Warning: This chapter has mentions of abuse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nii-Sama and I stayed away from school for a few days, as promised to the host club. Perhaps during our self-imposed house arrest, we had begun to regret ever telling the host club. For once, Nii-Sama and I had a place that was safe, excluding Miss Yuki Natsu though she was just a minor pest if anything. We longed for just a regular life, and the host club gave us that. However, both Nii-Sama and I had hoped somewhere inside our hearts that the host club would be the answer to our problems. The most powerful figures of the entire academy, heirs to the most well-known names, were gathered in that one music room every day after school. However, it clearly wasn't meant to be as there was no possible way they could even begin to help us.

Nii-Sama was currently sat by my bed, tears welling up slightly in his eyes as he wrapped my back with bandages from the fresh beating. Since the deal I made with Miss Natsu, Father had been beating me regularly. It was as if Father took the usual harsh beatings and spread them out into multiple sessions of beatings. He couldn't beat me until I passed out anymore since then he would be bored for days while he waited for me to wake up. Nii-Sama voiced his complaints every time, but the reality was that he knew there was nothing he could do at this moment to stop this. If he tried, both of us were at risk again and I asked him not to put my efforts to get him out to waste. Personally, I thought I deserved these beatings for my incompetence, but Nii-Sama didn't do anything to warrant it.

Our 'few days' soon turned into a week before we dragged ourselves back to Ouran Academy, dreading what stories would be spreading and our loss of friends. We wanted to come back sooner, but we weren't sure what was scarier: me getting a beating from father or coming to terms with the loss of a safe haven that we had finally found. They say one can't lose something if one has never had it before. Perhaps if we hadn't run into the host club that first time, we wouldn't be feeling so down about having to cut ties with them.

Once again, Nii-Sama and I were standing at the gates of the large castle-like school. We arrived earlier than most people would, hoping to escape the whispers of our sudden departure from the host club, but it seemed more empty than normal. I gripped Nii-Sama's hand, pressing my thumb into his palm slightly as we both took a deep breath. If we had caused an uproar in the school, we had planned to head to the headmaster's office and ask for our diploma.

Before we were able to step a foot into the school, two bags were placed over our heads. as arms wrapped around us.

"Target captured!" I heard three voices claim. In my confusion, I couldn't recognize them and so, reflexively, Nii-Sama and I defended ourselves. With the bag still on my head, I swung out in a kick, only to be blocked easily by what felt like a leg. The captors must've thought that Nii-Sama and I would be helpless if we couldn't see. Truth was, we could fight just as well blindfolded. After all, we were trained to continue fighting even with our vision impaired.

I ducked as I felt a pair of arms coming towards me, as if wanting to wrap around me to pin me down. They missed and I swiped my foot out, glad to feel contact between my leg and the captor's. Unfortunately, I heard no thud, meaning that they hadn't fallen down. From behind me, I felt another figure, someone smaller than who I was just fighting, run towards me. Immediately, I turned and defended myself. The captors didn't seem like they wanted to hurt me, so I turned my defensive fight into an offensive fight and began my own series of attacks. They defended themselves flawlessly, so at this point I could only assume whoever I was fighting had martial arts training. All this was within a few seconds of having the bag put over my head. Whoever I was fighting was trained well.

"Wait Karino!" I heard Nii-Sama shout. I paused, mid-attack, turning my kick towards my enemy into a spin and landed on my feet to the side of my opponent.

"Nii-Sama?" I called, the bag still over my head. I felt the bag being pulled off. In front of me, Nii-Sama held the two fabric bags that had been put over our heads. Behind him, Honey-Senpai and Mori-Senpai were standing in a defensive form. Judging by their distance, it seemed that I was fighting the two of them. Farther behind them, Hika-Chan and Kao-Chan were on the ground, holding their stomachs in pain.

"Oh, don't be dramatic, you devil twins," Nii-Sama said with a sigh as he ran his hand through his silver hair, dropping the two bags to the ground. "I barely touched you. If I hadn't recognized your voices at the last second, you would've been dead by now. Without any form of martial arts training, you wouldn't have lasted a second against either of us."

