This chapter has more Tamaki-and-Haruhi-ness (: I'm not good at writing fluffy stuff, so a lot of this came from my best friend too.

This chapter's song is Dear Prudence by The Bealtes.

Still don't own Ouran. If I did then I wouldn't have to contemplate ways to steal Kyoya.

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"Well I guess the obvious thing would be to say that Hunny-senpai would be a bunny rabbit, but I think he's more of an otter."

"I was thinking panda bear."

"Why a panda?"

"Because," Tamaki said. "They look all cute and cuddly, but they could rip you in half if they wanted. And have you ever seen a picture of a panda that wasn't eating?"

"Hunny-senpai does eat a lot," Haruhi allowed. "And just looking at him, you'd never know that he could take out an entire police squadron."

"See? Panda bear. What about Mori-senpai?"

Haruhi paused for a moment, thinking, looking up from her homework for the first time since they had embarked on the task of deciding what animal each of the Hosts would be. "Eyeore," she said. "Does that count as an animal?"

Tamaki laughed. "As fitting as that is," he said, "I don't think so."

"Okay then," Haruhi said, then paused again before saying musingly, "A fox."

"Why a fox?" Tamaki asked, taking a sip of his soda.

"Because they're protective," Haruhi explained. "And not just over their own kits, they'll defend another family's kits too. And they're mysterious and ridiculously intelligent."

"That's Mori-senpai, in a nutshell," Tamaki said. "Who's next?"

"Hikaru," Haruhi said, looking back to her notebook.

"Coyote."

Haruhi made a face. "A coyote?"

"They're tricksters."

"They also eat people," Haruhi pointed out, putting her pencil down and pushing the book away. "Can he be something a little less...vicious?"

"A rat."

"Rats are gross."

"So is Hikaru."

"He is not." Haruhi grabbed a pretzel out of the bag on the coffee table and threw it at Tamaki.

"What've you got?" Tamaki asked, eating the pretzel with which Haruhi had assaulted his collarbone.

"A ferret?" Haruhi suggested. "They're playful and mischievous and calculating and such. And not vicious or gross."

"Okay," Tamaki allowed. "I have to admit Hikaru is not vicious and gross, so ferret it is. Kaoru?"

"I don't know," Haruhi said after another pause, longer than the others. "I'm honestly drawing a blank for Kaoru."

Tamaki thought for a moment before saying, "Not to steal from Hunny-senpai, but I'm thinking rabbit. They're timid, but still playful, and that's kind of Kaoru-ish, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Haruhi said. "They avoid conflict, too, and Kaoru hates arguing with people."

Tamaki's phone rang, and, after a moment of internal debate on whether to answer it or continue his conversation with Haruhi, he stood and walked across the room to retrieve it.

"Hello," he said upon picking it up.

"Tamaki," his father's voice said happily. "I'm paying you a little visit at the second estate today."

"When?" Tamaki asked, and Haruhi looked up from her homework, her interest piqued.

"I'm getting ready to head over now. I should be there in about an hour." The sing-song quality in his father's tone brought a smile to Tamaki's face.

"Okay. Haruhi's here, too. I'll tell her you're coming."

"I'll see you soon."

Tamaki hung up and tossed his phone onto the couch. "My father's coming," he said to Haruhi.

"I gathered that, funny enough," she said, turning back to her homework. "Who's left?"

"Kyoya."

"You know Kyoya-senpai the best," Haruhi said.

"Kyoya's a cat," Tamaki said simply, as though it were obvious, and Haruhi cocked her head to one side, awaiting his explanation. "They're manipulative and conniving and sneaky, but still loving.

"'Loving' is not a word I would typically use to describe Kyoya-senpai," Haruhi said skeptically.

"It's a side of him not many people see," Tamaki said, almost sadly. "And by 'not many people' I mean me, Fuyumi, and Fuyumi's daughter Kisa. And even the three of us don't see it often. But he can be really sweet."

"I'll take your word for it."

Tamaki rolled his eyes. "You have ample reason not to believe me," he admitted. "So what about me?"

"What do you see yourself as?"

"I don't know," Tamaki said. "A goose."

