Alright. Time for chapter 11! Thank you to all my reviewers; lilypadz241, EqualDemise731, Takara Rose Oizumi, brokenXangel15, As-The-Fire-Blazes, PridePrejudiceandCake, and ERidg17! You guys are awesome!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran High Host Club. I do, however, claim ownership of my OC(s).

Absent again.

Kyoya stared at the empty seat on his right. Tamaki glanced at the chair then back at him and gave him a sad expression. After Eyrie had rushed out they had all spent the rest of their days off planning what they would say to her to change her mind. They were disappointed when she failed to show up Monday morning and they had all stayed by the gate past the bell this morning waiting for her, despite the fact that the clouds in the sky looked as if they would let loose at any moment.

At lunch they all tried to think of how to handle the situation.

"What do we do?"

"She might decide not to come for the entire week."

"We could call her!"

"I tried. Her cell is off."

"Kyoya Ootori."

The hosts turned to see an office assistant striding toward them.

"Your teacher is asking that you meet him in the classroom. Your friends may not come with you."

They all looked at each other, then Kyoya got up and walk out.

"Ah Mister Ootori! I'm sorry if asking you to come alone was a bit ominous; it was really only for the sake of privacy."

Kyoya stood in from of the teacher's desk as he grabbed a stack of papers from a desk drawer.

"You and Miss Eyrie are friends correct?"

Kyoya was surprised at the sudden question. "Yes sir. Why do you ask?"

"Ah good! Do you think you could find a way to get these to her today?" the teacher handed Kyoya the stack of papers. "There are graded papers in there as well and so I wanted someone with a bit of discretion to deliver them. You can do this yes?"

Kyoya gave him the smile he used on host club customers. "Of course sir."

Why would he want discretion for graded papers? Were they very bad? That would make the most sense since she never seems to take any notes.

It was the end of the day and Tamaki and Kyoya were on their way to the host club. After receiving the papers the hosts decided they would go to her house under the pretense of delivering them but they still had to get through the day's club activities. Kyoya was holding the papers in his arms and casually started rustling through them. He tried not to show his shock when every single glance was met with a big, green, 100%. He tried think of any time at all that he had seen Eyrie take notes or do anything close to school work.

"Kyoya. Your father is here again." Tamaki said, nudging him and successfully breaking his train of thought.

Kyoya's father had stopped by yesterday afternoon as well to examine her wound and had been very put out when he learned she wasn't there. Kyoya quickened his pace.

"Father. I'm sorry. She didn't come to school today either."

His father glared at a wall, not looking at him. "Is she sick? If this is the case then I will have to see her right away; it could mean the wound is infected."

"I am not sure but we will be delivering her school work at the end of the day and if that is the case then I will call you right away."

Kyoya watched as his father strode of with a huff. He glanced outside at the gloomy weather. It had yet to rain.

As if we would be so lucky as to have it be just that.

"Oh! Come in! Hurry! You'll catch cold!"

Marie rushed the boys inside. Halfway to Eyrie's home the clouds finally gave way, starting with a slow drizzle that was now a steady downpour. Haruhi spent most of the drive anxiously watching out the window.

"Long time no see! What are you all doing here? Mistress didn't mention you would be stopping by!" Marie said enthusiastically. The hosts looked at each other.

"Miss Marie. We were wondering if we might speak to Miss Eyrie." Tamaki asked with all the charm he could muster.

"Oh of course! She has spent most of her time in the kitchen so why don't we look there first?"

Why does she seem so happy? Does she not know what happened? Has Eyrie not told her that she got a visit from her father? Tamaki wondered as they were led down the hall.

"May I ask you something strange?" Marie asked suddenly.

"Oh but of course madam." Tamaki said with a smile. Marie was silent for a moment then stopped walking and looked him in the face.

"Ever since...ever since that party...Mistress has been acting strange. She thinks we don't notice these things but...so I wanted to ask you. Did any of you do something to upset Mistress? Briar has been acting strange also. What happened at that party? I...we...are worried."

She looked at them all with pleading eyes. Bear, who had been coming out of his bedroom when he heard Marie start asking, stood in his doorway and listened silently, also wanting to know what happened. He peeked around the door frame and looked at the host's flustered expressions. They all looked at each other and tried not to meet Marie's eyes. Finally Tamaki sighed.

