"Scared?" Hikaru whispered softly in her ear, the warm tickle of his breath against her frozen extremity making her shiver involuntarily. Without warning, two arms snaked around her waist and jerked her back up off her feet, slamming her into a solid wall of muscle and she yelped in surprise. "If you are, just hold on to me," he purred.

"Get off," Haruhi grunted and squirmed against him, pushing her elbows sharply into his arms until he let her go. "Why would I be scared?" She turned around to face him and wrinkled her brow.

"Well, the last time you were on a snowy mountain it was a bit traumatic." He brushed his hand against the side of her hat, tucking a stray hair back into her knit cap. His palm lingered against her cheek and gazed into her eyes.

She quirked her eyebrow back at him. His face had a weird, strangled expression on it. Maybe she should ask if he was okay? He looked somewhat constipated. "Hikaru, if you need it I have some medicine in my purse…"

"Just stay with me, I'll protect you."

Haruhi snorted, realizing he was just up to his usual tricks. She turned her head, dislodging his hand, and watched as an inner tube holding a six and four-year-old squealing delightedly careened by. "Yea-ah," she drawled. "I think I'll be fine." Turning back to face up the hillside, she craned her neck and waved at Daiki and Kaoru who'd managed to secure a position about ten places ahead. The nice-for-Sapporo Sunday had brought out the crowds and the local sledding hill was packed.

Behind her back, Hikaru sighed and shook his head. All morning he'd been throwing his best stuff at her, lines and whispers and heated glances that had made women on five continents swoon in his arms and drop their clothes at his feet. But with her? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. She was an ice wall of obliviousness and everything just slid right past. He was even down to the dregs of his material. 'Stay with me? I'll protect you?' What the hell kind of soppy, badly-written drivel was that?

But, what else could he do? He wasn't going to repeat the mistakes of eight years ago. This time, he wouldn't confess out of the blue to a woman already half-in-love with someone else. Instead, he'd make her aware of him as a man first. Plant the seeds now so that when he did confess, they'd be ready to bloom.

Or something like that. It had sounded really good in his head and Kaoru hadn't completely laughed it off like he had some of the other ideas.

"So why do we need to ride down together, anyway?" Haruhi asked, swinging back around to face him.

Hikaru jerked his attention from his inner musings and back to the woman in front of him. She was peering up at him with those gorgeous over-sized eyes which not even the horrific silver parka and tattered, grey knit cap she was wearing could distract him from. He shrugged. "We were only able to rent two inner tubes because of the crowds. And Kao called the munchkin."

Best. Wingman. Ever.

"I'm a little surprised, to be honest." She gave a little half-smile which could bring an army to its knees. "I half expected to show up and find you'd rented out the whole park."

"You said normal." He looked around at all the crowds pressing in on him, reflexively dodging eye contact from those who might be looking too close. These days, looking like his brother could be a drawback. "I thought about it. It would have been more convenient not to have to keep our hair covered and sunglasses on to avoid getting recognized." It was all Kaoru's fault for acting as his own spokes model. Tech CEO's never had this problem outside of very limited venues. "But it wouldn't have been very normal."

"I guess I didn't really expect you guys to listen to me." Her eyes crinkled and her lips turned up in the smile she gave when she was truly happy. For a minute, it felt like the sun had emerged from the clouds and shone down a beam of light on the snow behind her, turning it into a field of sparkles. "Thanks, Hikaru."

Impulsively, he grabbed her gloved hand and started to lift it up towards his lips. "I always strive to give a woman what she wants."

"Whatever." Haruhi rolled her eyes exaggeratedly and flexed her hand upward. His descending face collided with her palm and, with a flick of her wrist, she pushed him away. Off-balance, he stumbled back and landed on his butt in the snow with a loud 'Oouf.'

Aargh! What was he doing wrong?

~oOoOo~

Hikaru's neck hurt and there was a weight pressing down on his back, but at least he had landed on something soft.

He pushed himself up on one arm and reached his other hand around to rub the back of his neck. Tentatively opening his eyes, at first he saw only orange. Light orange through one eye and dark orange through the other. He blinked a few times and the color resolved itself into the sides of the inner tube he and Haruhi had just been on distorted through sunglasses that had been knocked askew.

