A/N - Well, it's finally here, chapter two. I switched beta readers, so that one reason why it took so long to update. However, now, my new beta it awesome, so the following chapters won't be so long to update.

For the next month, or so, Hikaru and Haruhi studied together after the Host Club activities ended. Hikaru had stopped bugging Haruhi during math class, and after a while, Kaoru caught on and did the same. Haruhi's dad had just recently returned from her Grandma's, and he broke the news to her that she had come down with bronchitis, and hadn't been able to get better, and so, she had passed away. Haruhi was upset by this; she hadn't known her Grandma much, but it still saddened her significantly.

Hikaru had lived up to his promise, lending her his shoulder to cry on, and had soothed her mind with a cup of his own recipe of tea. He had listened as she poured out her sorrow of her Grandma passing away, and about she had never really known her. Hikaru had found out that Haruhi seemed to be a little more fragile than she always let on. He noticed that when she had time to sit with someone, she would almost always let that happy exterior fall away.

After Haruhi had become much more spirited, Hikaru was happy along with her. And, he decided, he had to express that happiness in the only way he knew how. A prank.

"You know, guys, this was a bit much..." Haruhi said as she looked around the third music room. There was a mess of seaweed, mustard, feathers, honey, and confetti hearts thrown around everywhere, all thanks to the twin's recent antics, that were just too weird and mind-boggling to even begin to explain.

"Well, hey, we haven't been able to annoy you in math class, so we were getting bored!" Kaoru said, pouting at Haruhi.

Haruhi sighed, while Kyouya adjusted his glasses and then spoke calmly. "Haruhi, I believe this just about doubles your debt, wouldn't you say?"

Haruhi blinked, "What!? How is it my fault!?"

"You're boring the Hitachiin twins," Kyouya answered, writing in his notebook. "So, it is your fault that the twins decided to wreak havoc throughout the Host Club, therefore the damages are added to your bill."

Haruhi cried out in dispair. This just wasn't fair, but she sighed, and went for the door. "Whatever..."

Hikaru was surprised, and called after her. "Hey, wait, what about our math homework study session?"

"Screw it," Haruhi spat, glaring at Hikaru, who took a step away from her. Haruhi was really angry about this. Just as she had gotten rid of one third of her debt, she was basically back where she started because of one simple mistake, one that wasn't even hers! It agitated her...a lot.

"Haruhi...!" Hikaru called out.

"Besides...I think you have some cleaning to do," Haruhi said, "I don't think Kyouya-sempai likes to leave a room in such disarray."

Hikaru and Kaoru, looked around to Kyouya, hoping he would take their side, but for once, he didn't. It had been a long day, and Kyouya knew that Haruhi would be ranting for a while if he made her clean the room. Besides, she would take longer than the two twins. So, in light of his interests, Kyouya silently stared the twins down and they quietly set to work.

--

Haruhi shivered as she noticed that a storm was brewing overhead. She set out for home, hoping to get there before it started to thunder. Lady luck, however, wasn't smiling on her. The rain started to pour less than five minutes out the door. Haruhi was thankful when she noticed there was no thunder, nor any lightning.

Haruhi ran down the street trying to cover her head with her bag the best she could. She was just turning the first corner from the school, when there was suddenly a baseball bat in her line of vision, bowling into her stomach, and knocking the wind out of her.

Haruhi was on the cold, wet ground, coughing harshly, as she tried to suck in as much air as she could. Her breath was very unstable, and her vision was wavering. Haruhi looked around and tried to see who it was that had hit her.

"Hey, kid, watch it...Hm. You're a girl?" a male voice said.

Haruhi looked over to the shadows of a bush, "Ouch...huh?"

"The uniform says 'boy', but it seems the rain says 'girl', sweetheart," The man said as he stayed within the shadows.

Haruhi stared, and then figured it out. Her eyes dropped to her chest, where her rain-soaked white shirt clung to her chest and revealed her gender to the man standing before her.

Haruhi looked up, "Who...are you?"

"No need for names, sweetie," The man said, as he approached her; although light shadows cast upon the man, Haruhi could only make out a few distinguishing features. The man was young, maybe around Mori's age, had dull red hair, cut to a medium-short length, and had plain silver rings on the thumb and pointer finger of his approaching right hand. One other thing Haruhi noticed, was that he carried a stuffy like Hunny, but instead of a bunny, he carried a Tiger with an oddly long tail.

