HAPPY NEW YEAR~! :D I hope 2009 treats you all great –bows-

Hope everyone had a great holiday season! For xmas I got an iPod… -tears of joy- And the first song I legit bought- like, not from my CDs- was White Houses XD It's also the last song I listened to in 2008, and the first in 2009 LOL. I have trouble listening to it, though, because it's so sad. Ah, and that's where this chapter comes into play…

I again tried to include elements from the anime/manga in here, so I hope you enjoy it all!

White Houses

Silly Little Wounds

Maybe you were all faster than me
We gave each other up so easily
These silly little wounds will never mend
I feel so far from where I've been
So I go…and I will not be back here again
I'm gone as the day is fading

On white houses
I lied; wrote my injuries all in the dust;
In my heart is the five of us
In white houses

Haruhi hung up the phone. Her hands were shaking; her mind was racing. Tears began to form at the edge of her eyes.

"Ohh…pardonez-moi. Iz Tamaki zere? My name iz Éclair. I am…how to zay…hiz girlfriend?"

"You're…his what?" Haruhi choked into the receiver.

"Iz…zere a problem?"

"…"

"Mademoiselle? 'Ello?"

"Sorry. Tamaki isn't here. But don't worry; I'll tell him that you called."

"Oh! Zank you zo much! Merci beaucoup!"

"Yeah. No problem."

She couldn't believe it. Tamaki was cheating on her? No, he was cheating on this Éclair girl with her. Haruhi began to cry.

"Fine," she mumbled, dragging the back of her hand across her eyes, wiping the tears away, "But he's not going to be the one who decides he's done with me. I'm the one who's going to leave him. I'm not going to be used any longer."

She began packing her bags, clothes first; she wished Renge was there to help her when she realized, had she even come back from her walk the previous night? No, she's probably downstairs with everyone, having a great time, she thought bitterly, but shook the thought from her mind and continued to pack. She gently placed the picture frame for her father in between layers of clothes, to prevent it from breaking.

When she finished, she managed to get a hold of all of the bags, much better than she had on the day she'd gotten there. She took one last look at the room, blinked back another onset of tears, and left, clutching the glass rose Tamaki had given her in her hand.

Even before she got downstairs, Haruhi heard laughing and talking coming from the kitchen; they were probably eating dinner by now (though she'd gotten up early, it had taken her most of the day to pack all of those bags; especially since she'd been immobile for so long after she hung up the phone). She felt a surge of hate well up inside of her, but suppressed it. When she reached the bottom floor, she refused to look in the other room at them, but they noticed her.

"Haruhi! …Where are you going?" the twins called.

"Home. I'm leaving."

"Um~ No, Haru-chan," Hunny laughed, "We're leaving in three days. We still have time!"

His smiling face almost made her laugh, "What was I thinking? Haha!", pretend she'd gotten the date confused, and returned her bags upstairs. She stood her ground when she saw a head of blonde hair much higher up than Hunny's.

"No. No, I'm leaving now."

"Haruhi? Why? What's wrong?" said blonde asked innocently.

"You…" Haruhi clenched her teeth and glared at him, "You dare ask me why?! Out of all the fucking people, I'd think you'd know why- oh, but I'll bet you thought I wouldn't find out, so you're still fucking playing dumb!"

"Wh…Haruhi, calm down! What are you talking about?"

Haruhi closed her eyes. "Your girlfriend," she whispered; then her eyes snapped open, "I'm talking about your goddamn girlfriend!"

The house was deathly quiet.

"T…Tamaki?" Hunny ventured.

Kaoru grasped Hikaru's hand.

"Haruhi…I don't understand…You're my girlfriend…aren't you?"

"That's what I thought," she mumbled, "But I guess not anymore," Haruhi turned away and began walking towards the door. "By the way," Haruhi turned her head, "Éclair wants you to call her back." And with that she slammed the rose onto the table; it shattered into pieces.

"Éclair…" Tamaki mumbled, trying to think, even though he was shaking.

"What the hell's going on?" Hikaru asked him, Kaoru still clutching his hand.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, mon ami…Wait, that must be it!" Tamaki ran to the door, and the others followed, albeit slower. "Haruhi, wait!" he called. She didn't respond. "Haruhi, stop!"

"Look, just give it up already, okay? I'm not going to be used any longer; I told you before: I'm not stupid. I'm not going to listen to your lies!"

