I decided to start this story as a completely inappropriate use of my time, but I really needed a break from Naruto because it's driving me off the deep end. Anyways, this idea started off as a lighthearted piece of fiction and morphed into this. It seems I cannot stay on track when it comes to writing funny things. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. –Insert witty banter here-

Chapter 1: A Death in the Family

It seemed odd that I would be sitting by myself. Of course, this oddity was only a product of the fact that I hadn't been truly left alone since my first year of high school. The Host Club did that to me. They would always barge in and ruin my studying time with their crazy ideas for 'club activities', whatever the hell that meant. They got on my nerves and made me want to pull my hair out, but nonetheless, we were a family. I loved them all in different ways.

Everybody on the outside viewed us as this perfect unit that functioned flawlessly together, but in reality, we were all merely broken pieces made whole by each other. Tamaki had made sure of that. From the things I had learned while in the Host Club, I realized that everyone had needed saving, including myself. Tamaki rescued all of us from varying degrees of problems. Who was to guess that the impeccable 'Prince' that had saved us needed a little help of his own? Luckily, we were able to return the favor before it was too late. In the end, we were all just a bunch of misfits whose pieces only fit with the others.

Yet, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. It seemed like only a few months before Mori and Honey graduated and went to college. As time progressed, I began to view college as an enemy or something to overcome rather than the goal it had always been previously. With the loss of two of the members, we were lost like puppies without a mother. Tamaki, being the person he is, corrected this in the form of more time spent together outside of school. The ache very nearly subsided, and then the impossible happened.

Tamaki and I were only together for a short amount of time, but it was the most real experience in my entire life. I lost a sempai and gained something much more significant. Hikaru and Kaoru stayed mostly out of the way, but asking them to be completely tolerant was really asking too much. We continued to be friends, but it was harder to keep in touch with them when most of my time was spent with my 'prince'.

Our time came and went and then Kyoya and he were also gone. With only the three of us and without the guidance of our president, the Host Club truly disbanded. I finally got the time I needed to study my last year of school, but it was mostly empty. Hikaru, Kaoru, and I became like a support system for each other. Although they were always two of my closest friends, I could sense the tension because of my previous relationship with Tamaki. I knew Hikaru still harbored feelings for me, but it wasn't fair for me to try reciprocating when my thoughts still rested with the missing pieces of our group.

So, with some resentment, I let them go after our graduation. It hadn't even been raining when we said our goodbyes, but I know now that I will always wish it had. Something about this parting felt more final than the others, and I internally rationalized this to be because they were the last things keeping me from collapsing. My family had been prematurely cut apart by unforeseen circumstances, and I had let it happen. I recognized that there was nothing I could do to stop any of them from pursuing a higher education, but was it really so hard to send a damn postcard from wherever the hell they were?

When Hikaru and Kaoru were gone, I was finally left alone. And it wasn't until they had all left me that I realized that I didn't even want that anymore. I tried fruitlessly to contact them, but they were nowhere to be found, none of them. Apparently they all fled the country for whatever reason and were attending universities outside of Japan, while I was left to attend the University of Tokyo. When I really needed them, they became like shadows, unreachable, intangible.

Untouchable.

I hated that I still cared about them all. It was too painful to even consider. People walked in and out of my life every day, but none of them left footprints like the Host Club. I would never understand how they were able to casually walk away, while I was slowly burning on the inside.

I only had one friend at school now, which was a considerably difference from the hordes of fans and admirers that used to flock to me at Ouran. That was probably the only nice thing about college. I no longer had to pretend to be a boy, but that never had truly bothered me in the first place. The good thing was that I could walk down a hallway without getting shouted at by adoring girls in frilly yellow dresses.

In fact, I had let my hair grow out to just above my shoulders. It was an easy length to manage and it contrasted nicely with the impossibly long hair of my roommate and friend, Haruko. Haruko and I contradicted each other in many ways, most of which were centered on superficial things like interests and hobbies. Our personalities never clashed, and mostly we stayed out of each others way.

