Chapter Ten: I'm going to be your partner, no matter what!!!

"Tamaki, the twins have gone to India."

There was nothing wrong with the place. Tamaki loved India for its colourful traditions and bustling streets. He distinctly remembered how once he had begged his parents to let him ride on the elephants. The place was popular for holidays. Too popular.

"It's holidays soon!!!" Those phrases could be heard, murmured by excited students. It was the last day of the term, and the students in Tamaki and Kyouya's class were discussing their holiday options.

"I have a special secret," drawled Ayanokoji. She eyed Tamaki and Kyouya in the corner coldly. She seemed to be silently conveying the message that she was the most popular in the class, that she was the centre of attention, not them.

"Ooooh what it is? What is it?" the girls were pressing at her for more details. Tamaki and Kyouya only glanced at each other and inwardly sighed. Ayanokoji had been acting icily towards Tamaki, and consequently the Host Club, ever since Tamaki had rejected and humiliated her. "Oh," she said carelessly, "My family is on very friendly terms with the best jewelers in the world. This holidays, I'm going to India to get a custom necklace for my Prom."

"Wow!!!"

That girl had tried to embarrass him; she had tried to hurt him. Tamaki had caught her telling rumors about him. He was okay with that. But the worst thing was that she had tried to hurt Haruhi too. Kyouya, sharp eyed as ever, had quickly warned her in his own terrifying way. Her rumours about Haruhi never spread. She had gotten the message, as anyone would. As long as Kyouya was around, she wouldn't dare to do anything. She could only maintain a cold attitude towards them.

"I should have dealt with her better," Tamaki voiced his regrets.

"You never would have known this was going to happen," Kyouya replied calmly.

"I'm glad that you observe and write everything down," Tamaki said weakly. "If you had never found out-"

"It's she who told me herself," Kyouya gave a cold smile.

"I think it would your best interest to stop pestering Tamaki," the icy characteristic voice of Kyouya seemed to have come out of nowhere.

"I'm not pestering him," Ayanokoji hissed.

He chose to ignore her comment. "You know what I mean, and you know what I can do."

Ayanokoji clenched her fists, "You're not everywhere Kyouya. There are things you can't do."

"Oh?"

She smiled at him, her eyes gleaming triumphantly. "Out of Japan, you're nothing."

"See this, Tamaki?" Kyouya held up his laptop. "Flights booked in the past two weeks, yes this one yesterday is the Hitachiins' jet plane. And this one is Ayanokoji's family plane."

"Both to India," murmured Tamaki softly.

"Coincidences like this are unfortunate. The jeweler Ayanokoji was talking about also happens to be the jeweler the Hitachiins' are familiar with. There are only a certain number of famous jewelers in the world. The twins took Haruhi, presumably to get her the best jewels, just like I took Haruhi to get her dress for her." Which, thought Kyouya, hasn't been done completely,, ever since the twins kidnapped her.

Tamaki glanced at Hunny and Mori who were listening, yet silent. Hunny chewed at his thumb. "Well then, if so many people are going to India, is this why we're on this plane flying to India too?"

"Not quite," Tamaki replied. "Do you remember when Ayanokoji first met Haruhi at the Host Club?"

"The red haired girl?" questioned Mori.

"She hated her!" exclaimed Hunny, "because Haru-chan was a commoner. She threw Haru-chan's wallet into the fountains, and then she pretended Haru-chan was attacking her."

"She still hates Haruhi, now more than ever, but she never dared to do anything because Kyouya kept tabs on her. But if she sees Haruhi in India before we get there…" Tamaki trailed off, horrified by the prospect.

"It is very likely that she will see Haruhi there and then she will try something outrageous all because "out of Japan, I'm nothing".

"A girl can go to extremes with revenge," Tamaki said slowly. "She hates Haruhi because of me. If she sees Haruhi there…" he shuddered. "Did she actually plan all this out? Lure the twins to take Haruhi to India without us knowing immediately?"

