Thank you to everyone so far who has read and reviewed (: You guys are the reason I try to update quicker ! So here we go, ten pages. Enjoy. I'll try to post more regularly, probably about every two weeks. But enough about me, read already !

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran.

Chapter 7…

I quickly made my way to the kitchen, not wanting to unleash Renge's wrath if I kept her waiting. Once there, I gave a curt nod and grabbed an apron. As luck would have it, the apron was pink and white checkered. How cute. I tied a matching bandana around my head to keep my hair out of my face, and turned to Renge.

"You know how to cook, Haruhi?" she said. Her face was almost sparkling with barely repressed glee.

"Umm... yes. I've always enjoyed cooking" I said amicably.

"So, what do you know about baking?" I asked Renge, as I started rifling through drawers and pantries, finding the necessary ingredients and tools.

"Umm…" was all Renge could say.

I looked up at her, and groaned inwardly. I was fairly certain she knew nothing about cooking.

We started, me giving Renge simple directions for an easy cookie recipe I had used many times before. At first, it wasn't so bad, just measuring things out; pretty hard to do wrong. But then she started melting her chocolate wrong, and mixing the wrong things together. I was scrambling trying to keep up with her.

As I had originally thought, Renge proved to be a great distraction. I almost forgot about my breakdown just less than an hour before. Almost.

I heard a noise, and turned my head towards the door. There were all the Host Club boys staring and watching. I looked at Hikaru and Kaoru. Instead of their normally mischievous expressions, they looked more thoughtful. It was odd to see them so serious. They were both handsome boys, but it was rare to see them so somber. I brushed it off and continued following around Renge, trying to fix each new disaster she created.

KAORU'S POV

Me and Hikaru shared a knowing look as Haruhi turned back to help Renge. She just looked so damn cute. I know that Hikaru thought so. He couldn't take his eyes off of her for more than a moment. I had to admit that I was reluctant to do so myself.

We had decided that, since we couldn't confront Haruhi, we would do our best to cheer her up. She wasn't an easy audience to entertain, but if we could keep her preoccupied then she would have less reason to cry.

It pissed me off. But I was better at keeping in control than Hikaru. If I agreed, I knew that Hikaru would be willing to practically shake the truth from Haruhi. While I was tempted, I knew that wasn't the answer. It was just so frustrating, having to see her try so hard in front of us. It hurt me and Hikaru that she couldn't just be honest about herself. We just had to give it time. She was better though. Hikaru and I knew best, because we had class with her, but after the winter break she had seemed to be much chattier.

I think that the three of us are growing closer. It makes me happy.

I looked over at Tono, and saw him practically salivating over Haruhi in her little apron. I knew that eventually that would be a problem. He was kind of an idiot where he himself was concerned, but he had to catch on to his own feelings eventually, right? But that was a problem for later. I don't want anything to change between any of us right now. It's too soon. We are just starting to feel like family. Even Haruhi has been loosening up… sort of.

But I think something odd happened with her and Kyouya. He keeps giving her these weird, concerned looks, but then he looks at Tamaki and looks away. Things are just too damn confusing right now.

While I had been lost in my thoughts, Tono had apparently been talking. I only caught the end of what he said.

"This can be a project to make Haruhi realize she's a girl!" he ended obnoxiously.

At that moment, Renge came out telling him to shut up, calling him a "fake king." Of course, Tamaki retreated to a corner and curled up like a wounded animal. Renge started throwing herself at Kyouya-senpai and offered him cookies.

We all took one, and me and Hikaru looked at each other before loudly claiming how disgusting

they were. Even Honey-senpai wouldn't eat them, and he lives for sweets.

HARUHI'S POV

I glanced over, and saw the boys' disgusted faces over Renge's cookies. As hard as I had tried to keep up with her, they just hadn't turned out well.

"I think mine turned out okay" I said quietly to myself, not expecting anyone to pay attention.

I put one in my mouth, and was surprised when Kaoru grabbed my head as if to pull me in for a kiss. My breath caught a little bit, as he leaned forward and took a bite out of my cookie.

I could feel Tamaki-senpai's gaze on us as if it were an actual force.

"It tastes really good. Can you bake a cake next time?" Kaoru said pleasantly. He patted the top of my head, and I almost laughed at his ridiculousness.

