Thank you for the reviews and waiting patiently for my updates. Being a resident doesn't leave a large amount of time for me but I hope you'll still enjoy my work.

"Haruhi…Haruhi?"

She had been zoning out pretty hard when Hikarus voice finally brought her back. She felt his lips against the back of her head, brushing against her hair. His arms hung loosely around her waist as they sat in her living room watching the news. There really wasn't anything interesting about the news at all, just the fact that there was nothing else on right now and her father had called her room off limits for the rest of the night.

"Sorry Hikaru"What was she even apologizing for? Haruhi sat there leaning back against his chest, enjoying the way he continued with the light kisses against her hair. He had become so affectionate after Kaoru left, his own selfish actions seemed to have faded a bit. He had even helped her wash the dishes and clean up.

"Are you tired? I don't want to keep you up…unless you want to come back to my place"She could feel the way his lips curved up into a grin as he said that. Haruhi of course wasn't going for that tonight, and even if she did Ranka would more than likely be checking in on her tonight. He seemed to have come to a very mild acceptance but wasn't by any means happy about anything that had happened.

"No way! But you should head home soon, it's getting late"Haruhi had slowly wiggled her way out of his arms and over to the tv, turning the dial she shut it off before helping Hikaru up off the floor. She knew he didn't want to leave tonight, but it would be best not to push it with Ranka. Plus he and Kaoru more than likely needed to talk.

Hikaru watched her carefully, she had been acting different since Kaoru left. More relaxed. He loved everything about her, the way she moved, the way her short hair would tickle her cheeks and she'd gently brush it away, the way her lips parted slightly when she was thinking of something. Every little thing.

"My driver will be here in 10 minutes, want to wait outside with me?"Hikaru extended his hand after sending a quick message to his driver who no doubt was waiting at home after only picking Kaoru up earlier that night. Haruhi reached up and grabbed his hand gently enjoying the warmth of her fingers laced between hers, it was cold outside tonight but she felt perfectly fine now.

-The Next Day—

"This is getting annoying fast"Haruhi mumbled to herself as she sat in the library alone, well she wasn't really alone. All day Hikaru and Kaoru had been following her, they kept a good distance of 5 feet and everything one of them seemed to step closer a whistle would blow. This must be what they talked about last night. This "Neither of us can come within 5 feet of Haruhi unless the other gets to as well" game was getting old really fast. It was 10 minutes before club hours so she began to pack up her books, they were so heavy she almost wished they'd break their stupid game and come help her. But she did want a bit of a break from them, all last night she had a nightmare. She woke up over and over again but the same result, a cold sweat and a rush of relief.

"Tamaki senpai?"Haruhi called as she reached the hallway and saw Tamaki was standing in front of the music room door holding some papers and tape. He was pacing the floor mumbling something to himself before he turned towards Haruhi.

"Oh Haruhi, I'm sorry did you not get my message"Tamaki straightened up as he smiled weakly, he wasn't sure how to approach her since the first they had yesterday. To be honest he assumed she hadn't replied because she was still angry at him. But seeing her standing there confused with the twins not too far behind her, he assumed she must not have received his message.

"No I turned my phone off since we had a test in English today…..I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday"Haruhi didn't exactly know what to say, she had yelled at him for being concerned for his friends. She had no reason to really be mad at Tamaki, except for the fact that he made her think about things she really wanted to avoid right now.

"No I shouldn't be getting involved…."Tamaki fiddled with the papers in his hands for a moment more, not sure what else to say. He was surprised the twins weren't getting involved. Haruhi was obviously uncomfortable right now.

Haruhi opened her mouth to apologize once again but then stopped herself that would solve nothing. She drew her attention to the papers Tamaki was holding in his hands. Noticing her interest he held one up to her.

"I sent you a message about this, Kyoya will be out for the week so no club for the next two days. He'll return after the weekend"Tamaki explained as he handed Haruhi the notice and then moved to tape one onto the double doors of the music room. It wasn't often that they actually canceled club activates but without someone to manage things they couldn't continue. Huni would eat the whole supply of sweets, any damages would go unpaid for and Tamaki was not in the mood to play book keeper.

"Is he alright?"Haruhi felt her gut tighten at the news, sure she could use the extra time to study but at the same time. She felt that this was her fault somehow.

"I thought you didn't care"

It was careless and cruel but it came out too quickly, Tamaki didn't even think about it. But once the words escaped he covered his mouth, as if cursing for the first time. His eyes met with Haruhis, a hurt but understanding expression on her face.