Haruhi laughed. "Why a goose?"

"Have you met me?" Tamaki asked, and Haruhi's laugh rang through the room again, a glorious, melodic sound Tamaki would never tire of hearing. "And you, my little rose?"

"I'm a tanuki," Haruhi said, smiling. "Remember? That's what the twins called me."

"You are not a raccoon dog," Tamaki said firmly. "More like a penguin." Another confused look from Haruhi. "They symbolize drive and purpose, which you have, and making order out of chaos, which you do almost every time you walk into a room."

"Where do you pick these things up?"

"I'll admit it, the penguin info came from Google. I got bored one day so I looked up a bunch of stuff on penguins, and when I read that I immediately thought of you, and then later I thought of Kyoya. But Kyoya's definitely a cat. So you're a penguin."

"Yay," Haruhi said half-heartedly. "One more pointless conversation finished."

Tamaki rolled his eyes at her jab. "What are you working on?" he asked her.

"Conversational French," she said. "I can't believe I let the twins talk me into taking this class. It's pointless. How on earth is 'the monkey is on the branch' conversational? French people have no need for that phrase."

Tamaki smiled. "No," he said. "Not a whole lot of jungle in France."

"You would know that," Haruhi said. "I forgot." After a moment, she asked, "Hey, I have one sentence left, and there's one word I can't remember. Can you help me?"

"Sure."

"Thank you for not saying 'oui,'" she said, and Tamaki's smiled widened. "How do you say 'socks' in French?"

"Socks?" Tamaki repeated with a slight laugh.

"Yes. I'm trying to say 'I fold socks every Tuesday' and I can't remember how to say socks."

"Chaussettes."

"Thank you," Haruhi said, finishing the sentence and closing her notebook. She pushed it aside and pulled herself onto the couch from her spot on the floor. "I hate the French language," she said bitterly. "More than I hate rich people."

Tamaki placed a hand on his chest playfully, taking in a sharp breath. "Ow," he said. "As a rich person who speaks the French language, that hurt, Haruhi."

"I love you," Haruhi clarified. "I just hate most rich people. And the French language."

Tamaki sighed, then took a seat next to Haruhi on the couch. He kissed her lightly on the cheek, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Vous," he said softly, "mon petit rose belle, etes incroyable de toute maniere. Je t'aime avec toute de mon ame, pas pour qui vous etes, mais pour qui je suis quand je suis avec vous."

Haruhi stared at him for a moment, slightly startled by his tender touch. "Ok," she said when she found her voice again. "The only thing I caught out of all of that was 'je t'aime,' which I know means 'I love you.' Are you using your little Host Club waffle on me? Because you know it won't work."

"Not this time," Tamaki said, smiling. "No tricks, no blather to warm the heart. Just very true words."

Haruhi rolled her eyes.

"See," Tamaki said. "That's one of my favorite things about you. My tricks don't work on you. You have standards."

"So do the Host Club girls," Haruhi said. "They just happed to be unrealistic. And so do you."

Tamaki gave another playful clutch at his heart.

"You do have one trick that works on me, though," Haruhi said. Tamaki cocked his head to one side, looking like a confused puppy (he was good at that), and Haruhi smiled. "Play for me," she said, indicating the piano.

Tamaki smiled, warm and genuine and lighting up the room. He grabbed Haruhi's hand and pulled her over to the piano bench with him, sitting her down next to him as he slid the cover from the keys, a hint of something other than happiness glittering in those marvelous orbs of liquid amethyst.

After a few bars, he began to sing, and Haruhi couldn't help but blush.

She's got a way about her. I don't know what it is, but I know that I can't live without her. She's got a way of pleasing. I don't know why it is, but there doesn't have to be a reason anyway. She's got a smile that heals me. I don't know why it is, but I have to laugh when she reveals me. She's got a way of talking. I don't know why it is, but it lifts me up when we are walking anywhere. She comes to me when I'm feeling down inspires me without a sound. She touches me, and I get turned around. She's got a way of showing how I make her feel, and I find the strength to keep on going. She's got a light around her. And everywhere she does, a million dreams of love surround her everywhere. She comes to me when I'm feeling down inspires me without a sound. She touches me, and I get turned around. She's got a smile that heals me. I don't know why it is, but I have to laugh when she reveals me. She's got a way about her. I don't know what it is, but I know that I can't live without her anyway.

