Also if you need someone to talk to, I'm always here."

I just stared at her, clenching my phone loosely in my hands as I stared at her.

"Why?" I asked. "Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden when I've been such an complete asshole to you?" Then a light bulb lit up in my head and I scowled at her. "Is it because you pity me because of what my mother does to me, because if it is I don't really want to deal with someone pitying me."

"It's not all that Hikaru." She said, the soft tone in her voice making my scowl somewhat falter. "I want to know the real you, not this act you put on for everyone, because after finding out that this tough guy act is all fake, I want to know the real Hikaru," she gave me a small smile, "and I believe today I saw a small glimpse of him, and I liked him."

I just continued to stare at her. Did I really let my guard down around her? No, I couldn't have, we still barely knew anything about each other. There was no way she could've done that...right?

"Hikaru?" Haruhi said my name, causing me to break out of my thought. "So, will you text or call me of anything happens?"

I didn't take my eyes off of her. I felt this warm feeling in my chest that I haven't felt in a long time...was it happiness? Happiness that someone actually cared about me besides my own brother..?

After a couple more seconds of just staring at her, my scowl returned and I looked away from her, shoving my hands back in my pockets.

"Hikaru-"

"Fine," I huffed, not looking back at her, "to make you feel better I'll agree to text or call you if I need to."

Haruhi smiled. "Thanks Hikaru." I was about to turn to leave when Haruhi spoke up again. "So wait, how did you know about the upcoming ball the Host Club is throwing, and how did you know about how I need practice doing the female part."

"I told you before, I was in the Host Club during my last year of middle school for a bit. Also Kaoru has mentioned a time or two about how they taught you the male part when your gender was hidden, but now that's out that you're a girl you needed help doing the girl part." I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't understand what's so hard. You just have to follow the males lead."

"You know how to dance?"

I stared at her in slight disbelief. Did she just ask me that? "Well yeah, of course I do. You didn't really think that Kaoru was the only one who was taught?"

Haruhi chuckled, clearly embarrassed from asking the question as she began playing with her shoulder length hair. "Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I haven't danced since I was in middle school. I might be a little rusty, but I can still dance."

"Maybe you can teach me." Haruhi said, obviously joking.

I hummed a laugh, a small smirk on my face. "When hell freezes over."

Haruhi just smiled at me, then let out a soft sigh. "Well, I better let you get going, it's getting late." She looked back over at me, the same smile on her face. "Well, because we're trying to become friends-"

"I never agreed to that."

"Well, I'm going to say you are. So again, since we're trying to become friends how about we give each other a hug goodbye before you leave?"

I could tell by the tone in her voice that she was joking, and I couldn't help but smirk at it.

"Yeah, no." I said as I turned on my heels and began heading towards the stairs.

"Well, it was worth a try, but you hugged me earlier today so I'll take that. See you later."

I just flipped her off as I went down the stairs, which she just responded with a small chuckle, and I'd hate to admit it, but hearing her laugh actually somewhat turned my smirk into a smile, but only slightly.

I pulled up to my house and parked my car in its usual spot, a few feet in front from the old oak tree, and across the driveway from Kaoru's white camaro. I sighed and turned off the ignition of my car and just sat in it, looking at Kaoru's car. A feeling of sadness and loneliness quickly filling me. I know he's having fun in New York, and I even forced him to go, but since he's been gone I really regretted it. I thought I could handle myself for a couple months, but it's been really lonely at school and especially at home. I'm just grateful he's allowed to Skype me every night or I don't know what I'll do.

I played with my sunglasses that I had hanging off my shirt. I took them off while driving because it would've been to dark to see anything if I didn't. I looked at the clock in my car, it was just a few minutes past nine. Hopefully mom was already passed out by now.

I took the keys out of the ignition and got out of my car, locking it. I slowly made my way over to the door, trying to buy as much time as I could. I unlocked the door and entered the house as quietly as I could, closing the door on my way in. The living room was dark, which was a good sign because it usually meant that everyone in the household was asleep, but this time it was different.

"So you finally decided to come home." Mom's voice said, causing me to freeze up.

