A/N

Gahhh! I'm so sorry about yesterday! I've been trying to do a chapter a day, I was falling asleep last night, and I still had a couple of things I wanted to do before I wrapped up their trip to the beach! Please don't hate me D:

Thanks so much to everyone that reviewed! It means a lot to me! Also, thanks to one of my reviewers, I have a great idea that will happen later involving Kasanoda and Emiko's demon ex xD And for those of you that are anxious for Mark to come, you're going to have to wait for a couple chapters...he will come when you least expect it...(insert manaic evil laughter here)

I have babbled for too long now. On with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC because I couldn't pay the fee that Kyouya put on it...But I am allowed my own Ocs :)

~The Thorn of a Rose~

Chapter 7

I blinked open my eyes. My entire body felt sore, and I could feel a couple of tender spots where there was sure to be bruises forming. There was a shirt wrapped around me, and I tugged it closer. The glow of the setting sun illuminated the beach and the seven people standing in front. I started to sit up, but the person in glasses kneeling down beside me gently pushed me down again. "What happened?" I asked groggily in English.

"You were thrown off a cliff," the person in glasses deadpanned in English, his glasses glinted in the dying sunlight. He seemed to be drenched, as if he jumped in the ocean. Memories came crashing back to me, and I stiffened.

I switched back to Japanese. "Oh, my god. Is Haruhi alright? And the girls? What happened to the guys? Why are you all wet?" I would have said more, but Kyouya put a couple of fingers over my lips, silencing me.

"Hush. Tamaki is bring Haruhi now. The girls are fine. As for the guys, we took their IDs and respectfully asked them to leave." I had a feeling that he was leaving some things out in that story, but I didn't pry. I started to stand up again, but Kyouya pushed me down again. "We don't know what your injuries are."

"I'm fine, Kyouya-senpai," I said. He hesitated and allowed me to stand up.

"Haru-chan!" Hunni cried in a worried tone, and we turned around to see Tamaki carrying Haruhi out of the water.

"Boss!" the twins called.

Tamaki brought Haruhi over, and Kyouya put a shirt over her. "Where'd they go?" Tamaki asked in a serious voice.

"We took their ID cards and respectfully asked them to leave," Kyouya said in an almost...scary voice. "The girls all went back to the hotel, and I've called a doctor. He should be arriving here soon," Kyouya continued.

"Thank you," Tamaki murmured.

"I'm fine, you guys. I don't need a doctor," Haruhi said as Tamaki set her down.

Kyouya put a shirt around her as well. Tamaki grabbed her by the shoulders. "What were you thinking?" he asked quietly. "You too, Emiko. You know, you guys aren't like Hunni-senpai. You're not a martial arts master." We looked at him. He was almost shaking with anger. "What made you confront them? What made you think you could stand a chance? You both against two boys?"

"But it doesn't matter that they were guys and we're girls," Haruhi retorted. "We were there, we had to do something."

"We sent the girls for help, but we had to intervene or else they would have been hurt," I added.

"That's no excuse, you idiot!" Tamaki yelled. "Don't forget, you both are girls!"

"Look, I'm sorry you had to come and save me, senpai. But I don't understand why you're so mad right now," Haruhi said flatly.

"We only wanted to help those girls. I don't regret what I did," I said.

He turned away. "You don't? Fine. Whatever you say. But I won't talk to you both until you can admit that you're wrong!" Haruhi glared at him, and I looked at her. Tamaki was mostly worried about Haruhi. He was too daft to realize his feelings for her weren't like father/daughter, but something else. I could see where he was coming from, though. If she had been hurt...I was used to this kind of treatment. Well, maybe not being thrown off cliffs, but punches and stuff I was used to. I was just so glad that Haruhi wasn't hurt.

~..*..~

Dinner that night was very awkward, to say the least. I sat between the twins, across from Haruhi. Kaoru was to my left, with Kyouya on the other side of him. Hikaru was to my right, while Tamaki was across from him. Hunni and Mori were across from Kyouya and Kaoru.

I rolled my eyes at Tamaki. He was already cracking. If he was smart he wouldn't have sat next to her...But this is Tamaki we're talking about. Because of all the shellfish that Haruhi and Hunni had caught earlier that day, we had plenty for dinner. Haruhi and Tamaki started bickering, and Haruhi ate crab after crab...It kind of made me not hungry.

