Disclaimer: We do not own anything in this fic except the plotline and our original characters. Everything else belongs to their respective owners.

Chapter Eight

Slander

The girls led Guardian into one of the libraries and sat down in one of the corners where there were some couches, armchairs, and a thick carpet upon the floor. Fallin situated Guardian on one of the couches with Mokona settling in the Light Alchemist's lap and the rest of the girls finding seats around the two Rangers. Fallin sat down next to Guardian and asked her friend gently, "Guardian...is something wrong? If there is, you can tell us. It's just us girls here now."

Guardian nodded, but didn't say anything afterwards. Fallin remembered that Guardian had suddenly left after dancing a short waltz with Fai...then it clicked. "Guardian, does this have to do something with Fai, by any chance?"

Mokona felt Guardian flinch and looked up at her. The little alchemist's eyes were filled with sadness and Mokona saw tears appear in her eyes before she nodded slightly. This puzzled Mokona. "But why would you feel sad about Fai, Guardian? I don't understand."

"It's...complicated, Mokona."

"Is it because you love Fai, Guardian?" The little alchemist gasped at Mokona's question, her eyes widening, before she started to stammer. "I-I-I don't know what you mean, Mokona."

"Yes, you do. You love Fai...don't you, Guardian? And not just as a friend, but something more?" Guardian stared at her little friend flabbergasted before petting Mokona's head with a small sad smile. "You're definitely more perceptive about other people than you let on, Mokona."

"That's one of Mokona's 108 Secret Talents. I have known that you've had feelings for Fai for a while now. It started while you were sick after your nightmare. You didn't realize your feelings, but they were there. Mokona could tell." Guardian could feel the tears well up in her eyes, but she still grinned down at Mokona.

"You're right, Mokona. I...I love Fai...I have for a while now, but I'm... I'm too afraid to tell him how I feel about him." Mokona and the other girls looked puzzled.

"Why are you afraid, Guardian?"

"I know it may seem kind of silly, Mokona, but...why would Fai want a girl like me? I'm not pretty by any means...not like some of the other girls that come to the Host Club. Why would he possibly pick a simple, ordinary girl like me to love? Plus what if he doesn't love me like I love him? I don't want to ruin our friendship because of my feelings..." Guardian sniffed. Her friendship with the mage was one of the things that was the most precious to her and she wasn't willing to lose it...not ever.

xXx

The boys had finished talking when they heard the door to the Host Club open and looked at the doorway. Fai stood up and walked towards the girls as they filed into Music Room 3 and stopped in front of Guardian. The little alchemist looked up at him with a small grin, but her eyes didn't reflect her smile.

That look in her eyes...he knew it all too well because he used to have the same look as well when he was around the others. No, he didn't want her to respond like this around him…he didn't want her to have to hide secrets away from him. Fai had no secrets to hide from her...he didn't want her to have to hide secrets from him. Well...no secrets...except one...one that he wouldn't tell her until he knew that they both were ready.

"Guardian...are you all right? If there's something bothering you, you can tell me." The little alchemist shook her head at the magician and replied, "I'm fine and...well, ask me another time and there will probably be a good chance that I'll tell you, Fai. I just need to think about some things for a while."

The magician nodded, not wanting to pry, and Guardian smiled at him for understanding. Then the door to Music Room 3 was opened and everyone turned to the door. But the person standing in the doorway was the last person Guardian wanted to see.

He had black hair and black blue eyes that gleamed like cold fire. He smiled at Guardian with a grin that made her blood run cold and her skin crawl. "Hello, Guardian. It's been a while since I've seen you last and you didn't even give me a chance to talk to you on the school grounds earlier."

Guardian sneered at him in reply. "Lucas."

Lucas smirked and sauntered over to Guardian, but Tamaki stood in his way. The boy glared at the Host King, but Tamaki stood his ground. "Move aside, Suoh."

"What are you doing here?" Tamaki asked him, his indigo eyes narrowing in anger. "The last time you came here, we told you to never come back or there would be consequences."

