Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen ❯ Last Hope, Lost Hope ( Chapter 8 )

“Abandon every hope, ye who enter here” - Dante Alighieri.

~~Stolen~~

It was strange. Haruhi had never felt like such a complete contradiction. The sky outside of the car was a flawless blue and the sun was completely unblocked by any of the large, white clouds floating so peacefully in the crisp air. The countryside flew by; boasting brilliant green hills and many clear ribbons of the local river the town was named after. Animals grazed peacefully, completely undisturbed by anything that may have been going on around them. Haruhi felt a storm inside her. She felt sky crying, raining down its sorrow onto what would have been a muddy mass of churned grass and terrified animals. She felt the sun hiding, too dejected/despondent to break through. She felt horrid and wholly unlike the perfect ease of the country she was in. It didn't help that she'd been stuck in this car for so long. Kyouya had mentioned, offhandedly, that there were very few private landing strips in New Zealand. Something about protecting the countryside, it's wildlife, and the farmers that used this land to live off of.

~~Stolen~~

Tamaki's plane landed right on schedule. He wouldn't have cared either way but he figured it would be nice to be able to get settled into the house he was renting before leaving tonight, maybe take a nap.

“Your car is waiting, sir.” Tamaki's walk was undaunted and slow. He wasn't really nervous about any of the meetings he would be going to this month. Without being prideful, Tamaki still knew he had the skill to win people over. It wasn't an intention and it definitely wasn't a trick. Tamaki just liked being cheerful and pleasing others. And, it just so happens that others liked being pleased and smiled at. Also, he suspected, his years in the host club had honed some of his people skills.

“Afternoon, sir. We will be going straight to the house. Will that be alright, or does the young master have somewhere else he wishes to visit before he retires?” Tamaki looked up from his seat in the towncar.

“No. To the house will be fine, thank-you.”

“Very well, sir.” The car immediately started to move. Not one to miss beautiful scenery, even if he did have paperwork to complete, Tamaki looked out the window. But, before he could even notice much of the scenery, something caught Tamaki's eye. There was another private jet on the runway. He realized, of course, that he was not the only one in the world with a private jet but there was something that unsettled Tamaki about this jet. It was…familiar somehow. Snatches of a memory flashed behind Tamaki's eyelids as he tried to remember where he'd seen it before. Who did he already know that had a private jet and would be in New Zealand, of all places?

~~Stolen~~

She had stopped crying a short while ago. Her head throbbed and her eye were so swollen she could barely see. But, that was not why she had stopped. Kyouya had tolerated her crying for only a short while before ordering, none too gently, that she stop. As defiant as she normally would have been, she was too frightened to do anything but comply.

“Get out.” Kyouya had already left the car and was walking up the drive to a house Haruhi assumed would be her new residence. Silently, Haruhi followed Kyouya up the flagstone path. As she glanced at the house, Haruhi noticed it was a western style, medium sized house. The one story house was wide and deep. It looked like there may be around 3 bedrooms inside. The outside of the house was neatly landscaped and had spacious side and back yards. When Haruhi reached the front door, she stopped immediately. She felt her heart rate spike. What was she doing? She was following her kidnapper, so completely submissive, into an unknown house. What was she doing!? There were houses maybe a few miles up the hill that she could see. Maybe if she ran fast enough- Kyouya must have felt her stop behind him.

“Don't try to escape. It would be a fruitless effort and I would be forced to employ even stronger measures to keep you here than I already plan on.” A violent shiver tore down Haruhi's spine. He knew. He always knew everything. And she knew. She knew that he was right. He would catch her.

“Inside. Now.” Haruhi's hand lingered on the door jamb a moment longer before she stepped over the threshold.

~~Stolen~~

Tamaki had tried to forget about that jet but he had been unable to. It was so strange. He normally would not have paid such a situation much more than a few seconds of concentration. But he just could not, no matter how he tried, get this sick feeling out of his stomach that he needed to know who that jet belonged to. Even when Tamaki had reached the rental house, he had been unable to let this little mystery go. Something was off. Something was wrong.

~~Stolen~~

The morning dawned dark and angry. Large, ominous black clouds surged in the sky. The weather had taken a quick turn for the worst last night. Hunny, Mori, and the twins had barely reached their homes when the sky started to throw gales of ice down onto the already frozen earth. The wind had started earlier, nearly pushing the cars off the road with the force of its thrust. The storm raged all through the night, only letting up in the slightest in the early hours of the morning. The wind still blew, but the barrage of ice and snowed had slowed for the most part. An ugly Christmas Eve to say the least.

“Kaoru, wake up” Hikaru nudged his twin in the side. Kaoru only turned over with an angry murmur. “Kaoru-” Beepbeepbeepbeep. Beepbeepbeepbeep. Kaoru grunted and reached for his phone causing Hikaru to roll his eyes at his twin's willingness to wake for anything other than him.

“Ngh?” Kaoru grunted into the phone. Kaoru's eyebrows knit together as he listened to whoever was speaking on the other line and quickly frowned when it seemed the other line had finished and hung up. Maybe ten seconds later, Hikaru's phone buzzed once, signifying that he had a new voicemail. Hikaru had turned his phone on vibrate last night when Tamaki's grandmother had called several times to see if he knew the whereabouts of her `disobedient' grandson. Hikaru bent to retrieve it. Kaoru was about to climb out of his side of the bed when he heard a familiar voice and tone on the other end of Hikaru's phone. Leaning close, Kaoru listened to Hikaru's voicemail. When the message was finished, Hikaru looked confused and turned to his brother only to cringe slightly at the look Kaoru was wearing.

