AN: This fic is perfect timing for Haruhi's birthday. It's February 4 in my time zone, but longer the forth in Japan. Oh well. Also, me don't own Host Club.

His Cinderella

Slipping the key into the lock and turning it, he unlocked the door and entered the medium size apartment of his long-time girlfriend, his Cinderella. He took off his shoes (this was indeed a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats and sliding doors) and glanced around for his girlfriend, knowing she was probably looking over papers from her internship and wouldn't be making much noise. As he moved from the kitchen to the room where her land-line phone and TV was, he was surprised to see her slump over the low table with her head resting in her arms.

A slight smile appeared across his face as he decided to go and pull out her futon. Once he returned to the room she was in, he knelt beside her and gentle brought her into his arms taking care not to wake her up before rising up to his feet. He walked back to her bedroom and laid her down on her futon that he had pulled out. As he covered her small frame, she stirred slightly, but didn't wake up to his relief. Watching her sleep, he observed her condition and notice several things about her. For one, he could tell she had not been eating well because she had been slightly lighter when he had carried her. Another was her slightly messy hair with some well hidden tangles that he could see. It was obvious to him that she had not been spending enough time taking care of herself.

Sighing, he leaned over her and ran his hand through her hair, but found it quite hard to do with all the tangles hiding in her hair. It surprised him how many tangles she had considering her hair only reached to the top of her shoulders. He stopped his hand when she stirred slightly more, but still didn't show she was even awake. Spying a glance to his watch, he noticed that they probably should be fixing dinner right now like they usually do together, but his girlfriend, his Cinderella, was in no shape to do so. Choosing his course of action, he leaned down and gently pecked her on the cheek. He pulled back slightly positing his mouth near her ear. "Ma amour, I'm going to go get some takeout food for us to eat and after dinner, I'll stay until you go to bed," he said softly into her ear causing her to stir some more, opening her eye slightly to gaze at him.

"Okay, senpai," she said with sleep still evident in her voice, earning a chuckle from him.

"You better be ready to explain yourself after dinner," he said as he rose to his feet and walked out of the room sliding the door shut behind him.

When he had returned, the food had gotten cold and he had to warm it up in the microwave in the kitchen. As he was warming up the last plate of food, he went to her room and shook her awake before leading her out to the kitchen table. He removed the last plate of food from the microwave and brought over the rest of the food with the plate from the microwave to the table. They uttered the usual greeting before eating and began to eat in silence. Once he was done, he looked at her noticing that she was still eating, taking her time to enjoy the food. "Haruhi," he called out gaining her attention, "can I comb your hair while you finish eating?"

Haruhi, of course, really didn't care, but knew he would not take no for an answer. "I don't care, sen... Tamaki," she said catching herself on almost calling him senpai.

Tamaki was happy with her response, but knew she would probably regret it because of the tangles he had seen looked like they would not give. Keeping those thoughts to the back of his mind, he went to grab a comb and a tall glass of water before returning to sit behind her. Remembering what the twins had told him when he asked about it, he dunks the comb in the water before gathering some of her hair into his hands. He ran the comb through the hair and avoided the tangle before combing the ends. When the ends were combed, he patted her on her shoulder before he dunked the comb in the water again and runs it through the tangle. He knew she had winced and tears were probably forming in his eyes, but he kept running the comb through the tangle until he was able to finally get most of it out before moving on to the next section of hair.

By the time he was done, Haruhi had finished eating and was leaning against him, resting while he was running his hand through her hair causing her to relax even more. "Now, I want you to explain to me why you are not taking good care of yourself, Haruhi-kun," said Tamaki adding the honorific to her name to get across what he expected of her.

She let out a sigh as he continued to run through her hair. "I'm sorry. I'd underestimated what my--right there's good," she said adding in the direction for him to scratch her head, "internship was going to be like. I didn't expect to spend so much time on it. If I did, I wouldn't have taken those two classes on top of it."

Tamaki smiled hearing her confession that she had finally taken on too much like he said she would do. "If you want, I can help you do some chores," he said still scratching the spot she had directed him to.

"Hmph, I don't trust you," said Haruhi puffing out her cheeks knowing Tamaki still couldn't do a single common chore without her advising him every step of the way.

"Then what can I help you with, if not with chores?" Tamaki asked begging.

"Umm...could you help me on the weekends?" She asked quite quietly.

"I can," he whispered into her ear. "Stay over as well?"

"Yes, please."

"Have you bathed recently?" Tamaki asked bringing his noise to her hair and sniffing it.

"No...," she said despondently.

"Then you should do so now," he said picking her up and carrying her to the bathroom. Once he sat her down he began to leave, but cast a glance back at her. "Can I bring you your pajamas?"

"No, you are going to stay out in the kitchen and clean the counters. That I trust you can do without asking how to do it," she said before yawning. "Maybe I should let you comb my hair."

