Chapter 4

~oOo~

The morning was a riot of color. Kyoya led Haruhi into the resort breakfast room where green plants adorned white pillars. Broad windows opened onto a cerulean sky accented by fluffy white clouds. Haruhi herself was dressed in a gauze broomstick skirt of graduating yellow, ranging from palest lemon cream to a sensuous goldenrod. Her top was artfully layered wine red chiffon. Sleeves that should have been long were slashed and flowed behind her like wings when she walked. Hikaru's design. Funny, only two years ago nobody could tell them apart. Now, the Host Club could get them every time and even tell whose work was whose. Haruhi again. Somehow she'd taken two people whose personalities were dangerously close to merging and turned them into distinct individuals, and she had done it without in any way lessening how close the two of them were. No wonder they were crazy for her. She'd curbed Tamaki's more manic impulses and provided him with much needed grounding while simultaneously luring Kyoya into mischief. How many times had he leaned over her shoulder and whispered "I'll cancel a third of your debt if you do this Haruhi...?" then drove himself to his most creative to find a way to add to her debt so she couldn't ever clear it. She became the little sister Honey and Mori had always wanted. Well, maybe not so much Mori. He looked at her with something other than brotherly affection sometimes. But he seemed unwilling to compete against his more flamboyant friends. Kyoya could sympathize. Whereas Honey might appear oblivious and carefree, but he was always the first to notice who interacted with her, and how they interacted with her. He didn't seem to care which of his close friends ended up with her, but it was definitely going to be one of his close friends. Nobody else was good enough for her.

The hostess seated Kyoya and Haruhi when a flash of blonde hair caught his eye. "Excuse me for a moment," he said. He left the dining room and found Tamaki and the twins by the front desk with their bags.

"Leaving?"

Tamaki shrugged. "That is the rule isn't it? We leave halfway through the date and you get the rest of it to yourself?"

"Thank you for this by the way," Kyoya said. "She never would have come if she thought I had been paying."

Tamaki nodded. "Sorry about the cats."

Kyoya looked at the twins. "And thank you for the clothes."

"We didn't do it for you," Hikaru said a little sourly.

"Nevertheless, they treat her better because she looks like she belongs. And I deeply appreciate that."

Honey and Mori came up. "Ready to go?" asked Tamaki.

"Do you think I could sneak back into the dining room to get one last piece of cake?" asked Honey.

"No!" they all said.

"If it's any consolation, the ice cream on the way out is pretty good."

Honey scrunched his face. Ice cream was not as good as cake. But it would do in a pinch.

"Oh and keep an eye on the weather," Tamaki said

"I've seen the forecast," Kyoya said. He searched for a way to smooth things over. "Next week, why don't we all have dinner together?"

"Around the kotatsu?" Tamaki asked hopefully.

That stupid thing was the ultimate symbol of friendship and family to Tamaki. "If you want," Kyoya answered. He looked over his shoulder into the dining room. "I should get back before she comes looking for me."

"Take care of her," Tamaki said in a soft voice.

"Always."

As Tamaki watched him go, he could hear the squabbling begin behind him. "A kotatsu is kind of redundant in a heated house, isn't it?"

"Shut up Hikaru," said Mori.

"I'm not Hikaru, I'm Kaoru."

Whap! "Stop getting me in trouble."

"Mitsukuni, next time a girl likes me, say something."

"Takashi? Minori Saito likes you."

"Really?"

"Dude, she had tea with you every day for two years," Hikaru said, exasperated.

"And funny, whenever you happen to drop by the club, those are the days she comes back to Ouran to visit her sister," added Kaoru.

"Huh. So she's not really visiting her sister?"

"Pretty sure she's not," said Kaoru.

"Oh."

"Here's her phone number," said Honey. "I had Kyo-chan get it for you."

Tamaki smiled to himself. He might have to rearrange his plans a bit, but his little family was going to be ok.