His eyes flew open in panic and he whipped of his sunglasses to see better, frantically searched left and right for his sledding companion before it dawned on him that she was the something soft he'd landed on. "Haruhi? Haruhi, are you okay?" He searched her face and chest for signs of life, fighting to stay calm. If she'd only just open her eyes.

"Owww," she groaned, "What happened?"

Hikaru huffed out a sigh of relief. "We hit a bump and flipped," he replied as memory of soaring through the air and then having all his breath being knocked out of him with a thud returned. "It was fun up until then, though, right?"

Haruhi giggled and winced slightly. "Yeah, it was fun."

As his initial panic ebbed, he became aware of other sensations - the light strawberry scent from her bargain shampoo filling the enclosed space, the warmth of their body heat trapped by the inner tube, the soft flesh beneath him. "You know," he teased, deliberately keeping his tone playful while giving her his best seductive smile, "We could have some fun like this too."

A blush formed on her cheeks and he wanted to shout. Finally! Finally he was beginning to get to her. Beginning to make her aware of him. Before he could say anything else, she shoved against him hard enough to toss both him and the inner tube lying across his back to the side. She stood up, towering above him with fists clenched, and he realized his mistake. The redness on her face wasn't embarrassment or arousal – it was anger.

"Hikaru! Knock. It. Off." She snarled in a voice pitched to only reach his ears. "I get that you and Kao are very… tactile and like to tease. And I don't mind it normally - but we are older now and there are limits. I won't let you do anything in front of Dai-chan that he might misunderstand."

Hikaru looked at her, stunned by her naivety. How could she still think this was just platonic teasing? A year in the Host Club, two years dating Tamaki, even a kid and she still couldn't recognize the seriousness behind his words? He stood up to face her, his frustration rapidly hitting a boiling point. "God, Haruhi! You have got to be the most obliv…"

"Hika, I'm hungry!" Kao's voice shot across the snow and cut off his brother's diatribe. "Why don't you take Dai-kun for another run while Haruhi and I go check out the food stands?"

Haruhi turned towards the interruption, her chest still heaving from outrage. Hikaru watched as she brought herself under control, giving Daiki a smile to shield him from thinking that there had been anything wrong. "If we want lunch, I can grab the bento I made out of the locker."

"Nah, I'm in the mood for something warm." Kaoru looked at her imploringly. "My treat." He turned to a family of five passing by and offered them his inner tube, which they accepted gratefully.

"Why not," Haruhi replied, still giving Hikaru a glare that made him press his lips together in a hard line, "I could use some time off the hill." The words 'and away from you' hung unspoken in the air. He turned from her and made a show of being preoccupied with checking his sunglasses and slipping them back on.

Daiki skipped up to his mother, tugging on her sleeve for her to bend down and let him whisper in her ear. When he was done, she stood back up and took her son's hand. She gave Kaoru a half-bow. "But please excuse us first." Turning, she and Daiki headed over to the wooden shacks housing the public bathrooms.

The minute they were out of earshot, Kaoru whacked his brother on the arm. "Ouch!" Hikaru rubbed the spot and scowled. "What the hell was that for?"

"Because, O-niiiiii-saaaan," Kaoru sang mockingly, "You? Are blowing it."

"I'm doing fine," Hikaru scoffed, irritated that someone else had noticed how ineptly he was acting, "Besides, I think I know a little bit more about women than you, little brother."

Kaoru laughed off his brother's sarcastic snarl. "Yeah, but when it comes to love I'm your elder."

The fight drained out of him and Hikaru could only lift one shoulder, lazily conceding his brother's point.

"Look," Kaoru said, taking the risk of being recognized by fashion-obsessed fan-girls by pulling off his hat and running his fingers through his hair. "Haruhi is not some fling or a girl already half in love with you because you're handsome and rich. That Lothario act of yours just isn't going to work on her." Replacing his green cap, he pulled Hikaru's face around to his and used the reflection from his brother's sunglasses to make sure he'd tucked away any hint of his telltale red locks. "I mean, aside from the fact that she's still utterly dense - those tricks never affected her. She's immune." Kaoru finished primping and stepped back.

