Chapter 9 - "Promise me you won't worry…"

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.

Chatter danced within the walls of the Third Music. Four out of the seven Hosts sat at one of the three sofas that squatted on the left wall- the four being Haruhi, Takashi, Mitsukini and Kaoru. Tamaki and Kyoya sat near them, on another sofa, chatting away and sipping tea.

"Haru-chan?"

She hummed in response. Her gaze wandered to first Mitsukini, who had spoken then over to Takashi, who was busy listening to Kaoru, yammering away.

"Before the accident, why did you make us memorise your dad's number?"

"Yeah Haruhi, why?" Kaoru piped in. The boys' heads swivelled towards Haruhi. Haruhi draped her arms around Mitsukini's shoulders, as he was sitting on her lap. She buried her face into his golden locks.

"Because he's my only family member." was her muffled reply.

The three boys were confused. Ranka was her only family member? Surely she had a distant aunt or uncle, or grandparent? What would happen if something happened to her dad, and how would she cope, if that be the case?

Haruhi lifted her head and continued, "My mother was an only child. Her parents - my grand parents, died when I was a baby. I think they died in a car crash. And when my father told his family that he was bi-sexual, well they… they kicked him out and cut all ties with him. Dad… well, he had to be independent from around 17. He had to quit school and start working. So, it's only me and my dad."

Kaoru and Takashi were speechless. What sort of parents cut all ties with their child just because of their sexuality? Mitsukini turned round and hugged Haruhi, nuzzling his head into Haruhi's neck. He leant up and whispered something, but Kaoru and Takashi didn't quite hear.

Takashi placed a large, tan hand on Haruhi's shoulder once Mitsukini was finished with his hug. With a quiet voice he said, "Haruhi, I'm sorry."

She looked up at him, confusion clear on her face. "There's no reason for you to apologise, Takashi." Haruhi replied slowly.

At that moment Tamaki bounded over, his violet eyes smiling and a big grin etched on his face. He ran his eyes over the Hosts and stopped when he came to Haruhi. With a shove and a mumble of "Sorry Honey.", he pushed Mitsukini off Haruhi's lap, yanked Haruhi up by her arm and twirled her around.

"Tamaki!" Haruhi sighed, growing increasingly tired and annoyed of his antics. "Please put me down. I'm not in the mood for my body to be broken or bruised." She started gently slapping his arms and when that didn't work, she knew it was time to call in the big guns.

She turned her head to Takashi, but he was already out of his seat and over in a few strides. With many protests from Tamaki, Takashi plucked Haruhi from his grasp and held her high so Tamaki couldn't get hold of her. Once Tamaki, with many huffs and foot stomping, had left, he lowered his arms and Haruhi jumped from his arms.

"Thank you." Haruhi breathed and to which Takashi's reply was a small smile and a gentle ruffling of her hair.

Kyoya had sauntered over while Tamaki was beginning to grow mushrooms in his Gloom Corner. He placed a hand on the girl's shoulders and she swivelled round, clearly bemused. He tilted forward slightly and whispered, his breath tickling Haruhi's ear. She cast her brown eyes down and nodded. Haruhi stepped around Kyoya and walked towards the room in the far corner.

Mitsukini tilted his head. "What was that, Kyo-chan?"

Kyoya sighed and stood beside Takashi, who was sitting on the leftmost side of the seat. With a push of his glasses he stated, "I sent her to make coffee."

"Why didn't you do it yourself?" Kaoru folded his arms, tilting his head slightly to the left.

Kyoya scoffed. "I wouldn't touch that coffee. And besides-" He pushed up his glasses, the light reflecting off them so it hid his dark eyes, "-she needs some peace."

Mitsukini opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Kyoya. "I also sent her away so she wouldn't have to talk about her family. I'm not sure but I think Haruhi feels insecure talking about it because she tends to over-think. You know her, she'll start to over-think about her dad if we talk about her family for to long. If anything happens to Ranka-"

"-she'll be left alone." Takashi finished quietly. His steely gaze wandered to the room that Haruhi was in. Mitsukini followed his cousin's line of sight. His eyes widened in realisation as he glanced around the room.

"Kao-chan? Where's that baka brother of yours?"

