Okay so long chapter is long or at least I think it is long. Yeah about 6,000 words is kinda long haha! Forgive me for any spelling or grammar mistakes, it's early in the morning and I am trying to proof read and edit this thing as best I can. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited and read this story, the reviews keep me motivated to keep on with this and it is appreciative! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and I'll try and have another one up as soon as I can! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ouran Host Club

"I can't believe you ditched us yesterday," Kaoru huffed, kicking a pebble out of the way as he walked down the sidewalk.

"I didn't ditch you," Haruhi disagreed. "Mori-senpai suggested we take a walk and that's what we did."

It was Wednesday morning and Haruhi was walking to school with Hikaru, Kaoru, Mori, and Hunny. Tamaki spent the night with Kyouya and they were going to show up later. The school had no qualms about the college students visiting because Tamaki's father was the superintendent of the school.

The morning, muggy air felt like a tight blanket wrapping around all of them. Haruhi tugged at her uniform collar to try and let some cool air hit her skin but it was to no avail. Up ahead Hunny was splashing into the puddles that were washed up onto the pavement from last night's rain. His bright yellow rain boots, with matching rain jacket and hat, squished and splashed in the puddles. He laughed as he jumped into another one, the puddle water bouncing off the squeaky, bright yellow rain coat.

"Uhuh, sure," Kaoru teased, his arms crossed behind his head as he walked to the right of her.

Hikaru made a disgruntle noise behind them, having to walk in the back because the sidewalk barely had enough room to fit more than two people standing next to each other. They continued their walk in silence, the sound of wet car tires sloshing through the streets. Birds chirped loudly, some even diving onto the sidewalk and into the road to flutter about in the water before flying off again. Haruhi laughed silently to herself as she watched Hunny almost slip in a puddle. She didn't hear the loud cry of "WATCH OUT!" or realize that Kaoru and Hikaru were jumping out of the way.

"H-hey, what the-" Haruhi stuttered. Mori had jumped right next to Haruhi, his arms wrapping around her as he bent over her. He hugged her close and used his body as a shield from the large splash of water that came up at her when one of the cars drove past them.

Hunny skipped towards them and glanced up at Mori as the taller man stood up straight and shook his arms. Hunny sucked at his thumb and tilted his head, "Taka-chan is all wet."

"Hn."

"Takashi," Haruhi looked up at him, he was indeed wet. The back of his clothes were soaking wet from the mini tidal wave of water.

"Why did you do that?" she asked him, stunned that he would throw himself in front of her just so she could stay dry.

Mori ignored the question and shook his arms, water droplets falling from them, "let's go or you'll be late."

"But you're wet!" she protested. She felt bad that he was the one who was standing there wet and she was dry all because she couldn't get out of the way in time. If she was just paying attention to begin with she could have easily jumped to the side like the twins had done.

"You'll be late," he repeated again.

Hunny, seeing that Mori was okay, took off again skipping ahead. Hikaru and Kaoru walked ahead as well, snickering to themselves.

Haruhi opened her mouth again but closed it with a sigh. She started to resume her walking and Mori followed closely next to her, as if to shield any more oncoming water attacks. Haruhi glanced up at him a few times and on the outside he didn't seem too concerned about being wet. She did wonder what he was thinking on the inside. Of all the times to have the ability to read minds, she wanted it to be now. Since there was no such thing, she was left to guess what he was thinking.

'Was it because he was being friendly or something else?' she wondered as the school building came closer into view.

Yesterday after Mori was able to get her to open up and not feel hesitant around him; they had talked quite freely, but nothing that was any indication of something more than a strong friendship. Haruhi remembered how giddy she felt inside when he offered to walk her to school the next morning once he left for the night. She couldn't wait and she had envisioned it would be just her and him walking peacefully down the road. Somehow, the twins got wind of it, probably from Hunny, and they insisted on walking as well. It made no sense since they were dropped off at her place and would have to take the trek towards the fancy school building. It would have made more sense to just drive, but that's how things went with the people she grew to care about.

"Maybe you should have someone pick you up so you can go get a change of clothes or something?" Haruhi suggested, looking both left and right before crossing the road.

Mori strolled along, his eyes darting back and forth quickly as if a car would suddenly shoot out of nowhere.

"I'll change in the Music Room," Mori said.

