A/N: It's time for my annual Christmas story. Many of you will notice that I didn't put a poll up this time and that's because I decided to do something different this year. It's been crazy. I wound up getting really sick in August and then had to get my tonsils out. OUCH! After issues with surgery, I'm finally better. All of this made me realize something though, shit happens and it may make things difficult, but I'm truly blessed. I know my readers here all have their favorite ship and I've decided to give back after everything you've given me. Everyone gets their ship! Each chapter of this story will be a different story featuring a different pairing with the hosts. (Sorry everyone, I only covered the hosts this year.) None of the stories will be connected and they will vary in length. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Cub or its characters. If I did, I'd be living in Japan right now and would be able to actually draw people. As it is, I'll just settle for using the in my fanfictions. LOL.

Chapter 1 – Hikaru/Haruhi

It was cold. Almost too cold for Haruhi's tastes, but that only meant that Christmas was right around the corner and maybe, just maybe, they'd actually get a white Christmas for the holiday. Of course that also meant she needed to be on the lookout. She didn't trust a certain redhead when there was snow around. She'd known Hikaru Hitachiin for two years now and in that time, he'd proven himself to be full of mischievousness and always looked for an opening to pull pranks on unsuspecting people. And that included Haruhi, much to her dismay.

But then again, somewhere in the middle of being forced to join the Host Club during her first year and the confetti popper that exploded in her desk when she'd opened it the day before, she'd fallen in love with him. His pranks were sort of – not really – endearing. It was a part of who he was and Haruhi never wanted to change him. It was just too bad he didn't feel the same. All the other hosts had fallen for her on some level, of that she was certain, but not him. Why? Why had she fallen for him and she was nothing more than a friend to him.

She sighed and walked down the hall toward the library. In the overly sized, too opulent, and noisy room, she could throw herself into her studying and forget about a boy with auburn hair and amber eyes.

"You are aware that being late to the Host Club could still warrant a degree of punishment?" Eye glasses sparkled in the fluorescent lights of the library, startling a certain female host, causing her to jump and her pen flew across the page in a scribble.

"Kyoya-senpai!" She clutched her chest and breathed heavily. Shaking her head, she gathered her wits and tried to calm her racing heart. The Shadow King still had the power to terrify the people around him, and while he usually didn't affect her, she'd been so engrossed in her studying, she hadn't heard him appear. "What are you even doing here? You and Tamaki-senpai graduated already."

"Yes, we did." Kyoya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "However, one should remember that while we did leave you and the twins in charge of the club, we still oversee the operation and periodically attend the Host Club. Today was a scheduled visit."

"Was that today? Yay us," she deadpanned.

"Haruhi, need I remind you what can happen –"

She interrupted him, "Another threat? You won't go through with it, senpai." She'd long ago realized that while Kyoya had the power and means to take care of his enemies, to his friends they were nothing more than empty threats…that said, no one else in the Host Club had caught on to his agenda…well, maybe Hunny and Mori had.

Kyoya studied her for a moment and smirked. "You never know. Shall we?"

"Whatever." She wasn't excited about attending the Host Club today, and in all honesty, it was getting harder and harder for her to watch Hikaru participating in the whole twincest act in addition to seeing all of the girls who threw themselves at him.

"Haruhi…"

"Let's just go, Kyoya-senpai." She grabbed her books and walked out of the library, leaving Kyoya standing by the table she'd been occupying.

His smirk growing, he stared at her retreating form for a moment longer before following her out. "How interesting."

When he caught up with her, he told her, "The Host Club will not be meeting in the music room today. We have arranged a Winter Wonderland for the ladies outside. Please go and change and meet us out there. Tardiness will result in a punishment you do not want to face."

A chill ran up her spine at his words. His tone held a menacing air that normally wasn't there. "Uh, yeah. I'll…I'll go change and meet you down in the courtyard."

"No. We are meeting on the hill."

"The hill. Got it." While she didn't think he would follow through with his threat, she also didn't want to push him too much. She rushed to the music room to change into whatever horrifying costume awaited her, but when she flew into her dressing room, she stopped. There, hanging up in her curtained off room was a red velvet dress lined with white fur. She pinched the fabric on the skirt to see if it was real and gasped seeing small jewels sown into a pattern lining the bottom. Knowing these rich bastards, the jewels were probably real and the fur was probably the best imitation that money could buy. She didn't even want to calculate the cost.

But that left the question, why a dress. Yes, there were times when she would wear a dress, but in the time since joining the Host Club, she could count on one hand the number of times she forced her to dress as a female. Why now? Why for this winter horror story?

Taking in a deep breath, she released it slowly. She refused to let her foul mood affect her job in the club. The patrons always expected the hosts to be dressed well, smiling, and in a good mood. She knew how to fake it and probably deserved an Oscar. Okay. She'd learned how to fake it and could at least fool the ladies who came to see her during club hours. Hell, she'd been pretending to be a boy this whole time, which in and of itself was some kind of miracle. During her first year, when they'd arrived at the end of the Ouran Faire, she was sure her cover had been blown and she wouldn't have cared, however, it hadn't been. The girls actually thought it was some sort of cosplay and that the guys had forced her to wear fake boobs. Really? Ouran was known academically, but Haruhi had to seriously question some of the female population that attended the school. Whatever. Not her problem. She had her own challenges to conquer and her dreams to fulfill.

