Chapter 34

Cold… Freezing cold…

Gin shivers in her bed, pulling the blankets till over her nose and pulling her knees to her chest, trembling from the cold. Did someone open the window? No… no one would dare to enter her room on a Saturday morning before she woke up.

With a growl, the blonde sits up and glares at her room, the air is cold and the room is still as little dark, the sun is just coming up… taking a glance at her clock, it's only eight o'clock. The blonde touches her hair and frowns when it's not frozen like she expected it to be.

'Stupid winter…' with another growl she gets out of the bed, wrapping the warm soft white blanket -lying as decoration (and for extra warmth) over the normal blankets- around her shoulders.

It's already February the third, tomorrow is Haruhi's sixteenth birthday and Gin secretly set up a birthday plan with her father and Kyoya, Tamaki was dying to get involved but Ranka wouldn't even let him inside the house. The poor guy had to wait on the stairs until Haruhi finally came home from shopping, they used the lie of "dropping by" three times already and Gin could just see the disbelieve in her eyes.

The party would be held in Haruhi's house, Gin would go "birthday-shopping" with the girl and when they return, the hosts and Ranka will have decorated the living room. The idea was to just have a good time, but it ended up with a karaoke set, homemade rice balls and a large birthday cake with MANY strawberries. The first two were Tamaki's idea and the last was Honey's idea.

Gin peeks through the crack of the curtains outside and frowns when there's only white.

'Huh?' she pushes the curtains aside, kicking the balcony doors open she stares at the white cold layer of frozen water covering the whole Tokyo scenery.

The blonde blinks and then closes the doors with a loud slam. Looking at her still cold room she starts grinning and runs off into her bathroom, throwing the blankets back on her bed on the way there. After a quick shower, applying make-up and blow-dried her hair, she dives into her walk-in-closet and digs around for the warm brown snow boots with thick heel and warm white insides.

With a big grin, she grabs a pair of thick black leggings, warm white socks, grey mid-thigh skirt, a long sleeved thin black sweater and a white tank top. From her collection of coats, she picks the dark blue trend-coat styled winter coat. Someone put a few sets of winter accessories in the second drawer too.

She quickly dresses and choses the white baggy beanie hat with a white scarf, white gloves which are only meant to keep delicate hands warm instead of being used in a snowball fight. Gin doesn't care though, she puts the coat and the accessories on and walks downstairs. No one's up yet.

In the living room, the two pups are lying in front of the burning fire place. Must be nice… your own fireplace. The moment they hear the door open though, they lift their heads from the big white pillow and run over to her. She closes the door behind her and takes their belts from the counter.

'Good morning you little trouble makers, did you sleep well? Must've been comfy in front of the fireplace' she smiles at the two pups running around her and puts on their belts 'Now, sit' she points with her finger down, crouching in front of them.

The two sit down, trained to only listen to Gin when it comes to orders. 'Alright, today is a very important day' she looks at them seriously 'Today you'll meet snow for the first time. I'm sure you'll like it. We're going for a walk now' she puts two dog cookies in her pocket, intending to use them for when they return to the Suwashi mansion.

'Well, come on then and be silent, Scary Obaa-san is still asleep. She doesn't like snow' Gin puts a finger on her lips to empathize her point. Grabbing her own pair of keys she leaves the house with the two pups. It started snowing again, thick white flocks softly settling down on the already white ground. The two pups seem to be somewhat reluctant at first, but Nao decided to be the brave one and enter the cold whiteness first, since it didn't hurt he took another step and ended up rolling through it. Mika decided to bravely follow her brother after that.

About half an hour later, Gin's still walking with the hyper active pups. The two jump around, into the snow and play, sometimes getting a little too loud. Walking past a playground with a group of children building a snow man and goofing off the two pups jump on one and another, tumbling through the snow.

This gained the children's attention and it took about fifteen minutes before the European could continue her walk, dragging the pups away by their belts.

Back in the Netherlands they would be happy with a little bit of snow, but there's a lot of it here. Since it's her first real winter here, Gin wonders if they have this much every year.

The blonde grabs her phone and takes a picture of Mika and Nao in the snow, putting it on Facebook. She puts her phone back in her pocket and looks at the snow decorating the branches of the trees and the grass. The ducks don't seem to mind the cold water at all.

