Waking up to sunshine on my face, and a warm breeze from the open window next to the bed confused me at first. It wasn't till i sat up and looked around that it all came rushing back to me. The news from Maria, the sudden flight to the beach, the moment with Kyoya, and the following antics of the hosts as they tried to cheer me up. With a yawn, i stretched like a cat, and slid out of the bed to pad out of the room to the kitchen of the summer house.

As i stepped into the room, my eyebrows flew up in surprise at finding Kaoru standing by the oven reading over a book of some sort while stirring in a pot.

"Good morning Kao-" He let out an unearthly yelp, and jumped accidentally knocking the pot off the stove spilling oatmeal all over himself, and the floor.

"Shit!" He leapt back from the hot food to avoid being burned, and slammed his hand into the corner of the counter, hard.

"Kaoru! Oh my gosh!" Jumping forward, i ran across the room to where he stood cradling his hand, and scowling at the mess on the floor in front of him. "Are you ok?" Without thought, i took his hand in mine, turning it over so i could see the bruise already forming on it. "What were you doing that made you jump like that?" He frowned at the floor and tried to tug his hand out of mine, but i refused to let go.

"Fine, i was trying to make you breakfast so you could eat in bed." A small smile slid unintentionally over my face, and a soft giggle escaped causing his face to turn bright red. Huffing he tried to yank his hand away from mine again, but i refused to let go.

"Wait I'm sorry i wasn't laughing at you! I couldn't help but smile at the thought of breakfast in bed. I should've had someone warn you guys, but it's been scientifically proven that everything goes horribly wrong for people who try to make me breakfast in bed. Last time it was tried we had to call the fire department and evacuate the apartment building…." He stared at me incredulously for a moment, before moodily muttering,

"Well that would've been nice to know."

With another soft smile, i patted his arm gently.

"You tried your best so thanks for that, but lets get you cleaned up shall we? I'll help you out it's only fair since i'm the reason you messed up." So saying, i escorted him to the sink to wash his hand with cold water. Running his hand under the water, i brushed my fingertips gently around the bruise to clean away residue oatmeal stuck to it. When i glanced at Kaoru i froze though. His head was tilted to the side, eyes closed, a hint of a smile on his face, and i couldn't help but think of how a cat looks when it's being petted after waiting for it for a long time.

Cracking an eye open, his amber gold eye met my own and flushing at being caught staring i looked away quickly, and went back to work. A tension that hadn't been there a moment before filled the air between Kaoru and i as i worked on his hand, and he stood there. It was early enough i didn't think anyone would be up for quite a while, so i wasn't sure how i was going to get out of this easily. Trying my hardest to ignore the conversation Kyoya and i had had that day a while ago proved not to be as easy as i'd hoped. Especially when the object of said conversation was currently right next to you.

"So, um thanks for taking me out here…." He shrugged, and eyes till closed responded almost carelessly.

"It was your idea, we just have the means to fulfill it." I had no idea how to respond to that, so after a few moments of silence, i turned the water off, and stepped away from him.

"Well, err, your hand is good i think. I should really be going though, so, um, yeah-" As i began walking away, Kaoru spun and grabbed my hand pulling me to a halt.

"Wait!" There was a desperation in his voice, a need that made me freeze completely.

"Y-yeah?" A moment of silence before he opened his mouth to say-

"Oy what happened in here?" Looking up, i found Hikaru standing there, his eyes narrowed on Kaoru and i. Yanking my hand from Kaoru's as the awkward tension dissipated in an instant, i all but ran from the room. As i ran i heard Kaoru explaining he'd dropped the breakfast he'd been working on, but i didn't stay to hear the rest. Rather, i booked it outta the summer house down the beach as fast as possible.

What the hell was that? It was so awkward! He looked so intensely at me, i can't say i liked it. A pair of dark eyes that stared at me with an equal intensity at times flashed through my mind, and my heart beat a little harder. Stop it! Why am i thinking of Kyoya right now? Ugh he annoys me so much sometimes! Making stupid accusations like with Kaoru then turning around and comforting me when i'm in pain….Guys are so weird. Hikaru didn't look too thrilled to find me there with Kaoru either. If anything he looked kinda pissed off….

