Nothing to Be Scared Of

Title: Nothing to Be Scared Of

Summary: Being stuck with her fellow Ouran Host Club members during a thunderstorm was the last thing Haruhi wanted. In order to lighten the mood the others try to distract her with stories.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran or the characters, just the idea of this fic.

Pairings: Well, I was thinking it's mostly a friendship fic. But you guys can make your own assumptions!

Warnings: Some fluff, some humour, slight romance, maybe even slight angst.

Winter-Rae: Greeting fellow Ouran fans and welcome to my first Ouran fan fic. I'm going to do my best to keep everyone in character but forgive me if I do a lousy job. Please enjoy and let me know what you think!

Nothing to Be Scared Of

This was not how Haruhi wanted to spend her evening. She had every intention of skipping out on the Host Club tonight, Kyouya and his rules be damned. She had planned on hurrying home to study and attempt to forget the waging war outside in the sky. By 'studying' she meant hiding in her closet until the storm passed. But since she was one of the luckiest people alive, here she was, stuck with the others as a storm started to break through.

Why Tamaki decided to open the club after class today was beyond her. No one had shown up due to the horrible weather, but still here they all were. Hunny-senpai was eating away at some of the sweets while Mori-senpai, with his ever keen eyes, watched him closely. Kyouya was switching from writing in his notebook and typing on his laptop, did the guy do nothing else? Tamaki was sitting in his chair waiting for the first fair maiden to enter and the twins; well they were being the twins.

"No one's coming my lord," Hikaru pointed out.

"The storm is getting worse too," Kaoru added.

"Can we leave now?" they asked together. Tamaki looked at them.

"We still have at least a half hour of club time left!" he said dramatically, "If we were to leave and a fair maiden was to come to an empty room with no hosts; that would make us look awful!"

A crash of thunder and lightning sounded overhead. Haruhi winced and squeezed her eyes closed, wishing and praying that it would end quickly. She was also hoping that the others wouldn't notice her discomfort with storm, true they all knew of her fear by now but perhaps they were just being kind enough not to say anything.

"Are you scared Haru-chan?" Hunny asked as he appeared out of nowhere next to her. Haruhi yelped in surprise and placed her hand over her heart. Even Hunny-senpai's cuteness wasn't helping her predicament. Hunny looked generally upset that he had scared her. He held out his bunny doll to her.

"Squeeze him tight," he said smiling at her, "it will help!"

"No thanks Hunny-senpai," Haruhi replied, "I'm alright."

Another loud boom shook the sky. Haruhi jumped and instead of grabbing the bunny doll, she latched onto Hunny tightly. The senior smiled and patted her head.

"It's okay Haru-chan!" he chirped, "We'll protect you!"

Haruhi looked up as Mori-senpai gathered the two up and set them down onto a sofa. He handed Haruhi some tea and sat on her other side.

"It's alright," he said to her.

"Hey my lord," Hikaru whispered, "Looks like Hunny and Mori-senpai are making a move on Haruhi."

While this worked up Tamaki the twins merely snickered.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki said loudly as to try and get her attention away from the other two, "A thunder storm is nothing to be scared of!"

"Easy for you to say senpai," she muttered, "There's nothing good about them anyway."

"The rain replenishes the ground's water supply and allows everything not only to survive but thrive," Kyouya spoke up, "the lightning and thunder releases the Earth's pent up energy which would otherwise cause disasters, so in that aspect there is plenty that is good about them."

Kyouya's analysis of the storm, while it was very insightful, did little to help Haruhi's fear or her trembling as another flash of lightning and roar of thunder sounded.

"It's right above us now," he added, "Odds are it will only increase in strength as well since we are in a down pressure system."

Haruhi wished she could sink lower into the sofa, she would almost prefer to be right under it. So when another crash of thunder sounded that was exactly what she did.

"I've never seen her move so fast," Kaoru mused. He and Hikaru got on their knees and looked under the sofa. Haruhi was covering her head with her hands and trembling, closing her eyes tightly.