She turned on the light in the kitchen and I looked over at her with terrified eyes. She had a kitchen knife in her hand and a glass of what looked like whiskey in the other.

"Where were you?" She asked in a stern, but slurred voice.

I gulped, keeping my eyes on the knife. "I was with my tutor. We decided to go back to her house and-"

"And what?!" Mom spat harshly, making me flinch. "So you could fuck her and play with her emotions like most men do?!"

"N-No, it wa-was nothing like that mom. I-I promised, we were just studying."

Mom's glare hardened, staring into my eyes to see if I was lying. She then smiled brightly, which was even more terrifying.

"Well that's good," she said in a frightening cherry voice, "because you know what I'll do to you if I found out that my baby boy tried anything like that before he was married." I just watched her terrified as she walked over to the kitchen. "Well, since that you're finally home, how about you enjoy this nice dinner I made for you? It's salmon, I know how much you like that when I make it for you."

I did enjoy it when she cooked it sober, but as she brought it out to the dining room I could tell it was burnt and dry by how black the fish was. I also didn't really want to eat with her when she was like this.

"It-It's alright mom. I already had dinner at my tutor Haruhi's house. I'm not really that hungry."

As my words left my mouth, mom's face turned dark again. Fuck, I said the wrong thing again.

"So you don't want to eat this delicious meal I took so long to prepare for you?!" She hissed.

"It-It's not th-that mom." I lied. "I-I'm just full from eating dinner with my tutor." Mom's glare hardened as she slammed the food down on the dining table, making me jump, and began walking towards me. My eyes darted back to the knife in her hand. "Mom, what are you doing with that knife?" She ignored my question and continued make her way over towards me, causing me to start to back up. "Mom?"

My back hit that wall and I watched in fear as mom marched over to me. She stuck her face up to mine, her glare softened. She then began running the knife along my face. I stiffened my whole body as I felt the blade on my skin, petrified at what she might do to me.

"What am I going to do with you?" She asked in a calm voice, watching the knife as she continued to run it along my face. "You must've not learned lesson after you punishment from yesterday to not disrespect me."

"I-I wasn't trying to dis-disrespect you mom. I was ju-just trying to-"

"Shut up!" Mom barked, causing me to flinch again. "I guess I have to teach you another lesson."

My eyes began watering as she placed the blade to my left cheek.

"Mom I'm sorry." I apologized, trying my best to hold back my tears. "If-If you want I'll-I'll eat the dinner you made. Ple-Please just put the knife down please."

She just continued to look at the blade. "No." Her glare returned as she looked back up at me, meeting my terrified eyes. "You don't deserve dinner anymore. Brats like you don't deserve a loving mother's cooking. You just deserve punishments."

She then lightly pushed the blade to my cheek, causing me to hiss as the blade dug into my cheek, breaking the skin.

"Mom I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, just please stop." I pleaded, but she just ignored me.

I cried out in pain as she dug the knife deeper into my cheek, causing blood to start trailing down my face.

"You don't deserve a loving mother like me." Her glare hardening as she pushed the knife even deeper in my cheek. "From now on, you can fend for your fucking self!" She then pushed me down towards the stairs, causing me to look up at her terrified. "Now get out of my fucking sight!"

I got up, using the rail of the staircase for support as I stumbled up the stairs and to my room. I closed the door and leaned on it. I slid down to the floor and leaned my head up against the door. I finally let the tears escape my eyes and fell down my cheeks, burning the cut on my cheek. A mixture of blood tears falling on my white uniform shirt, which meant I'll most likely have to throw this shirt away I couldn't get the blood out.

After a few minutes I pulled myself together and stood up. I went to the bathroom and cleaned up the blood from my face, then cleaned the cut. I took a look at the cut, it wasn't too deep that it would leave a scar, but deep enough to bleed pretty bad. I opened the cabinet and pulled out a band aid and placed it over my cut. I then looked at my reflection. I looked like one of those kids you see in those P.S.A. commercials. My hair was messy, my eye was still badly bruised and I looked extremely exhausted. My skin was pale, dark circles under my eyes...why did I let this happen to me?

