Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; the rights go to Bisco Hatori-sama. I do, however, own the plot of this story. This work is purely fictional and does not happen in the real plot of OHSHC, except maybe for a few flashback scenes.

Chapter 36 – Raiden

It was a Sunday and Ranka was already home by then, so Takashi went to go back home after kissing Haruhi goodbye by the doorway of her apartment. She watched and waved goodbye as he descended the stairs, walked over to his car and drove off. Haruhi smiled softly as she watched his car disappear by the corner and then went inside to prepare some breakfast for her and her dad.

Just as she was finished with preparing the meals, Ranka walked out of his bedroom and took a sit next to her in the living room as they ate their early morning breakfast.

"Where's Takashi-kun?" Ranka asked his daughter, "Did he go home already?" he added as he swallowed the contents in his mouth.

"Yeah dad, he just went home when you were showering earlier," she replied with a smile.

Ranka looked at her and noticed the small smile that seemed to linger a bit longer than usual when she talked about Takashi. I wonder what happened when I was out… he thought silently, secretly eyeing his daughter skeptically. He shook his head, "So anyway Haruhi," he started, "let's go to the shopping mall today! Daddy has a day off and daddy wants to pamper you with new things since daddy was away for two days," he added cheerily, hoping that she would comply with his suggestion.

"Hmm?" she replied with her head still in the clouds when her dad conversed with her, "oh yeah, sure dad. Sounds great," she added and smiled. She was not aware what she had just agreed on, boy, she was so going to regret for not really paying attention.

"YAY! Shopping time for my Haru-chan! Daddy is so happy!" he grinned and clapped his hands joyously.

Suddenly, it clicked in her mind and she nearly choked out on her food, "wait, WHAT?" she blurted out as soon as she forcefully swallowed her breakfast and realized what she had just agreed on.

"No use taking it back Haruhi~" he sang in reply as he ate his breakfast happily, "we'll be going shopping! Hohoho~"

…Later that afternoon at the shopping mall…

"Haruhi, go try this, this and this on. Oh, take these shoes as well and these accessories," Ranka said cheerily as he pushed the clothing items onto Haruhi's arms, then he proceeded to push her towards the changing room to quicken her pace. Haruhi put on her deadpanned face, clearly not enjoying every minute of this.

They were currently in one of the famous clothing boutiques at the mall, owned by the Hitaachin family. The clothes were really trendy and Ranka thought it would suit Haruhi's appearance. With Haruhi currently in the dressing room, Ranka went over to another clothing section and picked out more outfits for his daughter. Clearly, he was enjoying this way too much.

"Dad, where are you?" Haruhi called out as she stepped out of the dressing room with the first outfit her dad made her try on. Ranka appeared moments later and eyed Haruhi from top to bottom and instructed her to do a turn so he could see her better.

Haruhi was wearing a white layered urban thigh-length dress with a light gray skinny legging jeans. Draped around her neck was a silver necklace with a big heart pendant that reached down just below her breast bone. And on her left wrist was a silver lucky charm bracelet.

"Cuuuuuuuuuute!" Ranka gushed out, squealing every now and then as he looked at his daughter.

Haruhi got embarrassed as a few heads were turning around at their direction. Ranka ushered her to try the rest of the outfits he told her to try on and waited outside the dressing room gleefully. After Haruhi tried on several outfits and from complete exhaustion (Ranka was having so much fun), her dad purchased most of the outfits. Once Ranka gave the sum amount of money to the cashier, he handed one of the bags to his daughter and told her to go change into it because he felt that that outfit was the winner for today.

Haruhi begrudgingly went back into the dressing room and changed into the said outfit. Once she came out, her dad squealed with more joy and cried out happy tears because his daughter looked so adorable.

The current outfit she was wearing was a light turquoise summer dress, with dark pink and white flower patterns, that reached just above her knees. Draped over the dress was a short-sleeved, knee-length cardigan of the same color. She put on white ballerina flats (because heaven forbid, she cannot walk in heels!) and completed her outfit with silver bangles on her right wrist and a layered necklace that dangled around her neck.

They walked out of the store with Ranka waving goodbye at the cashier and a slightly unamused Haruhi. Then an all too familiar voice called out to them, "Haru-chan, kawaii!" a cheerful Mitsukuni greeted as he darted over the two with Takashi walking closely by. Takashi greeted them as well, but more in a polite manner. He kissed Haruhi on the cheek when he greeted her. Ranka was smiling slyly. He noticed the hidden meanings behind their smiles; it did not take that long to notice. Even Mitsukuni was smiling cheekily at their encounter.