"Oh, okay."

There were benefits of attending a private and rich school, one of them was always the extra uniforms on-hand in case one of the students somehow spilt something on them or whatever they case may have been. Haruhi wondered if his simple jeans and black t-shirt were designer labels.

'Probably,' she thought to herself with a snort.

It wasn't long before they were both walking through the Academy doors and making their way up to the Music Room. Several girls had stopped Mori along the way to ask him if he was okay and why he was so wet, but Mori ignored them and continued on his way. When they had reached the Music Room Haruhi sat down on the couch and Mori stared at her. It took Haruhi a minute before she quickly leapt to her feet.

"I'm sorry, I'll let you change in private," she blushed as she scampered out the room. She closed the door behind her and groaned, her head banging softly against the wood. She really needed to find her head and screw it back on tightly.

Haruhi walked over to the wall and leaned against it, waiting for Mori to dry off and change. Five or so minutes had went by before she heard the door opening and saw a long, uniform clad leg, stepping out.

"I thought you went to class," Mori said, a towel in one hand as he dried off his short hair.

Haruhi forgot how good he looked in the school uniform and she willed herself not to turn red.

"No, I wanted to wait for you. It would have been rude if I had just taken off, especially without thanking you for what you did," Haruhi twiddled her thumbs around, glancing down as she watched them spin around one another. Left over right, right over left, it was fascinating.

"You're welcome," he replied, wondering why she found her thumbs so interesting. It was driving him nuts and he reached over to cover her hands, stopping her thumbs from making another revolution around each other.

Haruhi looked up at him and laughed, "sorry, bad habit."

The look in Mori's eyes softened and he motioned with his hand, "do you want some tea?"

"Uh…" she glanced up at the clock that was hanging in the hallway. She had already late for her first class and the thought of having tea with Mori was enticing.

She smiled, "yeah, sure."

"Good."

"You really didn't have to do that," Haruhi still kept apologizing. She never had anyone leap in front of her like that before. She didn't know what to say and to her, apologizing seemed the best way to go about it.

Mori laid a heavy hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently, "it's ok. Don't worry about it."

"I know, you keep saying that but I feel bad. Your clothes, they weren't expensive were they?" she put her tea cup down and looked at him from across the coffee table.

"I can pay for them if they were," she scratched the back of her head, her short hair slipping through her slim fingers. "I'll probably need to find a job to pay it off but I think eventually I could save up enough money to owe you back. Actually, I think I might have some extra money stored away."

Mori watched in amusement as Haruhi rambled to herself about his clothes, which were now in a washing machine and about to be transferred to the drier as soon as it was done.

"They're just clothes," he stated, taking a long sip of the tea.

"I…Tamaki-senpai usually freaks out about his clothes being ruined, even a wrinkle sends him into a fit," Haruhi recalled. Tamaki had worn one of his favorite designer shirts during the weekend and flipped out when he accidentally stained it with a small splatter of ice cream.

"I'm not Tamaki."

Haruhi gaped, "ah…yes…I mean no, you're not."

"It is just clothes," Mori set down his cup and grinned at her, "I have lots of them."

"Of course," she muttered. He probably did have a million shirts and pants that were exactly the same. He, after all, could afford such things.

"Is something the matter?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just still appreciative of what you did," Haruhi smiled brightly at him.

They lapsed into another comfortable silence. It was not like the silence before when Haruhi was unsure of what to say around him. He had made sure that there were no barriers between them so they could talk freely, she was thankful for that.

"I have some time to kill before my next class," she stood up, stretching her limbs. "Want to walk around?"

Mori cocked his head to the side, "you will not get upset by roaming the halls?"

Haruhi laughed, "no, I won't this time."

The last time she freaked out about roaming the halls when everyone was suppose to be in class, was when Tamaki had another hair-brained idea and it involved her having to sneak around while everyone was occupied. She had nearly flipped her lid and threw a fit protesting that she would not break school rules and most importantly she would not put herself in a position to be expelled from the school. Tamaki had reassured her that she wouldn't be expelled and it was for the benefit of the club. Benefit her foot, the half-Japanese and half-French spaz-machine just wanted to see what the other clubs in the schools agendas were. Even Kyouya was all for this scheme and said that knowing what other clubs were doing and then the Host Club outdoing them would be a huge advantage.

