A/N: Dearest readers, I'm so sorry for taking so long to post this epilogue. By now you've all surely pushed this story out of your heads. But I hope that some of you out there will still take the time to read this. My only defense is that I've been swamped with academics and competitions. And am finally having my own little fairy tale come to life, which made me extremely busy but also extremely happy. This epilogue is for Carlisle Lovecraft, who insisted on constantly making sure I was okay when I was sick over the past few months, wished me good luck at contests, and put up with my million and one idiosyncrasies and restrictions. This is also for all you readers out there who stayed with this story and took the time to review, making me oh-so-happy. Thanks, everyone!

Epilogue: Together

"The host club's ratings dropped the moment you two became an official couple, you know," Tamaki said.

Kyouya rolled his eyes. "Don't care," he said indifferently, his hand idly stroking the head that lay on his lap. "My skill at cutting corners on the budget more than makes up for it… or if you insist, I can always quit the host club and join one that would actually help me."

"On the other hand, I'm not really complaining," Tamaki said hastily.

"Well,Iam. Do you guys haveto indulge in public displays of affection?" complained Hikaru as Kaoru began playing with the warm red scarf that Kyouya had around his neck. Kaoru had made it for him, to wear with his uniform. He liked it—it was the exact shade of the younger Hitachiin's hair.

"Yes," Kaoru said. "Besides, Kyouya-sempai makes a nice pillow." Kyouya smirked as he popped a maple syrup candy into Kaoru's mouth. "Mm. See?" Kaoru said.

Hikaru scowled. "If mother knew—"

"Oh, she knows. She's just relieved that I'm not engaged in incestuous acts with you, apparently," Kaoru said. Hikaru and Tamaki stared at him, but he remained completely nonchalant. "I told her, and she said that I made a really good match with Kyouya-sempai—something about how we were both mature."

Kyouya's eyes twinkled. It helped that his family did a lot of business with the Hitachiin family. That, and the fact that hewas the person who often contacted the host club's families to let them know how their children were doing; therefore he was close with all of his friend's parents. With a fond smile, he remembered Hitachiin Yuzuha telling him point-blank that she was entrusting Kaoru to him, that day when he had first taken Kaoru out. "In truth, I think that Hitachiin-sama was cheering us on from day one."

Kaoru grinned. "She told me that she'd been waiting for it to happen ever since we went to the gallery show together."

"What about Ootori-sama?" asked Tamaki. "I don't think your dad would be pleased if he found out, Kyouya."

The Shadow King yawned. "He knows too."

At that, even Kaoru was astounded. "WHAT?"

"Yes, I informed him about the matter. Father was pleased that I was furthering our interests with the Hitachiin family." Kyouya played idly with Kaoru's hair. He liked the golden highlights that danced in Kaoru's fine red locks. It was like the silk of one of the kimonos he designed. "He said that after all, my brothers could provide him with heirs if he wished it. And besides that, I suggested that Fuyumi could be a surrogate mother for us… in fact, she already agreed. And I suppose that you two and Mori-sempai and Hunny-sempai could be godfathers. Of course Haruhi will be the godmother."

Hikaru choked. "You mean that you're already thinking of marriage and… and fatherhood?" he sputtered.

Kyouya blinked. "I'm not averse to it," he said simply. "That is, if Kaoru isn't. Do you mind, Kaoru?"

Kaoru grinned and closed his eyes. "As long as I'm not called 'mommy' in the relationship, I don't think I'd mind. I want four children—two girls and two boys. And they'll be two sets of twins," he said dreamily. "But I want them to all be friends with each other. And the boys will have the smoothest, glossiest dark hair."

"The girls will have golden-brown eyes and red hair that dances with sunset highlights," Kyouya added, waxing poetic.

"Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick," Tamaki said. Dear Lord—so Tamaki didhave a corniness limit.

"How can you guys even think of that?" Hikaru demanded. "You're only in high school!"

"Why not?" Kaoru asked. "I want to have a long, lasting relationship with Kyouya-sempai."

