Everything to Gain
Chapter 21: A Matter Of Timing

Hey!
Sorry that this is late..
Yeah, I know I'm a bad person..
But I couldn't help it, my family was in town and I had to take care of two 1 year olds the entire time.
And trust me, 1 year olds don't like to sit patiently when I write..
They scream..
And there is the fact that Fanfiction has been down for the past 24 hours, that is really annoying..
Anyways, I'll be better because we have 200 REVIEWS!
HECK YEAH!
Super special thanks to MexicanHippieChild for being the 200th reviewer!
They will get an awesome prize!
And speaking of prizes, I-LOVE-The-Host-Club really needs to turn back on their PMing so that I can contact them about their one-shot…
Thanks to blazblue-domo for the chapter's idea!
Anyways, here we go!

Haruhi stared blankly at the two figures before her, as some part of her brain registered shock.

She blinked.

Ayume and Tamaki stood almost frozen as well; they were directly in front of her, staring.

Kyouya slipped his hands from her waist and placed them almost lazily around her shoulders, leaning on her in the process.

"Hmm. It's odd that you two are here." Kyouya turned to Tamaki, "I thought you said you were going to give Ayume a tour around town to all your favorite places."

The blonde blinked and then his features morphed into a smile, "That is exactly what we were supposed to be doing. But, somehow we ended up on the subject of you all having lunch here this afternoon and Ayume desperately begged me to take her."

He spun around with over-exaggerated hand motions before looking back at Kyouya, "And you know it would be most ungentlemanly for me to refuse a lady's request."

Ayume took a step forward, a smile on her face as well, "Yes, I am very sorry to intrude. But, I really couldn't help myself. I wanted too meet all of you together quite badly."

Kyouya smiled his typical host smile, "I'm sure t-"

"Haruhi! Haruhi!" The twins came barreling down the corner and ran right into Haruhi, knocking her over.

She clenched her eyes shut, preparing for the jarring feeling of hitting the hard wooden floors when she found herself being lifted back up.

"Hm?" She mumbled to herself as she opened her eyes.

Kyouya pulled Haruhi back up by her arm, which he grabbed as she was falling.

He smirked, "You should be more careful and you should be already used to them running into you, seeing as they do it quite often. Thinking of their antics and Tamaki's combined; it's a wonder that you haven't gained a better sense of balance yet."

Haruhi let out a short sigh and sent a glare towards Hikaru and Kaoru.

They, in return smiled back at her.

The two of them turned towards Ayume and Tamaki with a matching curious look on their faces, "Hmm.. We thought that you couldn't make it."

They raised their eyebrows at Ayume and then turned back towards Tamaki, "Bringing your new friend along to help you enter our house without even asking? How strange…"

Tamaki tried to glare at them but ended up looking like a slightly miffed puppy, "She just wanted to meet all of you, is that such a crime?"

He struck an overly dramatic pose, "I cannot let a proper lady not meet the gentlemanly men of our club! It will do the world good for every woman to get to know us!"

The twins let out a mutual groan.

"You know, Tamaki-sempai, I think that you are a little too friendly sometimes.." Hikaru said with a sigh.

He turned back to Haruhi, "Hey! Where were you? You just ran out on us like that… "

He pouted and Kaoru mirrored him as they said, "All we wanted to do was to have you model just a few outfits!"

They linked their arms around each other and grinned, "And to think that you could actually get away from us is just silly."

Haruhi took a step back warily as the twins reached towards her while saying, "We do need to dress you up just one more time though…"

Just as she was sure she would become a doll once more, Tamaki stepped in front of them.

He had his 'princely air' in full power as he commanded, "Now, you know proper men should never force such petty wishes upon bright young ladies, besides your perverted tendencies are beyond acceptable!"

Tamaki waved his arm around and pointed towards another hallway, "You are banished!"

Kaoru let out a short laugh, "Boss, we know you may have some type of controlling complex, but that doesn't give you the right to 'banish' us from our own home!"

