Chapter 2: A day of Scattered Events.

"That didn't sound like your parents," Kaoru said after a minute of silence. Yumi swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. "Do you get calls like this often?" Yumi exhaled sharply and shook her head, doing her best to maintain herself in front of Kaoru. "It sounds as if someone's watching you." Yumi shuttered at the thought of being watched.

"This has never happened to me before," she finally said, "So this has got to be a person that has seen me recently." Kaoru gently grabbed her arms and turned her away from the voice message.

"The police should be notified asap. I can get someone from my family to-"

"That won't be necessary, Kaoru, really. I can stop by the police station tomorrow on my way to school and tell them about the message." She looked at his concerned face and smiled. "I'm gonna be alright. I'm good at taking care of myself."

"That's not gonna make me stop worrying." Yumi gently punched Kaoru in the arm and gave him a wink.

"You've gotta loosen up, Kaoru. I've been living here alone for seven years now and I'm not gonna stop being strong because of a creepy message. This is a mystery! An opportunity for me to prove how well I can protect myself on my own." Kaoru stared at her for a moment and sighed.

"Guess there's no way in changing your mind once you decided on something." He gave her his genuine smile and pointed at himself. "However, I'll accept your decision under the condition that I spend the night." Yumi felt her cheeks growing warmer as she shook her head.

"I really don't want to inconvenience you."

"Nonsense. I'll just sleep in the guest room upstairs and accompany you to your school. I can then have one of my drivers pick you up and take you to Ouran afterwards. That way, I'll know you'll be safe." Yumi crossed her arms and shook her head.

"How about this: You spend the night and can walk with me to the police station and then school. But I walk myself to Ouran."

"But might be the walk that this person's watching on."

"Which is more of a reason I go alone. If they see you with me, then they could threaten you along with your family and their business. I can keep a low searching profile and report to you when I arrive." She extended her hand towards Kaoru, who looked from it, to her, and back to the hand again.

"I'm not gonna be threatened like Hikari was," she said, hoping that was what Kaoru was thinking, "I don't live with any prestigious family nor attend a fancy school. No one outside of Ouran knows we're dating, so I'm worthless to them. Trust me…please?" Kaoru finally smiled and shook his head.

"You're a hard one," he replied and he grabbed her hand, "but it's a deal." Yumi walked around Kaoru and searched through her parent's desk. After opening the second draw, she pulled out a pad of lined paper and a yellow pen and scribbled down what she heard from the voice mail.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can carry this pad with me around to write down messages and clues to this mysterious person. That way, if you want to use your people to hunt this person down then at least I can help by narrowing down the suspects."

"It sounds as if you're excited by this mysterious call," Kaoru commented. Yumi shook her head.

"More like I'm looking at the situation completely differently. It's something I developed over the years. Something scary happens, I take a deep breath and figure it out." Kaoru shrugged his shoulders.

"You're a strange one." With that, he left the room. Yumi's confident looks slowly disappeared as she examined what she wrote. It's true that I'm terrified, she admitted, I just don't want to bring other people into my problems. Being strong and determined is something I'm good at. Yumi left the office and ran up to her room. As she passed the guest room, she peered in through the cracked door and found Kaoru undressing. The air left her lungs as her eyes scanned his long back. A zipping sound caught her attention as she watched Kaoru taking off his black school pants. He wore orange boxers that reminded her of his host rose.

I know I've been dating Kaoru for some times now, but I've never noticed how hot he really is. Yumi continued watching him as he bent down and dug out his cell phone. After pressing a few buttons, he brought the phone up to his ear and waited.

"Hey, it's me…I'm actually gonna spend the night at Yumi's…I know, I know, I was gonna come over tomorrow while you were at Hikari's…Something came up and…" There was a long pause as Yumi watched Kaoru shifting uncomfortably in his seat. A pained look on his face shook her heart a bit.

"I know you miss me. I miss you too, but we've got other people to care for now, to look after, to protect…Look, I know that you still have problems with Yumi being around, but you're going to have to accept that she's in my life…Hikaru, listen to me…" Yumi slowly stepped away from the door and headed towards her room down the hall. Didn't mean to cause so much trouble…

The next day, Yumi went to the police station with Kaoru and informed the cops about the message. They suggested that she should be with a friend while traveling around so as not to be alone. Although she nodded in agreement, she still believed that she'd be better on her own.