"I think I have gotten over that," Haruhi laughed again. "It is not like the last time where I had to go spying around."

Mori stood up and straightened out the dark blue pants he was wearing, "okay."

"Great," she cheered and turned on her heel to walk towards the door. She stopped half-way there and looked over her shoulder, "so…where do you want to go?"

"I think I have an idea."

"Oh man, class really blew today," Hikaru griped as he tossed his books into his bag. Kaoru was finishing up a math problem so he would have his homework completed and the afternoon free.

"You're just mad because Haruhi wasn't in class," Kaoru snickered, scribbling out the last bits of the equation.

Hikaru zipped up his bag and tossed it on the floor, "like I care."

"Yeah, whatever," Kaoru snorted, pushing his calculator closer to him as he double-checked the equation to make sure the answer was right, and it was.

Hikaru tapped his foot impatiently; he really wanted to get out of class and go find the others. It had been a while since he was able to have fun and get into trouble with Tamaki around. Of course anything that dealt with Tamaki was of great amusement to him and the other boy did provide him with hours of fun.

"Okay, okay," Kaoru rushed to put his things up. "I know you want to go see your boyfriend."

Hikaru's face turned red and he spluttered, "He is not my boyfriend!"

"You don't have to lie to me, I know you like him."

"Kaoru," Hikaru's hands were clenched into tight fists, "shut your mouth!"

"To think you want someone who is not as smart, good looking and appealing as I am," Kaoru sniffled as tears shined in his eyes. He dropped his head to the desk and began to sob.

The few girls that were left in the class glared at Hikaru and began to whisper angrily amongst them.

"Kaoru…I didn't mean to tell you to shut up," Hikaru tried apologizing. Kaoru continued to sob on and his crying wails became louder with each passing sniffle.

"You know, you're being a bit overdramatic."

The crying increased in volume.

"Oh for fu-"

Hikaru was cut off as Kyouya walked by the door and popped his head in. His eyeglasses glinted when the sunlight caught them and he looked down his nose at Hikaru.

"Is there a problem?"

"No," Hikaru waved his hands frantically. "Kaoru is just being an overdramatic baby."

Kaoru threw his head back and tears fell from his eyes like a rushing waterfall.

"…"

"He has this idea that the boss and I are,"Hikaru made a face, "dating."

Kyouya continued to stare him down and his stare became even harder at the mention of 'Tamaki' and 'dating.'

"I swear I didn't do a thing, would you please stop looking at me like that!" Hikaru pleaded, getting freaked out by the 'Mother' of the Host Club.

Kaoru wailed, "HIKARU DOESN'T LOVE ME ANYMORE!"

Hikaru turned to his twin brother and angrily shouted, "WOULD YOU SHUT UP! STOP CRYING! AND BLOW YOUR NOSE, THERE'S SNOT ALL OVER THE DESK!"

Kaoru immediately stopped crying and blinked, his tears magically disappearing, "there is?"

"Yeah, right there," Hikaru pointed at the desk.

Kaoru grimaced as he dug a handkerchief out of his pocket and began to wipe up the mess that he created.

"I think I will be going now," Kyouya pushed up his glasses. "Lunch is at noon, do not be late."

"Bye Kyouya-senpai!" Kaoru waved gleefully before turning to look up at his frazzled brother. "So, want to go look for Haruhi?"

Hikaru fell over and began to twitch on the floor.

The halls were empty but as soon as the bell had softly chimed, signaling that the first class was over, Mori and Haruhi went straight for the gardens. It was much quieter there and void of any other human beings.

"You don't know how quiet it is with all of you gone," Haruhi said, plucking at a leaf from one of the bushes.

"I'll bet."

"I mean the twins can be loud and wound up, but they aren't that bad," she explained. "Not as bad as when everyone is together, that's when they really turn up the madness."

Mori chuckled.

"So…" she tossed the plucked leaf aside. "What's it like in college? I know you write about it a little bit, but I want to know more. Is it hard? Do you have any extra curricular activities? Is the food bad? What about the dormitories?"

Mori quickly gathered his thoughts so he could answer all her questions.

"It's fine, not that different from here except everyone is older and the classes are much harder. There are different clubs. The food is not bad, it is catered and it depends on who your roommate is."