Finally, Tamaki had enough. He stood up, glaring down at Haruhi. "Okay, fine. I get it. It seems that you refuse to accept that you were wrong. I'm going to bed. Kyouya, could you show me to my room, please?"

"Sure thing," Kyouya deadpanned and stood up. "Please excuse me," he said to all of us before walking out with Tamaki.

Haruhi hesitated and put the crab down. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I do need to find a way to protect myself," she muttered to everyone.

"So that's it. He got to you," the twins said.

"I know I am. I would have already if it wasn't for Mark," I told her.

Hikaru shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to know how to defend yourself."

"But it's not like we're going to force you to learn it," Kaoru added.

"Besides, that's not the real issue here," the twins said.

"To be honest, we were all a little worried about how recklessly you both acted," Hikaru said, looking at us.

Haruhi looked puzzled. "But...what do you mean? I didn't cause you guys any trouble, did I?"

I put my head in my hands. She's hopeless... The twins looked at each other in exasperation.

"That's not true, Haru-chan," Hunni piped up. "I think you and Emi-chan should apologize, 'kay?" He gave us a sweet, adorable look. "You guys made us all worry, especially Tama-chan. I think you need to apologize to him the most."

Haruhi looked shocked. "You...were worried about me? Why?"

We all groaned. "You're hopeless," the twins informed her.

"Guys, I'm really sorry," she said quietly.

"Me, too," I added.

The next second we were caught in a four-way hug, the twins nuzzling our necks. "Awwww!" they all were saying. Except for Mori. He, being the amazing person he is, was just eating crab in the background.

I escaped from the hug, and headed out of the dininghall, searching for my room. I had put my stuff down in my room already, but I just couldn't remember where my room was. Damn these rich people for having so many rooms.

I tried my luck and opened a random door. It lead to what looked like a closet. I continued on through a couple of other doors. When I opened a door, I saw a bedroom. I hesitated, coming in and closing the door. I looked around, trying to see if it was my bedroom.

"Do you need something?" a familiar monotone voice asked. I whipped my head around to see Kyouya. He was shirtless, with a towel around his neck. His glasses were off and on the table next to him.

I turned my head away quickly trying hard not to blush. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I was just trying to find my room." I quickly started heading towards the door. "I didn't mean to bother you, sorry."

"Hey, hey, hey, it's just me." Kyouya seemed offended. I stopped my advance to the door, and turned around, hesitating.

"Kyouya-senpai, I'm sorry about today. I've been thinking about it, and maybe confronting them wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, but it's the only thing I could do in that situation. I didn't want any of the girls to be hurt, but I think that everyone is overreacting. It doesn't really matter that we're girls or not." During my little speech, he had gotten up and came closer and closer to me. I swallowed. He was right in front of me right now.

He leaned towards me, his beautiful eyes undreadable. I backed up into the wall, and he leaned closer to me. "I had a hard time separating Hikaru and Kaoru from those two punks. They almost beat them half to death." He gave a small, evil-sounding chuckle. I knew I didn't want to know... "And because of you and Haruhi, I had to send each of the girls a bouquet of flowers to apologize. They've been looking forward to this trip and I don't want to disappoint them."

I sighed. I knew that sooner or later I'd somehow end up owing the Host Club a debt. "I'll pay you back for the flowers, okay?"

He leaned a little bit closer, his smirk intensified. I suddenly began to feel uncomfortable. He reached his hand behind me. "Each bouquet cost me 50,000. That's a grand total of 600,000 yen, Emiko." There was a slight click as he turned the lights off. I swallowed. He wouldn't...would he? He leaned his head in so our lips were only a couple of inches apart. "If you want to, you can pay me back with your body."

That's when I tried to get out of there. I tried to slip out from under him, but he grabbed me by the arms, roughly but still gently. He pulled me to his chest, and yanked me onto the bed. He positioned himself on top of me. "Kyouya, what are you doing?" I asked, scared.

"Surely you can't be naïve enough to actually believe that a person's sex doesn't matter. You've left yourself completely defenseless against me."

I squeezed my eyes shut. This was all too familiar...It was as if I was replaying that memory...Mark had me trapped against the couch. His lips were hovering over mine. "What makes you think that you could take karate lessons? I'll always be here to protect you."

"But what if you weren't? Then I'd need to know how to defend myself," I argued.

"I don't care. Do as I say, now. You aren't going to take those karate lessons, understand?"

