"Leave my daughter out of this; this is between you and me only." Minoru said sternly though inside he was scared stiff by how the man in front of him seemed to be sharing an inside joke with his two bodyguards.

"My company will continue to fund your little tea shop only if you give us something in return." The man said as he leaned forward with a grin.

Meanwhile Nika was in her room with her rag doll in hand as she looked through her drawers for clothes.

"Oh Okaasan must have done the laundry." Nika said as she couldn't find any clothes.

"I'm going to have to go to the basement then Ikuko-Chan" Nika said to her rag doll as she peaked outside her door and quietly crept into the hallway and towards the laundry room in the basement.

"You can't be serious!! She's only 8!" Minoru yelled in disbelief.

"You obviously don't need the money that badly if you won't let me just sit down and talk with your daughter alone." The man said as he glanced out the corners of his cold eyes at his bodyguards who nodded.

"You wouldn't dare! Nika!!" Minoru got up and yelled only to find one of the bodyguards fist meeting his stomach.

Nika was pulling her clothes out of the dryer when she heard her father call for her so she skipped up the stairs and opened the door only to be met with the large older man staring down at her. His eyes were a cold grey as he smiled down at her, His hair was turning grey and he reeked of cigars.

"Ni-Ni-Chan was it?" The man asked taking a step forward while Nika retreated two steps back clutching her rag doll protectively.

"Why so scared little girl? I won't hurt you I just want to talk." He said trying to coax Nika to take his hand.

"Where's my Otousan?" Nika asked still taking steps back down the basement stairs.

"He's right behind me." The man said with a chuckle as stepped to the side revealing Nika's father being held up by two bodyguards.

"Otousan!!" Nika screamed lunging forward only to be grabbed by the large man who picked her up and carried her back down into the basement.

"Let me go! What did you do to my Otousan?!" Nika screamed kicking and flailing her captor to no avail as it seemed the old man was much stronger than her.

"I would be quiet little girl if I were you." The man said as he threw Nika down onto a bedroll that she had taken out before when she was looking for her clothes.

Nika scooted back in fear still clutching her precious rag doll as she watched the two bodyguards move her fathers' semi-conscious form to the wall behind the older man who grinned evilly.

Nika was terrified and kept scooting back only to have the man take a few steps towards her. She wanted to see if her father was ok and to get away from this monster that kept coming closer to her.

"I must say Ni-Ni-Chan you look absolutely marvelous in your school uniform." The monster said as he bent down and tried to tug on the hem of Nika's skirt.

"My names Nika!" Nika yelled refusing to let this beat call her by her fathers pet name.

"Nika? Well isn't that a sweet name." The monster chuckled as he looked back at his bodyguards who started shaking Minoru awake.

"I hope you know that your father has been taking a lot of money from me for you Nika and its time I get my payment." He said as he lunged at Nika pinning her down.

Nika struggled underneath the larger mans weight as she felt him ripping at her clothes like an animal.

"No! Please don't! Daddy!!! Daddy!!! Help me!" Nika screamed.

"Silly girl the more you scream the more this is going to hurt." The man chuckled as he looked down at Nika and their eyes met.

Nika his face sweaty and a hunger in his eyes that scared her even more then before he looked like a beast to her innocent child eyes, she was sure that she was going to die.

The man continued his ministrations of removing her school uniform as Nika began to cry as she felt his ruff hands and lips ravage her face and neck.

"No! Please don't I beg of you!" Nika pleaded.

"Get away from my daughter!" Came Minoru's growling voice from behind the monster on top of her as Nika heard two bodies fall on the ground and saw her father jump onto the back of the one ontop of her.

Nika took that moment of confusion to shove her rag doll into the mans mouth as he lifted his head letting her father pull him back and off of her.

"Run Nika run!" Minoru yelled to Nika.

Nika got up from under the man her clothes tattered and barely hanging off her body with obvious bruises appearing all over. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at her father in worry.

