"Long time no see, Lily," a tall, middle aged man smoothly said to her.
Lilith shook her head and slowly began to back away. She knew this man instantly. His shaggy auburn hair, his piercing golden eyes, and the constant smirk that played on his lips... He's back. She turned around quickly made her way back to class. Right when she reentered the room, she felt immensely safer. Ignoring all the eyes once again, she made it back to her desk. Haruhi passed her a note asking about what happened. The note was sent right back stating that she would explain everything at the club. The rest of the school day, Lilith would not leave Haruhi's side. At this point, she didn't care that the twins were there too. As long as she wasn't alone she knew she was safe. At the host club, Tamaki had her sitting with Honey and Mori.
"Lilith-chan, want some cake?" Honey asked her.
She looked at him and smiled the tinniest smile whispering, "thank you..."
He grinned and handed her a piece of yellow cake. She took it and very slowly ate it. She only was meaning her 'thank you' for him saying her name properly. She didn't want to make him sad by refusing the cake though. By the time she finished it, the club was over for another day. Honey took her plate from her and then helped her stand up. They then made their way to the two bigger couches where the rest of the club was waiting. She found herself lucky when she ended up sitting between Haruhi and Honey. Something did seem to be missing though.
"Where'd the boss go?" Hikaru asked.
"He said he went to pick up something," Kyoya answered.
"Hey Lilith, while we're waiting for him to get back, can you tell us how he got hurt?" Kaoru asked.
She nodded and said, "yesterday, he found me trying to ditch school... When he was trying to get me to go my dog bit him... She thought that he was going to hurt me..."
"Sorry..." Hikaru very softly whispered.
She couldn't help but smile at that and she responded, "thank you."
Before anything else was said, there was a scratching sound from outside the door. Lilith responded to it right away. She stood up and went over to the door, opening it. Sapphire tackled her to the floor. Lilith just laughed as her dog licked her face happily. She held her tightly, in a much better mood now. Tamaki soon came in, breathing heavily.
"She sure can run..." he said as he tried to catch his breath.
She looked up at him with a smile saying, "thank you Tamaki."
He nodded and offered her his good hand. She took it and he helped her get up. They walked back over to the couches and sat down. Sapphire sat at her feet and rested her head on her lap. She, then, let out a shaky sigh knowing she was the center of attention. She knew she no longer could keep her past a secret. She just kept her eyes on her best friend.
Light heartedly she said, "I don't know where to begin..."
"Why do you always avoid me and Hikaru?" Kaoru asked.
"And that puts it straight to the point."
She very hesitantly raised her hand to her hair. Closing her eyes tightly she pulled it right off her head. With the black hair now gone, elbow length, wavy, auburn hair showed itself. While they were all astonished by the hair, she reopened her eyes and took out her blue contacts. With her heart pounding, she raised her head, showing off her golden eyes.
"What the hell?" the twins exclaimed.
"Lilith-chan, are you related to Hika-chan and Kao-chan?" Honey asked.
She shook her head and said, "no... It's mere coincidence..."
"But how you look isn't the reason you avoided them is it?" Haruhi asked.
"No... It's these demon, devil eyes..." she whispered, covering her own eyes with her hand. "When I was a child I loved my father... He was always kind to me... His beautiful, golden eyes always made me happy... That is until one night he kills my mother right in front of me... During the whole torture, I couldn't look away from his eyes... They changed from something I loved to something that simply terrifies me up to today... I got lucky enough to be adopted by the Houshakujis... I can't even look at myself in the mirror because I see him..."
"Lilith-chan..." Honey whispered sadly.
She looked down at Honey saying, "he's the one that calls me Lily..."
Sapphire jumped on her lap when tears began stream down. Lilith held her tightly and buried her face in her fur. The room became completely silent after. No one had any clue of what to say. Lilith was doing all she could just to not break down. Haruhi wrapped her arm around her shoulders, wanting to give her some comfort. That just brought her closer to the brink. Out of all of them, Hikaru was the one to break the silence.
"What happened when you left during class?" he asked.
"He's back..." she answered, with a cracked voice. "He was in the hallway right in front of me... He was showing me that he knows where I am... I'm so scared..." she barely squeaked out.
"Then you can't stay at Renge's," Tamaki said. "If he's looking for you, you can't go where you always stay."
"Then what do I do..?"
"Well, you would be safest at either Honey-sempai's or Mori-sempai's."
Sapphire jumped off of Lilith's lap, revealing her reddened eyes. She wiped away her tears, paying no mind to what her pet was doing.
"Hey! Get off me!" Hikaru demanded.