He only smiled at her before leaving her in the bathroom to do what she needed and he went to do his assigned task in the kitchen. After a half hour, she showed up in the kitchen dressed in her pajamas and sat down in front of the kitchen table and was about to fall asleep. Tamaki sat down behind her and turned her around to face him. Gently, he nudged her to lay her forehead on his chest and then he began to comb out her hair with the same comb from earlier combing out what was the left of the tangles from earlier, as well as new tangles.

Once done, he allowed her rest for a few minutes. "Do you want me to stay?" Tamaki asked and Haruhi only nodded. "I will lay you down and get the other futon out for me to use."

Tamaki raised to his feet carrying Haruhi in his arms as he walked to her bedroom before laying her on her futon once again and tucking her in. When he reached the closet that held the futon, he saw a flash of lightening followed by a very loud clap of thunder. Passing up a futon for himself, he went directly back to Haruhi's room and quickly slipped into her futon behind her shivering form. He wrapped his arms around her and she quickly turned to face him before burring her face into his chest. As the night wore on, he whispered calming words to her until she finally fell asleep. Smiling, he finally allowed himself to fall asleep next to her.

As the weeks wore on, Tamaki would come visit Haruhi on the weekends. From helping her to cook to helping her do some chores, Tamaki did it without complaint and then as he became more skilled at doing some of the chores, he would go behind her back to complete a chore to show her that he could do something without her worrying about it. Soon there was several nights during the week where he would just drop in out of the blue with takeout and made her eat right then and there before he allowed her to do anything else. When a holiday was coming up, making for a long weekend, he begged her to stay with him for the whole weekend and she relented as soon as he looked at her with those puppy eyes.

Over the weekend, she never was able to study without him holding her. He was more clingy than usually and when she asked why, he responded that he was still quite worried about her still looking skinner than last semester. When she heard that, she replied with, "Oh, I haven't takin' notice of that or even keep track of that, but I will if it'll make you happy."

When he heard that, he embraced her in a bear hug reminiscent of those hugs from the days of the host club. She pushed him away after five minutes of it in order to allow herself to take in an efficient amount of air, but she was smiling and that made him happy. On the holiday, he took her to a park for a picnic and he was happy when she said she was enjoying herself. After the picnic, he took her home in his limo refusing to let her walk. Before he left, he gave her a small kiss on the forehead and watched as she ran into her apartment and quickly shut the door giving him the impression that she was blushing and didn't want him to know about. As he walked back to his limo, he text asking if she was blushing and she quickly fired back with a flat out denial of such a thing. With a smile on his face, he text back "u must be since u are denying it so much" to only receive a more-angrier-than-last text "so what if I am" making him smile even more.

Tamaki was standing outside the door of the small two-bedroom apartment of Ranka Fujioka, sweating bullets. For Tamaki, Ranka had always thought him to be an idiot when he had found him on top of his daughter that one time long ago. As he gulped, he raised his hand as he was about to knock and felt his bravery slowly disappearing causing him want to go to his corner of woe. Then he remembered that his father and his grandmother (for once they had agreed on something) would let him propose to Haruhi only if she became successful on her own and that he did this one thing of being a gentleman to her father. Finally, he knocked on the door although it was somewhat shakily and unsure.

When the door opened, Tamaki didn't know what to expect, but for once, Ranka was being nice to him. As he waited for his girlfriend's dad to make tea for them, he remembered that Haruhi had told him that her father threw a fit when he learned that "an insect" was staying with her on the weekend, but when he had told that he was doing it out of concern for her, her father had stopped at that moment. "Why are you here, Tamaki Souh?" Ranka asked as he sat down two tea cups for both of them.

"I've talked to my father and grandmother about this and they've set conditions in order for me to do it," said Tamaki as he looked at the cup in front of him before gazing into Ranka's eyes saying the next part with overwhelming conviction. "I want to ask you if I can, in the somewhat distant future, have Haruhi's hand in marriage."

Ranka appeared very surprised and then relaxed after a few minutes. "If she says yes to you, then I will agree with it. I really don't have the heart to deny my little girl her happiness. Besides," Ranka paused, "I think she has loved you for a very long time. I can see why your father and grandmother would approve to a degree. She does even you out."

"Thank you, father!" Tamaki bowed his head.

"Now, tell me what are these other conditions?"

"They want her to be successful on her own."

"She did get into Ouran on her own, so I wouldn't be surprised if she does become successful. I do understand why they would ask that. If that's all, then you can leave but remember this: if you ever make her unhappy, you're dead meat.

"Y-y-yes, father," Tamaki stuttered as he got up and got ready to leave.

Several months had lapsed since Tamaki had asked that question of Ranka and since then, there had been many changes. For one, Tamaki had stayed over out of concern when Haruhi had become sick and he didn't leave until he was sure her cold wouldn't relapse. The other was that Haruhi had finally finished her degree and was currently working at a law firm. Tonight, she had decided to take Tamaki to a little sweet shop for desert and paid for the both of them before taking him to a park with a bench in a secluded little spot. Being taken back by her gesture, Tamaki decided he didn't want to know why she had extended such gesture since he knew full well that he knew for what they had ordered would have been well outside her means back in high school. In the midst of enjoying his desert, she made a little weird noise that no one in the circle of the rich and famous would even make and he turned his attention and eyes to her. "Would you mind...," Haruhi began trailing off with hesitancy in her voice, "picking me up tomorrow? And no, it can't be flamboyant."

