The Duchess {OHSHC}

Chapter 9

I awoke with the sounds of shouting and a salty ocean breeze blowing in my face.

Fluttering my eyes open, I looked down only to find myself standing barefoot in my nightgown on the ledge of my third story balcony.

"Alicia!"

Kyoya's alarmed sounding voice caught my attention and I tore my gaze from the drop before me to look for him.

Behind me, my bedroom was occupied by Honey Kyoya and Mori all looking terrified at my predicament. Law was leaning against the wall by the door with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his lips, and my other associates were looking in from the hall with interest.

"Alicia, come down from there...!" Kyoya breathed, slowly inching closer to the balcony's entrance.

My brow furrowed in confusion and I blinked rappidly to try and chase away the sleep that still tugged at the corners of my mind.

It was only then that I registered where I was.

My usually cold blue eyes widened in shock and I quickly grabbed the edge of the building as I felt my legs being to buckle beneath me.

"ALICIA!" It was both Honey and Kyoya this time.

My grip on the building began to slip, but before I could fall forward, a pair of strong arms wrapped around my middle and pulled me back into my room.

Mori set me down on the edge of my bed and I watched Gajeel sigh from the doorway and hand what looked like a roll of hundreds to a cheekily grinning Izaya.

"WAHH! ALI-CHAN!" Honey cried, catapulting his tiny body into mine and forcing us back onto the plush mattress. "THAT WAS SO SCARY! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"

Slowly, I managed to push myself upright and hand the little blonde boy off to his cousin before turning to glare at Law.

"Darling..." I grounded out in english through clenched teeth. "Tell me why it is exactly that I was sleeping alone."

The northerner just shrugged, his smirk growing. "Every time we meet up you always have me sleep with you. We never have sex, so I was curious as to why you couldn't sleep alone."

He let out a chuckle and ran a hand through his feathery black hair.

"And now I understand why." He looked at the group in the doorway, then to the three host club members, then back to me. "You're suicidal in your sleep."

My eyes narrowed while Kyoya's widened.

Izaya snorted in amusement and Lau had Ran Mao write the little tidbit of information down for him while Gajeel counted out what looked like another couple hundred dollars for Izaya.

I pouted slightly at them all as Kyoya quietly translated what had happened to Honey and Mori.

"You all would have just let me kill myself, wouldn't you have?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Gajeel muttered a short "Yup" before walking away; Lau shrugged- "Less competition for me,"-; Izaya looked thoughtful for a moment before replying: "I would have wanted to get you myself,"; and Law just continued to smirk as he followed the rest out.

That left the three Japanese boys and myself.

I sighed and flopped back onto the bed.

"So, mommy dearest, I'm guessing you would like an explanation." I muttered, looking up at the canopy that covered the bed's top.

When I felt the mattress dipping at the edges and Honey curl up to my side, I exhaled deeply and began.

"It was my mother's fault, really. She had this 'illness' first, then passed it on to me when I was born. My brothers were lucky not to have inherented it, so I slept with either them, mother, or Ritsu for my entire life. Well anyway, many years ago when I was only ten, this was the disease that killed my mother so suddenly."