"I don't want to die without any scars."

― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Kyouya felt groggy. His limbs felt like lead and his head pounded between his eyes. He peeled his eyes open, they felt crusted and heavy. His cheek was pressed into concrete and when he moved his tongue over his lips it felt like sandpaper over rougher sandpaper. He moved his arm sluggishly, the clanging of metal made him freeze and look for the source. There was a handcuff attached to a chain around his wrist. He sat up and tugged at it, the metal digging into his skin lightly. His wrist already red from the metal brushing against his skin. How long had he been out?

The room was dark, but light streamed out a window that was badly bordered up. Giving a few silver slivers that streaked through the room. Catching dust in the ray as it danced through the air. Everything else was blurry, but he saw a vaguely human shape off to the side and stayed deathly quiet. His heart began beating and the fatigue in his limbs melted off and replaced with new vitality.

It seemed like hours, but the human shape didn't move, even when the door was open and light spilled into the darkness. A man walked in and over to Kyouya, tilting his head back roughly and placing the edge of a water bottle to his lips, he poured water into Kyouya's mouth, but not in a way too choke him. Kyouya accepted the water after tasting the pure taste. The man forced Kyouya to drink the entire bottle before shoving his glasses on his face and turning to the human lump. The man blocked Kyouya's view as he did the same thing to the rooms occupant, but it calmed Kyouya's heart significantly. Even though he couldn't remember what happens or who these people were, he was glad that the other thing in the room wasn't a creature, but in fact a human.

The room was quickly thrown back into it's darkened state. Kyouya was temporarily blind as his eyes adjusted, glad that his glasses were back on his face, even if he could see the smears of finger prints at the edges. He stared at the person, eyes straining to see who it was. It didn't take him long to figure out. "Har-" his voice was scratchy and didn't get the volume he wanted, he cleared his throat. Glad for the water. "Haruhi!"

The figure shifted, hearing her name and her head rose. The bandage on her eye was pale grey with the centre darker than the rest. He knew that they hadn't changed it. She looked brutal, there was a dried cut across her cheek and her wrists were chained to the wall, blood cracked and smeared down her arms and cuts across the once pale flesh from where she struggled against her binds. Kyouya's eyes widened, her cracked lips twisted into a tight smile. Her way of saying 'I'm fine' but she grimaced. Blood forming on her cracked lips.

He tried to remember how they were in that position. What had happened and why were they there? The pounding sensation between his eyes grew and he flinched, shaking his head. Focus. He sought for the memories until it clicked.

-X

Haruhi had opened the door and instantly knew something was wrong. She yanked her gun out and stepped in, pointing it down the hall. Kyouya yanked his own gun out, his heart pounding. He didn't like the fact that their supposed safe spot wasn't safe. They were silent, walking until they heard a shuffling in the sitting room. Haruhi shoved open the door and shot blindly. Although the bullet found the target. The man fell down and there were angry and surprised shouts.

The men yanked their guns out, aiming it towards the partially blinded girl. One took advantage of that and twisted his gun around, bashing it against the side of her head and she fell. Kyouya jumped towards her, catching her before she hit the ground. She didn't need any more trauma. The man stared at him, he was bald and a tattoo across his head. Another man looked young, not even fifteen, and was holding a hammer loosely in his hands. Kyouya narrowed his eyes but before he could say anything one of the men rose a gun towards him.

"Put the girl on the ground and leave," he growled out. Kyouya lowered her down before grabbing her gun and shooting the guy. He didn't have the aim Haruhi did, and the bullet lodged in his shoulder. The hammer guy jumped forwards and swung the hammer towards Kyouya. He jumped out of the way, firing off another round, this time towards the boy. It missed anything vital, scratching the boys ear. The boy still shouted out in pain and grabbed his now bleeding ear.

