DISCLAIMER:

I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Good thing, too- I can't draw for my life, especially anime!

Hello peoples! So, I have no idea how I actually got up before eleven this morning, but I guess I was too excited on my own cliffhanger, so here's an update. Just a warning: Haruhi does more stupid stuff in here, and I guess it kind of gets dramatic, especially with her and Haruhi (because I love TamaHaru! XD). Read, enjoy, and review!~

Chapter 4

"HARUHI!"

Tamaki.

And then... the horse gave her this weird look, and skidded to a halt right in front of her, its face quite literally centimeters from hers, just... staring at her. Haruhi stared back, but soon the others caught up.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki got there first, and grabbed her wrists angrily with his shaking hands as he put his back to the horse. "What the hell were you thinking?! You don't just challenge a charging horse! What on Earth is wrong with you?!"

"Uh...sorry?"

"Sorry. Sorry?! And how sorry would you be if the horse hadn't stopped, Haruhi? Did you even think that far?! And why didn't you move out of the way?!"

The others had caught up now, all looking at her like she was crazy. Like they were slightly mad at her for being so stupid, but their worry overrode it, mostly. Like... like they had all looked at her that first day, on the beach, with those local boys and the cliff... and the water... Haruhi shuddered.

Tamaki's eyes softened. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay, I think. No cuts or scratches. It didn't even touch me."

"But why didn't you move?"

"I got stuck in the mud."

"What mud?"

"The mud at my fee-"

Haruhi froze. No matter where she looked on the ground, there was no mud.

So...what did I get stuck in?

"Haruhi", Hunny said in confusion, "there's no mud..."

"I swear there was just mud... my boots were stuck in it...I couldn't move..."

Now, they were really looking at her like she was going crazy.

"I think I understand", Kyouya offered, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "In a situation of extreme fear, one is often immobilized by it; when not understanding the situation, that is, why they can't move, the brain will conjure up a hallucination to best fit the situation and provide an acceptable excuse as to why the body is immobilized."

"So, basically", the twins said dully, "she was seeing things because she was scared that a crazy horse was going to trample her."

"Precisely."

"Guys, stop looking at me like that. Okay, so something freaky went on in my brain and I got stuck in some non-existent mud. Big deal. I'm fine now, aren't I?"

"But why did you do it in the first place?" Tamaki asked softly, his voice somewhat raw. "Our trainers know how to handle situations like this. She would have just slipped through the bars."

"He's right", said a female voice from behind them. Haruhi turned and saw the trainer walking up to them. "I'm Juliet. I actually came here from France to try and train this fellow", she said in fluent Japanese, trying to pat the horse on the neck, but it shimmied away. "Honestly, I don't know why he stopped. He's quite determined, and in all reality he should have just trampled right over you."

Haruhi shuddered violently, and the twins filled in on either side of her for comfort while she just caught Mori giving the trainer an evil glare.

Juliet shrugged, indifferent. "Anyway, he must have seen something special in you. Say, after you come back from your ride, how about you come and see him while he's on the harness in the training ring? He'll be in his equipment so he won't be able to charge you again, and I think he has some weird sort of connection with you. If he wanted to avoid you, he should have just swerved, but for some reason he stopped right in front of you...you should come over, later."

"Uh...I'll see..." Haruhi muttered. She didn't exactly want to see the crazy horse again, but had a feeling that she would.

As Juliet led the horse away, the twins looked over at her. "You know", they said together, "if you don't feel like going horseback riding, we don't have to."

"No, it's okay. I think I need some fresh air, anyway. It's too dusty by the stables, my allergies are starting to kick up."

"Ooookaaayyy", they said skeptically, and silently Tamaki took her hand and they all started walking back towards the stables and their awaiting horses. Haruhi looked up at him momentarily, but then quickly looked down again, not comfortable with all the worry and anger and sadness and, most of all, fear she saw in his eyes that he was trying to hide.

"But, why," He breathed softly to himself. Haruhi pretended she didn't hear.

Fifteen minutes later, they were all on the trail, with water and a couple snacks in some trailbags attached to their saddles. Tamaki was riding his usual horse, a golden mare. Kyouya was on a black stallion, the twins were on two reddish-chesnut horses nearly identical, Hunny, naturally, was on a pony, and Mori was on a short grey horse making sure Hunny didn't fall off (unnecessarily, as the small boy had ridden plenty of times before). Tamaki had put Haruhi on the gentlest horse they had, a young white mare that had been born and raised so that she would be calm.

"Senpai, why do you have so many horses, anyway?"

"My dad likes to bet on horse races as a pasttime, and he got really into horses so he bought a few. There's more at the main mansion."

