(A/N) I love writing about Host Club shenanigans. It's so much better than real life.

I know we've all followed a bumpy ride
I'm secretly on your side

Get me out of here.

Like Motorcycles

Evening was creeping over the well-manicured lawns of Ouran High School, the sky turning pleasant watercolor shades as the sun slowly disappeared over the curved horizon. Katja stared up at the darkening expanse with a finger pulling at her lip, her feeling of foreboding increasing with every passing moment. She turned away from the picture window, twitching the curtains closed and flipping on another lamp as the last rays of light drained away. She had never been fond of the dark, and watching the sunset always made her feel lonely. Although Katja's current situation also may have helped contribute to her less-than-chipper mood.

It was Sunday, and she had spent the class-free day alone. The extra time had at first been enjoyable; Kyouya had excused her from Host Club activities (and other things that might have entailed), saying something about the dark circles under her eyes, and Katja had taken the chance to catch up on her sleep. She had lazed around in her pajamas, nibbling at the fruit that had magically appeared on her desk overnight, and when she had finally decided to shower, Katja stood under the water until it turned ice cold and caused her to leap for a towel. But after she had gotten dressed and had begun working on her leftover homework, Katja found her notebook devoid of the silly comments the Hitachiins usually scribbled on it in class and suddenly, the room seemed too quiet. And she could only think of one possible explanation for the sullen feeling that had descended upon her.

As much as Katja hated to admit it, and she really hated to admit it, she was actually missing the Host Club. That pack of dribbling idiots. She was missing them. Surely, she was cracking up.

"Well damn it all," swore Katja to herself as she slid into the tassel-covered chair behind the writing desk. "I finally get some time away from them all, and I can't even enjoy it because I'm away from them!" She dropped her head into her hands, staring gloomily at the inside of her eyelids. "Really, I must be insane."

Just when she was considering drawing a mural on the wall out of sheer boredom, the phone on the nightstand rang loudly. Katja jumped a foot in the air out of surprise – there were only three, maybe four, people who knew the number to her private line, and she couldn't think why Toko Fukia or the director would be calling her at this hour, and it was too early in Germany for her parents to even be awake. So that left one person….

Sliding across the floor in her socks, Katja dove for the receiver and landed on the bed in a cloud of feathers, tossed up from the down duvet. She quickly swung the phone up towards her, and smiled cheekily into the mouthpiece. "Guten Abend!"

"Guten Abend, meine schöne Freundin."

While the voice that replied was not the one she had been expecting, Katja was all the more glad for it. "I didn't know you spoke German, Kaoru."

"How'd you know it was me?" He sounded slightly crestfallen.

"Oh I didn't, it was just a guess," Katja responded, snuggling up to one of the oversized pillows and wrapping her arms around it, keeping the receiver perched between her shoulder and ear. "You won't believe how glad I am to hear your voice! I was so bored without you all today – I even walked around for an hour, trying to find the third music room, but when I finally found it the doors were locked, and– I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

Kaoru chuckled on the other end. "Nah, it's cute when you do it."

"Okay, now you're just teasing me."

"No, really – I mean, you should hear Hikaru when he gets worked up. Sounds like a three year old, and his voice gets so high, I swear, it's popped my eardrums before. But you, your eyes light up and you do this adorable little quirk with your lip. Really, as if I'd ever joke about something like that."

Now it was Katja's turn to laugh. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, Kaoru. But let's talk about something else, like why I'm fortunate enough to be getting a call from you, and not Kyouya. I didn't think you had this number."

"I didn't until today," admitted Kaoru. "Otherwise we would've called you earlier."

"Ah, I see." Katja rolled over, twisting the phone cord around her foot as she twirled it in the air, pretending to write her name on the ceiling with her toes. "So, is there a specific reason you're calling, or are you just showing me some pity?"

"That's funny, Katja – as if I'd never be stupid enough to pity you."

"You're a lovely boy."

"But, actually, there is a reason I'm calling, and it's the reason Kyouya gave us your number in the first place. It's about the cruise…on the ship, remember?"

"Of course I remember!" said Katja excitedly, eyes widening up at the chandelier hanging overhead. "Did the director finally respond ; do I have permission?"

"Yeah, we all have permission to leave tomorrow."

"So, where're we going? I told Kyouya I didn't care where– wait, did you just say tomorrow?"

"'Course," replied Kaoru, sounding slightly surprised. "Milord has a bunch of meetings he can't miss the week of holiday, and the director pulled it backwards a week so he could come with. And the cruise Kyouya booked leaves tomorrow, anyway, so it worked out fine."

