So soon? What is this magic?
I couldn't leave that last cliffhanger the way it was.
And I'm sure you didn't want me to!
Fair warning...this chapter is intense.
We finally get to see Ame's past in greater detail.

"Do you think she's been following you?" Kaoru asked. I nodded.

"She's waiting for the right time. She wants to get me, but the right way. If I know her at all, she'll try to find out more and more about me. She wants to strike where she can hurt me the most. There will be more of this to come before she gets serious." I stared at the letter in my hand. She wants to intimidate me.

"Whoa, whoa whoa. Hold up. I thought your mom disappeared when your brother found you all those years ago. How could she be here?" Hikaru asked.

I showed him the letter. "A little less than two weeks ago, she left another one of these at my house. She said, 'Keep your eyes open, keep looking behind you'. It took her all these years to find me...now it looks lie she's stepping up her game."

"Your mother?" Haruhi asked in shock. "Disappeared? Hurt you the most? You make her sound like a criminal."

"That's pretty much what she is." I said flatly. Great, now I have to deal with her too. Well, fuck. At least she can keep it to her damn self.

"Ame, do you want to read the letter? We can leave you alone..." Kaoru suggested. I grabbed his hand before he could move an inch. "Or not." He smiled halfheartedly and I let go.

I sat down right on the floor, not in the mood to move furniture. "Damn her...Et ideo incipit."

"Latin again?" Kaoru asked, on the floor beside me. I saw him give Hikaru and Haruhi a look that said, 'Careful. She's pissed.'

We formed a rough circle on the ground and I finally unfolded the paper. On a whim, I decided to read it aloud.

"Melody...what a pretty little hiding place.
It's certainly too pretty for you. What, you think you can hide here?
Forget about me and the punishment you deserve?
Well, no longer. Think of this as a reminder.
Because someday soon, I'll be coming for you.

Oh, and that silly toy cat you always carried around?
It was fun to destroy."

When I finished, I was practically seeing red. I tore the paper into pieces and wished I had a lighter. I glanced toward the ripped up remains of one of my few good childhood memories and growled for real. Nothing is too far for her, is it? I thought, putting my hands on my scarf.

"Punishment?" Haruhi echoed. "What the hell is going on here?"

I heard the door creak open again. "What is this? Were we supposed to do a crime scene today or something?"

Oh, no. No no no no NO. Not him too. I barely refrained from cursing out loud when I saw Tamaki in the doorway. And Kyoya was behind him. "Not as far as I know." The bespectacled teen said, checking a book.

"Haruhi, are you all right?" Tamaki cried, running over to her and forcing her into a hug.

"Should we call the police?" A somewhat scared voice asked. I facepalmed at the sight of Honey and Mori. Everyone's here...I guess the gloves are off now.

I sat there in a burning fury. "Ame." I was too angry to recognize the voice, and chose to ignore it. The my mother came, the worse this would get. Where would the demon strike next? "Ame." How much did she know about my current life? Did she -

"Ame, snap out of it!" The voice yelled, and whoever it belonged to shook me violently. I blinked, and realized it was Kaoru. "Can you hear me now?"

"Yeah...I'm back." I saw real concern in Kaoru's expression, and also fear. Was he afraid of me? Or...for me?

I looked around and noticed the rest of the Host Club barely keeping their distance, staring at me expectantly. "What?"

"Could you be so kind as to tell us what the hell is happening?" I was surprised at Tamaki's angry tone.

For a moment, I said nothing. Then, "I know who did this, and why. She wants me. The rest of you have nothing to do with it."

"Damn it, Ame! Have you not once listened to me?" Kaoru's voice and expression had completely shifted in a few seconds. He was spitting mad. "I've told you before and I'll tall you again. You're not alone in this! So don't you dare shut us out!"

I stared at him for a few minutes in shock, then looked away, thinking. She's just going to keep coming. Should I tell them? I guess...they've accepted me so far, so they deserve to know. I nodded to myself, then stood up without a word. Everyone stared at me expectantly as I turned around. I was looking for something.

Luckily enough, my supply table had been left standing. I opened a drawer and rummaged around for a minute, retrieving a small plastic bottle.

"What is that, Ame-chan?" Honey asked.

"My explanation is going to take a while. So you may as well make yourselves comfortable." And please, please don't interrupt me once I start. I unscrewed the cap of the bottle - it was paint remover that I had weakened with a lot of water, to get a see-through look. But I had another job for it. "I'd lock the door if I were you, if people got in it would be difficult to explain. And," I looked back, a real threat in my voice. "If any of you ever repeat what I'm about to say without my permission...you'll regret it." I turned away again. I heard someone get up quietly and follow my advice - the door was locked, people wouldn't be seeing me or this mess by chance.

