[Haruhi POV]
I took one last look at my old apartment, the apartment that held all of my dearest memories, from my mom, to the host club.
The host club had passed many years ago, and I after it had, I'd left Ouran High School quietly and unceremoniously, like a shadow slipping away from a cellar, unnoticed and forgotten.
Why did I leave, you may wonder. Why had I given up all of those friendships? Because it had only been high school. Nothing important, as we had only been careless teenagers at the time.
But they've never left my heart, I know that.
Whenever I pass a commoners' market, I think of Tamaki Suoh, the spirited and caring, yet slightly arrogant, king of the host club, and the way he would get excited over the markets and insist of a group visit.
Whenever Halloween passes, I look out my windows and wonder whether Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, the strangely feline-like twins who both looked alike, though their personalities were entirely different, were taking part in the celebrations, tricking and frightening fellow celebrators.
Whenever I pass bakeries, I smile at the thought of Mitsukuni Haninozuka, or Hani, the cute cake-loving senior of mine, who would visit places like these perched atop Takashi Morinozuka's, or Mori's, shoulders.
Whenever I notice a businessman scribbling feverishly in a black clipboard, I think of the possibilities that this man might, just might be Kyoya Ootoru.
But if I might be bold enough to pass the gates of a huge pink building, the home of Ouran, I think of us all together again, a host club.
Tears came to my eyes as I remembered that I would be leaving Japan to head to Britain where I would begin my career as a lawyer.
The rain soaked me as I stepped out of the apartment, tugging my suitcase after me into the dim light of nine o'clock.
A great gust of wind whipped my keys from my hand, and I gasped, frightened by the possibility of losing them. They started to tumble across the dark, sodden street, but a shadow of a man leaned down and picked them up from further down the path from me.
I stiffened slightly and called over, "excuse me, Sir, those keys belong to me."
The man looked up at me, and a pair of bright amber eyes met mine for a fraction of a second, and I grasped at sudden prospect that this man was one of the Hitachiin's. But that was impossible, why would one of them find my home, or ex-home, when we hadn't been in contact for years, and were already in our early twenties? They might've been married, for all I knew!
It was dismissed as wishful thinking. But wait, why would I be wishing to meet Hikaru or Kaoru once again?
[Hikaru POV]
A clatter of keys sounded from up ahead from the street that I was walking, and I glanced up, seeing the shadow of a petit woman with shoulder length hair.
I looked down at my feet and saw the keys tumbling towards me, so I picked them up.
"Excuse me, Sir, those keys belong to me," the woman from up ahead said loudly.
Like hell I didn't know. I looked at the woman for the first time, and for a fraction of a second I met a pair of huge brown eyes, so similar to the pair that I had fallen for from the moment I met them in high school. The eyes flashed back down as I wondered whether this woman might have, just might have, been Haruhi Fujioka, the girl that had broken my heart when she'd left.
But why would Haruhi be here, for goodness sakes'? She'd probably left Japan already, begun her studies as a respectable lawyer and gotten herself a husband or boyfriend already.
I cleared my throat and replied huskily, "I saw you drop them, Miss. I know they're yours."
I pulled my coat around me as the rain lashed angrily at the world below, and I refused to look at the woman's face, scared that it wouldn't be Haruhi and I would lose control over myself.
"Well, thank you."
Dammit! Why does her voice sound so alike to Haruhi's as well? I held out the keys, and dropped it into her outstretched hand. The woman stood there for a few moments, and silence shrouded us.
"Not the best night to be out, is it?" I mumbled.
"I'm heading for the airport to go to Britain."
"Britain? My mum owns a fashion business that stretches across the most of the countries here, including all of Britain." I heard a sound of disbelief from the woman, and finally risked a glance at her. She was staring back at me in amazement.
Holy bull… my eyes widened as I finally realized that this was indeed Haruhi. And she'd grown even better looking than I'd ever imagined; her once short and boyish haircut had grown out, though she still had the same fringe as the one she'd had as a boy host, her features were slightly more intelligent, but those eyes were still the same.
"Ha-ru-hi?" I choked out.
