A/N: Only one chapter left after this. This one was probably my favorite to write. First, I just wanted to apologize in advance to anyone reading this who speaks French. I do not and therefore had to use google translate to write the French in this chapter, so if it's grammatically incorrect, I am sorry.

So that having been said, I hope you enjoy!


.06 Tamaki

"...and when they kissed, the whole world melted away, and it was just them, lost in the throes of their passion and love."

Kasumi sighed, "That is so romantic."

Mei grinned and closed the book. "I know, I just love these stupid airport romance novels."

As the two girls giggled, the third member of their party kept her nose in a menu, trying in vain to understand just what this restaurant was serving. Haruhi consulted her Japanese to French phrasebook, wishing not for the first time that she'd taken French in High School.

"Can you believe we're in Paris?" Kasumi asked, laughing and throwing her arms up in joy.

"No Kasumi-chan," Mei answered with a smirk. "We couldn't believe it the last 48 times either, right Haruhi?"

"Mm-hm," the other girl nodded, still looking at the menu.

"Where'd our parents even get the money for this?" Kasumi wondered aloud.

"Don't question it," Mei advised. "Just enjoy it. Especially since we have to leave tomorrow."

Kasumi sighed. "I know, I've had so much fun these last few days. Where does the time go?"

Mei nodded in agreement.

Haruhi sighed and put down the menu.

"Need some help?" The ganguro asked.

Kasumi rolled her eyes, "Like you can read the menus, you told me you never took French."

"Did you?" Mei shot back.

"Three years," Kasumi answered holding up three fingers.

Mei opened her mouth, then closed it again and huffed in annoyance.

Once Kasumi had helped her two companions order, the trio got to talking about their future plans.

"And you're not going to college because, why?" Mei asked Kasumi, who shrugged.

"It's just not for me," she answered non-chalantely. "I'd rather go out and see the world. I was thinking of moving to London actually… and what about you Miss To-Oh University? We haven't heard a peep from you all night."

Haruhi, until then staring out the window, jerked to attention when Kasumi wrapped her arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a one armed hug.

"Oh sorry," the brunette answered when Kasumi let go. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

Mei raised an eyebrow. "Well, you should be having fun right now! You've graduated from that rich kid school of yours, and you're all set to go to Law School. For the whole rest of your life you'll be a busy hard working lawyer with 'a lot on your mind right now.' Right now, you are in Paris, France. Have some fun, why don't you?"

Haruhi blinked. "What kind of fun?"

"Well, this place has dancing you know," Kasumi motioned toward the dance floor. "We should go up there after we eat, I bet we'd meet some hot French guys."

Mei and Kasumi giggled at that, but Haruhi just rolled her eyes. Even though they'd only just met a few months ago, Mei and Kasumi had become inseparable. Since arriving in France, they'd developed a system for rating all the young French men they saw on a scale of one to ten (ten, Haruhi presumed, being the highest). Even after the waiter brought them their food, they were still going at it ( and for the record, the waiter himself was a 6).

"What about that guy?" Kasumi said between bites.

Mei examined the man she was motioning towards for a moment before answering.

"7, maybe an 8 if he fixed his hair a little better."

"Are you kidding?" Kasumi cried. "That guy is a hard 9!"

"Pft, not even," was Mei's response.

"What do you think, Haruhi?" Kasumi asked her middle school friend.

"Don't bother," Mei interrupted. "Haruhi's not into that sort of thi- oh my God…"

Kasumi blinked and gave a half smile. "What happened, did you see a 10?"

Though her tone was humorous, Mei's was anything but.

"No, but I do think I just saw an 11."

At that, Kasumi's eyes widened, and even Haruhi's interest was piqued a bit. She heard Kasumi gasp, and her curiosity finally got the better of her as she looked up to see who it was that amazed them so.

The first thing she saw were his eyes. They were violet.

She found that surprising. She'd heard of people having blue eyes or green eyes, but violet? That was different for sure. As she took in the rest of his blonde hair framed face, she realized that he was indeed a very handsome man. He was dressed in fairly casual clothes and he was standing in front of a table with his coat in hand. The final thing she noticed about him was probably the thing that interested her the most.

He was staring right back at her, with the same surprise and wonder that shined in her own eyes.

"…uhi? Haruhi? HARUHI!"

"Ah!" Haruhi yelped as she whirled around to face Kasumi, who threw up her hands in surrender.

"Whoa, sorry," she said with a nervous chuckle. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"N-no, it's alright," Haruhi answered, trying to stop herself from thinking about that guy. "I just-"

"He's coming over!" Mei exclaimed, pointing her finger outward.

"What?" Haruhi gasped and turned.

And indeed, he was fast approaching. Unlike Haruhi's, his eyes never seemed to have left her. When he was directly in front of them, he shook his head a bit and seemed to regain his senses. Rather than walk away, he flashed them a smile that made Kasumi and Mei blush madly before focusing again on Haruhi.

"Pardonnez-moi, mademoiselle," he began to say in a smooth voice. "Je ne veux pas troubler votre repas, mais j'espérais que tu me l'honneur avec une danse?"