"Damn it!" Hikaru cursed under his breath, shoulders slumping forward in acknowledgement that his brother was right. Haruhi had always looked beneath the surface, instinctively looking for the person underneath the roles they played. It was what had made them, made him, love her. He'd been going about it all wrong – it was no wonder she'd gotten angry. "God, Kao," he moaned, "What am I supposed to do then? This is the only way I know to get a woman interested in me."

Kaoru's arm wrapped around his shoulder and Hikaru leaned his head on his twin's shoulder, allowing the younger one to comfort him. The crowds moving past glanced at them and whispered behind their hands but neither brother paid them any heed. "I know it's hard, Hika. But all our tricks and games are just there to keep people out. If you want a real relationship you have to let them go. You need to find a way to get your feelings across to her."

"Well that's helpful," Hikaru groaned, stepping out of Kaoru's embrace. "Don't suppose you could be more specific? How did you manage it?"

"What I did won't work for you." Kaoru smiled a broad grin that split his face in two. "We are two different people, you know. This is something you need to figure out on your own. And think fast, because they're coming back." He lifted his hand to wave at the two returning figures then whacked it into his brother's back, shoving him forward. "In the meantime, go hit the hill with Dai-kun so I can get my Haruhi time."

Hikaru shot his brother a glare, which was somewhat undermined by the grin pulling at his lips. Resigning himself to losing Haruhi's company, he cupped his hands and called out to Daiki, "C'mon monkey, Hika-ji wants to show you how fast he can get the inner tube spinning."

~oOoOo~

"Kaoru, is Hikaru still angry with me?" Kaoru turned away from observing the food carts lined up on the outskirts of the park, still mentally debating whether steamed buns or yakitori would be the better choice. Beside him, Haruhi's eyes were wrinkled at the corner with worry and she was nibbling her lower lip.

"Why do you ask that?" He asked carefully, not fully denying it. After all these years, even he wasn't sure how much anger Hikaru still held on to. All he knew was that, right now, his brother was too scared of losing her again to risk giving it voice.

"It's just… he's been acting strange today. It feels like he's putting on an act with me. I thought, maybe he's still angry and trying not to acknowledge it."

Kaoru stifled his snort at just how off the mark she was. "Trust me, that's not it. Oh! Roasted yams, I haven't had those in forever!" He took her elbow and guided her over to the line for the cart he wanted. The caramel scent of fire roasted sweet potatoes wafted over them and he saw Haruhi's eyes light up at the promise of food. "He's… he's just having a hard time figuring out how to reconnect with you. My brother's changed a lot in the last few years and I don't think he knows how to show you that."

"Kyoya-sempai said that Hikaru was… that both of you were angry for a long time." Big, solemn eyes searched him, silently pleading for the truth.

"Yeah, we were. I was," he replied without a trace of lingering animosity, "That was a long time ago. We got over it." He could tell from the stubborn little set of her chin that she wouldn't leave it there.

Kaoru refused to say anything else until after purchasing the yams, taking two away in a paper bag to give to Hikaru and Daiki. Heading away from the crowd, he guided their way to a semi-secluded grove which gave some privacy. When he lounged comfortably against a tree and removed his gloves, Haruhi did the same picking a sturdy trunk just across from him. Steam rose off their potatoes as they unwrapped them. He took a bite to buy himself more time to compose his thoughts, savoring the explosion of sweet and warmth on his tongue.

"The first few months I was pretty upset. But when you stayed gone, when I knew that Kyoya had found your location but still hadn't dragged you back, I figured you had to have a good reason and I chose to let it go. "

"What about Hikaru?" she asked softly.

"Hikaru… Hikaru took it really hard. He just shut down, withdrew from everyone, including me. It wasn't just you disappearing; he was more attached to tono than he'd ever admit and... well, you know he's never been good at handling his feelings." He shook his head to drive away the memories of that bleak time. "It got pretty bad. Gods, some of the places Kyoya and I pulled him out of…."

"Kyoya-sempai?" Haruhi paused mid-bite and popped up her head at the name. "Didn't he go back to Harvard?"

"After… after everything he decided to stay in Japan. He claimed it was because he'd get his Master's degree faster in Ouran's accelerated program but I think it was so he could keep an eye on everyone."