"Nika just run! Call the cops!" Minoru yelled again as he punched the monster in the face.

Nika nodded and ran up the basement stairs and through the house. When she opened the door she was met with a large group of policemen in black with special emblems on their clothes who rushed past her into the house.

"It's in the basement!" She yelled as one of the policemen stopped and put a blanket over her ushering her outside.

Nika sat down on her front lawn shaking with worry and fright as she could still feel the breathe, sweat, and saliva of that monster on her skin.

An ambulance soon came and the policemen that had entered her home left out triumphant. Nika ran past the ambulance EMT's to see if her father was alright, but was met with her father beaten and bloody in handcuffs.

"Otousan!! Otousan!!" Nika shouted as she started to run towards her father only to be blocked by policemen.

"I'm sorry Ni-Ni-Chan I'm so sorry." Minoru said sadly as he fallowed the police into a padywagon.

"Otousan?" Nika questioned as tears formed in her eyes.

"It's ok little girl we got him, the sick bastard wont ever hurt you again." A policewoman said to Nika as she tried to usher her back to the ambulance.

"Otousan didn't do it! It wasn't him, let him go!!" Nika yelled as she realized they were arresting her father.

"She must be delusional from being molested by her own father." The policewoman said to the EMT.

"I'm not crazy!! It wasn't daddy! It was a monster, a monster!" Nika yelled only to get sad looks and shakes of the head from the adults around her.

Nika waited for the monster to come out of her house too but never saw him.

"Ni-Ni!!" Nika's mother yelled as she ran to hold Nika in her arms with Suka fallowing behind her.

"Are you ok?" Benio asked as she held her crying daughter in her arms.

"Daddy didn't do it! Why wont they believe me?!" Nika screamed into her mothers embrace.

"Shh its ok I know your father would never hurt you. We'll get to the bottom of this." Benio said as she cradled her daughter in her arms and watched as her husband was driven away.

The present

"My mother started drinking everyday after that. I think she was trying to wash away the pain of being faced with the ridicule of supposedly marrying a child molester and still defending him." Nika said as she wiped a tear away from her face and turned to face Kyouya.

"Nika…" Kyouya breathed as he stood up and held Nika in his arms.

"It's ok. Suka took care of me after my mother was hit by a truck on my graduation day. I watched her die in the middle of the street reeking of alcohol with a smile on her face as she told me to make the best of my life and to see the beauty in it no matter what." Nika said as she gently let go of Kyouya and sat back down.

"I guess my father couldn't take his self imposed guilt anymore. He even pled guilty to abusing and molesting me saying it was his fault it happened in the first place. I visited him every other week hoping he would stop feeling guilty, I guess I failed and all because of that monster. That monster took my mother and my father from me twice." Nika said with pounding her fist into her thighs.

"You father sounds like an honorable man. I doubt he meant to leave you like that." Kyouya said as he knelt down in front of Nika brushing her hair from her eyes with his hand.

"He left me all alone! How honorable is that?!" Nika shouted tears freshly flooding her eyes.

"Nika you're not alone. I'm here for you; I think it would even be safe to assume the whole host club will be by your side." Kyouya said as he held Nika close in his arms letting her cry on him.

"Thank you Kyouya thank you so much." Nika said with a sigh as she wrapped her arms around Kyouya and buried her head into his chest using the warmth of his body to sooth her.

Kyouya merely smiled and kissed the top of Nika's head as he sat back still holding her and taking in what she had been through.

"Why do I feel like my heart is breaking? Why do I want to protect her from the world now? And why..why do I want to never let her go?" Kyouya thought to himself as he squeezed Nika tighter and stared off sleepily out the window watching the rain fall like the tears she cried.

(a/n: I have to admit I could feel tears coming as I wrote this but I did not let them fall!! Poor Nika I feel so sorry for her ..but through her pain Kyouya is realizing what exactly she means to him. Also I think everyone should by now understand exactly why Kyouya's father is so bad ) zell-chan