His mouth slightly hanging open in slight surprise that she had anticipated his question about how to pick her up. But, he reminded himself mentally, this is Haruhi and she knows me better than mon ami. "I will not have the limo pick us up. I will escort you home, my only princess, if that's what you want, but why are you asking?" Tamaki questioned her before placing another bite of the desert in his mouth, knowing it was the last day of one of her court cases.

"What do you know about Marquee family from America?" She asked.

"Dad does business with them. They own quite a few hotels, but I've heard they had run into hard times as they were trying to start up in Japan. Haruhi, how do you know about them?" Tamaki asked shocked that Haruhi knew about the Marquee family.

"Their youngest son is my client."

"Oh...," the unusually speechless Tamaki responded.

"You don't have anything flamboyant to say?"

"That's 'hard times', I guess," said Tamaki earning an eye-roll from his girlfriend.

"Since your father does business with them, you should know at least something about those who he does business beyond what's common knowledge."

"Look, Haruhi, I don't ask him much. I let him tell me everything when he wants to," said Tamaki frankly waving his hands flamboyantly.

Haruhi just sighed and grabbed both of his wrists stopping his flamboyant gestures. "The head of my firm was very concern about assigning this case to me, but," here she paused and closed her eyes letting herself fall into him and turned her head slightly so that her ear would rest right over his heart, "once they were able to drag out of me about Ouran, he wasn't as concern."

"You've done so well on your own," said Tamaki as he wrapped his arms pulling her into a light embrace. "I don't think your accomplishments can surprise me."

"Thank you," she whispered loud enough for him to hear her.

"You're welcome. Do you want to go home?" Tamaki asked and received a nod in reply before he called the limo and then scoped her up carrying her to the limo.

When they arrived at her apartment, she was starting to drift off like a child would, not how a woman in her late twenties would, and he had to carry into her apartment. He forced her to go change and brush her teeth in the bathroom and when she came out to him waiting by the door, she looked even more tired that he picked her up off her feet and carried her to her bedroom. When he walked into the room, he sat down and continued to hold her, not laying her down on her futon, while gently rubbing her back in circles. As he felt her breathing begin to slow, he gave her a kiss on the forehead and laid her on her side on her futon before continuing to rub her back until she finally falls asleep completely. Getting up he glanced at her once more and before he left, he said softly in his host voice, "Please stay as my Cinderella, Haruhi."

Tamaki was standing outside leaning against the wall of a random building in a square that Haruhi had instructed him to wait for her when she had asked him to pick her up, dressed in non-designer label clothing. As he fiddled with a button on his shirt, he began to though think about what would happen today after he sees her. He had seen her lose four cases and when she did lose, she bottled up on him and would demand for him to take her to a library with a hefty section of law books. However, when she won, which she had done more than ten times now (he had lost count at ten), she would want him to take her anywhere and once they was able to get in his limo, she would close her eyes and allowed herself to fall into him like she had done at the park the night before.

Still in his thoughts, he didn't notice when Haruhi appeared in front of him and began to poke with an annoyed look on her face. "Senpai," she said with her annoyance apparent.

"Oh my dear Haruhi," Tamaki said noticing her presence before starting to rant, "I didn't realize you were even there. I was thinking of all the glorious and exciting ways to celebrate your new success. However, my dear Haruhi, I couldn't of all this not forget that you could've stumble and not be as successful as last time. I...y-y-you used 'senpai', b-b-but why, Haruhi?"

"You weren't even paying attention when I came up to you," she replied back nonchalantly, ignoring his whining.

Then for the first upon seeing her, he noticed she was not dressed how she normal would be when she came from court. "Why are you dressed like that?" Tamaki questioned her.

"There was no way I am in the mood to speak to reporters about this," she said earning a smile from him.

"You're dressing as such to avoid reporters?"

"Yes, now let's go. I don't want to get caught by reporters," she said grabbing his hand and gave a strong tug on it as she led him away from the busy streets.

Eventually, they ended up at her apartment and found the shining faces of all of the former Host Club standing in front to greet them. Everyone, much to Haruhi's displeasure, ended up in her apartment around her kitchen table. Soon, she began to grow sick of the compliments and ordered everyone out except Tamaki (who hadn't once complimented her) which the twins made snide remarks that suggested other reasons for her ordering everyone out except for Tamaki. As Kyoya was making his way out to leave, he turned around and looked directly at Haruhi sitting next to Tamaki. "Now that you've won that case, don't be surprised if you will get more people that are like the Marquee family regarding social class," said Kyoya.

"What do you mean by that?" Haruhi asked.

"More people will be searching you out because of how well you were able to handle that case," said Kyoya and he paused, "and I don't think many people would be very willing to trust someone who's very unskilled, but in your case, your natural ability to understand something without experience is something that will attract those of higher standing than most people."