Haruhi's expression softened and her lip curved in a small, bittersweet smile, "He never does like getting acknowledged for things like that."

"Yeah, he likes to stay in the shadows in more ways than one." He let silence stretch between them and wolfed down a few more bites of his snack. At the tree across from him, Haruhi simply stared at her food with big, sorrowful eyes. "Hey, I'm not telling you this to make you sad, you know? It's just to give you some context."

Haruhi lifted her head and blinked owlishly. "Context for what?"

"For how Hikaru's changed. One day, about six months after you'd gone, he just… pulled himself out of it. It was like a flip had switched. He was still playful and mischievous, but there was a more serious side too. He was full of energy and ideas, but now he had the drive to make them happen. Somehow he talked Kyoya into funding a tech start-up, dropped out of college, moved to New York, and threw himself into making it a success."

Haruhi's eyebrows lifted so high they were nearly off her face. "He moved away? By himself?"

Kaoru laughed, "No. That would have been too big a change. For either of us." He shrugged and finished his potato, crumpling the paper and stuffing it in the bag with the two for their companions. "I decided to go with him. College couldn't really teach me more about fashion design than I already knew and Kyoya offered some capital to start my own line."

She finished her yam and he reached out his hand to take the wrapper. "You aren't taking over your mother's business?"

"Oh, that's right – you wouldn't know. Hika and I have a baby sister now." Kaoru beamed as he talked about the most important girl in his life. "Ageha's five in September. If you move to Tokyo she'll be Daiki's kohai next year." He lifted one shoulder up in a faint shrug. "Our family is sort of matriarchal so she'll be carrying on the Hitachiin name."

"That must have been hard on you."

"Eh, not really." He dismissed her concern with a wave of his hand. "We never expected to follow in our parents' footsteps. Our family doesn't have a multi-generational empire like Kyoya or a dynasty stretching back past the Edo era like Honey. Hitachiins are expected to find something they love and excel at it. And that's what we've done."

Haruhi tilted her head and looked at him until he squirmed slightly under the too insightful gaze. Slowly, she shook her head. "I don't believe you. I think you were more upset than you're saying, Kaoru."

He sidled up to her and draped his arm around her waist, laying his head on her shoulder and peering up at her. "If I admitted I was, how would you comfort me? Could we eat dinner at your house? Do you know how long it's been since I had home made hot pot?"

She laughed and shrugged him off, "No. I already made you two a bento you haven't eaten. You don't deserve dinner."

"Awwww," he whined playfully. He grew sober and leaned up next to her against the tree she'd claimed so their arms touched. "I suppose I was, at the time. In the end it was for the best, though. My style is different from my mom's – younger, edgier, more street than couture – and this way I got to find my own voice." He smiled to show her that any resentment over losing what could have been his inheritance was in the past. "Plus, I really love living in New York."

"I'm glad. You do seem happy." She stepped forward away from the tree and turned to face him. "I'm sorry, Kaoru. I… regret that I wasn't able to be there for you guys when you needed me."

"Haruhi, that's enough. Stop apologizing! You did what you felt you had to do and, if we're your friends, we'll accept it." Kaoru's annoyance faded when Haruhi dropped her eyes and her cheeks flushed – he couldn't help it, her natural responses were just so cute. He turned up his mouth in a smile and chuckled. "Besides, if we weren't willing to forgive you, we'd still be in New York. Do you have any idea how close fashion week is? I'm freaking out every minute I'm away from the studio."

Distress chased away the chagrin from her eyes and he sighed, realizing she'd taken his off-hand joke the wrong way. Sometimes Hika's foot-in-mouth disease seemed catching.

"I hadn't thought of that," she said softly, "Sorry. Getting that call suddenly must have been troublesome. You didn't need to come."

"Baka!" He reached out one long arm to whack her lightly on the top of her head with the edge of his hand. "There you go apologizing again. Of course we had to come. Stop underestimating how important you are to us."

She reached up to rub the top of her head and gave a shy smile. His arms reached out of their own accord and pulled her into an impulsive hug. She struggled slightly before relaxing, wrapping her arms around his waist and letting him cling as tightly as he needed to. "If you want to make it up to me then say you'll be patient with my brother." He murmured low and fierce. "Give him a chance to show you who he is now."