School was the usual thing for her as her Kotoru-sensei continued to pick on her. However, he was annoyed that her mind was on the message rather than him. As he scolded her, she muted his voice and thought, This is like a mystery. Yeah…the mysterious voice that's stalking me. OO! That's intriguing. Wonder who it could be. A fan? A jealous fiend? This could be interesting.

Feeling better about the creepy call, Yumi gathered her things and gifts and headed towards Ouran. She hummed a random tune as she carefully scanned the area for suspicious people. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary…maybe they're hiding. Before entering through the gates, Yumi dropped one of her presents on the ground. Slowly, she bent down to pick it up, looking around her for someone watching. Since the cost was clear, she entered through the gate and sighed. Well that was disappointing, she thought to herself. With a sigh, she headed towards the club.

Yumi entered the room with a struggle as the gifts fell on the floor again. Immediately, Honey came to her aid and helped pick up the chocolates.

"Hey, Mimi-chan," he began, "Why don't we give these chocolates to the guests?" Yumi thought for a moment before nodding.

"They won't go to waste that way." Honey shouted with joy as Ymi stared at him. Little pink flowers bubbled around him, or at least to her it looked like it did.

"Funny how this didn't happen last year," Kyouya said behind Yumi adjusting his glasses.

"It's more that I just never brought them to the club last year because I didn't want you all thinking that I was some phony idol."

"Why would we think that?" Yumi finished gathering a small portion of the chocolates and stood up.

"Because when an outgoing girl like me comes in with a lot of chocolates, it's usually because she's done something grade and special. The students then feel that they would be so lucky to have her spirit and praise her for it…does that make sense?" Kyouya didn't bother to nod or shrug. Instead he took a deep breath as if slightly understanding where she was coming from.

"I'm guessing you host boys are used to these kinds of gifts," she replied as she headed towards the kitchen. Honey peeked through the door waiting impatiently, waving his arm to encourage Yumi to hurry up. When she entered, Mina and Hana-chan were working in the kitchen, preparing sweets and tea for the guests who were about to arrive.

"Mimi-chan brought back some chocolates from school!" Honey shouted. Mina looked up from her mixing bowl and smiled.

"That's great. Can you manage all that by yourself?"

"Actually I was wondering if I could serve this to the guests before they get here. Don't want to waste them."

"That's would be great!" Hana-chan said out of breath. Her little yellow dress was covered in dough and her brown hair in flower.

"Hana-chan's been trying to help me out with the cooking, so she's a little tired out." Mina tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. It was up in a high pony-tail to keep it from falling into her baking.

"I'll take Hana-chan's place if you want. I'm not that good at baking, but then again I've never really tried."

"Thank you so much, Yumi-san." Yumi dropped off the chocolates and went into the back room to find an apron. While she searched, she heard voices.

"HIKARU! I told you to not come in the changing room while I'm changing!" Yumi heard chuckling and shuffling in the background.

"Can't a guy sneak up on his girlfriend once in a while?"

"You do it every time! Doesn't it get old?"

"Nope. And ever since Christmas, I swore that I'd look out for you. It's those moments when I'm not there that something might happen."

"But I need those moments so that I can have privacy. And sometimes that's something I want, oddly enough. Besides, the only reason you're with me a lot is because Kaoru's with Yumi, so you don't even want to be with me." There was a long pause before Yumi heard a sigh coming from Hikaru.

"He was suppose to come home last night and didn't," Hikaru finally admitted, "I know he cares for her, but does he have to be with her ALL the time?"

"Hikaru, you're just jealous of Yumi. Again, how do you think Kaoru felt when you suddenly met me?" Another pause followed as Yumi began to quietly and quickly search for the apron.

"I know…It's just…she doesn't really belong here. She doesn't go to school here or ever will." Finally feeling the familiar texture under her fingers, Yumi pulled the apron and ran back into the kitchen. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm down the guilt she was feeling for keeping Kaoru over last night.

"Yumi-san, are you alright?" Yumi opened her eyes and turned to Mina, who was wipping her hands on her apron.

"Yeah," Yumi answered, trying to cover up her guilt, "just had trouble trying to find the apron, that's all." Mina gave her a kind smile.

"I'm glad to hear it. Shall we continue on baking?" Yumi nodded and tied the apron around her waist. She had a little trouble with the baking process. It wasn't because she was a bad baker, but rather than she was distracted by Hikaru and the mysterious voicemail that continued to haunt her. Voices from the costumers seeped into the room as Yumi and Mina worked together. Haruhi and Hikari would walk in every now and then, taking in and out tray of food and tea.

"This is a nice system that we created," Mina commented as she passed Hikari her tray.