"Hey Haruhi," Hikaru said softly as he extended his hand, "come on out?"

"Go away please," she said, "I'm just fine under here."

"I know!" Tamaki said suddenly, "What we need to do is get Haruhi's mind off of the storm."

"How?" the twins asked.

"We distract her with stories!" the leader said proudly. The twins exchanged looks that said, 'that will never work, you try getting her out from under there.'

"Oh I love stories!" Hunny said, "What kind of stories Tama-chan?"

"Stories that will help Haruhi get over her fear of the thunder!" Tamaki replied, "What do you think Haruhi?"

"I don't care," Haruhi replied, "If you think it will help then go ahead. At this point I'm willing to try anything."

Tamaki was very close to leaping for joy, Haruhi wanted to listen to his suggestion! Could this day get any better?

"Hmm," he mused, "Does anyone have any stories?"

Haruhi sweat dropped from under the sofa.

'He was the one with the idea and he can't even back it up?' she thought, 'What a guy, I suppose he should get points for trying though.'

"I do, I do!" Hunny said excitedly, waving his hand about."

"Well done Hunny-senpai!" Tamaki said, "Let's hear it!"

"When I was little my mother used to tell me and Chika-chan this," the cute boy began, "She would say that since Santa Clause has to make all of those toys, he can't possibly do them in such a short time as when the little children start sending in their letters. So he makes them all year round because he knows what the children will want at Christmas! The thunder is just the sound of him moving around all the barrels and boxes he stores all of the gifts in to make room for the new ones."

Once he had finished it was Tamaki's turn to sweat drop. Mori-senpai was nodding approvingly at Hunny, as if he had heard the story too.

"That's stupid," Hikaru pointed out, "There's no such thing as..."

Kaoru quickly pressed his hand over his brother's mouth and hushed him. Hunny's eyes started to tear up.

"You didn't like my story?" he asked. Haruhi came out from under the sofa and sat between him and Mori-senpai.

"It was a very nice story Hunny-senpai," she said. Hunny brightened right away.

"Arigato Haru-chan!"

"I have one," Kaoru said.

"Since when?" Hikaru demanded. The other brother rolled his eyes.

"Think of this as a game Hikaru," he said, "Whoever can make Haruhi feel better the fastest is the winner."

Hikaru took this into consideration and nodded as another crash of thunder sounded. He saw Haruhi jump. She wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them to her chest. He felt bad that she was so scared.

"Fine," he said, "tell us your tale."

Kaoru nodded.

"You'll remember it Hikaru," he told him with a grin, "We had a maid once who was very religious and when a storm would keep me up at night as a kid she would always tell me a story that thunderstorms were really just God and the Devil bowling."

"Bowling?" Haruhi asked. Kaoru grinned.

"I remember this one!" Hikaru said, "It always made me laugh."

"Shh," Hunny hushed him, "I want to hear!"

"Yeah shh," Kaoru said, "Anyway, the lightning is the path of the bowling ball and the thunder is the sound of the ball crashing into the pins. The clouds are the floor that they play on and the rain is the tears of the angels and demons. Every time God gets a strike the demons cry, but every time the Devil gets a strike the angels cry. The reason that the rain doesn't let up is because when God and the Devil bowl against one another they always get strikes and neither ever wins, because if one side would win then the other would disappear and you can't have good without evil."

When Kaoru finished his story Haruhi laughed.

"That has to be one of the most interesting ones I have ever heard," she said. Tamaki frowned. The twins were getting the upper hand in this little game.

"There is also a story..."

The others looked surprised when Mori started to speak. Being the mostly silent character that he was hearing him speak was a rare treat. While Haruhi wouldn't admit it to anyone, as she could just imagine how they would react, she always found Mori-senpai's deep voice soothing.

