To Chase a Criminal

By E.M. Megs

Part 5: Catching On

Haruhi should have realized it when she no longer heard Lucienne sneaking behind her. No longer saw flashes of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. But somehow, she just figured that the assassin had been pulled back by Kyoya for some other job that was more useful than stalking her.

However, when she heard the rustle of fabric and someone grab her wrist, she just smiled and turned, unaware of what would possibly happen next. "What do you need, Luc-"

She stared at the man who was obviously not Lucienne. The gun in her face. The hand on her arm. The serious no-funny-business attitude of the man belonging to it. She glanced between the gun, hand, and his face quickly before making an autopilot decision using her Interpol training.

She twisted her arm around simultaneously with twisting her body away from him and flipped him straight over her back. She turned and ran in the opposite direction, which admittedly, was not very fast. Running had never been her forte. She ran a corner and spotted Luceinne lying on the ground - unconscious.

What kind of nightmare was this? Lucienne was a trained assassin. No one could get the jump on her.

There was a man kneeling next to her, a smirk on his lips. Haruhi's eyes widened as he looked up at her and stood quickly. She ran.

A gun fired behind her, she instinctively swerved left, running down the street as fast as she possibly could.

A second shot. She swerved right, feeling the sting of a bullet grazing against her left calf.

"He wants her alive!" someone yelled. One more bullet. She didn't even hear the gun fire through her heart pounding in her ears. All she felt was the pain in her left leg, the scrape of pavement on her hands as knees as she tumbled to the ground. The dizziness that came with knocking her head against the sidewalk. The spots appearing in front of her eyes.

Hazy, unclear voices.

"What… killed her?!"

"I… aiming… feet."

"What do… blonde?"

"Leave… He… her."

Darkness.

~o~

Kyoya stared at the Tamaki and the twins. "And?" he prompted, sitting back in his chair and folding his hands in his lap. "What do you expect me to do about it?"

The twins gapped at him. Tamaki took a step back then narrowed his eyes at her. "You don't care at all?" the blonde asked. The Ohtori simply shrugged and turned his eyes back to his computer screen. "Kyoya, Haruhi's been kidnapped by Kuze. Your arch-nemesis has taken Haruhi. He drugged my wife. Isn't that overstepping some kind of line? Who knows what the hell he's doing to her?"

Kyoya gritted his teeth, trying to tell himself he didn't care. That this meant nothing. She wasn't part of his life anymore and she didn't matter. If Kuze had her, it was her own fault. It had nothing to do with him. "If she's been kidnapped, that's her own fault."

"Kyoya!" Tamaki exclaimed as the twins rushed forward, one taking him by the collar and the other pointing a finger in his face.

"Listen here, you bastard!" Hikaru yelled, fist tightening on the Ohtori's collar. "She is our best friend."

"And she was kidnapped because of you."

"How is this my fault?" he asked coolly, not at all reacting to the aggression toward him. "You're the Interpol agents. If anything, I believe he kidnapped her in order to ensure that she does not attempt to come after him in her investigation as she told me she intended to."

Hikaru's face started turning red with rage. Tamaki pulled him away quickly before he could deck the CEO of KOMSS. "He took her because he thinks she means something to you! Because she's in love with you!" the older twin shouted.

"She only intends to go after Kuze instead because she doesn't want you to end up in prison," Kaoru said evenly, staring Kyoya in the eye.

"Mon ami… You can't say that you don't care at all." Kyoya snorted and removed himself from both twins, seating himself back at his desk. "Kyoya! Stop lying to yourself and listen to me! You are in love with Haruhi! I can see it! Lucienne can see it! Your sister can see it! Now open your eyes and accept it!"

"She lied to me, Tamaki!"

"And?" the blonde retorted incredulously, "Is lying to you such a horrible offense that she deserves to be at mercy of the hands of Takeshi Kuze? Get off your high horse, Mon ami. You've done your fair share of lying to her. And you and I both know that Kuze is probably torturing her right now. He's always been obsessed with beating you."