"Heh...well, I don't give up so easily, Suoh. I've had my eye on Guardian for a while now and all I wanted was to ask her out. But you and your measly Host Club got in the way."

"Because you were harassing her, Lucas, and we weren't going to tolerate that. Guardian's family to us and we aren't going to let you hurt her." Lucas growled at him and was about to lash out at Tamaki before Kurogane stepped in front of Tamaki and Guardian. The ninja growled at the younger boy and said harshly, "I think it's time for you to leave...and if you do anything to Guardian or hurt her in anyway, you have me to answer to. And I won't go easy."

Lucas got the message, but stood his ground and smirked at something to Kurogane's left. The ninja felt a hand touch his arm and he looked down. Guardian looked up at him, her eyes telling him thank you for standing up for her. "I'll handle this, Kurogane."

The ninja nodded before stepping back as Guardian stepped forward to face Lucas. He smirked and said, "So…have you changed your mind about my proposal, Guardian."

"Lucas...guys like you," Guardian said slowly, her eyes narrowing at him, trying not to let her anger get the best of her, but that didn't stop the venom from creeping into her voice, "and girls like me don't mix. I would never fall for someone like you: a man who is arrogant, pompous, and completely rude and not genteel towards women, including me. You are a playboy and I would never fall in love with someone like you, so just give up on me because I'll never break."

Lucas smiled and said as he walked up to Guardian, "Was it your dear saintly mother who taught you about what guys to watch out for? Or maybe it was your overprotective father instead?"

"Shut up." She didn't want him to talk about her parents that way. But he didn't stop there.

"Or maybe it was your sisters. I heard that Renee was very conservative about the guys she would hang out with as well. I also heard that you and your sisters were a couple of the only girls in school that weren't dating a boy and that you were teased by the 'popular girls'."

"Shut up, Lucas," Guardian growled at him, almost to the point that she was bearing her teeth at him. That didn't stop him and he just kept going on.

"Hmm...maybe it was all of them at the same time, but what are they now to you anyway. Oh, yeah. They can't help you anymore...can't defend you from everything that can hurt you. Such a shame and I heard that you were so close with your family, too. Now you're alone without a home to go back to...no family waiting for you at the door..."

"I said SHUT UP, Lucas!" Everyone jumped, including Lucas, when Guardian shouted at the boy, her chocolate eyes flashing dangerously. Her friends knew that she never acted this way unless she was really angry. "And don't you dare talk about my family that way. You have no idea what I've been through or anything concerning my family, so you have no right to slander me or my family. So get out of here right now or I swear that I'll throw you out myself!" Guardian yelled at him before showing him the door. Lucas looked at her with a small scowl on his face before he walked out the door.

"I'm not going to give up on you, Guardian. Remember that," Lucas said to her before Guardian slammed the door to Music Room 3 in his face. He smiled at the closed door then walked down the hall to find a place to hide before pursuing the little Ranger again.

Guardian leaned against the closed door dividing her from her tormentor, breathing hard, her head bowed with her bangs hiding her eyes. Tamaki walked over to her and gently put a hand on Guardian's shoulder. "Guardian...are you all right?"

Guardian sighed then looked up at Tamaki with tired eyes. "Yeah...I'll be all right. I just wish that that creep would give up on me. What he wants me to be for him, I cannot and will not be. It would be going against everything I've known…everything my parents taught me growing up. I want to find someone who loves me for who I am…not because of my abilities or anything of the sort. That's why I'll never give in to that monster…I would be betraying my true love if I did."

Tamaki nodded then smiled. Guardian was so strong and her faith was even stronger. "So...shall we plan the rest of the details for the ball?"

Guardian smiled and nodded before Tamaki led her to the others and they crowded around a table and finished the planning. After they were finished, Kyoya made a few phone calls and everything was arranged. The next three weeks leading up to the ball were busy with preparing and giving out invitations and Guardian knew that she would need to confess her feelings to Fai sooner or later before he and the others left for the next world. She decided that it would be after the ball when she would tell him.

Now Guardian's tormenter is revealed and next up the Ouran Ball begins!