"You like him?" The man said, holding his tiger up, "He helps keep people quiet."

Haruhi narrowed her eyes, wondering what the man meant, oblivious to the fact that she was soon going to find out.

The man was now standing right above her, and she was too scared to move. She could now see more of him, since her was now completely out of the shadows. His right arm had a tattoo of fire on it he wore baggy jeans, a dark blue hoody that had no sleeves, and under that was a grey shirt with no right sleeve, and a short shredded left sleeve. On each wrist he wore two brown leather belted bands. His eyes, though, were really what made Haruhi freeze. They looked like hardened steel, dark grey in colour.

"Now, we can't have you in the middle of the street like this," the advancing man said. "Now can we? So, let's take you over this way..."

The man grabbed Haruhi by the upper arm, and dragged her through some near by bushes, into a small spot that was clear behind them, shrouded in shadows.

Haruhi pulled and tugged against the man's tenacious grip, but to no avail. She was thrown to the ground, and the man swiftly straddled her waist. She opened her mouth to scream, but the man covered her mouth, and smiled.

"Tiga, this is where you come in." The man took the long tail of the tiger and crammed it half way down Haruhi's throat, not only accomplishing his goal of making her unable to scream, but also sufficiently disabling her ability to breathe.

"That's a good tiger," The boy said, as he patted the stuffed tiger on the head, he then quickly tore and ripped at the clothing that had been covering her damp body. He gawked at her nude body hungrily. "You are hot, you know that? Boobs are a little small, but, that kind of turns me on."

Haruhi tried, but couldn't do anything. She was too focused on trying to get air. Everytime she tried to breathe, the tail would go farther down her throat, and to make matters worse, there were things trying to come up. Vomit was crawling up her throat with a burning pain, due to the tail irritating her throat, and tickling her uvula.

The man started to rub her between her legs, and he pulled at her mounds, and pinched them sharply. Her body urged her to cry out, but the tail wouldn't allow her to. The man then rammed two fingers into her, and pumped them in and out at a quick pace.

Haruhi couldn't believe it, but she could feel the roughness of her rapist's fingers within her. She could heard him laughing with psychotic glee, as he clawed at the once innocent part of her being. She wanted to scream, cry, and just wither up and die on the spot. Haruhi squinted out of her eye lids that had no desire to open, but open they did, though she immediately wished they hadn't. Haruhi could see through her long tear soaked lashes, the maniacal look that radiated off the man's face, his eyes were even rolling back to stare at his twisted mind as he felt deep within Haruhi's warm, and now tainted, cavern. Haruhi's eyes tried to close, but utter fear kept them open the tiny bit that they were. Haruhi's stomach flip flopped as the man above her shuddered with sick pleasure.

Haruhi's eyes cried in pain, and her body cringed, but her body was also running deathly low on air, and her vision was failing her. She could only see shadows around her, no concrete shapes. Everything was fading away into complete nothingness, it was just dark, without a single slice of light anywhere. Haruhi felt him tearing away at her, and her body shook with despair. It was when he reached for his own pants that Haruhi's eyes finally snapped shut. She didn't want to see it, she didn't want to think about it. She knew the end was coming, but she knew it was also only the beginning. When her eyes let her into the world of darkness, all Haruhi's mind could focus on was the silently approaching damnation.

Haruhi drifted in and out of consciousness, like a lost soul searching for Heaven. Even still, she found herself able to comprehend the feeling of something touching at her entrance, that had been vacated of the man's rough intruding digits. She had her eyes shut tight, but it didn't matter. Haruhi knew what it was, she had been silently waiting for it. It was the shaft of the sick, twisted individual that hovered above her, that was touching her in a way that made her skin crawl. The man's shaft very quickly thrusted into her, breaking all her barriers, in just a bare few seconds. The pain shot through her like lightning, and Haruhi saw white.

Amongst the white, a sudden memory of her mother appeared. A memory of Kotoko on her deathbed. Haruhi could remember the day, she was six. Her mother had decided that she should give Haruhi the sex lecture to save Ranka from having to do so. Her mother had told Haruhi about all the different things Haruhi should be aware of whenever she decided to take such a path in a relationship. However, Kotoko also spoke of how wonderful a girls' first time was, but only if it was with your one and only. Haruhi's mother had then smiled through the pain of the illness that would soon take her life, and spoken to Haruhi. The words were still vibrantly clear in Haruhi's mind.

