DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN OURAN IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM

Dedicated to Vitalus as one of my six thank you stories

Horatu Kimura never considered herself perfect. Especially compared to younger sister Akahana. She was still in middle school but already she was better academically, artistically, and way more mature for her age. Horatu was good in school too, and could do things like play the harp and was a pretty decent swimmer and horseback riding. However, Akahana could do all that too, and if she chose to, would be better at all of it in comparison to Horatu. There were times Horatu was certain that if they could, her parents would choose to leave everything to Akahana instead of her.

Being the oldest, Horatu was expected to someday inherit and take over her family's architecture business. They were constantly trying to groom her and prepare her for the day everything would basically fall on her shoulders. This was a huge problem for Horatu, mainly because Horatu was very shy. She hated things like crowds or the center of attention, unlike her perfect sister who was a natural when it came to things like addressing people and having focus on her.

That didn't stop Horatu's parents from constantly getting her to take charge. Horatio seriously wanted to stand up to her parents and tell them she didn't want to be their successor, but she could never master up her courage, unlike her brother Choukichi or Kichi as he liked to be called. He was the only one in the family Horatu actually got along with. He was originally supposed to be the heir to the family business since he was the only boy in the family. However, he decided he didn't like the way his parents were constantly trying to control him in getting him to be the perfect successor, so he flat out told them to stop with their controlling ways. When that happened, Horatu's parents basically disowned him. He was still allowed to live at the house and attend school, but his parents Akahana basically ignore him. They won't even give him the time of day. Dissipate all that, Horatu could tell her brother was happy. It really made her feel more determined to stand up to her parents but it didn't look like it was going to happen again.

One morning as Horatu sat at the breakfast table with her parents and sister she was slightly startled by her father's sudden announcement. "Oh Horatu, today you're going to be running one of the business meetings."

"I'm what?!" Horatu asked, dropping her fork in fear and shock.

"You're going to be running one of the meetings today. I have so many today I'll need help with it. It's just a small meeting to discuss some finances details. I'll have the notes set aside for you to read off of. Besides, it'll be good practice for you for when you have to run all the different meetings of the company," Mr. Kimura explained like it was nothing.

"Are you sure you need me to do this Dad?" Horatu asked timidly.

At that her father looked at her sternly. "Why not?" He asked with a just as stern tone.

"Well," Horatu tried desperately to find a logical excuse as to why she shouldn't do it.

She could hear Akahana give off an annoying sigh. "Father, why don't you let me do it? I have no issues with doing it," she insisted.

"I know you don't, but this is a task for your sister to handle. She is the oldest after all," said Mr. Kimura.

"Yes of course," said Akahana.

"Exactly," said Mr. Kimura.

"Good morning everyone," Kichi said suddenly coming into the room. The air suddenly become very tense as Mr. and Mrs. Kimura and Akahana all made a show of looking away from him. Kichi didn't let it phase him as he came and sat down next to Horatu. He looked over and smiled at her, only to notice her upset face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Father just told me I have to help with a meeting today at the office," Horatu whispered.

"Oh did he?" Kichi said looking at his father with annoyance, "Well did he at least tell you what you were doing?"

"He said he'll have some notes for me to read for it," Horatu told him.

" Well there you go. Just go there read your notes and then the suits there will do the rest," Kichi assured her.

"I don't know if I can do that though!" Horatu insisted. Her brother squeezed her hand.

"You'll be fine, I'm sure," he said, trying to comfort her.

Horatu just shook her head, unconvinced.

Horatu was so upset with the thought of having to lead the meeting, she barley realized it when her car arrived at the school. When she started to walk around campus, it was a surprise she didn't walk into a wall or something. As she came around a corner, something pink caught her eye. As she bent down she realized it was a stuffed bunny. It was really cute.

"Hello, what are you doing here all alone?" Horatu asked as she picked him up. Just holding him, seemed to make her feel a lot better.

"Usa-Chan, where are you?" a cute voice suddenly called out behind her. Horatu turned around to see none other than Mitskuni Huninozuka coming down the hallway.

Horatu was surprised to see him in person. She actually had a small crush on him. He was so cute and he wasn't afraid to be who he wanted to do, even though his family was a hard core martial arts family. Horatu would love nothing more than to be close to him or try going to his host club. But he was usually among a huge crowd and of course she hated crowds.

As Horatu watched Hunny coming towards her, she realized that the bunny she was holding was his Usa-Chan, his most beloved possession.

"Um Hunny," she called out, "I think I found your Usa-Chan."

"Huh?" Hunny said looking towards her. "Oh thank you Taru-Chan!"

"What?" Horatu asked in surprise over the name Hunny had called her.