Haruko was a tall girl, a considerable amount of centimeters taller than me. She had a willowy figure that left her looking delicate and thin. Her hair was a color of midnight black, while her eyes were an interesting shade of green that reminded me of grass on a summer day. Her skin was pale, and more often than not, she wore clothes that were baggy in order to hide it from the sun. Haruko's nature was docile, but she had a volatile streak that rarely left anything alive in her fury.

Currently, she was in the main lounge on our floor, conversing with some of the other people on the floor. I was sitting in our room, reading a book about some famous lawyer gone detective. It was interesting, but I could already tell what was going to happen, so it didn't hold my attention for very long, which led me to thinking. Lately, thinking had become a dangerous habit for me. My thoughts always ran a line to the Host Club and my memories of them. Truthfully, I felt as though they had died and I was left reminiscing about their lives. Sometimes, I had to look at pictures just to reassure myself that they had been real.

Groaning and stretching, I lifted myself off of my bed and made my way over to my picture album. The cover depicted a group of puppies patiently sitting in the grass, looking as though they were waiting for something. It was picked out by Tamaki while we were dating and given to me as a gift before he left. Sighing, I pushed it open and skipped through the first few pictures of my family in various positions of entertainment. About halfway through, I found the first Host Club picture. It was a group photo of all of us and we were in our school uniforms. The picture had been used in a photo collection that Kyoya had made for the guests. That was the only formal one I had, and the rest were a compilation of pictures that had been taken of us on our many outings, including some couple shots of Tamaki and I.

The door behind me slowly began to open and I snapped the album cover shut before placing it back in its slot on the bookcase. Turning around, I saw Haruko walk in with a small smile on her face. Her eyes were glinting with some inner amusement that was never a good sign.

"So, Haruhi, I just found out from one of the girls on our floor that you've finally gotten some mail from someone other than your father," she said, the smile on her face steadily growing as she noticed the palpable excitement beginning to emanate from me. I had told Haruko about the Host Club and how their abandonment had hurt me deeply. She was now very perceptive to my crestfallen look when I received my mail and only letters from my father and bank statements appeared.

"How would she know?" I asked with an obvious tone of frustration. If people were looking through my mail because of pity for me, then there was going to be hell to pay. Haruko looked taken aback by my anger, and she quickly raised a hand as a placating gesture.

"She works in the mail room and has to sort through the mail and put it in each student's boxes. She told me you had a letter from someone that looked pretty fancy. It was high priority too," she said with a slightly embarrassed grin, "I was so excited I ran here to tell you and had to physically stop myself from slamming open the door."

I merely stared at my roommate for several seconds before accepting her knowledge. A small smile emerged on my face, and her countenance got noticeably brighter at my spark of happiness. Suddenly, she closed the door and began rushing around the room, gathering her shoes and coat.

"Er, Haruko, what are you doing?" I questioned lightly, not wanting to disrupt my erratic roommate as she flew from thing to thing. Her speed practically spelled danger, considering her notorious clumsiness. Sure enough, as soon as she turned to me, intending to answer the question, she slipped and fell on her butt. I cringed and moved forward to help her. She merely accepted the hand with a wince and a gentle hand on her lower backside.

"Ouch, thanks Haruhi. Anyways, we're going over to the mail room so you can pick up the letter! I thought that would be obvious." Feeling her answer was sufficient, she moved away from me and threw me my red winter jacket. I caught it awkwardly, but quickly set it off to the side.

"Haruko, do you even realize what time it is?" I asked, slipping my hand through my short brown hair in exasperation. It was rather common for her to forget simple details when she was excited. Haruko cast me a perplexed look before looking out the window and noticing it was dark out. In her surprise, her head flew to the clock and she sweat dropped at the time displayed on the digital readout.

"Yeah, it probably won't be open right now, will it?" she asked with a sheepish smile. I simply rolled my eyes at her behavior and watched as she slouched down onto her bed in defeat.

"Sometimes I wonder how it's possible that you're a second year at college," I mumbled, while throwing myself onto my previously occupied bed. The comforter was designed in a soothing striped patter with various shades of blue and green running through it. Haruko began to toy with the corner of her pillow, before snapping out of it as an idea crossed her mind.