Then Kyoya left out the door leaving both Haruhi and Tamaki quite stunned. Once the door shut, Haruhi leaned against Tamaki. "The shadow king has struck again," she whispered earning a well-deserved chuckle from Tamaki.

"That's mon ami," said Tamaki before looking down at Haruhi. "So what do you want to do?"

"I really don't care at the moment," said Haruhi closing her eyes.

"Do you have work for the next few days?"

"The head of the firm gave me the rest of the week off and ordered me not to do any work," Haruhi said earning a chuckle from Tamaki. "Hey! I wouldn't do any if he didn't say it."

"But you're starting to get that way on the weekend," said Tamaki. "Any ways would you like to go to Kyoto with me? I don't have much to do over the next few days, so it wouldn't be much of a bother to go."

"It's been awhile since I been there."

"Then maybe we could also go see some sights in Osaka since its nearby. We could leave tonight and ride in a sleeping car to our destination, if you want to do that. As soon as you decide, I can get things planned out."

"Yes," she said causing Tamaki to pull her into a bone crushing hug.

"I'll go right away and get everything set up and allow myself to pack as well as give you some time to pack as well," said Tamaki excitedly, never releasing Haruhi from the bone crushing hug.

"Tamaki," Haruhi finally managed to squeak out.

Hearing her voice being so much quieter, Tamaki looked down and released her from the hug. "Gomen, gomen, Haruhi," said Tamaki. "I got so caught up...."

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't," she said flashing him her trademark smile.

"Thank you Haruhi," said Tamaki as he stood up, but placed a hand on Haruhi's shoulder to keep her from falling over after leaning against him for so long. "I'll see you later for dinner."

"Okay. Should I be packed by then?"

"Try to be. If not I can help you," said Tamaki before leaving.

It had been two days since their vacation ended abruptly and Haruhi was glad that the head of the firm was understanding of the situation. For the cause of the abrupt ending, it was a complete accident caused by clumsiness(Haruhi's clumsiness) and both Haruhi and Tamaki had not escaped unscathed from it. Tamaki's left arm was in a cast and would be so for five weeks. On the other hand, Haruhi had fractured her femur in her right leg and basically grounded her from appearing in court for five weeks until she would get her cast off.

The head of the firm, Daichi Kozomi, had come to visit her at her apartment after she and Tamaki had returned and when he saw her having trouble getting around her apartment, he told her that she could do her work from home until she was able to get around easier or when the cast came off. Thanking him for his kindness, she said goodbye before he left her. Once he left, Tamaki fussed over her trying to make her as comfortable as he could by arranging a huge pile of pillows for her to lean against. Eventually, she got annoyed at his over protectiveness and ordered him out telling him that she could mange just fine as long as she took her time.

Now, she was regretting it.

When she had gotten up that morning, she tried to fix breakfast for herself, but fell not once, but several times to the floor before she was able to finally finish making her breakfast. Feeling embarrassed, she text Tamaki apologizing and literally begging him to bring her lunch. Instead of texting her back, he called her and she answered. Eventually, he dragged out of her the story of her trouble fixing breakfast and told her that he couldn't bring her lunch, but would bring her something to eat around four-ish at the soonest. Then they said goodbye and both hanged up. For the rest of the morning and until Tamaki arrived, she watched TV, slept, or checked her email on the laptop from her work. When those three things began to bore her, she began look at ads for laptops for she was starting to think about having a laptop for personal use would probably come in handy.

When Tamaki entered a little after four, he called out her name and once hearing no reply, he took off his shoes and placed the bag of food from a fast food place on the counter before going to find her. Upon finding her, a smile came to his face. Haruhi was clutching in her arms Kuma-chan that Tamaki had left without noticing and she was laying in the pillows that he had arranged yesterday. Sitting in her lap was her work laptop and it was closed. Going over to her, he took the laptop and went to place it on the kitchen table. When he returned, he used his good arm to bring her to him before placing his bad arm in front of her. Looking down at her and her clutching on to Kuma-chan, he smiled and decided to not wake her for a little while longer. As he watched her sleep, he began the pet her head gentle enough so that she would not be awaken.

When five o'clock rolled around, he decided that she probably should be waken up and gave a kiss on her forehead before gripping her shoulder with his good hand as hard as he could. "I have food for you, Haruhi," he whispered into her ear causing her stir slightly in his arms.

"A few more minutes, please," she mumbled out.

"Then I'll carry you out to the kitchen table and that should be a few minutes," he said as shuffled himself so that his arm with a cast was behind her and his good arm would be under the bend of her knees. "Can you throw your arms around my neck?"

She opened her eyes and threw her arms around his neck her hands holding her elbows on the opposite arm. Once she buried her face into his shoulder, he rose to his feet lifting her up and began to slowly walk to the kitchen. Reaching his destination near the kitchen table, he sat her down and shook her fully awake. While he was warming up the food, Haruhi tried to wake up fully, but was only able to when she smelled the food and her extreme hunger came in full force. As soon as he put the food before her, she scarfed it down without paying attention to manners at all, surprising Tamaki, for he had never seen her eat this fast before. "That was good," she said after finishing with her food.

