Honey POV

I couldn't place it, but something was off when my cousin and Jessica left the room to talk, and it wasn't the oddly cold shoulder Takashi had been giving her since practically the first day she was here. I asked him several times why he was being so rude to her, but he had just shrugged it off and turned the conversation to something else; he knew he wasn't fooling me, but I always let it drop because it hadn't been that much of a problem... Till now that is.

When they left, I did what any concerned cousin and friend would do in this situation, I followed them to make sure everything went okay. It made sense to me that Jessi-chan was confronting Takashi, I had only known her a week and a half, but she just didn't strike me as the type of person to ignore something like this; I was frustrated with him too.

Anyways, it started out like I expected it too, but then it avalanched quickly; I watched sadly as Jessica began spiraling with anxiety and run off, all the while wringing her hands and stuttering apologies.

"What was all that about Takashi?" I asked angrily, stepping out of the shadows I had hid in, allowing a ferocious glare to be pointed towards my cousin's back.

"What?" His voice was toneless, and while he didn't turn around, I had enough experience reading my cousin that I knew he was forcing back any emotion; that was something he didn't usually do when it was only the two of us.

"Oh, come off it Takashi, Jessica was well within her rights to ask why you've been so rude to her, I've never seen you be so rude to anyone; now either go after her and apologize, or explain what the heck you're doing." Finally, he turned around and on his face was an expression I hadn't seen since my family was in the process of cutting me off, grief.

"Did you see her face Mitsukuni?" His voice was low and still emotionless, betraying none of what his face showed; a defense mechanism for him.

I sighed and nodded, "She thinks this is all her fault," Stepping towards Takashi, I tried to put a weak smile on my face, "Something tells me that bright, happy smile we see everyday is just a mask."

He looked away and considered my words, humming in agreement, "She's strong, yet fragile at the same time; a conundrum." I smiled at that, it was obvious my cousin held some kind of interest in her; I just didn't understand why he was so rude.

"So why are you so mean to her? No avoiding my question this time." My voice was stern and finally Takashi looked me in the eyes, shrugging slightly; I kept my gaze steady and eventually he sighed, looking at the ground again.

"Risa." One word was all it took for me to understand what he meant, Takashi held a torch for her, and Jessi-chan was similar to his crush.

"They're a lot alike, aren't they?" I asked quietly, I had noticed that when I first met her, they were both closed off, yet sweet; slightly broken, yet brave; and both engaging and willing to put a smile on their face, regardless of how much they much they were hurting inside, something I only learned today is Jessi-chan's case.

"Yeah," Takashi turned away from me and lowered his head, watching him struggle like this was never easy, but we had to find a resolution, or someone would end up badly hurt.

"You could invite her to come to the beach with us, she isn't a guest of the Host club, but I think we could get Kyoya to go along with it if we tell him in the right way." I suggested, extending an olive branch to her would be a god bet at this point, "It might show her that you don't hate her, and it would be a casual way to get to know her a bit better."

"Perhaps," Takashi said quietly and began walking away.

"Hey Takashi," I called out before he got too far, "You can do this, I believe in you, even if you don't."

He didn't turn back, just nodded and turned the bend.

Jessica's POV

You know, life sometimes sucks, at least, that's what my brain is telling me right now... I did exactly as I planned the day before, and now I was in school, trying to remember that I needed to smile so I wouldn't show that I felt empty inside.

I hate using that word, empty, it just seems like a copout to me; but how else do you describe the fact that you can barely remember how if felt to be happy, even if that was only the day before? (That was a rhetorical question, if you know of a better word, then good for you, empty is my word to describe it)

"Hey, Jessi-chan, are you okay? You seem really quiet today," I looked up from my book and worked to put my best smile on my face.

"Oh, I'm good, don't worry about me! How are you? I'm sorry I wasn't able to talk to you yesterday," I noticed Mori standing behind him and flinched slightly before renewing the smile and tuning back in to what Honey was saying.

"Good, thanks for asking Jessi-chan! Are you coming to the Host club after school today? Kyoya said it was okay, and Ri-chan will be there too! We're planning a beach activity!"

I blinked slowly and considered his words, but something inside of me rejected that idea, "Um, sorry, but I can't, I have to go home today after school immediately; apparently my dad has a dinner party in the Capital tonight and wanted my mom and I to attend with him." I kept smiling at him and turned to the front of the room as the teacher came in to start class; only part of that was a lie, there was a dinner party in the Capital tonight, but my mom and dad were going together as a date, they thought I was going to be at the twins again tonight, so they were making this into a date. I honestly didn't mind, being alone again sounded wonderful.

Of course, as all this was going on, that stupid little voice in the back of my mind was screaming at me, 'What are you doing? You wanted a fresh start when you came to Japan, you didn't come here to restart all your bad habits!'

I hushed that voice the best I was able and forced myself to pay attention to the teacher, she was talking about something I had struggled with before, and according to the Chairman, I had to keep my grades high, or I would be kicked into a lower class. I was trying to take notes in short-hand Japanese in order to improve, but remembering the bajillions of different symbols I needed was a struggle; I stopped letting the twins check my accuracy when they constantly laughed about mistakes like comparing a river to a 'large deranged man' instead of just calling it big.