~oOo~

Tamaki entered Suoh Mansion #2 to the normal respectful greetings of the housekeeper.

"Welcome home, sir. You have a visitor waiting in the drawing room."

He went immediately to the room to find Shizue Suoh seated in a high backed chair, her face a mask of cold rage.

"Grandmother," Tamaki bowed.

"How dare you defy me, you filthy child." She rose, crossed the room and slapped him as hard as she could. It left a noticeable red mark across his fair skin. "I told you to end things with that commoner."

"I did!" Tamaki protested.

"You went away with her this weekend?"

"No! I mean there were lots of people in the group."

"Who paid for her room?" The old woman knew the answer before she ever asked.

"It… It wasn't like that. We made the reservations all at the same time," he said desperately. "Of course they all went onto the same credit card."

"It is time you learned that I do not make idle threats. Be glad it is only the girl who will pay for your indiscretion this time. If you believe that club is an excuse to disobey me and perhaps it is time for you to leave that club as well."

Suddenly his small family was dissolving in front of his eyes. "Please don't make her pay for this grandmother. If you have to punish someone, punish me."

"I am punishing you. People in our position influence the lives of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people Tamaki. Your decisions affect your employees, their families, even the small business owners who depend on your employees. You make a mistake, and sometimes all of them pay. Be grateful you can learn this lesson with only one person paying the price. I was not so fortunate." Shizue narrowed her eyes. "Out of respect for their families, I will let you say goodbye to those boys on Monday. But by the end of school you will sever all ties to those boys." Her orders given, she walked past him as though he was no longer even in the room. But when she got to the door it was blocked by her son.

"I think not," said Yuzuru. "Those boys may be idiots now, but in 20 years they will be some of the most wealthy and influential men in Japan. And the shared follies of youth can forge surprisingly strong ties."

"You of all people should understand the cost of indulging in personal whims," she said cuttingly.

"While you should know the pointlessness of denying a man something he considers truly important. First rule of leadership, Tamaki: never give an order you know will not be obeyed."

"Yes sir," Tamaki said quietly, hoping he was not damning Haruhi by agreeing with his father.

"And you will leave the Fujioka girl alone," Yuzuru said, reading Tamaki's mind. "He ended the relationship as you asked and the girl has moved on."

"Evidentially he was more attached to her than she to him," Shizue said with vicious pleasure.

Tamaki's hands curled into fists, though he kept them hidden behind his back.

"Be that as it may, he arranged this weekend so that she would bond with her new boyfriend, and not try to return to Tamaki. One does not punish people for going beyond what is asked. Do try to be gracious in your victory."

"This new boyfriend," she asked. "Is he a friend of yours?"

"Yes," Tamaki answered.

"Is he rich?"

"Yes."

Shizue smirked. "Have you considered you would be doing him a favor to get this gold digger out of his life?"

There was no defense he could offer that she would not twist so he simply said "We had a deal grandmother. I kept my end. I am asking you to keep yours."

The old lady mulled it over. When she failed to answer, Yuzuru commented "Your grandmother cannot do anything else. The boy Miss Fujioka stayed at the resort with is the youngest Ootori son."

"Am I supposed to be impressed because a teenage boy wants to have sex with a teenage girl?" She seemed to enjoy watching Tamaki's misery.

"You're supposed to wonder what the Ootoris saw in her that you missed. I have never seen a single member of that family do anything that was not in the family's best interest."

"Then evidentially Yoshio Ootori has done a better job raising his sons than I did of raising mine." Her peace said, she brushed past the two like they were no longer there.

"Father… Haruhi would not… It isn't like… She's not… after…"

"Tamaki, it's a given that if she dates any of her classmates she is dating above herself. I do not ascribe to that young woman mercenary motives."

"Will grandmother keep promise?" Tamaki asked uncertainly.

"Your grandmother is a bitter, vicious woman who does not like to lose. But she is not dishonorable. If your deal was that she would leave Haruhi alone, then she will. But there's no guarantee she will leave the people around Haruhi alone."