"My personality diabetes is acting up," said Hikaru, pretending to gag. "Could you stop it with the saccharine mush before ants attack the club room?"

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "Get over it, Hikaru. Kyouya-sempai's not leaving anytime soon, so you may as well get used to the idea of us thinking of things like that."

"Besides, I find that it pays to think ahead," said Kyouya. All in all, his father had taken it rather well. Of course, he deliberately left out the part where he had set up a PowerPoint presentation just to show his father exactly how large a profit they could get from a union with a Hitachiin member and then gave him a prepared speech. The amount turned out to be considerably huge—huge enough so that his father had even been willing to overlook the fact that they were both male, when, on the other hand, he would probably have tried to slap some 'sense' into his third son.

Of course, there was the itsy-bitsy little detail: "What about Suoh Tamaki? Wouldn't it be more to your advantage if you pressed a relationship with him? After all, the Suoh family isricher than the Hitachiin family."

"No," he said. "Tamaki's position is precarious. His grandmother, after all, is likely to disinherit him if he gets involved in a homosexual relationship. His moods and temper are unstable and unpredictable; it's better to have someone a little more secure than Tamaki. Hitachiin Yuzuha-sama is more carefree about such things and has no problem with her son's gender preferences whatsoever."

"I see," his father said. "But discretion is a must until you become the pinnacle of success, Kyouya; you cannot, under any circumstances, make your relationship with Hitachiin Kaoru obvious to the media until you reach a point where they will never be able to touch you. The press would have a field day unless they wouldn't dare print anything about you. You have to be prudent until you're powerful enough to withstand anything that could shake your reputation."

"Of course, father."

"Pity about the Suoh heir."

Conveniently leaving out the fact that he had fallen in love with Tamaki, gotten his heart broken from unrequited love, and then realized that he had feelings for Kaoru… he smiled. As far as his father was concerned, it was merely a dispassionate arrangement for the benefit of both parties.

"I'm glad that you spoke to your dad," Kaoru said. "Did you tell him how much you would get from a relationship with me?"

Kyouya nodded, unable to lie to him. "I had to," he said. "He would never have agreed otherwise." He looked intently into Kaoru's eyes. They were the color of maple syrup. He liked that. "You know that I love you for more than that, right?"

"Of course, stupid," Kaoru said, leaning up for a chaste kiss to be pressed on his lips.

Hikaru shut his eyes. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm traumatized for life!" Kyouya and Kaoru just laughed.

"I've had enough of watching the two of you play sucky-face," Hikaru said sulkily. "I'm going to see what Haruhi's up to, drag her over here, and hopefully force her to distract you guys from being so disgustingly syrupy around each other." Tamaki nodded and got up to bounce after him, but Kyouya stopped them.

"Are you two still mooning after Haruhi?" Kyouya asked.

"We are not 'mooning after' Haruhi," Tamaki said airily.

"Okay, sorry, wrong choice of words," Kaoru said. "What we mean is, are you two still trying to compete for Haruhi's heart?"

"Yeah," Hikaru said warily. "Why, are you planning to set up a crazy threesome with her now?"

Kaoru bit back a laugh and tried (but failed) to glare at his older brother. "Kyouya-sempai said that he figured something out a couple of weeks back."

Kyouya shot him a quick, surprised glance, but finally nodded. "I thought it would be all right if I didn't tell you, but I think that you two have the right to know." He smirked. "Months… and months… and months… and months ago," he said, "Haruhi and Mori-sempai became an official couple without us knowing about it."

The crash of the tea set falling to the floor made even Hunny, Haruhi and Mori look up in confusion.

"Oh dear. You're going to have to pay to replace that, Hikaru," Kyouya said, frowning at the mess but obviously enjoying the effect that his words had had on them. "That happens to be a genuine antique Foley set. It doesn't come cheap."

Hikaru was flushed. "What do you mean, they're a couple?"

Kaoru stifled a laugh. "Go ahead and ask them—I don't think they were trying to trick us; it's just that those two are the quiet type. I can't believe I didn't see it myself. I only figured it out when Kyouya-sempai pointed out that necklace that Haruhi's wearing. It's a Morinozuka heirloom."

