Note from the Author: Hello everyone! My internet's been down for a couple of days, so I haven't yet been able to post this chapter ^-^; Sorry... Considering I was cooped up in the lonely world of no internet, I've already begun the next chapter and have another idea coming out, too, so if all goes according to plan, there will be two new chapters up really soon! Now I shall stand in your way no longer! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.
Haruhi had nearly recovered from her dream by the time she arrived home, but she still couldn't get rid of that single moment in her dream…when she had been so close…Haruhi jumped again, accidentally slamming the front door shut in her surprise.
All she had to do was stop thinking about it. Was it really that hard? It was just a dream after all. It's not like it actually happened. That would be even worse.
Haruhi turned towards the kitchen, wondering if she should start dinner early. Her dad wouldn't be back for a little while, maybe it was best to just wait. She wasn't very hungry anyway.
"I should probably study first," Haruhi justified, walking past the doorway to the kitchen and into her room. She trudged her way to the desk in the corner, throwing her books onto the desk before she sat down. Haruhi sighed as she pulled out the chair with the hope that distracting herself with more important things such as school would keep away the thoughts of her dream.
She opened up the math book first and leaned over it attentively, happy and ready to prove to herself once again she was deserving of the scholarship she possessed. She picked up her pencil and began to write out each homework problem. The lead moved mechanically across the page, not stopping once.
Until the very last problem.
Haruhi wondered why she was having so much trouble when she had just one problem left. It was just like all the others. She looked over to the clock without thinking. She had been working for about an hour and a half. It hadn't been that long, but her eyes were drooping anyway.
Haruhi felt the pencil fall out of her loosening grip and her head grow heavy, eventually losing its balance and laying itself down on top of her arms. A quick nap wouldn't hurt…after all, it had been the reason she had left the club early. She needed to make up the sleep she lost that previous night. Ten minutes…It wouldn't hurt a thing…
Haruhi felt rather comfortable sleeping at her desk until she felt an odd feeling similar to waking up. She opened her eyes, but not where she was supposed to. Haruhi groaned.
"It's great that I fell asleep, but isn't one a day enough?" Haruhi asked angrily to no one. The Cinderella story had been more than enough, but this…this was pathetic. Haruhi's eyes kept moving back and forth to all the happy little forest creatures running and jumping around among the trees that began a forest. Everything was so…bubbly. Haruhi loved cute things. They were adorable. But since when did birds have big, round rosy cheeks and sing songs everyone knows and loves? And last time Haruhi checked, deer didn't smile like that and they definitely didn't approach a human of their own volition. The butterflies even had some kind of intelligent mind. This wasn't cute, this was just strange.
So where am I now? Haruhi thought with a disappointed sigh. Her eyes shifted down to look at herself and instantly recognized her role. Who else wore a puffy yellow skirt and equally puffy white and blue sleeves? Haruhi didn't mind so much- she had worn a fair share of puffy things in her life, but the odd flap poking from the back of her dress was a little much. And she couldn't forget the red bow she just knew was in her hair.
"Well, what now?" Haruhi asked aloud, wondering if the animals would talk to her here too, "I'm not singing, that's for sure."
"Haruhiii!" sang a trying to be feminine voice from far too off in the distance. Haruhi knew she wasn't supposed to have heard the call, but it must have been needed to further the plot, giving her no choice but to respond.
"Haruhi, my darling!! Come here a moment!" Assuming she was being called from the large, pretty castle she was standing in front of, Haruhi started walking towards the door. Just as the Cinderella dream had been, she seemed to be moving a lot quicker than she did when she was awake. She thought she was walking just like any other day, but she was inside and halfway down a hallway before she knew it. Haruhi wasn't complaining, particularly because she didn't really know where she was going, but it did make things a touch weirder.
"Haruhi!" the voice called again, a little clearer. Haruhi recognized it this time. How could she not? She had grown up with that voice.
"Coming, dad, just give me a sec!" Haruhi answered, assuming she was heading in his direction. His call had been louder, so there was really no other explanation. The large wooden door just up ahead, hidden in the depths of the dimly lit hallway, seemed to be placed suspiciously enough that it could be considered part of the story. Haruhi walked a little faster until she could place her hands on the wood in need of sanding and push the heavy door open just enough for her to get through.
"Haruhi!" Ranka cheered, throwing up his arms and skipping merrily to his daughter, wrapping her in a tight, fatherly hug. Haruhi wanted to laugh seeing him in a flowing purple dress and black cape, considering he was anything but sinister, and he usually didn't wear gowns- though a fan of skirts, but she refrained.
"Haruhi, I've decided something wonderful!" Ranka declared, letting go of his daughter. Haruhi waiting cheerfully to hear what her loving father had to say, wondering how on earth the story she was experiencing would be the proper telling of Snow White.
