Chapter 2

A/N: So the responses to my experimental chapter were overall pretty good. The most common complaint was that the passage of time was hard to understand. I have cleared that up literally in the first sentence of the chapter. Maybe eventually I'll try to re-write chapter 1 or just add something to show the passage of time, but if this does the trick, then I'll probably just leave it alone. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran Host Club

It had been eleven days since the Haninozuka charter plane had crashed, and six days since Mori had been found alive in a nearby village and Honey had been confirmed dead. The students at Ouran High School were reeling and two memorials for Honey had sprung up overnight. One was in the Host Club's room, with flowers and trinkets left by his sobbing clients. The other was in the main courtyard and every student in the school had stopped in front of the portrait of the baby-faced senior to pay their respects.

The Host Club had remained open for business, but no one had actually entertained clients. The girls and the members alike were subdued and spent their time reminiscing about Honey or sitting in morose silence. Even Kyouya had taken a break from tapping away on his laptop or writing in his notebook.

The girls had all left early but the five hosts were reluctant to leave. The Hitachiin twins sat close together, Kaoru's head on Hikaru's shoulder and Hikaru's head resting on his twin's as they sat in unusual silence. They hadn't played jokes or acted devilish since the news of Honey's death had reached them. Kyouya sat staring out the window, his glasses shining to hide any emotion in his eyes. Tamaki sat on the floor nearby, head resting on his knees. The boy's normal sparkling demeanor was totally subdued. And Haruhi knelt before the memorial to Honey, tears filling her eyes as she lit a candle for her lost friend.

Standing up, she thought about going to sit with Tamaki, but she decided against that and instead started walking around, collecting discarded teacups. There had been few refreshments today, but still enough to create a bit of work for the club's lone female member.

Hikaru's phone beeped, and he looked at it with a frown. "Kaoru, our driver is here. We should go."

"Yeah, okay," Kaoru muttered, not moving an inch.

Hikaru frowned at his twin, then craned his neck to look at Haruhi. "Do you want a ride home?" he asked her.

Haruhi braced herself for Tamaki's screams of rage about how he refused to let those "twin devils" be anywhere alone with his "precious daughter" and his overprotective smothering hugs. But to her surprise, Tamaki had only lifted his head, too filled with sorrow to even indulge in his favorite hobby of yelling at the twins.

Haruhi shook her head. "I want to finish cleaning up and I don't want you to wait on me. Thanks for the offer though." She passed close to Tamaki and he finally roused himself enough to stand and hug her, though with considerably less exuberance than usual.

"You're such a wonderful daughter, Haruhi… So wise… I'm so glad you know better than to be alone with those devils. Daddy is so proud of you," he said, tears pouring from his eyes.

"Knock it off, senpai," Haruhi said, shrugging him off as gently as she could.

"Sorry darling, Daddy just wanted to hug you," Tamaki said meekly. "If you want, I can give you a ride home when you're finished cleaning up."

It was on the tip of Haruhi's tongue to accept the kind offer (for once, but she had found herself desperately wanting to be in the company of someone from the host club since she heard about Honey), but the frightening light from Kyouya's glasses caught her attention as the young man turned towards her.

"Tamaki, have you forgotten that *I* gave you a ride to school this morning?" the Shadow King demanded.

"Oh… right… Sorry Mommy," Tamaki said, wilting a little. Then he perked up again. "But Mommy doesn't want to allow our poor darling daughter to walk home by herself, right?"

"Haruhi is more than capable of walking home from school by herself, she does that almost every day," Kyouya pointed out darkly.

Tears appeared in Tamaki's eyes. "Oh Mommy! How can you be so cruel to our darling daughter?" he wailed.

Kyouya frowned and pushed his glasses further up onto his nose. Seeing her debt increasing exponentially for inconveniencing the Shadow King, Haruhi decided to put the brakes on this plan. "Kyouya-senpai is right; I don't need a ride home. It's fine, Tamaki-senpai, don't worry about it."