I shook that thought out of my head before leaving the bathroom. I walked over to my nightstand and opened the drawer, grabbing a box of cigarettes and taking one out before putting the box in my jacket pocket. I then took my lighter from the same pocket before slipping my jacket off and on the floor. I went over to the window and opened it before stepping out onto the roof. I walked a little further down until I was in my usual spot and sat down before lighting the cigarette. I took a long drag before sighing out the smoke, feeling the stress of the day start to vanish.

I looked up at the night sky, seeing a couple of stars. A cool breeze blowing past, relaxing me even more. I took another drag as I continued looking at the night sky.

After about ten minutes passed and I was done and burned out my cigarette. I sighed and was about to head back inside when I noticed something across the street at the new neighbors' house. I saw Mari in her room staring at me, a smirk on her face. I glared at her, indicating that I didn't want to see her after what she tried to do to me yesterday, but she either didn't see it or chose to ignore my glare as her smirk widened and she began sexually dancing in her room. I rolled my eye, but a small laugh escaped past my lips, she looked ridiculous. I hated her, but it was kind of funny watching her try to win me over by trying to flirt with me, which was never going to happen.

But soon her dancing grew even more sexual and she began stripping off her clothes. I was now starting to get uncomfortable as she was slowly taking off her shirt and before she could unclip her bra I got up and went back into my room, closing the window and pulling down the blinds.

"Fucking whore." I grumbled.

My phone dinging got my attention. I reached into my pocket and saw a text from Kaoru.

Hey, did you get your laptop fixed yet?

I sighed before texting back, feeling bad that I was lying to him again.

Not yet, they said they'll be done in a few days.

I sat down on my bed and plugged in my phone before Kaoru responded.

That long?! What kind of porn site were you on to get that many viruses? Jk XD.

I rolled my eyes but let out a small chuckle.

Fuck off jackass. You know it has nothing to do with that.

Oh, so you're not denying it? Interesting.

I'm literally going to fly out to New York and beat the shit out of you if you don't stop.

Ok, ok I'll stop XD

I got comfortable in my bed and smiled at my screen as I continued to text Kaoru. Telling him about my day, minus anything related to mom.

Oh, so you went to Haruhi's house? So does that mean you two are finally friends?

I wouldn't go that far, but I don't hate her as much as I did yesterday.

Well that's a start. Hopefully you two will be friends soon.

Yeah, whatever.

We continued to text each other until I eventually fell asleep, just like what I did last night.

It was the next morning and I was walking into school. I decided not to bring my sunglasses because my black eye has faded a bit more, but I was still a little uncomfortable about people staring at it.

I walked into my classroom and went to my desk, next to Haruhi who was already in her seat. She looked over at me and smiled.

"Good morning Hikaru." She greeted.

"Yeah, morning." I grumbled back, putting my head in my hand and closed my eyes. Tired from the late night chat with Kaoru.

Haruhi's smile fell when she barely noticed something on my left cheek.

"Hikaru, what's on your cheek?"

"Hmm?" I opened my eyes and looked over at her. "What did you say?"

"Your cheek," she said, pointing to her own, "what's on your left cheek?"

"It's nothing." I said, closing my eyes again. "Don't worry about it."

As I got more comfortable in my seat I felt a hand grab my chin, causing me to open my eyes, and forced me to turn to them. I stared at Haruhi wide eyed as she looked at the bandage on my cheek.

"You didn't have this last night."

"I, uh…"

I began to feel uncomfortable as my face was so close to hers and I could hear people began whispering to each other.

Haruhi began to notice the attention we were getting and let go of my face. She then got up and grabbed my wrist. "Come on, we're talking outside."

Before I could even protest, Haruhi dragged me out of the classroom, ignoring the glares she was getting from the other girls and dragged me to a corner of the hallway where no one was.

She turned to me with a stern look. "Now tell me what really happened to your cheek."

I glared at her. "I told you it was nothing."