The twins stopped their rolling and proceeded to stand up with a smirk on both their faces.

"We just wanted to see how you'd react," they said in unison, as if having fun with this whole situation.

"Nuki-Chan and Kari-Chan sure are talented though," Honey-Senpai commented. "To be able to take all that force out of one kick within milliseconds and not hurt Hika-Chan and Kao-Chan. And Kari-Chan could keep up with our attacks without seeing us and even turn it in her favor!"

"Nuki-Chan?" Nii-Sama echoed, his eye twitching a bit.

"That's my nickname for you!" Honey-Senpai said cutely. I giggled a bit. To call Nii-Sama such a cute nickname... It was a first for Nii-Sama, that was for sure.

"Can we call you Tanuki-Senpai?" The twins asked together, giving Nii-Sama puppy-dog eyes simultaneously. Immediately, they were met with a chop from above and they ended up crouched on the ground with growing lumps on their heads.

"I dare you to call me that one more time," Nii-Sama said threateningly at the twins. They quickly backed away, spewing apologies for their joke.

"What were you trying to do anyways, Senpais?" Nii-Sama asked as he turned his attention away from the twins. "I thought we had told you that we're quitting the host club and that you should all just pretend we never met."

"Our king told us to come collect you," Mori-Senpai replied bluntly in his deep voice.

"We saw you from the window of the music room, Nuki-Chan, Kari-Chan!" Honey-Senpai expanded. "Tama-Chan said he wanted to talk more after the week you two were gone, so he asked us to bring you to him."

"Is the host club deaf?" Nii-Sama deadpanned. "We told you to leave us alone for your own good."

"Now, now, Senpai. Don't be like that." Hika-Chan had recovered and rested his arm on Nii-Sama's shoulder. Kao-Chan came onto the other side of me and rest his arm on my head.

"The two of you just need to come peacefully. Our king just wants to have a talk," Kao-Chan explained further. Nii-Sama glanced at me, to which I replied with a shrug. He sighed.

"Alright fine," Nii-Sama agreed. Honey-Senpai and the twins beamed at us.

"But get your hand off of me, you shady twin," Nii-Sama scowled slightly as he pushed Hika-Chan's hand off. Hika-Chan complied, putting his hands up in surrender. Nii-Sama turned towards me once Hika-Chan backed off and pulled me towards him, brushing Kao-Chan's arm off my head like a fly.

With Honey-Senpai leading the way atop Mori-Senpai's shoulder, Nii-Sama and I followed behind them with the twins chatting away behind us. Perhaps they were scared we were going to slip away if they didn't keep an eye on us from behind.

"Karino, what do you think they want to talk about?" Nii-Sama asked me quietly. His voice held a hint of relief that they still seemed fairly friendly with us, but it was dominated by fear of what was to come. "They're not listening to our warning at all..."

"Nii-Sama, have you heard of the hedgehog's dilemma?" Nii-Sama shook his head.

"Hedgehogs have spines that cover their body. During the winter, when hedgehogs get cold, they want to huddle together, but if they get too close, they start hurting each other with the spines." I glanced slightly at Nii-Sama.

"So you're saying we're the hedgehogs," Nii-Sama concluded quietly. I nodded.

"If we get too close, the host club will get hurt. However, if we remain at a reasonable distance, they should be safe." I glanced over at Honey-Senpai who was sitting happily on Mori-Senpai's shoulders. As long as we stay a safe distance away, they can keep those smiles.

"By the way," I said a bit louder, catching the attention of the four hosts, "don't we have class in less than an hour? Where are all the students?"

"We asked for a favor from the chairman," Honey-Senpai said with a giggle.

"Our king asked for the chairman to cancel all classes today," Hika-Chan continued.

"And of course, we told all the students except you two," Kao-Chan finished with a devilish smirk. Nii-Sama sweatdropped.

"This is abuse of power," Nii-Sama muttered. The twins only smirked at us.

"We don't know what you're talking about. Abuse of power? Never!" The two of them said dramatically.

