Haruhi sighed, looking down at her homework assignment. The host club had ended a while ago and she was trying to finish her homework before heading home. Her father was having friends over for dinner, and she was avoiding the party as much as possible. A room full of okamas trying to get Haruhi to dress as a girl was not the way that she wanted to spend the evening. That left her working on her history assignment, a report on the development of penicillin and its use in medicine, and her textbook didn't have the information that she needed to finish the report. The others had left long ago, and she was alone in the music room. Leaving her stuff spread out on the table Haruhi made her way through the school to the library. The school was eerie after dark, but Haruhi didn't notice since she was so focused on finishing her report.

Her foot-steps echoed through the empty halls and as she passed the dojo area she thought that she heard sounds of fighting. Blowing it off as her imagination, Haruhi opened the door to the library and moved towards the computer directory of books. It would figure that the rich bastards had found a way to computerize everything, making it that much more complicated to find a book. After several moments of struggling with the computer, and several mumbles of 'rich bastards', Haruhi finally managed to find the book she needed. Wandering through the immense stacks of books filling the large room, Haruhi found herself traveling deeper and deeper into the library. There had to be millions of books, and while some might think she was exaggerating the number she doubted it. It was a school of rich children and one way to show ones wealth was to have a copy of every single book ever made. 'Rich bastards.' As the thought crossed her mind Haruhi mumbled it aloud.

Finally, she reached the shelf that she had been searching for, and with a sigh she looked around for a step stool. It would figure that the book she needed was on the top shelf. The shelf was at least a body length taller than she was, and there was no way she could reach it on her own. After searching the surrounding rows for a step stool, Haruhi sighed. It seemed that if she was to look through the book tonight she would have to climb the shelves. Steeling herself Haruhi began to climb up the shelf, her eyes rooted on the book. The first shelf was easy, and Haruhi gingerly pulled herself upward, shelf by shelf, hand over hand, each foot gingerly testing the shelf before pulling her weight up. Haruhi stretched upward, one foot on the shelf, the other extended out for balance as she stood on tip toe, trying to reach the book without climbing higher.

"Got it!" Haruhi exclaimed as her hand closed around the book. In doing so she shifted her balance and her foot slipped off of the shelf. Haruhi 'eeped' as she felt herself falling, her one hand slipping easily from the polished wood, and she cringed as her body fell, awaiting impact with the hard floor.

Impact with the floor never came; instead she crashed into something that 'oomphed' when she hit it, and she could hear footsteps trying to find balance at the collision. The object stumbled and fell to the ground, landing with a less jarring thud than Haruhi had expected and the book clattered to the ground.

Slowly, Haruhi opened her eyes and blinked in surprise.

"Mori-senpai…" Her voice trailed off as she tried to untangle herself from Mori. He had caught her, but the fall had entangled their limbs so that they lay in a rather compromising position. As Haruhi struggled to sit up and move off of Mori, the arm he had around her waist tightened and his eyes stared into hers.

"Why?" His word was soft and Haruhi frowned. He sounded angry.

"I needed the book for a project."

"It could have waited. This was dangerous." Haruhi frowned at the chastising in his voice and struggled to move away from Mori, a blush covering her cheeks.

"I didn't want it to wait." Haruhi finally succeeded in escaping from Mori's grasp and settled on the floor next to him, her back to him.

"You were almost hurt."

Haruhi heard the rustling of clothing and felt Mori sitting behind her. She found herself anxious at the proximity. She could feel his breath on her neck and cheek.

"I should finish the report before it gets too late."

"Take it home." Haruhi shuddered at Mori's voice in her ear, and she felt the blush again. Why was she reacting this way to him?

"Hmm. I will finish it here." Haruhi didn't look at Mori, in fact she tried to turn her head away from him so the warm breath didn't fan onto her cheek and neck. "Ootou-san is having a party tonight with his okama friends. I won't go home until late, when I can just go to bed." Haruhi's voice was soft.

"You didn't tell us. We would have stayed with you."

Haruhi smiled slightly but shook her head. "You all had things to do. I needed to do my homework anyway. Why are you here so late? Hunny-senpai left straight after club."

"Ah." Mori nodded and stood, moving in front of Haruhi, offering her a hand up. She took it, relieved to have the smothering presence of Mori at a more acceptable distance. "I had some energy that I needed to work out. I stay late and train most nights." Mori's voice was soft and Haruhi nodded.

"Sometimes we just need to be alone, to think." She smiled at Mori. "I would imagine that training can be relaxing for you and it gives you time to center your mind and just think. Housework on weekends is like that for me. It is so habitual that I don't have to think, I just do it."

"Ah." Mori nodded and opened the library door for Haruhi, waiting for her to exit before he followed her.

"Mori-senpai, how did you know that I was going to be in the library?"

"You walked past the dojo." Mori didn't look at Haruhi as he answered.

"Is that so? I thought I heard a noise when I walked by, but I didn't think anyone else was here." Haruhi looked up at Mori and smiled as they reached the third music room's door. He opened that for her as well and she was startled to see him follow her in.

"You aren't going home Mori-senpai?"

He didn't answer for a moment.

"I will stay until you finish."

"But Mori-senpai—"

"I will stay." He settled onto the couch next to Haruhi's things and she sighed. He wouldn't force it like the twins would, but she knew that Mori would not leave until she was finished, and she was almost certain that he would escort her home as well, to make sure that nothing happened to her.

Haruhi settled on the couch and began working on the report, flipping through the book that she had gotten from the library. With a victorious smile she found what she needed and furiously began finishing her essay, her pencil moving with ease across the paper. Mori said nothing as Haruhi scribbled, though she could feel his gaze on her as she worked.

Sometimes she thought that Mori was an open book, easy to understand, no secrets, but it was moments like this when she remembered that there was far more depth to the strong wild type than he would let on.

When Haruhi was done she leaned back with a sigh, closing the book with a smile. She began placing her things in her bag, ready to go home when Mori's voice caused her to pause in her actions.

"Have dinner with me."