"Well, we'll just have to go tomorrow after class!" she exclaimed. In satisfaction, she lay back on the mattress, still fully dressed, and crossed her knees, "Is that okay, Haruhi?"

I gave her another long look of consideration. I knew she was only worried about me, but I still found it annoying that she wanted to come with me to the mail room. Whatever that letter said, I had a feeling it was going to be private. Still, looking over at her and noticing her giving me the puppy dog stare, I had to acquiesce.

"Fine, but you have to promise not to look over my shoulder while I'm reading it, okay?" I said, laying out the terms of our agreement. I felt a little déjà vu in the moment. She was acting a lot like Tamaki and it was rather uncharacteristic of her.

"Alright! I can agree to that," she said happily. Smoothly, she got to her feet and began to change her clothes. I was already in my pajamas and had been intending on going to bed when she walked in, so I turned over on my back and pulled my blankets over me.

"Turn the light off when you're done," I said as I drifted off into sleep.

The next morning, I found myself sitting in one of my numerous classes, tapping my pencil impatiently against the notebook that I should have been taking notes in. Normally, I was highly diligent in my note taking, but today my thoughts were drifting in and out of focus as I began to imagine what that letter would say. This was my last class of the day, which made me lucky considering that when it ended it would only be noon. Haruko had piano lessons until twelve-thirty, but I knew I could wait that long for her.

Still, it was becoming increasingly aggravating that I couldn't concentrate on the discussion that was going on around me. I was in a Japanese literature class. It wasn't exactly necessary for my major of pre-law, but I thought that I should get a taste in all different subjects while in school. So far, the class had been rewarding. I really liked the setup of the classroom. All the tables were turned inwards so that all the students could get a clear view of each other, and the teacher sat on equal ground with us, just as much a part of the discussion as the students. Usually, I was an active participant in said discussions, even if I wasn't as well versed on the topics as Japanese or Language Arts majors, but today their words seemed more like gibberish to me than anything else.

After what seemed like an eternity to my internal clock, the professor dismissed the class. As I was leaving the room, I saw her cast me a worried, disjointed sort of look. It made my stomach clench. Did I really look so distant that she would notice? I gave her a tentative smile, mainly to ease her nerves, before exiting the room.

On my way back to my dormitory, I noticed many people huddling closely in groups around some kind of paper. I didn't really pay it too much mind, since the people here were just as into gossip as the people in high school. Writing it off as a mere rumor being spurred on by the local newspaper, I didn't see the subtle looks of pity they were shooting me as I walked down the sidewalk.

As soon as I arrived at my building, I placed my student I.D in front of the card scanner. The door gave a mechanical beep before I heard the lock slide out of place. Heaving open the white metal door, I walked the three floors to my room and quickly shut the window upon entering. The weather had begun to become frigid in the last few days. Haruko and I usually left our window open though because the heating sometimes caused our room to become unbearably hot and uncomfortable.

Glancing at the clock, I saw that it had taken more time to get to my dorm than I had anticipated and it was now only fifteen minutes until Haruko got out of her lesson. Oddly enough, as soon as I took a seat on my bed, Haruko shot through the door. She looked panicked and her face was abnormally ashen. Also, I noticed that her fingers were shaking on the doorknob.

When she saw me sitting calmly on my bed with a perplexed expression crossing my face, she let out a shaky breath and smiled at me. It was very obviously a fake smile. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at her, and hers widened in response before giving me a sheepish grin.

"O-oh, hey, Haruhi! I wasn't expecting you to be here so soon," she said as she took a step into the room. I quickly got up and proceeded to walk towards her.

"I could say the same for you. Technically, you still have another ten minutes of piano lesson left," I said, the suspicion clearly coating all of my words. Haruko was still very visibly shaking, but I could tell that she was trying very hard to hide this from my notice.

"Well, my instructor let me out early today because he knew I wasn't concentrating very hard on the music. I couldn't get my mind off of that letter." Her voice only wavered slightly, and I had to give her credit for being almost successful at throwing me off the trail. Still, there was a hint of falsity in her words. Haruko was an absolutely deplorable liar, so I could always tell when she wasn't telling me the truth. Yet, it mostly seemed that she was circling around the truth instead of flat out lying to me.