Haruhi giggled to herself, she loved it when she was able to get Mori talk for more than just a couple of words.

"I can't wait, I really wanted to surprise you," she pouted as they came to a swing that was hanging from a tree.

"It is fine, nothing lost."

Haruhi made a soft 'hmph' noise as she sat down on the swing, "except my surprise."

"If it means that much to you," he walked behind her and gave her a little push. "I will pretend to be surprised."

Haruhi swung upwards and tilted her head back, "you would do that-"

She came swinging back and he pushed her again.

"-for me?"

"Yes."

"Takashi," Haruhi called out his name but then squealed as he gave her a stronger push that sent her higher into the air.

They spent the next thirty minutes conversing, Haruhi sitting on the swing laughing and Mori pushing her from behind, the barest smiles on his faces. There were only two people that could make his composure crack, Hunny and Haruhi. To think it would be an awful lonely place if they both were not apart of it. It would be an awful lonely place if any of his friends were not apart of it and he was thankful for what he had.

As the day went on, Haruhi eventually rejoined her fellow classmates and tuned in to her lessons. Hikaru and Kaoru tried to pry information out of her but Haruhi was not going to give in. She told them that she had some assignments she did not finish the night before and she wanted to get them done instead of receiving a bad mark for them being incomplete.

"So the other class was not as important?" Hikaru whispered to her.

Haruhi stiffened, "it's not that it wasn't important, but I knew I would be okay if I skipped."

"If you say so."

Haruhi hated it when Hikaru took that tone of voice with her, it grated on her nerves. She could not understand him at times. Sure she knew he had feelings for her but many times he said that they were just really good friends, and after learning about Mori, he seemed to be pushing her in his direction. Why now would he get snippy with her if she started hanging out with Mori? She saw the twins more because Mori was away at college. Maybe-she paused in thought and shook her head.

"I won't stop being your friend," she whispered to Hikaru.

Hikaru snapped his pencil in half; his hand was gripping it too tightly.

"Just because I hang out with someone else does not mean I will stop being your friend, you don't have to worry," she gave him a reassuring smile.

Hikaru snorted as he rummaged through his bag for another pencil, "I'm not worried."

"Then please don't be angry with me."

Hikaru looked into her sad eyes and he quickly advert his eyes to the front of the room where the teacher was writing some history dates down on the board.

"Don't look at me like that," Hikaru muttered.

"I'm not looking at you in any way," Haruhi disagreed.

Hikaru glanced back over at her, at least the sad look had disappeared from her eyes, "I don't like it when you are sad."

"I…hmm…okay Hikaru," Haruhi smiled at him and continued to write down the history notes.

Hikaru went back to his own notes, he was glad the air was cleared between them. They went about it in a weird way but that was how they did things, out of the norm.

Class went by without another word from Hikaru and Kaoru happily tossed notes over his brother's head at Haruhi, who tossed notes back to him while the teacher was not looking. They were basically drawing little comic sketches and giggling to themselves as they added something new. Mainly it was about Tamaki and Hikaru battling against each other, but neither of them winning due to a random samurai jumping in and defeating them both. It was a bit lame, but to them it was funny and it passed the time.

The bell chimed softly once again and the students gathered their things and walked out of the class. Hikaru reached over to Kaoru's desk and snatched up the paper that was filled with little comic drawings. He read through each from and crumpled the paper up into a ball, throwing it out the open window.

"HEY!"

"I would not lose to a samurai, nor would I lose to Tamaki," Hikaru sniffed, gathering up his books and his bag.

Kaoru pouted and Haruhi snickered.

The three of them strolled out of the classroom and made their way up to the Music Room. They had a free period and decided that they would meet everyone else up there. Hikaru looped his arm through Haruhi's and walked past Kaoru, sticking his tongue out at him.

"At least she laughed at my jokes!" Kaoru shouted at his retreating back.

Haruhi looked over her shoulder and mouthed playfully 'I'm sorry.'

"You shouldn't be so mean to Kaoru," Haruhi scolded him.

Hikaru grunted, "he needs someone strong to keep him in place."

Haruhi smiled, "you really do care for him, don't you?"

"I thought that was quite obvious."

"Oh, it is. I just find it how protective you are of him but yet how you easily play along or get angry with him, even if it is a false anger."

