Risa's POV

It's amazing how your sense of time disappears when you can't see the sun. I was only able tell that time passed, by when my Father came down, either with food and water or to beat me; usually it was the latter. For all I knew, I could have been here for weeks or even months.

The first few days weren't as bad. I was locked in my Father's room, but on the third day, he caught me trying to get help by sneaking out the window. After that, he dragged me to the basement and trapped me in a storage room. At this point, I barely noticed the pain, it was dull and boring and my only excitement came from hearing my Father rant about failing to build back up our fortune.

My life had been lowered to such an extent that I was quickly losing the will to live, I know that it wasn't good, but my hopes of being rescued were fading. I thought about the Host club constantly, they were my light; no matter how low I sank, I thought of Mitzukuni asking me to call him and Takashi by their first names, I thought of Haruhi and Kyoya holding me as I sobbed. Kyoya offering a comfort through his silent way, and Haruhi whispering reassurance. I thought of the smile that the twins saved just for me, and the look that Tamaki had on his face whenever he heard me play the piano.

They were my hope, and I would do my best to hold on until they found me, I just hope that they would make it in time.

Third Person POV

The Hosts climbed out of the limo at Risa's house and walked solemnly to the door; when they knocked, it was obvious that they were all holding their breath hopefully, but no one came.

"What do we do now?" Hikaru looked around in worry, and Kaoru continued, "We came here to see her, so should we really give up this easily?"

"Something isn't right here" Kyoya murmured, "I don't know what, but this feels wrong." Everyone nodded then looked at him in shock as he turned around and started walking back to the car.

"Senpai, what are you doing? We came here to see Risa, and you're giving up this easily?" Haruhi looked at Kyoya in shock and grabbed his sleeve before he could reach the limo.

"Well then Haruhi, tell me what we should do. We can't break in, and no one is answering, so our only option is to regroup and come up with a different strategy." He looked utterly defeated, and that alone seemed to prompt the Hosts into sighing and following him with slumped shoulders; well, all of them but two.

There was a sudden loud crack and the Hosts whipped around to see Honey and Mori walking in through the now broken door. "I'm sorry Kyo-chan, but we came to see Ri-chan, and we aren't leaving without so clue of where she went." Honey looked very serious and determined, "besides, I'm getting a bad feeling, and I've been taught to not ignore those. It usually means that something bad is happening.

"Mori scooped up his cousin and turned back around to the Hosts, piercing them with his equally determined gaze, "Risa is in trouble, we need to find her now." With that, the two disappeared into the house and the rest of the Hosts followed behind them looking rather shell shocked.

***

Their first indication that something was seriously wrong was when they reached what appeared to be the master bedroom. Haruhi gasped, "Are those nail marks on the headboard?" And sure enough, there were deep gouges in the wood, surrounded by a darker substance.

Kyoya surveyed the room grimly, "Yes Haruhi, those are nail marks, which are surrounded by what appears to be blood. This isn't good, there are multiple indicators that someone was seriously injured in here."

Tamaki stood outside the door, not able to bring himself to enter the room, "This is scary, what has Risa been facing here? Why did she not come to us for help?" The mood soured even more are the group considered this.

"Hey, Kyoya, over here." Hikaru looked into a drawer he had opened in horror, "Yeah, you need to see this." Kaoru stood by his twin as usual.

"Oh my God." Haruhi gasped as she looked over their shoulders and saw the contents of the drawer.

"Haruhi, get out of this room, a lady should never have to see horrible things like this!" Tamaki was nearly hysterical as he ran in and dragged Haruhi out with him.

"For once I agree with Tamaki, Haruhi. This is far more serious than we considered before." Kyoya's glared into the drawer. Inside was several instruments that looked rather wicked, and all of them looked well used. "We need to find Risa, it she might be critically injured." With that he walked out of the room to continue searching.

"Whoever used this had better hope that Ri-chan is okay, or they will regret ever messing with one of us." Honey's serious look was quickly becoming murderous.