The song ended on an unbearably sweet chord, and Haruhi turned her face away from Tamaki, blushing. Tamaki smiled, cupping her cheek.

"You're so cute when you get embarrassed," he said. She grumbled, and Tamaki laughed, turning back to the piano, a much more upbeat song filling the air.

"The Root Beer Rag?" Haruhi said after a moment, when she had collected herself.

"I spent the better part of last summer teaching myself how to play this."

"I have a strangely easy time believing that."

Tamaki laughed, his playing faltering only slightly before he found his place again.

Before he'd finished the song, the front door opened. Tamaki's father came strolling in, and Tamaki turned to face him, his eyes landing on the figure behind him.

"I thought you weren't scheduled to arrive for a few more days?" he said to his grandmother, politely confused.

She shrugged, her eyes holding nothing but contempt for the boy. "My flight was rescheduled," she said simply. "I came early."

"Oh," Tamaki said. "Well it's good to have you. Will you be staying in the second estate this visit?"

"Certainly not," she snapped. "Your father's brought me here for some reason; we'll be heading back to the main estate soon enough."

"Tamaki," the chairman said, intervening in the first way he could think of. "I think you should introduce Haruhi."

Tamaki took a deep breath and cast Haruhi an almost apologetic look before saying, "Haruhi, this is my grandmother. Grandmother, Haruhi Fujioka, the Ouran Academy scholarship student."

"Where have I seen you before?" the woman asked before Haruhi could say anything.

Haruhi faltered, looking to Tamaki.

"At the school festival, I think," Tamaki said.

"And why exactly is she of any relevance to me?" she asked, turning back to face Tamaki's father.

He looked at his son, who drew another deep breath before saying hesitantly, "Grandmother, Haruhi and I have been dating for the past three months."

There was a pause before his grandmother turned her eyes back to Haruhi, scrutinizing her, and Haruhi tried hard not to shift uncomfortably under her gaze. Tamaki sensed Haruhi's unease and started to speak, but his grandmother spoke first.

"Even you could do better," she said, and Tamaki stared, any response lost.

"Haruhi's a fine girl," his father said.

"I hate to disagree with you," his mother said. "She's a member of that host club of his. Posing as a boy, if I recall."

"It's complicated," Tamaki began, but his grandmother cut him off again.

"Nonetheless," she said. "She spends a significant portion of her time entertaining women by deceiving them. I say again, boy, even you could do better."

She followed Yuzuru into another part of the house, and Tamaki turned to Haruhi, looking miserable.

"I'm so sorry," he said, and Haruhi waved his apology away impatiently.

"It's not your fault she's bitter," she said with a small smile.

"Still," he said, throwing himself onto the couch. "You didn't deserve that."

"Tamaki, it's fine," Haruhi said, sitting next to him and leaning against his shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

Tamaki sighed, taking Haruhi in his arms. "I love you," he said softly.

"I love you too," Haruhi said, resting her head against Tamaki's chest. After a moment she said, "I really liked that song."

She felt Tamaki smile, his cheek resting on top of her head. "I'm glad," he said. "I hoped you might."

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I hate that woman. A lot. But you're kind of supposed to, I guess. You'll be seeing more of her later. Unfortunately. Sorry guys.

And in case you were wondering, Tamaki's French line is (roughly) "You, my lovely little rose, are incredible in every way. I love you with all my soul, not for who you are, but for who I am when I'm with you."

And when Haruhi says "Host Club waffle," she means waffle like nonsense, not waffle like the delicious breakfast food.

Anyway. Tell me how I'm doing so far (: I like reviews. Even bad ones.

Again, drop LifelessStar a line if you would (: Especially for the French bit, she did the more complex translating.

Songs:

She's Got a Way by Billy Joel

The Root Beer Rag also by Billy Joel, even thought it's only mentioned (there are no words for me to put in, but it seemed like something fun that Tamaki might play).