"I want you to know how beautiful your first time can be, and how it feels to be loved like that. It's my deepest wish, Haruhi, that your first time will be with the one you love more than any other."

"Then I promise you, Mom," Haruhi had spoken quietly through her tears, "I will wait for that one, even if I have to wait forever, I promise you, Mother."

Then Kotoko had died.

Haruhi's eyes, which had long abandoned their tears, sprouted new ones. They trickled down Haruhi's face, and lost themselves within the locks of her hair. I broke my promise and, it was took only seconds. Why? Why!? It's not fair...it's not right! This..this...animal is not the one I love more than any other!

Somebody...please, help..please! Haruhi pleaded, even though she knew it was hopeless. Her mind couldn't save her, no one knew she was here and, to make it all the more worse, the deed was done. Help me...Hikaru.

Haruhi's mind didn't register the fact that she had just hoped that Hikaru would save her, she only cried, and cursed her body as it spilled it's juices. A few moments later, the man released his seed into her, and she shuddered at the feeling it gave her. He then pulled out of her, picked up his clothes, and he smirked down at her.

Suddenly, Haruhi was greeted with air as the man pulled the tail from her throat, "Thank you so much, hun."

Haruhi choked and vomited violently, then she glared up at the man, who had just put his pants back on. "I haven't come like that in a long time, not since the last virgin I fucked."

Haruhi cried as the man left her, broken and alone, hidden in the shadows of the bushes. She felt so dirty, unclean, she felt empty. Her innocent world and dream of her first was incinerated by the flames of Hell and misery. Just like that. Gone. Poof! Right into thin air, and no one cared, and no one knew. Stolen from her in the shadows in a matter of minutes.

Haruhi lay still, not even covering herself. She didn't want to touch her body. She didn't want to touch such a dirty and filthy being.

Dear Mother in Heaven, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I broke my promise to you. I'm so sorry.

Haruhi stared blankly up at the flashing sky. She wondered how close she was to death right now, and how close she had been moments ago. If I just lay here, how long would it be before I would see mother's face again...?

Haruhi actually let out a harsh laugh to the air. No, I wouldn't see Mother, would I? She's in a different place, a good place. I've been condemned to hell.

Haruhi's bare form began to shake uncontrollably as she thought of her future. However, she then remembered something, and it rung in her ears too loudly to be ignored. The memory brought strength to her spirit, and she shifted slightly. She shifted until she felt her school bag graze her arm, she dug into it and took out her yukata, which had been used for that afternoon's Host Club. Haruhi slowly lifted her body to it's feet. It took a little while to remember how to use her legs, but after doing so she slipped her yukata on, since her shredded uniform was now useless.

While dressing, Haruhi spared no glance at her defiled body. She didn't want to see all the burning marks that she knew covered her skin. Haruhi left the bushes, and headed towards the school. There was a pay phone there, she just prayed that she had the 10 yen that she needed to use it. Under the material of the yukata, Haruhi could feel something running down her legs. She knew it was one of two things, or maybe it was both. Either her cum, or blood, the violently colored evidence of her first time, truly, being taken from her.

Haruhi walked, stumbling like a drunk, towards the school, where she found that it was deserted of all life. She stood by the pay phone, and dug desperately into her bag. She actually began to cry when she felt her fingers slip around the small coin. Haruhi slipped the money into the slot, dialed the number, and cried harder when she heard a busy signal. She clicked the coin return, and slipped the money back in, and tried a second number.

"Haruhi, I want you to know that I'm here if you need me, alright? Whatever the problem is, big or little."

--

Hikaru had just finished dinner when one of the servants called him and Kaoru to the phone. Kaoru picked up the phone and talked for a minute.

"Uh? No, she's not here," Kaoru said. "Why? What's wrong, Kyouya?"

Hikaru was worried by his brother's words. The only 'she' that could be at their house was Haruhi, and if Kyouya was asking if she was here that meant that Ranka had called Kyouya because Haruhi hadn't gotten home yet.

Hikaru went to the nearby window, and stared out. The storm that had started earlier was growing. Hikaru knew thunder and lightning was soon to follow. He was really worried about Haruhi now. She hated thunder.

Hikaru ran to the front door, and dashed out, not even answering when Kaoru asked where he was going.