"Oh Haruhi, you have some cream on your face" Hikaru said. I went to wipe it off with my hand, but before I got a chance, Hikaru licked it off of my face.

"Hey, what was that for?" I said. Not accusingly. I didn't really care. It was just odd, but at the same time, I found it very funny. I tried not to let it show, but my amusement must've shown in my eyes, because Kaoru and Hikaru both gave me big grins.

"If you wanted a cookie, there's plenty more Kaoru, and Hikaru, I could've gotten it off myself" I said, trying to chastise the boys, but they saw right through my pretended offense.

Tamaki-senpai grabbed my face then. What was with these boys touching me today?

"Your reaction was all wrong!" he yelled. "You're supposed to REJECT them, not let them go!" he finished.

I averted my eyes from his startlingly blue ones, and took the easy route out.

"Please stop this sexual harassment, kissing machine" I said nonchalantly.

Of course, Tamaki-senpai exploded, but he backed away from me, thankfully. At the end of the Christmas Ball, when he had pushed me into that girl for our kiss, everyone had proclaimed that he was a kissing machine, and that he had wanted the kiss so badly for himself. I was fairly certain that that wasn't the case. But, at any rate, he had been pulling a little too close, so I had expertly pushed him away and made it look like it was his fault.

"That was sexual harassment, but what the twins did wasn't?" he yelled at me.

I rolled my eyes and chose not to answer. Thankfully, I didn't have to, because Renge, who I had almost forgotten, took this chance to make a startling announcement.

"EVERYONE'S CHARACTERS ARE BAD!" she proclaimed obnoxiously. "Except Kyouya-sama" she added, giving Kyouya-senpai an affectionate look.

Honestly, this girl could rival Tamaki-senpai for ridiculous.

We all looked at her curiously.

"You lack any negative aspects. Girls will eventually get tired of you and move on" she stated. "Are you trying to make Kyouya-sama's store go bankrupt?" she accused.

"You!" she yelled, pointing at Honey-senpai.

Tears filled his eyes, as he cowered back in fear from Renge.

"I don't like this cute on the inside and outside, so let's make it cute on the outside, but inside… A BEAST!"

"NOOOOOO!" wailed Honey-senpai, running to Mori-senpai's arms.

Mori-senpai's role was essentially the same. He was to follow Honey-senpai around, while making dignified speeches every once and a while.

The twins were to be depressed that no one could tell them apart, and they played basketball.

Then, she turned to me and told me that I was to be the super poor honour student that was actually being bullied.

Finally, she arrived at Tamaki-senpai. He was to be a popular, charming idol, but with a complex: The Lonely Prince.

Everyone minus Tamaki-senpai gave each other looks, conveying how ridiculous we all thought this was.

"…It suits me very well…" said Tamaki-senpai to himself.

I groaned inwardly. If Tamaki-senpai was onboard with this idea, then everyone would have to go along with Renge's characters.

"Kyouya-sama, you're perfect" Renge said, giving him a sweet and innocent look. "Please always stay affectionate."

"My pleasure," said Kyouya-senpai in a snarky tone. He looked over my way and gave me a little wink. I had to turn away so Renge wouldn't see my laughter.

Since Tamaki-senpai was already conjuring up poses in which to convey his character, I knew that Renge had gotten her wish.

What I didn't know was how we'd end up filming everything.

It started with the twins in an emotional scene. Hikaru hurts himself playing basketball, and urges Kaoru to go on without him. Those boys could be quite convincing, but I always seem to see through their antics to the core of it.

Just like I know they were trying to cheer me up yesterday with the cookies. I don't know why they did it, but I really appreciated it all the same.

Of course, I couldn't let them know that I knew. Otherwise, they would be embarrassed. Still, I was thankful all the same.

Tamaki came up at the end of the twins' scene, proclaiming how lucky they were to have each other. How he was so lonely.

I couldn't seem to look anywhere but at Tamaki-senpai at that moment. This morose exterior of his was completely different from the way he normally was. It made me a little sad to watch, and I almost found myself wishing for our obnoxious Tamaki to come back.

Next was my scene with Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai.

I was running through the grounds of the school. I had to stop, with Honey-senpai standing over me menacingly.

It was actually rather frightening, seeing Honey-senpai like this.

