Pairing: KyouyaxHaruhi
Rating: PG.
Written for: all KyouyaxHaruhi fans out there.
Dedicated to: Taguchi Junnosuke! He's such a cutie—and pretty normal for a Japanese idol! In my eyes, he pwns Kame and Jin! -runs from akame fans- (And much thanks for my friend who inspired me for parts of this chapter. She's just such a music lover and I love her sense of originality—she's much more knowledgeable than me about music and reading her xanga entries about how music heals her is always something I can relate to.)
Warning: Beware of OOCness and just general suckage. And again, not BETA'd...sorry for little mistakes here and there.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran or any of its characters. They belong only to the great Bisco Hatori-sama (and BONES and Funimation)...I am not awesome enough to be them. T-T

Endless Story
By, Yue Guang Kuroneko

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Chapter Nine:

Ah, a light flickers in the ruined city
And an invisible tune, full of wishes, echoes around

Now, the burned-down sky sinks to the bottom of the water
And is filled with moonlight

Dyed in the blue burning night
Your shoulders are so slender they're almost not there
I hang on tight to them but still you fade away…

("Selenite" by RURUTIA)

Kyouya sat up in bed, feeling his body drenched in sweat. He gazed over at his clock and realized that it was only two a.m. in the morning and he let out a sigh as he left the too-warm comforts of his bed.

He hated the feeling of emptiness in his home. He supposed that this feeling was a result of his stupidity and hotheadedness, but somehow, he couldn't accept it that way. It was his fault, he'll admit, but…well, it just didn't sit well with him. There was never a night where he didn't think about his mistakes (therefore, leading to insomnia and he lost a good amount of sleep every night) and there was never a free moment where he didn't think about her and what he had done to her. That goal he held tightly to his chest was of no more use to him…after all, it put her through so much pain and it truly never amounted to anything, especially under his father's corporation. That's why he didn't accept the business after it had been named his. After working so hard and watching the business closely, he realized that he would never achieve his goals through the Ootori Corporation. He had to start over from scratch, with his own bare hands. That set him back and brought up regrets that he wished he could push away, but he knew that there was no way to turn back time.

He wandered over to his living room and dropped into the cool, leather couch. He didn't bother grabbing his glasses when he left his room and now his entire apartment looked blurry and unfamiliar. But this feeling wasn't new to him. He constantly felt that his surroundings were blurred even with his glasses on. The only place he didn't feel that way was in his current office.

His company now was small—well, compared to the Ootori Corporation, of course—but it was growing at a consistent pace, in which he was very contented with. He didn't mind at all that he was disowned; that family drove him to the brink of insanity. Despite knowing that, he cursed at himself for falling prey to them in the first place. If only he had thought of creating his own company in the first place, he wouldn't have hurt Haruhi the way he did. But…when did he change his goals? He wanted to take over the Ootori Corporation for the longest time, so when did that goal change?

It was probably late in their relationship—two or three years, to be exact. He finally found the time to visit Haruhi's mother's grave with her and listened to Haruhi reminisce fondly at the memories of her mother. As Haruhi spoke, her eyes teared up, but she kept that smile on her face. He was awkward at that time (when was he never awkward around crying women?) and wasn't quite sure what to do. Instead he handed her his handkerchief and held her hand tightly as she dabbed delicately at her tears.

Ah, that must have been it. He remembered that warm spark that lit up in his head as they began to walk out of the cemetery. They passed by at least a dozen grieving families and he told himself that he was going to become a doctor and take over the Ootori Corporation to change it so that it benefitted those in need. That was such a simple conclusion to come to and he thought that, should he work hard at it, he would eventually create the chance to change everything for the better.

They could work side by side, he thought to himself at that time. She a lawyer to help those who were being taken advantage of by others and he a doctor (and businessman—after all, he was born and raised as one) who could save more lives and, hopefully, see less crying families at the graveyards. He wouldn't have thought of this before but being with Haruhi opened his eyes to a lot of different things. It wasn't all about the commoner world and their strange, cheap, snacks or their ability to bargain and save money; it was more about the suffering that both of their worlds had to endure as human beings, not as peasants or kings.

Kyouya let out a slow, heavy sigh as he gazed at the piano sitting in the corner of the room. He hollowly chuckled to himself as he stood and walked towards the moon-bathed instrument. Carefully lifting the cover, he ran his fingers lightly over the ivory keys, trying desperately to remember the song that he heard so long ago.