She pulled the dress away from the wall. Nope, no other costume. She searched the room and others in the music room. No other costumes were found…at least none that went along with the winter theme. She'd found the old Usa-Chan costume that the twins and Tamaki had tried to get her to wear her first year at Ouran. And a Kuma-Chan costume that Tamaki had brought her during her second year. But nothing winter. This dress had to be it.

Quickly changing into the heavy material, complete with three petticoats (how annoying), she tried to race to the hill. The dress was heavy and it slowed her down, and she almost broke her ankle when she slipped on the marble floor. Instead she slammed into one of the pillars. "Stupid shoes, stupid dress, stupid club," she muttered under her breath as she leaned there and tried to get her balance back. Her ankle hurt and she wanted to nothing more than to change back into her school uniform.

"Haru-Chan! Hurry! Hurry!" Hunny bounced up to her, Mori following him.

"Hunny-senpai, Mori-senpai, I didn't expect to see you here today."

"We wouldn't miss this for the world!" Hunny exclaimed. "It's finally –"

"Mitsukuni," Mori snapped, cutting his cousin off.

"Finally what?" Now Haruhi was confused. Wasn't today just a normal Host Club day with an outrageous theme like always?

Hunny giggled. "Nothing! Come on Haru-Chan. We don't want to be late for the ladies." He started to run down the hall knowing his two friends would be following him.

Haruhi pulled away from the pillar and took one step on her bad ankle and started to pitch forward. Oh no! she thought to herself.

Reflexively, Mori caught her before she could face plant into the floor. "Haruhi?"

"Thanks, Mori-senpai. I'm fine. Just twisted my ankle is all." She completely blamed this on Tamaki. It had to be his idea and his plotting that landed her in this situation.

"Come." Mori picked her up and carried her bridal style out of the building and towards the hill.

Blushing, Haruhi closed her eyes and face palmed. Great. Not only had she twisted her ankle, but she was late and now had to be carried or risk falling. Today was just getting better and better.

But wait! Hunny and Mori were wearing their old Ouran uniform. Where were their costumes? Was their visit a surprise and therefore they didn't have any? But Hunny had said they had planned on coming today. What the hell was going on? What did Tamaki have planned.

Only when they got to the hill, there were no customers, no girls. Only she and the hosts. Everyone except the one man who occupied her thoughts stood in their normal uniform on a hill of white and fake snow blew all around them. Hikaru stood in a red Santa suit minus the beard. Her heart raced and she didn't notice the chill in the air.

"Mori-senpai, what did you do to my daughter?" Tamaki screeched.

"She hurt herself," Mori answered and carefully set her down.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Tamaki started to run towards her, but something stopped him. In actuality, Hikaru threw a sack over his shoulder, hitting the former president in the face, sending him flying backwards, and sliding down the hill. When he opened his eyes, visions of tiny sugar plum fairies danced in circle over his head.

And if you are wondering, yes, it was completely on purpose.

Rushing up to her, Hikaru grabbed her small waist and asked, "Are you all right?"

"Heels are not my friend."

"Heels?" He tilted his head to the side. When he'd placed her costume in her changing room, it had lace up boots to be sure, but they did not have a heel on them knowing she never did well in them, and since they were going to be on a hill with snow blowing around them, heels would have been the death of her. Looking down at her feet, he whipped around and narrowed his eyes on the path Tamaki had left behind. It had to be him. Neither Kaoru nor Kyoya would have switched out the shoes, and Mori and Hunny wouldn't have had time – not that they would have done it either. That only left one person. "Baka Tamaki-senpai," he cursed under his breath.

"Honestly, I thought I was running late today. I'm glad none of the ladies have arrived yet."

Grinning, Hikaru locked eyes with her. "They aren't coming."

"What do you mean?" She was really confused now.

"Today is about you and me."

"You and me?" She tilted her head to the side still not sure where he was going for she was convinced he would be the last person who had feelings for her.

Chuckling nervously, he set his sack down and stuck a hand into it. "This is for you."

She accepted the gift with a bewildered frown on her face. "What is it?"

"Open it."

She did as he instructed and opened the present, gasping when she got the wrapping off. It was a picture of Hikaru and her dancing at the Ouran Faire during her first year in high school.

"Now this one." He gave her another one.

Ripping into the wrapping, she found a charm bracelet that had a watermelon, a manor house that reminded her of Karuizawa, but that wasn't all. It also had a crab, a pool, a firecracker, and a horse and carriage. They all reminded her of her times not only with the Host Club, but also Hikaru. Especially the firecracker after what happened to her desk.

"And this." He placed yet another package in her hands.

When she opened it, she found a framed note that read, "Will you meet me under the mistletoe tonight and every day for the rest of our lives? Will you be my personal Christmas star that guides me?" Tears filled her eyes and her smile grew. "Y –" Before she could say anything, Hikaru covered her mouth and put one more gift in her hands. It was a coffee mug that allowed one to write on it with chalk. Hikaru had written a message, "Will you go out with me? Check yes or no." There were boxes. Someone, probably Kyoya since he was standing right next to her now, handed her a piece of chalk. She instantly marked the box for "yes". "Of course I will!"

Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him take her weight since her ankle wouldn't allow her to leap onto him. Their Christmas promise was sealed with a kiss, and the other hosts left them there, Mori dragging Tamaki along the ground behind him, to celebrate the moment alone.

This wouldn't be their last Christmas together, but it would be the one that started it all and one of the most memorable for years to come.

The End