Changes.

1. Graduation.

T: My first jaunt into the fandom but I'm not new to the world of fan fic so please don't be afraid to be honest with me! I've attempted to avoid the OOC but doing this sort of storyline for Ouran makes it hard going! Also this is more anime based than manga if only because I like the sillier edge the anime has! I own only the plot, which is a shame because I could do so very much with Haruhi.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

For a year she'd been a reluctant member of the Host Club, the debt that tied her to the association and those that worked within it, growing and shrinking at the whim of the club's 'shadow king'.

Then two of the six members of the club had graduation and suddenly everything had begun to change.

It had been a gradual thing which had started with the speech that Tamaki had made at Honey's graduation party, that had led to her being swept into the oddest of plans and that would end in another change.

Whether that final change would be one for the positive was something she was just going to have to find out.

The party that had started the whole affair had been made a mandatory thing by Kouya and thus, aware that she could be better spending her time elsewhere; she'd spent the first hour in the worst of moods.

Honey had eventually worked her out of this 'frump' with a cute little pout and the childish enquiry of,

"Aren't you going to miss me, Haru-chan?"

She'd been startled by the raw honesty hidden well within the childish tone of the question and, guilty at having, unconsciously, hurt the other, she's replied,

"Of course I will, Honey-sempi."

"Then come and play with me!" She'd not really understood the logic and yet she'd indulged him anyway, the slight ache she'd felt in her heart as she'd run around after the other making little sense until after Tamaki's announcement.

The announcement had come mid way through the evening, when they'd all been sat together enjoying an exquisite banquette constructed from foods that she'd only ever dreamed of.

It'd started in the traditional Tamaki manner, all wide gestures and sugar coated words, then, without pause or breath it'd changed.

Suddenly the princely facade had fallen from the club leader and she had been looking at the 'true' Suoh Tamaki, at the drive that had enticed five conflicting personalities to work together for one aim.

With this true face Tamaki had talked a little of the Host Club's first stumbling weeks, of mishaps and angry misunderstandings that she'd not been a part of and then he'd turned to the future.

"With Honey-sempi and Mori-sempi stepping out into the corporate world we can not now continue to run the Host Club as we have been.

"After discussing the matter carefully with Honey-sempi, Mori-sempi and our customers, I have decided that the club will now be held exclusively on Sunday afternoons." There had been a mummer of discontent from the twins once Tamaki had concluded and the 'king's' sparkly façade had slipped back into place in order that eh might placate the duo.

The ache in her heart had returned at Tamaki's words and this time she'd understood its cause all too well.

…Had understood that, from this moment on, she'd not see either Honey or Mori with the regularity that she'd become accustomed…

…Had understood that, at last, reality had begun to filter into the club's fantasy world.

A week later she'd caught the twin's whispering to one another just before the start of class, the grim expression imbedded on their faces a quick tell that this was something more than their usual mischief.

She'd been curios enough about the matter that she'd pushed her way in between the pair and, looking from one to the other, she'd enquired,

"What are you two discussing with such serious faces?"

As expected the pair had replied, in perfect synchronicity, "Nothing," and, very aware of their mind set, she'd remarked,

"I'm sure that it was boring anyway."

Kaoru's mouth twitched into a devilish smile and, winking at his brother, he'd replied,

"You are right, Haruhi, it's not something that you would be interested in…"

"…It's not as if you care about milord…" This was Hikaru, his words cutting across his brother's perfectly so it seemed as only one individual was talking,

"…So it won't concern you that he's leaving at the end of the year..." Kaoru this time, his timing as perfect as his brother's,

"…And that the club will end once he is gone." Hikaru concluded.

She had not, before this 'conversation', thought about Tamaki's graduation at the end of the year, what it would mean for the club and by association, what it would mean for the matter of her remaining dept.

Once the thought had entered her head, however, it would not let her be.

She was surprised to find that it was the thought of Tamaki leaving, rather than living the rest of her life bound up by a dept she could never repay, that worried her the most.

It was something that'd confused her until she'd come to a logical, if somewhat disturbing, conclusion.

Somehow the vain, snobbish, clumsy, inexplicably childish, 'king' of the Host Club had, with his dazzling smile and faltering naivety, stolen her heart away.

Once she'd realised this fact she'd found, much to her horror, that she could not be in the same room as the other without beginning to stare at him or, even worse, blushing ever so slightly.

She'd attempted to squash these somewhat immature responses and force herself to respond to his presence in the same uncaring manner as she always had.

It'd become quickly apparent that such an approach was pointless, in realising her feelings for the other she had, after all, changed the nature of the interaction between them.

Thus, aware that her distracted manner would soon lose her precious customers, she had done what had seemed to be the only logical thing and talked to Kouya.

The shadow king had seemed a little taken aback by her willingness to share such personal information with him and, wishing to have the matter 'dealt' with as swiftly as possible, she'd enquired,

"Do you think it would have been more sensible to talk to my father about this?"

There had been a momentary pause as Kouya had envisioned Ranka's reaction to this particular piece of news and then, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he'd said,

"The solution to this particular problem is very simple."

"Yes?"

"You must tell Tamaki." She'd felt a blush spring to her cheeks and, much to her annoyance, she'd been unable, for a moment, to do anything other than stutter.

Once she'd again found some coherency she'd said,

"Firstly, wouldn't it be a little direct to simply confess out of the blue? Secondarily wouldn't such a confession be detrimental to the club?"

"To your first point, Tamaki would not believe anything other than a confession from your own lips and to the second..." He paused a moment and then, an almost wistful smile on his lips, he'd said, "After graduation it shall become impossible for Tamaki to dedicate the time to the club that he desires and soon enough this fact would become as burden and infuriation to him.

"Thus we have, the two of us, agreed that, at the end of this year, the club will be disbanded.

"The damage your confession might cause to the productiveness of the business is all but inconsequential."

"I see." She'd thought to make good her escape then, the atmosphere in the air, as well ad Kouya's uncharacteristically nostalgic mood, making her more than a little uncomfortable.

She'd only gotten as far as the door before the shadow king had informed her,

"If you confess I shall completely erase the remainder of your dept."

She'd been unable to resist such incentive and she'd promised the other that she'd talk to Tamaki when the opportunity arose.

Somehow the twins had gotten wind of this promise, which had lead to the pair concocting an odd little plan and to everything snowballing rather out of control.

Thus she had come to be stood outside the door to the music room dressed in a rich yellow summer dress and feeling oddly uncomfortable.

Taking a breath she stepped into the room just in time to hear Kaoru conclude,

"…that is why she'd been dressing as a boy and helping us in the Host Club."

There is a general sympathetic murmur from the customers and then, without warning, Hikaru is pulling her into the centre of the room.

The instant they register her presence they borage her with questions, hugs and pitying words which is stopped only when Tamaki pulls her out from amid the throng of women.

There is a true hurt hidden well beneath his host's smile and, wishing to erase the guilt she feels for her part in that wound, she informs him,

"I didn't know they were going to do this until this morning."

"If you had know you would have told me, wouldn't you, Haruhi? You trust daddy, after all."

It would be stupidly simple to make some sarcastic remark, to run away from the dangerous unknown of her feelings and yet she had no want to do as such.

Thus fixing the other in her eyes, she enquires,

"How serious are you about this 'daddy' business, sempai?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

T: Next chapter Tuesday. Until then r+r. No I'm not going to tell you what happens next!