"Bitches need to learn their place" finished Honey-senpai on his speech about how commoners don't belong.

I was trying my best to look scared, when Honey-senpai's eyes filled with tears and he jumped into my lap, hugging me.

"I'm so sorry, Haru-chan ! I'll never say those bad things again" he wailed.

"It's okay, Honey-senpai" I said, hugging him back.

"CUT" yelled Renge loudly.

The twins started complaining about their scene, and Honey-senpai couldn't seem to stop crying. It was all a mess. I don't know how we got from character changes to filming a movie. It was a Hollywood film crew, and they were speaking English to one another.

I made my way over to practice my English. It had been months since I had spoken it, even though it was my first language.

"Hello there," I started politely.

They all looked at me curiously.

"You speak English?"

"Yes, I was born in Canada. Both my parents were Japanese, so it's my second language" I said.

My accent was a bit off, I knew, but I was happy to be able to speak my native tongue.

The twins, Mori-senpai, and Honey-senpai regarded me curiously. I was pretty sure they couldn't speak English.

Before I could go into a deeper conversation with the crew, Tamaki-senpai came running up with a big smile on his face.

"Haruhi! How was my acting?" he asked.

It was nice to see a smile back on his face.

"It was pretty good," I said, wondering why he was so enthralled.

"I really like this character! I was thinking about staying like this for a while, getting to know the darker part of me" he said, still smiling.

"I think you're good just the way you are right now" I said.

I looked him over, and realized that it wouldn't be the same if he wasn't so happy and energetic all the time. Yes, the boy could be troublesome, but he had a certain air about him that I envied.

He was without worry or care, and I wanted him to stay that way.

"Haruhi, could you help me?" Renge asked cheerfully.

"Of course, what do you need help with?" I asked, making my way over, and leaving Tamaki-

senpai with a somewhat stunned look on his face.

"I'd like these Class D people to be the bad guys in our film. Could you please explain their roles?" she said sweetly.

The guys definitely did not look happy about this. In fact, I think this was the first time they were hearing it.

The boys were hurt that their rough exterior made Renge immediately pinpoint them as bad guys. She kept going on about her script and how they would fit, and as she went, the boys got angrier and angrier.

Trying to diffuse the situation, I said "Renge, if you're only judging people based on the surface value, don't you think there's a lot you would miss?"

I said it kindly and plaintively, trying to get her to understand that whole 'can't judge a book by its cover' lesson.

My message seemed to pass over Renge's head.

"Here, come with me," she said, grabbing one of the boy's arms in a less than kind gesture.

"Asshole. Just because you're from Class A doesn't mean you're better" the guy said.

With that, he shoved Renge, hard.

Without thinking, I ran behind her to try and steady her, but she had too much momentum, and as such, she fell on top of me.

I landed on the concrete hard, my shoulder banging into the wall. I could already feel an angry bruise forming. As luck would have it, one of my contacts popped out too.

"Ow" I said quietly, unable to keep tears from springing into my eyes.

I covered my face with one hand, while holding my contact in the other.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki yelled, turning the corner.

I looked up at him, tears barely staying in my eyes, face red.

Before I knew it, Tamaki-senpai ran at those guys and punched them both. Hard. To be honest, I didn't think he would be able to punch so hard.

"Do you want to be expelled?" he said cruelly, pushing one of them against the wall.

I was utterly shocked. I had never seen Tamaki-senpai so angry.

"No, we're sorry. She started it!" they said, pointing at Renge.

Tamaki-senpai let the guy off the wall, and they both ran off together quickly.

Tamaki-senpai turned around and ran to me. He grabbed my face in his hands. "Haruhi, are you okay?" he demanded.

His concern made more tears come to my eyes. I had no idea he would do such a thing for me.

Not for you, silly my inner voice said with cynicism. He would probably do it for anyone... I

thought, trying not to feel disappointed.

Still, he was so close, and all I could see was the startling blue of his eyes.

"I-it-it's just my contact" I stammered, trying to ignore the throbbing of my shoulder where it had hit the wall.

I put the contact back in quickly. "There, all better" I said, putting a smile on my face, even though it pained me to do so.

He gave me one last look, and then started to laugh.

"Camera, did you get that?" screamed Renge.