Kyoya stared out the window of his office in thought. "Lucienne and I are going after her, whether you are or not," Tamaki said after several minutes. He motioned toward the twins and turned to the door.

Kyoya stood abruptly. "No."

"What?" Hikaru was even more enraged now. "He's not some child you can-"

"No. None of you are going. I will handle Kuze. This is a war between he and I, not anyone else."

Tamaki broke out in a grin.

~o~

Haruhi had no idea where she was when she woke up. She could feel the rope she was bound with rubbing against her wrists and ankles. The knot on the side of her head throbbed. There was a burning feeling in her left calf. She was surrounded in darkness and silence.

Light flooded her vision, enraging her head and forcing her to shut her eyes.

"Well, well. The sleeping Princess has awoken." The smell of oranges overwhelmed her senses and stung at her eyes. She squinted up at the voice, seeing nothing but the outline of a man.

She'd only met him once, but that one encounter still struck her with more fear than she'd ever experienced on the job. "What do you want, Kuze?" she croaked, keeping her head bent to keep it from hurting any more than it already did.

"Right to business, eh, Miss Fujioka? Kyoya really has rubbed off on you." He was right next to her in seconds, causing her heart rate to skyrocket in five seconds flat. "Don't you want to have some fun first?"

"Do you want to have seven different agencies on you in a heartbeat?" she hissed back menacingly. "You've kidnapped an Interpol agent. They will not take kindly to that." A knife blade pressed to her cheek. She bit her tongue and glared at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you, Fujioka. Wouldn't want to hurt Kyoya's precious flower, would I?" He clicked his tongue once and withdrew, hands finding her shoulders and rubbing a bit too enthusiastically for her taste. "You asked me what I want," he stated, ramming one of her pressure points with his thumb. She bit back a cry. "I want to finally beat Kyoya Ohtori. I want him at my mercy, begging at my feet for your life. I want the satisfaction of putting a bullet in your brain first and then his. But first, I want every bit of information that you have on my business rival so that I can watch his business plummet until he has no credibility left."

His hands left her shoulders and his body swung around the chair to look her in the eye. "What do you say?"

She stared at him with every ounce of resentment and spite she had in her. "Go to hell," she spat in his face.

"I had hoped that you'd be more cooperative," he said in disappointment. Another spot light clicked on, this time over a table covered in every torture device imaginable. "Let's start it simple, shall we?"

~o~

Kyoya entered the retired warehouse with a single pistol in hand. It was lucky he knew that Kuze had a preference for darkened warehouses where he could easier hide extra men, otherwise he never would have found him. It was quiet. Dark. Everything that unsettled him when it came to dealing with Takeshi Kuze.

Everything that Kuze liked to use to unsettle him.

He gritted his teeth and swallowed back any nerves. There was a faster way to do this than to search the entire building single-handedly in the dark with only a pistol and flashlight as protection.

"KUZE!" he roared, his voice bouncing off the walls and reflecting back to him. He was met with more silence.

~o~

Her scream was like music to his ears. "Now, tell me again what I want to know?"

Nothing but sobs blubbered from her lips. Tears ran down her cheeks. Blood pooled on the floor below her arms. "He'll never come," she choked out, pain turning her vision red. "He'll never come for me. He'll never beg for my life. He'll never do anything that you think he will. He hates me."

"I highly doubt that, Miss Fujioka. Now, what was that you were going to tell me about Kyoya?"

"I don't know anything!" she cried.

Kuze clicked his tongue in impatience and disappointment. "Now I know you're lying."

She screamed again, her legs bouncing in an effort to try and run as another deep cut from the serrated blade in his hand met her collarbone. "Please," she sobbed, "Please, I swear. I don't know anything."

"You were his secretary for a year and a half! You spied on him for Interpol for a year and a half. You have to know something."

"I burned all my files on him! I don't know! Please!"

His fingers grabbed her chin, forcing her to look him straight in the eye. "Well then. I'll just have to keep doing this until it refreshes your memory. Or until he comes. Whichever comes first."