"I've decided you're too beautiful, just like your mother, and I don't want any horrible, nasty boys sneaking after you!" Ranka unexpectedly told her with a bright smile, "So you're going to stay here in this room forever and ever and always! Isn't that wonderful?" Haruhi felt a wave of semi-panic flood over her. So this was how the story was going to continue. At least they gave her a good reason to run away.
Which Haruhi did.
"Y-yeah, that sounds great, dad," Haruhi tried to agree casually while slowly backing up to the crack in the door, "But, um, I just…kinda like the outdoors, you know?" And with that, she turned around and began to run as fast as her feet could go. The skirt, being as puffy as it was, didn't hinder the movement of her legs too horribly, allowing Haruhi to run almost at her usual rate.
The fresh air filled with the twitter of chirping birds enveloped her as though she had been inside for as long as her dad had wanted her to stay. But Haruhi didn't stop there. She kept running, knowing eventually, when she had run far enough into the merry looking woods, she'd come across a lovely place to stay.
I'd probably be able to run a lot faster if I didn't have to worry about tripping on all these animals… Haruhi's thoughts whined, too out of breath to speak, but it was the truth. Every furry creature she had seen upon entering her dream felt the obligation to accompany her to wherever she may be going.
Wait a minute…didn't I just skip a whole scene in my dream? I guess dad doesn't need a mirror to think he's pretty…and I definitely didn't need some hunter guy to tell me to run away from that idea, Haruhi kept thinking to pass the time. She must have been too caught up in thought, though, because she ran right into another wooden door desperately in need of sanding.
"That would have hurt if I had been awake…" Haruhi mused, pushing the door open slowly to peek inside. Everything seemed normal sized, for what was supposed to be a dwarf home. It was to Haruhi's benefit though, so there weren't any problems.
"What are you doing here?" asked an angry voice. Haruhi spun around, ready to apologize, but she saw no one. Oh right, she quietly remembered, dwarves. Haruhi looked down at her feet and felt ready to burst.
There, standing three feet off the ground, were the cutest most adorable, big-headed creatures she had ever seen. She had no idea the people she knew in every day life could be so cuddly if made into chibis. Big eyes, big heads. Big eyes, big heads! It was all she could concentrate on. Haruhi remained silent as she stared at the cute little chibis, not stopping until the chibi Hikaru started vigorously waving his hand in front of her face.
"Hello?! I said, 'What are you doing here?'" he repeated more furiously than before.
"Oh, um, uh, right…" Haruhi stuttered, wanting to grab every single one of them and hug them all individually. It had to be the Snow White inside of her…
"Hika-chan, she's supposed to be here!" cried the chibi Hunny, "It's part of the story! Hi, Haru-chan! I'm small, see?"
"Yeah, you are…" Haruhi agreed, starting to blush when she saw the somehow more adorable than before Hunny beam at her. And the chibi Mori waving next to him only completed the picture.
"Whether we all know the story or not, we should probably still formally introduce ourselves, it's only polite," chibi Kyouya pointed out, scribbling in a teeny black notebook, "Hello Miss Haruhi, I'm playing the role of the leader of this mini
troop-"
"Which means you're Doc, right?" Haruhi finished, suddenly getting excited around the three feet tall, big headed bundles of joy, "Um, and let me guess…" She pointed to chibi Hunny. "You're Happy-" Her finger moved to the chibi Mori. "I'm going to guess you're Sleepy-" She noticed the surprising sight of a chibi Shiro from the elementary school standing off in the corner, covering his nose and looking angry. "You must be Sneezy, because why would Grumpy cover his nose-" Haruhi then saw a chibi hooded figure with his back turned and pointed at him. "Nekozawa has to be bashful, because he's always hiding-" Haruhi stopped short. The chibi twins looked equally angry.
"That's right, we both wanted to be Grumpy, so that's what we are, deal with it," chibi Hikaru and Kaoru said together, folding their arms and lifting their noses to the sky simultaneously.
"But then you're one short," Haruhi said, the cute attack wearing off, "Aren't there supposed to be seven of you?"
"Yeah, but who really cares?" chibi Hikaru harshly pointed out, shoving past the girl almost three times his height and making his way into the too large for them house. Chibi Kaoru followed immediately after. And while there was a clearing, the other proceeded to enter their home as well.
"Considering this is a representation of Snow White," chibi Kyouya began, stopping at the doorway before walking in, "And it doesn't look like you have anywhere else to go, you're welcome to stay here, if you'd like."
"Thanks," Haruhi smiled, "That's really nice of you, sempai." Who cares if it were a dream, Kyouya offering anything was a good deed. It needed to be appreciated and thanked.
"It's my pleasure," chibi Kyouya went on, "Of course, there is the trifling matter of rent, but we can come to that conclusion later. For now, just enjoy yourself. This is a dream after all." He went through the door, leaving Haruhi to stand in awe, as expected as it should have been. She sighed with a groan, then walked back into the house again.