Katja was dumfounded. "Let me get this straight, the director just…moved the date of holiday? Why would he do that?"

"You'd understand if you had been there. You've never seen one of Milord's fits; they're really quite frightening. Besides, it's really not a big deal – it's only a week."

"All right," she sighed, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand and wondering how there was such a thing as 'only a week'. "How long are we going to be gone, when tomorrow do we leave? What should I pack? And you still haven't told me where we're going! Gah, Kaoru – why couldn't you have called me earlier?"

"Sssh, Katja, calm down," Kaoru soothed, his voice pleading. "It's all been taken care of, you don't have to worry about anything. Hikaru, Haruhi, and I will pick you up outside the main building tomorrow at eight o'clock, and Kyouya already had your parents send packed luggage directly to the liner and your ticket paid for. All you have to do is show up."

"That man," growled Katja suddenly. "Does he have to go behind my back about everything?"

Kaoru chucked again, "I'm assuming you're referring to Kyouya? He's just that way, which I suppose has its uses. Nobody else could have organized this as quickly as he did."

"I suppose," she grumbled unwilling. "But anyway, since I'm already aboard this crazy train, would you consider humoring me and actually tell me where we're going?"

There was a pause on the other end of line, followed by someone murmuring in Japanese and another replying. A loud scuff to the mouthpiece on Kaoru's end nearly caused Katja to drop the phone, but the redhead came back quickly. "Sorry, Katja, I really have to go – Hikaru and I still haven't talked to our mum about this yet. We'll see you tomorrow at eight, but I'll call you in the morning anyway. Kiss yourself goodnight for us, okay? Bye!"

"Wait a second, Kaoru, you still haven't–" The line went dead with a beep. "–Told me where we're going."

Katja replaced the receiver back in its cradle, glaring at the device as though it was the thing withholding answers from her. Flopping back onto the bed, she closed her eyes as she sunk further into the fluffy blankets. Really, she shouldn't have been surprised that something like this was happening, but apparently she had not taken Kyouya's 'expect the unexpected' comment very seriously. Well she sure as hell was now. Even her parents were in on it…her bloody parents halfway across the globe….

Half a moment later, Katja sat bolt upright. Wait, had Kaoru said that her parents were sending her luggage? Her mother, who had a strangely large amount of things in common with Tamaki, and her father, who agreed with almost everything her mother said, were packing her clothes for a cruise…?

"Oh, great."

She was going to have to bring extras.

The very next morning found Katja perched atop her duffle bag, stuffed with her own choice of clothing, on the frosted steps of the main Ouran building. The December wind bit angrily at her cheeks and she pulled at the sides of her woolen pea coat, buttoning the collar up to her jaw, shivering. Extracting her hand from her warm pocket, she glanced at the watch face on the studded strap: seven fifty-nine. The Hitachiins (and Haruhi) were due in one minute, and Katja prayed they would be on time – she couldn't be held responsible for her actions after that.

Well damn freedom. Damn Japan. She didn't want to go on a cruise anymore, all she wanted was a cozy blanket and some hot soup.

"Goddamn the Host Club!"

A dull rumbling in the distance caught Katja's ear, growing steadily louder as it approached. Peeking out of the safety of her arms, she spotted a shining black town-car through the barren trees, speeding across the grounds with two tousled, red-capped heads smiling and waving through the sunroof. Katja breathed an icy breath of relief and jumped to her feet, nearly tripping on the slick marble as she dashed down the stairs towards the (hopefully) warm car and beaming twins. The driver's door opened and a man in a suit popped out, but Katja had already taken hold of the handle and was diving into the passengers' compartment, her disappearance followed by a series of shouts and laughter. The man could only chuckle to himself; honestly, those boys had the strangest friends.

"Let me in, let me in!" Katja exclaimed as she slammed the car door, accidentally bumping her own bottom and sending herself sprawling across the seat, and incidentally, across the laps of Kaoru, Hikaru, and Haruhi. "It's so cold out there!"

"Well, why were you sitting outside then?" accused Hikaru, frowning down at her and freeing his hands of her curls. "Why not go inside?"

"Because my room is across the grounds, and the main building was locked!" she explained indignantly. "Excuse me for not wanting to make you wait."

"It's too early for fighting, you two," Kaoru groaned, rolling his eyes, and Katja replied by sliding onto the floor as the car moved forward. "Here, Katja, come sit next to me."

