Author's Note: Let me set the stage for this ficlet a bit. This story takes place after "Operation Haruhi and Hikaru's First Date!" but it reflects back on "The Job of a High School Host!" where Haruhi kisses Kanako.

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Well except the plot, that is mine =)

Hikaru's Gender Lesson

Hikaru was on his way to the Third Music Room, expecting to find it empty. There were no Club activities today, but in the back of his mind he hoped a certain Host would be taking advantage of the quiet this would offer. He opened the door and for once it was refreshing to not be showered in rose petals or sakura blossoms as he did so. His light brown eyes scanned the expansive room and finally came to rest on the petite girl he'd been looking for.

You wouldn't know Haruhi Fujioka was a girl unless you knew she was a girl. Since her arrival at Ouran Academy she had been dressing like a boy, and the boys' uniform she wore now hid what meager curves she had. Her brown hair was cut unusually short and styled like a boy's. As for her mannerisms, her speech, actions, and way of thinking… well they often reflected that of opposite gender. This was true now more than ever since she had been spending so much time with the Host Club.

At present, the female member of the Club who was pretending to be a male was sitting in a patch of sunlight on the floor and leaning against a wall. Haruhi was writing quite consistently on a pad of paper propped up on her knees and didn't notice the red-headed Host enter.

"You know, you could sit on the couch and then your uniform wouldn't get dirty." Hikaru said smoothly.

Haruhi was not easily startled like some people and she looked up from her paper in slight annoyance. Hikaru could tell immediately he'd said the wrong thing from the tic in the girl's forehead. "I like sitting on the floor Hikaru, and I have no problem getting my uniform cleaned."

"Easy, easy, I didn't mean to offend you," the boy said gesturing with his hands in apology.

"That unfortunately comes with the territory," the girl replied, making a jab at his rich upbringing.

Hikaru sighed, wondering if it had been a good idea to come here after all. Testy was a good word to describe Haruhi when her school work was interrupted. Nevertheless, he settled down gracefully next to her and asked her what she had been working on.

Haruhi stretched out her legs and put her pen down before answering. "It's an essay for our history class, have you not started it yet?"

"No, when's it due?" Hikaru asked nonchalantly.

"Next Tuesday."

"Haruhi… It's Wednesday. Why are you working on a one page essay almost a week in advance?" asked the boy, clearly baffled.

The girl looked up at him through her bangs and Hikaru couldn't help a fleeting thought at how cute she was. "I always do things early. Plus I can make a draft this way and edit it."

"I don't see why you bother. I'm sure what you've got on this page is ten times better than what I could write."

"That's only true if you believe it, Hikaru." Haruhi said quietly.

Hikaru shrugged and the cockiness was back on. "Actually the reason I came here wasn't to talk to you about school work, it was something else."

"How did you even know I was going to be here?" the girl asked, perplexed.

Kaoru's voice echoed in Hikaru's head now. "You have to tell other people how you feel or they'll never know. And remember, whenever you care a lot for someone Hikaru, it's important you pay attention to any subtle little hints they drop." Even though Kaoru was his younger brother, Hikaru had to admit that there were many life lessons his twin had learned that he himself had not. "I just remembered the first day you were here you said you were looking for a quite place to study. I knew there were no Club activities today, so this place would be empty and I figured you'd be taking advantage of that," Hikaru replied after some time.

"Yeah, you were obviously right about that. But what did you come to talk to me about?" Haruhi asked, curiosity evident in her large brown eyes.

Hikaru stumbled over his next thoughts, his concentration faltering with Haruhi looking at him so closely. Arai was right when he talked about Haruhi looking people in the eyes when she spoke to them. "Well, I—I mean, Kaoru and I really… We wanted to apologize for what happened that night of the dance."

"What dance?"

"The one where we helped Lady Kanako get back together with her fiancé."

"Oh right…" Haruhi nodded, remembering the night well. It had been wholly embarrassing for her consisting of horrible dancing, pretending to be in love with someone she didn't even know, and wearing a frilly dress and make-up. "But if you both wanted to apologize, why isn't Kaoru here?" Haruhi asked, only fully recognizing that Hikaru was alone.