'Must be nice, feathers' she pulls her head down to get her scarf to cover her slightly pink nose. As if in a daze, the blonde walks through, further and further away from home. She let the dogs lead the way.

Only nine o'clock. Gin passes the street when she suddenly feels a familiar feeling washing over her. On the other side of the road there's a dark blonde haired boy playing with his friends, they're building a "bunker" from the snow.

'Gin! Look Gin! I built a snow man!' the smile of Rick is so bright it's almost bigger than the time he got a DS for his birthday. Gin smiles and peeks around his smaller body to look at the snowman. She sweat-drops, it's a pitiful excuse of a snowman. The poor thing is nothing more than a big pile of snow with a hat, a few stones as eyes and mouth and a branch sticking out of its head, functioning as a nose.

The blonde looks back at her smaller brother and keeps her mouth shut 'It's… creative'.

The smaller boy frowns 'What kind of compliment is that?'.

The girl looks away and then smile, looking back at her brother 'Alright, alright, let me give you a present for your hard work. Shut your eyes and don't open them until I say so. No peeking!' Gin walks to behind him and crouches down, making some extra side-noises to confuse him while creating a snowball.

'Alright, open your eyes!' she says cheerfully. The smaller boy opens his eyes, only for snow to fall down on his head and cover him with the cold wetness.

What Gin didn't expect, was for Rick to start crying… 'Rick! N-no! Don't cry! It was just a joke-'.

Gin bows her head slightly, then someone pushes her forwards and Gin lands in the pile of snow, face-first. The two pups sitting on the sidewalk look at her with slight interest. A car races by on the road, the car horn causing the children playing nearby to stop with their game to see what's wrong.

As soon as the car is gone, they return to their play. Gin growls as someone helps her up 'Sorry young miss, you were just standing there so I thought I'd safe you from being hit by that ass of a driver' the voice says. Gin turns her head to see Ranka.

'Ranka?' she blinks and brushes the snow off her clothes.

'Oh! Gin-Chan!' he exclaims happily, wearing a pretty cute winter outfit 'I didn't recognize you for a moment! Aren't you looking cute with all that snows in your hair?' he chuckles.

Gin smiles slightly 'Thank you… I guess. I was just taking a stroll with Nao and Mika, but then…' she sighs, glancing at the boy who looks very different from Rick '… it's nothing, I guess I just got lost in the past'.

He smiles 'Don't we all? I still remember Haruhi's first winter outfit, it was so cute!'.

'Say, Ranka, is Haruhi home?'.

'Of course! I was just heading home myself! We've got hot chocolate!' he leans in closer to the blonde and whispers into her ear 'I also bought all the birthday supplies on your list, but Haruhi thinks I went to the supermarket to get hot chocolate, whipped cream and bananas'.

'Bananas?' the blonde raises an eyebrow. Ranka nods firmly, a serious look on his face. She smiles, wonder if there's somewhere a father even more epic than Haruhi's. Probably not.

'Well, I love chocolate, whipped cream and bananas, so do you mind if I come along?'.

'Of course not!' Ranka shouts and hugs her tightly 'I'm so glad Haruhi finally found a girl-friend to play with!'.

Gin didn't have the heart to tell him off while he dragged her and the two pups to his house, she also didn't have the heart to tell him Haruhi and she don't really "play", that one time when they had a sleep-over sure they played monopoly all night while watching a movie and talking about all kinds of things, girl-things, but that's can't really be called "playing" right?

Nobody had to tell anyone that Haruhi was only a little surprised when Ranka showed up with Gin in his arms and the pups running circles around his legs. The brunette had seen more worrisome scenarios, it was a lot more normal compared to what Tamaki sometimes did.

'Sorry, for dropping by so unexpectedly' Gin says while sitting on a pillow by the low coffee table in Haruhi's living room, Ranka went to get changed and Haruhi –as the hostess she was- was making hot chocolate in the kitchen.

The female returns with two mugs of the hot steaming liquid, whipped cream on top and the banana Gin requested. The blonde smiles when Haruhi puts the mug down in front of her.

'It's no trouble, you're a lot more… cooperative and reasonable compared to the Host Club'.

