Chapter 2

Kyoya ducked through the crowded school corridor towards his classroom. Overnight the bruise on his cheek had bloomed into a deep purple, spanning from his jawline up to his eyebrow. He could hear people's comments as he passed.

"Fighting like a common thug. How vulgar."

"Oh, his poor handsome face! What a shame."

"Ha! Pretty boy isn't looking so hot anymore."

"Do you think his father did that to him?"

The swirling remarks made him burn with shame. He picked up his pace to the door of his classroom and slid into his desk. The idle chatter of his classmates evaporated as he unpacked his books. He knew they were all looking at him, but he kept his eyes fixed on the top of his desk.

"Kyoya!" A body flopped into the chair in front of him. Tamaki leaned onto the desktop and pushed his smiling face into Kyoya's line of sight. Kyoya had no choice but to make eye contact. The moment he did Tamaki laughed in delight. "Look! We match!" Tamaki pointed to his cheek that had also swelled overnight. A thin red slash on his cheekbone was encircled by a green and yellow bruise that turned purple under his eye.

Despite himself, Kyoya could not withstand Tamaki's ridiculous lopsided grin. Letting out a snort of amusement, Kyoya lifted his head with an air of dignity and brushed his hair aside so that Tamaki could get a good look at his face. "Mine is bigger."

"Yeah, but mine is more colourful," said Tamaki. "I think it adds character. Girls like character." He turned to wink at a trio of girls loitering near the desk. Emboldened by the attention, they came up begging to know what happened. Kyoya opened his mouth to give a dismissive answer, but Tamaki answered first. The rest of their classmates gathered around to listen to Tamaki as he gave an exaggerated account of the assault.

Kyoya could feel himself starting to sweat as he watched the students around them become absorbed in the dramatic retelling. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to think about it. He gripped the edge of the desk with white knuckles and stared down at the floor, trying to block out his friend's words. He wished he would stop, but Tamaki could spin a good tale and people were leaning forward, hooked on every word. As Tamaki built up to a grand climax, Kyoya's sudden need to get away overpowered his self-discipline and he bolted to his feet. Tamaki stopped and looked at him in surprise but couldn't say anything due to the teacher walking in at that moment to start class. The students' disappointment at having the story interrupted was palpable as everyone shuffled to their desks. Kyoya blew out a breath and sunk into his desk, relieved.

Kyoya followed Tamaki into the dining hall for lunch. In the hallway he heard many of the same comments he had that morning. He was sure that Tamaki heard them too, but seemed unbothered. No surprise there, thought Kyoya. Tamaki had the marvellous gift of being impervious to criticism. Unkindness just rolled off him like water off the feathers of a duck.

As they entered the dining hall, Tamaki was swarmed by girls asking about his face. Pleased with the attention, Tamaki launched into another theatrical retelling of the kidnapping. Somehow the story had grown into an unrecognizable tale about Tamaki singlehandedly saving Kyoya from a band of ninja. Still, the absurd story make Kyoya's skin crawl and he especially disliked how at the end, many of the girls rushed over to him and began smothering him with sympathy. Some were even bold enough rub Kyoya's back or brush his hair with their fingers so they could get a better look at his injured face. Their crowding made him feel claustrophobic. He would have like nothing better than to slap their hands away and snap at them about respecting personal boundaries. But etiquette demanded that he smile, thank them for their kindness, then move away from their pawing hands.

Using his most charming smile, he managed to re-direct the girls towards Tamaki and slip away. He headed to the far corner of the dining hall where he spotted Honey and Mori.

"Kyo-chan! Come sit with us." Honey indicated the empty seat across from him.

With a nod of gratitude Kyoya sunk into the offered chair.

"Are you okay?" asked Honey. "There're all kinds of rumors going around about what happened."

"No doubt. Most of them probably started with that idiot." Kyoya gestured towards Tamaki holding court across the room. He yawned and rubbed his sore jaw. "Sorry, I'm just feeling tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"What happened?" asked Mori.

Kyoya hesitated. He didn't want to talk about it, but they were going to find out one way or another and he'd rather they know the truth than whatever nonsense Tamaki would feed to them. He was about to give a brief account when the Hikaru and Kaoru appeared from behind him.

"Geez, that's worse than Tono's" said Hikaru, leaning over Kyoya's shoulder and running his finger along the injured jaw line. Kyoya winced away from the touch only to have his face forcibly turned towards Kaoru.

"Just look at how deep that purple is. Almost black."

"More blueish, I think."

Kyoya batted their hands away and gave the twins a glare that made them back off a step. They settled down into chairs on either side of him.

"Well?" said Hikaru. "Come on, let's have it."

"Yeah," added Kaoru. "Let's hear the real story."

Kyoya took a bracing breath and again started to describe yesterday's incident but was cut off by Honey's exclamation.

"Haru-chan! We don't usually see you in the dining hall."

"I heard some crazy stories about Tamaki-Senpai and Kyoya-Senpai. I wanted to come and make sure everything was okay." Haruhi took a seat next to Honey and leaned forward, taking a good look at Kyoya's face. "By the looks of it, at least some of the stories are true."

"Maybe in part," replied Kyoya, trying not to clench his teeth. "I doubt anyone has heard the true version of events."

"Then hurry up and tell it," said Hikaru.

"Yeah. We want to be the first," added Kaoru.

For the third time Kyoya began describing the incident. With minimal details, and a flat voice that sounded far steadier than he felt, he recounted as best he could the men grabbing him, Tamaki getting hit, and his bodyguards coming to the rescue. He told them about the police coming to the house and interviewing him. Finally, he explained about the ex-employee and his plan to ransom him back to his family.

