Disclaimer- Ouran High and all its characters are certainly not mine. OC's are, of course.
Please Read and Review! This is my first fic, so constructive criticism helps. Flame if you want, but kindness is appreciated. Seriously. Tell me what you want from this story!
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Haruhi sat in the velvet chair with quiet resignation. For the past three years, everything at Ouran had been hopelessly and wastefully extravagant and graduation was no exception. The hall was filled with sumptuous fabrics and golden fixtures. Glittering chandeliers suspended from the ceiling shedded light artfully into every corner in soft layers, obviously designed to enhance the room and bring out its fullest aesthetic beauty. For some reason it seemed a bit phony. She shut her eyes and sighed. With the hundred-piece orchestra, she could barely hear her own thoughts.
She smoothed her yellow skirt over her knees, banishing the smaller wrinkles along with her mild impatience. She had begun wearing the girl's uniform at the beginning of the school year when she left the host club. In fact, the school administration asked her to wear the correct uniform. Apparently Kyouya had some say in her ability to wear the boy's uniform so long without contest.
Haruhi took a few precious moments before commencement to remember the host club. They were so crazy but it had seemed that for two years, Haruhi had somewhere to belong. In a school determined to outcast her based on class, they had reveled in her abnormality and eventually the novelty turned into true friendship. She remembered the days when they had all been hosts; the Sundays when they would all show up at the Fujioka apartment and marvel at the lower-middle classness of it and Ranka would chase them off the property, the ridiculous costumes that Haruhi so often refused without a second thought, and the unsolicited generosity that came with hidden price tags thanks to Kyouya. Even her father had noticed the change that had come over her during her years as a host. She no longer brooded so darkly over the future and stopped staying awake through the night studying. She was more energetic and now and again Ranka had caught her humming happily as she cooked their dinner, just like her mother used to.
Haruhi pushed her hair behind her ears; she had let it grow to just past her chin but it didn't like to be controlled. She had been so naïve her first year at Ouran. It wasn't until the last few weeks of school that she realized her new family couldn't stay together. Hunny had tried to stay cheerful to preserve the sanity of the host club, to pretend everything was normal. Mori showed no change either, but things became heavy between them. The host club attended their graduation and they exchanged gifts and phone numbers and one last hug from Hunny and a meaningful shoulder squeeze from Mori and they were gone. At the time she had tried to keep in mind that it wasn't as if they were attending college outside of Japan. But they never met with Haruhi again until a full year later.
Tamaki and Kyouya left Ouran with Suoh's characteristic flourish. Kyouya received honors entirely unheard-of in the history of the school and Tamaki whisked the two of them away in a shower of rose petals and fireflies. Haruhi put that night out of her mind. Kyouya went to medical school and Tamaki flew to France for an education at Paris' finest institutes. She had received a few post cards from him when he arrived overseas (he loved the novelty of such short messages traveling at such impossibly slow speeds) but their correspondence didn't last. Their parting had been far too strange.
The host club had been disbanded her third year after Haruhi left. The twins had no desire to continue without the King. She hadn't seen much of them around either, they were in different classes.
Haruhi's reminiscing ended as the orchestra bowed three final notes. As the last of them rung through the suspiciously perfect acoustics of the room the chatter of the graduating class died down. The senior leaders of the select choir rose from their seats in the front row, only a few away from Haruhi. They looked as so many in the room, very happy but also nostalgic. For the majority, Ouran Academy had been their school for over a decade and it was time to leave and take on the new role of business person, leader, diplomat, father, wife. The roles of adults.
The class stood in unison, as did the spectators. Haruhi prepared to lip sync. She had been practicing in front of the mirror, much to her father's amusement. She didn't know why she bothered; the words were so pompous. The orchestra struck the first chord. There was a collective breath.
From homeland isles
To foreign shores
Prestige precedes us
The sound of voices filled the hall. Haruhi's mouth moved automatically to the syllables.
Let us fill the world
With our shining light
Men and women, strong, smart and pure
Haruhi heard the boy next to her's voice crack. Men and women perhaps they would become, but so many were still hopelessly teenagers.
Spread pride and dignity
Teach the children to soar
Potential here could turn the world
Build ties and skills
To form bridges spanning oceans
Elegant, strong, brilliant
Ouran, stand tall, our futures are yours
The song ended. Haruhi found herself a word off in her lip syncing. Not bad, considering her talents. She was rather proud of such a small margin of error.
The student council took to the stage and the ceremonies began. An award winning nationally-ranked violinist played the solo she won the final competition with. The world famous swim team stood, along with a team of youth diplomats that prevented a war in some African country, followed by several future astronauts and the Hitachiin twins who had been accepted with rave reviews by design houses in Milan, Rome, and New York. Haruhi repeated her speech in her head as the line of overachievers received their recognition. She was the top student in the graduating class and would be giving a speech. She adjusted the ribbon around her neck rather nervously.
Finally the student council duo returned to the microphones. They began to speak.
"Before we hand out diplomas and begin the reception, we'd like to honor someone very special."
"Someone who has proven that hard work brings opportunity beyond that provided by family prestige."
"This young woman solves problems with a stability and perseverance worth admiration."
"Following a dream, Fujioka Haruhi-san never shied from hard work but took the challenge level-headedly and never failed to befriend those who looked beyond her humble beginnings. Fujioka-san opened the hearts of Ouran's students with her steadfastness and endless sincerity."
"We're proud to invite to the stage our classmate and valedictorian, Fujioka Haruhi!"
The room exploded with applause. Haruhi stood slowly and walked steadily to the podium. The march was easier than she anticipated; her nervousness was softening along the edges. She gracefully pushed a piece of her hair out of her face and took a deep breath.
"Ouran is a school built on wealth and wealthy families, as a good friend of mine used to say. But as someone with out the first and not of the second…"
Haruhi continued her speech, letting the words leave her mouth in an orderly fashion, her voice even but with feeling. She looked out at the crowd of blue and yellow. They were faces she knew, girls who had designated her, boys she'd studied with, teachers' proud faces as well. All the eyes brought her nervousness back into sharp focus so she began to scan the back walls. She memorized the tall, thick columns and the shadows behind them. There were four on each side of the large doors at the very rear of the room. Each was symbolically decorated. On the left, nearest the corner was pride, then respect, then strength, then peace, then beauty, then family, then tradition, then wealth. They were very Ouran, all hand carved capitals and flawless marble.
It was then she noticed someone leaning against the fifth column. At first, the figure was in the shadows but as Haruhi watched, it turned. She could see a grey vest and trousers, a white shirt rolled to the elbows and partially unbuttoned at the neck. He moved further into the light.
Haruhi stumbled over her words for the first time as she saw the brilliant golden hair. He wasn't directly looking at her, rather off to the side, she noticed gratefully. She finished her speech, received her applause and sat back down.
What was Tamaki doing there? Haruhi was rather distressed. He was supposed to be in France! She wasn't sure how she felt about his presence. The few postcards they had sent to each other had been formal and forced, neither wishing to address what they were both thinking about. Haruhi spent all year focusing on her studies diligently to forget about him. She had been planning on graduating and disappearing into the university law program and escaping without any awkward meetings. Tamaki had made it quite clear that they could no longer be friends.