Class went by surprisingly quickly, and when the break came, I immediately pulled out a book, hoping to avoid any other questions that that Honey wanted to ask; his presence was looming over my shoulder, waiting to pounce. I'm not an idiot, I promise, I understood I was just postponing the inevitable; but hey, denial is nine-tenths of the law... Don't worry, I know that that isn't how the saying goes at all, just let me enjoy my self-imposed ignorance.

By the time lunch came, I was at the end of my rope trying to avoid Honey, so I bolted out of the room, making my way to the rose maze; I was almost there when two pairs of arms grabbed me, and began pulling me in an opposite direction. "I swear you two, let me go now, or I'll kick your butts," I growled, but they ignored me, not that that was surprising.

I tried planting my feet and leaning in the opposite direction to stop them, but Hikaru just leaned towards me and whispered in my ear, "We're willing to pick you up if we need to, but we thought you wouldn't like the additional attention; do you want us to cause even more of a scene?" That stopped my struggles immediately, some types of attention were good, but I didn't even want to think about what everyone would say about two host members carrying my struggling body towards the host club. No doubt, people would start thinking that weird, cultish things were going on there...

When we finally got the room, I was shoved through the doors gently, but being the clutz I am, I tripped over my own feet and landed face first at the feet of none other than the host club's Lolita type, Mitsukuni Haninozuka. "You've been avoiding us, Jessi-chan, something is wrong, now tell us!" He declared, and I could tell from his voice that he had no intention of backing down until he got what he wanted. I sighed deeply and pushed up my glasses as I moved into a kneeling position, I had two options right now, lie to their face and keep pushing them away, or let them in, if only enough to get them off my back.

"I'm sorry you guys, I've just been dealing with some depression lately, nothing to worry about; it'll pass soon enough, it always does." I flashed them my best 'I'm fine' smile, and to sell the look, I closed my eyes and tilted my head while doing it; yes, I was going for the bright anime smile, it was one weapon I tried to keep in reserve for moments like this.

"My darling daughter struggles with depression?!" Tamaki pushed past Honey and the twin with a distraught look on his face that made me sigh slightly in response; I didn't know he was here, but he never failed to make things sound so dramatic, and since when did I become his daughter?

"Tamaki, chill," I said, deadpanning, "I've dealt with it just fine for quite a while now, I'll continue dealing with it; it really is nothing to worry about." My knees were getting sore, so I stood and groaned a little as blood began rushing back to my feet, which had started going numb.

"I disagree, my dear!" He proclaimed and began to twirl and I swear I saw sparkles coming off him, "It is our duty as hosts to make every girl happy, and we cannot quit until we have done that for you, men, it is time for plan: Help Jessica Overcome her Depression!" Honey and the twins cheered, but before he could go any further, I stepped forward, intent on stopping this.

"No," My voice was loud and firm, causing the room to fall into silence, "I'm sorry your guys, but my depression is my problem, not yours; I refuse to become some science project for you to experiment with, am I understood?" Perhaps that was a bit harsh, but I had enough people in my life who thought my depression was something that could be cured just because they wanted it to be. When would people realize that having depression and anxiety didn't make you some freak that needed drugs just to be normal?

I couldn't help but notice that Kyoya was in the corner, looking at me as though he knew exactly what I wasn't telling everyone; for all I knew, that darn shadow king may actually know my secret. I shot him a quick glare, threatening him with death if he said anything with my eyes; he just smirked and looked down at his black notebook, writing something in it before sending a pointed look at my hands.

A quick glance revealed that I was clenching them so tightly that my knuckles were beginning to turn white. Well crap, that's not suspicious at all... I took a deep breath and forced myself to loosen up before grinning again and looking at everyone's shocked faces, "Sorry bout that, what I meant was that depression is a very personal thing, the only way you guys could really help me would be to continue being my friends; simple things like that mean the world to me."

Honey walked over to me with a small smile on his face, "We just wanted you to know that you can come to us, okay Jess-chan? We're here for you, so don't block us out. Okay?" The wisdom that shone on his face in that moment staggered me, it was hard for me to believe that this boy could switch between his happy-go-lucky face and this ultra-mature look he had right now in just a few seconds; this didn't even seem like the same boy.

I dipped down to his level, and scooped him into a hug, "I know, and that's what means the most to me." I said quietly, and held him just a bit tighter before letting go.

"Then will you go to the beach with us this weekend?" Kaoru asked, and I sighed, trying to keep down a laugh, it didn't matter how bad of a mood I was in, these boys never failed to cheer me up.

"Fine," I mock-grumbled, "You win, but we have to watch Snow White with the Red Hair today after school, got it?" They jumped up and wrapped their arms around me, grinning like two-year-olds before I was approached by a disgruntled Honey.

"Jessi-chan, I thought you said you were going to a dinner party with your parents? Did you lie to me?" I looked down at him and immediately regretted my decision, Honey was holding his stuffed bunny in front of him and staring at me with watering eyes. Oh dear heavens, it should be illegal for an 18 year old boy to be able to make a face like that...

Once again, I found myself kneeling in front of Honey and taking him into my arms, "I'm sorry, it was a partial lie, I didn't want to be around people today at that point and I wasn't sure of what else to say." I let him go and leaned back, looking at him carefully to see if he was actually sad, or just playing me, "If I come to the club after school today, can I sit with you?" His face lit up and he hugged me back, nodding wildly, they were crazy, but they were a good family.