A/N: Decided to post this one early because I'm so nice. :)

Enjoy!


.03 Hunny

Haruhi brushed her fingers against the lapel of her jacket for perhaps the umpteenth time that day. The uniform still had a relatively 'new' feeling, it would be a few more days before wearing it felt natural.

Her dad's recent pay raise had enabled her to finally buy an Ouran uniform, and even though she'd argued with her dad for hours about not spending the extra money on such frivolities, eventually he won out.

"I think you'd look so adorable in one of those dresses," her father had gushed.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a hollow victory. Haruhi bought the uniform just like he wanted, the male uniform in fact. As it turned out, the female uniform was more expensive than the male, and even with the extra money, Haruhi couldn't afford it. The look on his face when she came home with it was indescribable.

She supposed she understood where he was coming from. Other than Hikaru and Kaoru, everyone at school seemed to think she was a boy. According to the twins, her short, messy hair and thick rimmed glasses had more to do with it than anything else. Without them, she looked much more feminine. Not that Haruhi really cared or anything, she always believed that people should be judged for who they were rather than for what sex they were.

The twins had been even more shocked than her dad (if that was possible) when she walked into class that morning. No one else had much of a reaction beyond a quick glance in her direction, probably because they already thought she was a boy so seeing her in a boys uniform wasn't all that shocking.

The brunette adjusted her grip on her school bag as she stood at the bus stop. It would be another ten minutes until the bus arrived and she was the only one around to waiting for it, which didn't really bother her. She rather liked the peace and quiet.

"Hey, take a look at that."

Haruhi turned. Five boys were approaching her, all of them dressed in stereotypical 'tough guy' gear and all of them at least twice her size. The brunette tightened her grip on her bag, caution causing her nerves to tense. She stood her ground in spite of this as they surrounded her.

"Can I help you gentleman with something?"

Her voice was much firmer than she'd expected.

The big man in the middle, apparently their leader, grinned evilly. "Oh we're sorry, it's just not every day that we find a rich boy from that Ouran School around these parts."

Haruhi frowned, willing herself not to back away. "Well I'm afraid you're mistaken. I'm not rich, I don't have anything for you to steal."

"Oh come on," The leader answered, grabbing her by the shirt. "You think I believe that? Just hand over all your money and you won't get hurt."

Something shined in his free hand, and Haruhi didn't need to look down to know what he was holding. Swallowing, she tried to calm her thought enough to figure out a way out of this situation, when suddenly-

"Hey you!"

The group all turned and Haruhi had to look over the shoulder of the man holding her to see the new arrival. She wasn't quite sure what to think when she saw a small blonde boy, who had to be around ten years old, dressed in the same school uniform as her and holding a pink stuffed bunny in his arms.

"Why are you picking on him like that?" The boy demanded, a scowl plastered across his frankly adorable features.

The thieves looked at each other and then back at the kid, unsure what to make of this new development. Haruhi opened her mouth to tell the boy to run, but the man holding her shook her by collar before she could get a word out.

"Keep quiet or else," He hissed threateningly, flashing the knife a second time.

"Beat it, kid," One of them finally said, taking a threatening step forward. "We don't like hurting kids, so just get out of here."

"I'm not going anywhere until you let him go," The boy answered firmly, not at all intimidated by the much larger man's actions. "So do it now, before I have to make you!"

At this, the group burst out laughing. Haruhi could only watch and quietly will the boy to leave before he got hurt.

"Boys, take care of this little snot," The leader ordered, still not letting go of Haruhi's collar.

"You got it, boss," The one from before strode toward the boy with fists raised. "I said I don't like hitting kids, but you've left me no choice, stupid brat."

The boy didn't react.

'No, run away!' Haruhi thought desperately, her eyes widening as the large man raised his fist to the somehow still calm looking boy.

His arm swung down. Haruhi closed her eyes, not wanting to see the impact. She only opened them again after hearing the men gasp. What she saw made her gasp as well. The man's fist had failed to hit it's target, only because said target had caught the arm mid-swing. The boy held it over his head with the same nonchalant look he'd been wearing since getting involved in the scuffle.

"Wh-what the hell?" The man stammerd, trying in vain to free his arm.

The boy tightened his grip and the man screamed in pain.

"Anybody else?" The boy said with a hint of malice in his voice.

Like fools, the other three immediately ran at him. The ensuing battle lasted roughly ten seconds, with the barely five foot tall boy completely destroying the four very large men until they were just four unconscious masses on the ground. By now, the leader was shaking in fear and made a high pitched squeak when the boy finished off his last man and turned to face him.

"Well?" The supposed child asked with a look in his eye that promise a fate similar to that of his friends.

Without hesitating, the man let Haruhi go, stammered an apology, and ran for his life down the street, leaving both students and his gang behind.

Now alone with the boy, Haruhi was had no idea what to do next. She knew she should thank the boy, but she was honestly a little nervous around him after what she'd just seen. At least she was until she turned away from the retreating thug and looked at her savior again.

"Are you okay, Usa-chan?" He was saying to the bunny, brushing at it's fake fur with a genuinely concerned expression. "You didn't get dirty, did you?"

Haruhi stared, unable to comprehend the change that had come over the boy almost instantaneously. A second ago he looked ready to kill someone, now he looked… cute, for lack of a better word.

