Author's Note: Once again I want to thank everyone who's reading this. :) Since Kaoru's story with Miranda seems to be pretty popular with some readers, I've decided to expand some more on it in this chapter. Hope that you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I still don't own like anything.

~...~

Chapter Thirty-Five.

~...~

Haruhi frowned as she placed on a fancy blouse, skirt, and high heel shoes. The entire outfit was extremely flattering; however, uncomfortable. Ranka smiled as Haruhi came out of her room, "Haruhi! You look adorable!" She immediately was pulled into a bear hug, "Dad... please get off..." Ranka reluctantly got off of her, "But you look so adorable in your clothes for work!" Haruhi sighed, "If I had a choice, I would wear something much more convienent." Ranka frowned, "But Haruhi! You should try your best to impress sometimes." Haruhi sighed, "Why?" Ranka smiled, "Because~ you never know who's watching!"

Haruhi finished getting ready for her new job and then headed out the door. While making her way to the train station, she passed a shop with televisions in the windows. Featured on tv was the fashion competition. She stopped briefly and stared, seeing Hikaru's face on screen. Her heart tightened a little as she saw him and remembered what he said the other day. "It's been painful Haruhi... all these years... I've... I've been crushed by the pain... These feelings of mine that couldn't reach you... they've only gotten stronger. I... I understand if you can't accept my feelings still... but... if...If you would only give me a chance... I promise that I'll do whatever I can to make you happy. If I have to do crazy things to make you laugh, I will. I'll never fail to always make you feel that I love you. I'll do anything and everything for you Haruhi... that's because you have filled the emptiness in my heart."

Once the station stopped focusing on Hikaru, she turned and began to walk towards the train station again. Her heart was pacing and she wasn't really aware why. One thing was for certain though, she knew that she needed to give Hikaru an honest answer the next time she sees him.

~...~

That morning, each competitor was getting interviewed on tv about fashion and what it means to them. Also, what they inspire to accomplish as big star fashion designers. Once the interviewing was done, it was time for the contestants to display their works of art infront of the judges. This round solely was the outfits on the dressforms. Each competitor brought out their work. Everyone ended up designing a dress, which the judges found to be intriguing. For the next hour, they were required to stand next to their dress and answer any and all questions that the judges have for them.

Kaoru's dress was in-between Hikaru's and Miranda's. While Hikaru's dress was getting inspected, he kept glancing over towards Miranda. Several thoughts were winding around in his head... the main one however, remained at: Why is she avoiding me? Before he knew it, the judges were infront of him, eyeing the piece and asking multiple questions.

~...~

After a few hours, the judges reappeared infront of the contestants,"Jan-Di, Kaoru, and Miranda... you three will be competing in the next round." Hikaru's eyes widened with surprise. He observed the three dresses that were chosen. Jan-Di's design was rather boring, a simple white tea-dress with flowers on the sides and a pink ribbon to tie it up. Kaoru's was great. It was an elegant Victorian-styled deep red dress with black embellishments. As for Miranda's, it was different. It was a short, frayed strapless dress with several strings attached all over. The color was basically paint splatters. Hikaru couldn't help but find her design intriguing. Kaoru rushed over to Hikaru and placed an arm around him, "I think that the judges have a grudge against you..." Hikaru smirked, "I know. A piece of shit like that Jan-Di's wouldn't ever beat my masterpiece. Besides, mother-dear here told me that I wouldn't make it. I suppose making an enemy of such a powerful person in the fashion industry is a horrible idea; however, I can't help but become more motivated." Kaoru's eyebrow raised, "Mom is blacklisting you?" Hikaru took a few steps away, "I never said that, but it wouldn't suprise me."

~...~

Before leaving the hotel completely, Hikaru stopped by Kaoru's room. He knocked on the door and Kaoru immediately let him in. Hikaru sat down on the bed and sighed, "Kaoru. You should talk to Miranda." Kaoru took a deep breath then let it out, "Hikaru... she's ignoring me." Hikaru stood up and lightly slapped his twin's cheek, "You idiot! Just because she's ignoring you doesn't mean that she can't hear your voice! If you don't attempt to talk to her, nothing's going to change!" Kaoru sighed, "Why does it even matter to you?" Hikaru frowned, "I'm NOT an idiot Kaoru! Don't think that I haven't noticed that her being here is affecting you!" Kaoru looked up at the ceiling, "It's not a big deal..." Hikaru opened the door and on his way out yelled back to Kaoru, "If you don't do something about this, I'll NEVER forgive you!"

