Author's note: Welcome to chapter 4! Glad to see you're still with us!

Trigger warning: Some of Sky's more innocent scars get noticed in this chapter. Nothing too drastic.

I own nothing and no one except Sky. Reviews/PMs are always welcome!


Time passed, as it often does. The rest of the school week passed by relatively uneventfully. Sky didn't see most of the Host Club very much during the week, because they turned out to be younger, and therefor in different classes. She spoke with Honey at length between classes, however. The sunny little blonde had essentially taken her under his wing, so to speak. He introduced her to the multitude of girls that he knew, most of them clients of the Host Club. Sky didn't say so aloud, but she thought that most of them seemed far too pretentious and stuck-up, and was not upset when none seemed to want to be friends.

She brought her lunch each day, content to sit in the quiet classroom instead of the crowded and hectic lunchroom. Honey tried inviting her to eat with the group each day, but to no avail. She appreciated the gesture, and made sure to tell him so. But she needed the quiet break in order to handle the stress and anxiety of the days.

By Friday, she had gotten used to the schedule and pace of her classes. She had even mostly memorized the layout, and only got lost once. She was proud of herself for accomplishing so much in just one week.

At the end of their last class of the week, she approached Honey's desk cautiously. His bright smile greeted her and put her at ease instantly. She smiled back with no hesitation at all. The little blonde had effortlessly scaled the walls she had built around her heart and made himself right at home there. He was just so sweet and affectionate, and there was such a gentle innocence about him. She had come to care for him a great deal in such a short time, almost as if he were her little brother.

"Hi Pixie-chan!"

"Hey Honey-chan. Have you got a second?"

"Sure! There's some time before I have to be in the Club room. What's up?"

Sky tucked her lip between her teeth while she fished a small book from her schoolbag.

"I was just wondering if you could do me a tiny little favor? I finally managed to get those pictures together for Tamaki. Would you please give this to him for me?"

Honey bounced to his feet and gladly took the picture album from her with another sunny grin.

"Of course! Tama-chan will be so happy! I can't wait to see all your costumes, Pixie-chan, I bet they're super cute!"

She chuckled quietly and ran one hand absently through her hair, giving a little shrug. She smiled wryly, then had an important thought. Oh damn, the Nurse!

"I don't know about that. But some of them are pretty good, I guess. Um. There's a few horror pieces in there, too. Just figured I should give you fair warning. There's like, um… There's some zombie prosthetics and a demon-nurse thing from the 'Silent Hill' movie toward the back."

Honey wrinkled his nose in distaste, and Sky almost laughed at how cute he looked. Then his face cleared, and he nodded seriously.

"Ok, I'll make sure everybody knows. Thanks for warning me, Pixie-chan, that could have been scary!"

Sky tousled the little blonde's hair, causing a peal of bell-like giggles. They said their goodbyes and she left, smiling to herself. It had been a good first week. She felt good. Refreshed. Almost like she'd been reborn, given a clean slate and a new start. She thought that moving to Japan had been a wonderful idea as she strode out of the building, a slight bounce in her step.

-The next Monday-

The weekend passed quietly for Sky, as weekends usually did. She found herself missing Honey and his friends more than once, and the feeling shocked her. It had been so long since she'd let anyone get close to her. She knew she had to try, she couldn't hide in her solitude forever. Eventually, she would have to move on and stop letting her past ruin the present, or she'd never have any future.

Walking through the halls before class on Monday morning, she found herself holding her head up, instead of staring down at her feet. She was smiling and felt almost carefree. What a strange sensation! Here she was, surrounded by people, half of them male, and she was calm and peaceful.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't look before rounding a corner, and walked right into someone, her face colliding with a very solid chest. She yelped and jumped back, apologizing profusely.

"It's alright, Sky. Are you hurt?"

She gasped, startled at the voice. She looked up to see who she'd run into, and was surprised to see the nearly-silent Takashi looking at her with a mixture of amusement and concern. She glanced down at her feet, suddenly shy.

"I'm fine, just clumsy. Lost in the clouds again, I guess."

He made a soft sound that might have been a laugh, and Sky looked up just in time to see the corner of his lips lift in a little smirk. She offered a small, shy smile in return. It was almost time for class to start, so she took a deep breath, gathering up her courage, and tried to speak as casually as possible.

"Want to walk to class with me?"

When he nodded in response, a small blush crept up her cheeks. She wasn't sure why she was blushing, but tried to shove the thought from her mind. Then she noticed something missing.

"Oh hey, where's your hyper little shadow?"

"Already in class."