Hikaru had hoped Haruhi would let that comment slide, but luck was not in his favor as he tried to come up with a good excuse and failed. "Actually to be honest Haruhi, Kaoru doesn't even know I'm here. I came of my own volition to apologize for my part in what happened that night," he explained, speaking more formally than he usually would.

Haruhi looked… puzzled. Why did she look puzzled? Hikaru supposed that was better than her refusing to forgive him, but confusion was not something he had been expecting from the female Host.

"What exactly are you apologizing for, Hikaru?" she finally asked.

He gaped at her. Could she really not know? Now was not the time for her to be acting like a boy! This threw off Hikaru's entire strategy. "Kaoru and I, we were eating bananas when the announcement was made that you would kiss Lady Kanako instead of the Boss. Now, he's clumsy in his own right, but at some point we dropped our banana peels and they like, floated onto the stairs somehow. It was really amazing how convenient it was. Anyways, when Honey-sempai mentioned it might be your first kiss, Tamaki slipped on one of the peels when he was going to stop you from kissing Kanako. That's how he ended up pushing you into her lips."

Haruhi started laughing. She laughed so hard that her eyes started to get a little wet and before she could speak again she had to take some deep, calming breaths. "Oh Hikaru, I appreciate your apology but it's not necessary. Even if I had been upset about it, I'd be over it by now."

"You're not upset that your first kiss was with a girl?" Hikaru didn't understand.

"Haven't you realized by now that gender barriers don't really exist for me? How many of our guests do you think could pull off pretending to be a boy for as long as I have?"

Hikaru felt a little nervous, but he was bold enough to ask outright the question all the Hosts had been wondering for awhile. "Haruhi, I don't really mean to be forward with this question but, would you have preferred the um… selection at Lobelia more?"

Haruhi didn't understand Hikaru's meaning for a few moments, but when she finally did her eyes went wide. "No Hikaru! I mean, I'm attracted to… boys," the last word was mumbled, "but I just don't think what happened was a big deal. Girls and guys just aren't that different in my mind."

"They aren't that different?" Hikaru smirked. "Haruhi, you haven't learned anything from being a Host have you?"

Haruhi tilted her head to the side and her bangs slid across to the other side of her forehead. This time, however, Hikaru was scheming and he was unaffected by her cuteness.

"The whole reason the Host Club exists is because of how different girls and boys are, Haruhi," the playful Host continued, leaning forward so he could look into the confused girl's eyes completely. He wanted her full attention. "You see, boys are a little less, shall we say, subtle. Words, actions—pretty much the only thing women have on us are emotions. That being said, we don't have much of a problem with going up to a good-looking girl and talking to her. Girls, on the other hand, do. That's why the Boss wanted the Host Club to be a place for girls to be surrounded by attractive guys who treat them well and wait on them all the time. Not only does he think every girl deserves to be treated like that, he also thinks that will help them approach the guy they want to in the future.

"This strategy works well because most women love to be taken care of. Our guests know that men are usually aloof so seeing us in caring positions excites them, even if they know we're just acting for their benefit. But given the right girl, a guy wouldn't have to pretend…" Here Hikaru broke off to take in Haruhi's expression and gauge her thoughts on what he had said.

She looked pensive for a few moments, staring at the patterns the sun was making on the marble floor of the Third Music Room. When she looked up at Hikaru, it was to ask, "Where does that put me?"

"How do you mean, Haruhi?"

"I mean that I don't fit into the description of a normal girl, or at least what you're telling me is normal." She looked at him pointedly.

"Of course you don't," Hikaru laughed, "If you did we wouldn't be having this conversation." He grinned. "You're different, Haruhi, and I think it has something to do with Ranka."

Hikaru's only response was silence and a bemused look from the girl sitting beside him. He bit his lip slightly, wondering if he had phrased that last sentence the best way. He wanted Haruhi to know that he liked the fact that she was different! In his experience, Hikaru had learned that if words failed him, as they appeared to be this time, action was the next best thing.

"Haruhi, have you considered the reason why kissing Kanako wasn't really a big deal to you?"

