Faint sounds of music and voices floated on the evening air; murmured conversations, the clink of glasses and the occasional burst of high spirited laughter. Haruhi smiled to herself and tilted her head back slightly; letting the cool breeze catch the bangs of her short hair and soothe her warm brow. At least the guests seemed to be having fun. She lifted the skirts of her dress and stumbled ungracefully down the small flight of stairs leading to the rose garden. After a quick look around to make sure no one had witnessed her clumsy descent, she bent down and pulled the hated high heels from her feet; no matter what Kyouya said she wasn't going to break her ankle in these stupid things. Why, if Mori hadn't caught her….

…..Mori…..

She shook her head with a slightly bemused smile.

High heels hooked on the fingers of one hand she walked into the rose-studded high hedges of the garden, bare feet whispering gently on the cool grass.

Eventually she escaped the muted sounds of the party and sat gratefully on a small white stone bench. For a moment she just sat; swinging her legs so her feet skimmed across the delightfully cool grass and running her hands over the weathered stone of the bench. Then once again she tilted her face to the sky, pale moonlight illuminating her face, to look at the stars.

Still. Silent. Mysterious. Watchful.

Now that she thought about it, they reminded her of a certain someone.

Cheeks blooming with a faint blush she lowered her face to her lap and replayed what had happened earlier in her mind.

His firm grip on the shoulders, the faint smell of his aftershave, the look of concern in his eyes.

Those calm grey eyes.

Just thinking about them made her smile to herself. She'd sometimes look around at the club and catch him looking at her. He'd always hurriedly drop his eyes, almost respectfully, as if he didn't deserve to be looking at her.

But whenever he did look at her….

She felt safe. As though nothing could possibly hurt her, because Mori would always be watching, to keep her safe, to protect her….

Just like tonight.

But, she thought, sighing softly, what would someone like Mori ever want with someone like her? She wasn't pretty or elegant like the customers at the club. She couldn't even walk in a pair of heels without tripping over her own feet.

Besides, she thought, staring at her bare feet, Mori was busy with Honey. He had more important things to worry about without having to run around after some clumsy girl who couldn't keep her balance.

Lost in her own thoughts, Haruhi didn't realise that she wasn't alone in the garden.

She didn't smell the odour of stale beer hiding under the scent of the rose petals.

She didn't hear the uneven footsteps on the grass.

She didn't see the dark silhouettes of the three boys as they staggered drunkenly through the hulking shapes of the hedges towards her benches.

Kazama Iku staggered unsteadily along the path, clutching blindly at unseen branches to keep his balance. He and his two friends, currently tottering along behind him, had been drinking beer in a nearby park; their normal routine for a Saturday night. Araki's older brother had bought them some beer but the beer had been drunk quickly and they were soon bored. Takumi had mentioned that he'd heard there was a party going on uptown, one of those posh schools.

"Invitation only though, posh bastards," he had slurred, leaning on the park railing for support, "no chance for us." He took another swig of his beer and spat into the grass.

"Don't know 'bout that" Iku said thoughtfully.

Takumi's face crumpled in idiotic confusion. "How'dya mean?"

"Well," Iku said, swaying slightly, "I'm thinking, right, what if, right, we just go anyways. I mean that place is massive, s'got to be somewhere we can climb the fence or something right?"

Takumi's face cleared in an expression of grinning admiration. "Boss, you're a genius!"

"I know," he said, smiling light-headedly. Rich bastards, thinking they're better than them! They'd show them. Posh parties are bound to have posh booze, like that fizzy stuff, not beer but it'd do. There'd be girls too.

Iku grinned in the darkness. "Where's Araki?"

"Throwing up behind a tree I think boss."

"Go get him."

"But Iku…"

"Now!"

They made their drunken way to the railing surrounding the school property and with much swearing and falling had eventually managed to tumble over it, landing in a handy thicket of rose buses on the other side. Cursing and bleeding in a dozen places, Iku staggered to his feet and started towards the distant sounds of music.

And now look here, they didn't even need to go all the way to the fancy ballroom, here was a pretty girl here all by herself and she hadn't even noticed them yet.

Iku grinned to himself, the moonlight throwing shadows on his face which gave him a distinct jack-o-lantern style look. He flicked his dirty hair out of his eyes to get a closer look at the girl sitting on the bench,

She taken her shoes off and was idly swinging her bare feet through the grass, the face tilted toward the sky. The stars reflected in her eyes, turning them into sparkling pools.

Iku made 'come-on' motions with his hand over his shoulder to his two friends. Takumi grinned idiotically back at him and nodded. Araki blinked stupidly and looked vaguely around as if he wasn't sure where he was.

Iku turned back to the girl. Moving quietly, if a little unsteadily, he circled around until her was behind her. Lost in her own thoughts she didn't even notice him until he was right behind her.

He clamped one large hand down on her slim shoulder.

"Now what's a pretty girl like you doing sitting here by herself?"