"Are you still hungry?"

"Hai."

"Then shall I help you fix something?"

"That is probably the best route," she said before he left and returned with her crutches and then helped her up.

"If you want to, you can stay with me for a few days of the week," Tamaki whispered in her ear as he stood behind her steadying her. "It will at least make it easier on you."

"I will think about it, tomorrow."

"Then let's make more than enough for tonight, so you can leftovers for tomorrow."

Daichi Kozumi had run into Tamaki and immediately began to ask the young man that he knew was the boyfriend to his most talent lawyer questions about how said person was doing. As his questions were answered, Daichi became aware of how much Tamaki cared for Haruhi and knew he didn't have to worry about her too much. Then Tamaki texted her when Daichi asked if he could see her and when he got a reply back, he invited Daichi over to the Souh 2nd Mansion. "She should be somewhere in one of the rooms on the first floor," said Tamaki as he began to lead Daichi to a room. "It's either this room or the room with the piano."

When Tamaki opened the door, the two men found Haruhi laying on the couch sleeping with a open book in her hands. "Since you know her much better than what I do, I will leave you to wake her up," said Daichi as he walked back the way they had came leaving Tamaki standing there.

Tamaki went over to Haruhi and pried the book from her hand laying it on the table in the room. Shaking her awake was a far easier than what it had been earlier in the day and as soon as she woke up, she threw her arms around his neck. Smiling, he placed his good arm under her legs and rose up helping her stand on her good leg. Once she was steady on foot, he gave Haruhi her crutches. "Kozumi-san is waiting for you," he said, once she took hold of the crutches.

She only nodded in response as she slowly started to walk with the crutches. When they reached the entry hall, Daichi was standing there waiting for them and they agreed to go to sitting room. Once Tamaki had helped Haruhi sit down on the couch and placed her crutches somewhere where they wouldn't be in the way, he told the two that he would get tea for them before leaving. "Daichi-san what did you need to talk to me about?" Haruhi asked.

"There's a case we are currently handling and it has become quite intricate," said Daichi. "If you're willing, I need another pair of eyes to go over the details and I wanted to ask you first before I asked other people since you are not as busy."

"I would be more than happy to do so," she replied.

"Thank you! Most of our clients had been asking for you, but once I told them that you were laid up with a leg in a cast, they all wished you weren't laid up," said Daichi as Tamaki walked in with a tray of tea and handed the two a cup each.

"Exactly how many have been asking for me?" Haruhi asked before nodding to Tamaki and taking a sip of the tea.

"A good deal have been asking for you," said Daichi taking a sip of his own tea. "There's some that come to the firm only for you." Daichi paused to take another sip and began to chuckle a little bit. "The reporters are quite more difficult to take care of."

"What do you mean?"

"The reporters all want to know more about you, but I only told them what your schooling was done at. However, that has not be satisfying enough for them. What else would you allow me to tell them?"

"You should let him tell them about how you get mistaken for being a boy quite often," said Tamaki.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Daichi asked.

"At Ouran, the entire school population mistaken me for a boy and I didn't correct them at all. No one in the school found out about their mistake until I stumble into the Host Club," said Haruhi before pointing towards Tamaki, "and he was the last member to find out. If that will get them off your back for awhile you can tell them. And I still do get mistaken as one only when I dress in baggy clothes."

"I can see why," said Daichi as he glanced at her. "I should get going. My wife and kids will be wondering where I am. I will give you the details of the case tomorrow. Will you be here?"

"No, my dad wants me to go and stay with him for a few days. I will be going to his place tomorrow," Haruhi said.

"If you are more than welcome to come over and stay with me for a few days if it would help you," said Daichi as he rose up to his feet.

"I will think about it," she said.

"Then I will email the details then. It will be encrypted for security reason," said Daichi before leaving.

"He is quite nice to you," said Tamaki.

"He has told me that if I keep winning these big cases, he will consider giving me a raise ending with more zeros than I had ever had to mange."

"Exactly how much?"

"About three hundred thousand yen." (AN: The vase was 80 million yen. The Japanese manga costs 390 yen. If that helps get an ideal about prices. The male uniform for Ouran cost 300, 000 yen. Don't know if that's the same for the girl's uniform.)

"Not bad, you could pay for the uniform now."

"And nothing else. What are we having for dinner?"

"A mixture of cuisines," answered Tamaki. "When do you want to go back to your father's place tomorrow?"

"After breakfast, but no later than ten."

"Can I hold you?"

"If that's what you want, you can go ahead," Haruhi replied causing a smile to appear on Tamaki's face.

Without blinking her eyes, Tamaki was by her side and had raised her body from the couch before sliding underneath her. He rested his arm with the cast on her stomach and with his other hand, he took her hand and weaved his fingers between her fingers before giving her a kiss to the top of her head. "You know I love you," he said softly.

"You have told me every day since you graduated," she said before letting out a yawn.

"Why are you so tired?"