"Haruhi I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that"Tamaki quickly apologized but the damage was done. Haruhi handed the notice back to him.

Hikaru and Kaoru who had been leaning against the wall near by listened closely, unsure of when to intervene. Hikaru was trying not to be impulsive, and Kaoru was trying to be more considerate. But both of them caught the harness in that comment and quickly moved to take Haruhi away from this conversation.

"No senpai it's alright, I had to study for my chemistry exam so this works out great"An excuse, anyways an excuse to not have to express an uncomfortable emotion. Haruhi and Tamaki had always been on friendly terms, he was the first one to really treat her well here at Ouran. But now there was this heavy tense air between them, both of them were apologetic but that wasn't enough now.

"Well if there's no club how about we go on a date?"In union their arms wrapped around her. She could feel Kaoru arms come to circle around her waist and Hikarus came around her shoulders. They were protective of her, they always had been.

"Haha.. Well I'll see you Monday then Haruhi… Hikaru, Kaoru I'll see you both then too"Tamaki laughed awkwardly at their presentation of affection and protection of Haruhi and turned away. He still had to finish closing the club before heading off to see just what had happened to Kyoya. Huni and Mori had already left for the day so he would have to do the rest himself, counting stock for the rest of the week and informing the student council that their club would be closed.

"Bye"They sang in unison as Tamaki slipped behind the club doors leaving them alone

What am I thinking? This isn't right, I should at least try to be mature about all of this..plus…Haruhi thoughts were swirling as she looked up at them. Hikarus brown hair tickled her forehead and Kaoru fingers brushed against her cheek gently. She was being infatuated with them again. They were so good at it, they knew just want to do and she'd melt inside.

"Why don't you two go home first, I want to talk to Tamaki a bit more. We've been on uncomfortable terms so I'd like to clear things up…alone"Haruhi slipped out from between their arms, not waiting to get too wrapped up into their little world where she always ended up losing herself lately. She saw them exchange a glance and then Hikaru turned away from her.

"Call me later tonight"It didn't take long for Hikaru to make his way out of her sights, leaving only Karou there. He leaned against the wall looking down at his cell phone, replying to a message that someone had just sent him moments ago. Haruhi had a guess it was Hikaru.

"Alone Kaoru, since when is Hikaru the better listener?"Haruhi watched as Kaoru finished his message before slipping his phone away. He had left his school bag in the limo before coming to the club today, he didn't feel like carrying around anything more then he needed to. Even he could be lazy sometimes.

"Don't give him too much credit, can I have a good-bye kiss?"Kaoru wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, pulling her closer to him. His forehead pressed against her, she really could stare into his eyes forever. That perfect mix of amber and brown folding together, also changing. Somehow though Hikarus eyes seemed more cat like, as if he was also on guard and hunting. Kaorus were softer, more tame but curious. The differences between them were endless.

"No way, if Hikaru didn't get one then neither do you. I don't want you to fighting anymore, it makes things to difficult"Haruhi held her breath as she escaped from his embrace, she quickly slipped away from him and gave him the cold shoulder. Things were still kind of new, and having all this affection at school while not out of the ordinary for him, meant new things now. She didn't feel shy around him anymore, but he did still make her feel uneasy.

Kaoru didn't wait around for her cold shoulder to defrost before making his leave, he would call her later tonight and hopefully convince her to visit him. It's not like he didn't want to do home, things had been less tense since Hikaru stopped acting like a child and became a bit more reasonable. It just felt a bit lonely now.

"Senpai? Tamaki senpai?"Haruhi called as she entered through the double doors to the music room. There was no sign of him besides his bag that was tossed carelessly on one of the couches. She never understood how that could treat things so poorly. The bag that you bought from the school was nearly a whole pay check for her father, if the host club hadn't provided her with one upon joining she would still just use her regular back pack.

"Tamaki?"Haruhi called as she made her way to the stock room, without Kyoya around it made sense he would be doing the inventory that Kyoya would do daily, he's also have to take care of all the ordering and emailing the student council along with his own father about the lack of club activities this week. She just couldn't picture him doing all that work alone, let alone doing it at all. But then again…

"Haruhi what are you doing here?"There Tamaki sat, in the stock room with a calculator in one hand and his other writing down what looked like very detailed notes and numbers about the stock they carried. The order sheets spread out in front of him and a book of phone numbers at his side

Then she remembered that she had learned at the Ouran fair, that Ourans students were mostly children of parents who owned large business companies, and Tamaki was no different. In fact he may one day run Ouran in his father's place.

