A/N: I'm back, and with a crazy long chapter, nonetheless. Let me address something quick; I got asked in a lot of reviews why Mori didn't appear at all in the last chapter. Let me assure you all that I honestly didn't mean for that to happen! As I stated before, the previous chapter was hard for me to write, for whatever reason, and so I did a lot of editing. Without realizing it, I accidently chopped out all of Mori's movement within the chapter. But rest assured that he is back, better than ever :)

Thanks again to all of my wonderful reviewers/readers. You guys have been amazingly awesome! Your feedback keeps me going. Be sure to stick around after the chapter for another Author's Note...it's relevant to the plot

I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.

The Road Away From Here

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, the male members of the Host Club found themselves seated inside the coffee shop not far from Haruhi's apartment. The only variation from last night's visit was the lack of a certain female member. Her absence was profoundly felt, as clear and painful as a sword through the side.

Almost an hour had passed since the scene in Haruhi's apartment. The argument, and the fallout that followed, was etched onto every one of the six male faces. Even Mori, who's face most often reflected nothing in particular, looked rocked by it. The decision to retire to the coffee shop, instead of to separate corners to lick various wounds, was a unanimous, and almost silent one. For a brief moment, after Haruhi's door had shut behind them, there had been nothing but silence. Then, Tamaki had spoken seven words.

"Come on, Men. Let's go somewhere quiet."

And they'd followed him, off of Haruhi's property, and all the way to the coffee shop. But the quiet hadn't gotten any louder over the course of the four mile hike. The boys sat in the midst of a bustling crowd, but no one spoke. Coffee had been ordered, but the cups sat untouched on the tabletop. Even Hunni's cake, ordered out of habit, was completely intact. And it was he, ultimately, who broke the silence.

"Tama-chan? Are you really going to make Kyo-chan tell Haru-chan's dad about her ulcer?"

Tamaki looked over, almost startled by the sudden sound in the silence, and then sighed.

"Only as a last resort, Hunni-sempai," he said. "I sincerely hope that it doesn't come to that."

Hikaru scrubbed his hands over his eyes. He'd always been the biggest failure at hiding his emotions; his feelings wrote themselves across his face like the words in a book. And at the moment, the hurt and the confusion he was feeling were so clear that the other boys could have read them out loud.

"I don't get it," he said, quietly. "Why is she being so stubborn? And what did she mean by saying that we're not a part of each other's lives?"

"Haru-chan made it sound like she doesn't want to be friends anymore," Hunni said, and his voice wavered dangerously. Mori leaned forward and rested a comforting hand on the smaller boy's shoulder.

"I don't think that's what she meant," Tamaki said gently. "As I said before, I don't think Haruhi intended to be cruel. She's always been able to justify the fact that she holds us all at a distance."

"Because of the lesson," Kaoru added quietly.

Golden eyes locked on to Tamaki's face with perfect understanding. The Host Club King nodded, his lips curving in a very tiny smile.

"Exactly right. Because of the lesson."

"What lesson?" Hikaru snapped. "She never explained that either!"

"Through my periodic phone conversations with Ranka, I was able to discern that Haruhi wasn't born with such an independent spirit," Kyoya said. "It only developed after her mother's death."

Kyoya tapped his fingers against the cover of his black book as he spoke. He hadn't recorded today's events yet. Like the others, he had very little desire to relive such an unpleasant experience so soon after its initial completion.

"So?" Hikaru asked, but there was no hostility in his voice, only honest confusion.

"The death of her mother left a deeper impact on Haruhi than the one she shows," Kyoya said. "She may seem well-adjusted, but in fact, Haruhi still uses her mother's death as a yardstick in her daily life."

"She pushes people away with it," Tamaki added softly. "Haruhi was very close to her mother; there was a great deal of love between the two of them. And after she died, Haruhi realized that no amount of love can stop a person from being taken away. So Haruhi decided, even if only subconsciously, to never allow someone so close again. It's the only way the pain of loss can be avoided, really."

Because Kaoru knew that Hikaru wasn't ready to be touched, he wrapped his fingers around his coffee cup instead, seeking a little comfort from the warmth.

"But Haruhi messed up," he said, continuing Tamaki's thought. "We got to her, all of us, and she let us get way closer than she ever intended."

"And then we all left." Mori's voice dropped, thick and heavy, into the conversation. "And proved Haruhi's point for her."

"So she decided to push us away once she left for college," Hikaru summarized, as the meaning behind the lesson sank into his brain.

Tamaki shook his head.