~o~

"I KNOW YOU'RE HERE KUZE! SHOW YOURSELF!"

Again there was silence and the echoes of his own yells.

But wait…

He strained her ears, listening intently for any kind of response.

There was a muffled sob coming from off to his right. He followed it, raising his flashlight to see where he was going. A chair came into sight. The shaking shoulders of a person. The sobs were coming from them. It could only be one person.

"Haruhi?"

Her head lifted, turning and trying to see him as he walked around the chair. He took in the sight of her. The bleeding gashes along her cheeks, arms, and shoulders. The blood pooling around her feet. Her red-soaked white shirt with the top button undone. Blood matted the tips of her brunette hair. Her eyes were red from crying. He felt his heart stop for a second, rage entering his veins.

"No," she moaned, voice scratchy. "No. You weren't supposed to come. You were supposed to stay away." More sobs shook her shoulders, her head bent again, this time in sorrow. He squatted in front of her, setting his gun on the floor. "NO!" she screamed, "DON'T PUT THAT DOWN." Startled, he picked it back up.

"Haruhi…?" he trailed off questioningly.

"Leave," she stated in a torn voice, "Get out, Kyoya. Now." He shook his head, not understanding. "GO AWAY." He still didn't move, instead trying to untie her hands. "DON'T YOU GET IT? HE WANTS YOU!" The tears poured down her face. "He never wanted me. He just wanted to use me to get to you. You weren't supposed to come. GET OUT OF HERE. GET OUT BEFORE HE-"

"How rude of you, Haruhi. Screaming at a guest. The guest of honor even." Kyoya jumped back to his feet, his gun aimed straight at Kuze's head. Haruhi's sobs increased exponentially. He held an orange to his lips, inhaled the aroma that was slowly making Haruhi sick to her stomach. "I told you didn't I, though? I told you he'd come for you."

"You sick bastard," she hissed in return.

"Oh and Kyoya, put down the gun. It really won't do you any good," Kuze continued ignoring her. Haruhi let out a scream of frustration, stomping her feet against the ground. "Haruhi!" Kuze reprimanded, "Be careful or you'll set off the bomb!" Kyoya's eyes shot straight from Kuze to his former girlfriend.

"What?" he whispered, eyes searching her for any sign of a bomb. His eyes met hers for a split second and she looked away.

"Unbutton my shirt," she replied in a defeated whisper. Kyoya shot a look at Kuze and knelt in front of her, lowering his gun. His fingers carefully and gently unbuttoned the next two buttons of her shirt, revealing the bomb strapped to her chest. He stared at it for several seconds, swearing under his breath. Tears leaked out Haruhi's eyes.

"Oh that isn't even the best part!" Kuze exclaimed in delight. Kyoya turned back around and stood, finding Kuze holding a remote in a gloved hand.

"Oh really?" Kyoya retorted snidely, "How about the part where I put a bullet in your brain like I should have done years ago? I think that's the best part!" He raised his gun again.

Kuze held the remote above his head. "No, no, Kyoya! Wouldn't want to blow up Haruhi, would you?" A steady beeping started coming from Haruhi. She looked up at Kyoya in a slight panic. "Hand it over." Kuze held out his other hand. Kyoya noted that it, too, was gloved. Takeshi wiggled the remote again. The Ohtori shut his eyes for a minute and begrudgingly handed the weapon over to him.

He smirked at him and circled the couple slowly, keeping the gun that Kyoya had carried in aimed at its former owner's head. "Now… Allow me to explain what's happening here." Kuze strode to stand in front of the bespectacled Ohtori, sticking his face right in his and staring at him with all the hate he could. "Kyoya… Is going to blow up lovely Haruhi here."

The remote was placed in his hand. Kyoya let out a bark of laugher. "You're insane if you think that I'm going to do any such thing." He kept a firm grip on the remote anyway, making sure that his fingers didn't go anywhere near the detonation button.