"That's your name right? Horatu or Taru-Chan? I think Taru-Chan sounds lot cuter personally," said Hunny hugging Usa-Chan tight.

"You know my name?" Horatu asked.

"Sure, why wouldn't I? I know all about the cute people here at Ouran personally," Hunny said. He smiled at Horatu brightly. "You know I've been meaning to ask, why don't you ever come to the host club? I keep hoping you do but I never see you."

"Oh well, I guess you could say I don't like how crowded it gets in there sometimes," Horatu explained.

"Oh I see, I'm sorry," Hunny said sounding disappointed, "Thank you for finding Usa-Chan though. I get so nervous when I can't find him."

"How did you lose him in the first place, if you don't mine me asking," Horatu said.

"Oh, sometimes I like to play hide-n-seek with him but I forget where I hide him," Hunny explained.

Horatu giggled at that. "That sounds like fun," she said. She didn't notice the special smile Hunny was giving her as she giggled.

"So do you ever think you'd like to possibly come to host club?" he asked suddenly, bringing Hortatu out of her good feeling. She immediately duck her head as if hiding it like a turtle.

"I don't think that 's an option," she said, "Even if I didn't have to help my father with his meeting, I don't think I could handle the crowds!"

"Oh, that's too bad," said Hunny once again sounding disappointed. "What are you going to help your daddy out with anyway?"

"I have to," Hortau had to take a deep breath before she could finish, "I have to run a meeting for him! I don't want to though! I really don't!"

"Oh becuase you're shy?" Hunny asked.

"Yes," Horatu admitted sounding ashamed.

Hunny could see a tear coming into her eyes."Here, here hold Usa-Chan he'll help make you feel better!" he said h=offering her up her bunny. Hortatu took him and hugged him tight. As she did she felt her anxiety going down to the point she stopped crying.

"Thank you Hunny," she said, "I don't know what it is but holding Usa-Chan really makes me feel better. I wish I could have him with me when I do the meeting."

"Hmm," Hunny said out loud. He quickly turned and ran down the hallway.

"Hunny?" Horatu asked confused. She waited for a little bit until finally Hunny came back holding something else in his hand. It happened to be a stuff looking doll with a braided yellow yarn hair on her face were tow light blue button eyes.

"Here this Dilly-Chan," Hunny said, "She's one of the other cute things I like to keep with me on occasions. I was originally going to call her her Dolly-Chan but Dilly-Chan sounded cuter don't you think?"

"Uh I guess," said Horatu , "But why are you giving her to me?"

"To help you of course," Hunny explained, "She small enough that you can keep her in your bag where no one else can see her and if you feel nervous during the meeting you can just look to her face to give you some comfort and support."

"Oh really?" said Horatu studying the doll.

"If you don't like her, I can find you something else," Hunny offered.

"No, no that's fine, she'll do perfectly. Thank you so much Hunny!" Horatu said happily. She and Hunny quickly exchanged plushes. The minute Horatu held Dilly-Chan in her arm, she could feel a good sense of comfort similar to when she was holding Usa-Chan. She was feeling a whole lot better with the idea of giving the meeting today.

After school that day, she actually walked to the car waiting for her with confidence, making sure to keep Dilly-Chan safe in her bag. When she came to her family's business office, she was greeted at the front by one of her father's associates.

"Welcome Miss Kimura, thank you for coming today," he said bowing to her, "Everyone who's supposed to attend the meeting is already here and waiting in the conference room. The notes your father had prepared for you are also there waiting for you at your spot at the head of the table."

"Right, I'm going to be at the head of the table?" Horatu said under her breath as she and her father's associate walked down the hallway together.

"Everyone's really anxious to see how you handle this meeting. This could be the first step on the great path to someday being the head of Kimura Architecture," said the associate.

"Sure," said Horatu right as they came to the conference room. Horatu had to take a deep breath before walking in. All the men and women in the room all turned in their chairs at the same time and looked at her at the same time.

'Oh no,' Horatu thought. She felt someone pushing her and realized the associate was guiding to her position at the head of the table. There laid the notes her father promised her. She put her bag down next to her seat and started to gather them up.

"Um, he-hello everyone, thank you for making it today. My-my father and I are very grateful you could take time out of your busy schedules to-to come here today," she started to sputter.

"Miss Kimura, could you please speak up? Some of us can't hear you in the back here," one of the people asked from the other end of the table.

"Oh right, sorry," Horatu said, "I uh," She could feel herself trembling all over until she happened to look down towards her bag where she could actually see Dilly-Chan's face looking up at her with her doll smile. It suddenly gave her a sense of courage as she looked back to the participants of the meeting. "I'll try speaking up!" she said n a much louder tone The sudden outburst made a few o the people actually jump. "Now today we're going to discuss the our recent finance reports and how we can now afford to bring on more construction crews."