~...~

When Hikaru exitted the hotel, several press were surrounding the area, "Mr. Hittacchin how does it feel that your brother has beaten you in the competition!" Hikaru was walking through the masses of press when he turned towards all the cameras and took a small breath, "My brother may have defeated me in this specific competition; but that doesn't mean that I've lost." He began to walk a bit more, the press were asking him questions as to what that meant. When he was about to be off the property, he smirked, "My website is up for orders! My summer line has been released to the public! If you type in XXXDQ, I'll give you a 50% discount!" The press immediately turned away from Hikaru and began to search for the other competitors that had lost. Hikaru smiled to himself, "At least I got my free publicity."

~...~

Kaoru stood dumbstrucked. The last words that Hikaru said really got to him. He was seriously beginning to think that maybe he had become less insightful about things since high school. Throughout university, he met and hung out with Miranda, he took her for granted while he dated Rane. After the breakup with Rane, Miranda was there, but she never really left much of an impression to him. Yet, on that day of Tanabata... things became dark for Kaoru. In that darkness, he heard Miranda's shaking voice, "I'm going to be heading back to America tomorrow. Before I leave here... I have to tell you the truth. Everything that I did was to help your career. I know that... that it's a strange way to enhance your career but... I... I needed a way to get Seul JanDi out of the spotlight. It was originally your mother's idea. I agreed to it. I know that I didn't have to, but she told me all the benefits that would come out of it." Kaoru closed his eyes and sat down on his bed in the hotel room. He remembered everything little detail from that night. "You're an idiot! You should know the reason by now! It's because I've been in love with you for awhile now!" He thought hard about his time during university with her. There never was a romantic moment between them... but he couldn't help but remember that one kiss they shared on Tanabata. The kiss that wasn't of love, but of departure. "Anyways, I'm leaving... The only reason that I came to meet you was solely because I needed to tell you that I'm leaving and that I'll stop bothering you." Those words hit him hard. Yet, it was the final words that she spoke before leaving that really bothered him... "You're wrong Kaoru! It's painful this way! When you're in love with someone who will never love you back... it's too painful... I... I need to actually move towards the future now... When I get back to America, these feelings will be engraved in my heart... then, I will do my best to make you a forgotten dream." Ever since those words were said, she never once left his mind. He couldn't understand why she was so eager to forget him... why she didn't want to be around him anymore. After analyzing and analyzing in his mind, he came to the conclusion that: women will never make sense.

A knock was heard upon his door and he slowly opened his eyes and walked towards it. He opened the door and saw a small, petite woman there. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, "And you are?" "Sawachika Chii! Your model for the final round!" Kaoru sighed, "Oh... right, nice to meet you." Chii smiled, "It's great to meet you! Let's do our best in this competition!" Kaoru nodded, "Yeah... uhh..." He looked at the dress on the dressform, "Please place this on. We'll see if I need to make adjustments or not." Chii nodded and took the dress into the bathroom, she then came out wearing his design. Kaoru then grabbed several pins from the table and began to fix areas of the dress so that it would flatter his model better.

~...~

The next day Kaoru woke up and met with Chii downstairs. Chii happily smiled towards him, "Good morning!" Kaoru nodded, "Morning... here's the dress. I fixed it, so it should fit you perfectly." Chii nodded and changed into the dress. Kaoru then styled her make-up and hair to his liking. After three hours of preparation time, the contestants were called to the stage to be judged.

Kaoru immediately noticed that Jan-Di was blantantly glaring towards Miranda, yet he wasn't sure why. Miranda, on the other hand, seemed to be ignoring everyone but the judges. He had never seen her act like this before. When the judges left the room to discuss the winner, Kaoru was about to speak when Jan-Di walked over to Miranda and slapped her face.

Miranda held her hand against the slap mark, "What was that for?" Jan-Di raised her voice, "You should know exactly what this is about!" Miranda let out a small breath, "I don't recall ever doing anything to upset you." Jan-Di raised her hand to slap Miranda again, but Kaoru grabbed her hand before she could, "Please stop fighting!" Jan-Di turned towards Kaoru and frowned, "You shouldn't get involved in this! It's between me and her!" Kaoru took a deep breath, "Look... I don't want to get in the middle of a feud; however, there is no reason for you to act in such a violent manner." Jan-Di pulled her arm as hard as possible to get away it out of Kaoru's grip.