"Oh."

They trotted on for another twenty minutes, the Club jabbering on about things like themes for the next couple of days, an upcoming school dance, and last year's festivals. Haruhi was silent for most of it, only providing a few responses, until Hikaru noticed and asked her,

"So, Haruhi, what are the commoner festivals like?"

"Huh? Oh, well, there's firecrackers- lots, and of course food- commoner food. And then sometimes there are street acts, like people doing tricks on horses or magic tricks or whatever, and there are lots of stands that you can buy stuff at, like little necklaces or bracelets made out of beads and different colored string, and a wide variety of cheap fans or hairpins. It's actually a pretty good place to get stuff cheap. And then, at the end, all the shops close down, and everyone sits down on a towel or chair or just on the street, and then a couple of minutes later there's a huge fireworks display and for a half an hour or so the sky's lit up with brilliant flowers of fire."

"That sounds amazing, especially the fireworks!" Hunny enthused from down on his pony. Haruhi smiled down at him.

"Yeah, I've heard the fireworks are really pretty."

"What are they like?" Kaoru asked with interest. "We don't have any fireworks at our festivals. They're considered too dangerous and unnecessary and loud, and they interrupt business."

"Well, I wouldn't be the one to tell you what they're like", Haruhi said. "My dad's told me all about them, but I've never actually seen any."

"What? Why not? It sounds great," Hikaru said.

Understanding flashed behind Kyouya's glasses. "Ah, I see. It's because the sound is too much like thunder, isn't it?"

Haruhi nodded. "And the flashing lights don't really help either." She laughed weakly.

"That must be terrible", Hunny said sadly. "Not only to be able to see something so fun, but to know that every festival you're going to be so scared..."

"Aw, it's all right, Hunny. I'm used to it. I just have to try and go to sleep before they start, and if I'm lucky they won't wake me up. It's worked a couple of times."

"We're here", Tamaki said cheerily, trying to brighten up the mood. "My favorite picnic spot!"

"But, Senpai, brunch was just a little while ago."

"I know, but the maids packed a couple of snacks and I thought we'd stop for a while", he replied, hopping down from his horse and starting to unpack a picnic blanket and some food. The others dismounted as well, pulling out water bottles and various types of rich-people snacks, and bowls for the horses. Tamaki laid down the blanket and within a few minutes, everything was set up.

"Now, where was the stream again?" Tamaki thought to himself. "I know it was somewhere around here..."

"I'll go find it, Senpai", Haruhi offered, taking a canteen to fill up her mare's bowl with and starting to head off.

"But you'll miss the food", Tamaki whined, his puppy dog eyes tuned on her now.

"It's fine, I'm not very hungry."

Blank, unamused stares from everyone in the Club. Haruhi ignored them.

"Bye, guys." She walked into the forest, following the barely audible sounds of the river through the trees. "I'll be back soon."

Soon she found it, and was surprised at how fast it was moving. It was overflowing from the rain last night, though the trail they had ridden on was surprisingly dry, sheltered by the trees overhead. She bent down to fill the canteen and let herself listen to the birds up ahead. She smiled at the beautiful day, when suddenly the canteen was ripped from her grasp by the raging stream. It only got a few feet out into the river, though, before the strap on it was caught on a rock in the middle of the stream.

Haruhi sighed. Just her luck. Well, such a small stream couldn't be that dangerous, right? It was fairly small. She knew she had to get the canteen back, so she tried to find the best path of stones leading to where it was stranded. She found a fairly suitable path, though she would have to stretch some and the rocks were slippery from moss. Some part of Haruhi's brain registered that she shouldn't do this, that she should just let it go, but like earlier that day, for some reason Haruhi's brain suppressed the thought.

Hesitantly, she started to cross the river, placing each foot in the middle of the stones to try and balance her center of gravity. She got to the second stone out of about five before she felt herself start to slip. She tried to regain her balance, but she just kept slipping farther and farther, until...

Great, now I'm going to get all wet.

But before she could fall, a hand yanked her back to safety, barely getting he feet back on solid ground. The hand pulled her to its owner, and he wrapped one arm around Haruhi's back and one around her head, as if reassuring himself that she was safe.

"What the hell, Haruhi", he whispered. She recognized the voice and looked down.

"Senpai...your canteen's gonna float away..."

"Like I give a damn about my canteen!" he was shaking now, with fury, she thought, though she didn't know she was incorrect. She gulped.

"Look, Senpai...don't be mad, I was just trying to get back your canteen..."

She felt a drop of water drip onto her face. She thought it was a raindrop from a tree overhead, but then she realized that her face was completely covered by Tamaki's head. Is he...crying?