"You can't tell me what to do! Who are you to-"

He slapped a hand over my mouth, narrowing his eyes. "Oh, yea? I'm the one with the upper hand. I could take you, right now, and you'd be powerless to stop me. You wouldn't survive those karate makes you think you could?"

"You wouldn't, though. You wouldn't take me," I said, looking up at him. My heart stopped when I saw the smirk on his face, and his grin that seemed evil, and almost...lustful. I knew in that second that he absolutely would.

Still caught in that memory, I whimpered, "Mark, don't!"

Time stopped, frozen. I stiffened as I realized what I said. My eyes snapped open to see Kyouya's shocked face above mine. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I turned my face to the side, my eyes closed, tears welling up in them. There was a rustle from the bed, and Kyouya's voice sounded farther away. "Emiko?" he asked, full of concern. I opened my eyes again, unused to hearing emotion like that in his voice.

Kyouya had gotten off of me, and was sitting near me on the bed. His eyes, normally guarded, were full of concern and a glint of anger. I swallowed. His eyes narrowed, the anger intensified. "Did he...?"

I turned my head away, tears dripping down my cheeks. "No. Luckily for me, my mom came home before he could." I swallowed again. "It was so close, though..."

There was silence for a second, then I was being pulled against his chest. "I'm sorry," he murmured into my hair. "I was just trying to prove something to you."

I tried to give a weak chuckle. "Point taken." I turned my head into his chest, getting my tears and breath under control. It was...comfortable, being in his arms. Familiar, even. It felt so...right, I guess. As we sat there, I could feel a twinge in my heart, something that started ever since I first met him.

I still loved Mark, for reasons beyond my comprehension. However, every day that I was away from him, those feelings began to fade. Now they were being replaced with something new. Something...sweeter. And it was directed towards Kyouya. Was I falling for him?

Eventually, I pulled away. "I-I'm sorry for crying on you Kyouya."

His lips brushed the top of my forehead, making my heart thump eratically in my chest. "It's quite alright. Still, I'm sorry my lesson had that impact on you." He smirked at me as if he could hear my heart. I give him a glare and started to disdainfully get up, trying to ignore the blush that started to creep up my cheeks. I got to the door when I remembered the whole reason that got me into this mess. I turned to look at Kyouya. "Do you know where my room is?"

His smirk intensified, he motioned to the right. "Down the corridor that way, room with your name on it." I gave him a glare and he just smirked. I left, and closed the door, though I considered slamming it. I hate him, I hate him I thought to myself, but my thumping heart told me otherwise.

~..*..~

Hikaru and Kaoru knocked on my door a little while after I found it. "Come on, let's go see what Haruhi and the boss are up too," they chorused over the thunderstorm.

I rolled my eyes but got up, joining the rest of the group outside, ignoring the smirk on Kyouya's face. We wandered down the hall to Tamaki's room. We knocked on the door. "Hey, boss, we're coming in," the twins called as we swung the door in. We all stiffened at the scene.

"With the blindfold on, you can't see anything! And the earplugs help muffle any sound!" Tamaki was gushing. They were sitting on the floor, Haruhi with earplugs in and her eyes covered.

"Wow, yeah, you're right!" Haruhi said.

"...You nasty pervert," Hikaru said, disgusted. I felt the same way. What the heck was he doing...? Tamaki gasped and turned around, frozen at the sight of us in the doorway.

"What kind of foreplay is that?" Kaoru asked, equally disgusted.

"It's not like that! It's not what you think!" Tamaki wailed.

~..*..~

"You better watch your back, Haruhi," Hikaru called as we walked with our bags to the car the next morning.

"I never would have pegged the boss as a S&M pervert," Kaoru added.

"I told you, it wasn't like that!" Tamaki snarled.

"I see. Well, now I know what S&M is. I can't believe I almost let you get away with it," Haruhi muttered, rolling up the window of the car, leaving Tamaki on the other side.

We left Tamaki yelling outside of the car, and we drove away, leaving Tamaki in the dust. I leaned back and closed my eyes. As soon as I got home, I would sleep off this whole thing. I needed it.

A/N

Seeeeeee? Second part, aaaaaaaaaaaas promised! I don't know if I can update tomorrow, because I'm going to be at a friends house all day/night to celebrate the end of school, woot woot! Please, reviews are appreciated and will get you a demented hobo! I hear that they are trending now in Svalbard! xD Review! :D