"Oh, but you will whether you know it or not." Kuze's cackling laughter filled the air. "You see… There is a timer on that bomb as well. Set for 10 minutes. And when that timer reaches zero… The bomb will explode and erase all evidence of there ever being a timer, leaving the remote in your hand as the only detonation device available."

Kyoya was slowly seeing how all of this connected. "You really shouldn't have been so harsh on Miss Fujioka here when you found out she was spying on you. Because now all of Interpol knows that you hate her. And they know that you would do anything to keep her from bringing down your business."

"The courts will never buy that. Not if Haruhi testifies."

Kuze groaned dramatically. "You aren't getting it, Ohtori… Haruhi is not going to testify. Because she is not going to be alive. You are going to kill her. Just like you ordered Lucienne to do if she came anywhere near you."

Everything clicked into place. "You set this entire thing up to make me look like the bad guy."

"It doesn't help that you came in here alone and with a gun. In fact, I should have just let you kill me. That would have just been icing on the top of your sentence."

Kyoya's jaw clenched. "But then you wouldn't be able to see me destroyed."

"Exactly! The boy's catching on!"

"Tamaki, Hikaru, Kaoru, and Lucienne won't let me go to jail for your crime, Kuze."

"They won't be testifying either!" Kuze sang in a delighted voice. His eyes just sparkled with sadistic amusement at this entire situation. "See. I've already told Lucienne that if she tries to interfere with anything then her daughter and/or husband will die. And Agents Hikaru and Kaoru? They will soon be informed that their little sister and parents will be in grave danger if they try anything."

Haruhi let out a soft cry of disgust. "You bastard," she growled. "You're a bloody bastard!"

"You shouldn't have burned those files, Miss Fujioka!" Kuze yelled back at her. Haruhi sat back, glaring at him from afar, her entire body practically on fire. "Now. I'll be leaving. Your ten minutes are now five. Kyoya, you can either chase after me and leave her to die when your time is up, or you can stay and try to futilely defuse the bomb, killing both of you when it blows up. Your choice, Mr. Ohtori."

Kyoya glared after him as he turned and left. Tears ran down Haruhi's cheeks. The Ohtori turned back and knelt beside her, untying her hands and holding them in his. "You're made of tougher stuff than this," he murmured, squeezing her hand.

"Why are you here?" she asked spitefully, turning her glare on him and yanking her hands out of his grasp. "Why did you come?"

"I-"

"You were supposed to stay away! That's what you wanted! You didn't want anything to do with me!"

"I wouldn't have even known if it weren't for the Hitachiins and Tamaki. Besides, you were so insistent that I should forgive you."

"So this is my fault? How was I supposed to-?"

"Haruhi, shut up." His face was centimeters from hers in a single second. Her eyes softened, tears welling up in them again.

"Everything hurts," she murmured.

"I know. Talking about it isn't going to stop anything though."

"You should go after him."

"Going after him will not help my situation. Only saving you will stop anything. Because only a living you can testify against my guilt in any of this."

"Is that all I'm good for?" she muttered.

"No. Not at all."

"Go after Kuze, Kyoya," she stated, staring him in the eyes and radiating sad confidence.

"You'll die if I do that."

"Leave the remote here. It will be destroyed too. And even if it isn't, then it being here and you not being here will be proof enough that you are not responsible." He looked at her. She was willing to give up her own life just to prove that he was not guilty? "I will not allow you to go to prison over something like my death. If I am going to die here, I sure as hell am going to do everything in my power to make sure that you aren't blamed for it."

"Haruhi…" he trailed off, for once completely lost for words.

"Go," she whispered. "If he gets away… It will all be for nothing."

"I don't-"

"Go, Kyo-chan." Another voice had joined them. Kyoya hadn't even heard them coming. He shined his flashlight at up Hunny and Mori. He nearly sighed with relief. Mori was a bomb expert.

"Who called you?" he asked, standing but keeping hold of Haruhi's hand. He glanced at the small red time that was counting down each second until the bomb on her chest went off.

3:55. 3:54. 3:53.

"Tamaki," Mori stated simply.

