Chapter 8: Touchy-Feely Crap

"You'll pay for making us run so far!"

"Yeah," the second said, coming up to us, out of breath.

"You know," the first one said, pushing my face into the tile as he straddled my legs.

"Ow! That hurts," I exclaimed.

"She just wanted us to rough you up a bit, but now we'll do something worse." He twisted my hair tightly and turned towards the other two. "Go find us a private room," he said to them, and one ran off. The other stopped to catch his breath.

"I don't think so," I said, tilting to the side and elbowing the guy on me in the jaw. He released my hair, and I managed to wiggle my way onto my left side. He recovered from the hit quicker than I expected, and he grabbed hold of my right wrist. I tried to yank free and pushed him away with my left hand.

"Let me go!" I demanded. He laughed and grabbed my other wrist.

"Fine!" I said, pulling my right leg up. "You asked for it!" I added, giving him a hard kick to the crotch. He immediately released my wrists and, folded in on himself in pain. I crawled out from under him and tried to get to my feet again.

"You!" He said, and he grabbed my ankle with one hand and my skirt with the other. He pulled me back towards him again and turned me on my back to face him. "You'll pay for that big time," He said, pulling back his arm.

'Crap this is going to hurt,' Was all I thought as I closed my eyes.

Suddenly, he wasn't on top of me anymore.

I opened my eyes and looked up only to see that Mori had pulled him off of me and Honey had just kicked him in the face. The boy went flying down the hallway as Honey landed on the ground in a ninja-like pose.

"I don't like people picking on my friends. How dare you try to hurt her?" Honey said in a tone darker than I thought could come out of his mouth.

"En," Mori said, standing next to Honey. Both had expressions on their faces that looked like they were going to murder them.

'Where had they come from?' I thought as Mori glanced back at me. I looked up at him blinking in shock.

"Attacking a defenseless princess," Tamaki said, walking up on my left. I turned to him. "How much lower can you get?" He asked the look on his face also very dark.

"That's pretty low," The twins said, standing on my right.

Just then, the third boy came back. "Hey man, there's an empty room down-" he froze when he noticed the hosts standing there. They all looked at him with even more dreadful expressions.

"Hmm," Kyoya said from behind me. I looked over my shoulder at him. "If I'm not mistaken, you three are Jiro and Yukito Sato and Hayato Yamasaki. It would be a shame to have you expelled over something as petty as this. Then again, maybe not." He said, pushing up his glasses so that a glint of light ran across them.

"Crap," said the older of the two brothers. "Let's go!" he said to the younger, and they ran off.

'Pft, Cowards,' I mentally insulted them as Haruhi was suddenly kneeling beside me.

"Aya, are you alright?" she asked, it made me jump.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but," I said, glancing at the one on the floor, "I'm not so sure about him."

"Here," She said, helping me up.

"Thanks," I said, and I heard the guy on the ground begin to moan.

"Ow, what the hell?" He said, sitting up and holding his bloody nose. Then he looked up and came to face with a very pissed-off host club. He panicked and followed suit with the other two.

"Come back here!" Tamaki demanded. "This is unforgivable! For a man touch a girl so rudely..." he began ranting on, and I toned him out.

I began remembering more about my mother's ex-boyfriend, Harvey. The boy's hands from just now reminded me of Harvey's. Rough, hard, cold, mean, painful... I stared down at my hands, remembering all the times he had hurt me.

Tamaki stopped talking sooner than I expected.

I wasn't sure what my expression was, probably fear mixed with a bit of sadness, but when I looked up, all the hosts were staring at me with worry and concern.

'Calm down now. Freak out later. Don't show them your weak side. Just breathe deep a few times.' I took a couple of deep breaths.

"Aya, are you hurt?" Haruhi asked.

"I'm fine," I said, "He didn't get in a shot, so I'm not bruised or anything. Although he did pull my hair kind of hard." I rub my head then looked at Haruhi and put on the fakest smile ever. "But really, I'm fine." She half-smiled back doubting my words.

"My poor darling!" Tamaki exclaimed, reaching out to hold me. Which, if I let him, would only be counterproductive.