"No," he countered. "It started long before that. Don't you guys remember what she said last night?"


"Takashi and I graduated not much later," Hunni added, and his little boy voice was sad. "So, a lot of things changed after that."

Haruhi pushed her plate away.

"Everything changed after that," she corrected quietly.


"Haruhi started pulling away long before all of us were even gone."

Kyoya nodded in agreement.

"Even though it was only Mori-sempai and Hunni-sempai that graduated that day," he said, "Haruhi saw it as a reminder."

The sadness was back, spanning Tamaki's face full-force, as he gazed into his coffee cup.

"The changes were subtle," he said. "And the process itself was a gradual one. But Haruhi's been moving away from us for a long time."


"Haruhi!"

The slim brunette studying at a secluded table in the first floor Ouran library barely looked up as Tamaki dropped into the seat next to her.

"Not so loud, Tamaki-sempai. This is a library, you know."

Tamaki puffed up instantly.

"Of course I know!" he protested, in an even louder voice. "Are you implying that I don't understand basic library etiquette?"

The look Haruhi finally spared him was as dry as dust.

"I'd never imply that." She stretched her arms back behind her head, working out the kinks of her study session. "What are you doing down here?"

Tamaki tapped his watch.

"It's a quarter past three," he said. "The Host Club was supposed to meet fifteen minutes ago. Kyoya sent me to look for you." Tamaki reached out with earnest hands and snatched up Haruhi's fingers. "Daddy was so very worried!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes and tugged her fingers out of Tamaki's enthusiastic grip.

"Sorry, Sempai," she said. "I guess I just lost track of time."

She began to gather up her books, stacking them into neat piles.

"Lost track of time?" Tamaki repeated. "That's not like you, Haruhi. And especially on such an important day!"

"Important day?"

"Today is Kasanoda and Chicka's first day as official Host Club Members," Tamaki reminded her.

"Oh. Right."

Tamaki watched as she stuffed the piles of books into her bag. Something was prickling along the back of his neck, a sensation that he couldn't quite place.

"Haruhi…," he ventured. "You do like Chicka, and Kasanoda. Right?"

The look Haruhi shoot him under from under her bangs was filled with confusion, and the faintest hint of something else.

"What? That's a stupid question, Sempai. Of course I do."

Tamaki held out his hands in a placating fashion.

"You just seem a bit…distant when you're around them," he spluttered defensively. "That's all."

Haruhi hooked her bag around her shoulders.

"You're imagining things again," she said. "Maybe you should let Kyoya-sempai have a look at your brain."

Tamaki shuddered delicately.

"No, thank you," he said, with great conviction. "Besides, there's nothing in my brain that he doesn't already have written down in that book of his."

Haruhi laughed.

"True." She hitched her bag up a little higher. "Come on, Sempai. Let's not keep the ladies waiting."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"I didn't recognize it then," Tamaki said. "But the emotion in Haruhi's eyes that day, the one I couldn't place. It was guilt."

"She never really warmed up to Chicka," Kaoru recalled. "Not like she did with Hunni-sempai."

"And that air of friendliness she'd always had with Kasanoda evaporated over time," Hikaru added thoughtfully. "Poor guy. He was upset about it for weeks."

"It was more noticeable with them," Tamaki said, "Because they were new to the group. But she was distancing herself from us as well."

Kyoya nudged his glasses up his nose.

"By the time Tamaki and I left for college, she was barely a functioning member of the Host Club anymore," he said. "She enrolled in several college preparation courses, and so she was unable to attend the club more than three times a week."

"And the only events she attended were the ones we dragged her to," Hikaru added.

Hunni pushed his cake around his plate.

"I tried emailing her a whole bunch," he said sadly. "But after Haru-chan graduated, she stopped responding."

"And she turned off the cell phone we gave her," Kaoru said. "Hikaru and I tried calling her, but it always went straight to voicemail. Eventually, we got a notice that it had been deactivated." He shook his head. "She cut us out of her life, for her own protection. I wonder if she even would have shown up yesterday if the Boss hadn't threatened to kidnap any no-shows."

Hikaru scowled at his reflection inside his coffee cup.

"Yeah, she cut us out," he agreed bitterly. "And look where it got her. Overworked, overtired, and with a nice little hole in her stomach."

Hunni made a little sound, a sad and desperate sort of cry.

"We can't let Haru-chan leave us!"

Mori, who still had a soothing hand settled on the boy's shoulder, locked eyes with Tamaki.

"Mitsukuni," he said softly. "We won't."

