Who lets me write stuff at five in the morning? Seriously. It's a weird place in my brain at five in the morning. I haven't slept since seven AM yesterday. I'm really tired and I think this may be the result of that? Oops?

OOC and AU. So Au. (WhatAmIDoing)

I do not own KHR or OHSHC.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Haruhi had worked hard for her place in Ouran. She could have gotten in with her connections. She knew she could have. Her Godfather would have ensured it, if she had asked.

But Haruhi had wanted to get in on her own merits, wanted to earn it.

So, she had studied, and worked, and fought for her place amongst the privileged students of Ouran Academy.

Besides, she didn't want it to be well known her Godfather was Xanxus of the Varia.

It kind of put a damper on blending in. Especially when she was surrounded by the upper-crust kind of people who would recognize the name of such a high-class assassin. Xanxus wouldn't take any of the jobs offered by these people, but they were still the kind of people who knew about the backroom kinds of deals like assassins. Which meant they knew the big fish in that pond.

Haruhi didn't want the knowledge she was related to such a big fish to get around.

Partly because she didn't want to be used against her family, and partly because she wanted to be a lawyer to help them. Her mother had worked as an Underworld Lawyer, had been the best at it. A lucky assassination later…

Xanxus had helped her hide that knowledge, using his connections to erase any hints of it from her records. Well enough that even when they went looking for it with their connections, no one in Ouran would find a hint of her connection.

That didn't stop Haruhi from wanting to pick up the torch from her mother, from wanting to help her family.

The fact that Xanxus called her 'a natural assassin' helped convince him.

The Host Club called her 'a Natural Host'.

The ability to smile, to interact with crowds and have it look natural, the way she could pull crowds in, pull their attention to her or direct it elsewhere, that was the key for assassinations. Assassinations were quiet things, done in the shadows. Something that wasn't meant to be discovered until after the assassination was over and the assassin gone.

Xanxus had seen her talent and trained it to be Varia Quality. He had insisted that if she was going to be an Underworld Lawyer, she was going to be the best, and she would know how to defend herself against those who lost against her and took offence.

So here she was. An Active Classic Rain natural assassin in the middle of a civilian high-class elite high school training to be a lawyer.

O~O~O~

Hiding her skills was harder then she planned.

She had to fight natural responses to various things. Things like making noise when she walked. She had to think about it, because poor high school students with 'no martial arts training' were not supposed to walk without sound. Or not throwing a crippling hit at someone when they came at her too quickly. Acting surprised when people 'snuck' up on her. Not aiming to cripple any of the Hosts when they tried to 'kidnap' her.

It figured that she ran into the craziest people in the school by accident.

O~O~O~

Haruhi wasn't one to 'slip' up. She knew her civilian persona's limits. What she could and couldn't do and keep the cover. So even though she wanted to hit the two scum at the beach she didn't.

Instead she coated her bucket of seafood in Rain Flames, and lobbed it at their heads. It hit the first male, bounced off and took out the second. Coated in Rain Flames as it was, the two males didn't stand a chance and both went down.

Later she just shrugged and called it 'a lucky hit'.

Honey and Mori stared her down, recognizing a purposeful hit when they saw it, but didn't question her.

O~O~O~

Haruhi never planned to say a word about the Underworld to the Hosts.

She wanted them to live their lives without needing to set foot into the darkened world of the Mafia.

She should have known nothing would go according to plan with the Hosts involved.

Which was why she was crouched behind a café breakfast bar, thanking the gods for small mercies, like the fact they had sat at the only place that all seven of them could hide behind together.

She hissed between her teeth, staring at the black-suited men who were shooting the place up, demanding she come out with her hands up and open.

That was a bit not good.

Especially considering the confused, terrified, worried looks she was getting from the Hosts. She supposed it made sense. They Hosts were wondering why exactly, she was the one getting called out when she was surrounded by six of the biggest names in high class society. And they were unaware of her training.

Training these suited men knew she had.

She muttered a curse, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone. She didn't call the police like most people would in that situation. She pressed herself to the ground, unlocked her phone and dialed the Emergency Number her Godfather had given her.