~oOo~

Tamaki had purchased a first class spa package. Not that it mattered; if Haruhi had wanted anything that was not included, Kyoya would quietly have upgraded it. She never asked for anything and - conscious of the wealth differences between herself and the others - was curiously reluctant to accept their gifts, so this chance to spoil her was rare. Fifty years from now when they were married with children and grandchildren, she'd probably still be careful... fifty years from now... It surprised him that he could picture it so clearly. A white diamond solitaire on her left hand. He'd even picked out the ring. Fifty years if they could survive the next one, when he went off to university while she finished high school. A year in which she was alone with the twins every day. It suddenly occurred to him maybe the twins were not graciously ceding the field – that maybe they were playing the long game. It didn't really matter who she finished this year with. It mattered who she finished next year with. To make matters worse, Kyoya had been planning on going abroad for college: Harvard or Stanford for undergraduate, the Wharton School or maybe Chicago or London for his MBA. That was a minimum of six years. She'd never wait.

"Don't you tell me that 'if the girl had been worth having she'd have waited for you' ... the girl really worth having won't wait for anybody." That literature class was getting annoying.

"Haruhi, have you given any thought to where you are going to college?" Kyoya asked over his poached salmon.

"Wherever I can get a scholarship I suppose," she said. "The University of Tokyo as a preference."

"Have you thought about Harvard or Stanford?"

"Like I could afford either one of those."

"They have scholarships. In fact both of those schools are ridiculously well endowed. For that matter, the Ootori group will pay for your law degree if you agree to work for them for a few years after you finish."

"Is that a real thing or did you just make that up?" She asked picking a fresh strawberry from her fruit salad and popping it in her mouth.

"The former," he said. The latter, he thought. But it will be a real thing by the time you qualify.

After they finished their decadent western style brunch, Haruhi went off to get one of those all over body wrap detox sessions, the kind designed to rid your body of exactly the sort of things she's eaten that morning. Kyoya sequestered himself in a private grotto and lounged in an indecently comfortable chair while he finished the physics problem set that was due on Monday. Then he checked the weather. The sky was due to cloud over around 5 o'clock, with the storm front following around seven. The art festival's concert and fireworks weren't officially canceled yet, but there were notices to watch for further updates.

He watched her face during their couples massage. Haruhi truly relaxed, not worrying about anything, was such an unusual sight. He wished he could make it last longer. "We should eat early tonight," he said.

"Why?" She asked.

Because you won't eat anything after the storm starts, he thought. "So we can get into the village early for a good seat for the fireworks and concert."

"OK. That makes sense," she said. Apparently she hadn't been following the weather forecast.

"Ready to go?" Haruhi said once dinner was done.

"You should grab a jacket in case it gets cold," Kyoya said.

"What? Don't want to give me yours?" she teased.

Oddly enough, he did. There was some primitive territorial declaration made when a woman wore her man's clothes. But instead he said "Be practical. Then I'd be cold."

Once in her room, she went to the closet to get out a coat. Kyoya went to the far wall and closed the blinds. Like his room, the entire exterior wall was glass, intended to help bring the guest back in harmony with nature. The blinds only went up to the top of the door, leaving from the top of the doorframe to the ceiling uncovered glass. The blinds were meant for privacy, not environmental control. Goddamn it, a five star resort should let you control your own schedule, Kyoya thought. He turned on every light in the room.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He tried to formulate an answer when the sky did it for him.

She almost missed the flash of light because the room was so bright, but the distant rolling sound seemed to go on and on. "Are they starting the fireworks already?" She said desperately hoping for that answer.

"They cancelled the fireworks Haruhi," he said softly.

"Oh..." The thunder sounded again, this time a little closer. "Then I guess the evening's over. Goodnight."