Hikaru bent over laughing, "Ahaha! Banished! Ahhah! That's a good one Tono! Hahah!"

Tamaki pouted and stomped back towards Ayume, "Well, if you won't listen to my brilliance, you might as well just take us to the others."

The twins heads popped up at the same time, "Oh yeah! We totally forgot about Mori-sempai and Honey-sempai!"

They turned around and dashed down another hallway, motioning for them to follow.

Haruhi turned towards Kyouya and raised an eyebrow.

She was met with a small shrug of the shoulders as he walked down the same hallway the twins had gone.

Soon, after many odd twists and turns and one glass bridge they found themselves back in the outdoor patio/garden.

"Tama-chan and Ayu-chan are here!" Honey said with a smile

Haruhi looked at him with a mix of surprise and horror

Sitting around him was what had to be over one-hundred empty plates of cake.

They were piled up in front of him and covered the table entirely.

Honey had a happy and satisfied grin on his face, "What are you all looking at?"

How can someone eat that much!

I-…

I don't even know what to say..

Where did all of this cake come from?

She gulped and looked at the twins standing to her right; they seemed to have the same shocked expression as her.

"He ate all of the cake." Mori stated with his low voice.

"He ate all of that?" Ayume asked with her eyes wide.

Honey jumped up from his seat and walked over towards Ayume, "Hi Ayu-chan! I hope you remember me from Kyo-chan's party. I'm Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but you can call me Honey, okay? I'm a third year, and this-"

He pointed his small hand back towards Mori, "That's my best friend, Takashi Morinozuka! I guess you could call him Mori, everyone does. He's in the same grade as me!"

"Y-You're eighteen?" Ayume said, her eyes opening wide, "The same age as him?"

"Yup! Aren't I the cutest?" Honey spun around for the added effect and made his way back to his chair.

"Yes, his cute and innocent face attracts many of our customers that enjoy the 'Loli-boy type'." Kyouya stated leaning against the wall with an amused grin on his face.

Hikaru and Kaoru took Honey's place in front of Ayume as they mirrored each other.

"Hello! We haven't been formally introduced yet, have we?" They both extended out their hands to her as they spoke in unison, "We're the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru. As for which one is which.. I guess you'll have to figure that one out yourself."

She blinked and shook both of their hands, "Uh, nice to meet you both. I have heard a lot of things about all of you from Tamaki. You all seem to be really great people!"

There was a short moment of silence before a loud buzzing sound filled the air.

Haruhi looked down towards her pocket and then pulled out her phone, it was beeping.

She quickly pressed the button to turn it off and gave a weak smile, "Oh, sorry. That was my alarm; I have to be getting home."

I guess I should ask Kyouya for a ride home, right?

But, he turned toward her and said, "I suppose I will give you a ride there."

He glanced at his watch, "It seems that I have business to attend to soon as well, so it works out perfectly."

Honey stood up from his chair and marched over to Mori, "I think we have to go too. Chika has a belt ceremony in an hour and we have to get ready, ne Takashi?"

"Right." Mori said standing up and making his way towards the door.

Kyouya walked that way as well with Haruhi trailing behind him.

"Aww, you guys have to go already?" The twins complained, "Fine.. We'll show you to the door.."

After another, still confusing trek through the twins house Haruhi made it to the front door.

She turned around and waved at them with a smile, "Bye, thank you for having me. I'll see you Monday."

With that she followed Kyouya out the door and into the waiting limousine.

As soon as they had closed the door and began driving Haruhi turned to him, "What is it you have to do today?"

A smirk crossed his face as he leaned back against the seat, "I actually have no real business to attend to that I normally would not due. I simply didn't enjoy the idea of being there with just the twins, Tamaki and Ayume. I believe it would have turned out to be an uncomfortable situation."

Her phone buzzed again, and she pulled it out of her pocket looking at the message on its screen.