It was a song that he had never heard anyone play before—not Beethoven, not Mozart, not Chopin, not Bach, not Tamaki. He heard it sometimes in his childhood and it had less than recently shown up once or twice when he was with Haruhi years ago. Between the age of eight and sixteen, his life was silent in the ways of music. He heard no melodies, only the demands of his father and the criticism and pity of his father's peers. The only melody that he heard during that time was due to Tamaki playing the piano. After he left everything he knew back in Japan to go to England, he decided to take up piano. It wasn't because he was trying to beat Tamaki at his own game (he could easily do that anyway), but because the song was being smothered by something and it bothered him.

Just like how Haruhi took up painting, you took up the piano, he remembered one of the conversations with Tamaki when he and the twins first arrived in America. Both of you are stubborn and always blaming yourselves for everything.

He closed his eyes as his fingers settled gracefully on the keys and he began to play. He wasn't quite sure what he was playing or who it was that composed the song, but it didn't matter. It never mattered to him what he was playing—all that mattered was that he was able to release the pent up emotions inside of him as he played the tune that fit perfectly.

It was easy to get lost in music. He could play all of his problems away in an instant. It was only now, after his own personal experience, that he could understand why Tamaki's playing was so beautiful. His playing wasn't as developed as Tamaki's but he felt that there were similarities in their playing; it both came from the heart, after all.

Kyouya allowed the last note to die out slowly before he opened his eyes. Feeling a lot more rejuvenated, he stood and returned to his room to dress. Now that he felt his determination restructure itself, it was the perfect time to go down to his office and continue working.

He took an idle gaze at the clock on the wall and dismissed the earliness it told. An hour and a half had passed quickly and he was slightly thankful for that. After all, three-thirty in the morning wasn't too early to get to work. And he wasn't quite sure he was settled enough to leave Haruhi's client alone, even if he had a few of his loyal bodyguards (one followed him from the Ootori name) care after her.

After he dressed quickly in a pair of black trousers and a dark turtleneck, he grabbed his keys and left the apartment complex, not bothering to gaze behind him at Haruhi's door. He didn't need to think about her when he had more important business to take care of—like that suspicious Jason Hunt that she introduced to them some time ago.

As a businessman, he could judge people easily. Whether they lied, whether they were reliable, whether they were threats to a company weren't hard to distinguish. This ability his father taught him, he was secretly thankful for and would be the only thing to be thankful for. When he first set eyes on Jason Hunt, something didn't sit well with him. Of course, there was the obvious jealousy that he managed to push aside (not to mention that Jason said everything that he needed to hear that his friends never said to him and was the one who helped Haruhi build herself up as a budding lawyer) but once he managed to tame that side of himself, there was something about him that he simply did not like. There was something wrong with Jason Hunt's character and he intended to do full research on his background.

"Good morning, sir," Tachibana—one of his bodyguards since he was a little boy—greeted him casually as he entered his office building as if four a.m. wasn't too early to start work.

"Good morning, Tachibana," Kyouya greeted in return as he handed the man his keys, "How is she?"

"Sleeping peacefully, sir," the man's sunglasses looked obscure on his face since it was still dark outside. "She woke up once but fell back asleep immediately afterwards."

"Thank you,"

Kyouya was secretly thankful of Tachibana. He was the only one of his three bodyguards that decided to follow him after he had been disowned by his father. The other two bodyguards wanted to follow him as well, but his father did everything in his power to stop them and he succeeded. He wasn't quite sure why Tachibana made it through all right but either way, he was very grateful of him. Tachibana even moved his family temporarily to the United States to help him.

He entered the room where they watched Ayano and waved away his staff members. They bowed respectfully and hurried out of the door, seeming very thankful that they received an unexpected break. Kyouya gazed down at the woman who was curled up tightly in a fetal position before he reached out to touch her hair.

"NO!"

Kyouya quickly stepped away, preparing himself for one of her many violent "tantrums" when she started crying and seemed to have given up to the mental monster that was haunting her.

"It's all right," he soothed her, careful not to touch her. "You'll be fine."

"Fu-Fujioka-san," the woman sobbed piteously into the blanket that they used to cover her. "H-help me…"

Kyouya frowned lightly at the sound of Haruhi's name but brushed it aside as he took this opportunity to touch the woman's forehead.

