Extremely sorry for the super long hiatus! I had a complete dry spell for months and it doesn't seem to want to let me go. Either way, chapter 15 is underway. So, I hope you can bear with me!

Disclaimer: Nope, not me. I do not own OHSHC

Layla's POV

Splash. The sound of water tinkling off a table. Looking up from petting the head of a deeply asleep Honey on my lap, I saw the horrified expression playing off Tamaki's face.

"Ahh! Look what you devils did to Honey-senpai's Usa-chan!" Tamaki exclaimed in surprise.

Usa-chan? Something happened to Usa-chan? Following his eyes, I saw a toppled over tea cup and a stained Usa-chan. Oh, I guess they accidentally tipped over a cup of tea all over the pink bunny. It was not that big of a deal, they could always just wash Usa-chan.

"It wasn't our fault. Haruhi kept running away. We were just chasing after her so she could do a cosplay for us!" Hikaru and Kaoru chorused as they hugged Princess close.

Why were they being so close to Princess?! Just as I tried to get up, Honey's sudden furrowed eyebrows caught my attention. Ah, I could not move. If I did, Honey would wake up. Giving up, I sat still and continued playing with his hair.

"We do cosplays all the time!" Tamaki complained.

"We're not talking about the usual cosplay...," Hikaru interjected as he rolled his eyes.

"... But a bunny girl cosplay while disguised as a girl!" Kaoru ended.

But, Princess was a girl. I glanced at Princess. She had the exact same expression I was giving. Good, she thought the same thing. Those idiots were making Princess uncomfortble.

"Don't you want to see that too, Boss?" they said together.

"Haruhi... as a bunny girl?" Tamaki muttered as he put on a curious expression.

D-disgusting! He must be imagining her in a bunny suit right now. I felt the rage rolling off me and I bet Tamaki could feel it too. Why? Cause he cautiously turned to meet my eyes.

He was lucky that Honey was asleep. If not for Honey, he would have ran with his tail between his legs.

"Anyways, we're in huge trouble. I mean, Usa-chan was made by Honey-senpai's late grandmother for his neighbour, right?" Hikaru said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, that's right. I heard that he used to pick on her a lot so, his grandmother made the bunny as an apology. He wouldn't be happy with this," Kaoru agreed.

"Wait... If Usa-chan was Honey-senpai's neighbour's, then why does he have it?" Princess asked the boys.

"Isn't that the mystery. Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai wouldn't tell us, so we just left it at that!" Tamaki answered as if to brush the question off.

"Isn't that weird? I would have thought that Tamaki-senpai would at least pester them until you got your answer," Princess said lightly.

"Is that really how you see me, My dear Haruhi?!" Tamaki cried out in despair.

Listening in to their conversation, I guiltily gazed at Honey's sleeping face. I had never told Princess. I had not even told Honey and Mori.

Can't blame her for asking, right? If we weren't in here with you, we would ask too.

Shut up, it was your faults too.

Yeah, that's true. But you're still searching, right?

Without your help. So, shut up already.

Suddenly, I felt Honey moving. His right hand, more like it. I stopped his fist before it made contact with my face.

"Oh, you're awake, Mitsu-kun?" I asked him as I kept his balled up fist away from me.

"I'm up," he said nonchalantly as he got up.

Honey stared at the teddy bear Tamaki placed near him. Grabing it, he angrily threw it to the floor. Ah, same old Honey. He has a horrible attitude when he wakes up. Come to think of it, he remind me of Kyoya sometimes.

Honey stood up and walked to the table where Usa-chan was. He slowly picked her up and stared daggers at the now dirty Usa-chan.

"Who. Dirtied. Usa-chan?" His piercing eyes stared Tamaki and the twins down as they cowered behind the couch.

"Help us, Mori-senpai!" they screamed, scared out of their wits wih tears in their eyes.

I stood beside Mori as he said with ease, "Usa-chan wanted to drink some tea,"

Oh, that would definitely solve the problem! I watched Honey's expression change from bloodlust to extreme happiness. Mori always knew the right things to say.

"Is that so, Taka-kun? She was thirsty?" I saw the sparkles in his eyes.

Ah, that was so like Honey. Absentmindedly, I smiled and turned to Mori.

Mori's POV

"Good thinking, Taka-kun!" Layla said with a bright smile.

Taka... kun?

I stared at Layla with round eyes. Did she just...? Did she call me 'Taka-kun'? Stunned, I stared at her without her notice. She did not seem to realise her slip of the tongue. She then made her way to a bleaming Mitsukuni and patted his head.

"Hey, why don't you give Usa-chan to me and I'll clean her up for you?" Layla proposed.

"Mhmm!" Mitsukuni grinned from ear to ear, completely estatic.

Was Layla really...? I had a burning feeling that I used to just shrugged it off before, coming back stronger than ever. Was ignoring it at the beginning the wrong call? Was Layla really, truly... Ayumi?

She was, was she not? While Layla was off getting Usa-chan cleaned, I grabbed a hold on Mitsukuni.

"Mitsukuni, I need to ask you something," I informed him.

"Hmm? What's up, Taka-kun?" Mitsukuni tilted his head to one side.

"It's about Layla,"

"What about Lay-chan?" Mitsukuni's interest was perked.

"Is she... Does she know Ayumi?" I changed the course of my question at the eleventh hour.