Once she had successfully wedged herself between Kaoru and the opposite door, she apologized profusely for her lack of grace (to which Hikaru muttered something about it being no surprise) and the three Japanese students and one German sunk into a comfortable yet sleepy silence. The ride was smooth and quiet, and it wasn't long before Katja felt her eyelids begin to droop, drowsy from the warmth of the car and fur collar on the jacket of the twin next to her. She didn't even bother to prevent her head from tipping to the side and settling into the curve of Kaoru's shoulder, murmuring another apology in German and breathing deep the familiar smell of expensive laundry detergent. Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks, still pink from the cold, and she was asleep.

"That's actually a r-really good idea," yawned Haruhi, snuggling her chin into her own coat, puffy with down. "Wake me up when we…get there."

"You tired too, Kaoru?" asked Hikaru, raising orange eyebrows at his brother, who shook his head in response. "How come you're a morning person and I'm not? Hey, mind if I take a nap too? I won't if you want to; I'm not sleeping if she's in the car without any supervision – she'll maul me in my sleep or something."

"No, you can sleep," Kaoru replied with a laugh and another shake of his head. "And Katja's a girl, Hikaru, not a wolverine."

Hikaru shrugged and leaned against the window, using his arm as a pillow and his eyes closed. "There's no difference."

Kaoru chuckled to himself again and turned towards the closest window, watching as the suburban landscape of apartment buildings and high-rises whipped past. Really, his brother was a confusing person. They had been together since birth, the only constant friend the other had ever had (before Haruhi, that was), and yet, Hikaru continued to change his opinions every so often. He was like…a chameleon; it was almost impossible to tell his true colors from the ones he was mimicking.

Unless you looked close enough.

Glancing down at the unconscious girl resting against his shoulder, Kaoru studied her peaceful face: the straight nose, the curved lips that were permanently turned up at the corners, and even, when he looked close enough, the sprinkle of freckles across her right cheek. Katja Goldsmith was like Hikaru in that sense; she was talented in concealing her true traits. But when she slept they shone out in her face as plain as day, and it was that hidden kindness, rubbed raw with a lifetime of pleasing others, that made Kaoru wrap his arm about her and brush his lips against her cheek.

Or maybe he just had a thing for freckles.

It wasn't long before the suburbs disappeared and were replaced by the ocean; blue waters reflecting the sun's rays back up into the gray December sky. The road towards the docks was pockmarked with rough patches, and the dozing teenagers bumped against each other, slowly shifting from their original positions. Every time the wheels hit a particularly large pothole, the car dipped sharply and Hikaru gave a loud snore, and Kaoru struggled not to laugh. After the sixth time that this happened, he lost the battle and snorted with amusement, but was joined with a breath of a chortle from his side.

"You awake, Katja?" Kaoru whispered, and he felt fingers curl and uncurl around the sleeve of his jacket.

"Barely," she replied in a voice groggy with sleep. "Hikaru's snoring woke me up; it's just too funny."

"You snore too, you know. It kept me awake."

"I most certainly do not sore!" Katja hissed, opening her eyes and narrowing them up at him. Kaoru shrugged slightly and gave her shoulders a squeeze, looking back over her head and out the window, pretending to be disinterested.

"Okay, maybe it's just heavy breathing. Perfectly normal, nothing to be embarrassed about. I myself–"

"But I don't!" Katja had grabbed his chin with her index finger and thumb, and was tilting it downwards, forcing him to look her. "I'm not embarrassed, but you're lying. Admit it."

"Me thinks doth protest too much."

"Kaoru!"

"Hush, princess," the redhead whispered back, trying hard to keep from laughing at Katja's hard expression. "You want to awaken the sleeping beast?" He nodded towards his brother and she finally pulled a grimace.

"Ah. Good point." She turned her face towards the window and lapsed into silence again, and Kaoru was vaguely aware that her fingers still held the material of his jacket. Abruptly, she let out a long sigh and slumped back into her original position, her head flopping again onto his shoulder. "Are we almost there? Cars make me feel ill…."

"Not long from now, we're near the docks."

True to this statement, it was a merely fifteen minutes before the tugboats began to appear in the ocean outside the window, their piers jutting out into the water, whitecaps lapping at the hulls. The car had slowed, as to avoid the more violent bumps, and it wasn't long before the driver lowered the compartment divider and announced something in Japanese to the sleepy teens, to which Kaoru replied with something Katja didn't understand, earning himself another smile from the driver as the divider slid slowly closed. His fingers ghosted over the girl's freckled cheek, tucking a curl behind her ear, and she murmured to let him know that she was still awake.