Suddenly, without warning, Tamaki's knees gave out and he fell to his knees, bringing Haruhi with him.

"Whoa, Senpai, you all right?"

"Why", he asked her miserably. "I have absolutely no idea why you're doing this, standing in the line of stampeding horses and trying to cross dangerous rivers for a stupid canteen, but please, just... just stop..." A few more tears.

Haruhi was shocked. She'd never seen Tamaki cry before, and she'd never thought he'd cry for her. His body was convulsing, not with tears, but with fear, she realized, that he might have lost her.

"I'm sorry, Senpai. I really am. I don't know why. I mean, there was this little voice telling me in the back of my head that I should stop, but I guess... I didn't hear it enough... look, I'm sorry, don't cry."

She felt oddly warm to him, but then he thought that it was probably just because of the hot day, and either way, she felt warm whenever he touched her. That was nothing new, right?

"Just... next time..." he said slowly, getting up from the ground and bringing her face to look at his, with slightly pink eyes and messed-up hair, "listen to that little voice in the back of your head, okay?" Haruhi nodded. "Or else I'm going to have to assign someone to guard you 24/7."

She glared at him. "You wouldn't."

He laughed and ruffled her hair before wiping his eyes and straightening his own. He kissed her lightly on the forehead before taking her hand and dragging her through the trees.

"Come on, let's head back."

The other five were talking in the clearing, food untouched, when they came back.

"Took you long enough", the twins accused. "Where's the canteen?"

"It, uh, might've floated down the river", Haruhi admitted, scratching her head. "Why haven't you guys started eating?"

"Tamaki insisted upon waiting for you. You were taking a while, so he went to go find you. I see he did," Kyouya expained nonchalantly, but Haruhi could see his eyes analyzing the both of them, Tamaki's just barely puffy eyes that no one else would have noticed... tiny remnants of salt on his face...his hair was different from when he left... both of their knees were muddy... shaking slightly... Haruhi could almost see the little light bulb above his head light up, and he looked at her with something that might have been concern. No way, Haruhi thought. Could he really have figured all of that out just from looking at us? Freaky.

"So, let's dig in!" Tamaki piped up, sitting down on the towel and patting the spot next to him for Haruhi. She sat down next to him as the Club started snacking.

"Haruhi." Tamaki was looking at her sternly. "Eat. Now."

"I'm not hungry." She could be just as stubborn as he was, but of course, her stomach betrayed her... again.

GGGGRRRRRRRAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHH

...

All heads slowly turned to Haruhi, in disbelief and amusement that anyone's stomach could make such a loud noise. The twins sighed. "Just eat, Haruhi. Don't make us shove it down your throat. Like it or not, before we leave this clearing, you will have eaten something."

"Fine," she grumbled, knowing that she wasn't going to win this one. She picked up a small piece of chocolate and took the tiniest bite possible. "Mm, yum", she faked.

"Now eat the rest of it."

"You can't force me."

"Do you really want to test that theory?" The twins asked her somewhat deviously. "I'm pretty sure none of the others would stop us, anyway, and it would only take one of us to hold you down and another to shove the food in your mouth."

Haruhi looked somewhat frantically at Tamaki, waiting for him to object, but he said nothing. He just looked at her with a face that said, 'Eat. They're not kidding, and I wouldn't stop them."

She huffed and started nibbling on the rest of the chocolate bar, but ate no more.

As the others returned to their usual chatter, Haruhi caught Kyouya giving her an indiscreet look, between her and Tamaki. Her confusion was betrayed in her eyes, so Kyouya sighed, adjusted his glasses and asked her,

"So, Haruhi, are you going to tell them where you've decided to stay?"

All eyes turned to her and realization clicked in her brain. "Oh, uh, yeah."

"It's with us, right?" the twins said confidently. "We knew it all along. We are, of course, in the same class, after all. It's the most convenient." Tamaki's head slumped slightly, and Haruhi had to suppress a laugh.

"Actually, no. You guys were close, though. But, I actually thought I'd ask... I mean, I thought it over with Kyouya this morning, and in the end I kind of thought I'd like to live with the Suohs."

No one was really that surprised, except for the twins and Tamaki (who was more ecstatic than surprised). "Really?! You want to live at my house?! Whoopee!" He exclaimed in glee and did a little victory dance sitting down, which looked more like he really had to go to the bathroom.

The twins nodded, haning their heads in defeat. "Oh, Hikaru, she doesn't want to live with us."

"Don't worry, Kaoru, we'll be fine... as long was we have each other..."

"You guys can drop it, you're forgetting we're not in Music Room 3 right now", Haruhi said, unamused.

