A/N

Yup, it's me again - with chapter eight! Hehe. I can't seem to stop with the Ouran fanfics now...and as great as that is, sigh, I do have to do a bit more studying for exams! Lol. Anyways, thank you to everyone who reviewed - I will reply to your reviews soon, I swear.

It's longer than the last chapter, but I hope it's good all the same!

Chapter Eight: Crossing the Line

When the bell signalling the end of school for the day rang, Haruhi, Hikaru and Kaoru found themselves staring at their new classmate, watching in amazement as she haphazardly flung her things into her bag. Haruhi even found herself cringing as she watched the books being flung inside.

"Er..."

"Where's the fire, Miso?" The scholarship student found herself sighing when the dark-haired girl whirled around to fix Hikaru with a glare.

"Shut it, you," she growled, warningly.

"Make me," smirked Hikaru, as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Don't push your luck Kaoru..." The smirk on Hikaru's face widened.

"What makes you think I'm Kaoru?"

Haruhi – somewhat unwillingly – decided that it was time to step in before things got out of hand, as they tended to do whenever their new classmate was provoked.

"Come on you two, we should be heading off to the Host Club now," she reminded them, as she picked up her – neatly packed – bag.

"Yes, but we'd like to know-"

"-Where Miso's going..."

"For the last time, it's Misao!" muttered the girl, as she fixed the twins with a fierce glare. "And it's none of your business." Picking up her bag as well, she tossed her braid back over her shoulder and nodded at Haruhi. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Good luck with dealing with that bunch of idiots."

And before the twins could make a move, the dark-haired, fiery-tempered girl had dashed out of the classroom, leaving clouds of dust behind her.

"That was...interesting," murmured Kaoru, surprised. "I wonder why she was in such a hurry to get out of here..."

"Maybe it was the thought that she'd finally be able to get away from the two of you?" asked Haruhi, dryly, as she headed towards the door. She didn't get very far, as she suddenly found herself – and she couldn't find another word for it – squished between the brothers.

"That wasn't very nice, you know..."

"Yeah. Toys shouldn't be so mean..."

"...Can we please get going? Before Kyoya-sempai decides to add some more to my debt?"

Fifteen minutes later:

She slid the doors to the dojo shut behind her and all but collapsed against them. Her breath came in quick gasps and she was doubled over as she felt the burns spreading across her sides.

Damn those pesky girls, she growled mentally, dropping her bag onto the ground, you'd think that I'd be able to make it out of class and in here without being...mobbed!

And yes, that was exactly what had happened. She had managed to reach the stairs on the floor her classroom was in without anything strange happening...but the moment she had started descending...well, that's where the mob of girls had introduced themselves to her.

She was willing to bet that, if it hadn't been for the training she already had, she wouldn't have been able to make it unscathed.

Oh well, guess I'll have to get used to this treatment.

Still leaning against the doors – as she waited for her burning sides to recover from having run so much – she looked around her. The main training room of the dojo was empty, which contrasted with the previous time she had been here, during club time, when it had been full. If she hadn't been too tired to bother, she would have thought that the place was almost...eerily empty.

Hmm, wonder where that idiot---

"Ack!" A pair of hands quickly grabbed her shoulders from behind, stopping her sideways fall as the doors she had been leaning against were slid open. "What the-" A scowl formed on her lips as she angled her head and saw the black hair and grey eyes.

A second later, she had flung herself as far away from him as she could. "What're you trying to do? Kill me?"

The stoic senior eyed her – almost warily – for a brief moment, before he stepped inside the dojo, silently sliding the doors shut behind him. "And why did you close the doors? Are you planning something, you sick, twisted-"

"-If you'd like rumours to spread around again..." The tall male turned slightly, hands on the doors, about to slide them open once more.

"No, no! Don't!" exclaimed Misao, hurriedly, as she took a step forward. He turned around with a shrug, having more or less expected that reaction from her.

They stood there for a moment or two, in utter silence, before Mori moved further inside the dojo. Misao watched as he headed towards the set of doors in the far corner of the room; the set of doors that led to the area with the two changing rooms in it.

It was only when he disappeared through the doors that she snapped back to reality. "Hey! What are you – where are you – I thought you said that-" She stopped abruptly when he came into her sight once more, even walking towards her. "What?" she asked, as he continued to advance on her. "Look, if you think you can intimidate me in --- oh."

It turned out that he had only wanted to hand over the set of training clothes that he had grabbed from one of the store cupboards.

"They're new," murmured Mori, as quietly was ever. "Remember to bring them with you whenever we...decide to do this."

She could only nod wordlessly, snapping into action when she saw him glance pointedly from her to the changing room.

"I get the point," she huffed. "But how do I know I can trust you to not pull another stunt like the last time?"

