Disclaimer: I do not own "Ouran High School Host Club" or any of the characters in this wonderful manga/anime in any way.

Shelter in the Storm

Previously in Chapter Five: "You wanna give her the strength to fight back, ne, Takeshi? If she can defend herself, then maybe she will put that into her dreams too." Mori just nodded.

"I want to help her protect herself, if I… we can't be with her 24/7." He added, looking first to the girl's father and then to his cousin. Ranka smiled at the longest sentence he had ever heard come out of Mori's mouth. And the teen's personal desire to protect his daughter did not go unnoticed either.

Chapter Six

It had been two weeks since the attack. Five days in a coma, three more in ICU, and she was on her sixth day in a regular room when the doctors started talking to Ranka about letting her go home. There wasn't really a need to keep her as she seemed to be making a full recovery. They didn't want her to extend herself too much for the first month or so, which meant no school for about three more days. After that, there should be no after school or other extra curricular activities for about the first five to six weeks. When it was mentioned the type of club she was in, and knowing the fellow club members, it was agreed that after a week or so of only classes, she could start attending club, but only if she remained seated and let the others do the work. Ranka mentioned this to the boys, who decided that they would continue to watch over Haruhi for now. After she had received the "all clear" from the doctors Huni-senpai would start training her. The detectives also made an appearance the same day, complete with a photo version of a line-up. The man who had hurt her was definitely had looked better. Rumor had it that when he was dropped off at the station with a letter of confession he was just short of death itself. He was covered head to toe in serious injuries. He would not explain where they came from, and when it was mentioned that Haruhi was a student at Ouran High School, the man visibly twitched. She couldn't be sure, but when Ritsu showed up the day before, he looked at Ranka and said that Haruhi would never be bothered by that man again. Haruhi could only imagine what that implied.

Arrangements had been made for there to be someone at home with Haruhi at all times. Ranka may not have wanted to admit it, but even the idiot Tamaki had come through in this crisis, so he felt it only fair to trust them to watch over his precious baby girl. Although, he would make sure that the entire group would understand that he would not allow his daughter to be hurt in any way, even by her friends. Absolutely NO misconduct will be allowed as they care for her overnight while he is at work since there would not be nurse supervision. This unbreakable rule would be expressed at Haruhi's "welcome home" party. Well, it wasn't much of a party for two reasons. First, he didn't want her over-exerting herself. Second, because most parties that he had been to usually lasted more than 30 minutes, but that was the time limit that he had set for Haruhi's sake. Huni agreed to pick up sweets and Mori would bring tea for everyone, so thirty minutes should be long enough. Except for Huni; Ranka had the impression that the smallest yet eldest of the boys never went anywhere without a lot of sweets, but he decided to let it drop.

Tamaki agreed to pick up Ranka and Haruhi once she was released. The ride was fairly calm considering every time Tamaki started to get the lest little excited over anything, Ranka shot him a dirty look that sent Tamaki into his imaginary corner of doom and gloom to harvest mushrooms. As soon as they arrived at the apartment, they were immediately greeted by the sight of Haruhi's friends from the host club along with Ritsu, who Ranka had only met while Haruhi was in the hospital. They were circled around Ritsu, who was reiterating the point that the man who had attacked Haruhi should have learned his lesson. "Because it was Fujioka-san, and I knew that she would not want anyone dead because of her, I told my guys to leave him alive and on the doorsteps on the police. I am pretty sure, however, that they did make an impression on him after I left. I would have called all of you to help, but I figured it best if you keep your hands clean of this matter. But I want you all to know that it has been taken care of. "

Kyoya added, "Otori private police have confirmed that Haruhi made a positive ID through a photograph lineup. She won't have to face him until trial. That is assuming that the confession and convincing from Kasanoda-san's people, that he doesn't automatically plead guilty. Let's all hope for Haruhi's sake that she never has to see that bastard again. "

Everyone turned as they heard a small gasp coming from the stairs. They had not seen the limo pull up. Haruhi stood on the top step, closely followed by Ranka and Tamaki. "I…I had…I hadn't considered that I would have to face him again." Haruhi said it in such a hushed whisper that those at the back of the pack weren't quite sure they heard her. Her face, however, had the whole story scrolling across as she flashed from one emotion to the next while she stood stock still, frozen. Ranka put an arm around her and tried to ease her forwards as he fumbled around with his other hand looking for the keys.

"Ranka-san, the door." Mori-senpai stepped over and easily swept Haruhi into his arms and moved her out of the way for Ranka to get to the door. He carried her in and set down next to the table as her friend surrounded them. He held her as the rest of her friends offered support. Kyoya and Ranka walked into the kitchen to make Haruhi some warm tea instead of the bottled tea that had been brought for everyone else. Hopefully that would calm her nerves.

Kyoya talked to Ranka for a moment about what they had overheard. It was never meant for Haruhi to hear, but everyone in that living room had wanted the bastard who did this to her dead. In fact, more than one of the host club members had expressed the opinion that they were glad it was Ritsu who had taken him to the police as they didn't know if they would have been able to stop before he was dead. Kyoya knew that it would upset Haruhi more to hear this, so he let Ranka know while they were alone. "We didn't want to upset her. She's been through enough. Ranka-san, I am so very sorry. We didn't hear the limo." Kyoya's mask slipped for a second. Ranka walked over to the teen and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok. She would have to face it eventually. We might as well deal with it upfront instead of prolonging the ordeal, right?" He gave the boy a wistful smile. "If it's any consolation, I don't think that she will care about what you had planned for him, as long as none of you were hurt or will suffer any consequences for it. She is, after all, still Haruhi. Maybe hurt and a bit more guarded, but still the same girl that you all have come to know and love, despite how you keep her locked into coming to that ridiculous club." He gave the teen a wink and then turned to go into the living room.

Mori was still sitting there, holding Haruhi, with Huni to his right, Tamaki sat to his left, the twins sat across the table from the pair, and Ritsu stood behind Mori with a hand reaching over Mori's shoulder gently stroking Haruhi's hair. Haruhi sat in her senpai's lap, unable to think or move. She shook in fear with her hands clinched to her chest. She took the tea that her father handed her and sipped it. Slowly she calmed down and started to get very sleepy. Haruhi was not the type of child to take her medicine easily, so Ranka had asked the doctors to sleeping medicine that could be slipped into her drink. Mori continued to hold the sleeping girl as the rest of their companions started to talk. After Haruhi fell asleep, Ritsu moved to sit around the table with the other boys as they shared sweets and tea. Since it was Haruhi's first day home from the hospital, he had taken the day off from work.

Afternoon turned into evening, and since the only Haruhi usually cooked for her father, but was not only recovering but asleep, they ordered takeout at the expense of the club. They decided to write it off as planning committee refreshments. Just to keep the expense above board, they did discuss the host club event for the first day Haruhi returned. It was decided to make the theme for the day "Snow White" with Haruhi lounging on one of the chaise lounges dressed as the fairy tale character from after she ate from the poisoned apple. The boys would dress as the dwarves. They even agreed to allow Ritsu to come and dress as Grumpy.