Chapter 50: A Light in the Darkness!

"WHY THAT LITTLE- "

SNAP!

Haruhi winced at the sound of splintering wood. It sounded far too similar to when her heart had shattered a few minutes ago.

"HE DESERVES A GOOD - "

BAM!

The brunette looked away from the doors at the top of the staircase, where Jin had dragged one of their many fancy chairs through and, apparently, started breaking it apart. Sitting on the second-from-the-bottom step was Kyoya, his head in his hands. He didn't really seem to care that Jin was destroying some of the furniture they could've used the next day.

"I HOPE SHE-"

CRASH!

Haruhi wasn't sure how her sister was doing it. She had been just as miserable and wrecked as the rest of the club when Eclair took Tamaki away, but the moment their footsteps had faded into the distance…

"BORDEL!"

BANG!

Or, maybe she could understand it. At least a little. It was an odd time to do so, but Haruhi recalled a moment from the book 'Mark of Athena', when Annabeth was facing her greatest fear face-to-face. Her body had just said, Okay, I can't be any more scared than I already am and she started working. Maybe Jin's head said, We're done being sad. Let's break some shit.

"Is Jin-chan… going to be okay?"

"DU SCHWEIN!"

Most of the boys jumped as the doors swayed with the force of the next hit. Only Kyoya remained inanimate. Haruhi couldn't find an answer to Honey-senpai's question, but she had a feeling Jin was running out of chair.

"DIN KUKSUGAR HORA!"

"Okay, maybe someone should go stop her before she starts tearing apart the school," Hikaru suggested, though his voice was lack-luster. Everyone turned to Haruhi expectantly, but she had another plan in mind.

"DRA ÅT HELVETE DU DUMJÄVEL!"

"You're right." She walked up to the moping boy on the stairs and lightly patted his shoulder, "Good luck."

"Your sister."

"Your girlfriend."

The ravenet finally looked up, and Haruhi actually saw his emotions. It was a surprise; her Senpai usually kept himself so locked up... unless he was with Jin. Now, there was so much worry and heartbreak in his eyes that it almost bowled the girl over. Of course he would be taking the news just as bad as she was. The two closest people in his life were leaving him... God, she was a horrible person.

Kyoya's back suddenly straightened, and he turned around to face the doors. It didn't take long before the others realized why.

"She… stopped?"

Haruhi, who still had a hand on Kyoya's shoulder, could actually feel the moment his concern for Jin overtook his own personal grievances. Quickly standing up, he climbed the stairs and slipped through the doors.

Kyoya wasn't sure what he was expecting. Perhaps a rather large mess, with scrapes on the walls and chunks of chair scattered up and down the hallway. The screams and loud noises certainly seemed to suggest so.

Instead, he received a short flashback to Halloween. His class had decided on a bonfire that day, per Jin's suggestion incidentally, and she was currently standing beside a large pile of broken wood that didn't even remotely resemble a chair. But it certainly looked like bonfire fuel.

He used to get a small smile on his face whenever he recalled that night. Making s'mores for Jin since he didn't want to eat one himself. Sitting beside her as their classmates made up horror stories on the fly, pretending to comfort her fake fear to encourage the speaker. Watching Jin's outline against the blaze as she threw her head back and laughed, right before she turned and beamed at him with that heart melting smile.

Now, it only served to send a sharp stabbing feeling through his chest.

Neither of them speak for a moment, just staring at the pile of wood glow orange in the light from the windows down the hall. Above them, the motion sensing lights powered up, sending one half of the hallway into grey darkness, while leaving the two of them bathed in white light.

"Why?"

The question he gave was actually many different ones rolled into one, because he just couldn't decide which was most important.

Why are you leaving Ouran Academy?

Why did you act so surprised when Tamaki said he was leaving, too?

Why are you leaving your sister?

Why did you make a deal with Eclair, and what for?

Why are you leaving me?

Of course, Jin seemed to understand, because she suddenly dropped her head into her hands, like she just realized she had a brutal migraine, "I don't have a choice! Do you really think I'd want to actually leave? "

Leave Ouran?

Leave Haruhi?

Leave you?

I don't know anymore, but you're doing it anyways.

The silence retakes its hold, and Kyoya lets it. His own sadness was fading now, turning into bitterness and a feeling of betrayal. Half a year ago, he would've already tried to turn the conversation on her by now and start demanding answers, whether she was ready to give them or not.

But now, he knew all too well the consequences of jumping to conclusions. If he gave her enough time to sort out the words in her head, he'd get an answer. Despite all of his doubts, Kyoya knew Jin.

"You… you have to stop her, Kyoya. I think you're the only one who can-"

Her voice broke on the last word, her head coming up to stare at the ceiling. Throw in the shaky breath and Kyoya instantly knew she was fighting back tears. He wanted to go over and hug her, but forced himself to stand still. What is she... talking about?

Jin's voice was thick as she explained, "Her family… Grand Tonnerre. You said they were buying businesses in Japan? They…" she licked her lips before looking over at the boy, whose eyes had widened with understanding, "They're buying your family's company next."