Mori shrugged as he glanced at the bag he had brought out of the lockers with him. "Well you had better not walk in on me again. I'll kill you if you do!" With a last glare, Misao stalked off towards the changing rooms, her supposedly intimidating posture going to the dogs when she tripped over her feet and landed on her face with a loud thud.

She was on her feet a moment later, her face the colour of beetroot. "Your fault!" she exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the senior before stalking – albeit at a slower pace – to the changing rooms.

Morinozuka Takashi watched her leave out of the corner of his eye, unconsciously wondering what he had gotten himself into, and why he had gotten himself into it.

The Third Music Room:

"Eh, Honey-sempai," started one of his customers, as she glanced around the large music room in surprise, "I don't see Mori-sempai around..."

The fair-haired boy shook his head, a blissful smile on his face as he took another bite of his cake.

"That's strange. He's usually always with you, isn't he?" questioned another girl, as the short senior waited until he had swallowed before attempting to answer.

"Takashi had something to do," he said, cheerily, as he eyed the cake that was left on the platter that was on the table before them.

"Oh, go ahead, Honey-sempai!" squealed another girl. "You can have the rest too!" She was rewarded with a cute, bright smile.

"Arigato, Yoko-chan!"

A few minutes of squealing ensued, during which the twins, who had been walking by the table, stopped to grin at their senior.

"You're doing well on your own, sempai," commented Kaoru, pleasantly. Honey blinked innocently.

"Eh?"

"Nothing, nothing," grumbled Hikaru. He glanced around, his eyes falling on a group of girls seated by themselves in the corner of the room. "They must be the ones who designated Mori-sempai as their host..."

Both Honey and Kaoru glanced at what he was looking at.

"Aa, Kyoya-sempai isn't going to be too happy, is he?"

"Honey-sempai."

The twins jumped. Speak of the devil.

Or rather, speak of the Shadow King.

"Hai, Kyo-chan?"

"Where is Mori-sempai?" The glasses glinted as they were pushed back up, along the bridge of his nose.

"He had some work to do!" The short senior saw the all-too-polite smile on the bespectacled student's face. "At the Kendo dojo," he added, hurriedly.

There was a slight pause.

"Will he be joining us after he...does what he had to do?"

Honey paused, fork in his mouth.

"I don't know," he mumbled, somewhat incoherently. He took the fork out. "Maybe. I think that he might just have wanted to train a bit, you know? Because the kendo club doesn't meet today."

Kyoya nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face as he glanced at the group of girls seated by themselves.

"I see." There was a pause. "Well then, Honey-sempai, do you think you could handle an overlord of guests?" The big brown eyes widened. "I can't very well leave Mori-sempai's guests all alone and feeling neglected, can I?"

The glasses glinted once more.

"Hai, Kyo-chan!"

"Good. I'll send them over then."

"Kyo-chan?"

"Hai?"

"Can I have another cake?"

"... ... ..."

"Please?"

"Will you remember to brush your teeth afterwards?"

"Hai!"

"Hikaru, Kaoru, go and fetch Honey-sempai another cake."

"What?!"

"Why do we have to-"

"-Is there a problem...?"

"Ah. Hehehe. No. No problem."

"We'll...we'll go get that cake now..."

"Good boys."

She gripped the bamboo sword in her hands, eyeing her opponent carefully. This behaviour went on for a few minutes until an impatient growl erupted from deep within her throat.

"So, what, are we just going to stand here all day?"

Mori sighed inwardly.

"No."

"Then can we please start?"

"...There are some things that I need to know first."

Green eyes narrowed, but he didn't seem to care. (Well, it was hard to tell, what with that expressionless face of his).

"What things?"

"Kendo or Karate?"

"What?"

"Which one would you actually prefer?"

"You idiot! What do you think I prefer? If I wanted to learn karate, I would have joined the karate club, wouldn't I?"

The tall 3rd year student found himself sighing inwardly once more. And here he had thought the whole deal with Kasanoda had been bad – this was far worse.

"Do you-"

"-Look, can you stop with the whole third degree here?! I'm here because you promised me you'd teach me! So don't just stand there asking me questions – teach me!"

Not demanding at all, thought Mori, wryly. With a last inward sigh, he nodded, straightening as he did so.

"Come."

There was a moment's silence.

"Er...what?"

"Attack me." He sensed the girl's momentary hesitation, and opened his mouth to assure her that it was alright; that it was the only way he could judge her strengths and weaknesses; when he saw the...expression on her face.

"You're sure about this?" Strangely, she looked almost hopeful.

"...Aa." He wondered if he should be worried when he saw her wide grin.

"With pleasure!" She gripped the bamboo sword tighter, crouching slightly as she positioned her body to launch herself at him – with a completely unromantic intention, of course.