Everyone looked over at him. Apparently, Sapphire tackled him and was now licking his face. Lilith quickly got up and heaved her off of him. Right away she began to whine.
"We'll take her," Kaoru volunteered.
"Huh?" Lilith and Hikaru replied together.
"The least likely place to look for her would be where she would least likely want to be, correct?"
"She's in your care then," Tamaki said as he stood up.
Everyone left except for the twins and Lilith. She felt like she couldn't be in a worse situation. Of all of them she had to be stuck with these two considering the circumstances. Kaoru stood, taking Hikaru up with him. Having no other option, she followed the two. Sapphire left her side so that she could walk next to Hikaru. Now not only was she going to a place she didn't want to be, but now she felt completely betrayed. The four of them left the school and entered the limo. Hikaru sat next to the left door, Kaoru sat in the middle, leaving Lilith near the right door. Sapphire stayed at Hikaru's feet, trying desperately to get his attention. He gave in after awhile and scratched the top of her head. She barked happily and rested her head on his lap. Lilith pouted light and looked out the window. Kaoru laughed softly, causing the other two to look at him.
He put his hands behind his head saying, "this is going to be interesting."
Soon enough, they arrived at the Hitachiin manor. They all left the car and entered the huge mansion. After entering, Kaoru grabbed Lilith's left arm and dragged her across the manor. Hikaru simply followed. By the time they stopped, she was running out of breath. They went into a large, beautifully designed bedroom. There was a king-sized wooden framed bed, with a dark blue velvet quilt on top. The walls were painted powder blue. The plush carpet matched the color of the quilt on the bed. Before she could look around the room more, Kaoru pulled her into the walk in closet. Her eyes widened at the amount of clothes. There were clothes for every type of circumstance. Both brothers were looking through the clothes. She just watched them. A minute passed by the time the two put an outfit together. They handed the clothes to her and then left the closet. Hikaru shut the door behind him so that she could at least get dressed in privacy. She just did what they wanted. She wanted to get rid of the horrid school uniform anyway. She took it off and put on the clothes chosen for her. When she was done, she looked at herself in the full length mirror. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts that stopped mid-thigh and a bright orange t-shirt that hugged her. Considering that they could have made her wear something way more revealing, she felt comfortable enough to leave the closet. There, she saw Hikaru leaning against a stocked bookcase. When he noticed her, he stood up straight.
She walked up to him and asked, "are you still angry with me?"
He shrugged answering, "not especially."
"Truce?" she asked, holding her hand out to him. He looked at her hand puzzled and she continued, "I really don't like it when people are mad at me. I would really like to be your friend Hikaru. I don't want any hard feeling stopping that from happening."
He smiled and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders. She smiled, feeling at ease for the first time in a long time. They left the room and walked down a pretty dark, narrow hallway. Sapphire tailed them closely. Just before they reached the end, they went into a room that had the door a crack open.
"Whoa!" Lilith exclaimed.
They room they entered was massive. It was at least the same size as a theater in a movie theater. Seemed right since it was their entertainment room. Their television made hers look simply pathetic. It was huge to say the least. There were speakers all around the room that had to give magnificent surround sound. There were shelves outlining the television that were stocked with DVDs, CDs, and videos games. Facing the screen was a black, twenty foot sofa. Kaoru was sitting at the arm of it. The twins laughed at her reaction. Hikaru let her go and sat next to his brother. She followed suit and sat next to Hikaru. The brothers picked up controllers and began playing a fighting game. It amused her how quickly the two got into the game. Hikaru simply destroyed Kaoru. The sullen one handed Lilith his controller for her to try. She shrugged and agreed to give it a try.
"Don't think I'm going to go easy on you," Hikaru warned her.
"I'm not asking you to," she calmly responded.
The two began to duke it out. Something odd kept happening though. At the end of every round in the match, they always ended in a tie. The two gave each other a side glance glare. Lilith can't figure out why, but his eyes are suddenly not bothering her nearly at all. The two switched characters and fought again. No matter what strategy they used, they match always ended in a tie. Kaoru watched the two intrigued. They were moving in sync. When they both became annoyed with each other, they leaned closer to the television until the tie and they would lean back. They didn't even notice the observant Kaoru. Hours quickly sped by. Hikaru was brought back to reality when weight fell on his left arm. He paused the game and looked over seeing his sleeping brother.
"I think we should stop for tonight," he told Lilith.
"So you admit defeat then?" she questioned.
"What was that?"
"You heard me."
He growled and unpaused the game. She smirked in triumph. Truly, she didn't care about winning or losing. She just did not want to be alone. Another hour of ties passed. Not only were they moving in sync still, they also fell asleep at the same time.
