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The phone suddenly dropped to the floor. Tamaki couldn't bear to listen to any more. This must be some joke being played; a very cruel one at that too.

"Mr Suoh?" the voice crackled over the phone. " As I was saying, your wife's body was found this morning and the body was badly burned so it couldn't be identified by DNA but the dental records confirmed that it was indeed Haru.."

Tamaki crushed the phone under his foot, preventing the detective from pushing him over the edge any further. It felt like he was slowly walking off the mountain that had been his life until now.

And then he fell off the cliff.

Haruhi was his EVERYTHING. She was the one thing he looked forward to after work and he never wanted his weekends with her to end. In fact this coming weekend he had planned to take her to China, so they could walk on the Great Wall together. Now that wouldn't happen; next weekend, next year...ever.

Sobs suddenly racked his body until his breath hitched in his throat and his eyes were so swollen he could no longer see. Then a hand rested on his shoulder and moved him up into a sitting position.

"I heard, Tamaki" Haruhi's father faced him, his own face pale and drawn. "Haruhi Suoh is no longer with us in body but she will forever be with us in spirit." A coherent-thinking Tamaki might have wondered why he had said Haruhi SUOH, instead of just Haruhi, and maybe why Ryouji wasn't visibly mourning the loss of his only child. But the current Tamaki was in such a state that he couldn't think of anything else.

3 days later

"Isn't it a bit morbid to talk about funerals? On our 6 month anniversary?" Tamaki remembered asking Haruhi as he lazily trailed his finger over her bare midriff. She frowned up at him. God, she was adorable even when she got pi**ed off. But he'd make sure that she wasn't upset with him for too long.

"First of all, an anniversary is a one year celebration. So there's no such thing as a 6 month anniversary, really." And now he detected a certain sadness in her smile.

"I'm a lawyer, Tamaki. I'm there to step in and clean up the mess in situations that people often didn't expect to happen. So yes, it's morbid. But you know...I think it's all the more negatively treated because of how truly beautiful life can be. And I'm speaking from experience." He knelt down and gently kissed her at this stage, before she gently pushed him away in order to continue speaking, a slight sheen on her eyes.

"Make it a celebration of my life. Tell people about Host Club, about the silly things. Make people smile when they think of me. And..." At this point she tightened her fists around the bedcover. "Our children should be there and have a central role. Because they're you and me, you know?"

Of course, he hadn't known the joy of children. There had not been enough time. Tamaki had known he'd never be able to accept Haruhi's death, though inevitable, but this was wrong. Too wrong. And though he'd tried to follow her wishes and make the event a happy affair there was no one who had not shed a tear. Kyoya had wept, supposedly because of some dust in his eyes. The rest of the Host Club knew better, but said nothing for the sake of his pride. Ryouji once again pulled Tamaki aside.

"I'm moving...to London," he told Tamaki gravely. "If I stay in Japan I will be reminded of Haruhi everywhere I go." And it was unsaid that even when he saw Tamaki he was reminded of his daughter, whenever they had free time they could be found together.

"Mr Suoh?" A pretty girl appeared at his side. Ryouji walked off and there was an awkward silence between the two left behind.

"I'm Sakura. My father owns the forensics company which identified your wife. I wished to pay my respects." He managed a forced smile. Right now Tamaki wanted nothing more than to walk away.

"Mr Suoh, I hope we can get to know each other better. My father hopes it too. He's gone a LOT out of his way to make sure that this can happen."

If only Tamaki knew how far he had gone, or how far Haruhi had been forced to go...