Hikaru was hardly out the door when his cell phone rang, he answered it, while still running, "Hello?"

"Hikaru...?"

Hikaru stopped, "Haruhi? Haruhi, where are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm...I'm at the school."

"Stay there," Hikaru said, "I'm coming to get you!"

"Don't hang up!"

Hikaru was confused, "What? Why?"

"Just don't," Haruhi's voice sounded raw, and Hikaru realized she had been crying, "Just talk to me...say something...anything. I'm...scared...Hikaru...I'm scared."

Hikaru's heart twisted as he listened her break into heavy sobs. There was definitely something terribly wrong with her. It hadn't yet started to thunder, so why was she so frightened? He did as she asked and spoke gently with her until he was at the school.

Hikaru immediately spotted Haruhi sitting at the wall by the pay phone outside. Thunder had begun roaring loudly, and the lightning was brightly ripping through the sky. Hikaru was surprised to see that Haruhi didn't even flinch in the slightest, seemingly oblivious to the sounds of the storm. She just sat there in her yukata, with her knees pulled to her chest, her head resting on them. Her only movement being the shivering as she tried to catch breaths between her sobs. Her small hand was holding the phone to her ear, as if for dear life.

Hikaru very slowly, approached her form, his cell phone still at his ear, "Haruhi...I'm here."

Haruhi's head snapped up, and looked over at him when she noticed that his voice didn't only come from the phone's speaker. Hikaru didn't even have time to close his cellphone before Haruhi had her arms around him, and started crying into his chest. Hikaku was taken aback. What could have frightened her so much? It was obvious to him that it wasn't the storm; she wasn't reacting when it let out it's cry of thunder, or when it cracked the sky with it's lightning.

"Haruhi..." Hikaru soothed, stroking her hair gently. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"...You can't tell anyone," Haruhi mumbled into his damp shirt.

Hikaru swallowed uneasily. He had a vague notion of what Haruhi was going to tell him, because her being in her yukata rather than her school uniform could only really add up to about one thing. But he decided not to believe that could happen to Haruhi, and promised her.

"Okay, I promise not to tell anyone, just tell me what happened."

Haruhi stumbled over her words. How was she supposed to tell Hikaru what happened? How on Earth was she to know how to tell him that she had been raped, that it made her feel so weak, so helpless. But, then again, maybe she was. Finally, Haruhi took a deep breath, and spoke.

"When I was heading home..." She went through all that she had undergone, all the while clinging to Hikaru's rain-drenched body.

Hikaru couldn't believe it. He had been right. How could such a thing happen to a girl like Haruhi?

Haruhi didn't deserve for such a repulsive thing to happen to her. Tears fell from his eyes. He hugged her tightly, and whispered to her, "Don't cry, Haruhi. I won't let him ever harm you again, I promise."

Haruhi cried, and cried, and was soon out of tears. She looked up at Hikaru, and moved her mouth to form words, but her voice was gone.

Hikaru smiled lightly at her, "Don't worry about it. You're my best friend, Haruhi, that means that it's my sworn duty to be here for you, and protect you from all evils. You got that?"

Haruhi, who had been sure all her tears had been cried, started to cry once more. As the depth and sincerity of Hikaru's words sunk in, she couldn't believe that anyone could care that much about her.

"I won't tell the others," Hikaru said, quietly. "But we have to tell your dad. He's been worried about you. He even called Kyouya, who's probably called everyone else by now."

Haruhi was quiet for a moment, and then, slowly, she nodded.

"Okay, I'll...I'll tell dad."

Hikaru hugged her, and spoke. "Alright, come on, I'll walk you home."

Together, Hikaru, set off down the street with Haruhi at his side. They took the long way, so as to miss the spot where Haruhi was attacked.

--

Unnoticed by Hikaru and Haruhi, however, a pale red-haired boy was watching from the shadows,

quietly following the two teens with only one thought on his mind.

I have to know where I can find that girl again.

--

When they got to Haruhi's apartment, her dad instantly wrapped her up in a hug, and then Hikaru, while exclaiming his thanks for bringing her home.

"Haruhi..." Hikaru encouraged her to speak. She looked to the ground, but nodded.

"Dad...?"

The next fifteen minutes consisted of Haruhi explaining what had happened after she left the school, everything from the baseball bat to the gut, to the tiger stuffy, to his exact words as he left her.