Sky nodded as they started walking. Neither said anything else, but it was a companionable silence. It was nice, not having to force herself to speak. She found it odd that she felt so comfortable walking so close to any male, but especially one so tall and strong. He was just the sort of person she would have been deathly afraid of back in New York, so why was she so calm now? She didn't understand, but she wasn't about to question it. Perhaps she was finally getting over her fears.

They reached the classroom, and Takashi held the door open for her. She offered a tiny smile and whispered her thanks, earning a little nod in response. Honey waved enthusiastically from his seat as they walked in, and his grin was huge and radiant. She patted his head as she walked by, and he reached up to give her hand a little squeeze. There was no time to talk, however, because the teacher walked in at that moment. Sky gave Honey a quick smile as she took her seat.

-Lunchtime-

Once again, Honey invited Sky to eat lunch with the Host Club, and once again, Sky declined. Her anxiety was starting to get better, but she still preferred to eat in the quiet classroom. She didn't say so to Honey, but she knew that she would receive too many stares and dirty looks from the female population if she dared to sit with their precious Hosts. The glares and comments never bothered her personally, but she didn't want the lads to be upset if they happened to notice.

She sat quietly, picking at her food, not particularly hungry. She almost wished that she had accepted Honey's offer this time, it would have been nice to eat with friends. She laughed quietly to herself, still shocked that she had people she could call friends. It was still such an odd notion, she hadn't had friends since the accident that took her parents.

Before she had a chance to make herself depressed with thoughts of the past, the door creaked open. She looked up, wondering who was interrupting her solitude, and was surprised to see Tamaki. He sauntered in confidently, but thankfully didn't rush toward her.

"Good afternoon, princess! Honey-senpai said I could find you here."

"Tamaki, how many times am I going to have to tell you, I'm not a princess?"

She said it with a little grin and shook her head in amusement, so Tamaki didn't resort to pouting. He smiled broadly and sat on the desk beside hers.

"But of course you are! Maybe not the same kind of princess as other girls, but still a princess. All young ladies are princesses, remember?"

He was so sincere, and had such an innocent, naïve aura to him, that Sky almost reached out to pat him on the head. He was so much like a little puppy dog, she couldn't help but feel comfortable with him. She offered him a small but genuine smile as she pushed her food away and turned in her seat to face him.

"So you were looking for me? Did you need something?"

"I wanted to give this back, actually."

He held out the little photo album with her costume pictures. Sky accepted it, and was surprised that she didn't flinch when their fingers brushed. The time she had spent with Honey seemed to be doing her a world of good. Casual physical contact was beginning to get a little easier.

"Did you really make most of these yourself, Pixie? Some of them are amazing!"

A blush crept up her cheeks at the compliment and gave a little shrug.

"Yeah. I mean, there are a few pieces I found pre-made and stuff. But most of it's my own work. It's not so hard when you've got loads of free time."

"How on Earth did you make those zombie things? Those looked so real! They were scary!"

Sky snickered at the look that passed over his face. She couldn't help it, he looked so much like a child that accidently walked into the middle of a horror movie at the cinema.

"It's just foam latex and makeup, Tamaki. None of it's real, silly boy."

She reached out without thinking and patted his hand with a little smile. At the light touch, his expression immediately changed back to a sunny grin, and he captured her hand before she could pull away. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, but there was no fear.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and was going to let go, until he noticed a group of odd scars below her knuckles. He frowned, and softly ran his fingertips over them. His voice was soft, tinged with concern.

"Pixie, what are these scars?"

She glanced down at her hand and tucked her lip between her teeth. This was going to be awkward. But at least it was only the little ones on her hand. She hitched one shoulder up in a little shrug.

"Well, the big one there is just an old burn from baking. But um. That little jagged cluster there, that's… That's from the accident when I was eleven."

She tried to keep her voice as casual as possible, but Tamaki's face fell anyway. He let go of her hand and sat back, restraining himself from hugging her. Sky noticed his internal struggle and flashed a quick smile, hoping to relieve him.

"It's ok, really. These scars aren't the ones that are hard to talk about. And I promise not to faint, 'kay?"

Her response startled a laugh out of him, and she grinned back. She was going to say more, but the bell chose that moment to ring out. Lunch was over, and Tamaki had to get back to his own class. But first things first.

"Will you come to the Club after classes today?"

"Oh. Um. I, uh…"

"Please, princess?"

Oh God, not the puppy eyes, not the puppy eyes… Damnit. She sighed and nodded slightly, unable to resist. He was just too adorable.

"Alright, I'll…try."

"Hooray!"

She couldn't help the amused grin as the blonde raced out of the room. Well, this was going to be…interesting.