"I agree," Hikari replied, "We're not wasting money on pre-made goods. That's a first."

"And these are better than the ones we order," Haruhi added as Yumi passed her the tray. "I normally don't like sweets, but these are good."

"Well it's thanks to my assistant that I was able to make good food," Mina said with a smile.

"It really wasn't a big deal."

"It was, Yumi. You helped out a lot." Yumi smiled and rubbed the back of her head. The two host girls went back into the room while Yumi and Mina cleaned up the kitchen.

"Yumi-san?" Yumi looked up from her cleaning towards Mina. Her light brown eyes looked concerned, which caused Yumi to worry. "I know it's none of my business, but I was wondering if everything's alright with you."

"Of course they are. Why?"

"You don't seem like your energetic self today. Did something happen?"

"Nope. Nothing happened." Mina didn't respond. Instead she continued to look at Yumi with so much concern that it eventually caused Yumi to crack. "Well…I did get this call…from someone…I dunno who, but I know they're creepy…"

"Has this happened to you before?" Yumi shook her head.

"No, not really. I get fan calls and fan threats, but nothing like this."

"Do you have any idea who it could be?" Before Yumi could answer, she heard the club shout "WHAT?" In the main room. The two girls ran out of the kitchen and saw Hikari with fear in her eyes.

"I swear, I saw her. Outside the school gates looking at the school." Yumi saw Hikari beginning to tremble. Hikaru quickly came to her aid as her eyes stared beyond the distance.

"What's going on?" Mina asked.

"It's her," Hikaru said through his teeth, "Kezuki Kamiko." Yumi felt her bones freeze as she recalled Kamiko, the greatest mimicker that she'd ever known. Because of her and her brother, Satoshi, Hikari was damaged greatly and almost lost everything, including Hikaru. Yumi felt her stomach tie in a knot with the guilt she still felt from not believing Hikari when she had the chance.

"What is she doing on campus?" Kaoru asked, "I thought that she and Satoshi were expelled."

"Expelled, yes, but there were no restriction on him from the school," Kyouya replied, reading from his black notebook.

"So the Kezuki's are back," Haruhi concluded, "Is there anything we can do to prevent them from causing trouble again?"

"I'm not sure, but I can definitely look into it."

"Thanks Kyouya-senpai." Haruhi headed towards Hikari and smiled. "Don't worry. The Host Club's gonna protect you."

"That's right!" Tamaki shouted, "Nothing will take away my daughter again!" Hikari nodded and rested her head on Hikaru's shoulder.

Yumi tried to move her legs to also comfort Hikari, but she couldn't. Her sense of guilt invaded so much that she could barely move.

"Don't worry, she'll be alright," Kaoru whispered as he approached Yumi. She nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, Hikari's a strong one and we should do our best to protect her."

"Right you are, Yumi-chan!" Tamaki shouted in agreement, "We must create protection plan number eight! And-"

"Or we can just have Natasha and Hikari stay in a host's house for a while. They lack the security and protection needed to prevent another accident from occurring." Tamaki looked at Kyouya with tears streaming down his face.

"But Brother!"

"Yeah, Kyouya-senpai. Is it really necessary for me and Natasha to stay with a host?" Kyouya adjusted his glasses and gave Hikari his cool smile.

"Of course it is. Unless you want disaster to strike, you must stay with Hikaru and Natasha will stay with me."

"Ummmhmmm." Everyone turned to face Yumi. "I get it, Kyouya-kun. You want to 'protect' her from the 'harm' that Satoshi and his twin sis might bring." Kyouya didn't react, but rather kept his cool smile on.

"Of course. And because of that statement, I can change our budget schedule back."

"Back? Back to what?" Yumi asked.

"Kaoru and Mina approached me about your spring fair idea. Judging by the way they described it, your idea is exactly what the club needs to get out of our financial trouble."

"Karou. And Mina?" Yumi turned to face the two. "But I thought that everyone wanted to have a simple plan before the big dance party."

"As Kyouya-senpai's co-planner, Mina-chan and I decided that taking the simple route would not solve anything. By the time of the dance party, the club would still be in its little financial trouble." Yumi felt a smile grow on her lips and she hugged Kaoru.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She then hugged Mina tightly and her guilt disappeared.

"Besides that, though, we can create an atmosphere to protect Hikari-chan," Hana-chan pointed out, "If there's a crowd and a lot of people, Satoshi and Kamiko won't be able to find who they're looking for."