"She's capable, but that could not have happened because the twins' plans were entirely their own, besides she does not have connections to the Hitachiins' family" Kyouya said, tapping his glasses, "It is an unfortunate coincidence. That jewel market in India is too popular."

"She's going to try something if she bumps into Haruhi…"

"Why didn't Hika-chan and Kao-chan know about this?" cried Hunny, alarmed, now understanding the magnitude of the problem.

"It is because they are not in the same class as her and do not know her well," Mori spoke, "just like we did not know."

"But Hika-chan and Kao-chan will protect Haruhi!" Hunny said reassuring himself.

"I won't doubt that, but it's only them and a few of their personal servants."

There was silence. "Is Haruhi seriously in severe danger?" Mori asked suddenly.

"Possibly."

Tamaki turned to face them all, and his eyes were sparkling with determination. "Which is why we must get to India before Ayanokoji sees Haruhi. Due to this special jet plane of Kyouya's, we will arrive in India very soon. Men! Get prepared."

He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote on it the large words:

PLAN TO SAVE HARUHI

"Yeah!" shouted Hunny enthusiastically.

"I thought we'd get to this…"Kyouya muttered.

"This is the jewels markets?" Haruhi's mouth was open in complete and utter surprise. She picked up a green rock from one of the barrels, "How can this be emerald? It looks like something from my garden."

"Haruhi!" Hikaru laughed at her expression. "It is emerald. It's uncut."

"Uncut?"

"Yeah, this place is where jewelers come to get their jewels before they cut them. It usually takes forever to cut. But anyway, I thought I'll show you."

"Have you been here before?" Haruhi asked, following Hikaru, who was picking his way very easily through the hundreds and hundreds of barrels. Each one contained a number of grubby coloured rocks. Gemstones, she had to continually remind herself.

"Yeah, mum used to take me and Kaoru here all the time when she was a jeweler. She's moved to fashion designing now. Maybe her jeweler experience is why lots of her designs have jewels in them."

"Hey," Haruhi was interested. The buckets of jewels she was passing through were prettier now. "These ones are nicer."

"Mmm…"Hikaru glanced back to see where she was pointing at, "They're semi cut ones." He reached for her hands and then seemed to realize what he was doing. Face burning, he gestured at her to follow. "Uh, do you want to follow me…?"

Haruhi stepped into a cool and simple room. It was filled to the brim with hundred and hundreds of more buckets. But the gemstones in them were almost fully cut, and they were sparkling like mad.

"Because we're our mum's sons, we have the special privilege of being here and touching the gemstones." Hikaru picked up a ruby and held it to her neck. "It's good, the natural lighting here lets you see how the jewel might look on someone."

"You know a lot about this," Haruhi commented.

"Well, yeah." Hikaru put the ruby back and picked up a pink diamond. "I reckon this one looks better on you."

"Does it?" Haruhi laughed. "I have no idea what all this jewel and fashion business is all about."

Hikaru picked up a pearl and held it close to the pink diamond. "This might be a nice combination." He held it to Haruhi's neck again and leaned back to see the effect. Haruhi peered curiously at Hikaru's judging look. She looked so pretty that in a flash, the unfamiliar twisting feeling passed by him and he forgot he was holding precious stones.

"Ah," Haruhi clutched at her shirt. "Hikaru! You dropped it," she gasped.

He turned a deep shade of red; he had dropped the jewel down the front of Haruhi's shirt. And he could imagine where the jewels were now.

"Dropped a jewel?" a sharp voice came from the corner.

"Ahhhh…"Hikaru, still red in the face, held up his hands, "No, we haven't lost it. I know where it is…" He started to feel even more hot and flustered and he tried not to look at the front of Haruhi's shirt.

"Where?" the jewel owner was frowning at Hikaru, now turning an interesting shade of blue. "Pick it up then."

"…."

Hikaru was panicking like hell. Just when he seriously decided to grab Haruhi and run for it, two jewels fell out from under Haruhi's shirt, and she picked them up and put them in the owner's outstretched hands. "Is this it?" she asked. "I'm sorry, I had to shake my shirt a bit for them to fall out."

