A/N: Hi, guys. Quick thing first. I already told the Dramatical Murder children this, but I'm going to be skipping next week's update. I'm sorry, but I'm going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship next Monday. I'll be going to see the family. I'll be gone all next week. Now, you get into the story and I'm going to slide down to the end, ok? Weeeeeeeeee…..

I knew this was coming eventually. I just wish it didn't have to. Packing my clothes back into my overnight felt so bittersweet. I didn't want our weekend in Karuizawa to end. But alas...Here we are. Kyoya and I descended the stairs and put our room key on the front desk.

"You're not leaving already, are you?" Misuzu's heart shattered.

"I'm afraid so," Kyoya broke the news, "We do have school tomorrow. However, we may be coming back next weekend, though."

"Really?" he returned to his usual, cheerful self.

"It's quite possible," Kyoya took my hand, "That is, if it's alright with you first."

Misuzu took me into his arms without a second thought, "I'll always keep a room open for you, Lana. Anytime you want to come back, you're more than welcome to."

"Thank you, Misuzu," I nodded, "We'll see each other again soon."

On that note, Kyoya threw our bags in the back of his car and we began our trek back to Tokyo. I loved being in Karuizawa, but being back home? Nothing quite like my rut. I missed my little apartment. It might not have been very much, but it was home to me.

"Lana?" Kyoya cuddled me, "Are you going to be alright? Do you need anything?"

"Actually," I sighed out, "I need to do a little shopping. I'm out of a few things. You wouldn't want to do something silly like come with me, would you?"

"Do you want me to go?" he offered.

"If you want to."

Kyoya pulled me onto my feet, holding me tight against his chest, "I'll gladly go with you."

From what I've heard, I was to understand that Kyoya hated any aspect of shopping, no matter what it wasw for. However, I managed to get him to do it twice now with no problem. I knew Kyoya had some sort of mystical, other worldly power over me. But maybe...did I have a spell on him, too?

All that aside, he and I made it to the supermarket just down the street from my building. I loved my supermarket. There was always a sale somewhere. And me being as broke as what I was on a monthly basis, this place always knew what I needed and what price I needed it at.

"What do you need?" Kyoya asked.

I went over my list in my head, "I'm out of milk. That's kind of a high priority item. I'm low on sugar. I need more tea."

"Lana," he scoffed, "I've seen your tea cabinet. You don't need any tea."

"But what if there's a kind I don't have?" I wondered.

"You have all of the tea in China," Kyoya teased, "Quite literally. I'm sure the market hasn't gotten anything new in."

"I just want to see," I pushed our cart toward the coffee and tea aisle and looked over all of the brightly colored boxes and tins. That was one of my favorite parts of being in Japan. Granted, I had my Twinings and that wasn't going to change. I had already sold my soul to them, but seeing all of the various tea flavors made my little heart sing.

"I thought I heard you two over here," a sweet, familiar voice chimed, making my stomach drop to the floor. It was ok. Someone was going to find out eventually. And if anyone was going to have a rational reaction out of everyone in the club, it was going to be her.

"Hello, Haruhi," Kyoya took the bullet.

"Lana, I can understand. She lives around the corner," she gave him a look, "But what are you doing here, Kyoya-senpai?"

Here we go, "Merely helping Lana with her shopping."

Haruhi was smart. There's no way she wouldn't see through that. I know I shouldn't doubt Kyoya's ability to talk his way out of virtually anything, but when there's actual proof right in front of her? There's no talking out of that, "Oh. Ok. That's awfully nice of you. Just in case you don't want people to get the wrong idea, though, you're not the only host here."

"Oh?" I could see it in his eyes. Kyoya had a plan.

"You know how he is," Haruhi shrugged, "He's hopeless."

"Commoners do fascinate him," he agreed, "So much for this being a leisurely trip. Thank you, Haruhi."

"No problem," she smiled, "I should probably go find him before he gets himself into trouble. See you guys tomorrow."

Haruhi turned on her heel and left Kyoya and I to finish up. I couldn't believe that had gone so smoothly. Then again, it's not like we ran into Tamaki. That probably would've been closer to disastrous. Kyoya took care of my groceries and the two of us went back to my apartment, "It's a good thing we got out of there when we did."

