Just Look into It

39. Safety

Ryo sat at her dining room table, taking notes in one of her notebooks. She wanted to focus on changing her system but Kyouya had revealed that her laptop had been destroyed and kicked under a bureau in the hall nearby. She could plug in an old laptop and work from it, but as her eyes trailed back to Yuu's form again, she figured it was somewhat pointless.

He was drawing away at some image he had on his own phone, completely unaware of what had happened to her just yesterday.

She had left her hair loose again today, hardly able to brush through it with how badly her scalp seemed to ache. A long-sleeved shirt easily covered the light bruising on her wrists from pulling against her ties. Her glasses were on the table next to her notebook. The day itself seemed long and tiring, so she was wearing an oversized sweater and black leggings, something less formal than she normally wore.

Ryo decided to stop working for a moment and wandered into the kitchen, going ahead to start preparing dinner. 

She jumped at the sound of the door, placing the ingredients she had been taking out down to see who it was. As she stepped out, she could see Yuu letting the hosts inside. To her confusion, she noticed that most of them carried a bag of some sort that Yuu carefully examined before they were allowed inside. It was rather cute to see him acting like a little guard of some sort. 

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked, moving to pick up her notes. 

"We brought food!" the twins cheered, raising their bags. 

"Lucky timing, I was just about to start cooking," she sighed. Seeing them start to crowd around the coffee table in the living room, Yuu rushing to pick up his art supplies, she moved back into the kitchen and started to put things away. 

"How are you feeling?" Kyouya asked, appearing behind her. 

"Ah, I'm fine. It would have been nice if I had been warned about your arrival," she retorted, attempting to give him a small glare. "Since you brought dinner, however, you're forgiven."

"Is that all it takes to win your forgiveness?" he asked, leaning on the counter. 

"It takes a lot more on most occasions but I don't have the energy to try and drag you all from my house." 

She froze as he reached out and grabbed a strand of her hair. "You've been keeping it down recently."

"It hurts to put up," she answered honestly, turning to face him. His brow furrowed in concern. "Everyone's been saying I should keep it down anyways."

"That is still a cause for concern," he stated, standing up. "Shall we?"

She nodded, following him back out to where everyone was talking with Yuu, the twins, in particular, seeming to be very invested in the drawings he was showing him. She smiled, glad to see how things had changed from the first time her brother had met the hosts. 

Tamaki quickly pulled her down on the couch, Kyouya finding a spot on her other side. Practically sandwiched between the other second years, she found herself relaxing much more than she thought possible. They all talked with seemingly no end, dragging even Haruhi into their conversations. She could jump in with her two cents at any moment and oftentimes completely distracted the hosts from the actual topic to mock one of the others. If she didn't want to speak, they didn't try to drag her into the conversation as they did with Haruhi.

Ryo closed her eyes and leaned back, pulling her legs up to her chest. Maybe it was cliche, but she knew that she felt safe. A small yawn pushed past her lips.

"Man, Hisakawa really can fall asleep just like that," Hikaru suddenly said. 

"It's almost impressive," Kaoru added. 

"Ryo works hard almost every day." Ryo was surprised to hear Yuu speak up. "She doesn't sleep very often and if she wasn't cooking dinner or lunch for both of us, I think she wouldn't eat."

There was silence. 

Ryo wasn't sure if she should let them know that she was still awake. 

"Ryo-chan is really impressive," Honey said. "I wish she would take better care of herself since she cares so much about everyone else."

"She's been through a lot and is still working through most of it. I don't even know if I have the full story," Haruhi sighed. "I look up to her a lot."

Ryo yawned again, shifting slightly. She could feel herself starting to drift off. She suddenly felt a hand on her legs, and she tensed before her eyes flew open. Tamaki smiled at her and pulled her legs into his lap. 

"That can't be very comfortable," he chirped. 

Kyouya moved on her other side, his arm moving around her shoulders to allow her to lean further against him. "Go ahead and relax. We're not going anywhere."

The brunette wasn't sure how to react, finding that she was more out of it than she expected. After a moment, she nodded and relaxed once again. The two really were her closest friends even though she didn't spend much time with them. She was thankful.

The hosts went back to talking about other things, their words starting to blur in her ears. 

"She's really cute with her hair down, right Kyouya?" the twins suddenly asked. 

Ryo felt more comfortable than she had in a while. Tamaki was holding her legs, lightly drumming what she assumed to be a piano melody against her.  Kyouya was playing with her hair, a rather bold gesture since he had never done so in front of anyone else. A strong sense of warmth filled her chest. 

"Yes, Miss Ryouka is a rather attractive young woman," he responded, his chest vibrating slightly with his words. 

"Whoa, that was rather bold of you Kyouya," Haruhi blurted. 

"It is a mere statement of fact," he responded. "If she attended classes like most students, she would attract more positive attention among the male students than what she already does."

"Ryo is popular?" Yuu eagerly asked. 

Kyouya chuckled. "In a way, yes. To most students, she has an air of mystery about her. That alone stops many of our classmates from approaching her, but you hear her name in the halls quite often."

At last, Ryo fell asleep completely. 

Kyouya glanced down at the girl draped across the couch, holding back a smile as he noticed she had properly drifted off. 

"What's your opinion of Hisakawa though?" the twins pressed. 

He was glad for the perfect timing. 

"She is a hard worker and a good business partner. Her system is something to be in awe of," he found himself saying. 

The twins glared. "That's not what we meant!"

"I would hope that none of you do anything else to hurt Ryo," Haruhi cooly spoke up. "I don't care who you are, I won't forgive you."

There was a moment of silence before the twins defused the air, clinging to the other girl. 

"Aw, look at our little Haruhi being all protective!"

"Don't worry! We won't do anything like that again!"

Kyouya remained silent, looking down at the brunette leaning against him, glad that he didn't have to answer the question the twins were trying to ask. He wasn't sure if he could answer. 

The alerts of her abduction had been unexpected and frankly terrifying. He put his entire focus on tracking her down again, a task made easier thanks to her system, unable to spend a thought on the racing thoughts of how and why she had been taken or if she would be alright.

The bruises on her wrists made him sick.

Kyouya looked up and caught Haruhi's eye. The two nodded slightly to each other, an understanding passing between them. 

He would never say such to the other hosts, but Ryo's safety was one of his highest priorities.