[Haruhi POV]
"Hikaru?" I whispered, gazing into those amazing golden eyes, which were now hotter than fire. This didn't look like Hikaru… where had that entirely mischievous glint in his eyes gone? Why had his naughty grin disappeared?
This Hikaru Hitachiin was the same person, alright. But he'd grown taller and leaner, his messy red hair still in the same trademark style, but his features had grown sadder and more beautiful, not they way I remembered them.
"Why'd you leave?" Hikaru snapped, his face betraying his anger. I looked away, my eyebrows dipping into a frown. Then I stared him down and replied coolly, "Because the host club was a childish teenage gang and it was breaking up into a million pieces anyway. But I had fulfilled my debt and had no need to attend anymore."
"You ripped my heart out when you left!" Hikaru shouted across the downpour, and more tears filled my eyes. "I never knew that you would do such a thing! After all these years of us waiting for you to somehow find us, tell us it was a mistake…" Hikaru's voice faded away, then he turned on me again. "We all thought that you'd permanently left, and so Tamaki left first, then Kyoya followed afterwards, than Hani and Mori. Kaoru and I were the last remaining. We waited for years."
I refused to meet his eyes. I had thought that Hikaru would have finally gotten over me.
"You shouldn't have waited. We were all stupid back then. You have to give me that one!" I exclaimed, my hands tensing into fists.
"Hah." Hikaru sounded bitter. "I'm not sure if I can ever give you one again. Unless…" He frowned. I bit my tongue.
"Unless what? Hikaru, I have to go. I'm leaving the country tonight." I wiped the tears from my eyes, and looked up at Hikaru. He stared at me for a moment, and then a resolve seemed to form in his eyes. He leaned in so that he was eye level with me, his nose inches from mine.
"Unless you come back now, repair what you've broken…" He took my chin in his hand.
"I can't."
"Or you don't want to."
I can't face anybody anymore…
I shook my head, but he had a firm grip on my chin, and his eyes narrowed temporarily, before his expression cleared completely, and he leaned in and locked his mouth onto mine.
His breath was hot, his lips dominant on mine, and I tried to clear my head, but it all jumbled up as soon as our lips had made contact. His hand released my chin, and wound around my waist, pulling me into him, and I finally realized a decision that might have changed my life forever.
I was definitely in love with Hikaru Hitachiin.
[Hikaru POV]
I was definitely still in love with Haruhi Fujioka.
When we finally separated to breath, Haruhi covered her face with her hands and breathed heavily. For a moment I hoped that she'd changed her mind, that she'd stay here with me, but when she looked at me again, a great sadness clouded her eyes.
"You're still leaving." My voice was blank, as was my face. Every emotion was wiped away on it. I felt as though I'd never smile again.
"I can't stay here. My flight's booked. It's been sorted that I'll be studying with another Japanese law student, Seiji Yuko."
I released Haruhi from myself, and kept hold on nothing but her hand.
"Don't lose yourself. The host club won't always be there to rescue you."
"I won't. Goodbye, Hikaru. Tell the others that I'm sorry and… I hope that one day we'll all be reunited once again."
I forced a fake laugh, though we both knew that that would be impossible.
"Take heart Haruhi. We'll never forget you. None of us will. You'll always be the heart of the host club."
Haruhi smiled lightly, and I forced my hand to open and let go of her. Forever. That was the last time I ever saw her as she vanished into the pounding rain, and soon her presence may have all been a dream. I stood there a few minutes longer, my blood scorching my veins, then I simply turned and walked away without a backward glance. Haruhi had chosen to turn away from walking down old pottery road. Now every step I took brought me further away from my heart.
Kaoru had always told me that something like this would happen. Now it had, though it was more painful than I had ever imagined.
'Goodbye, Haruhi Fujioka. I want you to know that from the moment I set eyes on you, you became the keeper of my heart, as you did for many others. You are what kept together the host club for all those years. You are what entered my world and finally drew me out of the enclosed spaces that had once been my protective playground with Kaoru.
I want you to know this above all. My heart is still yours. Take care of it.'
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~Black Cat Widow~