"It's a side effect of those pills they put me on, but next week is the last week that I have to take them."

"Go to sleep then. I'll wake you up for dinner."

"Thank you, Tamaki," she said before closing her eyes.

It felt so good to be standing on both of her feet even though Tamaki had to wrap his arm around her waist to keep her steady while she walked. After getting in his limo, Tamaki suggested that they could go to a park to walk around before stopping by the law firm for her to pick up anything that she needed. As they walked around the park, she became less dependent on Tamaki to keep her steady. When it was late afternoon, they went to the firm and Daichi greeted them before telling Haruhi that her desk had a ton of papers from well-wishers.

While she was taking care of the papers, Daichi had pulled Tamaki aside and upon finding out that Tamaki was going to propose to her in a few months, he immediately begged Tamaki to make sure she didn't forget to take care of herself. Tamaki, of course, replied that he was worried that she would forget and he told Daichi about the time she had taken on too much. After hearing that, Daichi smiled and decided to lead Tamaki to her office where she was at. Once they arrived, she had finished going through the papers and had set aside a small stack that she immediately gave to Tamaki. Before they left, she told Daichi that she coming tomorrow to work and when he heard that, he said that was extremely glad to have her back.

Tamaki was standing around in the square in a secluded little spot waiting for Haruhi to show up when someone came from behind him and wrapped her--he felt the distinctive feel of a feminine figure with a washboard chest lay against his back--arms around his midsection. Knowing it was Haruhi, he reached behind him and patted her head, still confused by her reaction. She had never acted like this way after any court case ever. "Let's go eat lunch," he said softly to her in an almost comforting tone of voice.

She nodded in response and she began to slide down his back, but he stopped her by placing one of his hands on her back and grabbing the shirt she was wearing. Turning around, he noticed the late nights of pouring over law books had finally caught up to her because she had closed her eyes and her breathing was starting to even out. Picking her up bridal style, he hugged her close to his chest as he glanced around to make sure no one was watching before careful walk off to the waiting limo that was hidden behind some buildings. "Is she okay, master Tamaki?" The limo drive asked as he held open the door for Tamaki.

"She should be. I know she hasn't been going to bed at a decent time and probably the exhaustion has finally caught up to her now that she is finished," said Tamaki as he slid into the limo and laid Haruhi onto the seat next to him laying her head in his lap. "We are still going to where I told you earlier, but I will leave you to look after her while I get the food. Hopefully, she wakes up before we get to the park."

"Yes, master Tamaki," said the driver before closing the door and going to the driver's seat.

She blinked her eyes a couple of times surprised by the brightness of her surroundings after waking up from her nap. Finally, her eyes had adjusted to the brightness and she began to take notice of what was around her. From what she felt, she could tell she was laying on a blanket on the grass and Tamaki had taken off her shoes, which was completely fine with her. Rolling over to her left, she saw Tamaki sitting on the blanket watching the sights. "You could've woke me up when we arrived," Haruhi said.

"You needed it," he said turning towards her and smiling. "Besides I was going to wake you in five more minutes if you didn't wake up. Are you ready for lunch?"

"Yeah," she said pushing herself up into a sitting position after rolling back on to her back. "What did you get?"

"The usual except for the fruits and cheeses," he said as he pulled out their lunch before pulling out the fruits and cheeses laying out everything between them.

As they ate their lunch, Haruhi couldn't help it, but had to glance every so often at the only red fruit that he sat out thinking why he had bought her favorite fruit that he only would buy when it was some special occasion. When they finished with their lunch, Tamaki cut into one of the cheeses and handed her it telling her the name of the cheese before she ate it. Between bites of cheese, she would take a strawberry and plop it into her mouth, savoring the taste of the fruit that was starting to peak in its season.

After all of the fruits and cheeses were eaten, they laid on the blanket and Tamaki eventually had Haruhi in his arms before she had fallen asleep. As it approached three, Tamaki called his limo before waking Haruhi with a kiss to her forehead and telling her she could sleep on the way to their next stop. They folded the blanket and put it away and then waited for the limo to pick them up. As they waited, she tried to get out of Tamaki about what he was planning, but was unsuccessful. When they arrived, Tamaki blindfolded her and guided her for some distance before he removed the blindfold to reveal a small stone plaza. "Why are we here, Tamaki?" She asked only to have Tamaki place a helmet on her head.

"It will be fun," he said as he adjusted the straps on the helmet before giving elbow- and knee-pads. "Put these on while I get my own pads and helmet on."

Looking down at the elbow- and knee-pads, Haruhi could only think of two things that would need such equipment: bikes and skates. Bikes really didn't need it if you were really confident in your abilities, but skates probably needed it. When Tamaki returned to her, he had a pair of skates in his hand and he was skating. Reluctantly, Haruhi let Tamaki put on the skates for her. Once the skates were on, he took her hand and showed her how to skate. When he finally let go off her hand, she was skating without problems and was starting to enjoy it. Watching her skate when she seemed so reluctant about it earlier was making him smile. Then he skated over to the edge of the plaza and walked over to a tree leaning up and taking some little box from the limb closes to the ground.