"Watch your stance. It-" Before he could finish his first pointed for the...lesson, she had let loose a loud huff before speeding towards him, sword raised in her hands.

He parried the blow quickly, throwing her off balance with the speed of his move. Undaunted, Misao continued, wielding the bamboo sword at various angles; over her head; to the side; diagonally; and aiming for different parts of his body.

It was only natural – at least, it was in her opinion – to have her face darken when he parried each and every blow of hers, even managing to go so far as to move completely out of their way, which she took as an insult as opposed to him being good at what he did.

"Damn you," she panted, as she attempted another overhead strike, aimed at his neck. "S-stay still will you?!" Mori arched his eyebrows at her comment, almost paying for his surprise, but managing to parry the second blow in time.

Stay still?

"You're-"

"-Dammit! Why-" She aimed another blow at his torso, only to shudder as he slipped his bamboo sword in between his body and her sword, causing unpleasant vibrations – via the strong collision – to travel up her sword and up her arm. "-That's it, you're going to pay for-" She raised her arms once more, not noticing the frown on the senior's face as she did so.

"Don't depend-"

"-Take that and – oh for the love of -!"

And things continued in this manner for a short while, until the observant 3rd year student saw that the younger girl's frustration was getting the best of her. (When did it not?)

"That's enough for-"

"-No freaking way! I am going to get one blasted hit on you! Just you wait and – argh! Why won't they-"

Taking a deep breath (and uttering a silent prayer to whoever was listening, to help him get through this in one piece and with his hearing intact) Mori stood absolutely still as he watched her approach him from the front, with her bamboo sword held diagonally, meaning that she intended on striking his side.

He saw the grin on her face as she hurtled towards him, evidently thinking that this was her lucky break. Unfortunately for her, things didn't turn out the way she wanted them to. For during the few minutes – which seemed to go on for hours thanks to her frustration – she had failed to notice that he had only been avoiding her blows. He hadn't been attacking her in return, and it seemed as though she had forgotten that he could do so, should he want to.

Hence, she wasn't prepared for him lashing out as gently as possible with his sword, intending to get in a relatively soft hit to her side.

Unfortunately for Mori, he had expected her to see the blow coming, and thus, expected her to fling herself out of the way as best as she could. He had not expected her to keep coming at him, having not noticed his movement.

He stared in horror as the padded tip of his thick bamboo sword struck her smack bang in the middle of the chest. Hard, too.

Uh-oh.

Meanwhile:

"That reminds me..." started Kyoya, as he smiled pleasantly at the group of girls walking past him as they headed towards Tamaki. "Aren't the two of you supposed to be keeping an eye on Misao?"

Hikaru raised his eyebrows at the shadow king.

"You're joking, right?"

Kyoya smiled eerily.

"Do I ever joke?"

"Er..."

"I don't see why we should do that anymore, Kyoya-sempai," cut in Kaoru. "I mean, she's in the kendo club because of you, and she knows that she'll be thrown out of the club if she reveals Haruhi's-"

"-Yes, I know that. But I didn't think the two of you would give up on the opportunity to annoy her as much as possible..."

There was a moment of silence.

"True, but we do plenty of annoying during class-"

"-when Haruhi doesn't interfere, that is."

"I see."

"Besides, she rushed off as soon as the bell rang today."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, she just threw her things back in her bag and ran off-"

"-and was quite rude when we asked her where she was going-"

"-stupid Miso."

"I don't think the two of you should-"

"-Hmm...but I wonder where she wanted to go...leaving in such a rush like that..."

Glasses glinted.

"I don't think it's any of our business. Do you?"

"It could be good blackmail material...especially if she was going to-"

"-meet up with her boyfriend."

"Hey!" Hikaru stared at his brother. "Does she have a boyfriend?" Kaoru shrugged.

"No idea. Kyoya-sempai?"

"And why do you assume that I would know that?"

The twins simply pointed at the black book he was studiously writing in.

"Ah. To answer your question, no, she does not have a boyfriend."

"Hah! Thought so. I mean, who in their right mind would fall for her?"

"Hikaru, that wasn't very nice of you."

"But it was-"

"-She does seem to have a crush on Shinomori Aoshi-kun, however..."

The twins exchanged glances.

"Is that why she likes...kendo and such?"

"I wouldn't know."

"That's a surprise," muttered Hikaru, sarcastically. Kyoya smiled politely at him.

"Well then, if you two gentlemen would be so kind, I'd like it if you went back to your guests. It's bad enough that we're missing one host; let's not disappoint them even more shall we?"

Green eyes narrowed as the air was knocked out of her for a brief moment. But she didn't pay any attention to that; no, her focus was instead on the padded end of the bamboo sword that was...on her chest.