"Okay, well, let's go get that letter then," I said slowly, almost as though I would scare her away. She did flinch slightly, but nodded her head in agreement before backing out of the room and gesturing me to follow her.

The mail room was across campus from where we lived, so the walk took a significant amount of time. On the way there, people continued to stare at me, and I noticed several of them whisper behind their hands to their friends. I was beginning to be concerned about the overall state of things. Most of the evidence I had to go on at the moment was not only inconclusive, but also extremely worrying. My usually easily pleased roommate was currently walking slightly in front of me with a very stiff posture as though she was tense and hyperaware of my presence behind her. Secondly, almost the entire school population was huddled around in different, scattered groups, reading some kind of newspaper, whispering behind their hands, and sometimes very obviously pointing at me. Both of these occurrences were extremely nerve-wracking, and I found myself chewing on my bottom lip in an effort to ease my tension.

As we stepped up to the door of the mail room, Haruko finally turned back to give me a slightly worried look. I had always been excellent at reading people, and right now was no exception. Her eyebrows were pulled down tightly to expose a crease between her vivid green eyes. Said eyes were unusually dull and her skin was peppered in goose bumps as though she was fighting off a chill. I thought she looked extremely sick, but I could tell that wasn't the reason for her abnormal pallor and demeanor. She was hiding something from me, and from the looks of it, it wasn't pleasant.

"Are you alright, Haruko?" I asked, the lines of my face easily setting into worry. Her behavior was concerning me and causing a knot of dread to settle into the pit of my stomach. At the question, she jumped and flipped back around to face the glass doors leading into the building. I could still see her reflection in the glass, but her hair was covering her face now so that I couldn't see her expression.

"Of course, Haruhi," she said simply, her voice strangely toneless. When she turned to me again, a bright smile was plastered onto her face, which I could again tell was rather fake. "Now, let's go inside!"

I simply nodded my head in the face of her exaggerated enthusiasm and moved to follow her inside. Haruko put a hand out to stop me. I looked over at her, the confusion and slight frustration now completely obvious on my face. She sighed and allowed her false composure to slide off her features for a brief moment, and I saw palpable concern for me written there.

"On second thought, I think you should go inside alone. You said you didn't want me reading over your shoulder anyways, right? So, I'll just wait outside," she said with a small smile. I allowed this, but I still couldn't speak so I once again nodded my head at her in reply. She quickly moved aside and went to a nearby bench to sit while she waited.

Deciding to ignore her strangeness for the time being, I pushed open the door and walked into the cozy wooden settings of the mail room. The room was permeated by a woody smell caused from the polish used on the floors and tables that were interspersed around the room for people to read their mail. Currently, there were only two other occupants in the room. One was the girl behind the counter, who was looking at me tentatively; the other was a male student sitting at a table reading his mail, a newspaper shoved carelessly away from him.

I walked up to the counter and smiled at the girl since I recognized her as the one Haruko pointed out that lived on our floor. In response, she gave a small wave before retreating into the back room in order to get my letters from my box. By the time she returned, the boy, or man rather, was standing and walking out of the door without acknowledging me at all. I quietly thanked him for that because all the unnecessary attention I was receiving from the rest of the student body was giving me the creeps.

The girl handed me three letters and then disregarded me completely. I could tell she wasn't being rude but was instead uncomfortable with my presence. Shrugging it off, I turned to the table that the man had just abandoned and took a seat in one of the plush chairs placed around it. I flipped through the letters and placed the letter from my father and my bank statement aside. Holding the last letter in the stack tightly in my hand, I glanced at the fancy, perfect writing that adorned the front in crisp black ink, even the envelope seemed heavier than normal, which was most likely caused from the high quality.

My name was spelled out clearly on the front in Japanese kanji, followed by the school address and my box number. I was momentarily stunned that the sender knew my box number, before remembering how crafty the Host Club could be when it came to finding out information. I ran my fingers over the lettering, admiring the way the pen strokes sank into the parchment. Flipping over the letter, I was just about to rip open the envelope when something caught my eye. The man had left the paper on the table, but that wasn't what I found so odd about the whole ordeal. There on the front page was an oddly familiar face, smiling out through the colored photograph printed crudely on the gray background.