Haruhi looked sadly at her father, though the new tears in her eyes made it hard to see him.

"Dad...?"

Ranka's whole body shuddered as his mind prossessed the information Haruhi had told him. His daughter had just been raped? It sounded...like a foreign concept to him. Ranka shook his head, trying to clear it of the disbelief. But it remained until he looked up and stared at the scene in front of him. His distraught daughter was crying helplessly into Hikaru's shoulder, while Hikaru vibrated with withheld grief.

It's all true, Ranka realized, his stomach lurching violently. A wave ran from the top of his head, to the soles of his feet, making him feel extremely cold.

"Har...Haruhi...no..."

That was all Ranka could get out before he was completely devoured by the will to cry. Ranka was on all fours as strangled cries were ripped from his throat. Ranka was heartbroken. He had promised Kotoko that he would never let any harm befall Haruhi, but he had failed, utterly failed. Ranka crawled to Haruhi's side, and took her from Hikaru's arms, and held her tightly.

Haruhi could feel the shower of her father's tears hit her hair and soak through to the skin of her skull. Haruhi could barely recall that last time her father had cried so much, and that was the day her mother died.

Hikaru couldn't contain his tears any longer, they fell onto his kneeling lap, but they made no sound. He didn't want his tears to disrupt the ones that fell form the eyes of Ranka, and Haruhi. Hikaru stared down at his lap, trying to focus on anything else than the painful throbs of his heart.

It took a long fifteen to twenty minutes to calm Ranka down enough, for Haruhi to speak.

"Don't tell Kyouya-sempai. Please, dad, I don't want them knowing, so don't tell him."

Ranka was silent for a moment, but seeing the desperate, and pleading look on Haruhi's face he nodded, "Alright, I won't tell Kyouya-san."

Haruhi waited.

Ranka sighed, "I promise."

Haruhi smiled at her father, and hugged him, and then she rounded on Hikaru.

"Not even Kaoru," Haruhi said to Hikaru.

Hikaru nodded without a second's hesitation, "I promise you Haruhi. I will never tell Kaoru, or the other Hosts."

Haruhi smiled softly at Hikaru, and gave him a small hug as well.

"Well, I should go, Kaoru will be wondering where I ran off to," Hikaru said as he got to his feet.

Haruhi, as well as Ranka, walked him to the door, and they all stood there for a moment.

"Thank you for all you've done, Hikaru-san," Ranka said, "I owe you a lot."

Hikaru waved a hand at him, "No, you owe me nothing. I didn't help in anyway. I didn't...get there in time."

Haruhi's eyes that had perked up slightly, drooped in sadness.

"Hikaru-kun, don't say such a thing. If I hadn't remembered your words, I was just going to lay there until death came for me. You did a lot for me, Hikaru."

Hikaru stared at Haruhi sadly, then sighed, "Okay, whatever you say, Haruhi. Goodbye, Ranka-san. Haruhi-chan."

"See you again, Hikaru-san," Ranka said, smiling a little.

"See you tomorrow, Hikaru," Haruhi said.

"Yeah," Hikaru said, "Oh, I'll have one of the chauffeurs drop off a new uniform for you. And don't worry, it won't be added to your debt."

Haruhi stuck her fists on her hips, and playfully pasted on a stern look. "Good! Cause it's already high enough thanks to you and Kaoru!"

Hikaru and Haruhi, then laughed a little. Haruhi didn't know how she was able, but, somehow, Hikaru made anything possible.

"What are we going to tell the others..." Haruhi asked him as he turned to leave, "They probably all know by now that I was missing for a while."

"You were hiding from the storm," Hikaru said, after a moment of thought, "You were caught out in the storm, and your home was too far for you to go, so you went to..."

Hikaru thought about what was between the school and Haruhi's apartment, and then decided on the library.

"The library, and stayed there, until the storm was over, and you couldn't call, 'cause you had no change."

Haruhi thought it over, and then nodded, "Alright...thank you, Hikaru."

Hikaru smiled at her, and then took off through the rain that was just coming to an end.

A/N - I give great thanks to my beta reader AyaneDane, she got this chapter beta read in the time of one night! O.o Yeah, then I fixed things, and she re-beta read it for me! Thank you so much, AyaneDane! Please review, and I accept critiques too, they help me to write better stories for you!