I was not sure if Mitsukuni thought of the same thing. I needed to make sure if it was possible first. I did not want to hurt him with false hope. I watched as Mitsukuni's eyes slowly widen.

"Umm... Ah, I forgot to tell you! They were cousins," Mitsukuni jumped in front of me.

Cousins?

"Isn't that a huge coincidence? I think it's amazing!" Mitsukuni cheered.

But that did not make sense. The ones that searched for Ayumi all those years were us. Where had Layla been?

"... Is that so? That's good," I replied with a thin smile.

I did not want him to worry. If it was true, I had to ask Layla herself. Hopefully she would understand why I was asking her this.

After about an hour, Layla came barging into the club room from one of the spare rooms. No one really goes into any of those spare rooms, so it was quiet the surprise that she found a functioning dryer in the room.

"Ta-da, Mitsu-kun!" Layla held a freshly clean Usa-chan up to Mitsukuni's estatic face.

"Woah! Lay-chan! You're a miracle worker!" Mitsukuni claimed as he happily received his pink rabbit from her.

"It was nothing. The stain wasn't too difficult to get rid of," a satisfied smile adrone Layla's face as she shrugged her shoulders.

Could she really be Ayumi? The first time I met Layla, there was hardly any warmth that was so apparent from Ayumi that the very thought was not possible. At the time, Layla acted more robotically in or than one way.

However, now she had changed so drastically that she resembled Ayumi more and more as the days went by. Was it simply a coincidence? And that Layla calling me 'Taka-kun' was just something she picked up from Mitsukuni?

With my thoughts running in circles, I felt a headache coming on. Touching my throbbing head, I continued to stare curiously at Layla.

As if feeling my eyes on her, Layla glanced at me with knitted eyebrows. I quickly averted my eyes and sheepishly walked away from her. I knew I had to ask her sooner or later if I truly desire to find the truth but now was not the appropriate time.

"Umm... Honey-senpai, should you really be eating all of those sweets? Won't you get a toothache?" I heard Haruhi say in a worried voice just beside Layla.

"No way! I always remember to brush my teeth! Besides, I've never had a toothache befor- Ouch!" Mitsukuni exclaimed in pain as he dropped his fork with a clatter.

What? What happened? Did he really get a toothache? I have to check his teeth! Sprong to action, I quickly went to his side and tried to inspect his teeth. Mitsukuni slapped my hand away, covering his mouth and minutely swelling cheeks.

I did not have time for his childish antics right now! Did he or did he not have a cavity? Pinning him down on the couch, I pinched his cheeks together and pried his mouth open.

A dread feeling sunk into my heart. There it was, Mitsukuni's first cavity. I turned towards Tamaki and he nodded in understanding.

"Ahem... An announcement, my beautiful ladies. From today until Honey-senpai's cavity goes away, all sweets, cakes and the likes will be banned from the Host Club. We would humbly appreciate that you avoid eating any sugary treats to support Honey-senpai's quick recovery," Tamaki annouced to the ladies present.

Seeing the teary-eyed stunned expression on Mitsukuni's face, I knew the next few days would be torturous for him. Even so, I had to put down my foot. Though knowing that this would seem extremely harsh, it was all I could do.

Besides, I had already failed them both. And being as it may that Layla might not be Ayumi, there was no other possible way to apologise. Aside from handling a heavy punishment.

Haruhi's POV

"I think Honey-senpai is going to snap," Hikaru gave his observation.

"Yeah, just look how miserable he looks with his swollen cheeks and bowed head," Kaoru added.

Hikaru, Kaoru, Freya and I were walking in the corridor to our next lesson when we saw a depressed Honey walking alone. He had a cloth tied around his head, giving him bunny ears. Just looking at him would make anyone miserable.

"You can't blame him for being miserable. He has never gone a day without some sort of sugary food in his mouth since I met him," Freya pointed out with a shrug.

"Since WE met him. 'Cause we knew him longer than the two of you," Hikaru and Kaoru chorused.

"Ah, yeah... You guys knew him longer," I heard Freya mumble under her breath as she averted her eyes.

The way Freya said that left an impression that it was not true. Did she meet Honey and Mori a lot earlier than all of us? No, that was not possible. Freya was always with me.

"Mitsukuni, give me your bag," Suddenly, we saw Mori catching up to Honey.

Turning around to face him, Honey said, "I can carry it myself."

"That's not the point," Mori said as he took ahold of Honey's bag and tipped all the contents out.

Surprisingly, an endless stream of sweets fell out. How on earth did all of those sweets fit in there in the first place?!

"Sigh... Mitsu-kun's mood is going to get even worst at this rate. Then again, I know just the reason why Mori-senpai is doing this. I just hope it boils over all right," Freya said in annoyance.

Freya loudly clicked her tougue and briskly made her way to our next class. Something must have ticked her off. And for one thing, it did not seem like the usual humdrum reaction.

I shared a meaningful glance with Hikaru and Kaoru. They had also notice the shift in Freya's mood. But whatever it was that brought the sudden change was beyond us. Either way, it and the situation with Honey played in our minds the whole day.

Wonder what's making Freya pissed off? Me too! ^w^

Well, we'll just have to keep guessing till the next chapter!

R&R please and thank you!

Love always,

~StormAria~