Kyouya knew why they weren't firing randomly at him, they would attract creatures there, and there were more of them there than him. They would try to take him out quietly. Kyouya growled at them, "I will fire off all the rounds in this gun and attract all creatures in the area to this syndicate if you don't get the fuck out."

Before he could carry out the threat, he felt something heavy collide with his head and the lights went off in an instant.

-X

Kyouya opened his mouth to speak again, but the door was flung open again and a man strode in. Looking large and in charge. He walked over to Kyouya and bent down, grasping his face roughly in his large hand a narrowed his eyes. "Pretty boy final awake, eh?" he said in broken Japanese. Clearly a foreigner. His fingernails dug into Kyouya's cheek uncomfortably before the man ripped his hand away, leaving red marks on his face and moving towards Haruhi. He exchanged some words with her, once that Kyouya didn't hear. Haruhi didn't have enough energy to raise her voice to give the proper tone she was trying to pass towards the man.

Suddenly there was a sharp noise of skin connecting with skin and Kyouya flinched. In the concrete room it sounded worse than it probably was. Haruhi didn't even make a noise, so it calmed Kyouya down slightly. "Fucker," he grumbled under his breath, tugging at his restraints. The man turned to look at Kyouya and growled.

"What you say? Do not anger me."

"Why the fuck did you kidnap us?" he shouted, "You fuckers attacked us-"

He felt the momentum of the slap before he felt the pain. It flashed and stung painfully, but he gritted past it.

"My friend killed by her," the man shoved a finger towards Haruhi. "We did not attack you."

"Not this time," Haruhi rasped out, lifting her head from it's position and staring at him darkly. "You've done it before, what's stopping you from doing it again."

The man bristled in anger and whistled sharply. A man walked in and removed one of Haruhi's restraints. She had just enough energy to shove him away slightly, but the man grasped her hand and took one of the chains that hung from the roof and attached it to her wrist. Followed by the other one before dragging her to the centre of the room. Another person, this time female walked in as the two men tugged at the chains, forcing her to her feet. The woman walked over with a large knife. Kyouya started thrashing in his restraints but the woman just slid the knife under Haruhi's shirt and cut a large line through it.

"Where are the others?" the woman asked him, her blue eyes piercing into his. "We know this bitch has three other fuckers hiding out with her."

"Who are you talking about?" Kyouya growled out, staring at the knife in her hand. He knew what would happen, but Haruhi's brown eyes gave him such a dark look for the amount of energy she had that he knew if he talked she would've gathered up all the energy she had just to kill him.

"I don't know their names, do you?" she asked, the blade tip trailing over Haruhi's near flawless back. "For each name you give me, I'll spare her a cut."

Kyouya pressed his lips tightly together. "I don't know their real names but their nicknames are, Ore, Ishi, and Koroshi."

"What's your name?" the girl looked partially amused.

"Anata."

Haruhi let out an inhuman noise as the blade sliced down her back. Blood welling up.

"Clever boy, but I'm not stupid. Ore ishi koroshi anata*, the correct grammar for that is Watashi wa anata o korosudeshou*," she smirked, then dragged the knife down Haruhi's back twice more. Haruhi squeezed her eyes shut and tried to ignore the pain. It faded after the blade removed, but it was unpleasant none the less. Kyouya's eyes narrowed. "Let's try something else, where are they?"

"I haven't seen them in a couple days, I'm not even sure what day it is and you fucking think I know where they are now?" Kyouya growled out, tugging at his restraints again. "Then you are torturing someone else to get information from me, how cowardly can you get?"

The woman turned and left the room, coming back in with a whip. She nodded to the men and they tied off the chain before leaving the room. She walked around and smiled a sickly sweet smile at Haruhi, "Haru-chan, where are they? Where are your supplies and boyfriends? We won't hurt them, I promise." Haruhi just rose her eyes, staying silent for a while before snarling. Refusing to lower her eyes or look away. Not about to bow down to the girl in front of her. The girl shook her head. "Last time we went easy on you," the girl growled, "We let you get away, but this time you'll bleed out and die here if you don't tell us what we want to know."