I was too tired to give a cutting remark back, so I only looked at him with sad eyes. "Please, don't touch me, Tamaki." He seemed moved, and a bit surprised, but I brushed him off.

"Why were those boys chasing you?" I heard Mori ask. I looked up at him.

"Beats me," I lied terribly.

"Would you like to sit in the club room and have some tea?" Haruhi asked.

Truthfully, I just wanted to go home and sit in the fetal position on my bed, but I'm guessing that these people will keep on bugging me if I don't convince them that I'm fine. Maybe I will get to go home without them making a fuss if I have tea with them.

"Sure," I agreed, nodding my head.

On our way back to the club room Kyoya pulled out his phone and was going through with his threat to have them expelled or at least suspended. Note to self: never piss off the host club. They have ninjas and a guy with connections.

We entered the clubroom, and I took a seat at the table with everyone else. Haruhi poured me a cup of tea and placed it on the table in front of me.

"Thank you," I said, staring at it. They weren't talking, so I looked up at them. They all still seemed a bit worried still.

"Really, I'm fine, just go back to doing whatever you were doing before I showed up," I said, smiling the most convincing smile I could manage at the moment. They all looked at Haruhi, who, in turn, looked to Kyoya. He looked at her, then to me, then down at the papers on the table in front of him.

"Now then," Kyoya said, "Before the... interruption, we were discussing some ideas for themes for a club event." He continued leading the meeting on whatever they had been discussing before.

I stared quietly into the teacup in front of me.

Then, unexpectedly, Mori was standing on my right, and he placed his hand on my head gently and ruffled my hair a bit. I froze for a second but didn't do or say anything. I noticed that my muscles were very tense and my hands balled into tight fists. I relaxed, and my breathing slowed.

'Dang cat treatment, it still works. How did he figure it out?' I thought, blushing as I looked up at him. He wasn't looking at me, he was looking at Kyoya, sort of. He didn't look like he was listening to what Kyoya was saying. His expression was the same as ever, blank, but it seemed to me that he was trying to make this look as casual as possible. He glanced down at me, and I half-smiled up at him.

'At least he's not saying anything or asking me if I'm okay,' I thought as I looked back down at my teacup. 'It's not that bad...' I thought, closing my eyes. 'It feels kind of nice... calming and kind. His hands do remind me of my brothers, a lot, but there's something else...' I thought, 'but I can't put my finger on it... ... ... Oh, whatever!' I opened my eyes, reached for the cup in front of me, took a sip of tea, and looked back up at Mori.

Mori must have thought that I seemed calm enough, so he removed his hand from my head, and sat in his seat next to Honey. Honey gave Mori a curious and confused look, but Mori didn't say a thing. I think that the twins and Kyoya, possibly even Haruhi, took notice of our little moment, but I couldn't be sure.

The meeting continued as I sipped on my tea. They were discussing topics for the next theme. Tamaki suggested something and was immediately shot down. He sat there pouting as I watched the club's interactions with each other.

'Of all of them, I like Honey and Haruhi the most, Mori and Kyoya are okay because they don't talk too much, but the twins annoy me, and Tamaki is just so... immature! This guy,' I thought, staring at Tamaki as he sat with arms crossed in his chair. 'He's supposed to be my brother, and yet...' I looked him over, 'he's too different from me for us to get along. He's just too immature to ever be a proper big brother,' I thought, shaking my head.

"Miss Sohma," Kyoya suddenly said, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked at him curiously.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You're a girl, what's your opinion?" he asked. I blinked.

"My opinion on what?"

"On our next club theme, we can't agree."

"I'm a girl too," I heard Haruhi say.

"Yeah, but you're different," spoke one of the twins.

"We're talking about normal girls." The other finished.

"That's offensive," Haruhi said annoyed at them.

"I don't think I count as a normal girl either, to be honest." I joked while looking at my hands around my cup, "I'm probably the farthest thing from normal, at least, a normal girl from this school that it." I realized that I was rambling. I looked at Haruhi. "What themes have you guys done so far?" I asked.

