Haruhi was still tugging anxiously at the bottom of her dress when Hikaru knocked impatiently on the door.
"Haruhi, are you still getting dressed in there? You better hurry up, I think your teacher it about to call security on Milord, not that I would object…"
" I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be." She grumbled back.
Hikaru pulled open the heavy paneled door quickly and slipped in.
"Wow..." He let out a long whistle.
"I don't appreciate that."
"Oh, come on, I've never seen you in a dress like that before."
"Yeah, and for good reason. Stupid rich people. I hate fancy, frilly things like this."
"It doesn't have any frills! Though, it could use some… you're flat as a board." Hikaru smirked.
"Let's go." Haruhi ignored Hikaru's snide comment and stalked towards the door.
"Wait a minute. You can't go out wearing those men's shoes." Hikaru interjected.
"What else am I going to wear? These are all I have with me."
"Would you just wait Haruhi? I went down to the other end of the hall and found a wig and some high heels for you."
"What do you mean you found a wig and some high heels? You don't just find wigs and high heels lying around."
"Well, no. After the Host Club ball last year when we had you dress up as a girl for Tohru Suzushima, Kanako's fiancé, I left the heels and wig there, just in case." Hikaru smiled sheepishly.
"What is wrong with all of you?" But grumbling and glaring as she was, Haruhi took the shoes and the wig and put them.
"AWWW! You look so cute Haruhi!"
"Shut up and let's get this over with."
She walked briskly over to the door and was about to turn the handle when Hikaru stopped her a second time.
"Hold on a second." He said.
"Now what?" Haruhi asked, exasperated.
Hikaru extended his hand to Haruhi.
"Take my arm, just for good measure. It'll be more believable if we go as a date."
Haruhi looked suspiciously at him. "No way, forget it."
"Oh, come on Haruhi, you owe me now."
"For what?"
"First of all, you bit me…"
"YOU GRABBED ME IN THE DARK!"
"And secondly, I gave you the dress to wear. I'm saving your butt tonight."
Haruhi folded her arms and glared at him.
"Would you just humor me?"
There was a long pause.
Haruhi sighed. "Fine, but just this once. And only because it will be more believable if we come out together." She insisted.
So carefully, ever so lightly, she placed her hand on top of his offered arm, and together, they set out of the room.
Luckily, Tamaki still had Mrs. Yoshida, along with a steadily growing gaggle of older ladies, completely enchanted by his antics. They were so into his theatrics that the only one who noticed Haruhi and Hikaru stealthily exit their secret room was Tamaki, which may have not been a good thing after all, seeing as his jaw fell all the way to the floor when he saw Haruhi, in a dress and on the arm of one of the twins.
Luckily, by the time the ladies turned around to see what had startled Tamaki so, the panel door was tightly closed behind the two, leaving the ladies to wonder where couple had appeared from so suddenly.
"Fujioka!" A surprised Yoshida Sensei exclaimed.
It was just at that moment that Haruhi suddenly realized she had no idea what on earth she was going to say. Frantically, she began racking her brains, trying to think of something, anything to say, wishing the whole time she actually knew how to lie.
Hikaru seemed, however, completely oblivious to her sudden onset of panic, continuing to steer them faithfully towards the Teachers.
Leaning over as casually as possible, Haruhi madly hissed in his ear, "Hikaru, STOP! I can't do this, I have no idea what to say!"
But Hikaru ignored her panic and the next thing Haruhi knew, she was standing right in front of Mrs. Yoshida.
The world began spinning once again. Haruhi felt her stomach drop right out from under her. She stood helpless as a blush began to creep up her face and her palms got clammy.
What do I do, what do I say, what do I do! She thought to herself.
She was so caught up in her own hysteria that several moments had passed before she realized no one was starring awkwardly at her. Instead, they all seemed to be starring and listening to Hikaru, who was speaking more amiably to the ladies than she had even seen him speak to anyone in his entire life.