"He's been gone since the club ended," Kaoru paused. "but he's probably hiding in the bathroom down the hall." Kaoru glanced down and checked his watch that was strapped loosely around his wrist. "We'll be going soon though, so I should find him."

"Kao-chan, you have to wait until Haru-chan brings us the coffee!" Mitsukini beamed up at the taller host. He jostled Usa on his knee before clasping her to his chest. Takashi looked around the room, and got up, he felt worried.. Haruhi had been gone for more than five minutes and it didn't take that long to make coffee. He left without a word and made his way to the little kitchen.

He opened the door and stepped in, the other four hosts still being heard. There was one thing that the Hosts knew and the customers didn't. The room that stuck out in the corner was only the dressing room and storage room. The kitchen was built in the wall, behind it all. He opened another door, and stepped into the kitchen.

Haruhi was crouched down in front of the sink, holding her hand to her chest. Broken cups were peppered around her and the dark brown coffee pooled at her feet. Takashi gaped, carefully stepping closer to the girl and mindfully stepping around the broken cups. Haruhi was still crouched down, still clasping her hand to her chest. Takashi placed a large hand on her shoulder.

"Promise me you won't worry…"

Takashi was taken back. How could he not worry? She was crouching, surrounded by coffee and broken cups! Scenarios raced through the giant's mind of Haruhi's hand being burnt by the coffee, cut by the tea pot and cups or worse, being burnt and cut. He glanced down to her other hand. There were a few cuts on it, but he would deal with that later.

He took away his hand, and carefully took hold of her elbow. Being the stubborn person Haruhi is, she wouldn't let Takashi see what damage she had done so easily. But after a moment, she reluctantly let him see.

His eyes widened, and with a worried tone he said, "Haruhi, is your hand alright?"

He knew that was a stupid question, but he felt that he should ask it. Her small hand was not alright. The first thing was that she had burnt it on the coffee, and he second was that she had sliced her palm. Blood trickled from the cut and Haruhi shook her head, shaking her hair from her down cast eyes.

Takashi stood up and gently helped her to her feet. He grabbed a tea towel from the counter and carefully bandaged her injured hand. "We'll go to the nurse's office." He tucked some hair behind her ear and led her out of the kitchen, out of the storage room and into the original music room.

Mitsukini skipped over but upon seeing Haruhi's bandaged hand, his smile slipped from his face. "Takashi, what happened?"

"Burnt and cut her hand." Once again, Takashi gently grabbed the girl's elbow and led her to the massive doors. When they were walking over, he heard Haruhi urging Mitsukini to go sit down, and not to worry. He sighed and shook his head. That girl never wanted anyone to worry about her.

Around ten minutes later or so, Haruhi was sitting on a hard chair in the nurse's office. The nurse, with her white-like blonde hair and her deep blue eyes, swabbed the cut on Haruhi's palm with disinfectant. Haruhi had winced, but relaxed when she felt Takashi's strong hand on her shoulder. The nurse applied ointment to the burn and carefully bandage Haruhi's hand, and with a smile she sang, "There you go! All done."

The duo bowed, said their thanks and headed down to the club room. From the corner of Takashi's eye, he could see Haruhi turning her head slightly and opening and closing her mouth. Takashi smiled, clearly bemused.

"Why did you come in to find me?" Haruhi questioned, facing her elder.

Without a pause Takashi replied, "Worried."

"Oh." Haruhi quickly faced away and stared at her shoes, her cheeks tinting a pale pink. But Takashi still saw it.

Takashi stopped in his tracks. He faintly blushed, and scratched the back of his neck. Haruhi was a few metres away by then. She rotated her head and beckoned him forward. Takashi numbly nodded and jogged towards the smaller girl.

The duo made the rest of their way back to the music room in silence and every so often, their shoes would squeak. They rounded the corner and they noticed that the doors were opened a crack. Laughter emptied into the hall, and the two both heard cries of "Take that, Hikaru!" and "Hikaru got beat up by a girl!"