"What is it that you have to do?" He asked, looking towards her phone.

"Well, Mei was coming with me to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Matsuyama-city, but she just texted me and told me she couldn't make it." Haruhi slipped her phone back inside her pocket.

Kyouya leaned on his hand and glanced out the window, "I suppose I could accompany you if you would like. I do not think I have ever been to a cherry blossom festival. It might be interesting."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "You would actually want to come?"

"What? Finding it odd that a 'damn rich person' like me would want to come to a festival? That's a little harsh Haruhi. I would hope you held me in a higher standard than that." He smirked.

She sighed, "Well, Mei and I were planning on going at six thirty and it's.. What time is it now?"

Haruhi was in the process of pulling out her phone to check when Kyouya said, "It is five fifty-six."

"Oh, well I just need to stop by my house and tell my father I'm leaving, if you do really want to go."

"Hm, as I said before I would like to go. It would be.. A learning experience as Tamaki would call it." Kyouya smirked and watched as she let out a sigh.

The car pulled to a stop as he said, "I believe we are at your house. Hurry please; it might take a while to get to Matsuyama-city from here."

She jumped out of the car and raced up the steps to her house taking them two at a time.

Kyouya stretched his arms and leaned back against the seat of the limousine as he watched Haruhi disappear into her apartment.

Well, this day has made an unexpected turn for what might be the better.

Truly, he had had nothing of importance planned for today.

He had woken up this afternoon around one-thirty and had simply planned on staying at his home, checking the Host Club's finances and some of his personal companies rise in stock.

Kyouya was in the process of checking his email when he had received a message from Ranka.

He still kept Haruhi's father informed of her happenings in the Host Club through email a few times a week and Ranka always seemed to put in meaningless details of what Haruhi was doing at the moment into his messages to him.

Clicking on the message Kyouya had found that Haruhi was on her way to the Riogashi Boardwalk to pick up clothes.

Kyouya thought nothing of this fact and skimmed over the email before deleting it.

It was only five minutes later that his phone rang, spewing out the annoying notes that signaled Tamaki Suoh was calling.

He picked up the phone and listened as his friend invited him to the Riogashi Boardwalk and a few other places with a certain Ayume Karenazawa.

He refused Tamaki's offer.

He also quickly made the connection and an odd feeling seemed to rise over him.

Kyouya didn't want Haruhi to see them.

He didn't want Tamaki to see her.

He knew the minute his friend laid eyes on Haruhi she would end up being dragged with him on whatever meaningless trek throughout town he was planning whether she wanted to or not.

For some reason that thought made him irritated.

Very irritated.

Enough so that he changed into proper clothes and readied his driver.

He picked up his phone again and called Haruhi on her cell phone.

She answered and said that she was, in fact, at the Riogashi Boardwalk and that Ayume had seen her, but not Tamaki.

For some reason that relieved him and he quickly made his way over to her.

On his way there though, he had received another call from Kaoru Hitachiin, asking if he would like to join the rest of the club for lunch soon.

He said yes and told Kaoru that he would ask Haruhi as well.

As Kyouya picked up Haruhi from Niamari's Dry Cleaning he asked her about the lunch and was slightly surprised she said yes.

Eventually they had made their way to the Hitachiin's house and after a nice lunch and little trouble from Ayume and Tamaki found themselves leaving.

And now, he was experiencing another, unplanned event in his day.

A cherry blossom festival

I truly don't think I have ever been to one.

It is odd that Haruhi would be going to this.

For some reason I wouldn't picture her there.

Then the door opened to the limousine and Haruhi stepped in snapping Kyouya out of his own thoughts.

After a thirty minute drive, Haruhi pulled the limousine door open and stepped out breathing in the clean, fresh air that could only belong to Matsuyama-city.

It was around six-thirty and the sun had just began to set, making its way lower and lower in the horizon till it was hidden.