"I know what'll cheer you up," The boy happily exclaimed. "Let's go get some cake!"

He looked up at Haruhi, his smile widening. She could've sworn she saw little flowers floating around his head as spoke to her.

"What about you, Haru-chan, would you like some cake?"

The brunette stared, "Wha- How do you know my name?" 'And did he just call me 'Haru-chan?'

"Everyone at school knows who you are, you're famous," The boy gushed. "You're like a super hero or something!"

'I'm not a hero, I'm an honor student,' Her mind deadpanned.

"My name's Mitsukuni Haninozuka," The boy introduced himself with a bow. "But you can call me Hunny, I'm a third year at Ouran!"

That caught Haruhi's attention. Third year? He looked like a child, and he was actually older than her? Then again, after what she'd just seen, him being older than he looked shouldn't have been all that surprising.

"Is something wrong, Haru-chan?" Hunny asked, clearly confused by the stunned look she was giving him.

Haruhi suddenly realized how rude she was being and averted her eyes.

"No, I'm fine, Hunny-senpai," she answered with a smile. "Thank you for saving me, you really didn't have to."

Hunny giggled, "Well of course I helped you, those guys were jerks. They should know never to pick someone with glasses."

Haruhi sweat dropped, 'Does he really understand just what they were trying to do?'

"So would you like to get some cake with me? Usa-chan and I were just going to this cute little commoners cake shop we found last week. They have chocolate cake and ice cream cake and caramel cake and strawberry cake and-"

'Again with the commoner thing?' Haruhi said to herself, her thoughts drowning out Hunny's voice. 'And I still don't get what all of that was, how could someone so small be able to take on all those men? He must be some kind of martial artist.'

"Mm-hm, yeah," Haruhi said absently, not really sure just what she was responding to until she felt the small blonde grab her by the arm and pull her down the street away from the bus stop.

"Hey wha-" she yelped, but she found that nothing she said would get him to stop.

"I just know you'll love the cakes, Haru-chan!" Hunny laughed. "They even have birthday cakes that you can put people's pictures on, isn't that cool?"


Truthfully, Haruhi wasn't all that fond of cake. Still, she listened as Hunny-sempai pointed out each cake on display that he'd tried, which ones he had yet to try, and generally just went over the finer points of each and every type, answering politely whenever he asked her what she thought of a certain cake. In the end, Hunny chose a piece of strawberry cake with whipped cream, while Haruhi settled for some plain coffee cake.

She watched him eat in silence, marveling at how child-like he appeared now with his pink bunny tucked under his arm and a mouth full of strawberry icing.

"I really love the cake here!" Hunny commented between bites. "Even though it's commoner food, it's really tasty."

By now, Haruhi had grown so used the commoner thing, that it no longer bothered her much outside of an annoyed twinge. So she let it slide, and instead focused on another issue that had been bugging her.

"I wish you'd have let me pay for you piece, Hunny-senpai," the brunette said catching her upperclassmen's attention, "after all it's the least I could have done after you helped me like that."

"I told you, you don't have to give me anything," Hunny answered. "I don't want to make you spend all your money on me."

Haruhi had to wonder if there was an underlying 'commoner' meaning to that or if he really was just being considerate of her. In the end, she chose not to worry about it and just took another bite out of her cake.

She wound up feeling glad that she didn't insist on paying, as Hunny decided after his first slice to order seven more until he was finally full. She could only imagine how he could eat that much cake and not gain even an ounce.

"Can Usa-chan and I give you a ride home?" The blonde boy asked as they left the shop an hour later.

"Oh no, I'll be fine," Haruhi answered with an nervous smile. "My place is only a few blocks away, but thank you for asking."

Hunny looked sad for a few seconds, then smiled just as brightly as before.

"Okay, but won't you say good-bye to Usa-chan?."

Haruhi stared, dumbfounded, as the short young man pushed the stuffed rabbit up towards her face. When she didn't react beyond a confused look, Hunny's smile vanished.

"What's wrong, don't you like Usa-chan?"

The brunette looked from the older boy to the bunny. She supposed it was cute, even though she'd grown out of stuffed animals a long time ago.

"No, I like him," Haruhi said, reaching out and awkwardly petting it on the head. "He's pretty cute."

Hunny stared into his companion's large, brown eyes, his own widening as realization dawned on him. He broke out into a grin.

"Usa-chan and I think you're cute too, Haru-chan!"

"Uh…" Haruhi had no idea how to answer that. "T- Thank you Hunny-sempai. Maybe I'll see you at school?"

"You bet!" Hunny answered cheerfully.

'Well that whole experience sure was weird,' Haruhi thought as she walked away.

When she was out of sight, Hunny turned and walked down the street to where he'd told his driver to meet him. His bunny clamped in his arms, his smile remaining ever bright as he moved with a spring in his step.

"I really like her, Usa-chan," Hunny cheered. "And I bet Takashi would like her too."

He giggled as he imagined himself, Takashi, and Haru-chan together at a picnic table eating cake and laughing together as friends. His daydream was quick to evolve, and soon Hika-chan, Kao-chan, and even Kyo-chan joined them, but when another face joined the imaginary party, his heart dropped a little. Hunny's smile became solemn as his pace slowed to a stop.

"Tama-chan would've liked her a lot…"