"Police, samurai, and other stuff like that," Haruhi said.

"That's not very descriptive!" Tamaki exclaimed, standing and slamming the table. Haruhi replied with some uncaring response sending Tamaki into another one of his fits.

"Hmm," I said, leaning back, thinking it over toning out the noise. "How about..." I trailed off.

"What?" Honey asked.

"No, it's stupid," I said, blushing a bit. "How about something like pirates?" I asked.

"That's not stupid. I like it!" Honey said. I grinned and looked at the twins.

"You two could be the shipmates, Honey and Haruhi could be the cabin boys, Mori as first mate, Tamaki," I said, pointing at each of them. 'Hmm,' I thought, 'With Tamaki's character... well since he's the princely type...' "The Pirate King." I said, and Tamaki's face lit up. "And Kyoya could be the rival pirate lord." They all seemed to like the idea.

"Interesting," Kyoya said.

"Sounds fun to us," said the twins, and the two started debating over the costume designs.

"I really like it," Honey said, and Mori nodded his head.

"How did you come up with that?" Haruhi asked, and I sighed.

"Do you remember that American guy my mother used to date, Harvey?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Well, Harvey was the head of a host club, and my mother helped him out with club stuff all the time. She would bounce ideas off me every so often." Then a thought hit me, and I giggled. "Although, I think my mother would have made Haruhi the mermaid princess." At that, the twins and Tamaki began imagining Haruhi in a mermaid costume.

"Yes! Yes! Daddy wants to see that!" Tamaki screamed, and the twins nodded in agreement. 'Daddy again... What's with that?'

"No way," Haruhi denied. Tamaki began complaining, and the other club members were talking about decorations.

At that moment, my phone vibrated in my pocket, causing me to jump and nearly spill my tea. I put down my cup and checked my phone. It was a text from my driver telling me that he was waiting for me out front. 'Perfect timing!'

"Well, my ride's here," I said, shoving my phone back into my pocket and standing up. "I'm glad I could help you guys with the club."

"I guess I should find a way of thanking you all for today... how about I bring you guys brownies tomorrow?" I asked, glancing at Honey. He smiled and nodded his head and grinned back and turned to leave.

"Wait," Haruhi said, and I looked at her, "What if those boys are still out there waiting?" All the hosts nodded.

"Yes, we should a least send you with an escort. Mori, why don't you walk Miss Sohma out to her car while we finish the meeting?" I blushed a bit and looked at Mori. He nodded silently and stood.

"Okay," I said a bit wary. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow." They all told me their goodbyes' and Mori and I walked out together.

He walked next to me silently as I thought about random things. Then I remembered something, 'Last time Mori and I talked in this hall he called me by my first name!' I felt the blush cover my cheeks, and after that, I kept my head down.

"Are you okay?" Mori asked suddenly. Normally, I would have jumped, but his voice was very calming to me.

"Huh?" I said, looking up at him blankly.

"Earlier, you were acting strangely. I was wondering if you were feeling okay?" He explained. A bit more blush painted my cheeks pink.

"I'm fine," I said half-smiling, "They didn't hurt me." He stopped walking, and I stopped with him.

"That's not what I meant," he said earnestly, "I'm worried." The way he said it was so straightforward and direct. It made me embarrassed. We had a mini staring contest, and I lost because I felt like my blush was giving me away.

"Not really," I admitted, looking away from him.

"What does that mean?" He asked, and I sighed.

"Fine, no, I'm not okay, alright? I haven't been okay for a while now, but there's nothing you or that stupid club can do about it. My problems are way bigger than just a few bullies, in fact, those guys are probably last on the long list of things that are bothering me right now." I bit my lip. It was irritating how Mori always seemed to be there to see my most embarrassing moments. There was an awkward silence as I waited for him to say something.

"If you want," He paused, and I looked up at him, "You can talk to me about them. I'll listen. Sometimes can help to talk about things." He offered with a serious expression. I stared at him, trying to figure out whether he really cared. He shows hardly any emotions so it's difficult for me to read him, but he seems to be genuinely concerned about me.