Nobody said a word as I dabbed the end of my scarf into the bottle's contents. There's no turning back once I show them. I took a deep breath, and wiped my face with it. My makeup came off in a tan smear. I repeated the process until my skin was clear. "I'm sure you've all wondered why I always wear a scarf and gloves. Well...obviously, I was hiding something. The twins already know. The found out a few wees ago, before the beach trip. What I'm hiding under them is directly connected with what happened here today."

Again, silence greeted me. I paused for a moment to prepare myself, then unwound my scarf. I dropped it on the floor, feeling the swish of hair against my bare neck. Then, I stripped off my gloves. I crossed my arms to hide them for a few more seconds. "Why it's just my brother and I...why we changed our names...why I was always against talking about my past...it was all because of this." Before I could change my mind, I turned around with my arms held out, scars bared for the whole world to see.

The Hosts gasped in shock when they saw me. "Oh my god..." Tamaki whispered. "But - what about that day at the beach? And when we were in costume, your neck wasn't covered then!"

I glared at him, and he flinched. "Makeup." I said simply, and kicked my scarf towards him. "But it's too complicated to do that every day. And I said to not interrupt me."

I looked at each of the Host's faces before continuing. Shock, horror, disbelief...all the things I hated.

"I'll start at the beginning." I decided, sitting back down. "I was born in Okinawa. My father was an American at the military base there, it's how he met my...mother. On my fifth birthday, he took me into town to buy me a present. It was this little stuffed calico cat, and I loved it. But just after we left the toy store, he fell down. I didn't know it then, but he was having a heart attack. Not long after that, he died. We all mourned him. Then a few weeks after that, we moved off the military base. My big brother went off to college in the city, and that's when things went bad." I sighed - this was the difficult part.

"When my father died, my mother was heartbroken. And the longer he was gone, the crazier she got. I walked into her room one day to find that she was drunk. She looked at me, and in that moment, I could tell that my mother was gone. In her eyes, I saw hate. What she said to me...she blamed me for my father's death." After all these years, I still remembered the words.

"What? What do you..." Her eves darkened even more. "You. You were there when it happened. You let him die. Get out of my sight!" She shrieked, and threw the bottle of whatever she was drinking at my head, missing me by inches. I fled in fear. Tears ran down my face as I remembered.

"Grief had driven her mad. That was the first time she attacked me. It took a while for things to escalate...and after a while, she stopped letting me go outside. I stayed out of her way as much as I could, because when she saw me, well..." I traced a fine white line on my right cheek. "Some days were worse than others. I grew terrified of her, and I never thought to run. It continued for years. Whenever my brother called or visited, which wasn't very often, she would make me pretend everything was fine. If I didn't, I got it bad."

And here came the climax. I looked at my wrists, the scars there deeper than any other. "It ended when I was eleven. It was right around Halloween. I remember my mother came home from some damn club or party in the middle of the night. She ignored me, which was odd. And she left the front door unlocked, which was something she never did. I didn't even stop to think, I just ran. But that wasn't the end. She caught me. And oh, was she furious. It wasn't just a random strike or beating that time. I honestly think she wanted me dead. " I gestured to the cross-shaped scars on my wrists, and the lighter lines on my neck - they had been superficial, but still dangerous. "And she would have killed me too, if my brother hadn't walked in at that moment. He had driven all day so he could surprise us for the weekend."

"Mom, Melody, I'm -" He was shocked into silence. "What's...what is this!" I couldn't see very clearly at that point, but I remembered him shoving my mother away from me. "Leave her alone!" And the next thing I new, she was gone and I was in a hospital.

"She got away. My brother decided to take me in. Nobody could find her, so we took safety measures. We changed our last names, and I changed my first one as well. I wanted no part of her. We ended up living here in Tokyo. I was home schooled for years. I took jiu-jitsu so I could learn how to defend myself, learned Latin because it made me feel smarter than her, and started painting. I never heard of her again. After that...you pretty much know."

I looked into everyone's eyes, daring them to voice their sympathy. "She still wants me gone. She still blames me for my father's death. And now she's found me." I gestured to the wreckage. "She's waiting to see where she can hurt me the most. Once she knows, she'll strike." I locked my fingers together.

"But I'm not that scared little girl anymore. When she comes, I'll be waiting. And one way or another, this will all be over."

That sure got serious fast. WOAH.
I do remember Ayanokiji, she'll come into play for the finale.
But before that, they will try to fool her.
It'll be a bit of fun before things really go down.
Did you like the more detailed history? I figured it was about time.
Please let me know what you thought in a review!