"Haruhi, I swear, you've got to listen to me! I'm not lying, I know…Renge…Where's Renge, she can vouch for me! Haruhi, you-"

Haruhi turned, glaring, and slapped him across the face. "I'm. Not. Stupid. I'm not someone you can just use and then leave. So everything that happened between us- just forget it. It never happened. And I know you must've done all kinds of shit with her, but I'd appreciate it if you had the decency to at least not tell my father. So just stay the fuck away from me. This is the bus stop. The last bus of the day will be here in five minutes and then we'll never have to see each other again."

"But-!"

"I'm never going to see you again!" she cried, eyes closed to keep back the tears; she didn't want to admit that she didn't want this, that it was hurting her, too.

Tamaki took several steps backwards, then turned and ran to the others. "Where's Renge?"

"Why do you need her?" Kaoru asked.

"I can't explain. It's…she's French. Haruhi will believe her. I have to find her immed- Kyoya. Has anyone seen him?"

"Neither of them came downstairs this morning," Hunny informed him, worry apparent in his large eyes.

Tamaki ran back up the sidewalk, almost crashed into the blindingly white fence, past the grass, the flowers, the rose bushes, inside, up the stairs and down the hallway. He checked in every room; no one. He raced back down the stairs, searched the entire first floor; still nothing. He finally sprinted out back; no one was in the pool; he checked the small building in the back and finally found the glasses-wearing boy, looking through the refrigerator.

"Kyoya!" Tamaki exclaimed.

"T-Tamaki…" Kyoya re-adjusted his glasses, somewhat embarrassed and somewhat nervous. "What are you-?"

"Kyoya, where's Renge? I can't find her; you must know where she is, right? Where is she, Kyoya?"

"H-How should I know? I mean after yester-"

"Goddamn it!" Tamaki cried.

"Wait…Tamaki…I still have her cell phone number stored in mine," Kyoya held out his phone to the other boy.

"Thank you, Kyoya," Tamaki said as calmly as he could, waiting for Renge to pick up her phone, "Come on…answer, damnit! She must think it's you. And my phone is upstairs…" Tamaki looked at Kyoya.

"Why do you need her so badly? What's wrong?"

"It's…complicated, Haruhi won't believe me, so I need Renge to talk to her."

"What's wrong with Haruhi?" Kyoya asked, his attention having been caught.

"Oh god, Kyoya," tears began to run slowly down Tamaki's face, "It's just a misunderstanding…but if I can't get through to her…Kyoya…I'm never going to see her again!"

Kyoya grabbed Tamaki's arm and, running, dragged him behind him as he ran to the front of the house. "You and the others split up and find Renge. I'll make sure Haruhi stays here 'till you find her."

"Thanks, Kyoya," Tamaki smiled. "You're…I'm sorry."

"What the hell are you apologizing for?" Kyoya chuckled. "Think of this as my apology to you…to you both."

When they reached the others, several things happened at once.

They saw Renge walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, about ten houses down in the direction the bus would take Haruhi, looking like she'd spent the entire night outside (which she probably had, they thought).

Everyone began talking at once, things like, "We tried talking to her!", "I tried to stop her!", "We couldn't help it!", "She protested the entire time you were gone- that's how long we tried, I swear!" reached their ears; even Mori was speaking.

And they saw the bus at the stop, immobile just long enough for them to see it before it slowly began to pull away.

"Haruhi!"

"Renge!"

"Fuck off, Kyoya, I'm never speaking to you again!" Renge called back.

"Shut up and listen!" he yelled back to her, "We need you to talk to Haruhi; she just left!"

"Someone has to stop the bus!"

"Forget it; she's already gone," Tamaki said softly, sadly.

"What? No!" Kaoru said, "Anyone could catch up with it at this point; go!"

"…"

"Goddamn it, Tono, you really are a fucking idiot!" Hikaru cried, pushed Tamaki out of his way and began running in the road in the direction of the bus.

"Hikaru!"

He'd almost reached the bus when Renge started crossing the road.

At the same time, a car came down the road.

Renge didn't notice it.

"Eeeek!" she screeched as it neared her. The driver swerved, but the side of the vehicle connected with Hikaru's right side; he'd been too focused on reaching the bus to even notice the car.

"HIKARU!!" Kaoru screamed as his brother hit the asphalt. He ran down the street after him as Renge continued to screech and the others, trying not to panic, called the police and a hospital.

"Hikaru! Hikaru!" Kaoru threw himself down on his knees next to his brother, who was currently trying to sit up. "No- don't- lie back down, you're hurt! Hikaru…are you okay?"