Haruhi blinked and turned to Kasumi, silently asking for help. The dark haired girl smiled and stood up.

"Monsieur, mon ami ne parle pas français. Nous sommes en provenance du Japon et-"

"Oh you're from Japan?" the blonde stunned them all by interrupting Kasumi in perfect Japanese. "How wonderful, I haven't been there in ages!"

Haruhi shook her head a bit to wake up from her stupor as she answered.

"You speak Japanese?"

The blonde nodded cheerily as a huge grin appeared on his face, "Of course, I've always found Japanese culture fascinating! I even lived there for a while. Anyway, I just wanted to know if you would honor me with a dance, my dear."

Haruhi stepped back a bit. Now that she knew what he was saying to her earlier, she was at a complete loss for what to do about it. Glancing back at her friends, she found them silently egging her on, which she probably should've expected. Still, some small part of her actually wanted to accept his offer. She didn't know why, but something about this man struck her… not as familiar, but as someone who shouldbe familiar if that made sense (but she knew it didn't). She had to wonder if he felt the same way about her and if so, was that the reason he'd approached her like this.

And despite all odds, that small part of her won out. The next thing she knew, his hand grasped hers, and he was leading her onto the dance floor.


"So what brings you to France?" the blonde asked her as they moved slowly around the dance floor ('Why did it have to be a slow dance?'Haruhi inwardly sighed).

"We just graduated High School," Haruhi answered. "Our parents pooled their money together and paid for us to come to Paris for the weekend. We've been enjoying ourselves so far. Our hotel's not the best and we don't have much for souvenirs, but we are having fun. I'm kind of sad to go home tomorrow."

The blonde nodded, "I see."

"And what about you?" Haruhi asked, continuing when she noted his confused look. "You said before you lived in Japan before."

Now understanding, the blonde smiled, but his smile was sad for some reason. "Well you see, my father comes from a wealthy family and my mother was his mistress. I was conceived out of wedlock. My father divorced his wife for my mother, but she was too sick to be with him, so I stayed with her here in France. A few years later, my Grandmother offered to pay for my mother's treatment after her family went bankrupt, in return I was to go to Japan and never have any contact with her again."

"Why not?" Haruhi asked, amazed that anyone would demand something so cruel.

The blonde shook his head. "My grandmother never liked me or my mother, but the family needed an heir and I was the only option. I lived there for about three years until I got married."

Haruhi stopped moving. "Married?"

The blonde nodded in confusion. "Yes, does that bother you?"

The brunette started when she realized what she'd just inadvertently implied and shook her head.

"No, it doesn't bother me, I'm just a bit surprised. I mean, you don't look much older than me and you're married?"

The blonde stared at her for a moment, then let out a laugh.

"Well actually, as of this morning, I'm divorced."

Haruhi titled her head a bit. "Divorced? How come…if you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all," he answered reassuringly. "You see, after I got married, I got to return to France and see my mother again. I was glad to be with her again, but I did miss my father and my friends in Japan. I still do in fact. That's why I told myself that one day, I'd go back no matter what my Grandmother says."

"So what happened?" Haruhi asked, now more interested than ever.

"Before I tell you, you must understand that I was never in love with my ex-wife," the blonde began. "Our marriage was arranged by my Grandmother, neither one of us ever had a say in it. My ex-wife believed herself to be in love with me at first, but by the time our wedding came around, I think she realized there could be nothing between us. We never even slept in the same room after our wedding night. Don't get me started on the honeymoon."

Despite the melancholy of the blonde's story, Haruhi couldn't help but smile at that.

"It was like that for three years, and then several months ago, my Grandmother unfortunately passed away."

Haruhi almost raised an eyebrow at that. From what he'd told her, his Grandmother sounded like a horrible person. But the way he spoke of her passing, she'd almost think he really did love her in spite of it all.

"When she died, my ex-wife decided we were in the clear to separate. I wanted to wait a while out of respect for the dead, but before I knew it, she'd drawn up the divorce papers."

He chuckled.

"She always was on top of things like that. Anyway, we went ahead with the proceedings. Since our divorce was amicable, there were no battles over money. She kept what belonged to her and I kept what belonged to me. It worked out nicely, and just this morning, I signed the final papers and our separation was made official. I actually found out from my lawyer that she'd signed her part of the papers from Tahiti. She's on vacation there with her new boyfriend."

Haruhi nodded, unsure of how to respond to that.

"I'm glad she's happy," the blonde went on. "I can't say we're best friends, but we do care about each other in our own way."

Haruhi nodded as his story had come to an end.

"So what now?" she asked him. "Are you staying here in France?"

He sighed and shook his head.

"I was wondering that myself. I let her keep the house, and my mother went over to Japan three months ago to be with my father. It's funny, I've lived here for most of my life, but ever since I left for Japan, this place just doesn't feel like home anymore. It was an obvious decision I suppose, to go back to Japan," he had a wistful expression now. "I have a flight booked for tomorrow morning. I can't wait to go back, even though…"

The song ended as the blonde trailed off. Haruhi gave him a confused look. "Even though what?"