"I thought you could use some help"Haruhi sat herself down next to him and picked up a stack of receipts that had yet to be organized like the other piles around him. How long had he been doing this? It looked so complicated, what were all these acronyms for? And why did all of them have such varies prices?!

"What about Hikaru and Kaoru?"Tamaki placed the papers down as he started to place the papers into small piles he was forming.

"They can live without me for a while, it's not as if I'm part of them"Haruhis reponse was so natural for her it brought a smile to Tamakis face. When was the last time they'd actually talked like this? Without the awkwardness of everything that had happened, he'd been comforting her so often it was no wonder their relationship had taken a hit.

They sat together on that floor for a while, Haruhi helped Tamaki sort through the papers while he did the work he needed it. Some went back into a cabinet and others he had sorted on the desk Kyoya frequently used when he was here. It had over all been a very productive day for both of them. As they laughed together and Haruhi found herself amused once more at Tamaki simple actions the awkwardness melted away.

"Thanks for helping me Haruhi, you would make a wonderful secretary.. but not because you're a girl or anything! I'm not sexist I promise! Not to say you'd be sexist if you wanted to work as a secretary"Tamaki rambled on as Haruhi placed the last bit of papers away onto a clip board where they kept all the contacts for local businesses which delivered the pastries, table clothes, roses, tea, sugar, and special organic honey.

"No problem senpai, it's getting late so you better go soon, doesn't the chairman come back today?"Haruhi asked as she recalled the morning announcement in which they discussed the chairman's successful trip to America, they would be having a beautiful new grand chandelier placed in tomorrow morning before school in celebration. It just seemed like an excuse for Ouran to spend more money on making the school even more extravagant.

"Yes! We're having dinner together tonight, would you like a ride Haruhi? Tamaki asked as he followed Haruhi back to where the costumes where held, the last thing he had to do was finish placing the costumes to be shipped back to the rental company. Haruhi held the tags in her hands as she looked through them, each of them were very well detailed in describing each costume but that was expected since they had so many costumes, it'd be impossible to do otherwise.

"No that's alright, but I can finish these tags for you senpai. You should really head home and see your dad"Haruhi suggested as she looked down at her watch, she would have enough time to come home before her father since he was working the mid shift today. Even if it took her an hour she'd still have enough time to cook dinner, do homework and call both Hikaru and Kaoru. Maybe she'd even invite them both for dinner tonight

"Are you sure Haruhi? I wouldn't want you to over work yourself"Tamaki wouldn't normally have left her to do so much alone. But he had wanted to see his father, and discuss with him everything that's been going on. Some fatherly advice was in order here.

"Yes senpai now go! I'll see you next week during club hours"Haruhi pushed Tamaki to the door and accepted his friendly hug as he left. She had to admit, it was really nice to spend that time with him.

'Now I better get to it, there's only 10 of these so it shouldn't be too bad' Haruhi thought as she made her way back into the storage room, the first tag read 'ladies ball gown, fuchsia straps with gun metal pewter bended under skirt and full pearlescent cream covers' it was at that moment Haruhi realized she had no idea what fuchsia, pewter, or pearlescent meant. As she made her way to where the ball gowns were held she immediately regretted her choice to stay. There were at least 50 ball gowns and 50 more of things that looked like they could be less formal ball gowns and none of them screamed fuchsia to her.

It had been 45 minutes of Haruhi going through each dress and reading the small tags inside each one of them, she had to the conclusion that the ones with the Hitachii logo would not be sent back, the rest were all up for debate, that left her with 26 dresses she had looked at and only 3 of them had a cream look to them however there was a problem.. those three looked nothing like ball gowns but more like some type of thing you'd wear on a runway in America.

'Why did I do this to myself? I should just call Hikaru and Kaoru to help me already'Haruhi thought as she sat there with the dresses at her feet now, she reached for her phone and realized that it was gone. Had she left it in class? No she was sure to pack it. At home? So she had spoken to her father earlier today. So it had to be in her bag! Haruhi reasoned it out as she always did and made her way over to her bag but then she heard it….the sound of foot steps.

"Is someone still here this late?"Haruhi didn't know why she felt the sudden urge to hide but she ducked behind the clothing racks and waited quietly for the footsteps to stop.