Haruhi had turned to notice Tamaki was standing with eyes begging for her to come to him. Letting out a sigh, she skated over to and stopped in front of Tamaki. Noticing his wacky grin plastered over his face, she felt jittery and nervous for no apparent reason, but once he got on one knee and opened a little box before her, she knew the reason. "I've been waiting a long time for this, every since I said je t'amie to you. I would've done it sooner if not for dad and grandmother wanting you to prove you worthy for me. I couldn't wait for you to tell me that you won your case today that once I got into the limo with you asleep, I called Daichi and asked him. Hearing you did, I asked dad to put the ring in the tree before we got here to make sure I didn't forget to bring it," said Tamaki before pausing to take a breath and closed his eyes. "Haruhi, will you always be my Cinderella and marry me?"

Haruhi looked at the ring, pleasantly surprised by it, and tried to figure out how she was going to respond. In her heart, she wanted to say yes, but her mind was warring with her heart until she remembered something her dad had told her. So, she asked a question of herself.

What would she do if he ever completely disappear from her life?

The question, once it entered her mind, stopped her mind from warring with her heart. "Yes," she breathed out with closed eyes.

He opened his eyes to her closed ones and smiled as he rose to his feet and slipped the ring on the finger on her hand as demanded by Japanese custom. Noticing she had yet to move, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him pressing her chest against his. Of all the times he held her, she had never been this stiff and taken this long for her to respond. Placing a gentle hand on her head, he began to let his fingers massage her scalp. Finally, she relaxed and he knew that she had probably been shocked. "Where would y--," Tamaki started only to be cut off by Haruhi kissing him and deepening the kiss soon after their lips had met.

"Where's Haruhi, Tamaki?" Kyoya asked his friend sitting next to him.

"She's locked up in a library, Kyoya, reading law books again," said Tamaki.

"Isn't it like her third or forth time this case, tono?" Hikaru asked from beside Tamaki.

"Forth time," said Tamaki as their waiter returned.

The former members of the host club were meeting up for dinner at a fancy restaurant for the second time in two weeks and both times a certain androgynous woman had been locked in a library studying law books. Not one of the former members had seen Haruhi since she had won her last major case and they all had noticed Tamaki's strange behavior, but they hadn't heard the former host club king say a word about why he was acting strange.

"Can't we go see her at the library?" Hunny asked as they were mid way through their meal.

"I guess we could go as a group. Her boss doesn't want her getting sick," said Tamaki.

"She has won quite a few major cases," said Kyoya pushing his glasses into place. "It is expected for her to be wanted by some pretty big names in the business."

"She's high up there already?" Kaoru asked.

"Yeah," said Tamaki. "Haven't you two dopple-gangers been paying attention to the news?"

"We've been too busy, tono," said Hikaru.

"Besides we weren't expecting her to achieve great heights so fast," said Kaoru.

"The case she is currently handling is another big name," said Tamaki, leaning back in his chair, "and that's all I've been told. I really can't believe it that she's reading the paper I get whenever she comes over."

"She's reading a business paper?!" The twins exclaimed in unison.

"Not surprising," said Kyoya.

"Ah...," said Mori.

"Then Haru-chan really has important clients then," said Hunny.

"If we want to leave at decent time, we should finish up eating," said Kyoya as he looked at his watch before glancing at Tamaki. "Would she like it if we decide to drop in on her apartment and bring desert?"

"I don't think she should mind, but really she hasn't been at her apartment all that much," said Tamaki before beginning to finish up his food.

"Then it's settled," said Kyoya before starting to finish up his food as well.

When he saw Haruhi slumped over the books, asleep, Tamaki rushed over to her and shook her awake before the others came over to her. Once she looked up at Tamaki and saw the others behind him, her hand went straight to her pocket where she had been keeping her ring at, fiddling with it. "If you want them...," said Tamaki trailing off as the others grew closer.

Slowly, she plucked the ring out of her pocket and slipped it on her finger before the others reached them. When the others had reached them, she hid her hand with the ring on it from view with determined to tell them before they saw the ring on her finger. Suddenly, Hunny jumped at her causing her to fall to the ground from her chair from surprised of someone only a hair shorter than her was tackling her. Forgetting about hiding the ring on her finger, she flung her hands to the side to soften her fall to the ground, but still landed flat on her back.

Laying splayed out on the floor long after Hunny had finally got off of her, she was completely lost in the joy of not thinking about much. What thoughts that were crossing her mind were simplistic, not complex with thoughts about how her life would be changing within a span of a year. "Haru-chan, are you all right?" The light child-like voice of Hunny asked her.

She merely grunted in response bringing Tamaki next to her and slipped an arm under her back before helping her up into a sitting position. "Would you like to go home?" He asked, his voice full of concern.

Finally snapped out of her daze, she looked at everyone only to notice they were starring at her, no, at her hand. "What do you guys want?" She deadpanned with her annoyance apparent.

"How long were you sleeping?" Tamaki asked full of concern. "They wanted to come see you and have desert at your apartment."