Why that no good little---

A quiet snarl erupting from her lips, she dropped her bamboo sword just as she clenched her hands into fists.

"Kansatsu tobikunai!" she yelled, letting lose the small throwing-knives; the small kunai; that had appeared almost miraculously in her hands.

Surprised, Mori was not quick enough to dodge the first kunai that flew at him, enabling it to successfully nick him on the neck, before falling to the ground. However, that 'wakeup call' drew him out of his horrified thoughts, and he withdrew his sword from the girl's chest, using it to deflect each and every sharp knife, until they had all fallen to the ground without causing any harm.

Lowering his sword, he watched as the girl fell, going on all fours as she gasped for breath. He continued to watch her for a brief moment, before walking briskly towards her, kneeling down by her side.

He placed a hand – hesitantly – on her shoulder, drawing her attention to him and causing him to wince ever so slightly when he saw the gleam in her green eyes.

"What the hell, what the hell were you doing?!" She gasped, as she felt a throbbing pain where the sword had struck her.

"Sorry. I thought-"

But another growl cut him off.

"I was right. You are just a bloody pervert. Tell me; is there nothing else on your mind than...things like this?" His grey eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Do you think that just because you are a man; that just because the girls seem to love you, that you can get away with such perverted, sick acts? God, I'd hate to think of what you put poor Honey-sempai through when you're alone, given your apparent liking for sick-"

"-I thought you would see it coming and parry the blow," cut in Mori, a cold, icy note entering his usually impassive voice. "Forgive me if it came across as...something else."

The grey eyes hardened just as the hand left her shoulder. "You shouldn't let your temper get the best of you. Not only will it hinder you here, but it will hinder you with your life in general." He stood up easily, dusting off the training clothes that he had changed into before the practice. "Just...go home."

And, without sparing her so much as a backward glance, he picked up both of their bamboo swords, stalked towards the racks they belonged in and deposited them in their rightful place before heading towards the changing rooms.

Misao stayed where she was on the ground, her eyes wide as she watched him disappear out of sight. She was positive that she hadn't imagined the cold...the almost hostile note in his voice just then...

He had to exert a bit of his willpower to stop himself from forcefully sliding the doors to the changing room shut behind him. Upon realizing the direction his thoughts were heading in, he forced himself to take a few deep breaths instead.

Turning his back to the closed doors, he moved towards the bag that held his normal school uniform, kicking his shoes out of the way as he did so, and unconsciously fingering the cut on his neck, where one of her knives had struck him. Knives...he certainly hadn't been expecting that.

His eyes narrowed.

Who did she think she was, in all honesty? He knew that he wasn't the most outgoing person in the world, nor was he the most expressive...but did that automatically justify her calling him a pervert?

His jaw was set as he untied the black material that held his top together, letting it drift to the floor before shrugging off the white over-coat like item.

He knew that he was angry, and it surprised him at the same time that it...didn't. It surprised him because he rarely got angry for such trivial things; and yet it didn't surprise him because he had put up with it enough, as far as he was concerned.

She went too far this time, he thought, as he pulled on his school shirt, buttoning it up unconsciously.

Whatever had he done to cause her to hate him so much? In his opinion, he was fine with a person hating him just as long as they had an appropriate reason to do so. But what had he done to make her hate him? Sure, he had accidentally walked in on her when she was changing, but that was an accident, for crying out loud.

He had only been trying to help her out, having figured out her genuine liking for kendo and the like – although he didn't know her reasons for liking them. He had only been trying to keep his...promise to Mitsukuni, saying that he would keep an eye on her. And in a way, he had only been trying to make up for that disastrous event of walking in on her changing, which had in turn caused the female population on the school to hate her.

But...

What she said about me...about me and Mitsukuni...his grey eyes gleamed dangerously, that was crossing the damned line.

Fully dressed now, he stuffed his training clothes into his other bag and threw them into the locker assigned to him. He'd collect them another time. For now, he'd just leave the dojo as quickly as he could and...perhaps, go to the Host Club?

Or maybe go for a walk and then go to the Host Club?

Picking up his book bag, he slid the doors to the changing room open at the same time that the occupant of the room opposite his did the same.

Grey eyes met green for just a brief moment, each pair glinting, before Mori turned away, a dark expression on his face.

Without acknowledging her the slightest bit, Mori strode briskly away. Enough was enough, after all.

A/N

Egad! That was long!!!! Apologies for that – but I really didn't see the point in splitting this up into two chapters, because that might just drag the thing a bit too much.

Oooh. Misao's gone too far, has she? Oh dear. Wonder what'll happen next? I certainly wouldn't like to be around to face a rather angry Morinozuka Takashi, that's for sure!

Well, I hope this update keeps you satisfied until after my exams finish! (Or until I take my next study break and update this fic!)

Till then,

Siriusgirl1