'Why am I even hiding back here? I'm doing official club business so there's no reason I'd get into any.. oh no they're here!'Haruhi thought as she heard the footsteps enter into the storage room followed by the drop of a bag against the chair.

"That idiot actually did something right"

Huh?

"Kyoya?"Haruhi stood up from behind the clothing racks to see a very much healthy looking Kyoya standing at the desk holding a clip board and flipping through the files on it. He looked over at Haruhi, the surprise on his face was obvious

"I thought you were sick"Realizing the awkwardness of this situation Haruhi moved away from the clothing rack to where he was standing. She had managed to repair things with Tamaki, maybe now she could attempt to do the same with Kyoya

"I was just picking up some files before they lock the school for tonight, what are you still doing here?"Nope he was still being an ass about everything. His cold tone didn't give away that he wasn't exactly pleased to see her

"I was helping Tamaki organize somethings and ran into some trouble with tagging the clothing"Haruhi explained as she placed the tags down onto his desk, he would more than likely finish them himself now. It's not as if he'd want her to stay now, unless she could get him to warm back up to her.

"I see, well you can go now"Kyoya didn't even look at her as he started to finish collecting the papers into his bag. He didn't even acknowledge her.. and that was just pissing her off now. She had tried to be nice, even Tamaki had given in and made peace with her. Why the hell was he being so stubborn about this!

Haruhi stood at the door to the storage room and took a deep breath

"Kyoya why can't you just talk to me! I want to talk about this right now! I'm not leaving until you and me settle this!"Haruhi stomped her foot against the ground and marched over to him. His eyes following her every move now as she stood before him. She kept eye contact with him, afraid she might lose her nerve and run away now.

The clipboard was placed down

"You want to talk about it"Somehow it didn't sound like a question as Kyoya stood up, they're eye contact not breaking but Haruhis nervousness obviously showing as her hand shook slightly.

"Talk about how you broke my heart, or about how you slept with Kaoru immediately after? Which one would you like to discuss first? Or perhaps we can talk about how much I enjoyed seeing that little make out session you had with Kaoru the other night?"He had her in a corner, what was she trying to talk about. All she really wanted to do was make things better but when she realized everything that had gone wrong. She had no game plan.

"You…you saw that?"Haruhi didn't know what else to say now, she felt guilty. That was the pain in her gut now as it curled up into her chest.

"I had gone to apologize to you that night, I suppose I just have excellent timing lately"Haruhis eyes lowered from his, she couldn't even defend herself now. It must have hurt him. It must have hurt him a lot, to see that. After he had worked up the courage to apologize.

"I think you should be going now Haruhi, I'm not in the mood to discuss this any further" Now what? What was her next move? Haruhi had nothing left to throw at him, he had nothing to be guilt about now, except for maybe being a dick earlier. Her hands curled into a fist as she saw Kyoyas feet shift, he wasn't about to wait around for her, he'd leave first if it meant ending his conversation he greatly didn't want to have.

"Kyoya.."He didn't stop, he only slide the remaining papers into his bag and closed the buckle

"Kyoya"Haruhi held her breath as she took a step forward but he didn't seem to care

She could feel her heart beating now, it was now or never. If things ended like this, there'd be no starting anything again. She'd lose her friend, over something like this.

"Stop!"Haruhi rushed him, her face made contact with his chest and she felt him stumble back slightly. Her arms wrapped around his back and her fingers laced together. She could feel it now, the tears pulling down her cheeks. The part of her that was trying to be brave now shattered

"I'm sorry.. please..I'm sorry"She spoke as clearly as she could now. She couldn't look up at him, afraid of the expression of disgust he'd hold for her now. But instead she felt his arms pull her closer, a strange embrace she hadn't felt in what seemed like years but had only been weeks.

"Haruhi…I'm the one that should be sorry"

His words were followed by an echoing pew that filled the halls. It grew both of their attention to the now flicking light above their heads, an alarmed expression crossed both their faces now. As Kyoya looked at his watch and then noticed how dark it had become outside. A realization crossed his mind as he released Haruhi and felt about in his pockets for the schools master key. But he hadn't planned on coming today… he hadn't planned for any of this… he had given the key to Tamaki and then it happened.

The lights went out… and Haruhi realized what had happened. She heard the automatic locks all turn, the sliding of the double locks and the generators power down. She had never been here this late to see it, and by the look on Kyoyas face he didn't have a way out. She left out a breath of frustration as she now knew for sure.

"They've closed the school"

This was a very long chapter. The next one will be just as long.