Hikaru grunted, "I am angry."

"Mhmm."

"I am."

"…would you be if you weren't defeated by a samurai?"

Hikaru grinned, "of course not."

The two shared a laugh and finished the last couple of steps to the Music Room before opening the door and stepping inside.

"HARU-CHAN!" Hunny launched at her, hugging her around the waist.

"Hello, Hunny-senpai, how is your day so far?"

Hunny smiled up at her, "good, I've had lots of cake!"

"I can tell, you still have icing on your face," Haruhi poked his cheek with her finger.

"Mitsukuni," Mori approached him, a wet wash rag in hand. "You need to wash up."

Hunny pouted and allowed Mori to clean him up.

Hikaru walked over to where Tamaki was sitting and plopped down beside him, "if we were to battle to the death, who would win?"

Tamaki scratched his head, "well it would be me of course."

"Ha, you wish."

"And you would win?"

"Of course!"

"How?!"

"By default of course."

Tamaki's eyebrow twitched, "you never said what the rules were."

"There are no rules."

"Fine then, I beat your default by my own default that says no matter what you say I. WILL. WIN."

"You can't do that!"

"Yes I can, it says so in the 'No Rules' rules," Tamaki had pulled out his trump card.

Kaoru joined them after finally catching up, "actually you both lose to the samurai."

Tamaki and Hikaru stopped their squabbling with one another and turned to the other twin.

"The samurai would feel so embarrassed that he would do away with both of you," Kaoru shrugged, "just how it goes."

A huge argument broke out between the three of them and the rest of the group stood to the side as they watched. They couldn't believe that they were arguing over something so petty, but then again, it didn't really shock them because they had seen it before.

"Anyway," Kyouya pushed up his glasses. "It seems as though I will have to cut my visit here a little shorter than planned. I have some financial issues that I need to take care of and a few people that I need to meet with before returning."

Haruhi nodded her head, "I understand."

"I'll be sure to take Tamaki with me," Kyouya smiled, "you'll see him enough when you start your first semester in college."

"Please don't remind me," Haruhi groaned, her shoulders slumping.

"YOU TWO ARE UNBELIEVABLE! YOU CAN'T BEAT A SAMURAI!" Kaoru shouted at them and then another verbal onslaught attack began.

"Do we have to go too Taka-chan?" Hunny looked up at Mori as he pulled on his uniform jacket.

Mori glanced over at Haruhi and then back down at Hunny, "no."

Haruhi felt her insides flutter, she was happy to hear that Mori wanted to stay until the end of the week. She would have more time to spend with him before he went back.

Hunny cheered and skipped around singing.

"Haruhi, I need to speak with you for a moment," Kyouya waved her over and Haruhi nodded her head.

"Okay."

Kyouya led Haruhi away out of the Music Room and into a much quieter, empty classroom. He sat down in one of the empty chairs and she followed suit.

"What is it, Kyouya-senpai?" she asked.

"I just wanted to know, before I left, what your intentions are with Mori-senpai," Kyouya folded his hands in front of him, laying them on the desk.

Haruhi nearly fell out of her chair, "excuse me?!"

"You heard me."

"W-what does it matter?"

"Nothing really, I'm just curious," he unfolded his hands and pushed his glasses up. "I am also looking out for Tamaki as well. You should know that he likes you more than just a friend at times and his feelings and emotions are conflicted."

Haruhi took a deep breath, she knew that Tamaki liked her but she tried keeping it on that 'friends only' level. She figured he was over any romantic feelings for her until now.

"Deep down I think he still wants to be with you but at other times he just wants to look after you as a protective-"

"Father, I know," she rolled her eyes.

"I do not care what you and Mori-senpai have going on…relationship or not…but I just need to be one hundred percent certain where your own feelings lie," Kyouya leaned over the desk and looked her straight in the eye. "I do not want to see him hurt or his feelings toyed with."

"I…I understand completely and agree," Haruhi leaned back in her chair. His piercing gaze was tearing right through her and she felt extremely hot on the outside but cold on the inside. She tugged at her uniform to let some air through, her clothes were becoming sweaty and it felt disgusting.

Kyouya sighed and relaxed, "I did not mean to intimidate you."

"You-"

"I did, I can tell by your actions."