Gin chuckles.

Haruhi sits down and looks at her surprised 'What's so funny?'.

'Nothing really, I just noticed that whenever you refer to the guys you say "The Host Club", it's pretty funny since we're both a part of the same club too, you as a host and me as a… uh… an helping hand?' Gin shrugs and takes a sip, yelping and putting the mug quickly down, sticking out her tongue and waving wind towards it with her hands.

Haruhi smiles 'Well, I guess, old habits die hard'.

Gin grins, holding her tongue with between her fingers and trying to stare down at it, ending up looking like a total retard 'Then you should keep on punching until it's down!'.

Haruhi stares at her dryly and then sighs with a soft smile 'You have no idea how much you and Tamaki-senpai are alike'.

The blonde blinks 'Huh? What'd you say?'.

'Nothing, nothing' the brunette shakes her head and turns to glance at the two pups lying before the small electric heater, asleep. 'You did surprise me though, dropping by so early in the morning, I know you and Kyoya-senpai both have a low blood pressure'.

'No shit' Gin nods, now licking the cool whipped cream to cool off her slightly burned tongue 'But this morning I woke up from the cold, since someone forgot to turn on the floor heater, so with no intention of getting back into my cold bed, I went outside with Nao and Mika, this is the first time they've seen snow and it was rather entertaining. I'm just glad I got to see it first, and not one of the maids' she looks at the two sleeping pups with a soft loving look, Haruhi couldn't describe it as anything but love and adoration. She was really happy with those two Labradors, wasn't she?

'Come to think of it' Gin puts a finger to her chin 'My grandparents –from my father's side- also had a dog, she died of cancer when I was ten so I don't remember her very well, I just know she was so sweet, like my mom in dog-form'.

Haruhi chuckles, Gin could be just like that, random, laid-back, not a care in the world, happy just like a child. Haruhi hadn't forgotten, she hadn't forgotten the first time she met Gin Crow, heir of the Suwashi empire and the fiancée of Takashi Morinozuka, someone with noble blood.

'This is a Host Club?' Haruhi asks frightened, her back against the door, a book underneath her arm and trying to find the doorknob while not trying to come over nervous, like those actions aren't looking nervous at all, it looks like she'll pass out any second, she was sure.

'Oh wow, it's a boy' Chorus the twins of the group.

'No really?' a female blonde mutters annoyed, laying her book down and glaring a bit at the twins. Her posture was straight and her face looked a bit arrogant, Haruhi could see something in those eyes though, something angry, helpless and heartbroken.

The first impression of Gin Crow was just that, an opinion about her from two words: cynical, sarcastic, not a person you'd like to mess with, yet for one with a keen eye, she looked vulnerable. But within five minutes, she became a lot less intimidating.

Gin growls and hits Tamaki against the back of his head 'Tamaki! DON'T SAY SUCH PERVERTED THINGS!' She looks at him angrily, he just sends her a little smile. 'Let me finish Gin, that means starting today, you're the Host Club's dog'.

'That doesn't sound very innocent either. It was an accident YOU caused, Tamaki' Gin hits him against the back of his head again 'If you didn't feel the need to flirt with everyone around you, Haruhi wouldn't have stepped back and hit the face in the first place, meaning it's actually your fault'.

'So, Gin, are you willing to pay for Fujioka-San?' asks Kyoya 'He did step back and didn't look where to, so it's in a way his own fault'.

'But Kyoya, your opinion doesn't count at all' She looks at him angrily and a little whiny.

'And why not?' He asks.

'Because...' she starts clenching her fists while trying to think of something but not succeeding 'Just because I say so! Your opinion doesn't count because it's not fair'.

Yeah, that was when she came over a lot less intimidating and more interesting, as if she was a little child with a short-temper and no capability of argumenting at all. She ended up being better at it than at the first sight, as well as the rest of her intimidating attitude disappearing like snow under the sun.

'Oh yes Kyoya, this way you and Haruhi will become great friends...' Gin says form behind them, they both turn towards her, she looks at Kyoya with an irritated expression 'You're only making matters worse. It's not like he's the type to run away, plus, he probably has family at home. Don't think that just because he broke a vase and can't pay for it, he's going to run away. By the way Kyoya -to help Haruhi- every moment I'm working for you guys -like I'm doing now- the money I should get if I WAS an employee, is going to Haruhi. Meaning you still get hard work for your money and he'll get rid of his debt sooner'.