"I don't think you want to know," I muttered, looking away from his eyes. "You probably don't want to hear me talk about stuff like that. You already have to listen to a bunch of other girls talk every day, so you don't want to hear me, too."

"I don't mind listening to you," he said. "I want to know what's upsetting you." I looked up at him. He was serious.

"You," I started, blushing. I was going to say, "You're so straightforward, it's really embarrassing," but stopped myself. I sighed and shook my head. 'I guess just standing here won't do any good... fine if he really wants to know.' I looked up at him, his face as stoic as ever. I took a deep breath and started walking again.

"I," I started and glanced at my side, but he wasn't there. I looked back. He hadn't moved.

"Well, if you want to hear it, then start walking." He looked surprised but took a step forward. He came to my side, and we started walking together. He matched my pace though it was probably slow for him. I took a deep breath before starting again.

"As you know, I come from a poor family." I began. "What you probably don't know is how poor. My mother had it worse than I do. She was a high school dropout and was disowned by her family at sixteen. The reason behind it being an unplanned pregnancy," I paused and checking to see if he was really going to listen. He seemed like he was really paying attention.

"She wanted to keep the child, and that was my older brother, Yoshiro. She loved him very much and took any job she could get to care for him. Eventually, she got into the escort business, and around the time that I would have been conceived, she had been with several men." I stopped, that made my mother sound trashy but that wasn't the issue here. I sighed.

"But that's not my issue; my issue is what she did when she found my birth father. You see, my mother doesn't like me very much," I said looking at him, "She was hoping that she would be able to dump me on to him or better get paid lots of money in child support." I looked at the tiles on the floor in front of me.

"About a month ago, she found him. My mother started bragging about how she was going to get all the money she could get out of him as she had with Hero's and Kotomi's fathers. I told her that I wouldn't allow it and we fought. She got mad and kicked me out of the house, so my father took me in... So now I live in a huge mansion and go to this fancy rich people school."

'Just give the facts, that should be good enough for him, and he'll leave me alone after that.' I thought as we walked out the front.

"Within the next month, there will be a meeting between my parents and some lawyers. At this meeting, my mother will most likely give up her parental rights, and I will no longer be a Sohma. She'll hate my guts worse than she always has, and she'll do everything she can to make my life miserable, like keep me from seeing my younger siblings." I realized that my voice had gotten sad sounding and took a deep breath.

'Man, when did I get so touchy-feely?'

"Why do you think your mother hates you?" he asked abruptly.

'Really, he's been paying close attention, now he wants all the details,' I thought, looking up at him.

"That's another story, a long one that goes back to when I was ten." I looked back in front of me; we were almost to my car. "But we don't have time for that one."

"Tomorrow then," he said in a statement like he was going to make me tell him everything.

"Maybe," I said unsure. I turned to him with a partial smile. "Thank you for listening, even though you probably don't really care."

"I care more than you think." He stated with the same serious expression on his face which brought back all my blush.

"Um.. well... Tell Honey to be expecting brownies," I said somewhat nervously, and he nodded.

"See you tomorrow, Sohma-san," he said. I was confused.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, yesterday you called me by my first name," I said, and I finally got to see his face show some human emotion. Some blush dusted his cheeks.

"I," he stuttered and looked away from me, "I just thought that you might get upset if I started calling you by your first name without permission."

'Oh my god, this dude is embarrassed! He does have emotions!'

"I'm fine with it," I said, "It's just that I'm more used to people calling me Aya and not my full name."

"Would you prefer Aya then?" He asked glancing at me.

"I don't really care, either is fine, you can choose whichever one," I said while looking at my car. "But don't count on me calling you Takashi," I said with a joking grin; his blush grew, and I took this chance to escape.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" I said, skipping away to my car and hopping inside.

I went home, got changed, and went to my etiquette lessons. Then I tried to catch up on unfinished homework.

That night started with bad dreams again, but those were interrupted by a dream about the host club as pirates.

There you go, Mori fluff! Mostly just him thinking that Aya's cute! ^~^

Hope you liked this chapter, please review!

~Thank you for reading~

~MiraCarpathia