"We don't know what to say. I'm sorry but you'll really have to ask Eyrie who-what happened. It isn't our place." he said all this staring at the ground. Bear took in the collective look of shame that they were all wearing and strode into the hallway.

"Ah Marie! Are you playing with they boys? Shame on you trying to steal Mistress's friends!" he gave a forced laugh. "How 'bout I show them to the kitchen? You looked a little flushed. The weather might be getting to you."

Not knowing how to respond, Marie simply nodded and walked to her room. Bear started leading them down the hall.

"You saw something you weren't supposed to didn't you?" Bear asked softly, looking at them out of the corner of his eye. "Or rather, something Mistress wouldn't want you to see? It's ok you don't have to answer. Just know that if any of it was your fault...well. It wouldn't be pretty."

The hosts looked at him with surprise. Bear ignored their stares and shoved the kitchen door open. The counters all around were filled with cookie sheets and baking racks holding all kinds of sweets, from cake to crepes. The hosts looked at it all with wide eyes.

"What could you possibly need all this for?" Tamaki asked as he sweat dropped.

I thought only Hunny's kitchen would look like this, they overlapped. Bear shrugged.

"She thinks we don't notice but when something is bothering her, Mistress likes to keep her hands busy. So she cooks. It's never regular dinners though. It's always sweets. You guys can have some if you like. We'll never be able to eat all this alone."

Each host grabbed a sweet except Kyoya, temporarily forgetting why they were there.

"This is great!" Hunny said with an excited expression. "Eyr-chan sure knows how to make a cake!"

"No kidding. This stuff is amazing." Hikaru said around a mouthful of raspberry crepe. Mori nodded, cookie crumbs lining his mouth. Tamaki was too busy trying to fit an enormous cupcake in his mouth to comment. Haruhi nibble a snickerdoodle that temporarily took her mind off the weather.

"Are you looking for Mistress?"

The host looked up to see Briar sitting at the dining table with a book. Instead of the usual enthusiasm he seemed to give off his eyes were sad and his body seemed to droop. Their eyes narrowed slightly as they recalled his stance the last time they saw him.

"She isn't in the kitchen. She wouldn't stay inside on a day like this. Follow me." he said with a hollow voice. The host followed reluctantly, their desire to check on Eyrie stronger than their wariness of Briar. He tossed them a couple umbrellas then stepped out the side door into the rain. The hosts looked at each other.

Why would Miss Eyrie be outside on a day like this? Kyoya wondered. They stepped out to find that the grounds of the mansion were set up like a forest. Trees towered around them as they walked down a well worn path. Suddenly Briar veered off. Though it seemed as if he was simply walking blindly, if you looked closely he was walking a barely visible pathway that was obviously not used by many people.

"Almost there." Briar said, breaking the tense silence. After a few moments they stepped out of the trees to see a great rock structure that had a waterfall running down the side. The water ran down into a large pond. In the middle, floating lazily on her back on top of a rubber floaty, was Eyrie. She turned to look at them with dead eyes.

"I already said I was sorry. Please leave me alone." she said with no emotion.

"Mistress. Receive your guest like a lady. Your treatment of them is disgraceful." Briar said, stepping forward. The hosts looked at him with shock. His reprimand was unnecessarily harsh.

"As many people like to remind me, I am not a lady." she turned to him, her eyes and voice ice-cold. "And who are you to talk to me about disgrace?"

The boys and Haruhi saw the same expression as when they found out he was a spy cross Briar's face. Pain and something else. Something they hadn't considered until now.

Heartbreak.

The host watched as he spun around and hurried back to the house. After a moment of silence and being ignored by Eyrie, who had shut her eyes, Tamaki spoke.

"I thought...we were family now."

Her eyelids flew opened.

"I thought family meant helping each other and always being there for each other..."

She turned to look at him. He was staring at the ground, shaking.

"So...why wont you let us be there for you? Why wont you let us help you!"

He finally looked at her and they simply stared at one another for a moment while his shout seemed to echo in their ears.

"I know...I know we haven't known you that long. I know that there are things we still don't know about your life. But...how are we ever supposed to figure you out if you don't let us?! We're family now and you have to at least answer some of our questions it isn't fair to-"

Tamaki had tried to take a few steps closer and had ended up slipping on the mud at the edge of the pond. His eyes widened as he watched the surface of the water approach his face. He heard a splash and felt something hit him in the chest with enough force to send him flying back again. He took a moment to balance himself before he looked to see Eyrie standing chest deep in the pond, her right arm still outstretched. She glared at him.