He released her and chucked one finger under her chin and tilted it up to meet his eyes. "And don't leave us. Don't hurt him like that again, Haru, or I may have to stop being the nice twin." He was smiling and kept his tone gentle, but he meant every word.

Haruhi nodded solemnly and he dropped his hand. Switching back to his previous light mood he grinned and waved the bag containing the remaining yams under her nose. "Think Hika and Dai-kun would mind if we ate theirs?" He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes as the scent wafted over him. "I'm still hungry and I haven't had these in a loooooong time."

She held out her hand, accepting his peace offering, and he tossed her a yam with a wink before diving into his own. "I haven't had them in a while, either," she confessed while devouring her second as fast as she had the first. "But I'm surprised you like them so much."

"What can I say? Tono was onto something with the whole 'commoner food' thing."

"Yeah, right!" Every line of her body radiated skepticism. "You used to whine about eating in any restaurant that didn't have at least one star."

"Living in New York has changed my tastes." When she paused eating long enough to glower in disbelief he snorted. "No, really! It has. My partner has a thing for dragging me to those 'authentic' places where the chef is someone's grandma from the home country and the kitchen looks like it violates a thousand health codes. Someday, I'll die from food poisoning but my taste buds will be satisfied. You never find roasted yams, though," he muttered licking the last of it off his fingers, "it's all sushi and ramen when it comes to Japanese food."

"Partner? Kyoya-sempai didn't say anything about you being with someone."

"Well, that's Kyoya for you - relationships are only significant if there's a ring involved. It's all about the merger of two families with him."

"Is that not something you're ready for yet?" she probed delicately.

"It's… complicated." He sighed and leaned his head back against the tree, looking up at the branches. "I'm only twenty-four for one thing. And, well, we could get married in the U.S., but it wouldn't be legally recognized here which just doesn't sit right with me." He brought his head down and watched realization dawn in her eyes while her face remained void of emotion. He chuckled at her complete lack of anything which might be called a typical response. "Surprised?"

She wrinkled her brow a little. "Just that you never said anything before. I mean, it's not like it changes anything."

"That's the Haruhi I know." He leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "No wonder you were the only girl I ever loved. Though, in my defense, you made a very cute boy." He winked at her. "It turns out there was a reason it was so easy for me to give you up for my brother."

The little furrow between her brows grew deeper. "Loved? Give me up?" Her eyes suddenly opened wide enough to meet her hairline. "Wait! Was that what our trip to the amusement park was about?"

Kaoru stared at her for a minute, utterly stunned. "Oh my God, Haruhi! Are you serious? It's been, what, eight years and you never realized that I was confessing to you then?"

Her mouth twisted in a smile that was half apologetic and half grimace. "Maybe? I guess I just didn't want to assume anything."

"Oh. Wow. I mean, there's dense and then there is dense! Seriously, a woman with a kid shouldn't be that unaware of men."

"Geez. Let it go, Kaoru. I was fifteen!" She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes in irritation. "Besides, it's not like I was going to go asking you about it after all the drama with Hikaru and Tamaki."

He clutched at his chest as if mortally wounded. "I feel like a precious high school memory has just been ripped apart. I think you need to invite me to your house for dinner to make it up to me. If you don't want to cook hot pot, I'll take omelette rice."

"No way!" She collapsed against the tree next to him, giving him a slight shove. Kaoru draped his arm around her shoulders in response, crooking his elbow to ruffle her hair. "So, when did you start figuring things out?" she asked quietly, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's just… when I left you were both still dating girls."

"I don't mind. If I'd been willing to be honest with myself earlier than you would have been one of the first people I told."

"Were you afraid of how people would react?"

He waggled his hand dismissively in front of his face. "That wasn't it. My family's in fashion, if anyone would be accepting it was them. And I knew my friends wouldn't care. It was… this would sound weird to anyone who didn't know us but the thing that held me back was that was IT. The one thing that would forever make Hikaru and I two separate people."