'You don't have to do that' Haruhi tries, feeling slightly awkward with the two second years staring each other down.

'No I insist. Because I DO help people and DON'T make matters worse for others, just so I'm gaining something from it. After all, we wouldn't want Haruhi to work until he's old and grey, now do we?' she asks to no one in particular, she glares then more intensely at Kyoya 'I find it hard to imagine you'll ever help someone if not for your own gain... after all, you are pretty selfish' she smirks an evil smile.

At first, Haruhi couldn't see why a girl as dry-humored and down-to-earth as Gin, would ever want to join the Host Club and fit in, back then, she just couldn't see how Gin could be accepted by/accept the Host club. She was like everything against their standards!

Until Gin and Kyoya started talking, their ideas and characters clashing like fire and ice, Kyoya being the ice and Gin the hot fire. However, ice doesn't need anything to freeze like flames need something to burn, and thus ice was better off, in almost every argument they had.

'May be so. But I find it hard to imagine you helping him at all with these short minutes of you working. Since you appear to be pretty lazy in general'.

'Every minute is a little bit of help. But you wouldn't know, because you don't believe in little bits' Then she looks a bit taken aback 'Wait a minute… You DIDN'T just call me LAZY, did you?!' her fists become white of how hard she's clenching them.

'Maybe I did. Looking at your sport records you are pretty lame'.

'Oh, like you're such a sport freak! Isn't it you who's like "I won't do anything if I won't gain anything from it", and what do you gain from sports, tell me!'.

'A better blood circulation. And thus a better chance of not dying from a heart attack'.

'You'll die from a heart attack in the end Kyoya, I promise you, you will. Because you only work and study. Never sleep, I saw how late up you were yesterday on Facebook!'.

'Why do you check my Facebook?'.

'B-b-because I-' Gin turns red 'No reason'.

'So you were the one staying up late yesterday weren't you?' he smirks and Gin rolls her eyes.

Or that other time…

'Why?' Kyoya raises his eyebrow and looks from over the screen at the blonde girl. 'What do you think of Marvin? No Harry, no that's too much of a wizard… Uh… maybe Bob, yeah, I think Bob's a good name'.

'Bob?' Kyoya looks at her amused, with some sort of smile on his face.

'Look!' she points at his face with fake awe 'You're having fun! Oh no, the world is going to explode! Hide everyone!' She grins and leans over the table towards him 'I can see the little smirk on your face Mr. Boring. Feels good, doesn't it?' she taunts.

'You're weird'.

Day by day, her character changed, while Haruhi had heard stories about Gin just after she came to Japan and she had seen the first look in her eyes, she couldn't really imagine how Gin acted back then anymore. Because it's natural for Gin to be… well Gin, a girl of many sides, cynical, sarcastic, cheerful, determined, stubborn, witty, short-tempered, arrogant, self-conscious and confident at the same time. A tough girl and an easily-touched girl.

It was intriguing, but there was one thing Haruhi really hates about Gin Crow. And that one thing is the girl's obliviousness when it comes to her own love. Everyone could see how she and Kyoya held a close relationship, one which was much tighter than any of theirs, well maybe Tamaki and Kyoya had an even tighter relationship but that's just the difference between girl and guy. Gin and Kyoya understood each other, they were similar yet different. Gin could say things to Kyoya which nobody else could, he could talk to her like he could to no one else. Maybe Tamaki and Gin are the only ones who've ever seen the real Kyoya.

And there was no doubt that there was something more between Kyoya and Gin, as much as Kyoya tried to hide it, and as much as Gin was oblivious to it, their love had existed for longer than a few months. Gin was the first to fall, or at least, to crush on Kyoya, Kyoya may have been later but at least he'd been aware of it.

'Really? So it's working?!' Gin looks at Haruhi with a determined look on her face 'I'm going to do my best and make him melt. I mean, who better than a fiery person to melt an icy person?'.

Gin had been unaware of it, that she'd been crushing on Kyoya since Okinawa.