"For once, that idiot did something right," Kyoya muttered. "Please defuse it."

"We'll try, Kyo-chan. Go." Hunny handed him a utility belt full of flash grenades and a gun.

He nodded and started to walk away, stopping and turning back. "Haruhi… I…"

"I know," she murmured, giving him a small smile. "Go get him."

~o~

He was tired of this stupid game that Kuze was playing with him. He never won and frankly, he was surprised that the man hadn't just given up and found something else to do with his life. He was tired of confronting, re-confronting, and running. This was going to end tonight. These threats to the wellbeing of those closest to him. The monstrous jokes. All of it was going to end if it was the last thing he did.

If he was going to take him out, Kyoya was going to take Kuze out with him.

He stalked around the warehouse, gun at his side, fiery murder in his eyes. This was unforgivable. This… kidnapping, framing, murder was unforgivable. It didn't suit a simply childhood rivalry - which was how this had all begun.

"Come on, Kuze," he called, "If you're going to make me choose between saving Haruhi and chasing after you, you could at least make finding you a little easier for me."

"Don't I even get a please anymore, Kyoya?" came the replying sneer.

"No. I'm done with being polite," he snarled, squinting through the dark to find the man that owned the voice.

Like magic, a single row of lights came on in the very middle of the warehouse, leaving darkened gaps between pools of light on the floor.

Kuze was still nowhere that he could see. He growled under his breath and kept walking, gazing up at the walkways in the rafters just in case.

"Poor Haruhi will die all alone, looks like. And you'll be the one blamed!"

"Wrong," Kyoya stated, a smirk falling on his face as he caught sight of that hideous orange hair.

"Oh?" He fired a bullet at the head, missing by several inches. Kuze, as per usual made a tsking sound with his tongue. "Didn't I already say that killing me would not get you anywhere?"

Kyoya let out a short bark of laughter and dropped his gun hand to his side again, shrugging lightly. "I don't care about killing you anymore, Takeshi," he stated, using the man's first name for the first time in years. "I just want it to stop. I don't even remember how we got like this. Do you?" He tossed the gun onto the floor. He was the bigger man in this apparently. He was going to have to be the one that pushed the change.

The man stepped out into the light, eyes narrowed at him suspiciously. "You know… By my calculations… Your love should be exploding in about-" he paused long enough to check his watch, "Five… Four…"

"Just shut up," Kyoya snapped.

"Three… Two…"

Kyoya's fear mounted, waiting to hear the explosion when Kuze said one that would mean that Haruhi was dead.

"One."

Nothing. No enormous explosion. Kyoya looked behind him, to the other end of the huge warehouse, where he could just barely make out the form of the chair Haruhi was in. Hunny and Mori were nowhere to be seen.

And then, right when he was thinking, Good… They did it… They got her safe, sight became fire; sound became thunderous earthquakes; scents became burning wood, metal, was that flesh?

It died down and he stared at the other end of the building, unable to contain his despair. Then he realized he'd been holding his breath and sucked in a deep, desperate breath. He had failed. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he had failed.

He heard a cackle of triumph and turned wearily to face the man it belonged to. "Now you understand, don't you, Kyoya? How this all started?"

Hell, he couldn't remember. He couldn't even think. He felt numb. Number than he had felt even when his grandfather had died. He kept his features carefully schooled, unwilling to show just how much the recent development had affected him.

"You don't?" Kuze questioned with surprise. "Allow me to explain… You… took my fiancée away from me. And now, I have taken the woman that you love in return."

Kyoya scowled and tried to think back to when they were children, middle school kids, teenagers. Who had been his fiancée? He'd been engaged at one point, he knew that. Why couldn't he remember her name?

"Her name was Kimi."

That was right. Kimi Nekura. His frown deepened. "She's still alive, Takeshi." Something in his chest ached. Dear God, was that his heart? Really? How cliché. He'd only done this to make sure that she was safe. Because no one should have to suffer at Takeshi Kuze's hands over something that he had apparently done.

"You stole her from me, Ohtori."