Kaoru shoved his hands in his pockets and stared down at his feet. As he talked he scuffed the snow with the tip of his boot, gradually heaping it into a little pile by his toes. "We were always 'us', even if there were nuances that let people tell us apart. We liked and disliked the same things. Every trait that was Hikaru's was also mine. Everything that was mine was also Hikaru's. We didn't want to be identical, but we never wanted to be different."

He tilted his head back and lightly hit the back of it against the tree. "I think I always knew our self-contained bubble would finally break the day we found something we couldn't share. I just thought it would be because we liked the same, indivisible thing – not because we each liked something the other never would. I didn't want to be the one to take that last step."

"What changed?"

He looked down into her serious eyes and smiled sadly. "Tamaki's death. Realizing someone so full of life could be snuffed out just like that?" He snapped his fingers. "It woke me up. Made me understand that life was too damn short to go around pretending I'd be able to love people I couldn't." He reached in his parka for his iPhone. He unlocked the screen and pulled up his picture gallery then handed it to Haruhi. "Here, this is Stefan."

Haruhi took the phone, smiling at the slight blush on her friend's cheeks and the awkward way he wouldn't quite look at her. The picture on the screen showed a handsome man in a cable knit sweater with mussed brown hair and round glasses framing a pair of piercing blue eyes. Her fingers hovered over the phone and she raised her eyebrows at Kaoru, silently asking for permission. With his nod, she swiped the screen, paging through picture after picture featuring the same subject – Stefan posing goofily next to a statue in a city she didn't recognize, napping on a sofa with a grey-and-white cat curled in a ball on his chest, with his arms wrapped tightly around Kaoru's waist, both of them beaming as city lights twinkled in the background.

She handed the phone back. "He kind of looks like that English actor…"

Kaoru's face lit up like a fireworks display. "I know, right? Very grown-up Harry Potter. Turns out that whole megane thing is totally my type." He pocketed the phone and put his gloves back on, giving her a Cheshire cat grin. "Someday, if you get me drunk enough, I'll tell you all about the crush I had on Kyoya second year."

She couldn't help grinning at how Kaoru's eyes glowed and how his whole body became animated when he talked about his lover. "How did you meet?"

"Stefan's from an old Italian design family. He modeled for a while then switched to hair and make-up design. We met after one of mom's shows and hit it off. He's going to come with me when we come back to Tokyo after Parish fashion week is done." He flashed a devilish smirk. "You can make us that dinner you owe me. Don't worry, you can keep it simple – four or five dishes should be enough."

Haruhi started to protest and stopped, surprised to realize that she actually didn't mind. A part of her was already looking forward to the twins imposing themselves on her the way they used to. Her mouth opened and she gave a small, startled 'Oh!' Without her being aware of it, sometime over this past weekend she'd made her next decision. She turned the frown that had been forming into a smile. "Sure, that sounds like…"

'Whmph.'

An icy cold lump hit the back of her neck and began sliding down under the collar of her parka.

A second 'whmph,' later and she saw a chunk of snow nail Kaoru in the ear. "Oi!" The red-head whipped around furiously while Haruhi desperately tried to brush off the snow from her neck before more of it went down her back.

Hikaru and Daiki stood a few meters away with matching, playful twinkles in their eyes. Daiki covered his giggle with both hands while Hikaru nonchalantly tossed a snowball up and down in the air. "Whadda ya' say, Kao? Haruhi and me against you and the pipsqueak here. Loser buys the oden."

"Hikaru, we can't," Haruhi griped, finally dusting off the last bits of snow, "This is a public park and it'll be troublesome for others." And she really didn't want to get hit.

"What's wrong, Haruhi?" the twins chorused in that eerie manner of theirs, "Afraid of a little snow?" Their eyes lit up with wicked glee as they stalked around her in a circle, snowballs threateningly in hand.

"Oh, please Mama!" Daiki tugged on her parka and gave his best puppy-dog look. "We haven't played snowball fight in such a long time…"

Her heart melted into a little puddle. Damn those eyes. Why couldn't he have inherited his father's hair and her eyes instead? "Fine. Maybe for a bit."

"Yaaay!" chimed all three children in unison. The twins high-fived each other with both hands and then held out their hands for Daiki to do the same.