"Oh, right, silly us. We're not used to a day off from hosting."

"Then what do you guys do during weekends and vacations?"

"We host the maids and girls passing by", the twins answered, and Haruhi was disturbed that a great deal of the club nodded in agreement. What's this world coming to?

"So, that's why you wanted to know what time Dad was getting home tonight", Tamaki realized excitedly.

"Yup", Haruhi confirmed. She turned to the rest of the club. "Thanks for all of your offers, guys. Really. I don't know what I'd do without you." She smiled gratefully.

"Of course, Haruhi. You're our friend. We'd do anything for you", Hunny smiled back, and Mori ruffled his hair.

"My dad will be so happy that you've come to live with us", Tamaki said, still giddy. "He's strangely attached to you, for some reason..."

Haruhi smiled at him, and he felt a strange fluttering sensation in his heart. Why? he thought. He'd stopped thinking of her as his daughter since Ranka died, so... what was this, now?

After they got back, when all the horses were fed and watered (no one had dared to venture back to the fast-moving stream, so they shared the water with the horses and everyone was parched) and the Host Club gulped down some water, too, they started to head back inside when Haruhi heard a familiar voice calling her.

"Hey! Ms. Fujioka! Could you come here for a second, please?" Oh. It was Juliet, that trainer woman, and she was standing beside the horse from earlier, who was in his saddle and all roped up to a training wheel.

Tamaki, walking beside her, tensed a little. "You don't have to go and see that crazy horse again, you know. Who knows what it'll do..."

"It's fine, Senpai. I don't mind. I want to see the horse, anyway. I'm kind of curious as to why it stopped. You go on ahead with the guys, I'll only be a couple of minutes."

He hesitated, and she sighed and whispered to him, "Don't worry. I'll listen to the little voice."

Tamaki nodded a bit, and walked on with the rest of the club, still looking back occasionally to make sure his friend wasn't about to do anything stupid.

Haruhi walked over to the horse and trainer. It really was quite a beautiful stallion. She had never seen one with his coloring before, that is, chestnut with grey speckles dotting his body and face. "Hey", Juliet smiled. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, thanks. You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, I wanted to see how he reacted to you again, you know, when he's not charging you."

Haruhi grimaced at the memory, but nodded and said, "Sure. What do you think is going to happen? I mean, what do you want me to do?"

"Just put your hand on his head, like this..." Juliet took Haruhi's hand and placed it on the horse's forehead. The stallion closed his eyes in what looked like pleasure.

"Whoah, that's odd... usually he'll pull back and rear at anyone that tries touch him... I wonder why he likes you?"

"I dunno... does he have a story?"

"Uh, yeah, I think. Let's see, from what Mr. Suoh told me, he was seperated from his parents in a storm. One of the breeders that Mr. S buys horses from found our little stallion here and took him in, but he was always too feisty to be broken in. Mr. Suoh liked his spirit, so he bought him on a whim, but none of his trainers have gotten through. Just to brush him we had to hold him down. No one could even touch him... except, apparently, for you."

"Huh. Wait." Haruhi looked over at Juliet. "Did you say he was separated from his parents?"

"Yeah, while he was still a little colt."

That's just weird. Are horses telepathic or something? The only connection we share and there's no way a horse should be able to tell that. This is a little ironically coincidental. Absentmindedly,Haruhi took her other hand and ran it across the horse's body,stroking him. She was zapped back from her thoughts as the horse whinnied in pleasure, rubbing himself back against Haruhi's hand, asking for more.

Juliet's eyes widened. "Wow, he really likes you. I think, maybe... would you like to try and ride him?"

"Ride him? Not three hours ago he tried to trample me."

Juliet shrugged. "And now he's asking you to pet him more."

There was that little voice again. Don't do it, Haruhi. Just don't. He's a crazy horse. Sure, he likes you now, but what about when you're on his back? Don't be stupid.

"Actually, why no-"

You promised Tamaki.

"...Maybe later, actually. Another day. I'll visit him so he gets used to me, and we'll see where it goes from there."

Juliet nodded, a little disappointed. "Oh, okay. Sure. Well, I'll be back next week, if you want to try then."

"Sure."

Haruhi patted the stallion once more, and he watched with sad blue eyes as she headed back to the house to her friends, feeling slightly relieved she had declined for now.

~meanwhile, whilst Haruhi was with Juliet and the stallion...~

Tamaki kept on glancing back over his shoulder at Haruhi, silently begging her not to do anything stupid again. He was starting to debate leaving her alone with a crazy trainer and a crazier horse. The twins noticed his concern.

"Don't worry, Boss. She'll be fine. She's a strong girl."