Halting my run, i glanced back to find quite the distance between the summer house and myself. So relaxing somewhat, i slowed to a steady walk from my previous mad dash. Glancing down the beach, i could see smoke rising in the distance. What's that? Did something catch on fire? It took a while for me to reach it, and by the time i did the sun was pretty high in the sky, and i was sweating bullets from the heat and exertion. Let's just blame the heat though.

Upon reaching where the fire was, i was surprised to find a small group of houses that led down a road to what appeared to be a small town. My jaw dropped. And here i was thinking we were the only people on the island. Walking down the road, I came to the conclusion that these had to be summer houses of some sort. It would make sense. I mused as i walked down the street. This is the Ootori's island they probably rent out these summer houses to rich people to earn a pretty bit of money on the side. I snorted, something told me that the elegant, well taken care of cabins on either side of the road were the elites definition of roughing it out. And something told me that the inside was not like your typical log cabin.

Is anyone here? I was opening my mouth to call out and see if any of the houses were occupied, when there was a crash and a thud from the house i was just going by, and a woman's high pitched, plaintive scream echoed out. Spinning, i dashed to the door and began pounding on it hollering at the top of my lungs.

"Hello?! Are you ok!? Can i come in?!" Rather than receiving an answer, or no answer at all, i was surprised when a middle aged man answered the door with a pleasant smile on his face.

"Can i help you miss?" Confused, i took a small step back from the imposing man now standing in the door.

"Uh, yeah i thought i heard a scream and a crash. I just came to check it out." He smiled again, flashing straight white teeth, but i couldn't help but sense a rising tension in him.

"Oh that was nothing, just my wife dropped a plate on her foot." From my vantage point, i glanced over his shoulder, and was able to see the bottom of the stairs that led up to what i assumed was a loft. Kneeling next to those stairs, was a younger woman maybe only a few years older than myself. She was bent over picking up pieces of a shattered mug or something with shaking hands. It wasn't till she looked up towards the door that my stomach did a flip flop. A darkening bruise was already spreading and leaving its nasty mark over her face, and she appeared to have a split lip.

"You bastard." My voice was a low hiss.

"Excuse me? How dare you! You rude little-" I cut him off with a deadly smile.

"I'm not rude, i just wasn't taught to politely pretend to be nice to people i can't stand. And a wife beating no good asshole is definitely on that list." A glance down to the hand that held the door knob showed a fist with bloody knuckles, and me being me egged him on farther as my emotions spiraled out of control. "What did she do huh? Wound your pride a little? Well let me tell you, hurting people won't help you regain that pride. It only puts it farther out of your reach." Snarling i stepped closer, all of barely over five foot and i was intimidating this big man who was built like a linebacker.

As i stepped forward i snarled, "People like you who abuse the power they were born or put into piss me off more than anything else." My father flashed through my mind and my voice darkened. "There's only so much bullying a person can take or see someone else take, and i'm sick and tired of it." The man finally seemed to realize that he was backing away from some mere highschool chit, so stepping forward, he forced me back.

"You're wrong." His voice was a low, desperate growl. "I'm strong, i'm only looking out for her." Fury made me see red for a second as my jaw clenched so tightly my teeth ground together.

"Real strength isn't like that! The truly strong think of others before themselves. They notice when other people are hurting, they're not the ones who cause the pain, and if so it's never anything like this. You? You are anything but strong." His hand flew up like he was going to hit me as i spoke. My green eyes flashed to his muddy brown ones, and filled with determination, i snapped. "You know i'm right don't you! That's why you're gonna hit me rather than argue. Doesn't that mean i win?" The man stumbled back. He must've seen something in my eyes that scared him, because he couldn't seem to get away from me fast enough as i stepped towards the woman on the ground, as she watched the confrontation.

"W-why did you do that?" Her voice was low, fearful as she looked down at the ground, her long black hair shielding her face. "Why would you protect me?" Kneeling next to her, i placed a gentle hand on her shoulder ignoring how she flinched away.