"I'm better than that fucking driver is going to be after I catch him…Stupid asshole just drove off!"

"Hikaru!"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," he smiled, then winced, "Well…I can't move my right arm…Damnit…I think it's broken…and I've probably got some cuts but…Oh, god, Kaoru, don't cry! I think I'll live!"

"Hi-Hikaru," Kaoru hiccupped, "I…I was so-so scared! I t-thought-"

"C'mon, Kaoru, I broke my arm and I'm not even crying. Hm?" he cupped the side of his brother's face with his left hand. Kaoru grabbed his hand with both of his and sniffed; Hikaru sighed.

Renge had managed to make it to the sidewalk next to them before her legs failed her; she just sat there, shaking violently.

After relieving herself of all of her luggage, spreading it out on the large seat, Haruhi held her head in her hands. What the hell…that was nothing like me. I don't even feel like myself. Have I changed that much over an entire summer? I didn't even try to listen to him but…no one's trying to come after me. No one even came to my room to check on me the entire day today. So that's it? It's that simple?

She looked back out the window; she couldn't see anyone, but she saw the house where they'd stayed together so many weeks. After everything…maybe she had changed. She remembered how Hikaru and Kaoru had helped her drag her bags to the house, how the others, already there, were causing a fuss, how they'd all gotten drunk and ended up kissing everyone else, how they'd all gone shopping, and then…

She looked back one last time at the house. It was still so blindingly white, even as the Sun began it's decent in the sky (she tried not to think about the same time the previous day). Even if she was able to forget Tamaki, she'd never be able to forget that house. But I'll never go back…she promised herself.

"Enjoy the rest of your summer, guys," she whispered, "I at least owe you that wish."

Haruhi cried again, sobbing softly, and prayed her heart would stay intact.

Haruhi got home early the next day, and swore that she would never take the bus at night again; it really was a terrifying experience. She'd only been inside long enough to drop all of her bags on the floor and collapse on the couch before her father walked in the door, carrying almost the same amount of bags as she had been.

"H-Haruhi? How long have you been here?"

"Thirty seconds."

Ranka stared at her. "Um. But shouldn't you have come back the day after tomorrow?"

"I…decided to come home a little early."

"Ah." Ranka said, setting his bags down by his daughter's and going to sit next to her. "So tell me, did you have fun? Did you like it? Because- well, I don't mean to pressure you, but we were all thinking of going on another trip next summer and renting out the same place for you kids!"

"Dad," Haruhi looked at him, "Aren't I old enough to stay here by myself?"

"For a few days maybe, but we'll be gone for about two months! …Why, Haruhi? Didn't you get along with everyone?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Haruhi mumbled, almost inaudibly. "I don't like change," she said louder. She got up and went to her room; Ranka looked after her, confused.

About a month later, Haruhi got an e-mail from Renge, which she found odd since she'd never given anyone her e-mail address, but at the same time, wondered why, if she was e-mailing her now, why she hadn't done it sooner. In any case, it read:

Haruhi,

First of all, I suppose I should explain how I got your e-mail. I asked my dad for your dad's e-mail address, and asked your dad for yours- but I told him not to tell you. Sorry about that; I sort of wanted it to be a surprise, so…surprise?

How have you been? I'm sorry I never got to say good-bye to you. You can't imagine how terrible I feel about that, even though it's kinda stupid, huh? But that night, Haruhi, I swear, I went on a walk like I told you, but as I thought more and more about what you said…well, I just needed to be by myself for a while. And I mean, I'd already walked all the way into town anyway, so I used my dad's credit card (and trust me, I was in so much trouble! That's…kind of why it took me so long to contact you) to rent a hotel room for a night. I did a lot of thinking there- I know, surprise, surprise- but I guess I'll talk to you about that some other time. To be honest, I'd like to do it in person.

But I need to tell you what happened after you left. And I have to ask you to keep reading the whole way through; please? For me? Yes? Okay, good.

Let's see…I'd just come back, probably at the exact time you got on the bus, and everyone was in a panic. I was on the other side of the road, so I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but everyone else was in a terrible panic. The boys were yelling and…well anyway, one of the twins…I'm pretty sure it was Hikaru…wait, no, Kaoru…wait…ok his hair was going that way, so…ok, it was Hikaru for sure, he took after the bus- let me tell you, that boy can run! I started to cross the street to find out what was going on and…the next part is hard to remember, but basically, a car came at me, swerved to miss me, but hit Hikaru.