"Uh…"

"Tamaki has been through a lot and I have grown rather," he coughed, "fond of him in a way."

Haruhi tried not to smile, "senpai?"

"You could say that is the reason why I helped provide the means for his plans, games, and whatever else was up his sleeve, including some well planted ideas of my own. At first I thought he was an irritating, annoying pest of a child but…"

Haruhi hung onto his every word.

"…oddly enough I befriended him and we became close friends, as you are well aware of, even though at times it does not appear that way. Again, I am looking out for his best interests and I felt that we needed to clear this up if and when Tamaki decides to move on."

"Are you saying that-"

Kyouya held up a hand to silence her.

"Do you have feelings for Tamaki?"

Haruhi did not need to think long on this, she knew the answer, she knew it for a very long time.

"I do, but only as a dear friend, a goofy older brother that I never had," she smiled fondly at the image of Tamaki popping into her mind.

Kyouya seemed pleased at this, "very well, that is all."

"Thanks for the parental dismissal," she sarcastically said as she stood up from the chair.

"You're quite welcome."

Haruhi shook her head as she exited the classroom, leaving Kyouya alone to his own thoughts. Haruhi had a feeling that something was up but she didn't outright say, but she tried to and Kyouya had shut her down.

"Kyouya-senpai and Tamaki-senpai," she mused to herself. "Interesting."

On the way back to the Music Room Haruhi could hear loud crashing from inside and she took a deep breath before walking into the mayhem. The room was in total array and things were flying from one side of the room to the other.

"HYAAAAAAH!"

Haruhi watched half-terrified as Tamaki and Hikaru charged at each other, both holding pillows as their weapons. She felt the sweat drops pouring down her neck and the side of her face. Oh the things she had to bare witness to.

Kyouya indeed left the following morning, with a crying Hunny clutching his leg. Mori had to remind Hunny that he would see Kyouya on campus again. Hunny cheered up instantly and put a hand behind his head, laughing at his silly mistake. Kyouya had managed to bring Tamaki along with him, just as he planned. Tamaki did not protest and it was very apparent that Kyouya had a long discussion with him that night.

"Take care, Haruhi," Tamaki hugged her tightly, then waved bye to the twins.

Hikaru and Kaoru waved back and told them to have a safe trip.

"So long," Kyouya gave a brief nod before climbing into the fancy, black car.

"Bye!" they all waved to the retreating car.

Tamaki stuck half of his body out the window and was waving frantically but disappeared as Kyouya tugged him back inside.

Tamaki sighed, "it was fun, wasn't it Kyouya?"

"It was interesting," Kyouya, usually with an arm full of paper or a laptop, sat empty handed.

"I can't wait until we are all together again."

"You sound as if you lost a beloved pet," Kyouya watched him.

Tamaki slouched down in the seat, "it feels that way."

Kyouya huffed, "you're not pining away for Haruhi are you?"

"No, why do you say that?" Tamaki looked up at him.

"Just wondering, I thought you were over her and you seem sad about leaving her behind."

"Well I am because she is a friend and so are Hikaru and Kaoru," Tamaki explained. "I know there is nothing between us."

Tamaki was not stupid, even though he acted as he was at times. He had seen the looks and the smiles that passed between Mori and Haruhi. Sure he was happy for them both, if they were going out, but deep down it upset him a bit because he felt he was the one for her. Apparently that was not the case and Mori had beaten him to the punch.

"If it makes you feel any better, she cares deeply for you as a friend. You did say she was your daughter after all, right?"

Tamaki closed his eyes and chuckled, "I did."

"She's happy."

"Huh?" Tamaki opened one eye.

"I said she is happy," Kyouya crossed his arms over his chest. "She wants you to be happy and not to worry about her all the time."

"Is that so," he mused.

Kyouya nodded.

"I'm not upset," Tamaki proclaimed, "honest."

Kyouya continued to watch him as the other boy stared out the window, "Tamaki."

Tamaki fell against Kyouya, his head landing in his lap. Kyouya sat there frozen, not sure if he should say something or move.

"Kyouya?"

"Yes?"

Tamaki turned to look straight up at him; he gave a bright smile, "thank you for everything."

Kyouya did not need to ask what that meant, he already knew. He unfolded his arms and ran his fingers through Tamaki's soft, blonde hair.

"You're welcome."