"Because, I know how you feel. A girl's gotta stand up for another girl right? I don't see why even though i'm a woman i couldn't protect someone else." She peered at me through her hair showing intelligent, sparkling brown eyes.

"Y-yeah i...i agree." Standing up, i extended a hand to her.

"C'mon, i have a friend who's a doctor in training so to speak. He'll patch you up and we can figure this out." Nodding, she hesitantly reached out and took my hand. What we'd both forgotten about in the moment, was that she was still holding glass shards, so when she grasped my hands they cut me.

"Ow!" Jerking my hand back, i shook it in a desperate attempt to alleviate the stinging.

"Oh my gosh i'm sorry!"

"No no it's fine! I shoulda paid attention. Don't worry about it." Sticking my hand out i tried for a small smile. "Let's try this again." This time, i got her up with no difficulty, and turning, i ushered her towards the door. Sending a stinging glance back at the man as he stood on the far side of the room i spoke softly, "Next time you even think of doing this you jerkwad, just remember Nala Fuyumi will come after your no good ass." So saying, i escorted the girl out of the cabin. Once we reached the end of the trail, i kinda just stared down the beach realizing we had to walk the length of the beach to get to the summer house.

With a frown, i turned back to the girl. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have a phone would you?" Of course this is the one time i wouldn't have it. Ugh.

"Y-yes." Reaching into the pocket of her skirt, she extracted the cellphone and handed it to me. Let's see….Haruhi and Tamaki were up late last night doing i don't even want to know what, so it's possible she's still not up since it's not lunch time yet. I don't know Honey or Mori's numbers by heart, i can't call Kaoru after that weirdness this morning….Well guess i know who i'm calling. I wasn't surprised when he answered on the first ring.

"Hello?" He was using his 'I'm all business right now' voice. Awkwardly rubbing the back of my head with my knuckles so i didn't get blood in my hair, i spoke hesitantly into the phone.

"Uh..hey Ootori, it's Nala.."

"Nala?" His voice was much more relaxed, and worried now. Weird combination… "Where are you? Kaoru said you left in a hurry, but he hasn't seen you for hours. I was preparing to send them out hunting for you." My heart softened as he spoke. He cared...they all did!

"Well, um, funny story for you...that's not really that funny...I'll explain when you get here, but could you maybe drive a golf cart to the far side of the beach? It needs to be able to fit two more people along with you."

"Two more?" His voice was suddenly cool.

"Yeah, i..uh...picked up a friend? Look i'll explain when you get here bye!" I hastily hung up, trying to figure out why i was suddenly so flustered. "My friend will be here soon to get us don't worry." I smiled over at her. "Meanwhile want to sit and we can talk over what the hell that was."

We did just that, and i soon found out just exactly who this girl was. Her name i discovered, was Ayumi Cho. She was the daughter of a well to do lawyer, and to further her father's career she'd been married off to his business partner, the man i'd saved her from. Her father didn't know it, but his business partner wasn't the nice mellow guy he'd originally seemed to be. He'd been fine at first, and Ayumi had been in bliss for the first few weeks before things started spiraling out of control.

The actually abuse hadn't started until after the first month of her marriage. She was terrified that if she left her now husband that her father would end up suffering for it, so she'd been trying to ignore the abuse, but she couldn't anymore. I'd actually saved her from a pretty bad fate she told me, because she'd just told her husband she was going to leave him and he hadn't reacted well. Then i'd appeared and saved both of us from him.

"I'll be forever grateful Fuyumi-san." She bowed deeply to me. Waving my hands frantically i shook my head.

"No it's fine! I was just trying to help i did what anyone would've done!" She raised a brow at me.

"Do you honestly think that Fuyumi-san?" Flushing i looked away from her steady, clear gaze.

"Well...i...hope that's what people would do...And please call me Nala not Fuyumi!" Smiling at me, she nodded her head in acknowledgement of my request.

We talked for well over half an hour before either of us realized a golf cart was steadily coming closer to where we were sitting on the sand.