He thought for a moment then shook his head, not quite believing his own thoughts… It couldn't be… "You think I'm the reason that she left you?" Kuze sneered at him with as much hate as Kyoya was sure that he held for him. "You did that yourself, Kuze. You let her leave you. You frightened her. I didn't need to do anything, even if I had wanted to."

"You flirted with her constantly."

"I can't help that I was attractive to her. And I was not flirting with her." Kyoya glared at him.

"I saw you-"

"I was dating Tamaki. All through high school," he cut in, "Just a year and a half after I met him. Why would I steal your fiancée away from you, Kuze? You just want a reason to hate me. To blame someone else for what you did."

"Sto-"

"You drove her away! You did it, Kuze! I had nothing to do with it!" He stopped abruptly and shook his head. "I had nothing to do with it… And you… You killed Haruhi. For no reason."

"You always had to be better than me!" Kuze roared. "Always going on about your little club and how fantastic you ran it. You and your little boyfriend and your perfect little relationship!"

"It was far from perfect," Kyoya commented offhandedly.

"I don't care," Kuze said coldly. "I'm sick of it. You know… My father once told me that he wished that I was more like you."

"It would be quite an eye-awakening change. Maybe even good for you." Kuze had a gun. Kyoya knew he had a gun because he had given it to him. He could see a gun-shaped bulge sticking out of the back of his pants. He didn't care anymore about killing or being killed. He just wanted to get Kuze to draw the gun on him. To put his fingerprints on it.

"Shut up! You think you're so perfect. Well look who's finally won. Look who's finally beaten you." Finally, the gun came out and pressed against the side of his head. Kyoya didn't react at all to being put at gunpoint.

He just stared Kuze in the eye. "Is this how you killed my grandfather? Or were you too much of a coward then to stare him in the eye?"

"Are those really the last words you want to say to me, Ohtori?"

Kyoya smirked. "You lost. You think you won, but ultimately, you lost. No one will ever trust you. You will never have a single friend or loved one because you will never be able to come back from this, Takeshi. You will never beat me."

"I've already won," Kuze stated, hand tensing.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice from the shadows interrupted. Kuze snapped his head around to watch as a woman limped into the light.

"How…?" he gasped.

"Takeshi Kuze, you're currently surrounded by three Interpol agents and four of their very generous friends. And considering what we just got on tape, I suggest that you lower your weapon."

"Haruhi?" Kyoya whispered, awe present in his voice.

She stood in front of them, completely unscathed by the bomb. The lights in the entire warehouse turned on, showing that what she said was true. Circling them were Hikaru, Kaoru, Lucienne, Tamaki, Hunny, and Mori, all with loaded weapons except Haruhi who merely held a tape recorder in her hand. "Oh," she added icily, "And those seven agencies that I mentioned earlier? They're all on their way. And trust me, they'd love to get a piece of you."

Kyoya felt relief wash through his body as Kuze stared at her, not lowering his weapon, just staring at her. "How?"

"Simple. Mori defused the timer but not the detonator. We simply had to get me out of and away from the vest before we blew it with the remote control." A smirk that could rival Kyoya's came to her face. "Who won, exactly?"

Kuze ground his teeth together, gritting them until Kyoya almost thought that he was going to make his own jaw pop off. Haruhi predicted his move 5 seconds before he did it. "Kyoya, move!" she screamed. Kyoya dove sideways, feeling the bullet clip his shoulder instead of his head. He gasped out in pain as he fell to the ground, hearing several different guns fire at the same time, tearing Kuze apart.

The red-head fell to the ground dead and Haruhi limp-ran forward.

"Mon ami!" Tamaki yelled, dropping his gun and striding forward.

"Haru-chan!" Hunny exclaimed, "Don't move so fast! You're still weak!"

She fell to her knees next to him. His back arched upwards. He had to move just to deal with the pain erupting in his shoulder.

Lucienne walked forward calmly and looked down at Takeshi Kuze for a moment with disgust. She bent down and felt for a pulse in his neck then looked toward the twins. "Gone. Though I suppose that five bullets will do that to a person." Just one from her would have done the trick.

