Loving Love

Chapter 10 – Graceless Gratitude

The Hitachiins sighed as they made their way up the steps to Tamaki's mansion. They never quite understood why the second Suoh residence had to have so many of them, just getting to the front door was a workout. They supposed that's where Tamaki got his physique from, since they never really saw him doing any other physical activity.

Ai trotted along beside them. Hikaru and Kaoru had started taking him for walks without the leash, and he had learned to stay by their side quickly. He had been freshly bathed today as well, so his grey and white fur was fluffy and soft; the black bow he had worn to the park outing was now wrapped around his neck again, accentuating his big brown eyes as he looked up curiously at the vast building they were walking towards. True, Hikaru and Kaoru had taken him there before, but it was such a grandiose place compared to the more simplistic Spanish theme the Hitachiin Manor had.

"Why do you think Milord asked us over?" Hikaru asked in between his heavy breaths.

Kaoru looked up at the mansion and shrugged, "Like you said when we first got the text, he probably just wants to show us a new costume design or a commoners product that he found."

Hikaru nodded, "Yeah, but I can't help getting the feeling that there's something else he wants us to be here for," He drawled, a bad feeling in his stomach. Call it a premonition, but Hikaru could just feel the vibes of something big occurring within the walls of the second Suoh residence.

Kaoru laughed and shook his head, "Chill Hikaru, we'll probably be finished here in half an hour," He reassured, shooting his twin a smile. Hikaru smiled back as they finally walked up the last few steps and approached the door.

Hikaru took a deep breathe as Kaoru lifted a hand to ring the doorbell, "Well, here goes…" He muttered, earning an eyeroll from his twin who had pressed the button when he had spoken.

The door swung open, almost hitting Hikaru and Kaoru in the face and whacking Ai back down to the bottom of the staircase. Luckily, none of them were hurt, as they were all quick enough to doge the offending door. Tamaki stood there, grinning ear to ear at them, looking as happy as ever. "Hikaru! Kaoru! Ai! Hello! Come in, come in, I have something to show you!" He exclaimed, moving out of the way for the duo and puppy.

Hikaru and Kaoru shared a glance and stepped in, Ai tagging along behind them. "You already told us you had something to show us," They remarked in unison, "that's why we came."

Tamaki brushed off the twins' sarcastic comment and ushered them deeper into the house, "Follow me, it's in the ballroom." He explained, beckoning the twins with his hands as he walked backwards.

Hikaru and Kaoru were surprised at how well Tamaki could dodge things when he was facing the opposite direction, the whole time he faced them so he could start up a conversation, and not once did he walk into anything. He must have known this place like the back of his hand – impressive. Then again, he was an only child and had no parents living with him; he must have had a lot of time on his hands.

"Are you going to tell us what we came here for?" Hikaru finally asked, as the double doors to the Second Suoh Residence's ballroom came into view.

Tamaki finally turned around as they approached the doors, clapping his hands together excitedly. "You'll find out now! He exclaimed, grabbing one of the doorknobs.

Hikaru and Kaoru shared another glance; both of them were feeling uneasy now. Before they could say anything to Tamaki though, the blonde threw open the doors to the ballroom and a loud chorus of 'surprise!' blasted out at them. The twins blinked in shock, as they saw the rest of the host club standing in the ballroom, which was decked out in party decorations. Honey, Haruhi, Mori and Kyouya were all wearing party hats and Honey was setting off party poppers like a madman, going so far as to run out to where the twins were to pop some off in their faces.

Haruhi walked over to a table and picked up a knife, "Come on guys, do you want some cake?"

Hikaru and Kaoru finally snapped out of it and walked into the ballroom, Ai and Honey following along behind them. It was then that they noticed a huge, beautifully iced cake sitting on the table, along with some tea. Hikaru turned to Kaoru, "Told you it would be more than a costume or commoners product," He teased, shooting Kaoru a smirk.

Kaoru decided to ignore Hikaru and turned to Tamaki, "What's all this for?" He asked, still slightly in shock.

Tamaki beamed and let out a low chuckle, "This is my thanks for everything. Consider it repayment for all the trouble you went through," with that he walked up to the twins and pulled them in for a warm hug, "You're little devils, but you're my little devils," He said gently as he pulled away.

The twins smiled and then remembered the other boy they had helped, who couldn't be too happy about all of this. Kyouya was standing next to Haruhi, helping her dish up the cake. Surprisingly, he looked up when the twins turned to him and shot them a smile, "What?" He asked as he saw the shock on their faces, "You already paid your dues, I have no reason to be angry at you now." He explained, smirking.

The twins shrugged and then simultaneously grinned, but before they could respond Tamaki cut in again, "What Kyouya means to say is that he's thankful too," He clarified.

The twins nodded, "Yeah, we kind of got that Tono," they remarked, smirking.

"You get used to Kyouya being an asshole even when he's nice after knowing him for a while," Hikaru added, earing a glare from Kyouya who could hear every word.

Tamaki laughed, and patted Hikaru on the shoulder, "Be careful, that's my boo you're talking about!"

That made Haruhi look up from serving the cake, "Boo?" She asked quizzically.