As they continued, their fear and anger only grew with every indication of abuse; smashed glass with blood here, cracks in the wall that appeared to have been put there by large objects there, it looked like a murder scene.

When they got to the basement, there were many doors, but only one of them was closed and when they tried it, it was locked. Honey didn't even hesitate in kicking it open, and when he did, the Hosts' eyes widened in shock and the cried out, "RISA!"

Before them was someone who barely looked like the happy girl they had known. She was skin and bones with bruises on top of her bruises, and cuts and scrapes on every visible inch. She was wrapped in a thin blanket that was slightly torn, but it was obvious that besides that she had no other clothes on. Her hair was matted with blood, and her eyes were vacant.

They rushed over to her, and her eyes flickered with some semblance of life. "Guys, are you really here?" She looked at them with wide eyes and a tear trickled down her cheek.

Risa's POV

The door opened with a bang and I looked up lifelessly, expecting to see my Father. What I saw made me blink slowly, was I dreaming? Were the Hosts really in front of me? It had to be some cruel joke, but they seemed tangible. "RISA!" They yelled and ran towards me, I couldn't have moved away if I had tried, and if this was an illusion, I didn't want it to end.

"Guys, are you really here?" My voice rasped out. I hadn't used it to talk in a while, and you could tell; but then a tear escaped and I looked at them in shock. "You came. I knew you would; I can't believe that you came. I was starting to give up, but you kept me going. I can't believe that I am actually seeing you again."

My vision started going in and out as my breathing kicked up; with as frail as my body was at that moment, all of the excitement was just wearing me out. Mitzukuni walked over to me and leaned down to cup my cheek. "Of course, we're here Ri-chan, you are family to us, we would never leave you behind."

That was the last straw, a sob ripped its way out of my mouth and I gave in to the darkness that was threatening me.

Third Person POV

Mori hurried to pick up the passed-out girl and the Hosts began to walk out of the house. They made it to the limo in absolute silence, when an enraged voice shouted out behind them, "Hey, what are you doing?"

They turned around to see an angry man standing before them, "You broke into my house and think I'm going to let you get away with stealing my daughter? Give her back to me."

"You think we would leave her with you? You must be crazy, leaving her with you would be a death sentence for her." The twins said that in unison, everyone was glaring at him.

"Okay, how about this, leave her with me, or I will get the police to come and take you away for trespassing and attempted kidnapping, how does that sound?"

Kyoya scoffed and took a step towards Hiroto, "You seem to be under a delusion of superiority, let me enlighten you. I am Kyoya Ootori, third son of the Ootori family, who owns hospitals throughout the world as well as staffs an elite private police force. Our family's companies are worth over three times what your technology company was worth at its most successful. We also have members if the Hitachiin, Suoh, Haninozuka, and Morinozuka family's here, all of which are in similar positions to me.

"Just to be clear, if we wanted to kill you and cover up any evidence of your existence, it would be all too easy, especially since we have two world-class martial artists here who have grown especially close to your daughter. We would not do that however, because we are fundamentally different from you. I would recommend allowing us to go, or the charges that will be placed against you will be exponentially worse than they already are."

Hiroto snarled, "How dare you. You are threatening while holding my daughter, I ought to-"

"Tama-chan kick!" Hiroto was cut off by Tamaki, of all people, kicking him across the face. "How dare you try to take Risa back, she is already half dead because of you. No father would do this to anyone they cared about."

With that, the Hosts climbed into the limo while Kyoya got on the phone, calling ahead to the hospital to let them know that they were coming, and then calling his police force to have someone come and pick up Hiroto Soretzu.

Anyone who saw how the Hosts looked at Risa, would realize that the girl had a great many people who cared deeply about her; and some of their interests ran deeper than others.

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

A/N Finally, Risa caught a break and things are looking up for her! I was so excited just to write this chapter, but don't worry, we'll get back to the anime soon.

-klypso01