Tamaki frowned. "This is unacceptable!" he exclaimed with some of his old fire. He turned to face Kyouya and pulled out his best puppy-dog eyes.

Kyouya glanced mildly at Tamaki. "Fine, if it'll shut you up, we can take her home."

"Yay! Thank you Kyouya!" Tamaki exclaimed, throwing his arms joyously around the dark-haired boy.

"As long as you don't mind if we raise her debt to compensate for the fuel and my driver's salary that we will spend to go out of our way… Dad." Kyouya's voice took on a slightly smug tone at the last word.

Tamaki's jaw dropped and he suddenly looked like a puppy who had been kicked by someone he trusted. "Kyouya, you are truly the cruelest mother in the world!" he gasped melodramatically.

Haruhi shook her head and finished gathering up the dishes and got to work washing them and putting them away. Hikaru and Kaoru waved goodbye and left, leaving Haruhi with only her thoughts and her bickering senpais for company. About twenty minutes later, she walked back into the main room and grabbed her bag.

"I'm going home, guys. See you tomorrow," she called as she headed for the door.

Tamaki stopped his latest rant in midsentence to glare at Kyouya. The dark-haired boy sighed.

"Haruhi, we'll give you a ride. It appears I will get no peace unless I appease this idiot."

Tamaki smiled smugly, not caring in the least about the insult now that he'd gotten his way.

Haruhi hesitated at the door. "That's not necessary…" she mumbled.

"Haruhi, do not test my patience. Just be grateful I've decided to go along with this and accept the offer gracefully."

"Fine, fine. Thank you for offering the ride, senpai," Haruhi said with a small bow in the older boy's direction. Tamaki grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the club's room, practically skipping with delight, while Kyouya locked the door and trailed after them. However the mood darkened again when they saw the shrine to Honey in the main courtyard. The trio slowed their steps, bowing their heads to their upperclassman's portrait, and the ride to Haruhi's apartment was subdued.

Arriving at her apartment, Haruhi thanked the boys again for the ride and headed up the stairs to the apartment she shared with her father, assuming that it would be empty as his shift at the bar should have started nearly forty minutes ago. So she was stunned to find Ranka at home busily cooking something at the stove.

"Dad? What are you doing home?" Haruhi asked, setting her schoolbooks down and approaching her father. She didn't even blink at the fact that he was wearing a frilly pink apron.

Ranka paused in his cooking and turned to embrace his daughter. "I thought you could use the company tonight, my dear. I know you've been having a hard time since your friend died," he said, crushing her to his chest.

"You didn't have to call off work just for me," Haruhi protested. "I've been talking to the rest of my friends on the phone every night once my homework is done."

"It's not the same thing though, is it?"

Haruhi lowered her head. If she was being honest with herself, no it wasn't the same. "Thanks Dad," she said in a small voice.

She enjoyed a quiet dinner with her dad and did her homework while he bustled around the house doing minor chores and singing in an off-key voice. Many people might have found that distracting or annoying, but she was oddly soothed by the company, although it was annoying trying to keep him from listening in on her conversations with Tamaki and the twins when they called her. Kyouya somehow must have known that her father was home because he sent her text messages instead. She didn't bother to question how he might have come by that information.

The next day, Haruhi went to school and headed straight to the Host Club's room. There she greeted the other members and prepared instant coffee for all of them. They drank their coffee and talked about Honey in hushed voices, wondering when the funeral would be and when Mori would return to school. It was nearly class time when Haruhi took their cups and headed to the little kitchen area to wash up. She spotted a small bouquet of flowers that someone had left for Honey, and she filled a vase with water and started towards the shrine to add them to the rest of the flowers, but a figure standing in the doorway made her freeze.

"Mori-senpai?"

A/N: Yeah... Little short... Oh well. I have a lot of fanfics in the works right now, and this seemed like a good place to stop.