Dear Readers!

Hello again, if you are reading this, then you are probably following the series! Thank you! Happy Fourth of July everyone! For those of you reading the SkipBeat 'What Kyoko is Thankful for' I'm adding another chapter to it today. So please read it! And everyone please review the story! I accept anonymous reviews! So PLEAESE PLEASE PLEASE review!

chu!

nakima-chan


I still have a few things to pack, but I've been interrupted yet again by another knock at the door.

"Are you almost done?" Kaoru asked for the billionth time. I watch his eyes as they examine the room, seeing what is left inside.

"You asked the same thing five minutes ago," I reply, annoyed at the fact that my life is being further engrossed by the host club."

"What's left?" I feel my own eyes widen as I watch him take of his jacket, and push up his sleeves. I think that he is going to help me pack! This is so amazing! Who would have thought it?

I point to the corner of the room filled with what very little keepsakes I want to take with me. They are mostly just books; I don't have many stuffed animals, not really my thing.

Kaoru is gingerly placing things into the box. I think about teasing him about doing, 'peasants work,' but decide otherwise. You don't bite the hand of someone helping you, especially if that hand belongs to one of the Hitachiin twins. Even more so if you are about to move in with them, leaving you prey to all of there pranks and mischief.

He has this kind of rhythm that sort of soothes me. I feel that I've been hypnotized as my gaze goes on. I get pulled back to the reality of my life when he stops packing.

His eyes are mournful and nostalgic as he picks up the last piece of my memorabilia . . . it's . . . it's my fathers beloved 'Dad' T-shirt. He isn't saying anything, he isn't looking at me, and he just closes his eyes, opens his eyes, and folds the shirt and places it neatly on the rest of my memories. I can feel my eyes fill with rears, bringing alarm to the boy in my room.

"Haruhi," he says rushing chivalrously to my side, "are you alright?"

"Contacts," I lie.

Okay, I know that he knows I'm lying, but this is only something that Kaoru would do. He wraps his arms around me, and keeps me like that for awhile, not fussing about my lie. Not telling me that everything will be normal later, he just stands there, holding me, being my pillar of strength for me.

"You should be more careful with those things," he jokes lightly after my tears have gone from storm to sprinkles. That is so like him.

"Thank you, Kaoru."


Every time I think that I'm used to the fact that I'm surrounded by wealthy people, I discover something even more nerve racking.

"What in the world are you doing?" I scream, yanking at the ties of two unsuspecting boys.

"They're building you a complex on our property," Hikaru replies truthfully.

"After the meeting Tamaki-senpai had a fit, and said that he didn't want you 'in our house,'" Kaoru carried on, "So Kyoya-senpai called out parents asking if he could use the property to add on a building.

"How are you going to pay for this?"

"We're not paying," Hikaru grinned.

"You mean?" realization hits me like a mallet, hard, into a bed full of pins, "I'm still paying you back for a vase how am I supposed to repay for an apartment?"

"Well . . ."


Kyoya-senpai is dead, so dead. I mean so dead that they are going to make up a new term to describe just how dead he is.

My mind wanders back to our conversation this morning.

"Kyoya-senpai!" I storm toward him, giving him the most angry face I've got.

"Yes?" he replies, not even lifting his condescending eyes from his notebook.

"I've been working under the impression that I am working off debt, but now I learn that I've worked up to 25 million yen in credit?" I fume, "I don't understand why you'd do that!"

"Simple, this club cannot exist without you anymore," he replied as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Flatter won't get you anywhere with me!" I remind him warningly.

"I'm not trying to flatter you. Since you got here there has been a rise in our sales. Your debt was paid off the moment we sold that last lock of hair," he pauses, staring at me intensely, "by the way; I think you need a trim soon."

"Don't mess with me!" I yell agitatedly.

"Haruhi-kun," he smiled maliciously, "If you cut your hair a bit, then your apartment will be half paid for, including the 25 million credit you have of course."

. . . Have I mention how much I hate people with money lately? . . .


I'm still in shock that I'm sitting in my newly built apartment. It is finished . . . and you want to know something bizarre? The inside is exactly like my old house, and the movers have put everything in where it had been before, as I sit in my room I can't believe that it had all gotten done in less than twenty-four hours.

Before I get too caught up in the moment, I remember that I have to pay for this.

I really hate condescending rich people.

When I'm not thinking about how much I hate people with money, my thoughts meander, and sooner or later I find myself crying over memories of my dad.

There doesn't seem to be much I can do. The way he died was so cruel. The way I feel is so cold, I wonder if the hurt ever goes away.

It does, doesn't it? Hadn't it happened before? Her mother died, right? And she was able to maintain 'normality' in her life wasn't she?

So why did it feel so much harder this time? I open my English Thesaurus, since I have so much English homework to do.

My first word, hurt.

My eyes scan the synonyms; maybe they can describe the deep hurt I feel.

Injured? Damaged? Harmed? My eyes freeze in the middle of the letters' jumble . . . disfigured. I life my arm lightly, it is thin and pale, but other than that it is normal. Same

goes for my leg and face.

I look at my chest and think to myself that the twins would say that the flatness was a disfiguration, but could it be that my heart was disfigured? Twisted and contorted into a shape that resembled more of a withered apple than a Valentines Day chocolate box.

There is a ring at the doorbell.

"Come in."

"Haru-chan!" Hunny and Mori-senpai both stroll in armed with a large pastry box.

"Hi, senpai," I reply checking my cheeks to make sure they are streak free.

"Haru-chan, we brought cake! There's enough for all of us!" Hunny jubilantly shows me the treats. Petite chocolate cakes with a strawberry atop each one of them. They smell heavenly, and even though I'm not in the mood for something sweet, my mouth begins to water in sheer anticipation of eating my cake.

But I notice something peculiar. Either Hunny is going to have five cakes all to himself, or I was about to be expecting some guests. Oh, mother in heaven, please let it be the former and not the latter!

The door bell rings once more, and in walks the rest of the Host Club.


Tsuzuki


Thank you for reading! Please review and tune in next week for the next chapter!