Freaking out - rev limiter?

[gh00al]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place - wasn't sure where to post it.
I have a completely stock 98 Civic SI Canadian, which means the D16Y8 SOHC motor (I tihnk the same as the 98 Civic EX in the US). Although it was on the list for the next month, haven't put in a Hondata yet - still has the factory ECU settings.
I was on the highway and accidentally hit cruise control while coasting in neutral. For about a second until I reacted the RPM's buried themselves - past 8000 on the dashboard tach. I did not see any evidence of a factory rev limiter kicking in - unless it kicked in at or past the end of the tach.
Questions:
1. Isn't the factory rev limiter supposed to kick in pretty low? Where was it?!
2. You set the Hondata default rev limiter to 8500, so I presume that having the engine up to 8500 or maybe even over for a second or two is not catastrophic? This engine is just the factory stock.
3. I read that the dashboard tach reads high by 5-10% Presumably this is only in the upper RPM range?
4. The engine seems to run okay - could there be any subtle damage I'm not seeing?
Sorry - I'm freaking!