'Excuse me?' Kyoya raises his eyebrow and looks at her, finally stopping with typing.

'Oh my god! We're still alive! The world hasn't exploded yet!' Gin grins as he just shakes his head and closes Bob with a sigh. Gin stands up and turns around to everyone who's looking rather freaked out by her sudden outburst 'Joy! We're still alive! The world isn't going to break in two and fall down the universe!' she laughs.

'Alright, alright. Gin, please calm down. You're making a fool out of yourself and me'. The girl doesn't listen, of course 'I'm going to make you sit down'.

'Well do it then' She grins mischievously and her eyes stand defiantly. Kyoya smirks and looks at the others who've returned to their own stuff. He grabs her arm and pulls her over the table to him, she shrieks as he tickles her in her side, she laughs out loud. She tries to slap his hands way and get away from him but his firm grip tells her he isn't planning on letting go.

'S-stop… K-k-Kyoya! Can't… c-c-can't b-b-brea-the!' she kicks the chair while struggling and laughs until a single tear drops down her cheek. Kyoya let go of her and she falls onto the table exhausted.

Yes, Kyoya had then fully opened to her, no that's not right, he didn't really open up to her consciously until the end of November, Haruhi suspected it had something to do with Kyoya's birthday and Gin never showing up, both never showed up, well, Kyoya showed up around seven o'clock in the evening with a pie and a new shirt.

But before they both got engaged, there already was this chemistry between them, she saw it perfectly when Gin jumped off that bridge and Kyoya stopped the car and jumped after her without a second thought. Kyoya wasn't that rash, ever, only when it came to Gin. He saved her when she had fallen down that hill during PE class, he saved her from transferring to Lobelia, he saved her from the bridge.

Why were those two dumb enough to engage themselves to other people?

Mori and Catherine weren't bad people, sure, Catherine wasn't very enjoyable most of the time, a little annoying actually, but no one could held a grudge against her, not even Gin herself. And Mori… he loved Gin, Haruhi could see that too, what a love square this is, Mori loves Gin, but Gin loves Kyoya, who loves Gin back but if engaged to Catherine who loves Kyoya and has "befriended" Gin while Mori's friends with both Gin and Kyoya.

Haruhi watches the blonde sitting on the opposite side of the table, she's dipping her banana in her whipped cream and hot chocolate, strange combination, but there're odder things in life. Then again, Gin has become a part of the Host Club, one that fits in perfectly with their ways. Maybe Tamaki was rubbing off on her.

'Oh, Haruhi! Did you know?'.

Haruhi blinks 'Did I know what?'.

'Tomorrow you turn sixteen!'.

Haruhi sweat drops.

Gin smirks while stirring in her hot chocolate with half of her banana 'When I turned sixteen I invited all my female friends and held a sleep over, not many slept, but I slept for about two hours and when I woke up I had this major headache! But it was so fun, we watched this movie uh… Kick Ass! It was funny. And we ate pancakes and whatnot, really delicious, very fun, I was glad they left next morning around twelve, man they're a bunch of crazy people'.

'Like the Host Club?'.

'No… not like the Host Club, the Host Club's all guys, those are girls and really, when girls act like they're on crack it's much worse than how Tamaki acts when he is on crack'.

Haruhi can't help but laugh about that statement.

'What do I hear about crack and Suoh?' Ranka asks, stepping inside in his sweats and a T-shirt, a smile on his face but his eye twitching visibly, both females freeze.

'N-nothing…'.

TBC

A/N: AAAAAAHHH! I'm so incredibly sorry for not updating! Really! I hate myself for it and every week I'd practically beat myself (mentally) about skipping another week!

I'm going to finish this story, no matter how long it takes, but first I'll need to find more energy to continue writing this when I also want to write for Bleach (Haven't updated anything but I've got ten different story ideas now which I'm all writing at the same time…). Also, I'm currently in my Test-week thing (Don't know how it's called over there…) so I'm not writing at the best moment, but then again… who cares about school?!

So, I'm gonna finish this author note now, thanks everyone who favorite/alerted/reviewed, it means a lot and thank you! People who still remember how the plot went and where I left off and keep on reading please!

PS. Damn! Haven't used any smileys in this one! XD

PPS. Oh… I just did…