Chapter 10

They had finished shopping without any incident…meaning, no one from the Host Club had shown up to interrupt them.

Haruhi was pleased with the several things that she'd bought for herself, and she'd found something for her father as well, which made her happy.

It seemed quiet when they arrived back at the "beach house", as it was called, "mansion" is what she called it in her head.

It didn't take long for the three of them to realize that everyone was in their separate rooms. Well, so much for a bonding vacation…but the truth of it was that Haruhi honestly didn't mind. Between the Host Club and her father, she rarely had time to simply relax.

And now she was getting the chance to relax with friends. Two friends, in fact, that she knew very little about.

"Let's make dinner together!" chirped Honey, and Haruhi smiled and nodded in agreement.

As they walked towards the kitchen to see what was stocked there that they could use, Haruhi shook her head in amusement.

It was incredibly hard to believe that Honey-senpai was two years her senior. The only time when she thought she could actually see the serious side of him, was when he fought. It seemed that that certain discipline brought out the other side of him.

She watched as Mori and Honey looked through a couple of the cupboards, and she soon joined them…and was surprised by what the three of them found: basic ingredients for making a simple, traditional meal of sushi, jasmine rice, and some chicken on the side.

She pulled them out, and the three of them began to cook, each of them working on something separate, but helping each other when they needed to.

It was nice to do, as hardly any words had to be exchanged.

If you had to get by, a touch of a hand on an arm or shoulder was all that was needed, and a nod indicated whether or not something was done. With the three of them, it only took them twenty minutes to have dinner ready.

As they sat down at one end of the ridiculously long table, Haruhi was silently enjoying the atmosphere that the three of them had created.

They ate in comfortable silence, the entire time Haruhi casting glances in Mori's direction.

All too soon, dinner was over.

Again the three of them worked in silent unison to clean the table and put the food away.

Haruhi walked down the hall to put her packages away into her luggage that she'd brought with her, and saw Tamaki standing out in the hallway outside Kyoya's room, three rooms down from hers. The look on his face was serious, something that she was not used to seeing on their comic leader.

"Tamaki-senpai?"

The blonde-haired young man looked up at the sound of his name being called and Haruhi felt a sensation in her chest and it hurt.

The expression in his eyes was one that she'd never seen before.

He looked absolutely torn.

She saw his eyes glance down to her wrist and then look back to Kyoya's door, and he let out a deep sigh.

"He won't let anyone in. The twins tried for a while earlier today, after you three left, but it didn't work. I haven't tried yet, but I'm afraid he'll think the worst of me and assume that I'm against him…" His gaze turned haunted. "…I'm not happy with what he did, but I can't judge him for not knowing how he saw it, but at the same time I'm terrified of what he might say…

…I just want to talk to him."

Haruhi turned her head and then lifted her hand and placed it on the doorknob, but then paused and turned her gaze back to her friend. She carefully observed his body language and suddenly understood what was going on.

She hesitated, and then said, "You never know if you don't try, right senpai?"

Tamaki looked at her in surprise, but his lips soon softened to a faint smile.

"I suppose you're right."

Haruhi returned the smile and then opened the door to her room and watched in approval as Tamaki lifted his hand and gently rapped against the highly polished wood.

Yes…the two of them needed to figure things out for themselves. Even though the circumstances weren't the best, and though it was most likely that accusations and yelling would be thrown about, as well as furniture, they would figure it out.

After closing her door behind her, she slipped out of her dress and found a nightdress with a satin robe that her father had packed for her.

The nightdress was white with faint lace edging on the square neckline, and the robe was a pale shade of champagne.

Oh well…she couldn't fault her dad for taste. She knew that if the twins saw it they would both highly approve of her father's choice…four thumbs of approval, to be exact.

Pulling out a book that her father had managed to miss when re-packing her bag, she lay on the king-size down mattress and began to read. It was a historical-fiction, a new genre that she had recently started exploring and had found that she somewhat enjoyed.

She lay on her stomach, her book in front of her, and she felt herself starting to doze off.

Well, she thought to herself. If I'm this tired, I should probably just go to sleep.

With that, she closed the book and slid her body under the lavish high-count, Egyptian cotton sheets and let herself drift. She had managed to fall into a light sleep, one where she was barely aware of the fact that she was aware of anything…

…but then she heard faint lilting notes coming from somewhere in the mansion.

Who could that be? Tamaki is in Kyoya's room and this is coming from the other side of the house…

She sat up in bed and slid her feet over the side and picked up the robe from the floor from where she had let it fall and slid it over her thin nightgown.

Carefully, trying not to make a sound, she slipped through her door and walked down the hall, trying to remember where she had seen the piano…wait a second. Had she even seen a piano since entering the house?

Haruhi began to wander, but then saw Honey sitting just outside of a partially cracked door, a small smile was on his face and his eyes rested on Usa-chan in his lap.

"Honey-senpai?" she whispered, unsure of what was going on.

His eyes snapped up and he brought a finger to his lips.

"Shhh, Haru-chan! Don't let him know that we're here!"

She gave him a look of confusion, her brow furrowed, but then joined him on the floor next to the door where he sat cross-legged, and pulled her legs under her as she tightened the silky robe around her middle.

"Don't let who know?"

Honey-senpai gave her a grin and pointed to where the door was partially open.

Haruhi inched towards the opening as quietly as possible and strained to see who was sitting at the piano in the room, the absence of any light making next to impossible to tell.

But then there was slight movement as the pianist swayed and pale moonlight, which streamed through an unseen window, splashed across broad shoulders and dark hair…

…it was Mori.

Part 10/?