It cast an unearthly glow upon the cherry blossom trees that stood high into the air slowly waving with the breeze.

Two large trees bordered the entrance to the Matsuyama Cherry Blossom Festival.

Those words were delicately inked on a large sign spread out between the trees and hundreds of people mulled around in the large space before her.

Rows and rows of stands selling everything from pottery to pocky were lined up before them in an almost maze-like pattern.

The constant buzz of people talking and sometimes screaming filled the background.

Haruhi turned around to see Kyouya's curious face at the scene in front of them as he stepped out of the car.

"Hm, so this is a festival. Interesting.. And what separates this from any other festival during the year other than the blooming of cherry blossoms?"

He took a few steps forward, walking into the crowd of people and peering around.

She walked up next to him and gestured towards their right, "Well, it is basically like all of the other festivals. But, over there they have special events like parades or games. I think they already had the parade earlier today, but they still might have some other activities going on."

She bit her lip in thought, trying to remember all of the events Mei had told her about.

"I think tha-"

She stopped herself, Kyouya had been right next to her a few seconds ago but was now gone.

She spun around, hoping he hadn't silently disappeared again.

Oh, there!

She walked over to a booth to her left where Kyouya stood holding one of the many elegantly painted masks that were on display.

He turned around, "Haruhi, did you know that these masks are of the same quality of the ones that the Host Club used for the masquerade but they are at least seventy percent cheaper?"

He turned the mask around in his hands again, it was an intricately painted wolf mask carved out of a rich brown wood.

"Yeah. I always wondered why you all spent so much money on such simple things.. I mean, just because it costs two-hundred dollars more doesn't mean that it is any better, does it?"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "I suppose that could be true in some cases. You would just have to get that message through our King's head before it would do any good. He always insists on everything being authentic. It causes quite a strain on the budget as well as me, seeing as I have to find whatever he needs and make sure it is available at his whim."

Haruhi picked up another mask, this one was white with four swirls of color decorating the face.

She looked back up at him, "It seems like you are irritated by what you have to do for Tamaki-sempai. Why don't you tell him that he should cut his spending or just order the less expensive things that are not from some far-away place?"

"It is not as easy as that, sadly. He fights with the argument that everything must be the highest quality for our guests or else we are behaving rudely. He thinks that we can somehow afford his needs by simply selling more products."

The beginnings of a grin tugged at his features, "And even if I try to reason with him he throws a fit."

Haruhi let out a short laugh, "Well, that is true."

She found herself wandering to the next stand with Kyouya not far behind.

This was a food stand and they had a large assortment of strange items behind the counter.

She peered into the container, "Fried starfish legs? That sounds disgusting.."

"Indeed it does, but I think frozen spider abdomens sound even worse. How does this make enough income to keep afloat?" Kyouya said, tapping the glass front of the stand.

Haruhi looked at the small plate of samples that sat next to her, the label read Bee Larvae.

A small smile flickered across her face as a plan came to mind.

She took one of the small plastic forks from the side of the plate and picked one of the bee larvae up.

She could practically hear Kyouya's horror, "You are actually going to eat that?"

Haruhi picked up the fork and waved it around near his face, making him take another step back.

"Why don't you try some?" She took a step towards him.

"And why on Earth would I eat a disgusting food like that?"

She grinned a grin that wasn't unlike the Shadow King's, "Because I dare you to."

"You dare me.. And that is supposed to convince me to eat that disgusting food?" He had an almost amused expression on his face.

"Yes. I will also eat it too if that helps."

"It doesn't. I refuse."

Haruhi looked up at him, "And why is that?"

"Because I will most certainly contract some type of food-related disease from eating it and that does not appeal to me." He looked down at her with a superior smirk on his face.

She took the fork with the bee larvae on it and stuck it in her mouth eating it and swallowed.

"See, that wasn't bad. I'm not dying am I? No food related illnesses." She picked up another fork and speared some more of the bee larvae and held it up towards him. "Now it is your turn. Eat it. Unless you are afraid?"