"We're here."

Katja let out a breath of relief. "Thank God. Are you going to wake them, or should I?"

"Hang on, I'll do it. Oi, Hikaru – wake up! Haruhi! We're here, get up and get out!"

"Ugh, Kaoru, don't be so loud!"

"Oh shut up, you whiner, just get your butt out the door."

After much grumbling and cursing, the four students managed to tumble out the door to stretch and yawn in the muted sunlight. The driver was already unloading their luggage unto a brass cart that had appeared out of nowhere, talking in Japanese to a man wearing a blue suit and cap. Rubbing her eyes, Katja blinked up at the huge ship docked before them, tugboats at either end. People were milling around the dock, all wearing expensive looking coats and other cold-weather clothing, checking their tickets and passports before boarding the giant vessel that would take them across the ocean. The ship was larger than Katja could have ever imagined it would be, and there was Hikaru, standing at her shoulder and regarding it with a look of indifference.

"Eh, I've been on larger."

"Thanks, mister Kill-Joy," growled Katja, but either Hikaru was too tired to retort or had learned that arguments with her always ended in a stalemate, and he merely shrugged. "Look, I think I see Tamaki and Kyouya, oh, there's Mitsukuni and Takashi too!"

The group wasn't exactly difficult to miss, considering that said blond Host Club king was waving both hands over his head, clad in an over-stuffed and violently purple ski jacket. The Hitachiins both waved back reluctantly, and Haruhi was shaking her head. "Suppose we should…go over there?"

"Have to," replied Kaoru with a grimace. "Kyouya's got the tickets."

"So, are you finally going to tell me where we're going?" asked Katja with a frown as the group started off to join the rest of their Ouran companions. "Just in case I change my mind and decide to run or something."

"They didn't tell you?" said Haruhi incredulously, glaring angrily up at the guilty twins who could only cower under the smoldering eyes of the Third Dark Lord. "You two are unbelievable!"

"Have mercy, o' dark lord!" cried the brothers as they clung to each other. "We want to stay alive long enough to see Alaska!"

"Alaska?" repeated Katja in surprise. "We're going on a cruise to the United States?"

"Why not?" said Hikaru, recovering quickly and leaning on her shoulder. "There's icebergs and lots of snow and we'll go whale-watching. Even better, on the way back to Japan, the ship stops in Hawaii and they've got great beaches."

"But Hawaii's not exactly on the way back to Japan..."

Kaoru appeared at her other side and smirked. "Precisely."

Something uncomfortable sunk down into Katja's stomach as she was steered towards the ship, Tamaki and Mitsukuni chattering nonstop to Haruhi, not to mention that Kyouya still had that damned leather folder still under his arm. She swallowed loudly as a ticket was folded into her hand and she fumbled in her coat pocket for her passport.

What in the world had she gotten herself into?

"Haruhi? Katja?"

Kaoru stood outside the door to the girls' cabin, knocking his fist against the door. He paused, held his ear to the wood, and then knocked again when there was no sound from inside. The redhead waited, knocked, waited. Several minutes had passed, and while Hitachiin Kaoru was a patient person, even he was now becoming slightly annoyed. He was on the verge of simply walking away when a thought struck him and he pressed down on the handle, causing the door to pop open with a click.

"Hey, you know you left the door unlocked?" called Kaoru as he slipped through the door and looked around the room, only to find himself very much alone. He sighed when he saw the suitcases atop both of the beds, one nondescript and slim, the other emblazoned with Louis Vuitton logos and bulging with clothes, but neither opened nor unpacked. The cabin was identical to his and Hikaru's, save for the fact that someone had obviously been rearranging the furniture, and Kaoru only had one guess as to whom the culprit was. He walked further into the room, peering cautiously into the open washroom to find it untouched, looking for something that would give him a clue as to where his friends had disappeared. After more fruitless searching, Kaoru had given up and was about to leave when a flash of movement caught his eye and he was drawn towards the glass doors that led out onto the cabin's small balcony. He smiled when he spotted Katja through his own reflection on the glass; her back turned towards him as she leaned over the side of the balcony wall, curls rippling in the breeze.

"Katja." Kaoru knocked a finger on the door and she started, whipping around and smiling when she recognized him, moving to slide the door open and usher him out onto the balcony. "Hey. You didn't answer when I knocked."

