A/N: I originally started writing this in Kyouya's point of view, but for some reason, it just didn't seem to fit. Not sure why. Eh, I wrote it at one in the morning, so who knows what my little brain was thinking then. Heh.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club.


Many say that people look peaceful in death. Beautiful, serene, angelic, calm, etc. A plethora of lovely words that, in my opinion, isn't at all accurate. One simply uses one of these words to lighten up that fact that what the word is describing is dead. No longer among the living. In a "better place". But there is no way that the body in front of me right now looks peaceful. Fake, maybe. Forced. Stiff. Unnatural. Peaceful? Not a chance.

I know for a fact that she would have never worn this dress. It's far too feminine for her taste. As for those earrings - I didn't even know she had her ears pierced to begin with. The makeup isn't too over-done, but nothing she would have let been put on her without a fight.
And she's much, much too pale.

In other words, this isn't Haruhi.

Who she was is long gone in who-knows-where. Heaven, Paradise, whatever you want to call it. All I know is that she's not here anymore. So I have no clue as to why Kaoru insists on talking to this shell she's left behind. She can't hear him. Even if she could, it's not like she'd be able to respond in any way. Talking to a corpse is useless.

Then there's Tamaki standing there with a strange, almost determined look on his face. His lips move silently, forming strings of sentences that die and fade into breath. Even though the words don't make it out of his mouth, we can hear them. They're all over him. In his eyes, his clothes, his hair. Screaming at us.

"Daddy loves you."

They yell in time to his beating heart.

"Daddy loves you."

Mori stands in his usual silence, a sobbing Hani attached to his hip. Tears stream down Hani's child-like face as he clutches his bunny with a trembling hand. He hiccups quietly, causing Mori to scoop him up in one fluid movement, holding his tiny body in a comforting gesture. After a moment, I find myself having to look away.
It's painful to watch two people look so broken.

Secluded from everyone under a nearby tree is the tall, dark, almost menacing figure of Kyouya. The face that normally reveals nothing is raw and exposed. Sadness is written all over, the ink from the pen bleeding through, making an absolute mess. It drips from the tip of his nose and onto the black of his tie, dissolving into the color of mourning. His posture - which is usually proud and refined - is now crumpled. He is so torn, so bent, so... ripped apart... that it scares me. What could cause even the Shadow King so much torment?

Who could cause it?

Oh, right.

Her.

Kaoru takes my right hand and squeezes it. He's stopped talking. But now, I want him to say something. Anything. Something to stop this wretched silence! It's absolutely overwhelming. I think my eardrums could burst from the deafening noise of this grief! It's loud enough to wake the dead!

"DAMNIT!" I shout, tearing my hand away from Kaoru's. The sound of my anger seems to echo through the cemetery. Kaoru looks at me, startled.

"Hikaru-"

"SOMEONE JUST MAKE IT STOP! SOMEONE JUST STOP THE FREAKING SILENCE!"

By now, all eyes are fixed on me. Every single damn red-rimmed eye. My heart is pounding a thousand times faster than usual, sending a hot wave of rage through my body.

"HARUHI'S DEAD AND GONE! NEVER COMING BACK! NO AMOUNT OF CRYING OR BEING SILENT IS GOING TO MAKE HER CRAWL OUT OF THAT COFFIN! SO JUST FREAKING STOP!"

Kaoru tries to grab my hand again, but I make a mad dash out of there. No one comes after me. No one screams my name. They just continue to be quiet.

When I've run until my lungs just about collapse, my legs do just that. I lie there, a shattered mess on the yellowed grass. On the horizon, a storm approaches. A brilliant flash of lightening streaks across the clouds, and I wait patiently. For the thunder.

But it doesn't come.

So I continue to lie here. I continue to wait.

And I'm not leaving until the thunder breaks the silence.