"Normally I would not take the bait of such a weak taunt but since you would probably keep this up all night I will give in this once."

He took the fork from her hand and put it in his mouth.

After he swallowed, Haruhi looked up at him with a satisfied expression, "So?"

"Hm. I suppose it wasn't bad. It was actually slightly crunchy and sweet. Although, it doesn't fall under the 'good' category."

A loud voice boomed over the festival from the speakers, "Hello ladies and gentleman! The Shikagazi Dancers will be performing in ten minutes at the main stage! So get over there and watch the great performance!"

"Would you like to head over there?" Kyouya asked, throwing the fork away.

"Uh, sure." She said, walking with the flood of people to what she presumed was the stage.

"HARUHI!" An overly excited voice called out as she was attacked with a large swinging hug.

"Hey! HEY! Put me down!" She yelled.

When she was put down, she sighed looking up at the figure before her.

"What are you doing here Tamaki-sempai?" Haruhi asked.

"I was showing Ayume the wonders of the common man's Cherry Blossom festival!" He twirled around and then pointed towards a space next to him.

Tamaki spun around in circles before asking, "Did you guys see her? She just disappeared? Where did she go? Help me look!"

He sped off into the crowd calling to them to help him look for her.

Haruhi looked towards Kyouya who said, "I suppose we should help."

With that they split apart and began searching.

Kyouya walked down a line of booths, scanning the people around him.

How did this turn out this way?

Can't Tamaki even keep track of one woman?

He sighed.

He peered into a large tent that was supposed to house some 'oddities', still no sign of her.

Kyouya took a turn to the right and walked down another, almost identical row of stands.

Then, he saw a flash of long brown hair dart into a patch of cherry blossoms.

Was that her?

He quickly made his way towards the trees and walked into them.

The air was cold and almost damp underneath the cover of the trees, the darkness made it hard for him to follow the quickly moving form in front of him.

"Ayume, is that you? Please wait." He called out.

The person stopped and looked back at him, it was obviously Ayume.

"Kyouya?" She said, looking at him.

She jogged back over to him darting through trees.

"Thank God! I was lo-" He words were cut off as she tripped and fell directly on top of him.

Haruhi had split up from the others and was scanning down various streets of vendors, hoping to find Ayume.

Where could she be?

How did Tamaki-sempai loose her in the first place?

If he was the one who lost her, we shouldn't be the ones looking, right?

She saw a flash of dark blue eyes followed by long dark hair dash around a corner far away from her.

"Wait! Ayume-san!" She called out.

Crap!

I lost her!

There is no way I can catch up!

She zeroed in on a large area filled with cherry blossom trees that covered the other side of the corner.

Maybe if I cut through there…

Haruhi ran into the trees, darting around the trunks of them as she tried to get to the other side.

She could hear two different footsteps coming her way and then someone called out, "Ayume, is that you? Please wait."

Is that Kyouya?

A different voice called out, "Kyouya?"

And that's Ayume-san, so he found her too?

Haruhi heard the sound of Ayume running and saying, "Thank God! I was lo-"

And then her words were cut out with a loud "Ooof!" sound.

She ran towards the noise, hoping no one was hurt.

"Hey, Kyou-"

She stopped herself mid-sentence, staring at the scene before her with a wide mix of emotions.

What she had found seemed to be much worse.

Because, there in the middle of the clearing was Ayume and Kyouya, tangled up in each others arms, their lips pressed together.

Ah…
What will happen?
Do you know?
Of course you don't!
Gotta love those cliche's..
Heh..
You gotta wait till Thurday or maybe Friday if I end up with work to do..
But, more likely Friday..

Ah, review people!
I am still in shock that I have 200 reviews on this tiny little fanfiction!
It's like a dream come true!
Ah, I love you all for being so awesome!
See you soon,

~Blue