The owner was inspecting the jewels carefully. "That's fine."

Hikaru was mightily relieved. "Thanks Haruhi…"

"What?"

"Oh…nothing."

"Amazing, so all the jewels get cut over there, and this here is where the jewelry is made?"

"Yes." Hikaru couldn't help but smile at the way Haruhi was looking everywhere in wonder. "I was wondering what kind of design you wanted Haruhi…this shop makes custom jewelry."

"This…" Haruhi had her hands pressed against a glass cabinet.

"That's a display of the types of things they can do." Hikaru noticed she was looking at a particular necklace with a mixture of sadness and longing. He felt something ugly erupt in his stomach.

"What is it Haruhi?" he managed to ask calmly. She looked away, but not before he saw a tear escape from her eyes.

"That design…of the three birds. My mother used to have it embroidered on her special kimono."

Hikaru mentally hit himself on the head. Haruhi's mother. Of course. What was he thinking? That she had a long lost boyfriend? He looked more closely at the necklace. It was one of those well known designs, so what Haruhi said made sense. "Excuse me," he waved for the attention of the shop assistant. "Can we have this one please?"

"What?" Haruhi had wiped her tears away and looked at him confusedly, "Oh, no Hikaru I can't get that. It's the most expensive."

"Haruhi," Hikaru nodded at the shop assistant, then he turned back to her, "Don't you realize? We're all going to pay for your Prom this year."

"But that costs…"

"A couple of million yen?" Hikaru shrugged, "We were originally going to get you something custom made, but you liked this one on display. A custom one would have cost a couple of tens of millions. It's not that much."

Heh, thought Haruhi, only for you, rich bastard. "Why are you doing this?"

"You have to look the best. And you can't afford all that by yourself, can you?" Hikaru replied.

"Thanks…" she muttered, feeling very annoyed. But all her annoyance melted away when she saw the necklace in her hands. The centre was of three birds perching on a tree. Two of them were chirping, the other had its wings outstretched. All of it was made from tiny diamonds.

"Thank you Hikaru…I love it."

The sunny afternoon had arrived and they sat under a colourful booth eating Indian curry for lunch.

"I've never had this type of curry before," Haruhi was exclaiming. "I love it!"

I love it.

She had said it two times already today.

Love.

The words jolted Hikaru to awareness. All these feelings I'm feeling every time I look at her, it… can't be…love, can it? Hikaru glanced at Haruhi, and at the sight of her, he felt his heart lurch and his face heat up. Oh man, this…I've never acted like this before. He tried to cool his cheeks down by placing his hands over them.

"What is it Hikaru?" Haruhi had noticed and she looked puzzled.

"Oh nothing," he said quickly and removed his hands. "The curry - it's my favorite too," he blurted. This is unfamiliar twisting feeling deep inside my stomach…I swear I've been feeling this ever since last year…don't tell me that was when I first loved- Hikaru shifted agitatedly in his seat. He scorned at himself; That's why I felt so jealous when Kyouya took Haruhi out, isn't it? It was like when Arai came along, wasn't it? I-I can't believe I didn't realize then…but I've never fallen in love before…until now.

"I'm just going to put this in the bin ok?" Haruhi stood up waving the paper plate in her hands.

"Yeah, sure." Hikaru watched her go, when he was suddenly struck by a thought. Kaoru-he knows about my feelings. I remember…

"Feelings you have for each other will only be known if you let them out," Kaoru had said softly to him, holding his hands, as he coughed in their bed. That was before his first date with Haruhi. The one Kaoru had said to "make up" for his bahviour towards Arai.

…And now his brother had set up another date for him. I understand now, Kaoru.

"Haruhi!" called Hikaru, his mind amazingly made up. I love you. I'm sorry it took this long for me to work it out. I- He pushed himself out of his seat and spotted Haruhi lifting the lid of the bin outside the jewel shop 20 or so meters away. "Haruhi, I-"

Whatever he wanted to say or confess, he never got the chance to do so. A man, clad entirely in black from head to foot and wearing a mask, jumped out from the bushes, grabbed Haruhi, covered her mouth, and took off!