"What do you mean?" I threw the milk in the fridge and put a kettle on.

"Seeing Tamaki explode isn't exactly pretty," Kyoya told, "And to see him do it in public would be hell for all involved. I refuse to put you through that."

"Thank you."

"Now," he pulled me to his hip, "I'm going home. Do you need anything else before I go?"

"I could use another kiss," I blushed.

"My pleasure," Kyoya pressed his lips against mine ever so gently, sending a tingle all the way to my toes, "I'll see you in the morning."

"Ok," I didn't want him to let me go. I'd be ok without him, but I really didn't want him to go. It'd be strange not sleeping with him after having him all weekend. This past weekend was sorely needed. That's for sure. After the hellish week I had, a weekend in Karuizawa with Kyoya was exactly what I needed. Minus my nightmare. But I wasn't even going to let that ruin it. Aside from that, our trip couldn't have been more perfect.

With my elated mood taking over, I had a strange boost of energy. It'd probably take a minute or two for my kettle to boil. I could get something done, I'm sure. My fridge could stand to be cleaned out. I could easily have that done by the time the water's ready. But before I knew it, I had my entire kitchen spotless. And in the course of only ten minutes. How? I will never know. It was nice to see everything so sparkling, though. I rewarded myself with a cup of oolong tea and went straight to bed.

The next morning, I woke up and looked at my phone like I did every other morning. Usually, I'd find my lock screen as a picture of Rhiannon and me from my last visit in the US, but instead, I found something different. Two little words on my screen made all the difference.

Good morning. :)

KO

I loved waking up to that. My little heart palpitation to start the day. I loved even more that, in some strange, alternate universe, I actually had him. Anytime, any day. I grabbed my toast out of the toaster and headed out the door to see my alternate universe. I missed the familiarity of the halls of Ouran Academy. It meant seeing the family again. The one that I still didn't choose, but even better, they chose me. That's what felt like home to me. If only I had the host club when I was still living in London. I never would've left.

It got to be that magical time of day in the middle of the afternoon that I had loathed at one point. But now? Biology became my favorite class of the day very quickly. Honestly, I could care less about what was actually going on. They only put me in advanced biology because I had a gap in my schedule. Little did I know, I'd have the best tutor in the world for it.

"Hi," I couldn't keep a smile off my face if I wanted to.

"Hello," Kyoya took his desk behind me like he did every other day. And before I knew it, I had a neatly folded piece of paper tossed over my shoulder, the deep blue ink bleeding through.

Are you doing ok?

I grabbed my pink pen out of my bag and shook my head a little.

Golden. It's been a rare good day.

I folded it back along the lines Kyoya had it and tossed it behind me. I knew exactly why today had been so unproblematic. Because it started so well. And it was all Kyoya's fault. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to take that credit. I watched our note fly over my shoulder again.

Good enough to tell the host club about us?

That was a very, very loaded question. I did a quick gauging of where my current mental state was at. I was fully medicated. I hadn't had a single panic twinge all day. My brain's been pretty level. I wanted to keep it that way.

Not quite. We'll give it a couple weeks or so for them to figure it out.

Toss…

Toss…

I unfolded our note again, curious to what he would say to that.

I understand. We won't tell them yet.

I had another question burning a hole in the back of my brain. The answer terrified the hell out of me, but I wasn't going to let it ruin the good day streak I was on. Everything was good for a change. I wanted it to stay good. My good day wasn't going anywhere.

Do you think Haruhi told Tamaki she saw us yesterday?

My stomach turned and tumbled while I waited for Kyoya's response. This was worse than seeing the three dot bubble in a text message. At this point, I'd almost rather that. No. Good day, Lana. Remember? Good day.

Doubtful. Haruhi wouldn't do that. Besides, she knows we have leverage, too.

That was oddly settling. Wait a minute…

We do?

Think about it, Lana. Who else was with her?

And? Tamaki follows Haruhi around like a lost puppy anyway. Where is the surprise in this?

Exactly. And why do you think that may be?

All of a sudden, I felt so stupid as the realization punched me square in the jaw.

You think she finally caved?

You did.

