The driver that had been sent for Kagome arrived exactly fifteen minutes after her phone call with Haruhi had ended; He was a tall, stoic man who wore sunglasses and absolutely no expression. Just before he was about to shut her door behind her and leave, Kagome smiled up at him.

"Thank you, Mr. …?"

The guard shifted, actually looking a bit puzzled at her friendliness. Kagome couldn't blame him; her outgoing nature was a bit outlandish in the present, and in the past it had been considered near bawdy. "Tachibana. You are welcome, Miss Higurashi. Is there anything else I can assist you with?''

"Yes, actually," she let out a nervous little laugh, but showed him the address on her message screen. "Do you know where the host club is? It's my first time actually on campus."

Tachibana blinked slowly, and Kagome grew amused at how similar he reacted to Sesshomaru.

"I can ask one of the office workers, I'm sorry to have bothered you-"

Slowly, Tachibana lifted a heavy arm and pointed to the third floor of the school, before he began walking in that direction. Kagome, elated, followed.

Haruhi had been nervous since the phone call had ended with Kagome. The school was vast enough that the address may not have been enough.

"She'll be fine, Haruhi!" That was her upperclassman Honey, who was swinging his dangling feet over the loveseat. "Don't you have any faith in Gome?"

The nickname had come into play about five minutes after explaining to everyone who she had been calling. Haruhi accepted it because she knew that Kagome would, eventually. She let out a frustrated sigh, her jutted chin resting on top of a fist. "That's not it… Kagome's really smart, but her sense of direction is horrible." A huffing laugh escaped her. "It's been months since I've even spoken to her. I kind of dropped my middle school friends when I had to prepare to come here so I feel horrible for even asking her to come out here…"

Haruhi shook her head and looked anxiously at the door again. Her feet began to tap, and she couldn't stop her nervous fidgeting even when she felt Honey's amused stare boring into her. In fact it compelled her to explain her completely justified anxiety of seeing her again. Wait. No, it was the anxiety of Kagome being able to find her way here! That was it.

"I mean," Haruhi began to babble so she wouldn't have to listen to her own thoughts, "Last year we were supposed to meet at the plaza to buy carnations for Mother's Day-" she celebrated Mother's Day with me, and I celebrated Father's Day with her "- and she got lost for half an hour because nothing was familiar. When I finally tracked her down there were these two creeps bugging her-"

"-and if I recall, I told those creeps to beat it before I broke their noses," came an amused voice, drawing everyone's attention to the figure standing in the entrance. Haruhi sat up straight before abruptly standing up, heart in her throat.

There she was.

Kagome was only an inch taller than Haruhi, but the way she stood now made a staggering difference, even standing next to the tall driver. Her back was straight and her chin was raised, aloof in all appearances but her expression. Her dark eyes were just as warm as Haruhi remembered, and- wonderfully- less shadowed than the last time they had seen each other. Haruhi wondered if her gaze still felt the same intensity as it had the last night they'd seen each other, before she shook her head to clear her head.

"Thank you for showing me the way, Mr. Tachibana," Kagome sweetly thanked him before crossing the room (and was she always this graceful?). She completely ignored everyone else in the room and bee lined to Haruhi.

"You look good with short hair," Kagome greeted shyly, then laughed at herself and pulled her friend into a hug. The relief Haruhi felt at seeing a familiar face came in at full force, and she giddily hugged Kagome back, joining the other girl's giggling and spinning with stupid grins on their faces.

After the introductory period of how are you's and how are they's and who are they's, Kagome was now familiar with everyone's names. There was a brief struggle with the twins, who seemed delighted to have another girl to torment, but other than that the introductions carried on smoothly. The situation was explained to Kagome, who couldn't completely wipe off the amusement from her expression, and she looked around at the gathered group.

"I know how to lead and follow," Kagome offered, "I can help you with both, if you'd like." Twice as much dancing with you. Her smile strained. Shut up, Kagome. Shut the hell up.

"I'd like that." Haruhi grinned at her, before hopping up and shifting passed their surrounding friends, disappearing through a pair of doors as she called, "Here, I'll get us some snacks and tea."

"Eh, Kagome, you understand why we have to keep Haruhi's gender a secret, right?" Honey asked, eyes wide. Kagome smiled at him, but there was a slight distance between the two's reactions, as if they were in two separate buildings and smiling at each other through the windows. Close, but not close enough. Friendly, but through appearances and general niceties. Guarded.

"Of course," Kagome said, a shadow of anger fighting to stay out of her voice. The effect was only made more frightening as she kept the smile pasted on her face. "Because you guys have the only sponsored student in your school in debt for a million yen. Right?"

The host club members, for their part, looked at least a bit ashamed at how they had wrangled Haruhi into their club. "We didn't know at first-"

"-is she happy here?" Kagome interrupted, crossing her arms. What the hell? Am I jealous? She remembered the way Haruhi had sounded on the phone. The fond exasperation that had crept into her voice when speaking with Tamaki. Am I seriously jealous of Tamaki?

The man in question took that time to speak, and answered her in a surprisingly serious manner: "Not yet. We're working on it."

That's not good enough, Kagome wanted to snark. Instead she calmly replied, "If any of you hurt her, or try to pull something just because she's a commoner-" Her words died down at their alarmed expressions, and she forced herself to relax. These seemed like nice enough young men, and she wasn't five hundred years in the past. Groups of men weren't as scary as they had once been but the fight or flight instinct had never left Kagome. "Sorry. I'm not trying to accuse you guys of anything, but Haruhi is my friend. She's my priority, so I'm sticking with her."

"She seems to like you guys a lot, anyways." I'm just worried. Haruhi was bullied a lot for being so smart in school. Trying to repair what had been damaged by her paranoia, Kagome smiled at them all. "Do you guys... have any funny stories about her?"

Jealous.

Shut up.

Chapter twoooo hello. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, was kinda spooked to write a fic with this pairing ;w;

if there's a detail you want explored, just lemme know. Kagome's really wary of guys (hasn't been in the present for too long ig, plus she was never really social with anyone after school. I like to think that she gets jittery and jumps to conclusions because she means well). Plus she's super protective of Haruhi~

Also mentioned some of their backstory. So basically I have:

Haruhi tutoring Kagome, they become closer over the rest of their school year + summer, and had to split for their responsibilities (Kagome's is the obvious but unstated, Haruhi's was getting into Ouran, focusing on the curriculum, figuring out the financial aid, ect.).

Next chapter will probably be a dance practice scene and maybe a cut to Kagome's first day at school? And them dealing with Kanako's situation (Idk every time I plan it goes awry so no promises)

Love you guys! The reviews are really spurning me on, I legitimately thought no one would read this haha,,