"Why not kill me and skip your disappointment?" Haruhi asked venom in her exhausted voice. She was slapped across the face, and Kyouya watched helplessly.

The girl walked around and snapped the whip towards Haruhi's back, and Kyouya watched helplessly.

Haruhi bit back her exclamation of pain, her eyes widened, and Kyouya watched helplessly.

He struggled against his bonds, the metal digging into his wrists. Another crack followed by another, followed by another. The leather digging into her skin, creating cuts and welts that bleed nearly instantly. Kyouya felt himself thrashing against his bonds trying to get to the girl who had tears pouring from her eye. The girl who refused to cry out in pain as blood seeped out of the cuts. Kyouya felt warmth around his wrists and ignored the pain and the moisture. Blood staining his skin and the metal.

The woman looked insane, a large grin on her face as she caused pain to the girl and boy at the same time. One of them would crack, and she would be able to deliver the good news to her leader. Potential gain for herself. The whip slashed across the bloodied back, spraying blood over herself and the dark haired boy. As she raised it there was a bang of a gun being shot. Her arm froze and she called out to the man in the hall. She lowered the whip and headed out quickly to figure out what had happened.

Haruhi began sobbing, her body shaking. Kyouya wanted to help her, he wanted to lessen her pain. Somehow, in anyway possible. There was too much pain for one person in such a small amount of time. Especially her. She was so small, Kyouya felt as if at the moment she couldn't get anymore fragile and tiny. He wouldn't say that then, and would never say that to her. He would always tell her she was strong for withstanding that, and she was.

There was a curse outside the door, drawing his attention away from the brunette. "What do you fucking mean two men were able to get in?" Kyouya's attention piqued and he held his breath to hear the conversation.

"One fucking cut Isamu's head clean off," a male's voice spoke hurriedly, "They looked pissed and both look like demon dogs from hell. The one who has the blade was shot in the arm, but he retaliated by stabbing the guy who shot him in the face. They're brutal! Fuck!"

"What are we going to do with them then?"

"Lock 'em up, they'll die. These bastards will probably care more about supplies then them," the male spoke and the door to their room slammed shut. Kyouya thrashed against his bindings again, shouting out to the people. He was acting, even Haruhi in her half pain induced delusion, knew he was. He was shouting for them not to leave them there.

Silence fell over them for the longest time, they heard bullets being exchanged and screams of agony and anger. Kyouya heard Haruhi inhale and exhale deeply a few times. A few tears and a muffled shout of pain slipped from her. She jumped slightly, yanking her feet out from beneath her. Her weight forced the chains to slip from their rusted attachments. She collapsed onto the ground, body rocking with sobs. She laid still for the longest time as the war outside raged on, but then she forced herself to her knees and hands and coughed up some blood. She wiped her mouth before turning towards Kyouya, her brown eyes meeting his.

Before she could do anything, the door was slammed open by the woman and she shut it quickly. Resting her back against the door, her chest heaving. Blood splattering over her. She stared at Haruhi with horror in her eyes. Neither knowing whether it was from the fact that Haruhi still had the strength to get down from the chains or the fact that there was a blood bath in the other room.

"Oi! She went this way!" a familiar voice shouted, anger and disgust filling his voice. The three in the room held their breath as the sound of two sets of footsteps walked to the door. The woman slunk away from the door, being as quiet as she could be. A dark grin stretched over Haruhi's face.

"Help us," Haruhi choked out in her hoarse voice.

The door slammed open and the woman shouted out in fear. Light spilled into the room, as Haruhi slid to the floor. Becoming dizzier as seconds past. She didn't see Kasanoda turning towards the woman and shooting her in the head. Or him finding the keys in her pocket and unlocking Kyouya's binds. She felt hands touch her arm before the sound of something smacking onto the concrete beside her. She felt her shirt being yanked off and then something spraying over her back, stinging but not enough for her to shout out.