"Yeah, I guess so..." They hadn't seen her at the stream, though...

"Hey." Tamaki looked over at Kyouya, who kept looking straight ahead. "I know what you're thinking, about the stream. But really, you shouldn't worry, the look in her eyes is different. If I wasn't confident she wouldn't do something stupid again I wouldn't have let us leave her."

Tamaki's eyes widened."You- you know about the stream?" Kyouya nodded. "How?"

"It wasn't that hard, really. Muddy knees, messed up hair, puffy eyes, and residues of salt. That, and the fact that Haruhi didn't have her canteen and she often disregards her own bodily safety..."

"Oh. Right."

The six of them entered the living room of the mansion and flopped down. Hunny looked out the window. "She's still there", he said, and sat down back on Mori's lap with Usa in his arms.

"Tamaki, you're thinking of something, aren't you?" the twins asked the blonde looking out the window.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking, I mean, with her dad dead now Haruhi's going to find it a little more difficult to concentrate on her studies... and, I mean, I was wondering... is it fair, with all of that, if..."

Kaoru and Hikaru's eyes widened. "You don't mean..."

"Yeah, I do."

Kyouya looked over at him.

"I understand fully, but there's still the matter of-"

"Yeah, Kyo, I know. But if she's going to be living in the Suoh household, it wouldn't be a problem anymore."

"What, what?" Hunny asked. "Don't leave me out of it!" Mori, now understanding, bent down and whispered in his ear. Hunny's eyes grew bigger and sad, like the others."No...Do... do we have to?"

Tamaki nodded sadly. "It's only fair that we give her the chance."

They all sat around, silent, thinking, until Haruhi came into the room. "Hey, guys."

The twins jumped up to cover for their former gloominess. "Haruhi, we just had an idea! You're going to need some fancy clothes for your dinner with Mr. Suoh tonight, and we know just the twins!"

Of course the twins had insisted that Haruhi would need a stylish dress for dinner with Mr. Suoh that night (that was just so them), and since Tamaki's house didn't really have any since no girls ever really lived there besides the maids (and they didn't actually live there), the twins insisted that they give Haruhi as a present a stylish little dress. She didn't complain about having to dress up all girly, just thanked the two, and wondered how on Earth she was going to pull this off. True, Tamaki's father had already offered for her to stay with them, but she knew from experience that in some cases offers such as that were merely a formality, and even if Mr. Suoh did want Haruhi to live at his mansion along with Tamaki (and she really thought that, for some reason, he did), it's still a huge deal to accept an offer like that.

The dress arrived two hours before dinner, and the maids started fussing that there wasn't going to be enough time, which worried Haruhi for reasons completely different than not being ready.

It takes rich people two hours to get ready for dinner?! How am I gonna live here?!

The dress was beautiful, full length and a light red color. It had ruffles towards the top and a beautiful snaking pattern at the sides, with little folds at the bottom. It wasn't anything too complicated (by the Hitachiin standards, anyway), but it wasn't quite simple, either. The maids kept on cooing over how pretty she looked and how excited they were to finally be able to dress up a girl in the household (they didn't know yet that she was staying. Haruhi wondered how giddy they'd be then). Of course Haruhi had taken a shower from dusty horseback riding, and once her hair was dry (which didn't take long at all), the maids tried to do something with it... and, inevitably failed.

"Your hair's just too short!" The maid named Rin whined. "We can't curl it or it'll look like an afro, we can't straighten it or it looks like you're emo, we can try to pin it back but if we do too much it reveals too much of your face, and it's not long enough to braid in any way!"

Haruhi laughed. "Sorry, Rin. I have an idea. One clip usually works on my side bangs."

The maids brightened. "We know just the clip!" Two of them dashed out of the room and returned with a pretty hairclip with a jeweled flower at the end made of rubies. "This'll go perfectly with your dress!"

And so, they pinned back her hair, did her makeup, picked out her shoes from a selection the twins had provided, and loads of other girly things that Haruhi had never done in her life but that the maids insisted she absolutely had to have (!).

Finally, Haruhi slipped on her dress. Taking a deep breath, she muttered "Here we go", and opened the doors of the guest bedroom (she wondered if this would become her new room?) and headed out to dinner with the chairman of her school and his son, one of her best friends.

Okay, I'm not even going to begin the dinner scene because that would make this chapter WAAAAY too long. I started this at 9:30 AM and now it's 2:30 PM. With lunch and shower breaks, that's still about four hours of typing... so don't hesitate (PLEASE) to take four minutes to review! Even if you're not logged in, it doesn't matter!

Anyway, I'll try and update ASAP. Review! Love you all~