Hikaru bent down, mounding a pile of snow into a makeshift fort for Haruhi to hide behind and directing her to form ammunition for him to throw. "Just keep feeding it to me, Haruhi. We'll take them down."

Kaoru knelt down and whispered emphatically in Daiki's ear. The child nodded and turned to face his opponents, standing shoulder-width apart and throwing his arms out wide. Kaoru huddled behind him and used the squealing tyke as a shield while aiming snowball after snowball direct at Haruhi.

"No fair, Kao!" Hikaru called out as he dove in front of his partner to intercept another strike. "How am I supposed to hit a kid?"

Kaoru only chortled mischievously and threw another missile, this time directly at his elder brother's head. After fifteen minutes, all participants were equally wet, exhausted, and shouting with laughter.

"Okay, okay – we concede." Hikaru stood up from his 'fort' and made a time-out gesture with his hands. "I think both our partners are getting tired," he wheezed, leaning forward to place his hands on his knees while he gasped in air. Beside him, Haruhi panted in the snow half from fatigue and half from giggling.

Kaoru grabbed Daiki by the hands and swung him around in a circle so his little feet lifted off the ground. "We are the champions! We are the champions!" They chanted in sync.

Hikaru reached a hand down and helped Haruhi to her feet. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, her eyes shone bright with merriment, and her smile was as wide as her face. A rogue beam of sun must have hit the snow again because the air around her seemed to dazzle with twinkling lights.

"I'm glad," he said, surprising himself at the words which fell from his tongue.

"About what?" Haruhi asked, her nose wrinkling adorably in confusion.

"That I could make you laugh." He couldn't stop what he was sure was a stupid, goofy grin from appearing on his face or his mouth from opening up and saying, "You're really cute when you smile." He nearly kicked himself. Of all the stupid, love-struck teenager things to say…

Haruhi's cheeks went red and this time he was sure it was a blush. Huh. Maybe his brother had the right idea.

~oOoOo~

That evening, a trio of people stood on the tarmac waving goodbye as Honey, Mori, and the twins walked towards the private jet that would take them back to Tokyo. Standing between his mother and Kyoya, Daiki bounced up and down flapping both arms. The youngest looking host was doing the same and only Mori's hand fisted in his jacket so each hop drug him backward kept him moving towards the plane. They'd only left after lots of hugs, some tears, and extracting many, many promises to come visit soon from Haruhi.

The three stayed until the jet took off, watching until it vanished up beyond the clouds, before heading back towards the waiting limo. Daiki skipped ahead, running to go chatter something at Tachibana-the-nephew while his mother and Kyoya trailed behind.

"By the way, I'm leaving Sapporo tomorrow," Kyoya said, breaking the silence. "I need to evaluate some farming and processing operations in rural Hokkaido for the next two weeks."

Haruhi lifted an eyebrow at him. "I'm impressed."

He glanced at her with mild amusement. "That I'm so devoted to my family's business?"

"No." Her lips twitched with smothering her laugh. "That you managed to say the words 'rural Hokkaido' without shuddering."

Kyoya pushed his glasses up with his finger and gave her a sanctimonious glare. "Ootoris are trained from a young age to make many sacrifices for the sake of the family."

She didn't even bother to hide her snort at the thought of the thoroughly cosmopolitan Kyoya mucking around in the countryside. The picture of him in his designer suit wearing a pair of Wellies and tromping around a half-thawed field almost had her convulsing. "I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think."

"That would be quite easy to accomplish." His tone said that he would consider anything short of reenacting a scene from a hillbilly horror movie to be circumstances that would exceed his expectations. Haruhi stopped in her tracks, collapsing over in half with laughter and he glared at her, which only made her laugh more.

Kyoya held onto an irritated demeanor as long as he could before cracking and lifting the corner of his mouth in a small smile. It was so good to see her laugh again. To see her relaxed and happy. One short week had made such a huge difference in her. He could barely see any traces of the exhausted, scared, guarded woman he had tea with just days ago. Relief that he hadn't been too late to come for her flooded over him.

"Are you done?" he asked as she gulped in air and wiped tears of laughter away from her eyes. Her softly muttered 'sorry' didn't quite ring true but he didn't care. "When I return, I'd like to take you and Daiki-kun out to celebrate your birthdays. Maybe the Snow Festival?"