Takashi moved quickly, wrapping the small girl with the bandages and gauze in his pack. Kyouya hurried over once he was free and helped Takashi. They couldn't stitch her up there, it would be too dangerous if other members of the group came back. Kyouya changed the bandage on her eye, Takashi didn't comment and Kyouya was thankful.

Haruhi felt pressure on her back and instantly thrashed out weakly, but the pain that flashed through her knocked her out soon after.

-X

Tamaki was wringing his hands together, staring out the window. It had been a day. "What if they don't come back either?" he voiced the thoughts of the rest of the group. They stayed silent, not answering his question and allowing him to continue his fretting in silence. They were all worrying that the four of them had befallen death.

It wasn't until the sun started to set that the door slammed open, waking Tamaki up. Ritsu threw four bags onto the table before holding everyone back with Kyouya as Takashi carried Haruhi into the medical area. Kyouya shouted out orders to the other before entering the room. Everyone blew up in a state of panic. What was wrong with her? Was she dying? Was she mutating?

Ritsu told everyone to shut up, anger in his eyes and he looked like he wouldn't hesitate to unload the last of his bullets into their brains. "Your questions will be answered, just calm the fuck down and think!"

"What happened, Bossa Nova!" Hikaru shouted, fists clenching until his fingernails punctured his skin. Haruhi was in trouble and they didn't even know what happened.

"Ya think I know?" he growled, "We get there and there's a dead body in the syndicate and both of those guys are missing. We figure out where they were and Haruhi is bleeding out. I wasn't about to ask questions, she was in trouble and we needed to get her back here before she died. Any of you bastards going to calm down or am I going to have to knock you out?"

The group was silent, listening to Kyouya and Takashi barking back at each other in the other room. Takashi left at one point, heading into the old laundry room now medical supply closet and grabbing some supplies and hurrying back. Shutting the door before they could see in. It was an hour before there was silence coming from the room. The twins clutched each other tightly, tears held back. Everyone was staring at the door, wondering what the silence signified.

The door opened calmly and Takashi walked out, delicately holding Haruhi. Who was swaddled in a blanket and bandages. He carried her upstairs, ignoring the stares, he nodded towards Mitsukuni and he followed his cousin upstairs. Mitsukuni opened Takashi's bedroom door and he walked in, placing the girl on his bed before asking his cousin to grab a bottle of water.

He didn't even question it before heading to do as he was told. Takashi had a cloth and cleaned the dried blood and dirt from Haruhi's face where there weren't bandages. Mitsukuni headed back downstairs, allowing Takashi the chance to feel useful to the girl when he wasn't there to help her. Takashi was making up his failure to protect her by being as helpful as he could.

The group downstairs was starting to raise their voice when Kyouya came out with blood splattering his clothes and face. He rubbed his face with some water as Mitsukuni headed down the stairs. The small blonde glaring at them, "You'll wake Haru-chan up."

They all went deathly silent as the eldest sat down and stared at Kyouya expectantly. He adjusted his glances and launched into the events, telling them at a reasonable tone and volume. After he finished telling them about Haruhi getting her eye stabbed by her father and how she killed him, he fell silent. Rubbing his face. "If you could all wait, I think Haruhi should tell the rest," he mumbled shaking his head. Knowing that Haruhi would want to give Mitsukuni his stuffed pink bunny when she woke up. Whenever she did wake up.

"We wanna know now!" Hikaru rose his voice, but not to the point that he would wake Haruhi up. "We deserve to know!"

Kyouya levelled a gaze at him and adjusted his glasses. "Haruhi's perspective would be better, she had a first hand experience in everything and some of her actions would be better explained by her rather than a viewer. Although, if you really want to know now, you can go wake her up. With her exhaustion and current need for rest and healing, I'm sure she'll appreciate you waking her up. Not only that but I think that you'd have to get past Takashi."