There were a pair of massive round spectacles, with clouded over lens sitting at the foot of the door. Haruhi bent down and picked them up with her bandaged hand, between her finger and thumb. Takashi peered over her shoulder, his gaze moving from the glasses to Haruhi. The elder teen thought the girl had given up glasses, he was sure she had, so he wondered who they belonged to. The female host shrugged, answering the giant's question before he spoke it. She pushed the door open and was greeted with a sight she never expected to see.

Hikaru was sprawled on the ground, veins popping on his forehead and steam flowing from his ears. His face darkened when he noticed Haruhi enter. Now what was on Hikaru, was a sight to be hold. A girl about Haruhi's height, was leaning heavily onto Hikaru's neck with her left knee. Her right knee was digging into chest and she had Hikaru's arm in a type of arm lock. The more he struggled, the more heavily the girl leant on his chest and neck. The more he struggled, her grip would only tighten on his arm.

"Natsumi, as much as I enjoy this, I think Hikaru's embarrassed enough." Kyoya smirked, giving his glasses a quick push up his nose.

Natsumi rose slowly and glared at Hikaru while she did so. She turned to Haruhi and stared at the glasses in her hand. Only then did Haruhi and Takashi get a good look at her. From the looks of it, Natsumi had long, light brown hair which she tied in a high ponytail with a green strip of cloth. Her bangs covered one eye, and she had the darkest colour of green for eyes anyone had saw. The reddish glint in her hair complemented her dark green eyes and slightly pale complexion. She reached for her glasses and Haruhi placed them into her hand, completely awestruck at the deep colour of her eyes. Natsumi popped them on, and her eyes were hidden behind her glasses. Her bangs that covered one eye were pushed back.

"Sorry, they must have fallen of when I did the body drop." Natsumi apologised, her voice quiet and soft.

"Haruhi, meet Natsumi Nakayama." Kyoya explained. "A close friend of Tamaki, and of mine."

"My precious daughter, she was the first friend I ever made when I came over from France." Tamaki smiled, running up to Haruhi and placing one arm around her and one around Natsumi.

"And how I wish I wasn't." Natsumi joked, muttering under her breath.

Tamaki sniffled as he put a hand up to his forehead and struck a dramatic pose. "Oh how your words hurt me, dear Natsumi."

Natsumi rolled her eyes and shook off Tamaki's arm. She faced Haruhi and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Tamaki has talked about you non-stop."

Haruhi laughed. "It's a pleasure to meet you too."

"Haru-chan, if you were wondering… Natsumi's family is well known for being the second best at Martial Arts in Japan." Mitsukini chimed, hugging Usa-chan.

"Natsumi is also in our class!" Tamaki chirped, draping his arms around Natsumi. Natsumi sighed and swatted his hands. "She's also the same age as me, if you were wondering."

"She also knows of your, uh, situation, Haruhi." the shadow king smirked.

"He's so cruel, isn't he?" Natsumi tsked.

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it." she laughed, and then asked. "Nakayama-san, do you wish to go over and sit at a sofa?"

Natsumi smiled and nodded, and the two girls left for a sofa at the other corner of the room. Once they had sat down, the two girls began chatting animatedly and before either of them knew it, they were calling each other by their first names.

At this point, Hikaru had crawled over to a wall. He was leaning against it, with his arms around his legs. Kaoru walked over and nudged him with his foot. Hikaru glared up, still angry from being handled that way by a girl. "What?" He snarled.

"Time to go, idiot." Kaoru barked. "Lemme tell you something." Kaoru stared down at his brother, hands on hips.

Hikaru shot up and stalked towards the door. He rested a hand on the handle, and swivelled his head. "What?" He hissed.

"You shouldn't be going round placing your arms around strangers."

"We did it to Haruhi." Hikaru huffed.

Kaoru gave him a blank look. "That was different. That girl is a friend of Kyoya's, doofus."

Hikaru gave him a dirty look. But Kaoru still continued. "And that was priceless! She did some form of martial arts on you!" he teased.

Hikaru gripped the handle and yanked it open, making the door slam into the wall. He shot down the corridor and Kaoru yelled after him, "Now you know never judge a book by its cover, Hikaru!"

"'Never judge a book by its cover.'" the enraged twin mocked. "Hmmph. I'll show you guys. All of you."

This chapter has been edited, and reposted.