She didn't wait for an answer, but went over and started rooting through her suitcase. "Where are they?" she muttered. Her search became a little more frantic. "Where are they, where are they...?" Another clap not thunder and she began grabbing handfuls of clothes and throwing them on the floor. "They're not here. How could I forget them?"

Kyoya grabbed her shaking hands to steady her. "Haruhi, what are you looking for?"

"Hikaru gave me noise cancelling headphones. I was sure I packed them, but they're not here."

"It will be alright, Haruhi," he said in a steady voice.

"I know." Her eyes darted around the room, finally lighting on the closet. She tried to free her hands from his.

Kyoya gritted his teeth. She was not going to spend the night cowering alone in a closet. He wrapped his arms around her.

An enormous bolt of lightning loosed right overhead and the whole hotel went dark. The resulting thunder shook the building. It took all of his strength to keep her from breaking away in a blind panic. Her eyes were huge, her breathing ragged. Another roll of thunder, distant but threatening.

"Kyoya, make me forget the storm."

He gazed into her soul for a long while. Then he softly whispered, "No." Her head shot up in surprise. "When we make love for the first time, you will not want to forget anything. You will not be frightened, and you will not be trying to shut out anything. You will be completely open to me, and I to you." He lifted her chin up. "You will be open to every sight, to every sound," he whispered in her ear. "To every taste," he ran his tongue lightly over her lips. "To every touch," he ran a finger down her chest. "You will be my whole world; and I will be yours. We will not be rushing through one thing to the next to keep ourselves distracted. We will savor every passing feeling even if it takes us the whole night." The hypnotic quality in his voice almost made her forget the storm.

Almost.

The next clap of thunder caused her to clasp him still closer. He pulled her onto the bed and lay half next to her, half on top of her. He held her close with her head nestled against his chest so she couldn't see the lightning. And half joking he whispered "Maybe you should just marry me. Lightning would never dare strike an Ootori."

~oOo~

In the predawn hours, with her arms still tightly entwined about him and her head still firmly planted against his chest, Kyoya admitted to himself that his plan might not work. It had been simple really: he would date Haruhi just long enough for Shizue Suoh's attention to drift elsewhere. In the meantime, he could use this interval to cure himself. In two years Kyoya had been unable to shake this peculiar longing he had for Haruhi. Avoidance hadn't solved the problem. So perhaps, if he just overindulged in her, spent long hours in her company, he would come to realize that she was really just as annoying as every other girl he'd ever gone out with. Then when old lady Suoh had forgotten and moved on, he could hand Haruhi back to Tamaki where she belonged.

But Haruhi had not proved to be annoying. Quite the opposite. She didn't pout if he told her he had to study instead of spending time with her. They could sit in a room and read quietly for hours without her suddenly deciding that meant he was mad at her. She didn't babble, wheedle for gifts, or cling. Except in a storm, of course. Then quiet, competent, sensible Haruhi completely came apart. But even then, she was trying to pull it all together. Failing of course, but trying nonetheless. If Kyoya hadn't been there, she would have spent the whole evening curled up in a ball in the corner of the closet whimpering quietly to herself. Not making a scene. Not demanding attention. A woman like that would be wasted on Tamaki. He unwound his hand from around her head just enough to brush a stray hair from her forehead with his thumb. The movement caused her to stir in her sleep. "Is it over?" she asked, still more asleep than awake.

"Yes. It rained itself out a couple hours ago."

She nodded against his chest then whispered "thank you." She turned her head slightly and kissed his chest then turn back and snuggled against him once more.

No, Kyoya did not want to give her back.

A/N: Thanks to all my wonderful readers and especially those of you who have left feedback.

Request for more: As you probably noticed (and will again), there are a couple sections where a character thinks one thing then a few paragraphs later may think something different. (Kyoya's motives for being with Haruhi for example). I hope it comes across as wrestling with it internally and not being wishy-washy or just as bad writing on my part. Just as several of the characters have multiple reasons for their actions and they'll give one to one person but a different reason to another. Does this work as a story-telling device or not?