"Well put, Hana-chan!" Tamaki shouted, "And so, with our plan set, we must act quickly." He ran over to Hikari, taking her hand into his. "I promise you, my daughter, we will not allow you to be taken away again by those two or anyone else."

"That's right, Tamaki-kun. We did it once before and we'll do it again. Have no fear Hikari." Hikari looked up at Yumi and nodded with a small smile.

"Thanks, Yumi-chan." Yumi smiled big and gave her a thumbs-up.

"So then," Mina replied, "Tomorrow, while the club is open, Yumi-san and I will discuss the spring fair ideas. Everyone please be prepared." Yumi and everyone else agreed and began to gather up their things. However, she couldn't help over hearing Hikaru's and Kaoru's conversation.

"So since Hikari's gonna be over a lot, I'm going to stay at Yumi's. I hope that's ok with you." Hikaru pouted and crossed his arms.

"Of course not. You weren't home last night either, so I was hoping that you would be tonight." Kaoru chuckled and gave Hikaru a questioning look.

"Would you really want me to be there when you're busy hitting on Hikari?" Hikaru's face turned red as he looked over at his girlfriend. Yumi recognized that stare. It was the stare that Kaoru gives Hikaru when he was acting mature. His golden hazel eyes shimmered as he continued to watch Hikari in silence.

"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to make the one you love happy," Kaoru whispered. Hikaru didn't hear, but Yumi did. She froze in place as she looked over at Kaoru. His eyes staring at his bag, a sad smile spread across his lips. Yumi could tell that he was referring to himself.

"Yumi-san?" Yumi shook her head and turned to Mina. "I'm sorry to bother you again, but would you like to continue our conversation on our way home?"

"It's okay, Mina-chan. I'm really fine now. Besides, we should focus on Hikari. Enough stuff has happened to her already and she must be protected." Mina's face showed Yumi that she didn't believe her. But she smiled and said,

"If you're feeling better about it then there's nothing to worry about. But if you ever wanna talk I'm always ready to listen."

"Thanks, Mina-chan." Mina nodded and went towards Hana-chan.

"Shall we head on out?" Kaoru said from behind.

"Sure. Are you spending the night again?" Kaoru nodded as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that. If Hikari's over, then Hikaru will be too busy with her to be with me."

"Really? Because it seems to me that Hikaru wants to be with you more." Kaoru sighed and shook his head. "Listen, why don't you go on home with Hikaru and Hikari. Ask the two if you can steal your brother for tonight. Believe me, Hikari won't refuse. In fact, you'd probably do her a favor."

"But are you gonna be alright?"

"Of course I will be!" Yumi shouted with confidence. "I informed the police, right? So it's all good. Now go. You don't wanna be left behind, right?" Kaoru's smile changed to an exciting one. He quickly kissed her left cheek and sprinted towards his brother. She watched as Hikaru grinned with happiness and Hikari trying to tip-toe away. However she was caught as Hikaru and Kaoru synced themselves and teased her, which continued until Yumi couldn't see them anymore.

The walk back from Ouran was a quiet one. I can't believe that the stupid Kezuki twins have returned. Haven't they learned their lesson yet? She stopped under a street light, staring at the road ahead of her. Maybe I should also take martial arts lessons from Mori-kun and Honey-kun too. That way I can help protect her too. After all, she is my childhood friend. Yumi felt her spirits rise as she created her plan. Acting on instinct, she took out her digital camera and began to take pictures of the night.

With these photos, I might be able to spot the person who's watching me. Maybe they're working for the Kezuki twins to try and take us out one by one. That would be a bad one. Her energetic personality began to rise through her body as she began to feel like her normal self again. When she got home, she threw her bag by the staircase, went to the fridge, pulled out a can of soda, and headed towards her parent's office. As she settled herself by the computer, she noticed the voicemail light blinking.

"Another message." With a deep breath, Yumi pressed play. There was a long pause before the familiar, high-pitched robotic voice filled the room.

"I thought I told you to stay away from them. Now you've really got yourself into trouble. Hope you enjoyed your last day being a host's lady, because starting tomorrow, you're never gonna be able to step foot into the Host Club again."

Quickly, Yumi deleted the message, her heart pounding in fear against her chest. Minutes went by as she tried to think of where the person was hiding. I looked around and saw no one. Even through my photos I saw no one. She took a deep breath and pulled out her phone. After pressing a number of buttons, a familiar voice answered on the other end.

"Honey-kun? It's Yumi. I was wondering if you and Mori-kun could teach me some martial arts…"