"My father told me this morning that the Black Onion Squad picked up him late last night," he said. "He's in jail with the other kidnappers, awaiting their hearing." After he finished speaking the was a pause. The Host Club members sat staring at Kyoya, digesting what he had told them. Haruhi spoke first.

"That sounds like it was terrifying. Hard to image someone wanting to harm you because of what your name is."

Kyoya made a dismissive gesture. "Obviously, I don't take it personally. It's simply a reality of being part of a family of consequence. It's why I have bodyguards."

"If that's true, why don't all of you have teams of bodyguards?" Haruhi looked around the table at the other boys.

"Honey and Mori don't really need bodyguards," said Hikaru.

"Yeah, they're already better trained then almost anybody they could hire," added Kaoru.

"As for us," they said in unison. "Being part of a family of flower arrangers and fashion designers is pretty low risk compared to a family running an entire zaibatsu."

Kyoya yawned again. It was a strange feeling, being worked up and dead tired at the same time. "Listen, now that you've heard the story, I don't want to talk about it ever again. Okay? Let's just forget that it happened. Also, I'd like to cancel today's club meeting. I was up late last night and I would rather meet another day."

"Can you do that?" asked Kaoru. "Just announce that a meeting is cancelled?"

The Shadow King stood up from the table and adjusted his glasses, causing the light to flash off the lenses. "I'm the club vice-president. I can do whatever I want."

"Hello, darling. How was your day?" Yoshio leaned down to kiss his wife's cheek before sitting down at the dining room table. "Is Kyoya not down for dinner yet?"

"I just checked on him," said Akito, Yoshio's second son, as he pulled out a chair to sit down. "He says he's not hungry."

Yoshio raised his eyebrows. "Is he ill?"

Akito shook his head while dishing rice into his bowl. "I think he's only tired. He did, after all, have a late night."

"Yet he was up early this morning. He left for school before I even came down for breakfast," said Yoshio.

Kyoya's mother looked up at her husband in surprise. "Left early? Kyoya never gets up early. Are you sure he's all right? Yoshio, you should have told him to stay home today if he wasn't feeling well."

Yoshio dismissively waved a hand at his wife's comment. "I'm sure if he was unwell, he would have stayed home of his own accord. If he went, he must be okay."

"He loves school," said Akito. "If you had told him he could stay home, he would have gone anyway."

Unconvinced, the Ootori matriarch crossed her arms and fixed her gazed on her husband. "Yoshio, our son was nearly kidnapped and the very next morning he does something that is completely out of character. I'm worried about him."

Yoshio sighed. "Yes, darling, I know. But considering what happened, it would be strange if Kyoya didn't have a bit of an off day today. Just give him some space. You know how much he values his privacy. He'll get annoyed if we start meddling."

"Yoshio, I want you to speak to him and make sure that he's alright."

"I'll have to see what my schedule looks like. I have to meet with the lawyers tomorrow and then there's the meeting with administration heads of the Tokyo area hospitals, and-"

"Yoshio." His wife's tone brooked no argument.

"All right, all right." Yoshio put up a hand in surrender. "I will try to find some time to speak with him, but I really think you're are overreacting. Kyoya is fine."

Kyoya gasped and bolted up in bed, panting like he had just been running a race. Bewildered, he glanced around his dark bedroom, looking for danger. The room was still and quiet. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. Holding his head in his hands he tried to remember the nightmare that woke him. He couldn't recall any images, just the feeling of pure terror.

He tried to lay back down, but found his pillow and sheets soaked with sweat. He pulled himself out of the tangled sheets and swung his feet to the floor. He squinted at the glowing numbers on his alarm clock, trying to read them without his glasses. 2:23 AM. He had only been asleep for about three hours. He knew he wouldn't be sleeping again tonight. At least now it was Saturday and he didn't have to go to school in the morning.

He got up and stumbled into his bathroom. He winced as he turned on the light. Running the faucet, he splashed cool water on his face. Letting the water run down his skin, Kyoya regarded his face in the mirror. Half of his face looked perfectly normal. He turned his head so only that side was reflected in the mirror. That was the Kyoya he knew. Calm, cool, and cunning.

He turned his head. The other side of his face was altogether different. Chaotic, injured, and ugly. The swelling had gone down, but the bruise was still vibrant. Although he had never seen it before, Kyoya felt like he knew this face too. This face looked like how he felt.

He had told his friends that he hadn't slept much the night before, which was true, but he had let them assume that it was because the police interviews had carried on late. The truth was that he every time he had closed his eyes, he felt the kidnappers dragging him into the car, smelled the stench of cigarettes, and saw light disappearing behind a closing door. He had ended up spending the night watching old game shows on TV and jumping at every sound the house made.

Leaving the bathroom, he grabbed his glasses from his nightstand and pulled the duvet off the bed. Wrapping it around his shoulders, he dragged it down the stairs to the couch in the lower part of his room. Curling up in the blanket, he flicked on the TV. The dark room filled with a comforting glow.

He wished he had some company. Somebody to sit with him. It was an odd feeling. He had always been comfortable on his own. Loneliness was a new sensation. He toyed with the idea of calling Tamaki, but dismissed it. It would be nice if there was someone in the house he could go to. He thought of his sister, Fuyumi. She wouldn't have minded if he came into her bedroom and woke her up. In fact, she would have been thrilled to have an excuse to snuggle up with her little brother. But she lived with her new husband now, and he knew that his brother would not be as keen to give him familial affection in the middle of the night.

He shivered and pulled the blanket tighter. He pushed the loneliness down and resigned himself to wait out the night. Alone.