"No, why?"

"I think I may know. It didn't make you feel anything, did it?" he prodded slyly, inching closer to the female Host as he spoke.

Haruhi noticed his movement but didn't make much of it. "What exactly was it supposed to make me feel, Hikaru?"

Again the devilish twin moved in closer, like a predator cornering prey. "Don't tell me you've never had a crush on someone before! You know how your heart beats faster every time you see them, your hands get sweaty when you try to talk to them… that's how you're supposed to feel."

Now, Haruhi was not the claustrophobic type, nor the type with a large personal bubble. But with Hikaru's last shift closer to her she was feeling nervous—exactly as he had described in fact. She had to prepare herself mentally to answer him. "No Hikaru, kissing Kanako did not make me feel like that."

As calm as Haruhi was acting, Hikaru could tell he was having the affect he desired on her. "Well that's not much of a first kiss then. Because I've always thought first kisses should feel like…" Hikaru closed the now small space between his and Haruhi's lips, kissing her for a few fleeting seconds before concluding, "that."

Hikaru had never been worried what other people would think about what he said or did. Impulse always controlled him and he knew if he pissed someone off, well, Kaoru would always be there for him. He had gotten a lot better since joining the Host Club but often emotion still controlled him. Arai and his date with Haruhi were good examples of that. Now, for the first time ever, Hikaru found himself worrying what someone else would think about his actions. Was Haruhi going to be angry? Would she hit him, refuse to speak to him, even quit the Club? Hikaru had never even paused to think through the repercussions of this action. In his cockiness, he just assumed Haruhi would feel the same, or at least allow him to get away with what he'd done.

"Hikaru…" Haruhi opened her large brown eyes and looked directly into his amber ones. "Did you do that because you really feel that way or for some other reason?"

Hikaru been holding his breath after Haruhi spoke his name. The pause in between his name and her question seemed like a lifetime to him, but he was able to let out his breath in a sigh of relief. Her question was easy to answer. "I really feel like that, Haruhi," he replied confidently, meeting her gaze without hesitation.

She smiled and pulled him in for another kiss. You see, the petite girl was nothing if not practical. If Hikaru had just been playing her, she reasoned it was only a kiss and she could move on. She was glad, however, that was not a path she had to travel down because thinking you can do something and actually doing it are two totally different things. Haruhi didn't want to have to forget the feeling of Hikaru's lips on her's and her real first kiss.

Kaoru knocked on the bathroom door and let himself into the room where his twin brother was showering.

"Hey, Kaoru," Hikaru greeted cheerily from behind the curtain.

The younger Hitachiin twin sat down on the edge of a bathtub the size of a small swimming pool before answering his brother. "Hikaru, what were you up to today? You disappeared after class and then I couldn't get you to speak on the way home."

Hikaru stopped scrubbing shampoo into his hair and dropped his hands by his sides. He had known he would have to explain his strange behavior to his younger brother, but he hadn't known it would be this soon. The words for what had happened hadn't fully formed in his head yet. Hikaru rinsed his hair and grabbed his robe from the hook next to the shower. Still dripping slightly, he went to join his brother on the edge of the bathtub.

"Kaoru, it's kind of a long story," he began slowly, waiting for the explanation to come.

Kaoru stared at Hikaru and felt his heart pounding slightly. "Hikaru, you've never had this much trouble telling me something before! What in the world is going on?"

"I guess I'm just afraid of what you'll think, Kaoru." Hikaru replied and laughed. "Today's a first for a lot of things."

Kaoru pulled Hikaru into a hug and rested his head on his older brother's shoulder. "I'll never be upset with you, you know that."

"Kaoru," Hikaru squeezed his brother tighter, "I kissed Haruhi today."

The younger twin started laughing. His body started shaking he was laughing so hard until he finally said, "Oh, Hikaru, you were afraid to tell me that? You silly baka, I'm so happy for you!" Pulling away from Hikaru, Kaoru grinned widely at his older brother. "You're finally learning."

"Learning what?" Hikaru asked, now slightly irritated.

Kaoru just shook his head and smiled.