“That was the exact same thing she said to me when she called a moment ago…only, mine wasn't a voicemail.” Kaoru's brows drew even closer together. Hikaru didn't like the tone of his brother's voice; it disturbed him slightly.

“Don't look too much into it, you're just jumpy because of the storm…” Kaoru was not convinced in the slightest. Something was wrong. His spine was tingling in that annoying way, but he would let it go for now. He didn't want to worry his brother, especially the day before Christmas.

~~Stolen~~

Tamaki looked at himself in the mirror. He supposed he looked nice. His hair was neatly brushed and he wore a handsome black tux with a tasteful bow tie. His shoes were polished to a bright shine and coordinated attractively with his square, black cuff links. Tamaki let loose a quiet sigh. As much as he wanted this position, he did not want to be here at this moment. And if he had to, he would have rather Haruhi been with him. He knew, though, that had he brought her with him, he would want to spend all his time with her and would feel poorly the whole time about leaving her to sit alone in the rental house all day. A quick glance at his watch let Tamaki know he needed to leave soon if he wanted to be on time. It was the night that the company would be announcing its plans to branch out into a few other countries and the pending relocation of its headquarters to Japan. Tamaki was going to be there to not only give a small speech on the great business opportunities waiting in Japan but also to make sure he kept his foot in the door for his desired position; CEO of the Japanese branch.

~~Stolen~~

Hunni picked a towel off a bamboo bench placed at the side of the large dojo. He'd had quite the exhilarating practice today. He had been disappointed when his cousin, Mori, had been unable to join him because of road closures, but had his spirits quickly lifted when his brother, Chika, had volunteered to replace Mori. Picking the few personal belongings he had brought with him up so he could leave, Hunni heard something clatter on the floor. Bending to retrieve the phone, Hunni felt it buzz in his hands. He'd missed a call. Curious, Hunni dialed his voicemail to listen to who had called him.

When the message was finished, Hunni closed his phone slowly, his eyebrows knit closely together. `How strange…'

~~Stolen~~

“Ladies, gentlemen. The relocation of this company's headquarters to Japan would not only-” As far as Tamaki could tell, the night was going very well. He'd already had the chance to impress the current CEO of the Rangitikei branch, and acting owner of the company, and he'd been practicing this speech so often, so his accent would not make him hard to understand, that he could do it straight from memory. He had no worries at all about making a good impression. But still, he felt his night ruined by excessive feelings of unwarranted worry. He did not understand what had him so spooked. He knew, though, that he needed to brush it off if he wanted to remain looking one-hundred percent alert and interested. Although, it was proving to be easier said than done.

~~Stolen~~

Hunni ran to the door. Mori had finally been able to make it through the road blocks to his house. When Hunni answered the door, Mori's eyes were unfocused and he appeared to be listening to a message on his phone. A second later, Mori looked down at Hunni and slid his phone shut.

“From Haruhi?” Hunni asked suspiciously.

“Hn.”

~~Stolen~~

A sharp pain in Haruhi's ankle halted her bursting sobs. Kyouya stood over her, a long, round needle in his hand.

“A precaution, my dear. Should you try and escape, I'll know as soon as you step foot out of the yard.” And with that, he left her to continue her crying. Haruhi couldn't stop replaying the scene from this morning that had brought her so low.

After Haurhi had closed the door, Kyouya grabbed Haruhi's wrist, none too gently, and sat her down at a side table with a small tape recorder placed on its side.

“Read this.” Kyouya shoved a piece of paper into Haruhi's hand and pushed the tape recorder next to her mouth. Haruhi glanced at the words on the page. She knew things would only get worse if she didn't listen to him but she couldn't make her mouth move.

“Read!” Kyouya's teeth were clenched together, making the command come out slightly muffled. He'd grabbed low on her cheeks with his thumb and ring finger so tightly that Haruhi could taste the blood on her cheek where her tooth had bit into it. He pushed her face closer to the paper. Hesitating only a second longer, Haruhi managed to squeak out:

“This is Haruhi. I'm calling to let…to let you know that I will be out of the country for a few months while I t-take care of some business. You won't be able to get into contact with me.” Kyouya clicked the tape recorder off and Haruhi looked up, confused. Kyouya's sick smile was back on his face.

“Can't have our dear friends wondering where you went off to, now can we?” It took Haruhi a moment to realize what Kyouya was saying. When understanding finally hit her, it hit hard. Kyouya would get that message to all her friends somehow. No one would see her as `missing'. Not Hunni, Mori, the twins, or…or Tamaki. Haruhi's only hope had been completely undone by the simple act of reading a piece of paper. It was gone, all gone. She had no hope left, no chance of being saved left. Haruhi hit the floor hard and sobbed. Kyouya, having left the room immediately after having his order fulfilled, did not even hear her despair.

 

A/N: Not much to say here. I had writer's block and I've been busy. I got a new car (a Mazda Miata) (not that that is significant, I just like saying it ) P.S. I WANT DISNEY'S TARZAN ON DVD!!!!!!!!!!!! Review PLEASE!