Haruhi gasped. "Oh my god…It's all my fault, if he hadn't gone after me he-!" Lost for words, she continued to read:

It was only the side of the car that hit him, so he went down, but he only broke his arm. He'll still be in a cast for a while longer, so if you want their e-mail, you'll just be talking to Kaoru anyway (unless he can type with his right arm as Hikaru types with his left, functioning as if they belonged to the same person, but that wouldn't surprise me, of course)…Oh, and did I mention how cute he was, worrying over his brother like that!? I'm telling you, brotherly love…! But I digress.

The police and ambulance came…I think they caught the driver (we were all pretty pissed; it was hit and run, can you believe it!?). Everyone was in a huge panic- except Tamaki. He'd gone back inside. Haruhi…I'm pretty sure he was too upset about you leaving to be upset about Hikaru. So after the twins went to the hospital, even though it was only Hikaru that was hurt, and the rest of us calmed down, I went to go talk to Tamaki- well, because everyone said that he'd been looking for me just before all of that had happened. He even sought out Kyoya! I remember, I was pretty upset that you'd left, like, I couldn't understand it at all! But then he told me what had happened.

Haruhi. You need to know this. The girl that called you that morning, Éclair, wasn't Tamaki's girlfriend, she was just his friend who, as it turns out, was trying to figure out their summer homework. Yes, she's wanted to go out with him for ages now, but he doesn't like her back. Please- before you get mad and decide not to believe me, let me explain; I'm French, so I know this is true and not made up.

I don't know what exactly Éclair said to you, but Tamaki says she hasn't lived in Japan long, so she doesn't know Japanese very well. I'm guessing she said something like, "Je suis une amie de Tamaki"? And then when you didn't understand her she tried to translate and said, "I am Tamaki's girlfriend"? Or something along those lines? Let me explain.

In French, "(un) ami" and "(une) amie" both mean friend. They're pronounced the same, too (not including the un/une), so unless it's written or you definitely know the context, it's hard to tell which one it is when spoken. But that's not too important, so I'll go on. The difference is that the first one is used for a guy friend, like, for example, if you were talking about Mori…Or Hunny…or Kyoya…or Hikaru or Kaoru. The second is used for a female friend, as if you were talking about me. Haruhi, don't you see? She wasn't saying she was his girlfriend, she was saying that she was a friend of his and in addition, that she was female! It's…it's kind of complicated, but do you understand?

I'm…sorry, really, about all of this. It's very much my fault; if I'd stayed the night, I would've been there to explain it before you'd even been able to hang up the phone. Even if I'd come back earlier, I could have explained it to you…of course, I don't blame you for not believing Tamaki, because I mean, in that kind of a situation, who would, really? I'm just sorry that I wasn't there to prevent all of this, because god knows, you must have cried like mad over this, and if only I'd known that…god, Haruhi, I'm sorry.

Anyway, let me know who's e-mail addresses you want. I have everyone's…even Kyoya's. After everything that happened…well, we're not the best of friends, but we do communicate via e-mail. So…whoever you want. You know, Mori's more talkative than in person; I got a three-line response from him! Haha…

…I really think you should talk to Tamaki. I know for a fact that he's not mad at you. So, I'm not going to force you, and you know I'll even keep your contact information withheld from him if you ask me to, and I'm sure everyone else would, too. Just consider it. Please.

Hoping to hear from you soon!

~Renge

Haruhi read and re-read the e-mail several times. She couldn't believe it- Hikaru had broken his arm; god, he'd gotten hit by a car!- and Renge and Kyoya weren't on speaking terms when she'd last seen them, but they were suddenly friends again? And Tamaki…

Tamaki hadn't been lying.

About anything.

How am I supposed to face him now, though? She thought. A hundred times she tried to play it out in her head, but in the end, couldn't make herself ask for his e-mail address from Renge.

She took a deep breath and wrote:

Renge,

Thanks so much for e-mailing me; I was trying to think of how to contact you, it just never occurred to me to ask my dad. I just haven't been thinking clearly since late June/early July, I suppose.

And also…thank you for telling me about everything that happened. Really…I'm…still a little in shock about it all, to tell the truth- mostly about Hikaru, actually. To be honest, I looked back to see if anyone was chasing after me or something, but I didn't see anything, so I guess that was right before he took off.

Also, it's in no way your fault that any of this happened. Please don't blame yourself, okay? Honestly. I…if this had happened in the beginning of the summer, I know that I would have just asked him about it, I mean, it was obvious she hardly knew Japanese, but…I guess I really have changed.