"You idiot. Watch where your stepping! If you had fallen in you probably would have gotten a cold and maybe even gotten pneumonia! Do you want to worry people like that?!" she shouted at him. She rubbed her neck and sigh when she saw their stunned expressions. "But...you have a point. Come on. Oh and Haruhi-"

Haruhi tore her eyes away from the sky and looked at her.

"There is no chance of thunder or lightning so whichever you're scared of you don't have to be worried about it right now."

Haruhi and the rest of them stared at her in surprise as she waded out of the shallow water and started walking towards the rocks holding up the waterfall. The hosts gasped as she seemed to disappear into the side of the rock. She poked her head out with an amused look.

"Well? Do you want to be dry or not?"

The slowly walked over and found a wooden door built into the side of the rock. When they walked through they were surprised to find that the rock that held the waterfall had been hollowed out and now held a room. There were piles of books scattered at random placed around the room. There was a modest TV and DVD player in the corner and a plush sofa in front of it. All the walls held various pictures and posters. On a small night stand stood one that held a picture of Camille and Eyrie, both wearing dress shirts though Eyrie was in pants and her sister in a skirt. The only other difference in the photo was their hair and the fact that Eyrie was fixing her formal tie and Camille was straightening her bow tie. Both were facing each other and giving the camera a smirk out of the corner of their eye. The hosts all looked around at the pictures in wonder, taking special interest in that one. Hunny and Mori looked away and studied Eyrie who was rummaging around in a cabinet.

Even with an injury her reflexes were fast enough to catch Tama-chan and she had enough strength to put him back up even from that angle, Hunny mused then turned away as she strode over to them with a bundle of towels. I wonder what else she can do...

"Alright. Ask." she said simply. They hesitated and she raised a brow. "You said I had to answer some of your questions. So ask them. I'm not a mind reader."

All the hosts squeezed onto the sofa and she propped herself up next to the TV to face them.

"Well first...your father. Why does he hate you so much?" Tamaki asked slowly. Her expression never changed from nothing.

"You didn't hear him? He said it often enough. I am just like my mother." her chin raised slightly and a shadow of a smile crossed her lips. "He hated her. Mom never took orders from anyone unless she respected them enough to trust their decisions. She spoke her mind, talked back, she never let anything get to her, and most importantly...she never let anything break her. When they were together Mom opposed Father's every move."

"Those hardly seem like traits to hate." Tamaki said in confusion.

"Let me put it this way. Let's say you grew up and controlled everything around you. You were never challenged and loved being the most powerful person in the room at any given time. Then let's say that suddenly someone tells you that you're wrong. That you're selfish decisions are bad. Their actions suddenly make you feel inferior. Then that person goes out of their way to thwart you at every turn; not only that but they succeed. How would you feel about that person?"

The hosts shifted uncomfortably.

"And on top of all that, despite whatever efforts you made, that person was happy. They cause you misery with their actions yet they gain happiness in yours. Can you even imagine the burning rage that would cause?"

Eyrie stared them down, her eyes showing an intensity they had never seen before.

"Ah. I-I understand. Um, but another thing..." Haruhi hesitated for a moment. "At the party...he didn't hesitate to throw you against the wall in front of us. Yet when the fathers came in he acted like a respectable gentleman. Well other than the slap."

Eyrie quirked a brow. "You are not your parents. Do you run important companies? Make business decisions? Decide who your companies deal with? No. You don't. Your fathers do. At a glance he could tell you were too young to be anyone but the children of important people; he also knew that, had you said anything, it was a child's word against a respected adult's. His little show was also to prove a point."

"What do you mean?" the twins asked when she didn't explain.

"When you saw him throwing me around, when you saw me just taking it; your respect for me dwindled didn't it? I could see it in your faces. You couldn't imagine what kind of person would just stand there and let that happen without trying to stop it. That's what you thought at that moment...wasn't it?"

"We didn't know you made a promise-" Haruhi started defensively.

"But it still crossed your mind didn't it?" Eyrie said with a raised brow. Haruhi lowered her gaze, unable to argue. Eyrie nodded. "The slap. That was a slip on his part, yes, but think about it-how uncommon is it to slap your child when you feel they are being disrespectful? Not very right?"

Tamaki glanced at Kyoya out of the corner of his eye; he was nodding slowly.