"HARUHI!!!!" Hikaru heard himself scream. People in the vicinity looked at him curiously. The black clad man had already disappeared from view. They gasped as Hikaru ran past them, knocking tables and chairs down as he went. He wanted to save Haruhi, he wanted to bash that man into pieces, he wanted to find out what was going on and make sure it never happened again. This is a safe zone in India. Why are there people like that? Haruhi…

His heart was pounding like mad, he had never felt more frightened and angry. He ripped the branches from the trees that blocked him, and blundered through the foliage. That man had been pretty smart to take off in these parklands. It was a huge piece of land and it was very isolated. Whatever he intended to do with Haruhi- Hikaru was chilled by this thought- he had to be prevented. The fury and fear rose in a frenzy within Hikaru. He could see the man's black clothing dancing teasingly in front of him. Hikaru was close now, he threw out his fist, grabbed the man and hurtled him to the floor. Haruhi, silent and shocked, rolled off and staggered to the tree. Just seeing her like this made him feel a hundred times angrier.

"Bastard," Hikaru hissed, he slammed the man against a tree, who moaned softly. "What are you doing, hurting the girl I-"

"You're mistaken!" the man gasped.

"Answer my question," snarled Hikaru. "What the hell were you doing?" He pressed at the man more strongly.

"No-H-Hikaru!" he yelped in pain.

In his shock, Hikaru let go and promptly dropped him. "How do you know me?"

"It's because," the man slowly got up, and pulled his mask off, "I'm Tamaki."

"Why did you come to India, dress up like this, and kidnap me to the middle of nowhere?" Haruhi was annoyed. She brushed the leaves off her shirt, folded her arms and glared at Tamaki. "I had a heart attack when you grabbed me."

"I would like to know why the hell you're even here," Hikaru was also glaring at Tamaki, his arms folded too. "Sorry 'bout before," he muttered. Tamaki was wincing as he stood up cautiously. Hikaru kicked at a nearby log. He still felt extremely pissed off.

"Haruhi," Tamaki said seriously, "You're in danger."

"Ha, yeah from you!" Hikaru snorted.

"No, listen," Tamaki told them all about Ayanokoji. "And, we've all come here. My plan was to kidnap Haruhi and lock her up safely so that Ayanokoji won't have a chance of trying anything. The van…"he looked around in panic, "Hunny and Mori are suppose to have arrived by now and take us back after I get Haruhi."

"Since when have we ever followed your stupid plans?" Hikaru asked. "I can't believe you thought that was a good plan."

"My plans are always brilliant," whimpered Tamaki.

"I have to agree with Hikaru, there," came Haruhi's voice, causing Tamaki to weep in agony. "It was an appalling plan."

"It was. Lucky for me," a female voice said, followed by a high pitched laugh. Leaves crunched as a woman stepped into the clearing.

"Ayanokoji!" gasped Tamaki.

"Yes," the corners of her mouth tilted upwards in a mocking smile, "I thought I recognized your figure in that costume. And your friends here," she nodded at Hikaru and Haruhi, "nice to meet all of you. What a great coincidence!" She clicked her fingers. A hundred men suddenly appeared. Haruhi felt rough hands grab her.

"Ayanokoji-san!" she cried in shock.

"Is this some kind of joke!?" yelled Hikaru, struggling as three men tied him up and then gagged him.

"Ayanokoji-san-"

"I never thought you would say my name in that kind of pleading tone," laughed Ayanokoji. Three men gripped Tamaki's arms. "Let's get straight into this." She walked closer towards Tamaki. "I have your precious Haruhi in my hands. And you're going to agree with whatever I say, right?"

"Ayanokoji-san, what are you trying to do?" Haruhi spoke up, no longer struggling within the grip of her captors, "I know you're not going to hurt us. Why don't you ask for what you want?"