Haruhi took a moment to look at the clock that was hanging. "No more than fifteen minutes," she said.

"Haruhi," Tamaki began, "have you been getti...."

"I've had enough," she said cutting him off. "I want to get home."

"Okay," he said pausing to look at the books on the table. "Do you need any of these books?"

"I've found what I wanted for today," Haruhi said as she got up and began closing the books.

"Are you going to buy your own set of books sometime, Haruhi?" Kyoya asked as he pushed up his glasses. "It would seem more efficient to have your own set."

"Kyoya-senpai, do you even know how much a full-set costs?"

"You got me there on that point."

"After my next paycheck, I'll have more than enough money to buy it," she said as she pushed the chair before beginning to walk off. "If you all want desert, let's leave."

They all followed her, but when Tamaki noticed she was going to fall, he went to her side and placed an arm around her waist to steady her. Noticing she was starting to fall asleep on her feet, Tamaki swooped her up into his arms bridal style and hug her close to his body before turning to his friends. "We should let her sleep," said Tamaki as he gazed at the young, androgynous woman in his arms. "I was going to ask her if she has been getting enough sleep, but she cut me off before I could."

"Can we still eat desert at Haru-chan's apartment?" Hunny asked.

"She'll wake up within twenty minutes, so that would be a yes, Hunny-senpai," said Tamaki looking at the once small young man before switching his look to Haruhi. "We should take our time buying desert, so we don't have to wait long for her to wake up."

Everyone nodded and started for their cars to go to Haruhi's apartment.

Tamaki wiped away the tears that were coming for his fiancé's closed eyes. Smiling, he knew her dream must of provoke something to cause the tears to develop. As he rubs away a new tear, she opened her eyes and placed her hand over his. "How was your nap?" Tamaki asked before adding. "If want to, can you tell me your dream that caused you to cry?"

"Mom," she muttered as she took his hand and placed it on her hair.

"I wish I could take you to France without breaking my promise to grandmother, so you can see my mother," said Tamaki as he began to run his fingers through her hair.

"Couldn't you ask her to let you just this one time to do so?" Haruhi asked as she sat up, letting herself lean against Tamaki.

"I will talk to my dad about it, but I really do want to go abroad for our honeymoon," said Tamaki. "We should go see our friends. They decided to stay and wait for you to wake up."

"We probably should," said Haruhi as Tamaki helped her up. "What did they pick out?"

"Strawberry cheesecake," said Tamaki with a smile.

"They sure know how what I like," said Haruhi.

"They wouldn't be friends if they didn't," said Tamaki. "Oh, they did ask about the ring and I told them that you would tell them before they left tonight."

Haruhi just rolled her eyes as Tamaki lead her out to the table where everyone was waiting. Once they saw her, Hunny and the twins took out the cake and place out enough slices for the seven of them. As soon as Haruhi sat down, they began to eat the slices of cake. When they were done, everyone besides Tamaki began to stare at Haruhi's hand with the ring again. "What?" Haruhi asked annoyance starting to build.

"We want to know about that ring, Haru-chan. You never wore a ring before," said Hunny.

"I got it two weeks ago. Right, Tamaki?" Haruhi said casting a glance to Tamaki.

That was when the twins and everyone else realized what was going on with the ring. "You're tono's fiancé!" The twins shouted in shock.

"Never really thought about it besides wearing this ring. Really, Daichi-san and my other co-workers all know about this, but I'm trying to keep the reporters from knowing about it," said Haruhi leaning against Tamaki.

"You might be able to keep them from knowing about who you are engaged to up until the day of the wedding," said Kyoya.

"I've been thinking about that," said Haruhi before yawing and closing her eyes. "Once the contract is up, I'm moving in with Tamaki. It would be too much of a hassle to break it."

"We should be going because you look like you need to get some sleep, Haruhi," said Kyoya as he rose up to his feet from the table. "You better be trying to get the recommended amount of sleep."

"Daichi-san ordered me not to work this weekend," Haruhi said earning several chuckles from her friends.

"Don't make us worry, Haruhi," said Mori as he placed a hand on her head causing her to open her eyes.

"I'll be staying with you tonight Haruhi," said Tamaki.

"Have a nice night you two," the twins said before leaving with the others.

"Tamaki," said Haruhi.

"Yes, ma amoura."

"Could you comb my hair after I get out?"

"Yes, my Cinderella!"

Haruhi gave her smile that Tamaki found so cute that he would go and glomp her in response to how he called her his Cinderella. "I'll be your Cinderella forever," she said as she got before hugging him.

"Go take your bath and enjoy it. I'll set out the futons for us," Tamaki said before she retreated to her room and then to the bathroom.

And for that night, he and his Cinderella slept together in the same apartment as a husband-to-be and wife-to-be.

Finished! And it's my second one-shot for Ouran. I will be writing a sequel to this one-shot called "My Cinderella, We'll Get Through This" because things are never simple with Haruhi and Tamaki. Time to cut this short, but please push the button to review this because I will use any suggestions and comments to make the sequel better.