"I had my suspicions a long time ago, but I only confirmed it this month," Kyouya said, ignoring Tamaki's hanging jaw. "I didn't want to form any official opinion until I was sure that I was correct, but it seems that I was. After all, Haruhi always treated Mori-sempai a little differently, didn't she? And aside from Hunny-sempai, Mori-sempai doesn't act that way towards anyone."

"Mother! You could have told me!" Tamaki wailed.

Kyouya cocked an eyebrow. "You never asked, dad."

"Is it true?" Hikaru demanded, rounding on Haruhi and Mori. "Are you guys really together?"

There was the slightest of pauses, and Haruhi blushed slightly. "Well… yes. We agreed to keep it quiet for a while, though. We thought that you guys would tease us a lot about it, and so on. But we meant to admit it if anyone ever asked us."

"How long has this been going on?" asked Tamaki.

"A while now," Mori replied vaguely.

Hunny bounced up and down in his chair. "Takashi and Haru-chan always go out together during the weekends!" The bubbly senior ignored the redness of the couple's cheeks. "And they're always so nice and sweet to each other during lunchtime, and when Takashi has kendo—"

"WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL US?"

"That wasn't very nice," Kyouya teased Kaoru. "What did you tell them that for?"

Kaoru smirked. "They werebeing kind of annoying, don't you agree?" He sat up and stretched, letting Kyouya wrap a lazy arm around his waist. "Besides, now they're leaving us alone. Don't you like it that way?"

"Devious," Kyouya said. "Are you sure that I'mstill the Shadow King of this club? You seem to be pulling the strings a lot lately."

The redhead chuckled. "I like to pull yourstrings—but that's about the extent of my deviousness."

"Can I pull yourstrings?" Kyouya asked, grinning.

"Oh man… too many possible jokes to make about that one," Kaoru groaned. "And at least ten different innuendoes."

"Shut up, Kaoru," the Shadow King said, grinning.

"Make me."

Kyouya's dark eyes gleamed as he tilted the younger boy's chin up look down into his eyes. "Hmm... I'll wager that you're going to regret saying that..."

"This is too hard," Kaoru complained, shoving his red bangs out of his eyes. "Kyouya-sempai—I don't think I can do this."

"Come on, Kaoru. I promise that you'll be glad that you tried when we're finished," Kyouya said. "It isn't that bad."

"Easy for you to say," the Hitachiin growled out. He sucked in a breath. "Okay, okay."

Kyouya grinned. "Good," he said, pressing a kiss on Kaoru's cheek.

Hikaru walked into the room, obviously not knowing that they were there. Then he noticed them, felt his face slide into a shocked expression, quickly corrected it and frowned at the Shadow King. "Could you notdo that to my little brother?" he asked. "I mean, God, hello, as though he wasn't feminine enough already, I have to see him doing that…"

Kyouya and Kaoru exchanged looks. "Um, we're kind of doing something, as you have obviously noticed," Kaoru said, looking kind of embarrassed. "Could you… you know, get out? And maybe keep the comments to yourself?"

The older Hitachiin threw up his hands into the air, rolling his eyes. "Whatever! Sorry if I interrupted your… moment." He shrugged. By now, he felt that nothing that Kaoru and Kyouya did would faze him. "Listen, I'm going over to Tamaki's house, okay? Milord and I are going to play some video games." He had been spending a lot more time with milord lately. If Kaoru hadn't known better, he would have sworn that there was something go on there… but most likely, they were just forming plans to steal Haruhi away from Mori-sempai.

Surely they weren't that low…

"Fine, fine," Kaoru said. "Could you just, you know, give us some privacy?"

"Tell Tamaki not to stay up too late," Kyouya said indifferently. "And while you're at it, you might remind him about next week's club activity."

"Go fuck yourself."

The Shadow King raised an eyebrow. "Well, you see, I would, it's just that I prefer having your delicious twin do it for me."

