Shards

Mitsukuni had left the room.

Takashi wasn't sure when, but suddenly he wasn't there. He needed to figure out if not here, then where?

He tried to get a timeline in his mind. They had been cleaning. Mitsukuni had paused and looked around. Mitsukuni was gone.

Takashi stood to his full height and listened in air for his cousins laughs. Not one. There was, however, the faintest of singing.

Haruhi.

He had a feeling wherever she was he'd find his cousin as well.

He ran.

Hunny ran, and while he knew where he was going, he wasn't sure where exactly it would be.

He threw open a set of door and looked at his surroundings. It was a pool.

Moments later, the other hosts wandered in, their faces dazed and confused. All except Takashi. Kyoya had walked in casually behind the others, and seemed to be taking notes on their condition.

"Haru-chan?" The pull stopped and a the pool cover thrashed

The others came* to and the twins immediately rushed to the pool cover to open it for the girl.

Tamaki turned to Kyoya "What are we doing here?"

"It seems Haruhi wanted to practice singing."

"Gotchya!" The twins yelled as the cover was pried off. A head emerged from the water, and brown eyes were framed by soaked brown hair as they stared up at Haruhi's rescue party.

"Thanks guys" She looks down at her soaked uniform and sighs

"Haru-chan!"

"Haruhi!"

"Haruhi?!"

"Haruhi, may I ask how you found yourself trapped?" Kyoya raised his left eyebrow

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing."

"Haru-chan..."

"What the hell do you mean it's nothing!"

"Hikaru, calm down." Kaoru touched his twins left arm

"You could've drowned if you hadn't been what you are! Don't think Kaoru and I don't know how someone did that to your hand in class, we could smell it! It's clearly not nothing."

"Hika-chan is right Haru-chan, you can't let whoever's doing this keep going. They're being mean!"

"What's going on here?" Tamaki was ignored

"I don't know anyway." She had an idea...

"You're leaving something out." The others turned at the deep voice of Mori as he stood in the doorway

"I suggest you don't waste my time." She heard Kyoya pipe up

"I believe Haruhi, why would he lie to us? He's a good guy." Tamaki said

They wouldn't believe her anyways...

Kaoru looked her in the eyes "Haruhi, just... don't let them hurt you. Okay?"

She smiles "I'll be fine, no need to worry about me."

Mori watched the proceedings from the doorway.

He is a dragon, a protector. Haruhi is not his, she is no ones, but she is his friend now. Mitsukuni will allow no harm to come to his friends, for they are a treasure. He wouldn't go after this person, but if they encroached upon that which held dear ever again, then they wouldn't be leaving in quite the same state.

His friends are not his, they are no ones but their own, but they are his to protect.

She says not to worry, and they respect her wishes.

...Whenever they're in her line of sight.

The thing was, Kyoya was finding Haruhi's Martyr-esque tendencies to be growing quite tiresome.

Mitsukuni was always waiting back at the end of club, making sure no one confronted her while they weren't around.

Kaoru and Hikaru watched her during class, and had taken to spending their lunches dragging her to sit behind them in the actual cafeteria, instead of remaining in some classroom.

Tamaki, oblivious as he was, still always looked her over when she entered the third music room, ensuring no harm had come to her.

Mori's gaze remained on her during her every interaction (looking away only when Mitsukuni would not be in his direct view whilst watching her).

Nothing happens.

Then Haruhi receives another request from Ayanokoji. The female host plasters on a smile, and acts as if she is not almost certain that this girl wishes her dead.

Unbeknownst to her, Kyoya pulls the twins aside and quietly informs (whispers are terribly ungainly for an Ootori) them of something rather important.

"I can't believe you actually managed to get trapped in a school pool, I'm not sure what I would do.

'Why is she here, she obviously hates me'

"You actually made Tamaki and the others fish you out? I can't imagine how you managed that, but you do realize that he's a blue blood, not a commoner like you, don't you? They all are. Honestly, the only reason he pays attention to you at all is because he's attempting to turn you into a gentleman. Don't start thinking they all actually care for you.

Haruhi blinked.

So that was it.

"Now I understand, you're just jealous of me."

Haruhi jumped up when the girl kicked her leg, and the next thing she knew Ayanokoji was writhing and screaming beneath her. The cake that had been previously rested on the table was smeared across her back.

"NO Haruhi! Somebody do something, he just attacked me! Somebody teach this commoner a lesson!"

"Huh?"

The next thing she knew Haruhi was being pulled up, and she was resting against the chest of Tamaki. The twins immediately grabbed two tea pots and dumped the contents onto the girl still on the ground.

"W-Why did you do that?" Ayanokoji asked

Then Haruhi was being moved again, and was gently passed into the care of Hunny, who took her hand and and looked at her with tears in his eyes as he asked her if she was okay. Haruhi failed to notice the side look that was shot towards the soaking girl on the ground.