No fever, he noted as he took away his hand. She's in a much better condition than before.

"K-Kyouya-senpai?"

His shoulders tensed as her familiar voice drifted throughout the room. Oh god, now was not the time to go insane!

"Why are you here so early?"

He turned in his seat, expecting there to be no one else in the room with him besides Hanazawa Ayano only to find Haruhi standing there, looking worried.

"Fujioka-san,"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she stumbled over her words just a little to reveal her embarrassment. "I couldn't sleep because I was worried about Ayano-san and your bodyguards let me in so I thought it was okay…"

He swallowed the words he wanted to say and waved her in, trying to ignore the swelling emotions that were nearly filling the entire capacity of his lungs. He wasn't in the right mind-set; he needed some sort of mental stability at this time in the morning.

Kyouya watched her as she gazed down sadly at the woman. She raised her hand to pat the woman on her head and before he could stop her, her hand came in tender contact with Ayano's face. He was surprised to find that Ayano didn't react violently as she did with his staff and himself but rather, Ayano opened her eyes.

"Fujioka-san!"

He stepped away politely as the woman hugged Haruhi around the waist and began to cry. At this point, he felt as if he should leave them alone. After all, he was an outsider who, somehow (or rather, he wanted to), found his way in.

Kyouya was halfway to the door when Haruhi reached out and touched his arm.

"Don't leave," she said quietly, "please."

There was no way he could deny her request. It was something he wanted her to say to him after all these years. She wanted him to stay. Even though it probably didn't mean anything significant to her, it meant the world to him. He still had a chance! She still wanted him to be there! Granted, anyone could have been in his place and Haruhi probably didn't think much of her request, but he was one step closer. And that was all that mattered.

Kyouya seated himself back on the chair he was in before and watched silently as Haruhi soothed the distressed Ayano. There was nothing he could say to be of any comfort—he understood that words were empty, after all—and there was simply nothing he could do, but Haruhi asked him to stay and so he did.

He didn't mind watching her—he actually enjoyed it. Haruhi had a gentle nature underneath that blunt "commoner" appearance and he was completely and utterly drawn to it. Perhaps it was because he couldn't understand it and it mystified him, or maybe he just enjoys being entertained by someone whom he couldn't read.

Ootori Kyouya wasn't the type of man who would give up easily—or so he thought. But the moment he found that Haruhi was no longer in Japan, he almost wanted to die. He's made mistakes before in his life and he always found some sort of advantage out of his failures, but this was one failure that he couldn't be optimistic about. His entire character changed and he hated himself. He was already disgusted from himself in the beginning—all of the façades and little white lies—and was relieved when Tamaki saw through him and his walls. Finally, there was someone who could see through all of the lies and see that human side to him. He thought that Tamaki would be the only one who would be able to see the true Ootori Kyouya, but the moment he saw Haruhi, he knew that this girl was going to change him and his life. He wasn't quite sure in what way, but that didn't matter. She was going to change him and he was going to be unaware of it until it was too late.

Ayano stopped crying and was sleeping peacefully in Haruhi's arms. He stood from his seat and led Haruhi away from the woman and nodded to his staff to enter the room again. Leading her back outside where the sun was still in its slumber and the clouds heavy with rain covered it warmly, he analyzed the expression on her face carefully.

"Kyouya-senpai,"

He winced at the honorific added onto the end of his name.

"Yes?" he managed to say emotionlessly as he gazed into the dark horizon, avoiding her eyes.

"I'm not going to lose,"

He smiled to himself at her declaration and said quietly, "I know you won't."

It was just like her to say something like that in such a matter-of-fact manner. She never gave up. It was amazing. She was amazing.

"Kyouya-senpai," she started again. This time he didn't reply and only waited for her to continue, "Why didn't you tell me you tried to kill yourself?"

And it was just like her to ask such a blunt question about a sensitive subject.

"There was no point in telling you about that part of my life," he stated as he leaned against the wall casually. "Would you rather I told you about every bit and detail about my pathetic life after leaving you?"

Haruhi was silent and he stole a gaze at her. She looked slightly hurt and ashamed at his comment and immediately, he reprimanded himself for saying something so heartlessly. He came to find her to tell her that he was sorry and to disappear forever from her life after his brother's court case was over, not to hurt her!