"Shut it!" the red haired girl screamed. Haruhi's captor thrust a piece of cloth into Haruhi's mouth. Hikaru was trying to shake free furiously. A man punched him and he fell unconscious.

"What a pain, that one is."

Both Tamaki and Haruhi were shocked to the bone.

"Haruhi! Hikaru!" Tamaki turned back to look at Ayanokoji with mounting anger. "Just stop this now." His voice was low and tense.

"I will," cooed Ayanokoji. "If you agree to be my partner."

"What?" yelped Tamaki.

"That's what I said," she said more firmly. "Yes or no? I've asked before, but now I'm asking again and I'm not taking no for an answer."

"How can y-"

"Yes or no?" Ayanokoji pressed. "Yes, I'll let them go. No, well you know my men can do to her."

"You know Haruhi's a girl?" gasped Tamaki.

"I've always known, ever since from the first day. I knew before you did. But Kyouya told me to keep my mouth shut."

"Kyouy-"

"Kyouya is nothing outside of Japan," hissed Ayanokoji. She came closer and gripped Tamaki's chin. "Yes or no?"

Tamaki stared at her horrified. "Don't take such little matters so seriously."

"Little things?" Ayanokoji snorted, "Partners at an Ouran Prom is no little thing."

"Sempai!" panted Haruhi. She had spat the cloth out. "You can't be threatened to say yes like this!"

"What?" cried Tamaki. Ayanokoji clicked her fingers, her patience had snapped. Haruhi's captors covered her mouth and took off with her.

"Yes, then?" Ayanokoji asked, her eyes gleaming madly. "I'll stop the men if you say yes."

He had absolutely no choice.

"Yes. I'll be your Prom partner."

Ayanokoji laughed in delight. "That's settled then."

"Haruhi-" Tamaki stumbled as the men let him go. "You said you'll stop the men."

"But," Ayanokoji stared at him with wide eyes, "I've already given the orders for them to abuse Haruhi. They're gone now. How can I give them the new orders?"

"You-" Tamaki screamed, but before he could race off after Haruhi, two men pressed him against a tree.

"You're going to be my partner, not hers," Ayanokoji leaned closer, "Seal the deal with a kiss."

"I don't think so," the icy characteristic, yes always icy and characteristic, voice of Kyouya cut through the air.

"What?" Ayanokoji cried in fear. Kyouya stepped through into the clearing and his gaze struck her cold to the core.

"You're not the only one with a family police force," he clicked his fingers, and men in a difference uniform surrounded them all. "Ours is the strongest, even in a country outside of Japan," Kyouya placed emphasis on his last words. "You're very mistaken about everything. You will let Haruhi and Hikaru go. You will let Tamaki go. And you are going to come with me now..." He smiled coldly, "to the police."

"NOOO!!" screamed Ayanokoji as a hundred of Kyouya's police members grabbed her. "STOP THEM!" But to no avail. Her own police force could not do anything against Kyouya's police force. Mori and Hunny had also arrived, and they were defeating each and every one of her men easily.

"Tamaki! I came too late," shouted Kyouya, as he tended to the knocked out Hikaru and directed his police force, "Go find Haruhi!"

"Yes," Tamaki pulled himself up from the ground, "Kyouya, I-"

"Don't waste time being relieved, Haruhi-"

Tamaki didn't need to hear anymore. He raced through the crowd and headed in the direction of where the men had taken Haruhi.

A/N: I thought I'll put some action and drama in, and give Tamaki a chance of being hero since he has been abused by me quite a lot in previous chapters. I'm sorry I made Ayanokoji so mean, she's kinda out of character but I wanted a villain and I wanted to demonstrate how far this Ouran-prom-partners thing can go. Another thing I noticed was that I'm starting almost every chapter from a different place to the previous chapter, if this is annoying you please let me know. I was rereading what I wrote and I felt a bit annoyed at myself!

This was a looooong chapter, it took forever to write. -.- Hope you enjoyed it. Like always, comments/suggestions/criticisms welcome. All the people who are reading and supporting this, you guys are awesome. Thank you!

Lu.e3