Kaoru looked straight at Jan-Di, "What exactly are you two fighting about?" Miranda shrugged her shoulders, while Jan-Di spoke rather quietly, "She stole him..." Kaoru raised an eyebrow, "Stole who?" Jan-Di looked directly at Kaoru with hurt eyes. She pointed towards Mirandam then shouted, "That American Whore stole my fiance!" Kaoru took a deep breath, "Listen... there might had been something small that happened between them, but I can assure you that nothing is going on bet-" Before Kaoru could say anything else, Miranda spoke up, "It's your fault Jan-Di. If you had actually kept your fiance entertained, he never would've gone after me." Kaoru's eyes widened with surprise. He had no clue why Miranda was talking like this.

It was then at that moment that he remembered her words from Tanabata again, "Everything that I did was to help your career. I know that... that it's a strange way to enhance your career but... I... I needed a way to get Seul JanDi out of the spotlight."

The judges then came back into the room. Kaoru was too busy in his thoughts to even care that they returned. His main thought being, Miranda is still messing with Jan-Di so that she loses confidence and ends up screwing up... she's doing everything for me... which means that she's still in love with me afterall...

The judges then announced the winner of the competition, "The winner of this competition is the American competitor Miranda." Jan-Di immediately glared at Miranda again, while Kaoru was lost in his thoughts.

~...~

Hikaru watched the live broadcast of the competition online. He was greatly surprised that Miranda had beaten Kaoru. At that moment in time, a knock was heard on his door. He stood up and opened up the door, "Eh? Haruhi? Come on in..." Haruhi bowed slightly, then entered his apartment, "Hikaru... I'm sorry that you didn't get far in the competition..." Hikaru went to grab some tea and shook his head, "It's not a big deal. I just needed to be on there for a little bit. Sure, winning the competition would be an automatic success in the industry, but at least I got some publicity. I'm going to keep competiting in competitions until my name becomes huge." Haruhi slightly smiled towards him, "It's great that you're so dedicated." Hikaru sat down next to Haruhi, handing her a cup of tea, "How did you know that I was back in town?" Haruhi took a small sip, "Just a hunch." Hikaru let out a small laugh, "So... Ranka called me and said that you have a new job... how is it going?" Haruhi sighed, "Well... it's alright I guess. It's exactly what I trained to be in school; however... something is off... like, the last semester of school, I seemed to lose all motivation... eh... but nevermind that..." Hikaru nodded, "It's alright for you to not follow in your mother's footsteps. I know that whatever path you decide to go down... your mother will be smiling towards you from heaven." Haruhi flashed Hikaru a smile, "Thanks Hikaru. That means a lot..."

After that, there was a small awkward silence. Hikaru wasn't sure what to say or do and Haruhi was debating how to bring up the topic that was on her mind. Hikaru began to fidget, wondering what he should do, "Uh... Haruhi..."

"Yes?"

"Do you... want some cookies?"

Haruhi shook her head, "No thanks... but uh..." Her face turned bright red, "I... I came here to talk to you about something..."

Hikaru began to tense some. The way that she was acting, he immediately recognized it. It was the same uneasiness that she had the first time that he rejected her. He placed his cup of tea on the saucer on the table. He wanted a way to change the topic... He wanted a way to get out of there. Everything was beginnning to shatter inside of him.

When Haruhi took a deep breath, he felt like he was trapped in an icecube. He couldn't breath, he couldn't move. He could slowly feel his heart begin to shatter.

"Hikaru... I think that... I... I'm going to try it."

Hikaru was confused by that statement, "Try it? You mean... you want a cookie after all?"

Haruhi shook her head quickly, her face bright red with a tinge of embarrassment, "No no! I mean... I... I... you... I... well..."

Hikaru cocked his head to the side in confusion, "Did I do something wrong?"

She shook her head again. Her heartbeat quickening as she suddenly blurted out, "I want to try dating you!"

Hikaru froze. The words that came from her mouth... brought him into a state of shock. The only thing he could respond with was, "Really?"