Kaoru punched Kyouya lightly on the arm. "Hey, hey. Don't push it." He looked up at his brother with Bambi eyes. "Will you go now?"

Hikaru snorted. "Not like anyone wants to see you two, you know," he said, and walked out the door.

Kyouya smiled, tracing the line of the redhead's cheek with his finger. "Looks like Hikaru's getting a little more accepting of our relationship, don't you think?"

"Well, he didn't scream or carry on, so yeah, I think so. Is that a normal reaction?" asked Kaoru. "I mean, generally when older brothers stumble upon their younger brothers doing things like this…"

"I prefer it to the alternative," Kyouya commented. "Now, to get back to what we were doing earlier…"

"Hold on…"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "Stalling for time?"

"No, but I would if I could."

"Honestly, I thought you were more mature than this."

"Well, it's harder than it looks, okay? I'm probably no good at it."

Kyouya smirked. "You'll be fine. Trust me." Kaoru blushed. "You're perfect."

"Hey… Kyouya-sempai… do you think that maybe Renge is taping this?"

The Shadow King frowned. "That's an option that I didn't consider." He released Kaoru from his grasp. "Renge? Are you there?"

The question was met with silence.

Kaoru snorted. "Well, if I were Renge, I probably wouldn't answer either."

Kyouya's eyes narrowed. "Renge, if you're there and you're just not answering, I will burn down all your manga."

Renge shot out of the shadows with a squeak of terror. "I'm so, so sorry, Kyouya-sama! But I couldn't resist capturing this moment on tape!" she said, her eyes sparkling as she clutched at her video camera.

The Shadow King wanted to kill her. "Isn't this a federal offense?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't think that the courts will lock me up just for this…"

Kaoru gritted his teeth. "Why don't we go and find out?"

"Kaoru," Kyouya said, putting a placating hand on his shoulder. Then he turned back to Renge. "I suggest that you leave. Now. This is private, all right? And if I find out that you taped this, I swear you won't live to regret it."

In other words: you won't live. She nodded and bowed deeply in apology before beating a hasty retreat.

"Finally," Kyouya said with a sigh—but his happiness was short-lived; one of the Hitachiin maids suddenly stumbled in.

"Oh my!" she squeaked, her eyes widening. "Kaoru-sama… I didn't know that you were home," she said, blushing to the roots of her hair.

Kaoru let out an exasperated breath, trying not to turn as red as his hair. Everyone was really making too big a deal out of this. It was fine, it was completely normal—hello, lots of people did this sort of thing, and he was pretty darn sure that they didn't have to deal with curious people coming in all the time to make comments or videotape them. "Okay, um, can you come back later? We're kind of busy," he said as regally as he could, considering the awkwardness of the situation.

"I can see that," the maid said, then realized what she had just said. "Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…" She faltered under Kyouya's stony eyes and she ran out the door as well.

Kaoru threw up his hands in the air. "What is the big deal about you teaching me how to cook?"

Kyouya bit back a laugh. "It's because you look so cute in your frilly pink apron, Kaoru," he said, patting the younger boy on the head.

The redhead pouted. "I'm no good at this."

The Shadow King just took his hand firmly into his own. "You're good at everything, Kaoru. And I'm here to teach you anything you're not good at."

Kaoru looked up into his dark eyes and smiled. "Okay," he said, letting his head rest against the Shadow King's shoulder.

A/N: So now this really, and truly, is the end. I hoped that you all enjoyed it. I'm so sorry it was late. Happy end of February, the love month. Belated happy Valentine's day to you all. If you liked it, please review. If you hated it, please still review. I'm open to your suggestions, praise and criticisms. This is just a short "filler" thing, anyway, but I wanted to end it on a fun note showing the happiness that Kyouya and Kaoru finally managed to capture together. Any reactions, whether violent or peaceful, would be much appreciated. I'm thinking of a sequel. What do you all think? If my laptop stops doing the wonky on me soon, I'll be able to type my ideas soon.

Wow, this A/N is stretching on to forever. I just don't want to say goodbye to this story. Thank you all so much!