"Tamaki-Senpai's father is the chairman, right?" I asked as I tilted my head slightly. "Isn't that abuse of power if you're using those connections to cancel classes?" The twins chose to ignore my deduction, proceeding to whistle a random tune in unison while avoiding Nii-Sama and my accusing gazes.

It didn't take long before we reached the familiar music room doors. Mori-Senpai pushed the doors open without even pausing at the door. Nii-Sama and I barely had any time to prepare before Tamaki-Senpai came launching out the door. Out of surprise, Nii-Sama and I each dodged to one side. Tamaki-Senpai landed on the ground where we once were, crying about how his children wouldn't hug him. Without so much as a word, Hika-Chan grabbed Tamaki-Senpai's left leg while Kao-Chan grabbed his right and the two of the dragged the king of the host club back into the music room. Nii-Sama and I glanced at each other before following them in.

"So what's the deal with calling us back in here. I thought we told you last week that we're quitting the host club," Nii-Sama said, holding forward a facade to ward the host club off. We were trying to push them away for their own good, but the Host Club wasn't taking it.

"Unfortunately, you can't simply just quit a club here in the school like that," Kyoya-Senpai said, pushing his glasses up slightly. "According to the student handbook, to quit participation in a club, you must present a club withdrawal form. The president of the club will determine if you have anything outstanding debts to the said club before allowing you to leave or making you pay the debts first."

"Then we'll go grab this form," Nii-Sama said bluntly as he turned around to head to the door. The twins scooted in between us and the door, looking innocent as can be while blocking us from leaving. Nii-Sama growled at them a bit, annoyed that they weren't taking this seriously. I remained quiet since I was conflicted. I wanted them to help us, but not if they were going to get hurt in the process.

"I'm afraid we won't be able to accept your withdrawal form at this time," Tamaki-Senpai said from behind us, smirking triumphantly.

"For being absent for an entire week, you've collected a huge debt from the ladies. Unfortunately, we do not collect payment in the form of currency. You will have to remain here as hosts to pay off your debt, Watanuki and Karino Makoto." Kyoya seemed to tower threateningly over the two of us.

"This is against the law to hold us here," Nii-Sama complained, but everyone could see that the two of us were staying for good. Despite Nii-Sama's complaints, he was smiling and his stance had gone from agitated and defensive to a more relaxed one. He smirked at Kyoya-Senpai, as if telling him to rebut Nii-Sama's complaint. Kyoya-Senpai said nothing but smirked back and walked away.

"Now that that's taken care of," Hika-Chan said as he slid over to Tamaki-Senpai's left side.

"The next order of business will commence!" Kao-Chan declared as he appeared on Tamaki-Senpai's right side.

"We will now begin Operation 'Save the Makoto Siblings from their Horrible Sperm Donor of a Father!'" Tamaki concluded in between them, posing with one arm pointed towards Nii-Sama and I.

"Wait, wait!" I cried out in shock at their declaration. "You can't! We aren't back for you to get involved in this!"

"What do you mean, Kari-Chan?! We can't leave you two in that situation!" Honey-Senpai appeared in front of me, wide-eyed and teary. Usa-Chan was hanging limply in his hand.

"You can't get involved! We appreciate the thought but no one can go up against Father! It's impossible. You'd all die!" I yelled at them all. Clearly, they weren't listening as the idiot trio had dragged a white board over and began various plans.

"Honey-Senpai!" I turned towards him. "Fight me right now with all you can!"

"I can't do that, Kari-Chan!" Honey-Senpai said cutely while tilting his head. "The secretary of state said I can't. And I don't want to fight you." I huffed.

"Mitsukuni Haninozuka-Senpai," I called seriously. At my tone, Honey-Senpai straightened slightly and Mori-Senpai seemed to tense. Everyone except Nii-Sama tensed and faced me as I stared directly at Honey-Senpai. Nii-Sama only continued to look at me, knowing that only in this way would they realize how much danger they'd be in. "I'm asking Mitsukuni Haninozuka, the oldest son of the Haninozuka clan and the master martial artist, to fight me in an all-out duel. If you win this fight, I won't say a word more about this. If you lose this fight, you won't get involved anymore for your own safety."