Right then and there, I turned into a puddle. Damn near a weeping mess. Kyoya had such a talent for making me change colors and making my heart go all pitter patter. Upon first meeting him, I never would've guessed that any of this was in him. But my God, was I happy it was.

How did I get so lucky?

The bell finally ran and Kyoya put our note in my books, "I'll see you at the club. Read this when you're by yourself."

"Ok."

I swallowed the lump trying to make its way up my throat and ran straight for the bathroom. I knew I was going to be late for class, but I didn't care. I needed to know why I had to read this alone. I just hoped to all things holy that it wasn't Kyoya breaking up with me. Already? We had only officially been together since Friday night. I locked myself in the stall and quickly unfolded the paper.

Your first mistake was wandering into a seemingly abandoned music room. Your second mistake was coming back. By the looks of it, the bell is going to ring soon. I love you.

It's times like these where I'm glad I listened. Kyoya's silver tongue had translated itself onto paper and made my heart swell and beat out of control. Now, I understand why I had to read this when I was by myself. I wiped my eyes and headed to my last class. Fortunately, my teachers had been informed about my…situation…And I could write my being late off as having a panic attack.

Technically, I could classify that as a small one, but it made me so happy. I didn't even listen to whatever my teacher was talking about. I was disgustingly lovesick and falling to pieces in the greatest way. I had better things on my mind than history. My own personal history was better than Imperial Japan.

My high lasted well after the final bell rang as I hightailed it to the host club. Right now, there was nothing I wanted more than to sneak off with Kyoya while the others were distracted with their respective guests. He had certainly earned it after making me cry in the girls' bathroom after biology. But the tears were completely worth it. When I pushed the doors open, almost immediately, I was ambushed by my favorite pair of twins.

"Lana!" they squeaked, sandwiching me tight, "We missed you."

"I can see that," I struggled for air.

"How have you been?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah," Kaoru followed suit, "What did you do on break?"

"Well," I sat down, finally getting out of their embrace, "My parents came to visit me."

"We already knew about that!" the two harmonized.

"They left on Friday, though," Kaoru pointed out, "What else?"

I wasn't going to tell them about Karuizawa. Kyoya and I were still kept under wraps for the time being. Telling Hikaru and Kaoru would be a disaster, "I didn't really do much. Did my grocery shopping. Some laundry."

"Doubt it," Hikaru sat next to me, "You can't tell us you just sat around your house twiddling your thumbs. There's no way."

"Do you really expect someone like me to venture out much?" I chuckled, doing my best to bury the truth, "Hi. I'm Lana. I think we just met."

"Really?" Kaoru grinned darkly, exchanging a quick glance with his brother.

"Then, why are you blushing?" Hikaru wondered.

Was I really? I put my hands to my cheeks and sure enough, they were pretty warm. Dammit! I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep anything from those two. Hikaru and Kaoru could go into private investigation and make a killing. They almost knew as much as Kyoya did and Kyoya knew everything.

"Hikaru, Kaoru," my saving grace barked at them, "Leave her alone. Lana, come here for a moment."

I made a beeline for Kyoya, who by the looks of things, was currently balancing the host club's books before the doors opened, "Did you need me for something?"

"I'm sorry," he apologized, taking my hand under his desk, "You know how those two are. We don't call them the mischievous type for no reason."

"I know," I assured, settling down, "They can't help it. They're two halves of a whole idiot."

"That's my girl," Kyoya shot me a wink.

"Hey," I whispered, "Watch how loud you say that. God only knows who may be listening at the wrong time."

"Don't worry, Lana," he promised, "We're fine."

And just like that, the doors to the host club opened and the guests started pouring in. I sat back by Kyoya's desk, waiting for him to come back for me and our afternoon to go as planned. Besides, I still had to give him the verbal lashing for my so-called mistake. I would never regret ever walking through those doors. That wasn't a mistake. It was more a blessing in disguise.

As I watched Kyoya's hands work quickly, occasionally taking a break from analyzing the finances to doodle in the margins of his notebook, the doors flew open and a very tall, very loud student (from a different school, going by her uniform) stood in the doorway with two others behind her, "Where is Haruhi?"

"Boss!" the twins screeched, "Lobelia's here!"

"Mori," Kyoya ordered, "Take Lana. Hide her."