Kyoya's mouth actually fell open as all of the pieces suddenly clicked into place. Jin kept going, like she was trying to push the words out of her mouth as fast as possible, "Eclair told me about it. I- she was talking to your father before she called for me. She's already got him on a leash, which means all the power he holds is now at her beck and call. My deal with her… she said that if I tried to stay at Ouran in secret… or tried to fight back against anything she said… she'd finish the job and leave your family with nothing. I can't do anything to stop it, Kyo-kun, but you can. I know it."

It took Kyoya a long time before he remember how to speak in complete sentences.

"You would leave Ouran… your plans for your future gone and all of us left behind… just because my family is in danger of going bankrupt?"

"Please don't say that like I'm stupid!" Jin was definitely crying now, covering her mouth up with a hand, so her next words came out muffled and anguished, "She just wants Tamaki! But she knows his heart belongs to Haru, s-so she's trying to hurt her in any way she can! T-taking away T-Tamaki, breaking up the host club, s-sending me to public school… trying to break us up-" She dropped to her knees, her sobs too strong to keep standing.

" I hate her! I hate her! Why can't she leave us alone! I hate her! "

She only stopped when Kyoya's arms wrapped around her. She dropped her hands from her face and clutched at his jacket instead, wailing into the white fabric, body shaking from the raw emotion spilling out of her.

Kyoya didn't shush her, or say anything at all. He just held her. His right thumb slowly rubbed back and forth between her shoulder blades, letting her get everything out of her system. Inside his head, he made some time to chastise himself for ever thinking this had been Jin's choice. By the time she had quieted down some, he knew just what to say.

Holding her tighter against his chest, Kyoya nudged his nose into the hair just above her ear, letting the familiar scent of strawberry shampoo wash over his nerves, " Listen, Jin. I will never let someone like that ever come between us. We are not breaking up. I've already lost enough time denying that you harbored feelings for me in return to lose you now. "

The hands on his back tightened their grip, but she didn't say anything. So he continued.

" Even if you are forced to return to public school, I swear here and now that I won't let that change us. I will visit you each and every day, continue to take you out on dates, and keep you as happy as I possibly can. "

The two pulled back just a little, enough to see each other's faces. Jin hiccuped, but her eyes were no longer leaking tears. Her boyfriend managed a small smile at how flustered and hopeful she looked. No doubt if she could see herself she'd think that she looked like a mess, but Kyoya just thought she looked perfect.

He brushed his thumbs across her cheeks to swipe away her tear tracks, " You know, I could probably just pick you up everyday after school. It's not like I'll have an extracurricular activity to occupy my time once the club disbands. "

That managed to pull a weak chuckle from the girl in front of him. She gave him a small smile, which looked like sunlight breaking through rain clouds.

Hesitantly, she pressed a quick -and somewhat tear soaked- kiss to his lips, before taking in a deep breath and sighing, "Okay… okay. I'm better now. So," her eyes sharped to their usual clarity, "Now that we have a 'Worst-case scenario' plan, how do we make sure that doesn't happen?"

Chuckling, knowing he had his girlfriend back, Kyoya lead them back onto their feet, "I'm not sure just yet; the problem has only just presented itself. First order of business should be to take the Tonnerre's hold off of my family. If she presents no threat to anyone, we can proceed further. After all, my father is a powerful man. If he truly believes his work and livelihood is threatened, he could make things very difficult very fast."

Jin tsks, rolling her eyes, " Powerful- if he had half of your brains he'd be a much bigger threat than you think he already is. He's letting himself be blackmailed by a high school student, all because the company under his instruction is in jeopardy."

"Jin…"

"I'm sorry," her head hangs for a moment, but she quickly goes back to gazing at her boyfriend imploringly, "I know he's your dad, Glasses, and I know you respect and care the hell out of him but damn it, Kyoya… I apologize in advance, but I can hardly stand the man and I haven't even known him for more than 24 hours. Your father hasn't really earned any of my pity, yet."

Kyoya sighed, resting his chin on top of Jin's head and holding her close once more, "Don't apologize. My father is… hard to understand at times. I don't always approve of his methods or business choices, but he is still my father, and as you said I do care about him, whether he knows it or not. I don't want my father to be known as the man who lost the Ootori Group due to his own hubris. And he has done great things for our family's company in the past. That should be his legacy... not this."

" You could do better. "

When the silences stretched on for longer than she liked, Jin pulled back and kissed him briefly again, "Kyo-kun, I'm dead serious. I'd be willing to bet actual money that if you had been in charge this whole situation with Grand Tonnerre and the Ootori Group never would've happened. Actually, you could probably just pull your family's company right out from underneath your father and Eclair before anyone even-"

She cut herself off, eyes dropping to Kyoya's red tie. Her eyebrows furrowed. Kyoya's weight shifted to his heels, his glasses glinting harshly in the ever fading sunlight as his chin tipped downwards by a small fraction.

"Do you really think so?"

Jin looked back up, meeting Kyoya's nervous, yet excited and expectant look. She mirrored the expression, letting a true smile take residence on her face for the first time in the past couple of hours.

"I think you've got some work to do."

She briefly caught Kyoya's own mouth curling up into a smile before his face was too close to hers to actually see anything.