"Don't give me that bull shit Hikaru." She reached out to touch my cheek, but out of instinct I grabbed her hand before she could. "Hikaru, you can trust me." She reassured, her stern look turning doleful.

I continued to glare at her, but the sadness in her eyes made me give up the fight. I sighed and let go of her hand. She cupped my left cheek with her hand, making me flinch.

"God, you really are damaged, aren't you?" I didn't say anything and Haruhi pulled her hand away from my face. "Hikaru, what happened, please tell me?"

I sighed again and began rubbing the back of my neck. "My mom, she got angry that I had dinner at your house last night. She...cut my cheek with a knife."

I looked back over at Haruhi and saw her expression that was a mixture of sadness and guilt.

"Oh my God Hikaru, I'm so sorry. I wouldn't think your mother would do something like this-"

I held up my hand to silence her. "Don't worry, I don't blame you. You couldn't have known that my mom would do something like that."

"But still, I'm really sorry, I-"

I covered her mouth with my hand. "Really, you don't need to apologize. It's fine."

I removed my hand and she sighed. "Alright, if you really mean it." She then glared at me. "But why didn't you call or text me like I told you to do if this happened?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I forgot about that. I already had a lot on my mind so it must've slipped my mind."

"Just promise that next time you'll contact me."

"Fine, I promise to contact you. Even though I don't know what you can do."

"I just want to be there for you Hikaru, I want to make sure you're ok. I don't want something horrible to happen to you that will get you severely hurt or even killed. So please promise me."

"I said fine, didn't I?"

Haruhi smiled. "Great." She looked at the time on the clock in the hall. "Well we better get back to-"

"Hikaru?" A feminine voice called out.

Haruhi and I both turned towards the voice and my blood went cold. It was Mari, in an Ouran uniform!

"Fuck!" I cursed. "I forgot that she was going to start school here."

Haruhi looked at me confused. "Who is she?"

"She's my crazy new neighbor that sexual harassed me a couple nights ago."

Mari ran over to us and before I could run away she gave me a big hug, making me start to feel extremely uncomfortable from her touching me for many reasons.

"I'm so glad that I ran into you." She looked up at me with a pouty face. "I was so sad to find out that you weren't in class 2-D with me," she put her head to my chest and smiled, "but I'm just happy to be at the same school as you."

I tried to pry her arms off of me, but her grip was extremely strong. "I would definitely not love to stay and chat because one, I fucking hate you, and two, Haruhi and I have to get back to class."

She glared at me. "Haruhi, who's that bitch?"

Haruhi raised her hand. "Umm, I'm that bitch."

Mari looked over at her and her glare hardened. "Oh I didn't even notice you, must've been your clothes. Wearing an outfit like that isn't helping you sweetie."

"I don't really care if I get noticed or not."

Mari rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Did I fucking ask you what you cared about? No, I didn't, but I'll tell you one thing," she hugged my neck and lifted her leg up to my hip, making me glare harder at her, "stay away and get your own man."

"I already ha-"

"That's enough!"

I got out of Mari's grip and backed away from her. She looked at me innocently.

"What's wrong baby?"

"One, I'm not your "baby" and never will be, and two, don't ever talk to Haruhi that way!" I hissed, causing Haruhi to look at me surprised, surprised by my response. "I'm the only one who's to talk to her that way!"

Haruhi sweat dropped, not really knowing how to feel about my last comment.

Mari looked at me sadly, but I could tell it was bull shit. "But Hika…"

"Oh God, don't ever call me that. I always resented that nickname!" I grabbed Haruhi's arm roughly and began walking back to our class. "Come on, let's go."

Haruhi just remained aghast at how I defended her and that I was actually touching her. She smiled, maybe my feelings for her were turning around for the better.

As for Mari, she just watched us walk away from her. Usually a jealous girl would've been mad that I took off with Haruhi, but Mari just stood there, a smirk appearing on her lips. She began twirling her blonde hair.

"Playing hard to get I see." She licked her glossy lips hungrily. "I'll play your game and have you one day."

She looked at Haruhi and her smirk turned dark before she turned to go back to her class.