I parked on the road directly by the stairs up to Haruhi's apartment. I jogged up the stairs and quietly entered the building. Ranka clearly wasn't there, but the apartment looked awful. It looked a lot like how Haruhi described to me looking when Ranka first lost it. It'd only been a day…

I shook it off and went into Haruhi's room. I knew immediately where to start. I went into her closet and looked around on the floor and found it almost immediately. Haruhi's mother's urn. Well. It was less of an urn and more of a box, with a lock on the front. The top of the box had her name etched into it, Kotoko. I placed it in a small bag I'd brought just for this, so it wouldn't get damaged.

I grabbed everything. Her clothes, her books, anything that looked remotely sentimental. She had a small box of jewelry on her dresser. It was a little music box, playing "Greensleeves" when opened. It had a little mirror, with a picture of her mother taped on the inside. I closed it and packed it. After no longer than twenty minutes, her bedroom was looking mostly empty. I barely filled half of the bags I'd brought with me, though.

I walked out of her room and was about to leave, when I got the biggest surprise of my life. I heard the front door quietly open, but it wasn't Ranka standing there.

It was Kaoru.

He dropped all of the books and papers he had been holding, which looked to be Haruhi's homework for the day.

"HARU-?!" He began to yell. "...Kyoya?"

Damn it.

"Kyoya, what the hell is going on?! What happened here? Was Haruhi robbed?! Where is she!? Why are you…!?" He paused. "Why are you here….?"

"Kaoru. Is Hikaru with you?" I asked, desperately trying to buy myself time without looking like I was panicking.

"N...No… He's at home, but I'm going to ask again, WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"Kaoru… did you drive here yourself?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Can you please meet me at the small park up the road? I'd rather not talk here. But… I'll tell you as much as I can…"

He nodded, turning around slowly, walking back out the door. I picked up what he'd dropped, definitely Haruhi's homework, and took all of the bags I had out to my car.

Kaoru looked at me like I was a monster, like I'd done something. I had to tell him SOMETHING. He got in his car, and I got in mine, and we drove off towards the park. He followed very closely behind me, looking both furious and also really concerned. Which, was fair enough, given the situation he was just put in.

We both parked in the lot attached to the park. I waved at him to come sit in my car, as it was quite late at this point. He did, basically running to open the passenger door.

"Okay Kyoya. What. Is. Going. On? Where is Haruhi?" He was clearly more concerned about Haruhi than he was angry with me.

I sighed. "Can I ask you, as a friend, to not tell anyone anything I'm going to tell you? Not even Hikaru." He looked at me wide eyed. "For her sake. Not mine."

He nodded.

"Haruhi is at my house. Nothing is going on there, there's nothing… illicit...happening. I can promise you that. But… Let's just say, something happened, and she can no longer stay at home. Or with Ranka." He just stared at me through slightly squinted eyes. "Kaoru. She's...hurt. She's safe now, and she'll be back at school in the next few days, but for now, she is under the care of some of my family's hospitals' most prestigious doctors. It's nothing major. A minor rib fracture, a leg fracture, and a mild concussion."

He stared at me, tears ever so slightly apparent in his eyes. He looked horrified. "Kyoya...what happened to her…?"

"I'm honestly not comfortable telling you that. It is her story to tell and hers alone. And I do NOT want you asking her about it. Under ANY circumstances. She will tell you only if she is comfortable." He slowly nodded again.

"Is she… okay? Like...you know. Okay?"

"As far as I can tell, she's more okay than most people would be. She's only been with me since last night though. Today was her first full day in my home. She's still pretty uncomfortable with the change, but I'm doing my best to keep her sane."

"So… you were in her apartment...to get her stuff?"

"That is correct."

"So...could you maybe bring that homework to her…?" He gestured to the books on my back seat. "And you know… maybe tell her that I'm here for her if she needs me? I know she might not even want to tell me anything, and that's totally fine. But you know. She's my best friend, other than Hikaru…"

"Of course. Now, I really need to get back in case she wakes up and realises I'm not around…" I looked at my phone. No texts from her. Okay, good. "Remember, if you tell anyone anything, I'll make your life a living hell. Do we have an understanding?"

"Of course. For Haruhi." He gave a little nod, and got out of my car. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yes, I'll be there tomorrow. I have to try to keep suspicion down. Haruhi definitely isn't ready for Tamaki finding anything out. God knows what he'd do if he found out she was living with me, of all people. Especially after what he walked in on us in the beach house that one time…"

"What happened in the beach hous…?" I then remembered that he didn't know about that. I reached over and closed his door. Waving at him as I drove off.

I had thought about that day on the beach more often than I'd like to admit. Watching some random guys attack Haruhi… I was so scared for her… I was just about to go after her when they threw her into the ocean from that cliff, but Tamaki beat me to the punch. So...I stayed back and called doctors. Doing what I could…

Then she got so mad at Tamaki for "treating her like a girl"... and I tried to show her what he meant and… it was the closest I'd ever gotten to her. I needed her to understand… We were all just worried about her and… I was probably too aggressive in showing her that.

I pushed her into my bed, climbing on top of her, holding her down. I was trying to show her that...some men take advantage of women. It's a terrible truth of our world, but...she just didn't understand.

She said I'd never have done anything to her. Which of course is true, but she said it was because I had nothing to gain. But she didn't realise...I had everything to gain… As if I'd never thought about her in that way before…

She looked beautiful that night, though. The salt from the ocean gave her hair a beautiful wave that made me a little weak in the knees. I loved her short hair, as much as Tamaki hated it. It suited her. She was a strong willed, independent person. She didn't need to rely on femininity to be beautiful.

That's when I almost ran a red light. I managed to stop, very short. I'd completely been lost in thought. I needed to sleep desperately at this point. The last thing Haruhi probably wants is the one person she can confide in a little to get into an accident because he couldn't stop thinking about her.