She sobered instantly. "You don't need to do that, you know."

"Take a friend out somewhere?"

"No. Subtly make sure I'll still be here if you leave for a couple weeks."

"I'm not. The thought hadn't crossed my mind. You said you would try to work things out with the Suohs and you aren't the type to go back on something once you've decided it."

Haruhi's shoulders visibly relaxed. "Oh. Sorry for the accusation. I'll be in the middle of exams, both my own and my students, but I'll make time. Dai-chan would like it."

The light from the setting sun filtered through the clouds, bathing her in a pinkish color that made her skin gleam like a pearl. He stared into her warm, chocolate brown eyes and couldn't help but ask hopefully, "Will you?"

"Of course." She replied genuinely and obliviously. "The sculptures are amazing."

Kyoya suppressed a sigh of resignation. It was too soon to expect her to understand what he was really asking. And there was still much more to do before he could be more straight-forward. Before he could pursue her openly. He turned and walked towards the limo with Haruhi accompanying alongside.

"I have a favor to ask before you go, Sempai."

"Hmm?" He murmured, masking his pleasure. This was the first time since they'd reunited that she'd asked him for something. It was progress - she was learning to rely on him.

"Could you put me in touch with a real estate agent in Tokyo? I know the housing market there is tricky and I don't have much time if I want to be settled in before school starts up. Not if I want to try and interview at those law firms and graduate university as well."

He couldn't fully hide the triumph bursting in his chest, so he turned it into a polite smile. "Can I ask what made you decide?"

"Lots of things. It's better career-wise to graduate from Toudai for one thing. Dai-chan can get to know his grandparents if we live near them and…" She stopped and he swung around to face her. The soft glow of happiness shining in her eyes launched his heart into a fast staccato. "I guess, seeing everyone just made me realize how much I'm missing out on, how much we're missing out on, living up here by ourselves."

"I'm glad." For a brief moment he dropped his mask of indifference, allowing her to see just a hint of his sincerity. Just a glimpse of how he really felt. "I'm probably the only one who hasn't said it, but I miss having you around as well." She didn't respond, but her cheeks flushed slightly and he decided to count that as a win.

The air chilled fast as the son descended so he shepherded her to the warm car waiting for them. "I'll have my secretary email you names of some of the agents we give our employees when they have to relocate. Pick whoever you are most comfortable with. I'll acquaint them with the budget Suoh-san has provided and you can let them know your requirements."

"I don't want anything big," she protested, lifting her hands as if trying to shove away the extravagance she clearly suspected was coming. "Just a simple little 2LDK apartment would be good. Maybe near a park?" Her voice trailed up hopefully, revealing far more about the hardship of her life here than he suspected she intended.

He composed his face into his usual impenetrable wall. "I'm sure something appropriate can be arranged," he murmured non-committaly. After all, there was really no point in provoking a battle he was only going to win in the end and, given the circumstances, he could be magnanimous in his victory.

It had taken him five long years, but she was coming home.

A/N: So… this one got away from me a bit and ended up focusing more on Kaoru than I intended. I decided to let Hikaru's plotline just run in the background for now and let his younger brother have a turn for a change.

This chapter marks the end of the first arc. The next one is going to focus on Haruhi's return to Tokyo and the ramifications which stem from that.

Thank you to all the favoriters, followers, and especially the reviewers. Please R&R, every time something hits my inbox I give a little squeal (and then have to pretend for my boss that I'm having a coughing attack).

Selected review responses:

First off, thanks to Setdynamics232cr and Jenny for their defense against my troll. You guys ended up saying most of what I felt. Criticism is great – knowing what someone dislikes about a character or plot point helps me know when I may be doing something wrong (or right depending on my intention) but if it's not specific, it's just mean. Setdynamics – I hope to answer your feedback satisfactorily, but it's a plot point for a later chapter so I beg your patience.

Lorelei Jacques, TaylorNReed, kdfe001 – hope the twins chapter worked for you guys. They aren't going away, particularly Hikaru, so look for more interactions between them and Haruhi in upcoming chapters.

And thanks to Sarah Miler, Fwgaltx, tabala, Adriana, and the lovely ever-present Guest