"So Ranka-chan, what brings you here?" Mitsukuni asked, "Out shopping for more kawaii outfits for Haru-chan?" he added and grinned. He knew better to ask Ranka than to ask Haruhi because by the looks of it, she was in some kind of other world with Takashi as they kept stealing glances with each other. Mitsukuni giggled and fought the urge to hug his two best friends.

"Oh yes, you got that right Honey-kun," he winked at the boy, "And I am enjoying it so much! I bought her a ton of new outfits for her to wear because Haruhi looks more adorable wearing cute clothes rather than just some old t-shirts and pants, right Honey-kun?" he added in a serious tone and looked at Haruhi. Mitsukuni nodded in reply, agreeing 100 per cent with Ranka's opinion.

"I look perfectly fine with my old clothes!" Haruhi huffed heatedly, a blush forming on her face.

"Ranka-san is right Haruhi," Takashi intervened, "you do look more adorable," he smiled crookedly and chuckled as Haruhi's blush deepened another shade darker.

"Yay! Takashi-kun is on my side," Ranka stuck his tongue out to his daughter at the small victory he just earned then laughed along with the two other boys, leaving Haruhi to blush even deeper. "Okay, okay," Ranka stopped laughing, " time to leave Haruhi alone boys or she'll get even more embarrassed. Now let's go get some desserts! I know just the right place for it," he led the way and talked animatedly with Mitsukuni about desserts while Haruhi and Takashi walked a step further back.

"You really do look adorable, Haruhi," Takashi uttered quietly as he keep stealing glances at Haruhi, smiling every time he caught Haruhi looking back at him.

Haruhi just smiled in bashfulness at his compliment and continued on walking to the dessert place her dad mentioned a few minutes ago.

…At the dessert place…

"Which one are you getting Mitsu?" Haruhi asked as she eyed the array of cakes and pastries placed near the counter. She put a finger on her lips, pondering which one to get. She was not really a fan of desserts but she did not really mind them once in a while.

"Uhm, I think I want that one," pointing to a strawberry sponge cake frosted with lemon icing, decorated with strawberries, "the whole of it! Actually, make those two whole cakes!" he chirped happily, pink flowers floating about around his head.

"I knew you'd say that," she grinned and proceeded to tell the orders to the waitress patiently waiting behind the counter. She confirmed the orders again when the waitress looked bewildered.

"Oh," she added, "I'll take a peppermint chocolate shake to go. Thanks," she smiled then ushered Mitsukuni towards the other two men who were waiting for them at one of the sitting booths near the window. They waited for about five minutes for their orders to arrive and when it did, Mitsukuni immediately attacked the sponge cake with the dessert fork in his hand. The other three watched happily at the ordeal and proceeded to eat their own desserts at their own suitable pace. Every now and then, Haruhi or Takashi would wipe away some cake crumbs from Mitsukuni's face as he ate away happily.

"I almost forgot something," Haruhi suddenly said as she remembered something, "wait one moment, I'll be right back." As she got up from the booth, Takashi got up as well. "Takashi, it'll just be a minute. I just need to go down to the bookstore and get that English book I wanted," she took her drink in her hand and hurriedly walked out from the café and made her way to the bookstore just a couple blocks away from where the others were. Takashi watched her walked away and then continued to converse with Ranka and Mitsukuni when she was out of his sight.

She pushed the door opened to the bookstore and went straight to the section she was looking for. When she found the book she wanted, she went straight to the cashier and paid for it. After she walked out of the bookstore, she flipped open the book and scanned through its contents. Her drink was still in her hand. She was so engrossed in the book that she accidentally bumped into someone and spilled her drink contents onto said bumped person.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry!" Haruhi shrieked in embarrassment and quickly took out her handkerchief from her purse. She tried to dab the person's shirt clean but to no avail, the drink contents seemed to stick stubbornly. Haruhi's hand was caught gently in her bumped victim's hand and a finger lifted her chin up slowly. She looked up to the person and caught her breath in her throat. Woah, she thought abruptly. Said person was a gorgeous bishounen.