It rang one time before it was picked up, the sharp worried tones of her Godfather's Sun asking "Haru-chan?"

"I've got a situation with civilians present. Most likely on the local news."

Silence greeted her for 90 seconds, before "Give me two minutes sweetie."

Haruhi hung up the phone, ignoring the worry of the Hosts. She lifted her head to stare at the mirror meant to reflect the customers. Behind the bar as they were, they could see the shooters, while the high placement of the mirror meant they couldn't see them.

She frowned.

She didn't have two minutes. The gunmen were advancing into the room, and if she didn't do anything she'd be taken. The Hosts would most likely end up dead, ransomed or taken with her. She wasn't letting that happen.

She slid forward, carefully reaching under the counters for the heavy glass cups. She slid back to the bar, eyes watching the attackers through the mirror and calculating angles, force, and timing as she watched.

She needed to be fast.

It took ten seconds for everything to really go to hell.

One.

Haruhi stood lightning quick, throwing three glasses.

Two.

The glasses shattered, breaking on contact with the temples of the three closest gunmen.

Three.

The gunmen collapsed, and Haruhi turned, throwing two more glasses, ignoring the shocked scrambling of the Hosts as she reacted to the situation. She threw two more glasses.

Four.

The two glasses shattered against another two gunmen's hands, causing them to drop their weapons since Haruhi couldn't get the angle right with her limited ammo to knock them out. The last gunman in the building pulled the trigger.

Five.

Haruhi's internal use of Rain Flames- not visible by civilians- slowed down the speed of her enemies, upping her processing speed and making everything appear to be happening in slow motion frame-by-frame.

So she saw the last armed man pull the trigger of his gun, and easily leaned left to dodge the shot.

Six.

Haruhi picked up the nearest steak knife and threw it, slicing tendons in the hand and forcing him to drop his weapon.

Seven.

Later, Haruhi would find out that this next series of events happened because the Family to attack her were desperate to land a hit against Varia in any way they could. They planned to take Haruhi and make an example of her. When Haruhi put up too much a fight- despite not killing anyone considering the civilian eyes and cameras on her- they decided to take another course of action.

They knew they didn't have the time to mess around.

Haruhi watched the man say something into a headset, and grin at her, sharp and dangerous.

Eight.

A grenade flew through the door, right towards her resting place, and the rest of the Hosts.

Haruhi's eyes widened, and she threw the nearest thing she had at it.

Nine.

A plate, now free of food, was thrown.

Haruhi dropped behind the bar, snapping "GET DOWN", trusting her aim.

The plate hit the grenade, sending it off course, back towards the man who had thrown it.

Ten.

The grenade exploded.

O~O~O~

Haruhi stared, wide eyed and utterly shocked.

The handheld had exploded. Her redirection tactic hadn't done much, only given them a better chance.

The near-death experience, however, had apparently had another effect.

The Hosts had Activated their Flames.

O~O~O~

It would be when the Varia pulled the camera feeds that Haruhi figured out what happened.

Hikaru- a Storm- had disintegrated anything to come too close.

Honey- a Sun- had 'activated' the body in such a way as too up his durability.

Kaoru- a Lightning- had formed a solid shield of Flame between him and the blast.

Kyoya- a Mist- had formed a solid illusion to take the blast for him.

Mori- a Cloud- had used his Flame to enhance the strength and durability of the bar in front of him, preventing it from breaking in the first place.

And Tamaki- a rare Sky- had simply put a wall of solid Flames between himself and the blast.

Haruhi had been right between Tamaki and Kaoru, preventing any need for her to react in defense of herself.

By the time Lussuria arrived, the grunts had taken care of themselves, the Hosts were unconscious, and Haruhi had no idea what she was going to tell her previously civilian friends.

(Later she would find out that the close proximity the Hosts shared with her- an Active Flame- had helped them to Activate their own.)

O~O~O~

It came as no surprise to Haruhi when Tamaki ended up Harmonizing with the Hosts, including herself.

Xanxus had a lot to say about it though, and insisted they all sit though Varia Training, because no one was allowed to drag his goddaughter down.