She went to Kyoya next and ripped open his shirt, revealing the bullet proof vest underneath. "Damn," she whispered when she noticed that there was blood everywhere. The shot had missed the vest completely and embedded itself in his left shoulder. He let out a loud groan. Haruhi took his hand weakly and squeezed. "Oh stop being such a baby," Lucienne grumbled, taking off her jacket and pressing it to his shoulder.

"You try getting shot, Lucienne!" the Ohtori snapped. She looked at him pointedly. Oh right… She had been. Several times.

Haruhi felt faint, she didn't know why but she did. She looked toward the twins. "Guys…" she said a bit breathlessly, taking deep breaths to attempt to ward off the unpleasant feeling that she was either about to pass out or puke. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at her worriedly.

"Haruhi?" Kyoya was the one to question her on it. His grip tightened on her hand, a grunt popping from his mouth as the Frenchwoman pressed a bit harder on his wound.

"I feel…" she didn't finish. Just lay down slowly before she fell down.

Hunny scowled at her as she succumbed to the darkness and said, "I told her not to move so fast!"

"She lost a lot of blood," Mori added solemnly, a frown of his own on his lips.

Lucienne growled under her breath. "Kyoya, you may not like it, but you need to go to the hospital. Now."

"No."

"Kyoya. I don't have a choice. I don't have this kind of medical expertise and Akito's too far away right now. You both need to get to a hospital."

"I don't…" He let out a cry as she pressed his shoulder sharply.

"Mon ami…" Tamaki muttered, "It's probably best to just do what my wife says…"

Kyoya glared at him and submitted a bit reluctantly. He didn't want Haruhi's life on his hands. Especially if she died over something as silly as him not allowing them to go to a hospital. He looked at Hikaru and Kaoru, "You'll wait here, I assume?" They nodded, though a single glance at Haruhi told Kyoya that they were incredibly reluctant to leave their friend. He nodded at them in respect and looked to Mori, who effortlessly picked Haruhi up. Tamaki helped him up.

Her hand pulled loose from his and suddenly he felt like he might collapse again. Hunny hurried forward and supported his left side while Tamaki took his left. Lucienne tried her best to keep pressure on his wound while they moved.

~o~

He sat by her bed. He didn't know why he was there watching her sleep. Some unknown force had pulled him straight to her room the moment that he'd been released from the hospital - thankfully it was one of his family's so the damage control for this wouldn't be too bad.

Perhaps it was some remainder of his feelings for her lingering that had drawn him here. Perhaps Lucienne had been on to something when she mentioned closure. He didn't know. He didn't care.

He just knew that the moment her eyes opened to look at him, blinking groggy sleepiness from her eyes, an immense relief filled his chest. She looked confused for a moment. "Why…?"

Why are you here?

The question remained in her eyes even after everything that had happened in the last 48 hours. He chuckled darkly and murmured, "Honestly? I don't really know."

"How long was I out?"

"About… 18 hours or so. Give or take 2 hours."

She looked at his arm, which hung in a sling uselessly. She raised an eyebrow. "You were… shot?"

"Yes," he replied stiffly, "As I remember, you were the one that saved my life."

"How?"

Did she really not remember this? Though she had been slightly disoriented due to blood loss. "Kuze had the gun pointed at my head, Haruhi. You saw the shot coming and screamed at me to move just in time."

She stared at him. "Do you have any idea what he did to me?"

"Yes."

"Do you really?" She suddenly sounded so… broken. "I was trained to withstand torture… But I was never prepared to actually have to. And that… monster… He-"

"Haruhi, I've seen what he can do," Kyoya cut off quickly, not wanting to hear it. "Especially when he wants something." He looked away from me.

"You say I saved your life but you still won't look me in the eye." He sighed and leaned his head back, closing his eyes for a moment of thought. "Why are you here?"

"I needed to know you were alright."

"Why? Do you forgive me? Do you still love me? Is that what this is about?"

