Title: To Become One Seventh: the quest of a wholehearted one half
Pairing(s): Ouran OT7
Rating: G for now, will rise in later chapters.
Disclaimer: Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Hatori Bisco and related companies.
Spoilers: The entire manga and anime; fully canon compliant excepting the last chapter of the manga (and some small deviances that will be flagged in the Author's Notes)
Complete summary: Following Haruhi's formal acceptance of the American exchange scholarship, the remaining members of the host club face a daunting year without her now-familiar presence. Hitachiin Kaoru is seventeen and head over heels in love with his pumpkin story. In trying to hold fast against the relentless vicissitudes of life, he discovers that the act of resisting change becomes change itself. Bringing all of his natural talents to bear, he must redesign the complex structure of their interwoven symbiotic relationships to withstand the challenges of their brave new worlds. As if that were not enough, he must prove himself worthy of the family legacy. Kaoru POV; Haruhi POV in prologue only.
.
PROLOGUE
.
Perhaps Tamaki and her father were having a competition to see who could shed more tears.
Everyone was staring at the public spectacle they were making at the Narita International Airport. It was difficult to believe that mere hours earlier she had thought of how much she would miss them all when she woke up to her last morning in Japan before her flight to New England for the special exchange program.
Her father was distraught. Thank goodness the other one had stopped calling himself her father. Tamaki was desperately trying to clutch at her, but all his attempts were foiled by her wrathful father as he subdued Tamaki through a crushing stomp on his head.
The abridged version of their laments was as follows –
Ryoji: "My cute daughter is going to a school that is filled with hormonal foreigners!"
Tamaki: "No, Haruhi, you must resist all their immoral advances! Oh my precious Haruhi, you must always keep in mind that you have a boyfriend here pining –"
Ryoji: "Boyfriend? My darling Haruhi is too good for a repulsive bug like you, and anyway she will be thinking about me every single moment of every day, won't you Haruhi? Otousan won't be there to protect you, so you must call me every night so that I will know that you are fine, ne?"
Tamaki: "I will call you too, Haruhi! I will fly over to visit you every weekend!"
– and so on and so forth, with variations on the vocabulary used but no difference in the general sentiment.
"Otousan, I am going there to study, not to play. Tamaki-senpai, are you really such an idle person that you prefer wasting time and money on long-distance flights instead of doing useful things?" she deadpanned.
"Gaaaaahn!" they shrieked, recoiling in exaggerated rejection.
Ah, she could breathe again. When sufficient oxygen had returned to her brain, she turned her attention to the rest of her sending off party.
"Kyouya-senpai, thanks for helping me to make my passport."
"Oh, it was no bother. How can I refuse any request from Ranka-san?" he replied with a pleasant smile that sent chills down her spine and made her father swoon. Thank goodness the Academy took care of the flight and living arrangements, she thought, or who knows how much more indebted I will be to him?
She had expected the twins to join Tamaki in his melodrama, but they had surprisingly not made a sound since the ride to the airport. Hikaru was hunched over in a dejected pose, his hands stuffed in his pockets, while Kaoru wore a dispirited expression on his face as his eyes fixed unwaveringly on her. The twins' silence could have been construed as a sign of growing maturity and admirable composure were it not for the fact that to do so would be to display a complete ignorance of their personalities. Uncharacteristic behaviour from them was always worrying.
"Hikaru, Kaoru," she began haltingly, sincerely – maybe she should also summon the courage to confess to them how much she appreciated their friendship, just like she confessed her love to Tamaki – "I will really miss you."
The next moment, she was sandwiched between two warm bodies in a hug no less fierce than the one her father had given her.
"Our lazy heroine is really going to step out into the exciting world!" Hikaru gave a small, hollow laugh. "Are you nervous about going to another country for the first time?"
"No," she answered truthfully, "I am determined to do this. I will learn as much as I can so that I can become better and better."
She saw Kaoru's eyes widen in surprise for a brief moment, as though he had abruptly understood something about her – she blinked, and the expression was gone, leaving nothing but traces of a shrewd awareness camouflaged by the mischievous sparkles perpetually present in his gold eyes. "Part of being so active, Haruhi, is making sure that you check your email regularly on the laptop we gave you, okay? We've even set up your email account for you. That way you can stay updated about everybody in Ouran."
"Yes, thanks!" She wouldn't like to be left out of the loop, after all. Her final year of high school would still be spent in Ouran with the classmates she had come to know so well, and many of her regular designators in the host club had been unceasingly kind and helpful to her.
"Don't bully the class president too much when I am away," she added just as her attention was diverted by a diminutive body that tackled her in a flying hug and fastened onto her.
"Haru-chan, Haru-chan, I'll miss you so much!" choked Honey as he dissolved in a barrage of tears and sad, cute sounds. Mori held several handkerchiefs in his hand, wiping Honey's face periodically. The corners of Mori's lips curved down slightly, an expression she remembered seeing on his face when that whole fiasco had happened with Tamaki's family. She almost smiled at that small visible indicator of Mori's moodiness – somehow it lifted her heart to know that she could in fact recognise when Mori was feeling certain emotions, even if it might sound mean to be glad when he was sad.
It seemed that the emotional dynamics of any situation they happened to be in would always be magnified beyond all proportion by the host club. All of them had already made plans to visit her in America where possible. Nearly all of them would call her every single day, she could already tell. Clearly, they did not take this to mean that they should stop acting as though this would be the last time they would see her. The mood was so sombre it was comical, and Mei-chan seemed to be the only one who retained any objectivity. The irony was not lost on Haruhi, since Mei-chan was the only one out of this group without the ability to fly first-class to the United States as and when she likes.
Mei-chan and the Hitachiin brothers had spent the last few weeks endlessly ransacking through her meticulously arranged wardrobe to ensure that the clothes going into the luggage were the sort that could actually be permitted to see the light of day. Although free dressing did not apply, the school adhered only to a dress code and not to a full set of uniform. These three members of the fashion police had vetoed all of her clothing, using a range of progressively more insulting words to describe the items they had plucked out of her wardrobe. With Ranka-san's ardent support, they had laboured to revamp her image entirely, which had essentially meant packing Haruhi's luggage for her.
It was time for her to board her flight. A rush of exhilaration swept through her. She had earned this. She would experience this.
She waved; they waved back.
She smiled; they smiled back and there was an unbearable tugging at her heartstrings...
One year from now, without fail.
.
.
Notes
(a) Originally written to commemorate the release of the last chapter (Chapter 83) of the manga series.
(b) The short summary for this fic is a direct quote from the work of Anaïs Nin, called 'Risk'.
(c) As mentioned, since the last chapter of Ouran has not happened for the purposes of this fic, so Haruhi's sending off party consists of the host club, her father, and Mei-chan. It does not include the customers of the host club (as in the manga). Further, the 'big reveal' of Haruhi's sex/gender to the rest of the school has also not happened, as that party took place in the last chapter. Therefore, the customers remain unaware of Haruhi's real sex/gender.
.
Next Chapter:
1. Starting Today, You Are an Intern!