"Oh sorry, I was out here," replied Katja, turning back to stare out over the vast ocean, stretching on forever. "It's cold, but the ocean is just so beautiful, I don't mind."

"I…suppose," Kaoru said, unsure what about the steely water and iron sky was so intriguing. "So anyway, have you seen Haruhi? I needed to tell her something."

"Mitsukuni and Takashi were here a little while ago, and they dragged her off to show her something in the kitchen. Well, more the former than the latter, but you understand," she added with a laugh as she hitched the collar of her coat higher up around her neck. "I could tell her for you when she gets back, if you want."

"Ah, that's alright," replied Kaoru a bit too quickly, waving his hands. "It's nothing important. Anyway, Katja, it's too cold to be standing out here. Hey, I made some of this great ginger tea in my cabin, you should come and have some with Hikaru and I."

"Sure, that sounds nice…my parents sent me these really good biscuits with chocolate on one side…." She trailed off, still gazing fixedly at a point over the horizon, and Kaoru thought he saw tears in her eyes, but then he blinked, and they were gone. "Kaoru, can I ask you a question without having you get mad at me?"

"Of course," he replied, surprised. "I don't think you could do anything to make me angry."

Her smile lingered for a moment and she finally turned to regard him, her face curious and her eyes warm. "Do you love Haruhi?"

"Do I love Haruhi?" Kaoru repeated, taken aback by the question. "Well yeah, she's my friend, of course I love and care about her–"

"You know I didn't mean that kind of love," Katja interrupted quietly. Kaoru stared back at her, but she remained impassive, and he found there really wasn't any other choice. He sighed and moved towards the balcony rail, gazing down over it as Katja had done as people strolled past below on lower decks.

"I forgot you wouldn't know, you weren't here yet when it happened," he said, watching a woman and her giggling daughter dash across the deck. "I did love Haruhi. I suppose I still do, but it's more admiration there than actually romantic love."

"'Did'?" Katja was beside him again, dangling her arms over the rail, and he nodded. "What changed?"

"I did something that I shouldn't have done, and it made me angry with myself. I…I decided that I wasn't good enough for Haruhi, if I could do something as cruel as I did. The will to fight for her disappeared."

"It was Hikaru, wasn't it?" said Katja softly, her voice barely louder than a whisper. Kaoru released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, waiting for her to put two and two together as only she could. He knew she didn't need an answer, she already knew it was true, but he gave her one anyway. And when he did, Kaoru felt something crumple within him. But Katja had already grabbed his hand, threading her icy fingers through his warm ones and giving them a comforting squeeze. Really, the intuition of a woman was an amazing thing.

"I'd always known he had liked Haruhi too, but I just hadn't realized how much. And after that…we had a fight. He wouldn't look at me for days, even though Haruhi had turned me down. I was pretty sure that she was going to, anyway – Haruhi doesn't have an awareness of that sort of thing. Even so, I couldn't help wanting to try. Anyway I told Hikaru I was willing to do what ever I could to help him win Haruhi over, but your coming here sidetracked us a little…."

Silence fell when Kaoru had finished talking, and it beat against his eardrums like the waves against the shore. Katja's face was expressionless but when she tilted her head against the wind, he saw a hurt in her eyes that had never been there before. Her eyelids fell and remained closed, her hand slightly slack against his.

"So you gave her up." The comment was stark in its reality, and the truth of it stung him. But the truth was hardly ever kind.

"Yes."

Katja sighed suddenly, sounding as though her strength had been exhausted by that single word. "Kaoru, you're the single kindest person I've ever met…but you're also the stupidest."

"Why…what're you talking about?" he spluttered, rearing back as the choler leaked into his voice, his hand still wrapped around hers. "I did what I did for my brother, so he could be happy! How is that stupid?"

"What you did was selfless, purely done out of love," Katja continued, opening her eyes and fixing him with a gaze he couldn't describe. "That is what separates you from Hikaru – you'll anything for him, and take nothing in return."

"Hikaru would do anything for me, too," Kaoru retorted sullenly.

"Maybe," she counted calmly. "But when did you stop and think about what would be good for Haruhi?"

When Kaoru was too stunned to reply, Katja went on, her gaze scorching. "Did you ever consider that Hikaru might not be the best thing for Haruhi right now? Did it once occur to you that Haruhi's feelings are placed elsewhere?"