Tamaki helped aforementioned girl to her feet, and stroked her wet locks.

"Do something, Tamaki! Haruhi just assaulted me!" When she looked to his eyes, they were empty of any emotion.

"...I'm disappointed in you. It was you, wasn't it? I don't know why I ask, it was clearly all you."

"You don't know that. There's no proof I did anything."

"You know, you're a beautiful girl. It's a shame that you're so classless. Leave, and don't come back. If there is one thing I know with absolute certainty, Haruhi is not that kind of man." His face shifted to something of disgust.

"T-Tamaki? Why...?"

She had just wanted to protect him.

He did not respond, only continued to stare at her.

"You idiot!" She ran out of the room, never to return.

"Now, how am I going to punish you? This is obviously all your fault, it would've been fine had you simply alerted us."

Kyoya piped up from where he stood in the background of the whole fiasco

"I did hire someone to discover who had payed off those men, money that was clearly wasted."

"Well then, I have no other choice. Haruhi, I hereby raise your quota to 1,000 requests!"

"One thousand?!"

He took her hands from Hunny senpai (a pout and glare) and smiled at her

"I've got high expectations for you, my handsome little rookie." He winked

"Wha?"

"Come on Haruhi," Kaoru began

The twins hooked one arm each under hers

"Let's get you changed!" At Hikaru's words, the two dragged her away from Tamaki and into the changing area

Tamaki looked at the open book bag Haruhi had left in the back.

"Oh, it seems Haruhi left his stuff carelessly strewn about." He sighed "I suppose he's not quite a gentleman yet."

The blonde picked up her thing and began placing them in the cheap looking leather bag, noticing that her ID had slipped out of her wallet. He picked it out, and let out a loud

"Haruhi?!"

The next thing he knew, the entire host club was next to him, staring. One particular member dressed in a yellow dress, which she managed to fill out quite well.

"What is it senpai?"

"Y-you're a girl?!"

"Took you long enough boss, we were starting to get worried." Two voices chimed simultaneously

"You didn't know Tama-chan?"

Haruhi blinked

"Well yeah, I guess that biologically speaking, I am a girl."

"Why didn't I know this?"

"I just don't think that sex is anything to judge a person by. Instead, what's inside should be most important. Besides, I never really think of having to remind anyone of my gender."

"You didn't think to mention it?" The blush on the king's face steadily grew

Kyoya offered his insight this time

"Mermaids featured only one sex, this being female. Reproduction was done whilst without a tail. Some offspring would be mermaid and would live in the sea with their mother, whilst those who took after their sire's species would've been left with him, whatever species he may have been. This practice grew less common shortly before mermaids began to be hunted, and families would all live together, usually near the coast."

"You seem to know a lot about Mermaids Kyo-chan." Hunny looked up at him and smiled

(they all did their best to ignore the part about being hunted)

"I make it my business to know what about all of you."

"Kyoya! You shouldn't talk about such things in the presence of a lady!"

Tamaki grabbed on to Haruhi's head and attempted to cover her ears

"Hey Tono, don't get too familiar with our toy!" Then the twins had grabbed on to one arm and Tamaki struggled to keep hold on the other.

She was being pulled with her feet off the ground (something Haruhi found she did not appreciate very much) and she swore she could feel her stomach moving around within her. As her nausea grew, she called out for the strongest person in the room

"Mori-Senpai, help me!"

...And then she was floating. Mori senpai stood up, and carefully picked her out of the air, setting her down next to Mitsukuni.

Mori was a man of discipline and honour, something that she as a mermaid found deeply unnerving. However, he was also a good guy, and she had a feeling she would need someone like him if she were going to get through Ouran.

She was too busy relishing the feeling of being on her own feet to even think about how these boys had managed to become her friends in such a short time.

A/N: I know I said it would be Hunny-centric, but other stuff happened.

*I wasn't paying attention and accidently wrote 'Seme' here. Thank goodness for proofreads, that would've made zero sense.

I like to think that Mori would be the type to watch everything fan out and step in only when asked or is necessary. I couldn't remember what was said during the scene with Seika, and I ended up rewatching the entire show to figure it out. How've I never noticed the 'Mori-senpai help me' moment being so... much. His face went from zero to one hundred. So I decided I wanted to throw that in here.

Have ya'll ever thought about how weird the spelling of 'one thousand' is? One of the O's goes 'W' and the other 'ow' or 'ah'.

I actually had that reproductive process worked out in my head from the very beginning, as I've always had issues with not knowing how that worked for mermaids (think six year old kid watching 'the Little Mermaid' and asking my mother where their genitals were). I guess I could've done the same thing with mermen still existing, but I really just didn't want to.

Yes, it absolutely took me six chapters to finish one episode. Yes, I am an idiot who's playing this by ear and has forgotten or ruined half the ideas I had for this in the beginning. Yes, I plan to finish it.

...Eventually.

-Lucas_Gilbert