"I don't know." He was frustrated with her. She had pushed for this. She had been the one that insisted that he rethink leaving her. Why was she questioning his presence? She should have been happy that he was even visiting her.

"Why did you save me?"

"Because no one deserves to be placed in the mercy of Takeshi Kuze. That man… He holds no mercy. He would have killed you before letting you free."

"So you do care…"

"No. That's not what I said." She raised an eyebrow. He let out a short breath. "Haruhi… I…" he stopped and thought of the best way to word what he wanted to say. He lifted his head and stared at the opposing wall. "You… You broke my heart. I don't - can't - trust you." He turned his head and looked at her. She looked sad for a moment then her eyes hardened slightly and she nodded in understanding.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. It must have been the millionth time he'd heard it from her, but it was the first that she had sounded completely, utterly sincere and so… sorrowful. "I didn't… I never meant for it to go that far. I fell in love with you when I knew I shouldn't have. And… I'm sorry I ever thought of doing that to you."

He shrugged. "I was also at fault," he murmured. "I shouldn't have used my charms on you like that. Though, I never expected to be hurt by it."

She smiled and shook her head at his slight attempt at a joke. "You know… I still love you…" she trailed off and let her smile fade as she looked up at him.

He stared at her then rose slowly. "Well… I can obviously see that you're fine. I should be going." He walked quickly to the door but in the doorway at her voice.

"Will I ever see you again or are you going to disappear off the map as you're so well known to do?"

"I'm not sure," he replied without turning around. "Perhaps we will. I'd appreciate a heads up if Interpol is ever going to come knocking on my door again." He began to move forward but was again stopped by the brunette's question.

"Kyoya?"

"Yes?"

"If we ever meet again… Is it possible that we could start over? Could we pretend that we never knew each other before?"

He turned slowly to face her, thinking. The possibility of running into her again was low. And even if she did then it probably wouldn't be for a long time. "I suppose so. Are you going to come searching for me, Haruhi?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe later… In the future. A year or two. Not now though. You can rest easy and do whatever it is that you do."

He smirked. "Alright. Perhaps I'll see you in the future then, Haruhi."

"I will gladly await that day."

He left the hospital with a smile curling on his lips.

~o~

2 years later…

He wouldn't have normally ridden the train, but his car had broken down, stranding him with no other way to get to a very important meeting. It was more crowded than he would have liked, but it was transportation nonetheless.

Someone tapped his shoulder and he turned to look down on a small brunette woman with stunning amber eyes. He felt himself start to smile in disbelief but stopped, remembering he request to pretend like they didn't know each other. "Yes?"

"You dropped this," she stated, placing a card in his hand. He nodded at her in thanks and began to turn again, just to humor her. "Have we met before?"

He looked at her curiously. "I'm… not sure. Your name is?"

"Haruhi Fujioka."

"Ah… I knew a Haruhi once."

"Did you?" she said, a small smile playing on her lips.

"I keep wondering how long it's going to take her to track me down."

"Why would she need to track you?"

He shrugged. "I don't think she really needs to anymore…"

"What was your name again?"

"Kyoya Ohtori." He said the name with confidence in the future.

Their future.

~o~

A/N: Can I just say that I had the most vivid move film going through my head for this chapter than anything I've ever had? I could have written full torture scenes for Haruhi in terrible detail but then I would have felt horrible. Absolutely horrible. And the emotion. OH MY GOD. I nearly went INSANE.

It is FINISHED. JEEZ. Now I can FINALLY get back to LD. I'm really glad that I didn't post this all as one chapter. That would have been… too much. Even for me.

Kudos to: klaire-chan, LittleLiar666, SisterOfScarletDevil, She Promised Us Lamingtons, and Anon… Thank you everyone who has reviewed and I'll be seeing you again with either my next one-shot or LD.

Last random thought: I set up an author's Facebook for myself. The link is on my profile if you want to go and friend or message me or whatever. This is an attempt of mine to connect more with my readers (we'll see how well THAT works).