"What about Briar? Both your uncle and your sister said he told them about us. How is that? We only met him that one time." Tamaki asked. Everyone nodded.

"Oh don't you remember? He's a spy. The family spy in fact. He reports to my father every move I make and who I associate with. He is also required to report to anyone who asks though that is only because Father told him it was ok. From what I understand Briar owes a great debt to my father; apparently he keeps Briar's family out of poverty as long as Briar does everything he tells him to do."

"Wow. Your family really is like a soap opera." the twins said drily. Eyrie shrugged and gave them an amused look.

"You guys asked."

"So we did..." Kyoya said, studying her. "Why is it that when I try to find something on you, there is nothing?"

"Of all the things to ask..." the twins said and the rest of the hosts sweat dropped. Eyrie cocked her head in consideration.

"You know I'm not sure. It could be that my family wished to avoid all that so they got rid of anything for you to find." Eyrie brought a knuckle to her lip and smirked. "Heh. Well I suppose I understand that. I didn't have the most angelic reputation in America."

The hosts looked at her with wide eyes and their imagination's ran wild. Eyrie looked up and when she saw their faces she rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Not like that. I just had a...quick temper."

The hosts visibly sighed with relief and Eyrie sweat dropped.

Did their minds go in that direction because of just me or just because of the reputation of Americans? she wondered.

"So you'll let us help you?" Tamaki asked eagerly.

"When did I say that?" she asked with no emotion.

"Well just now you were so opened..."

"That is because you are now family, and since I put you in this position, I owed you at least that; but since you are family I will also protect you. Even if that means protecting you from me. My marriage to one of you would mean one of you would become closer to my family, therefore closer to my father and that puts you in danger. I wont allow that." her expression became sad. "I wont let anyone else break..."

"I see." Kyoya said, pushing up his glasses. "So you are saying you are too scared to even try? Do you really want to end up being forced to marry a man who is under the thumb of your father? To lose every type of freedom you have left? It's all well and good to want to protect the people you care about but when do you get to the point when you're just running away?"

Eyrie looked at him with raised brows then looked up in consideration. The hosts were looking at Kyoya in wonder. He had chosen the perfect words.

"Hmm. You're right aren't you?"

They all whipped around to stare at her. The girl whose lack of emotion they had considered a form of maintaining her pride...was admitting fault? Eyrie slowly nodded and looked back at Kyoya.

"I am running from you. Instead of protecting you I'm avoiding the problem and that will only lead me in circles wont it? Yes. Alright. So say I do agree to eventually choose one of you. Would you even be happy married to me? Wouldn't you end up regretting coming here today to talk me into accepting?"

"Nope." Hunny said cutely. "Eyr-chan you don't even realize what a good person you are do you? Of course I'd marry you! You saved my life so I want to help you any way I can."

She turned to Mori who shrugged and nodded, then gave her attention to Kyoya.

"Your family connections would help my family immensely; not to mention my future. I don't see the harm in it." he gave her the dark lord smile. They other hosts shivered and tore their eyes away from him to look at her.

"So..." Hikaru started.

"We can help?" Kaoru finished. Eyrie smirked and held a hand out to Kyoya.

"Its a deal."

"Um, Eyr-chan..." Hunny started. Eyrie turned to him with a raised brow. "Why were you lying in the rain when we got here?"

"Yea what was up with that?" the twins asked. She smirk.

"I love the rain. It creates its own silence...and it's own beauty. Have you ever noticed that when writers talk about scenery they always go into more detail in the rainy parts? That's because everything looks more beautiful in the rain. It washes everything clean and allows it to start fresh. So I like to be outside when that happens. Its like watching an artist paint."

Tamaki, the twins, and Hunny stared at her with wide eyes and mouths in the shape of O's. Suddenly the sound of Hunny's stomach rumbling broke the silence. He blushed then ran up to Eyrie with an excited look.

"Eyr-chan can we go back and have some of your cake? It was so good!"

The hosts all nodded in approval and added their own little compliments to her as they walked back. Eyrie listened with only half an ear as she went deep into her own thoughts.

Now that its official...now that I really am getting married...I'll have to tell them. I have to tell everyone.

Well that was fun. Not as long as the last one but it has some important stuff! What do you guys think? Review please! Also the reviews were so great the last chapter! T-T It was beautiful! I can't thank you guy enough!