The meeting kept going on and on smoothly. Anytime Horatu felt nervous again, she'd just look back down at Dilly-Chan for support. Before Horatu knew it, the meeting was over.

"and that concludes our meeting for today. Thank you all very much for you time," Horat u finally said as the meeting came to an end. The others all nodded their heads before they gathered up their belonging and left the room, leaving Horatu and the associate all alone.

"Very well done Miss Kimura," he said as Horatu also gathered her stuff together, "I shall make sure to give your father a very positive report."

"You will?" Horatu asked.

"Yes I was told to observe how you did today and give a full report on how it did," said the associate, "The only problems I observed was that you didn't start out too strong and you seemed to look towards you book bag a lot during the meeting. Other than that, you did perfect, worthy of your father."

"Oh, good," Horatu said as she headed out of the conference room. She hoped he didn't notice the doll in her bag.

Safe at home that night. Horatu found herself resting on her bed holding Dilly-Chan. "Thank you for your help today I don't think I could have gotten through the meeting without you," she told the doll. Just then her phone went off.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hi Taru-Chan!" Hunny said on the other end.

"Hunny, how did you get my number?" Horatu asked.

"Kyo-Chan of course," said Hunny.

"You mean Kyoya Ohtori?" Horatu asked.

"Yep," said Hunny, "I just wanted to know how the meeting went? Was Dilly-Chan any help?"

"Oh yes!" said Horatu, "I made it through great! Thank you so much for giving me Dilly-Chan."

"Of course, glad I could help," said Hunny, "You know maybe if you were to bring Dilly-Chan with you, you could finally come to the host club.

"Uh we'll see," said Horatu, "I don't know if I'm quite ready for that."

"That's okay, one step at a time, right?" Hunny said.

"Sure," said Horatu.

"Horatu, are you in here?" she suddenly heard her father calling out.

"I got to go, I think my father's calling me," she said.

"Okay, talk to you tomorrow," said Hunny as he hung up.

"Horatu, didn't you hear Father calling you?" Akahana said suddenly coming into her room. She stopped when she happen to see her sister holding the doll. "Why do you have a doll with you"

"Oh this is just a gift from someone at school," said Horatu timidly.

"You're too old for dolls!" Akahana snapped, "Mother, Father come here quickly! Come see what Horatu is doing!" She called out. Their parents quickly dashed into the room.

"Akahana what is wrong?" their father asked only to suddenly see the doll as well, "Horatu what are you doing with that toy?"

"You're too old to be playing with toys like that," said her mother.

"And here I heard you were doing good at becoming a mature adult, especially after the good report I got about you today during the meeting," said her father upset.

"Seems to me that she still has some more work to do," said Akahana.

"Indeed", Mr. Kimura agreed.

"Hand the doll over Horatu," ordered her mother.

"I can't," Horatu said holding Dilly-Chan close to her chest.

"Now, don't be like that," said her father serisouly as he moved towards Horatu's bed with his arm out stretched, "Hand the toy over."

"No I can't Father," Horatu continued to insist.

"Horatu, this isn't up for debate. Hand the doll over now or else!" her father threatened as he tried to take the doll by force.

"No, I can't let you do that!" Horatu suddenly shouted as she jumped up, nearly knocking her father down. "I can't let you take this doll because it's not mine! A friend loaned ti to me and I have to give her back tomorrow!"

Her three family members looked stunned at her sudden outburst.

"Well then ,that's different," said her father as he recomposed himself, "You should have said so in the first place."

"What kind of friend is this? A three or four year old?" Akahana said.

"It doesn't matter because first thing tomorrow, she's giving the doll back, right?" her mother insisted.

"Yes, that's right," said Horatu as calmly as she could.

"Good then the matter is settled," said her father, "Oh and almost forgot. Since you did so well today, next week I' expecting you to help with two different meetings."

'Two different meetings?!" said Horatu.

"Yes and I expect the same performance you gave today understood?" said her father as the rest of the family all walked out. Horatu flopped back down on to her bed.

"Two meetings?" she said in despair.

"Hey," she suddenly heard Kichi say as he came into her room, "Was that you I heard yelling at Dad?"

"Yeah, that was me," said Horatu.

"Nice work, you finally standing up to dad like that!" Kichi praised.

"Thanks," said Horatu smiling at her brother.

"Where did you get the courage to do that?" Kichi asked sounding impressed.

Horatu looked at Dilly-Chan, thinking about Hunny. "Let's just say a little friend was helping me along," she said.