Standing in front of her was a fair-skinned man with medium length hair that spiked out and fell into these heaps of beautiful mass of dark brown locks. His hair nearly covered his emerald green eyes that seemed to sparkle with life, but there was a sort of gloom dwelling in his beautiful eyes. His face was flawless; his jaw, his nose even his lips. He was leaned, Haruhi observed and strong too, she supposed. He's tall, like Kyouya-senpai, but just a few inches higher, she noted silently.

"It's okay actually," he began, his voice was beautiful and pleasant, "it doesn't look that bad," he looked down at his shirt to examine the stain and chuckled. Haruhi thought his chuckle sounded beautiful as well, if that was even possible. She seemed to be captivated by this mysterious person's beauty.

He then brought her hand up and to Haruhi's utmost surprise, he kissed it gently. Haruhi retrieved her hand immediately and a blush suddenly decided to form on her face. She could not utter a single word from what he just did so casually.

"What is your name?" he asked, after a few moments of silence. He gazed down at Haruhi with his beautiful, mysterious emerald green eyes.

"That is something I do not give out to people easily, especially a random stranger," she replied, getting back to her senses.

"Oh? But I am not just a random stranger," he shot back coolly, "I am the random stranger that you accidentally bumped into and spilled the contents of your drinks onto this shirt which happened to be a favorite of mine," he added with a smile that seemed to hide thousands of meanings.

Haruhi felt flustered because at one point, this person was right and she did not really have any more reasons to argue back. "…Fu…jioka Haru…hi," she stated, hesitant at first.

"Haruhi…" he said her name slowly and gazed into her eyes again which made Haruhi feel flustered for the second time that day since their encounter. Why am I feeling like this? He's just a stranger… that I seemed to be so intrigued with… Haruhi trailed off in her mind and snapped at her own thoughts. "A beautiful name for a beautiful maiden," he added with a hint of flirty-ness in his tone.

At the back of her mind, Haruhi started to feel restless about something that she was not sure of or why she was restless to begin with. She decided to ignore the feeling. "I told you my name already, so it's only fair if I know yours too," she said, putting up her serious face and looked up at the man in front of her.

"No need to get so hasty, Haru-hime," he said, smiling amusedly before adding, "My name is Kurosawa Raiden," he smiled gently.

Haruhi felt a sudden chill entered her body at the mention of his name and her pupils contracted slightly. 'Raiden' meant thunder and lightning and that equals to Haruhi's constant fears. She had a feeling that she should stay away from this man because she knew it would not bring anything good to her life. That would explain the restlessness she felt earlier. Was this what the old gypsy lady was talking about?

He extended a hand to Haruhi, expecting her to shake it. She hesitated at first, afraid that he might be doing his bold move again or something even bolder, then she decided to extend her hand towards him after a moment of thought, which he took and swiftly kissed again.

"Haru-chan! What's taking you so long?" Mitsukuni came out of the café and ran towards her when he spotted her. He saw the man in front of Haruhi and his instincts told him that that person was someone they should not be involved with, especially her. He stopped and stood next to her, looking up at the man with steely eyes. Raiden just looked back down at Mitsukuni and smiled a friendly smile which looked really genuine. Just then Takashi and Ranka also came out and went to their direction, both men saw the man in front of Haruhi. Takashi put on his usual poker mask and observed the stranger that was standing in front of Haruhi, he had a feeling that he would not like him one bit.

Once he was near Haruhi, he put his hand at the small of her back.

"I see you have company," Raiden stated, eyes focused on Haruhi, and he noticed the look the tallest man gave him, "I will take my leave now. Till next time, Haru-hime," he winked at her, smiled then walked away at the opposite direction. A few seconds later, two men clad in black suits appeared and escorted Raiden. In the others' eyes, they seemed to look like bodyguards.

As if out of a trance, the four of them went to continue shopping and walking around the mall, gradually forgetting about the encounter. Well, Ranka only forgot about it, but as for the others? There were a lot of things going inside their minds right now, especially Takashi. What kind of man flirts so openly with someone else's lover when he was standing there beside her?

…Outside the shopping mall, at a private VIPs Only parking area…

"Fujioka Haruhi…" Raiden breathed out her name, in a manner that would have caused goose bumps if any woman heard their names to be called like that, "a beautiful, fair hime… One that I wish to own," Raiden chuckled humorlessly and ordered his driver to take him back to his Condo.

Author's Note

I like Raiden, does anyone else like Raiden? (laughs)

[Edited: 18th December 2013]

[Edited: 24th July 2014]

[Final edit: 3rd June 2015]