And about Tamaki…god, Renge, after everything that happened, I really don't think I can speak to him…at least not for a while. I just can't bring myself to do it. Believe me, I want to but…I just can't. You're completely right, but…I don't know. So give me everyone else's e-mail addresses, but not his just yet. I need to organize my thoughts first.

Well, on another note, how have you been since we last saw each other? I guess you're back in school; so am I, and it's really not fun. Even with everything that happened the last few days of vacation (or well, the vacation with you guys; I still had two weeks after that before school started), I think I might choose that over being in school. I mean, the people there. Have I ever told you how much I hate our student body? It makes me wish the summer had never ended, that we were still in that summer house together…

Anyway, enough of that. Sorry my e-mail is so much shorter than yours…But I'll talk to you soon!

Haruhi

Over the next few months, Haruhi continued to e-mail everyone back and forth. Hikaru eventually got his cast off- he teased her enough about the cause of it, though she didn't find it very amusing. Hunny and Mori were always doing some kind of preparation for their senior year, whether it be something for the yearbook or applying to colleges. She and Renge e-mailed each other almost every day and called each other very often- more often than the boys did, anyway, though on New Year's she had four calls coming in at once at the stroke of midnight from them all (four because obviously, Hikaru and Kaoru were calling together, and since they were cousins and spending New Year's together, so were Mori and Hunny).

They kept it between themselves, but through Kyoya, Haruhi kept up with pretty much everything Tamaki was doing. Haruhi knew that Kyoya was only doing it because he still had feelings for her, and she appreciated that, but it was only the results that mattered, not the reasons. Tamaki was apparently tutoring Éclair in Japanese- massively- and though she continued to flirt with him, he refused to go out with her. According to Kyoya, every time Éclair made a move, he would tell her that he was waiting for someone else.

Every time she found out something like this, Haruhi was happy, and at times considered e-mailing him, but never could find the resolve. She'd hope that one of her friends would go against their word and give him her e-mail address, but they never did. Haruhi forgave him a million times in her mind, thought she wondered what for, as he had never done anything wrong, so she apologized a million and one times, and hoped that somehow, the feeling reached him and he would also forgive her.

Soon, it was May, and Ranka was making plans with Haruhi's friends' parents for the summer. He again asked Haruhi if she'd changed her mind and wanted to spend the time with the others in that white summer house.

Haruhi thought for a moment. "I can't go back there, dad. I'm sorry."

Ranka sighed. "I thought you'd say that. In that case, you'll be staying with one of my other friends; he has a daughter about your age, I think her name is Mei. You can work for him a bit, make some extra money? How does that sound?"

"Fine."

After that summer passed, Haruhi learned about it immediately. There wasn't much for anyone to say, though; Mori and Hunny had left earlier than everyone else because they had college to attend. Everyone else was nearly the same as last year, but according to Renge, "it was as if something was missing…We all got along fine, of course, but there was just a little bit less interaction than last year. Of course, the twins locked themselves in their room, sometimes for an entire day, and this was more frequent than last year as well. And the amount of times they brought alcohol home. I swear, I have no idea how they get their hands on that stuff!"

As for Tamaki…According to Kyoya, he'd been almost as happy and perky as the previous year, just like everyone else said, but Kyoya said that most of it had been an act. "He was extremely disappointed you didn't come, Haruhi. But then, I think we all were," he wrote.

After that, Kyoya wrote to her less and less frequently, having enough of his own senior matters to take care of, just as Hunny and Mori had the previous year. Soon, whereas the e-mails used to come every week, they'd come every two weeks, then every month, then every few months…

By the time she entered college to study law, just like she'd always dreamed, she hardly e-mailed Kyoya, Mori and Hunny besides holidays and birthdays, and though she talked to Renge and the twins a bit more frequently, it still wasn't more often than every month. They hardly called each other, either; New Year's was often the only time.

She'd completely lost any chance she had of reconnecting with Tamaki.

She again marveled at how quickly all of their friendships had broken apart, and wondered if they all felt the same kind of pain that she did when they thought about the others that had once meant the world to them.

So…This reminds me of a story I read in middle school of this girl who'd always get on the same line at a store to see this bagging boy she liked, but one time she didn't go, and eventually they drifted apart, and the next time they saw each other was like a year later, and they each had a date with them…

So fear not! There will be one more chapter; an epilogue, if you will. It'll be pretty short, though, but I hope you've enjoyed this story thus far, and remember, I will be hardcore revising every chapter shortly after I finish the story…!

Have I mentioned how much I love reviews? XD