Before he could speak up, Haruhi said slowly, "I know that I shouldn't be prying in your private life, Kyouya-senpai…but can you blame me for worrying?"

"Why would you worry about the person who broke your heart into two?" he asked angrily, unable to grasp Haruhi's mentality. He couldn't understand! Everything would be so much simpler if she hated him. It would be easy to say good-bye and leave her for the last time, but hearing her say such comments to him so easily only made him want to stay. "I didn't even deserve to be with you when we were together."

And then Haruhi's eyes flashed dangerously underneath her brown bangs, "What do you mean by that?"

He gave a hollow laugh, "You can't possibly have enjoyed being with me, Haruhi—look at who I was back then! I nearly forced you to be with me because I was so deeply infatuated with you! And what did I do after that? I left you to go to England and ended up screwing up my life and yours! Is this the type of man that deserves you?"

Kyouya could see how his words affected her but he simply couldn't stop. All of these passionate emotions that he held back were rushing out of his mouth and he let them. He loved this woman with his entire being, but he knew that he didn't deserve her love or her sympathies. There was no way he would be able to live with himself!

"You forced me to be with you?"

There it was. The anger he almost longed to hear in her voice was evident and he nearly relished in it. He needed her to be angry with him or else he was going to continue living his life aimlessly, hidden deep in his self-contempt and guilt.

"Isn't that the case?" he asked cockily.

"You are so impudent!" she proclaimed as she threw her hands up in the air. "Do you really think you had that much power over me?"

She didn't wait for him to comment but instead, began to rant, "You can't have possibly thought that the only reason I was with you was because I was frightened of you! You may have been powerful, senpai, but, I assure you, you aren't that powerful. The only reason I stayed with you was because I enjoyed your company! How could you have mistaken that for fear!?"

"No woman," he started, towering over her, "in their right mind would want to be with a person like me."

"I'm not like any other woman," she declared, staring straight up into his dark eyes with her livid eyes. "I stayed by your side because I loved you! Do you not understand the concept of love?!"

"No," he said as he glanced away, "I don't understand it."

Haruhi was quiet and he gazed back down at her, surprised to find shock in her eyes. He felt the light pitter-patter of rain falling and cursed himself for taking her outside for fresh air. They were caught in the rain like this last time and Haruhi couldn't afford to get sick now. She had various court cases to take care of, including his brother's.

"We're finished here," he let out a fake irritated sigh. "You should return home. I'll take care of Ayano-san."

His words must have hurt her more than he intended because he felt his cheek sting a moment after that.

"Stop acting so high and mighty, Ootori Kyouya," she hissed angrily as she attempted to shake the pain from her own aching hand. "It's not doing you any good."

Kyouya watched as she turned on her heels and stalked towards her car, shaking the rain from her hair in vain. And as he watched her drive off, a sense of relief took over his body like poison.

He deserved it.

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Author's Note: Hello, everyone! And hello again, to those of you who also follow "Invisible"! I have finally finished chapter nine! YAYYY! And I'm 1/3 done with chapter ten. Aren't you guys proud?

Anyway, college life has been really busy and hectic, but because of that, I've been writing a lot more (tsk tsk, Kuron!) haha. But I hope you all enjoyed this chapter—I guess. Remember, this is in the future after a whole series of events happened, so please don't expect me being so in-character. There will be changes in personality and character, but I'll try not to modify too much (after all, Kyouya just wouldn't be Kyouya without his Shadow King-ness!)

Thank you all for being so patient and supportive!

- "Tachibana" is actually one of Bisco Hatori-sensei's characters. Those of you who read the extra at the end of volume 9 (I think), Tachibana is an actual character who doesn't show up much. We don't know much about him except that he is very kind-hearted and understands Kyouya's nature to a T. I actually enjoyed him so much that I wanted to introduce him in "Endless Story".
- "Fujioka-san" The suffix -san is used for those who are not close to you and is unisex.
- "Kyouya-senpai" The suffix -senpai is used for those higher than you. For example, an 8th grader would call an 11th grader "-senpai" Please note that Haruhi has reverted her speech back to how they were at Ouran.

Feedback is really appreciated. Constructive criticism is also appreciated. Mean flames are retaliated with my evil dust kitties and their water furballs...so don't try them. You'll regret it. Really.

Thank you for reading!