"But what are we supposed to do now?" the smaller boy asked in a quivering voice.

Tamaki's hand tightened on his cup.

"We keep our promise," he said, almost to himself. "We have to show her that we're here. That we won't leave her. Not ever again."


It was an unfamiliar feeling for Haruhi, to bury a problem deep inside. She'd always been one to confront her troubles head on, facing them with both guns cocked and fully loaded.

But her confrontation with the boys left her frozen, stranded in the wasteland of agonized indecision. Every movement felt like the wrong one, and so she stood completely still. Telling her dad about her problem would be admitting that she had one, which she obviously didn't. But if she stayed silent, the boys had promised that they'd speak for her. Try as she might, Haruhi couldn't find a way out of the murky quagmire she'd somehow become lost in.

So, instead of acting, Haruhi buried. She shoved all thoughts of the boys, and her confrontation with them, way down deep. She smiled at her father during dinner like nothing was wrong, and she retired to her room early, to catch some time with her study materials.

By dinner time the next day, Haruhi had almost convinced herself that the whole ordeal was over. Whatever wild hair the boys had been riding had worn itself out, and they were giving her some time to cool off before they came over to apologize. She'd let them of course. And then she'd let them leave.

Giving her bangs an idle brush out of her eyes, Haruhi gave the stew pot she was preparing another brisk stir. Her father wasn't due home from his shift at work for another little while yet, but the dish needed time to simmer.

The second the doorbell rang, her stomach plummeted down to her sock-clad feet. She recovered quickly, telling herself that even if it was them, they'd probably come to apologize. But all her rationalizing didn't prevent the knots in her gut from twisting when she opened the door and saw those same six faces.

"What do you guys want?" she asked.

Tamaki gave her a gentle smile.

"Hello, Haruhi. We told you we'd be back."

"Yeah, you guys are making a real habit of this." Charitably, she swung the door open a little wider. If they were going to grovel, they might as well do it indoors. "Come on in."

"Thank you."

They all trooped inside, in an exact parody of yesterday. The comparison made a light sweat break out on Haruhi's back.

"I don't have a lot of time," she said. "My dad will be home soon, and I'm just finishing up dinner. So let's make this quick."

She folded her arms across her chest. Tapped her foot. Any second now, they were going to apologize. Any second.

"Have you considered the ultimatum we gave you yesterday?" Kyoya asked politely. "Are you going to tell your father, or are we?"

All the little barriers, the blocks, the piles of dirt she'd heaped over yesterday's confrontation exploded into glittery bits of confetti.

"You can't be serious," she said. "I thought that you guys would have come to your senses by now."

"And we thought the same of you," Tamaki countered quietly.

"This is ridiculous! I'll say it one more time; try to let it penetrate your thick skulls. And then I am booting you guys out. I. Am. Not-"

A hand shot out, lighting fast. Two fingers drilled, with relentless pressure, into her stomach, just below her breastbone. Not hard, because Haruhi knew he would never hurt her intentionally, but with enough force to get his point across.

The pain was instant, and it was brutal. It ripped through her gut, and traveled all the way up her spine so that it could echo inside her skull.

Haruhi's knees went weak, and she slumped forward. At once, hands reached out to catch her. Breathing hard and fast, and leaning despite herself, Haruhi stared, in absolute shock, up into Mori's face.

Of course. How very like him. Why waste words when he could get his point across with an action instead?

"How much longer do you plan to fight us on this, Haruhi?" Tamaki asked.

"You know we're right," Hikaru said, a gentle snap in her ear. "Quit being so stubborn."

"Okay, that's it." Haruhi wished that her voice was just a little bit stronger, but the pain was still forcing her to take deep and even breaths. "Seriously, you guys need to get out-"

"Haruhi!"

The door burst open on a cheerful cry. Haruhi watched with mild horror as her father danced through the entryway, only to stop dead when he took in the scene before him. His spinning steps stopped, and his fluttering hands stilled.

"Haruhi?" he said again, with a great deal more concern his time. "Boys? What's going on?" Ranka took a step forward. "Is something wrong?"


A/N: Uh-oh! Ranka's stumbled upon Haruhi's little secret. Will his daughter spill the beans, or will the boys have to do it for her? And how can they convince her that she needs them in her life? Stay tuned to find out.

And now for that special add-on I promised: I'm going to be opening up a poll on my profile page. I already know how this story is going to play out, but I'm curios as to who my readers want Haruhi to end up with. Cast your vote, and the winning Host Club members might be in for something special later in the story.

Happy Reading!