He didn't catch her meaning immediately, but when he did, Kaoru took a step backwards, and Katja let him, dropping his hand and tucking hers into a coat pocket. He was shaking his head, biting back his laughter – it couldn't be true, it wasn't true. Haruhi could never feel that way about Tamaki, no, no it was impossible…it had to be…. But when he thought about it, the way the blond and the brunette interacted, Haruhi's behavior…it was possible…it was…it was likely.

"Oh no. What am I going to do, what is Hikaru going to do?" His breath left him in a rush and he began chewing his nails, glaring at his sneakers as though they would give him the answers. "We only thought about Milord realizing that he loves Haruhi, we didn't…I never thought–"

"Kaoru."

"What?" he snapped, instantly regretting it. "I-I…sorry."

"It's okay," Katja replied, shaking her head gently. "I'm the one who's sorry. Sorry for springing this on you, I didn't mean to upset you. Really, I…oh, come here already."

The redhead obliged, feeling worse when Katja wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his shoulder. It was only when a particularly strong wind blew past and she shuddered that Kaoru was able to bring himself to hug her in return. Where there had been hope just a moment ago, there was now something hard and bitter and completely truthful. And even though she had been the one to bring this realization upon him, Kaoru couldn't associate this pain with the girl trying very hard not to sob into his jacket. He knew he could never be angry with Haruhi, just like he could never be angry with Tamaki, regardless of what should ever happen between them. How could he hate his friends for simply feeling something more than friendship?

But Hikaru…he could.

"I understand if you're angry with me," Katja murmured after a long time of silence. "I would be. I just wanted you to know, before it was too late to go back."

"Oh it's long past that point," replied Kaoru, running a hand down her hair. "No matter what, someone's going to get hurt."

"I don't know how to treat friends," admitted Katja. "I've never had any before. All I can give you is honesty. And I think you owe the same to Hikaru."

Kaoru winced; he had been expecting that. "Do I have to do it now?"

"No, we'll wait until after the cruise, when we're back in Japan. Hikaru will need support and that's not something we can give him in the middle of the ocean. He'll need you, Kaoru, more than he's ever needed you before – are you ready for that?"

"Of course, I will always be there for my brother," responded Kaoru, his voice echoing with confidence. "But…what do you mean 'we'?"

Katja smiled into his shoulder. "You didn't think I was going to let you go through this alone, did you? Everyone should enjoy this peace now, and deal with the heartbreak later."

He opened his mouth, but when nothing came out, he closed it again and stared at the wall over Katja's head, knotting his hands in her hair. "Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me; I owe this to you." With that, she pulled back to look up into his face and smiled brightly. "Let's go back inside; my hands are so cold I think they'll soon fall off. Hmm, I wonder when we'll start seeing icebergs, I've never been to Alaska before…."

A smile crept onto Kaoru's face and he made no attempts to hide it; it was difficult to remain gloomy when Katja was there, sparkling up at him. His arms fell from around her and she turned to slip back through the glass doors, but Kaoru remained where he was, staring up at the cloudy sky. Things were going to change, and it would be his, their, job to make sure that these changes were for the better. But until then, they would forget and simply enjoy the warmth the friendships they had worked so hard to build. For now, it would all be fine.

"What're you still standing there for?" Katja poked her head back through the door and raised her eyebrows. "Wipe that depressed look off your face already, Kaoru, there's nothing to be worried about. Is that offer for tea still good? I have these biscuits that Hikaru will like–"

She didn't understand, she couldn't understand; she had never had friends, and the Host Club was a group of friends held up by delicate bonds that were straining to snap. But Kaoru preferred it that way and he was glad that Katja didn't know, if only to see her with that grin. And, heck, if change was inevitable, he might as well help it along.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Katja disappeared again into the cabin, and Kaoru was right behind her, taking her hand and pulling her back around, pressing his lips to her own quickly before the impulse left him. The touch lasted an instant longer than he had expected, because she didn't slap him as he thought she would. But when Katja did move away, she was laughing and he couldn't help but do the same.

"Are you sure you're Kaoru?" she said, kissing him again. He shrugged one shoulder and pulled a smirk to rival the one of his twin.

"Pretty sure."

"That's good. Now help me get my suitcase open, I think I might have broken the zipper."

And as Kaoru watched the German girl search through her things for the elusive box of biscuits, sending items of clothing flying like a cyclone, the thought crossed him that, maybe, just maybe, everything would turn out alright.

(A/N) You know, the latest Host Club manga episodes really annoy me. Kyoya succeeds in making everything sound morbid and hopeless, and Tamaki has become insufferably idiotic. It's all very annoying.