"Actually, we were just on our way out when Haruhi's cousin Kenji found us and told us that one of Haruhi's old school teachers was here. He thought we should stop over and say hi before we left. Were you able to meet him?"
"Oh, was that who that was? No, I wasn't introduced. Young fellow dashed away so quickly, and just when Mr. Suoh came over to see me, too. Terribly unfortunate. He seemed rather nice and I thought he looked strikingly like Haruhi."
"Yes, you and Kenji do look an awful lot alike, don't you Haruhi?" Hikaru asked politely, turning and looking at her pointedly.
"What, oh, yes." Answered Haruhi, still a little flustered.
"And how have you been Haruhi? Are you liking it here at Ouran?"
It was a few minutes later when Haruhi and Hikaru finally left the chattering group. Once Haruhi's panic had subsided, she found it quite easy to talk with her old teacher. It turned out to be rather nice catching up with Yoshida Sensei. Haruhi had forgotten how much she had liked her back at middle school.
"You owe me." Hikaru said with a devilish grin. "I saved your butt. That's two."
Haruhi ignored him, once again annoyed.
"Well," Hikaru said with a stretch and a slightly over exaggerated yawn. "That was fun, but I'm ready to go home now, aren't you?"
"Don't they still need us? We were supposed to helping with the ball after all."
"The balls going on fine without us, don't you think? Besides, Tamaki's doing enough hosting for all of us."
The two of them laughed, looking back over their shoulders to where Tamaki was still talking animatedly as ever to his ever growing group of female teachers.
"You don't have a ride, do you?" Hikaru asked, turning back to Haruhi.
"No, I just assumed Kyoya would bring me home."
"That's okay, I can take you home tonight, and I'm ready to leave anyways."
"You sure you wouldn't mind?" Haruhi was relived. Parties in general were not in the least her favorite place to be, but this one had been going worse than was to be expected.
"Sure, I'll just go over and tell Kaoru that we're taking the limo home and to get a ride from Milord or someone."
Haruhi stopped short, dropping Hikaru's arm. "Wait."
"What?" He too stopped walking, turning back to see what was the matter.
"I don't want to see Kaoru."
"What, do you just want me to leave him here stranded?"
"No, I just… I don't want to go see him tonight."
There was no way she could go see Kaoru like this, one arm around Hikaru, and wearing this midnight blue dress that was surly of Hikaru's own design. Not after she had rejected him that very day.
Hikaru stood there for a moment.
What should he do? If he and Haruhi didn't walk over to Kaoru before they left, Kaoru would never see Haruhi in the dress and he would have no proof of winning the punishment games. Leaving now would mean losing the games.
Finally after a long pause, he let out a sigh. "Come on Haruhi lets go. We don't need to see him tonight."
So together, sticking close to the edge of the ballroom floor and staying in the shadows of the elegant dancers' silhouettes, they quietly snuck out of the party.
"How is Kaoru going to get home?"
"He'll be fine, he can take the limo."
"Umm… then how are we getting home? I didn't think you approved of public trains… "
"Of course not Haruhi, we can't all be poor commoners. We'll be driving home in style." He reached into his pocket and casually pulled out a gleaming set of car keys.
"Where did you get those? I didn't think you drove your own car." She asked, already leery and suspicious.
"I don't, but Milord does." Hikaru said with that signature devilish grin of his. "I swiped them from his pocket while we were talking with his lady friends. You don't think he'll mind, do you?"
Haruhi was still loudly protesting "borrowing" Tamaki's car as they finally made their way to the exit and began their brisk walk down entryway. They were just about to leave through the final set of doors when Haruhi thought she saw something moving behind them in the corridor. Turning on her heel, she quickly spun around to see who it was following them.
Caught off guard by the sudden movement, Hikaru asked anxiously, "What is it?"
Haruhi paused before answering. She let her eyes sweep the length of the dark hallway once more before answering. "I guess it's nothing."
But just before she turned back to walk out into the night, she saw from the corner of her eye, a tall figure, slipping back into the shadows.