The sound of breaking glass made me look over and see that Kyouya-senpai had broken the camera lens.

He continued to chastise Renge in a less than kind way about how the Host Club members can't be caught on tape promoting violence, and that she was being a nuisance. I thought he was being a touch insensitive, but somebody had to tell Renge eventually.

Tears filled her eyes as she said "But you should be telling me 'don't worry about it,' and patting me on the head." She sounded despairing.

"Ahh, but that's not the real Kyouya" Tamaki said gently.

Renge stayed on the ground, knees hugged to her chest.

Even the twins decided to be kind, and remarked on how it had been kind of fun.

I went over to Renge, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. I crouched down, and said, "I think it's fun, to get to know people little by little, and discovering them that way." I smiled at her, a real smile. She isn't so bad I thought to myself.

"I'm sorry, for causing all this trouble" she said softly.

I went to stand by the rest of the Host Club, and everyone just grinned at her and left it at that. As we turned to walk back to the music room, I realized how lucky I was to have people like this who cared for me, and who I cared for. It had been a long time.

I was scared, really scared, that something would happen to take me away from these strange, yet wonderful, boys. I saw that the boys were quite ahead of me now, except Tamaki-senpai. He looked at me thoughtfully, which was when I noticed the blood on his hand.

Without thinking, I grabbed his hand into both of mine and inspected it.

He blushed red at my forwardness, but I pushed through.

"Tamaki-senpai, it looks like you've scraped up your knuckles pretty bad. Let me take you to the nurse."

He followed silently, hand still in mine.

The nurse wasn't there, but I bandaged and cleaned his hand as best as I knew how.

"There you go. That should be good" I said.

I felt guilty. His hand was damaged because of me.

He put a hand gently on my injured shoulder, and I grimaced in pain.

Taking my face in his good hand, he said, "Haruhi, this is not your fault." I couldn't bring myself to look away from his too perfect face.

"I'm sorry, senpai" I said respectfully, refusing to be caught emotionally off-guard.

"Nothing to be sorry for. Thank you for taking care of me." He flashed me one of those rare, completely genuine smiles. No ulterior motives, just pure gratitude was within him.

I found myself smiling in return before I could even think of it.

Tamaki-senpai left, and I promised to be back in the music room in a few minutes.

I quickly pulled my jacket off, and rolled down my shirt to look at my shoulder.

It was bruised badly already, turning an angry, purple-red. Some of the skin had scraped off during my fall, and my shirt was now stained with blood. I sighed, pulled my shirt back over my shoulder, and popped my jacket on. It was sore, but I couldn't properly deal with it myself. I would at least wait until I got home.

Before I could exit the room, the twins appeared.

"Please strip, Haruhi" Kaoru said

I knew that I had been caught. Resigned, I pulled off my jacket. Hikaru and Kaoru shared an alarmed glance when they saw blood through my button up shirt.

"It's fine guys, really, just a scratch" I said, trying to brush it off.

"Let's see it" Hikaru said.

I unbuttoned my shirt and took it off. With only my tank top on, you could see the full damage of my fall. It went across my entire right shoulder. I was glad I wrote with my left hand, as this side would be sore for a while.

Hikaru surprised me with his gentleness as he carefully cleaned and bandaged my sore, just as I had done for Tamaki-senpai not minutes before.

I protested the entire time though. I hated being taken care of. I looked out for myself. I didn't need anyone else to do it for me. Once they were done, I pulled my bloodied shirt back on, and put my jacket on over top.

"Thank you," I said, unable to meet their gazes. I strode out of the room, the picture of perfect health.

HIKARU'S POV

"What was she even going to do about that herself?" I demanded. Kaoru shrugged, seemingly unperturbed, but I knew him too well to believe it.

"We should get going," he said. "They will be wondering where we are."

I clenched my fists angrily, not wanting to let the subject go. Too many times already I'd seen Haruhi hurting, and not being able to do anything about it. I had to practically beg Kaoru to make sure she got her shoulder taken care of. Tono may not have been watching, but I had seen the impact.

I hated that she tried to make herself seem so tough. She didn't even realize just how fragile she really was. I followed Kaoru out of the room, seething about the situation. I was going to make her tell me, with Kaoru's approval or not.

Kinda makes you wonder what he might do eh? ;) As always R&R, hope you liked!