She noted the nervousness evident on his face. For all the time since he'd first came up to her, he'd been almost perpetually smiling and cheerful. Now he just looked scared, and she had no idea why.

"It's nothing," he finally answered, and she knew he was lying, but didn't push it.

The blonde was quiet for a moment, and then his smile appeared again.

"Oh, I've probably kept you long enough, I bet your friends are wondering where you are."


Dear Haruhi,
Had to head back to hotel. Don't worry, we already paid. See you later.
Mei and Kasumi.

Haruhi's eye twitched as she read the note.

"They ditched me," she muttered to herself. "I can't believe they ditched me. Why would they do that?"

Behind her, the blonde man shrugged. "I couldn't tell you."

Haruhi sighed. "Well, I guess I'd better get a cab… it was nice meeting you."

As she turned to walk away, the blonde's hand reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Wait a minute," he said. "Won't you let me give you a ride?"

Haruhi was taken aback, but tried not to show it. What was it about guys offering to give her rides. Was it chivalry or something? One way or another, she knew she'd be giving him the same answer she'd given to all the others. She opened her mouth to voice a polite refusal…

And stopped. She didn't know why she stopped, but she did. That feeling was back, that strange feeling that she should know this man, that she shouldn't just leave it like this. It was telling her that if she left now, she'd never see him again, and something about that just felt so…wrong. That feeling had to be possessing her for a moment, because she could have sworn she heard the words, "Thank you, I'd really appreciate it," come out of her mouth just before his face broke into a wide grin and he pulled her by the arm towards the door.


Of course, his car turned out to be a limousine, that wasn't surprising. The ride was silent for a while, before the blonde man spoke up again.

"You know I just realized something," he said. "In all this time we've been talking, I never did learn your name."

Haruhi started as she realized the same thing. With a slight chuckle, she held out her hand the way westerners did to greet people.

"You're right, I'm sorry. My name is Haruhi Fujioka."

The blonde smiled as he took her hand.

"Tamaki Suoh," he answered. "It's nice to meet you."

Haruhi smiled and pulled her hand away. "So Tamaki-san, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Yes, my dear Haruhi?" he answered charmingly.

"Are you scared to go back to Japan?"

His smile instantly melted, replaced by a mixture of surprise and fear.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" he asked trying and failing to retain the charm he'd held thus far.

"Well, normally I wouldn't pry," Haruhi answered, unaffected by his reaction. "But I could just see it in your face."

Tamaki nodded, but didn't respond, and remained silent for several more seconds, making Haruhi wonder if she'd crossed a line somewhere.

"If you don't want to tell me, it's okay," she assured him.

The blonde shook his head, "No, it's alright. It's just that I had these friends in Japan. They… well, I guess you could say they were liked a second family to me. I formed a club and recruited them all to join, that's how we all met. After I left Japan, I had to disband the club, and my Grandmother forbade me from ever contacting them again. That was three years ago and I haven't heard from them since, but I do miss them a great deal."

He paused, looking for the right words as he averted his eyes.

"I'm just afraid that after all this time, they won't want to see me anymore. Or if they do, things won't be the same as they used to be."

Haruhi gazed at him, not liking the scared and worried look in his eye. It just didn't suit him.

"It won'tvbe the same," she said suddenly, making him look back up at her. "You're right about that. Things can't ever go back to the way they used to be. You made a choice, and now you're facing the consequences of that choice. All you can do is move forward. Maybe when you see them again, they'll accept you, and maybe they won't, but no matter what happens, you just have to make the best of things... My dad believes that things happen the way they're supposed to, and that no matter what choices you make, fate will always bring you back to where you need to be. I suppose if that's true, you'll be happy no matter what happens, even if at first it doesn't seem like you will."

Haruhi took a deep breath upon finishing her speech. Tamaki had listened, taking in everything she was saying. To Haruhi's relief, his smile came back, and his eyes lost a bit of their sadness, making way for hope.

"I see, that makes a lot of sense," he said. "Thank you Haruhi, you're a very wise person."

Haruhi smiled. "Not really, but thank you for the compliment."

Right as she said that, the limousine came to a stop.

"Nous sommes ici, Monsieur le Suoh," the driver said.

Haruhi couldn't understand what he was saying until she looked out the window and saw the front entrance of her hotel.

Tamaki gave her a sad smile. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, Haruhi."

"Thank you for the ride," the brunette responded. "And it really was nice meeting you."

The blonde chuckled a bit as she began to step out of the vehicle. "You too, maybe someday we'll cross paths again."

"Maybe," the brunette answered, genuinely hoping that would be the case.

She pushed the door shut, gave a last look to her new friend, and walked back to her hotel. She intended on finding out just what her dear friends were thinking, leaving her behind like that.

Meanwhile, Tamaki Suoh was staring at his cell phone, silently debating with himself. Somehow, the image of Haruhi's face in his mind's eye gave him the courage he needed to finally being dialing. Tamaki listened to the ringing, praying that his friend hadn't changed numbers. He was relieved when a familiar voice came on, even though it was only an answering machine. Tamaki took a deep breath when he heard the beep.

"Kyoya? Hi it's…it's me, Tamaki."