"That looks like it's our ride!" Standing up, i began dramatically waving my arms to get the driver's attention. It probably wasn't needed, but i did it anyway, because ya know why not? As they drew closer, i recognized Kyoya driving, but something in his oh so blank face told me he wasn't happy. It practically radiated off of him. I slowly stopped waving, and slid my bleeding hand behind my back. He's kinda emitting these 'i'm so super mad' vibes right now…..Does he even realize it? Yeah, yeah he probably does….He knows all, sees all, all that fun stuff.

"Nala." He pulled up next to us, careful to not spray sand all over us. His glasses flashed, hiding his eyes, but i knew what he saw just then. A young woman, with a black eye and a split lip, and me, with a nervous grin, and a bloody shirt from where i'd been trying to stop my hand from bleeding.

"Hey there Kyoya….Uh...nice weather isn't it?" His face didn't change, but his aura darkened considerably. "Right! Getting in the golf cart! You first Ayumi!" With a nod, she slid into the small backseat, before i slid into the spot next to Kyoya.

It was an awkward, silent drive back to the summer house. By the time we reached it, i was coming down off my adrenaline high, and starting to shake. That could've all gone so very, very wrong, Why don't i bloody consider that before i charge into situations!? Silently berating myself, Ayumi and myself trailed after Kyoya as he walked, still silently furious, across the lawn to the front door. When it was opened, all the hosts tumbled out around me asking if i was ok, what had happened, etc.

"Guys, guys! Relax! Breath! I'm fine, but," I pulled Ayumi Forward. "Guys this is Ayumi Cho, i, uh, kinda helped her out, and, well…" I trailed off awkwardly, but Ayumi filled the silence, her brown eyes full of awe and respect as she spoke.

"Nala was like an angel! My husband was beating me, and Nala just kinda burst in, took him on, berated him into a complete state of shame, and swept me out of there!" The eyes of all the hosts swept from Ayumi to me in shock and awe. Awkwardly smiling, i shuffled on my feet, trying to ignore Kyoya's sudden, harsh frown.

"It didn't happen quite like that, I was just in the right place at the right time. That's all…" Ayumi shook her head, and launched off into her story. As she spoke however, i snuck past the other hosts, into the house to clean and bandage my hand. I was standing at the kitchen counter, rinsing my hand like i'd been doing to Kaoru earlier in the morning, humming to myself to try and distract myself from the stinging.

"You got hurt."

"Sweet mother of of small children!" I jumped about five feet off the ground in terror at the sudden voice behind me, and spun to face the person only to find none other than the great Ootori himself standing there. "What the hell man!? You just scared the living daylights out of me!" There was no sympathy in his eyes as he surveyed me from where he was standing at the door. Something must've shown on my face, because his troubled expression cleared, and stepping forward, he took my hand in his, and turning it over began to examine the small, shallow cuts covering it. I winced when his fingers brushed over my palm.

"Have they stayed bleeding the entire time?" His voice was so entirely focused and business like. At my nod, another frown slid over his face, and he gently brushed his fingers over the cuts eliciting a hiss from me. "It would appear you have glass caught in the cuts. Here," He sat me in a chair at the table, and went over to a cabinet from which he withdrew a first aid kit. "I'll extract the pieces from your hand, because i doubt you could do it yourself."

Rolling my eyes i stared up at him as he came over, muttering to myself.

"Oh yes, because i am such an incompetent person." The hand around mine tensed briefly, before he dropped it, and glared down at me for real now. Oh shit i ticked him off.

**Authors Note**

He he...So far so good? I'm kind of planning on speeding it up a bit from here, i think you guys have enough of Nala's background that i can amp up the romance. You guys ok with that? Also, do you guys want me to bring back the whole thing with her dad soon? Or should i let Nala and the hosts have a few more chapters of normal (ish) host club days before the darker drama comes back? I honestly never thought i would get this far with the story i'm so happy :D thank you all so much for your amazing reviews! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this and what should happen next! Btw for all those who are rooting for kyoya x Nala be prepared for an intense next chapter! Also! Would someone like to help me out by coming up with ship names for them? I would appreciate it so much! Thanks all and enjoy!