"Healing is more important than the reason behind why they need to be healed," Mitsukuni spoke up, making retorts die in the others throats. "Kyo-chan should go and rest for the night. We'll learn more about what happened at a later time."

-X

It was an intense couple of days as Haruhi rested. She woke in boughts of consciousness before succumbing to sleep again. She was fed whenever she was awake enough for her to get her energy back, but it still took her just over a month before she was able to get out of the bed without feeling an intense pain shoot up her back. Everyone was downstairs doing various chores around the house when she ambled down the stairs. No one noticed her at first, she was moving so slow it barely registered to them that there was movement. She walked over to the bags that were still laying discarded on a couch.

Takashi entered the room with a bundle of sheets in his arms, watching her for a moment before placing the sheets down. He watched her as she opened Kyouya's. Mitsukuni was sitting on another couch, looking over a list of everything that they had and making another list of things they needed. However, the pen in his hand was frozen just over the paper as he watched Haruhi. They were acting as if she was a deer that would be startled if she heard a loud noise.

She made a soft triumphant noise and pulled something gently out of the bag. Pink faded fabric in a shape of a bunny. The pen fell to the table and Mitsukuni stood up. He walked over and Haruhi extended Usa-chan towards him. His fingers lifted, shaking severely, and he touched the fabric. It felt the same, his fingers remembered the soft plush instantly. He took it gently from Haruhi, staring at the black beaded eyes, the faded fabric, the cute expression. A thick swallow and his fingers tightened before crushing the bunny to his chest. Fat tears rolled down his face as he buried his nose into the top of the stuff animals head and inhaled the musty scent.

Haruhi smiled softly, ruffling Mitsukuni hair lightly. He looked up at her, a sob escaping him, he threw his arms around her and hugged her. Truthfully, he wanted to crush her in a tight hug to thank her, he wanted to kiss her, he wanted to hug her forever, but with her condition that wouldn't be good at all. She had found Usa-chan for him. Even if she had died, she found Usa-chan. Usa-chan was the only thing he still had of his late grandmother, and his previous life.

Takashi walked over and ruffled her hair as she kissed Mitsukuni's forehead and rubbed his back. Ignoring the pain in her wrists and back. The others heard the giddy noise that escaped Mitsukuni's mouth and entered the room. He turned towards them, tossing Usa-chan up with a large smile. "Look who returned!"

Chika looked ready to throttle his brother, and ready to grab the bunny and hug it as well. It was a welcome return of normalcy in their hectic world, if you could call that normal. The twins moved over to Haruhi, gently resting their arms on her shoulders and smiling at her. One was cut off from her field of vision but she didn't comment on it, and didn't try to pull away. Her back hurt from the slightest movements.

"What happened?" they asked at the same time. Getting right to the point. Haruhi let out a sigh, not wanting to recount the events but did anyways. Ending up sitting on the couch, head resting on Kyouya's shoulder, exhausted just from talking. Her eyes kept closing for long periods of times, but her mouth kept rattling off the accounts.

"They attacked you again?" Satoshi slammed his fist into the table, eyes narrowing. "Those fucking bastards. This is a time to be nice to fellow humans instead of fucking torturing them!"

"Language," Haruhi hummed straightening, "I know, but I'm pretty sure that Mori and Ritsu killed a lot of them, so they'll be out of our hair for ever hopefully."

Chika shook his head, scowling. "If I see those bastards, I am going to kill them."

"Beat you there," Ritsu grumbled, "Oh, Takashi," he patted Takashi on the shoulder, distracting himself, "Is your arm healing nicely?"

Haruhi eyed him curiously and he nodded, lifting his sleeve to show the bullet wound that was raised pink flesh. She reached forwards and ran her fingers over the skin. An apologetic gesture. "Regardless," she murmured shaking her head, "It's in the past, and in this time we have to focus on the here and now."