"...that says that lightning storms represent the battle between good and evil," he looked out the window at the storm as he went on, "During dark nights where not even the stars and moon can shine light on the world the lightning fights the battle they are kept from. When the clouds block out the moon and stars, the lightning picks up the slack and illuminates the world as best it can against the darkness. Even though it can't win this battle just as the moon and stars can never win. The only thing that can win against the night is the sun, but the sun eventually loses to the powers of darkness at the end of the day again. It's a never ending struggle that keeps the world balanced and prevents either good or evil from getting the upper hand."

The others sat in awe silence. Mori raised a quizzical eyebrow at them as if to say, 'What? You wanted a story didn't you?'

"Wow Takashi," Hunny said, "I like that story, much better than mine."

"No," Mori replied, "Just different."

"What about you Kyouya-senpai?" Hikaru asked looking at the other, "Anything to add?"

"I believe I put my piece in," Kyouya replied, "But if you want another, I have one."

"Yes please!" Hunny said. Haruhi looked at Kyouya and nodded. Kyouya looked to be thinking for a moment. He then adjusted his glasses and joined all the others on the sofa's which face each other.

"The one I know is similar to the one about God and the Devil bowling," he said, "but it has a little bit of a different spin, my sister used to tell it to me. Anyway, there are four head angels in heaven and each of them had a loyal following of other angels that served them and helped them do their jobs. Every now and then arguments about who was the best of the groups would break out and God would tell his angels to settle it by having a bowling competitions. So every time that happened the four angels would select their best bowlers and create a team to compete. The lightning is the path that the ball takes as he travels along the lane and hits the pins. The thunder is the applause of the angels who are winning and the rain is the tears of all the other angels that are losing."

He fell silent after completing his tale.

"As you can see it is nothing special," he said. Haruhi smiled. A tale to fit Kyouya's personality, not wanting to outshine anyone with whatever other stories he knew but playing off of one already told. Kyouya looked at Tamaki.

"I believe it is your turn," he said, "this is your game after all, surely you must have one."

Tamaki bit his lip.

"Well, I do know one," he mused.

"Tell me," Haruhi said looking at him intently. Tamaki smiled. His plan had worked; she was no longer focusing on the storm but being amused by them and their tales.

"My mother..." he paused, "My mother used to tell me this when I was young. She would say that every once in a while God would get bored with the furniture arrangement in Heaven and would feel the need to move everything around. The thunder is the sound of the furniture scraping against the floors of heaven while the lightning is the sparks that are created when the legs of the furniture scrape against the floor."

Haruhi smiled at him.

"I like that one too," she said. The group fell silent. Kyouya looked at his watch.

"Time to close," he said.

"Already?" Haruhi asked looking at the clock on the wall. Sure enough the time had gone by and they could all leave to go home. They gathered their things and after locking the door to the Music room started to depart from the school.

"Tamaki-senpai," Haruhi called out to the young man. He paused and turned to see her hurrying up to him.

"Haruhi?' he said, "Something wrong?"

"No," she said, "I just wanted to say thank-you."

"Oh?"

"For taking my mind off of the storm," she explained, "It was really nice of you to do that."

Tamaki grinned.

"Of course, anything for you Haruhi, and did you notice that the storm stopped?"

Haruhi raised an eyebrow and then looked up to the sky. Just as he had said the clouds had departed, the rain stopped and now the peaceful silence of a storm just passed hung in the air. She sighed.

"What a nice way to spend a storm."

"Do you need a ride home?" Tamaki asked. Haruhi shook her head.

"No," she said, "But thank you anyway, for everything. Maybe one day I will be able to return the favour to you and the others."

She waved to Tamaki and left. He watched her leave.

'No need to return the favour,' he thought to himself, 'I'm just glad I could be there for you.'

Winter-Rae: Lame ending I'm sure. But I hope you all enjoyed my little fic. I hope I kept them all in character. If I had some idea of what all the others were afraid of, this would be turned into a multi-chapter fic. But I only watched the anime. Any ideas? Anyway! Thanks for reading, don't forget to review! Cheers!