Tamaki span around to face her, "We we're going to tell you later, but since I just let it slip, I might as well explain now. Kyouya and I are officially partners now, thanks to the help of some devilish twins,"

Haruhi rolled her eyes, "I should have known this was what was happening…" She mumbled to herself, handing a plate of cake to Honey.

"Oh, I'm happy for you Tama-chan! Congratulations!" Honey yipped, before spooning quite a big piece of cake into his mouth. Mori nodded and Haruhi made a grunt of acknowledgement.

"Nice impression of Mori-senpai," Kaoru quipped to Haruhi, grinning ear-to-ear.

"You two are just a glutton for trouble, aren't you?" Haruhi responded, walking over and handing each twin a plate of cake, which they both accepted politely with a thank you.

"We like to think of ourselves as mischievously lovable," Kaoru replied, "Troublesome could be another adjective though."

Haruhi rolled her eyes and walked back over to the cake, Kyouya had now left and was making his way over to the twins. "So I guess your next mission will be trying to get Antoinette to mate with Ai?" He asked knowingly.

Speaking of Antoinette and Ai, they had taken to curling up beneath the table the cake was set on, listening intently to the conversation between the humans as it unfolded.

The twins grinned and narrowed their eyes playfully at Kyouya, "You'll just have to wait and see…"

Meanwhile, Tamaki had started ranting on about how cute the puppies Antoinette and Ai produced would be, thanks to Kyouya's comment. Everybody had zoned him out though, and eventually Kyouya put a stop to it all together by shutting him up with a kiss.

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to fun and food, all for the twins. Everybody had a great time, playing board games, video games, watching movies, dancing badly to music, devouring the rest of the cake and generally just messing about with each other. The twins surprised everybody at the end of the day by making-out in front of the group; they decided that if Tamaki and Kyouya had come out about their relationship, they might as well come out with theirs as well. Everybody had been supportive after the initial shock, and had given their blessings.

Everyone went home that night happy, knowing that there would be many more times like this to come.

"And that's how Hikaru and Kaoru found me." Ai finished, smiling at the litter of puppies surrounding him.

"But that was hardly about you! It was more about Tamaki and Kyouya!" One of the puppies who had a grey patch over his eye whined, earning nods from his brothers and sisters.

"Well, they kind of ignored me for those first few weeks…" Ai Admitted, frowning.

A puppy with golden fur piped up, "That's not very nice!"

"It was only because of Tamaki and Kyouya!" Ai insisted, speaking very resolutely.

A hum of disagreement buzzed through the group of eight pups, but before they could argue any further another voice interrupted their line of thought, "Now come on kids, daddy's told you enough stories for today. Leave him alone now and go play."

"But mummy!" The puppies whined, staring up innocently at the golden retriever.

"No buts!" Antoinette snapped, causing the puppies to lower their heads in defeat.

"Hey, let's go and find Tamaki! He'll play with us!" One of them suggested suddenly.

The others all nodded and started wagging their tails excitedly, "Yeah! He'll play with us for sure!" And with that the puppies ran off in search for the blond who was somewhere with in the confines of the Hitachiin manor.

"They really aren't very good owners you know," Ai commented sourly as he watched his sons and daughters disappear into the next room, a sad expression on his face. Now that he thought about it, Hikaru and Kaoru didn't pay attention to him most of the time. Of course he had gotten accustomed to the twins short attention spans, but it still annoyed him whenever it was pointed out.

Antoinette rolled her eyes and curled up next to him, "Oh, suck it up. You're not the one who had to put up with Tamaki for years, and now has to deal with him WITH puppies."

Ai laughed, "Okay, you've got it worse."

Antoinette nodded. Suddenly a loud thump and a bout of giggling sounded from the room next door. Antoinette and Ai looked at each other, "They found Tamaki."

A few seconds later Hikaru and Kaoru walked into the room, smiling when they saw the two dogs lying next to each other, "There you are!" Kaoru exclaimed, picking up Ai.

"We just can't keep them apart, they must really be in love," Hikaru commented, indicating Ai and Antoinette.

"That's what we wanted, wasn't it?" Kaoru laughed and Ai licked his face.

"Yep, we Hitachiins are matchmakers extraordinaire!"

Hikaru and Kaoru turned to each other and grinned:

"In the name of love!"

Yes, they still hadn't gotten rid of that catchphrase.

Ai thought it was going to be wonderful when he first met the twins.

He had no idea.

The End.

OMG! To all my lovely watchers and readers, I am deeply, deeply, DEEPLY sorry for the delay! I tried my hardest to end this well, but I think it's kind of a let down. Unfortunately, I was stretching it with the ninth chapter, as I had already lost my inspiration for this after the eighth, but I chose to persevere anyway and finish what I started. I hope I didn't disappoint everyone as much as I disappointed myself.

Anyway, thank you to all who have stuck with this story and/or read this far. I appreciate your enjoyment more than you know ^_^ Thank you to my reviewers, your feedback is/was awesome! Stay beautiful!

As a side note, I just happened to upload this today, on my birthday. So, I guess this is kind of a birthday present to myself. xD

Hope you all enjoyed the story!

For the last time - Adieu

Amber***