"Karino, you don't know what you're asking," Tamaki-Senpai said, shaking a bit as he inched towards us. Honey-Senpai - no, Mitsukuni-Senpai - hadn't moved a single inch as he met my strong gaze.

"Trust me, Tamaki. I don't think you understand the severity of our situation," Nii-Sama said solemnly as he stared at the rest of the group.

"Kyoya, will you referee our fight with Takashi?" Mitsukuni-Senpai asked without breaking eye contact with me. His usual childish tone was replaced with a seriousness that normally would send chills down anyone's spine.

"I suppose if it has come down to this. I will make sure that this stays within the club. Please fight in the field at the back of the school." Kyoya-Senpai sighed as if he had just aged five years.

It didn't take long for the entire club to make it to the back field, which stretched out as far as the eye could see. In the distance, I could see Kyoya-Senpai's private police force forming a border around the field. I almost scoffed. If Mitsukuni-Senpai and I were in an all out fight, no one but maybe Nii-Sama and Mori-Senpai could even think about stopping us. Even bullets won't do anything.

Mitsukuni-Senpai and I stood facing each other in the center of the field, the rest of the host club a good distance away. Mori-Senpai was closer than the rest and Nii-Sama was just behind him, watching the interaction. As much as I wanted Mitsukuni-Senpai to win, I knew that it was impossible.

"As our deal stated, if I win this fight, you will let us help you escape your father," Mitsukuni-Senpai said as he bowed.

"And if I win this fight, you will not get involved any further until you can beat me," I replied as I bowed back. With our conditions set, the two of us waited for Mori-Senpai's signal. Once Mori-Senpai started the fight, the two of us launched toward each other and began our battle.

Each kick, punch, spin and flip seemed to be just a springboard into another attack. With each second, the two of us kept increasing how much power we were putting into the match. We were evenly matched until Mitsukuni-Senpai reached his limit. I smirked, almost sadly, as I began to dominate the fight at that point. I could see the frustration in his eyes as I forced him into a defensive fight. With each minute that passed, he tried to change the tides back into his favor, but the reality was that the gap between us was too large at this point.

The truth behind the martial arts that Nii-Sama and I learned was that it surpassed even the Haninozuka and Morinozuka martial arts techniques. We weren't a reported martial arts family, and father kept it that way. He didn't search for fame in martial arts because he only found it fun if he was beating someone down. Martial arts normally had an air of respect, but Father's martial arts didn't have a shred of it. Father's martial arts was meant to be ruthless and to win with power. He taught Nii-Sama and I everything we knew except how to actually incapacitate someone and kill them. He was scared once we learned that, we could surpass him. I didn't know that we were stronger than even the two martial artists in the club myself at first, but after entering the Host Club, Nii-Sama and I looked into the two martial arts families, hoping that they could've had some chance at fighting off Father. To our dismay, there was a huge gap of power between us and even the two families. Against Father who could fight both Nii-Sama and I together, albeit not winning bruise-free, not even Mitsukuni Haninozuka, Japan's secret unintentional weapon, would stand a chance.

As the fight continued, it was clear that I had the upper hand that Mitsukuni-Senpai couldn't catch up to. He growled, annoyed. I wanted him desperately to win this fight, but I didn't want him to go into this war with my father without knowing what he was truly against. Eventually, it was time for the fight to end. I swiftly launched myself toward him one last time, feigning a few kicks before quickly maneuvering myself around to deliver a strong kick to Mitsukuni-Senpai's back while hitting a few pressure points. He was forced to the ground, his body shaking from frustration and fatigue. Turning around to face me, he tried to stand back up, only to fall down onto his knees as his muscles gave out.

"The winner is Karino Makoto," Mori-Senpai announced a few seconds later once it was clear that Mitsukuni-Senpai wasn't able to continue the fight. There was a hint of surprise in his usually monotone voice. I made my way over to Honey-Senpai and reached my hand out for him to take.

"I'm not letting anyone go up against Father until they can beat me with ease, Senpai," I said as I pulled him to his feet. He was breathing heavily and sweat was rolling down the side of his face. The two of us stared at each other sadly as he finally realized the power of his enemy. If Mitsukuni Haninozuka couldn't beat me, how did he think he could stand up to a force that could incapacitate me for days. "As much as I wish you won that fight, there's no way I could've gone easy on you and lived with it when you got hurt."