'Tamaki.'

I hastily pulled the bulky pages toward me, forgetting about the letter in the face of this new curiosity. Checking the date of the paper, I saw that it was printed just today. Something in my mind clicked together the pieces of the strange stares I had been receiving and the significance of this particular article. I felt something inside of me break apart at the bold headline.

Tragic Death in the Suoh Family

Tragedy has befallen one of Tokyo's most prominent families this week…

I couldn't even read the rest of the words. A deep seated panic began to set into my body, and I could feel my heart pounding loudly in my ears, causing a headache to form in my forehead. The picture of Tamaki was between the headline and the article, offering no confusion as to who had died. Vaguely, I noticed that the picture that was used wasn't recent, but was instead from high school and he was dressed in the typical Ouran uniform.

I threw the paper away from myself as though burned, hardly allowing myself to believe the awful words printed there. Yet again something caught my attention though. My name. It was there in the article. Tentatively bringing the paper back to me, I skimmed through before coming to the paragraph detailing Tamaki's survivors. I had never liked that word used as a description for the family still living. It seemed so insensitive, and it practically begged for the living members to feel guilty. I know I had when my mother's obituary appeared.

Tamaki is survived by his mother and father, as well as his close friends Ootori Kyoya, Hitachiin Hikaru and Kaoru, Haninozuka Mitsukuni, Morinozuka Takashi, and Fujioka Haruhi.

It was so odd that his friends would be given in the list that my heart practically stopped beating then and there. But, it was Tamaki and he had always considered us as his family, so it wasn't too out of character. Knowing him, he had probably requested us to be named. Still, tears were threatening to escape my eyes. Again, I threw the paper away from myself vehemently, but this time I let it skid across the table and onto the floor.

I snatched the letter back to me and cradled it to my chest as though it would protect me from the pain. I recognized some piece of me that wanted the letter to be from Tamaki, just to prove the horrible article wrong, but the other part of me realized what this letter must be. I turned the letter over once more, this time with shaky, unsteady hands. The seal broke easily and I pulled the flap open before pulling the thick sheet out of the envelope. It was folded into three equal parts and there appeared to be two pieces of paper stapled together in the top left corner.

Unfolding the letter, I noticed that it was dreadfully formal and with this realization, the hope fled from me, leaving behind a bitter pain that clenched my stomach into knots. With a headache pounding behind my forehead and the knots in my stomach growing in intensity, I was so nauseous that I knew I would be sick soon. There were tears dripping down my nose onto the paper, causing the words to blur and distort, but it was undeniably readable and it took most of my being just to finish the short, one-paragraph letter.

Fujioka Haruhi,

Regrettably, as you must already know, my son was killed tragically this week in an unforeseeable accident. As I remember, you and Tamaki were quite close during his time at Ouran High School and it feels only appropriate to offer you my condolences in this hard time. As a result of this intimacy, I feel it is my responsibility to offer you an invitation to his funeral. It will be held in France at his mother's current place of dwelling. There is a map attached which gives detailed directions to this home from the airport. Lodging will be provided for you, so all you need to purchase is an airplane ticket. I sincerely hope that you will attend, but if you do so choose to come, please take a month's time off of your schedule in order to properly mourn the loss of you dear friend. If you do not attend, please accept my good wishes to you at college and in the future.

I decided to completely disregard the closing sentiment. It didn't mean much to me, and I was already swimming in sadness. The letter seemed so clinical and unattached considering it was from Tamaki's father. It was so callous that a fresh wave of bitterness swelled inside of me. Remembering their previous interactions, I knew that his detached voice was only a formality and that they had cared about each other to some extent, but in my grief, I hardly recognized this fact. Only one real thought was coming to mind at the moment, and it was completely occupying my attention as it probably would for the next month or so.

'Suoh Tamaki is dead.'

I hope that the beginning wasn't too boring, but I needed to introduce Haruhi as a college student and give insight into her new life. I'm sorry if you're sad about Tamaki, and it really hurt me to have him die, but it's part of the story line.

Please review!