"On it," Mori took my hand.

"Kyoya," I fought him a little, "What the hell is going on?"

"Don't worry," he settled me, "Everything's going to be ok. We'll take care of it."

"Hello..." she took me away from Mori, "You're new..."

"Mori," Kyoya reiterated, "Get her out of here."

"Oh, no," she shot him down, shoving him over, "I'd like to speak with you."

"Um..." And I was having such a good day, "Ok..."

"Tell me," she took my face in her hands, "What is a beautiful, young maiden like you doing in a cesspool like this?"

"Well," I spoke softly, "They're my friends..."

"Oh, my dear," she pulled me close, "You poor, poor thing. You're completely under their spell, aren't you?"

"I'm sorry," I wiggled out of her arms, "Who are you?"

"You can call me Beni-bara," she insisted, "I'm here to rescue you."

"Rescue me?" I wondered.

"You may be too far gone," Beni-bara cradled me, "These idiots are just using you to satisfy their appetites."

"They are?" I thought it over. No. There was no way. Because why would Kyoya have done what he has for me? Or any of them? None of that seemed forced. It all seemed so genuine. But what if it was true? If they were just using me. Does that mean…Does that mean Karuizawa…was all a lie?

"Excuse me, Beni-bara," Kyoya stopped her, pulling me away from her, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave and to stop terrorizing our guests. Mori…"

"Yeah," Mori took my hand and brought me into one of the dressing rooms in the back. He sat on the floor with me, pulling me into his lap, "Lana, are you ok?"

"Could I be alone please?" I requested, barely speaking above a whisper.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

I effectively kicked Mori out of my dressing room and breathed through my existential panic attack. Was I only here to be the host club's designated damsel in distress? Was that all I was good for? The poor, little girl that needed to be saved and they'd all be the ones to do the saving? Granted, I knew I was beyond broken, but for them to use that for their own personal gain? That'd just be kind of sick. I listened intently to whatever was about to happen while I'm not there.

"Why would we be using her?" Kyoya defended.

"Why would you be hiding her away?" Beni-bara retaliated, "Don't you think she deserves to know the truth?"

"She does know the truth," Tamaki stepped in, "You need to leave."

"Not without her," she demanded, "Where did you hide her?"

"I already told you, Beni-bara," Haruhi reminded, "I'm not transferring to Lobelia."

"Your ship has already sailed," Beni-bara brushed her off, "I'm looking at something much bigger and better."

"I'm not going to ask you again," Kyoya put his foot down, "Please leave."

"We'll leave once you admit that you're using her!" she growled.

"We're not," Kyoya went from defensive to downright pissed and offended very quickly, "I, for one, happen to love her very much."

"Me, too," Tamaki chimed in.

"Us, too," the twins joined in.

"And us," Honey tweeted.

Hold on. Kyoya just professed his love for me to the entire host club and no one said a word? That's shocking. And we thought they would've had a coronary. But what really hit me hard? The fact that they all agreed. Maybe they weren't using me. Then, why would Beni-bara be getting to me so much?

"You all disgust me," she scoffed, "This won't be the last time you see me. I will be back for her. I'm disappointed in you, Haruhi. I don't understand how you can stand to be around these mouth breathing morons. But I will be back for her. I promise you."

I didn't want to go with her, but she did make an excellent point. Why would Kyoya have hidden me back here? He didn't need to protect me. I could take care of myself. Relatively. To a certain degree…All of a sudden, the floodgates in my eyes opened up and a constant stream of tears stained my face.

"Lana…?" Kyoya spoke softly, "Are you still back here?"

"Yeah…"

"Are you alright?" he pulled back the curtain and immediately, I bawled into his shoulder, "Come on. Let's get you home…"

A/N: This story was lacking in the Lobelia department. I hate Beni-bara with a burning passion, but you have to admit, she's an amazing character. Also, I'm still feeling guilty about "Before the Extraordinary Girl's Lobotomy". I think, not next week, but the following week, I may have something that will completely absolve me of that. I mean, I'm posting a crack chapter for Black Butler in that week. I might as well do something cute and adorable for this, too. In other news, Kyoya Ootori is an undercover Disney prince. No one can convince me otherwise. See you next chapter! xx