The two of us turned back to the other hosts, who stared on in various degrees of shock. With Honey-Senpai using me as support, we made our way back to the other hosts. Nii-Sama was the only one who had fully expected me to win this fight and simply came over to help Honey-Senpai sit down on the grass. I smiled sadly at the others as they too had to face the facts. Our enemy was simply much more powerful than they thought.

"I hope you all understand now," Nii-Sama said without looking at the hosts. He was instead staring at the sky, as if wanting the outcome to have been different. "The only outcome if you were to go charging into this mess is death for all of us."

"Your father wouldn't actually kill anyone, right?" Haru-Chan asked after she shook herself out of her shock. Nii-Sama and I didn't answer her, but the silence meant plenty. Haru-Chan retched slightly as the thought of it scared her out of her mind.

"And how did he get away with that?" Kyoya-Senpai asked, his face pale. He had his notebook open, but his pen was on the grass beside his foot.

"Bribes, threats, fear," I shrugged as I gave him a small, sad smile. "I don't really know. All I know is that Father isn't easy to take down. Trust me. Nii-Sama and I have tried plenty of times before we decided to wait it out."

"So what is your plan now?" Tamaki-Senpai asked, his voice shaky.

"We were going to hold out until I turned 18," Nii-Sama replied as he focused his attention back on the shocked host club. "Once I'm 18, we can leave and live on our own. Before that, if Father wanted, he can drag us back home, so until I'm 18, we're stuck. Otherwise, I would've already taken custody of Karino and we would've gotten out of that pit long ago."

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Honey-Senpai asked from beside me, his voice heavy with shame and frustration. I shook my head as I gently patted the top of his head.

"As much as we want you to be able to do something, there's nothing that can be done for us now. Father can take Nii-Sama and I on at the same time and win with just a few bruises. If you cannot beat me alone, let alone both Nii-Sama and I at the same time, we don't stand a chance. You'd be the first target and Father would simply take you out before coming after Nii-Sama and I."

Honey-Senpai seemed to hang his head down as the rest of the hosts remained silent, the weight of the situation settling down heavily. Nii-Sama looked at me slightly in a slight panic. We didn't come back here to cause them to be sad. We had already accepted that we wouldn't be able to escape for at least another year when Nii-Sama turned 18.

"Never mind that anymore!" I said, forcing a tone of happiness. "Nii-Sama and I can take it for a while longer. We've been handling this for two years already. Compared to before, it's much easier to get by now."

My words only seemed to weigh more heavily on their hearts. I panicked. I only wanted to cheer them up! I looked to Nii-Sama for help. He sighed and ran his hand once more through his hair.

"We can't stop you if you want to plan, but until someone can beat Karino at the very least, no one is to make a move against Father. Not even you, Kyoya." Nii-Sama directed a glare towards Kyoya-Senpai who clearly was trying to contact his private police force. "You saw Karino's fight just now. Father would wipe the ground with your police force and they'd all just disappear without a trace."

"Trust us," I said as the rest of the host club continued to stand in silence. "We will be fine. Just continue being the host club we know and love. This place is our haven and it's plenty help for us."

The twins silently made their way to me before wrapping me in a hug. It wasn't one of their hugs that meant a prank was coming, but rather a hug from their heart.

"We're sorry we can't do more," the two of them said in unison. I shook my head and returned their hug. The rest of the host club, minus Kyoya-Senpai, Mori-Senpai and Nii-Sama, had joined in the hug too.

"Don't worry about us," I repeated as I snuggled into their hug. As long as the host club remained as carefree and playful as always, Nii-Sama and I would always have our safe haven to come back to. I glanced at Nii-Sama, sticking one of my hands out towards him from the mess of hugs. He walked towards and gripped my hand in his as I pressed my thumb into his palm.

Hedgehogs might not be able to huddle for warmth through the winter without hurting the others, but they can still survive. Nii-Sama and I will survive.