So here's chapter 7. I don't own the characters, as always.

She waited a week, waited for any sign of fatigue.

But she should have guessed that would be none, because there wasn't.

Oh, so frustrating.

Her time was running down. One month until graduation and her last chance. She felt jittery all the time, what if this just wasn't possible? What if he was emotionless? All these what ifs, which one was true?

What if this was impossible?

Emi shook her head to clear away the what ifs that plagued her. Just because normal people got tired a lot, doesn't mean that Takashi did. Of course, there was nothing normal about Ouran High School. Nothing she could see anyway.

"You cost me more money than you make." Kyouya told her, handing her some sheets on paper, "Here's some new music."

"Oh Kyou, thank you so very much." She took the music and sat down at the piano to practice before the Club opened. There was no title, no composer, but Emi had a pretty good idea who had written this. As she played through it, she knew she wasn't playing it right, there was only one person who could. "Tamaki-san, would you like to play?"

"You did very good Emi-chan." Tamaki said.

"But you'll do even better." And she stood up and pushed him onto the piano bench. At first, it didn't look like he was going to play, but he gingerly put his hands on the keys and started playing. As the music flowed through the air, Emi giggled and curtsied to Haruhi, "May I have this dance?"

"I don't know Emi-chan." She said nervously.

"That's okay if you don't want to Haru-chan." She said and asked Kaoru. He accepted and they danced around the 3rd music room. "You're a very good dancer Kaoru." She told him.

"Thank you Emi-sempai."

Some one tapped Kaoru on the shoulder, it was Kyouya, "May I cut in?"

Kaoru let go, "Of course."

Kyouya twirled her around, "So, what are you up to this time?"

"Nothing, for your information."

"You're always up to something Emi."

"Well not this time."

Someone tapped Kyouya on the shoulder. Could she not keep a partner for more than a minute? It didn't bother her too much, because her next partner was Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome himself. He put his left hand on her waist and took her right hand in his. This was differentthan dancing with Kyouya or Kaoru. This was easier. She stumbled a few times (on purpose) and he kept her up. They danced for the rest of the song, not saying one word. When the song was finished, she slipped out of his grasp, "Thank you for the dance Takashi-sempai, you are a fantastic dancer."

"Your welcome Emi-chan." He said, hints of a smile on his face.

'A smile? A little smile?' she thought, 'That's a new one. I wonder if he's a little tired. With my luck, he's probably not.'

Emi decided not to play Tamaki's song, it was meant for him to play, not her. Even if she hadn't conceded at the party last week, Tamaki still would have one. She still didn't know what the bet had been for. Kanaye would know, but he was still irritated that she'd 'borrowed' his bike. Of course, he had agreed to let her borrow it, but he was denying it.

After the last girl had left, Emi flexed her fingers, she was ready to get home and work on her homework. For once, she was done with schemes and lying for the day. She was tired and just wanted to get home and she had a pounding headache. The girls at this school seemed to give them to her. She rubbed her temples as she packed her bag.

"Are you okay Emi-chan?" Mitsukuni asked.

"Just fine Mitsukuni-sempai, I'm just ready to go home." She pulled out her phone to call her Jiro, her driver.

"Why don't Takashi and I give you a ride home?" Mitsukuni said.

Emi was surprised, "Well. . . I guess so. Sure, why not?"

"Yay!" he hopped off to Takashi.

Kyouya came up to her, "You left these." He handed her Tamaki's song.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Practice it, you might get better."

She scrunched up her nose at him, "Thanks, you help me build so much confidence."

"You're welcome." He said and walked away.

Mitsukuni walked up to her and pulled on her hand, "Lets go Emi-chan." And he pulled her out of the third music room, Takashi was following faithfully behind.

Mitsukuni chatted away throughout the ride, Takashi and Emi remained silent listening to him. "What about you Emi-chan?"

"I'm not sure yet Mitsukuni-sempai, probably something family business related. I'll just see where life takes me."

The car parked, "Thank you for the ride." And she got out

She made it to her room before she collasped on the bed, exhausted. 'Funny, I've spent so much time waiting for him to be exhausted, that I'm the one who ended up exhausted.'


Emi dreamt of tall strangers in trenchcoats and hats that hid their faces. They were everwhere she turned, there was no escape. She turned around to run, but ran into another trenchcoat. "Who are you?" she yelled at the stranger, but the stranger said nothing. He just tipped his head up enough so that a streetlight showed a smile curling up on his mouth, but not the rest of his face. Then he walked off, leaving her alone on that street.

She ran after him, but could never catch him. Rain poured down as she follwed him through the streets. He never went faster than a walking pace, but she couldn't reach him. When she caught up with him, he was standing next to a river. "Who are you?" she yelled at him.

He turned around, that mocking smile still on his face, and he took a step up and backwards onto the ledge that separated the sidewalk from the river. He spread his arms out and fell backwards into the river. She rushed to the ledge, but there was no sign of him in the black water. As the rain poured on her face, she cried hard, but she didn't know why. Somehow she just knew, that she'd lost someone she'd loved.


She woke with a start. Her hand went to her cheek, and was surprised that it was wet with tears. It had been a long time since she had woken up like this, it was almost past her capability to remember. . .

When she woke up again that morning, Kanaye was sitting by her bed reading a book.

"Since when do you read?" she croaked, her throat sore.

"Ah, the dead lives. Congratulations, you've been dead to the world for eighteen hours."

"That long?"

"Yep, we decided to let you skip school for the day and let you sleep. You'd better go see dad and Kimi, they were worried about you."

A small knock came from the door, "Kanaye-san, is she still asleep?" a woman asked.

"She's awake now." He called.

Mira, Kimi's nanny, walked in with little Kichida Kimiko on her hip. "Mimi!" the two year old cooed. She had yet to figure out the 'e' sound, so she called Emi, Mimi.

Emi held out her arms to the two year old who went happily into them, "You awake." Kimi said.

"Yes." She ruffled her hair.

"You got flower."

"What?"

Kanaye rubbed the back of his neck, "I was going to tell you, but someone sent you a flower."

"A flower? Singular, flower?"

"Yes."

"Hm." Who would send a flower to her. Ichiro? Probably, but she hadn't heard from or seen him in two weeks.

Kanaye reached down beside his chair and brought up a single flower. It was pure white with the petal swirling into the center, "It's a gardenia."

Emi reached out and took it, "It's beautiful." She smelled it, "It smells wonderful." She held it out for Kimi to smell, she nodded in agreement and pulled it into her face.

"So sis, who would send you flowers?"

Emi shrugged, "I don't know."

"Well." Kanaye stood up, "You might as well get up and get a vase for that flower. See dad while you're at it."

She got up and handed Kimi to her nanny and went to find a vase.

Throughout the rest of the day, she kept receiving a single flower, each time it was a different one. By the end of the day she had a Snapdragon, Orange Mock, Azalea, Arbutus, Pink Camellia, Daffodil, Variegated Tulip, Bittersweet, White Chrysanthemum and a Striped Carnation. No doubt this was the oddest collection of flowers she'd ever seen. There was no rhyme or reason behind them either. Everyone who knew her knew that she wasn't too fond of pink or yellow, so why would they send a Pink Camellia and a Daffodil?

It didn't make sense to her. She spent all night thinking about it (she couldn't sleep) and the rest of the next day, but came up with no answers.


Hey guys, a little note. I would love to reply to your reviews, but because of time-out problems I can't but as soon as it's fixed, I will start replying. ^-^

And that was an actual tarot reading, as soon as I saw it I was like 'YES! This is so going in there.'

~Cloudy