"Haru-chan! You cook, right?" chibi Hunny asked excitedly, bouncing up onto a nearby chair, "Do you think you could bake a cake? I'm starving!"
"Um, yeah, sure," Haruhi agreed. It would kill some time until the next plot twist. "What kind-" chibi Shiro let out a loud sneeze, making Haruhi jump and stutter over her words. "um…what kind do you want?"
"Chocolate!" chibi Hunny declared as though he had an answer planned for this moment his whole life.
"Is everyone else okay with that?" Haruhi wanted to clear up before actually making the cake.
"Whatever," the chibi twins said together, shrugging their arms.
"Chocolate's good…" chibi Mori answered, curling up by chibi Hunny's chair and laying his head on his knees.
"Yes," chibi Nekozawa said quietly from behind the frame of another doorway leading to what looked like the darkest room imaginable. Chibi Shiro sneezed again while nodding.
"Why won't I stop sneezing?!" he yelled with an obviously miserable groan.
"Fine by me," chibi Kyouya agreed last, leaning against the wall nearest to the front door and right next to a long line of counters. How do they reach anything? Haruhi thought, noticing all the chibis were about half the size of their possessions.
"Okay, then, chocolate it is," Haruhi finalized, opening the nearest cupboard to see what was inside. She didn't bother asking anyone, assuming they never actually went into these cupboards themselves. Surprisingly, everything she needed was at hand, and sat way above the ground. How it got there, Haruhi didn't know, but it didn't really matter. She was in a dream, and a fairytale. Nothing needed to make sense.
By the time Haruhi had put the cake in the oven, with chibi Hunny cheering non-stop in the background and being yelled at by the angry, or rather grumpy, chibi twins all the while, there was a loud knock on the front door. Chibi Nekozawa screamed and ran into the dark room when Haruhi opened the door, letting in a flood of sunlight. Wasn't he outside no more than an hour ago? she wondered, Oh well. That's Nekozawa-sempai, I guess…
"Oh, Miss Ayanokoji, why are you here?" Haruhi asked, seeing the ever-peeved rich girl from her first day as a host standing still-peeved at the door.
"Your ridiculous excuse for a father told me to deliver this for you, so here I am," she told the bewildered Haruhi, "He said that I'd 'fit the part better,' whatever that means."
"No, I meant why are you in my dream," Haruhi corrected, "But never mind that, what did he bring?" Haruhi looked down at Ayanokoji's hands to see a covered basket cradled in her arms. Ayanokoji pulled back the blue cloth that sat on top of the contents of the basket to reveal a lovely set of apples and a piece of paper from her dad with nothing but a few pink hearts drawn on it.
"Go ahead and take one," Ayanokoji coaxed, "They're delicious, I had one earlier." The suspicious glare and tone of voice should have sent a spark of realization through Haruhi, but for some odd reason, being Snow White made her IQ shrink from its usual height.
"Well, thanks, that's really nice of you," Haruhi said quickly with a bright smile. Most of the chibis in the room just sighed, but chibi Hunny actually tried to stop Haruhi while she picked up a shiny red apple from the basket.
"No, Haru-chan!" he said dramatically with a hand outstretched, "We haven't even left the house again! You can't progress the story until it's done right!" But Haruhi didn't pay attention. After the Cinderella dream, she planned to block out any criticism from bystanders in her dreams. She was the one sleeping and she could do things however she wanted.
Slowly and epically, Haruhi took a bite of the apple. The moment she pulled the fruit away from her mouth, she began to feel dizzy. The world around her started to move back and forth, sometimes in little circles. She tried to keep her balance, but she just couldn't. Haruhi fell to the ground, wondering how one passed out in a dream.
As though no time had passed, Haruhi felt her eyes twitch open. Had she really just been sleeping while she was sleeping? Did that make any logical sense at all? Shaking off the thought, Haruhi sat up, rubbing her eyes.
She was on a cold surface. Flat too. Like a pure white board. Lining the edges were small bushes of bright colored flowers. She had been placed a little ways from the house. It could be seen not too far off. All the chibis were standing in a row, holding back laughs. All but chibi Nekozawa, who didn't seem to be anywhere…
"What's so funny…?" Haruhi asked, still a little groggy from her "sleep." She looked around to see if she could find anything worth laughing at. Haruhi felt herself go rigid when she turned her head to see a bit of a shaken prince figure by the board she had been laid on.
"G-good morning," a slightly nervous Tamaki laughed with a wave as small and pathetic as his attempt to lighten whatever mood was around. Haruhi hoped she didn't know what had happened…She began to run through a chain of thoughts to calm her rapidly beating heart down. Nothing had technically happened. She was in a dream and she had been "passed out" for that part. The conclusion of her Cinderella dream flashed through her Snow White mind. Haruhi swore she was sweating.
"Th-there just seemed no way to wake you up, so I, uh…" Tamaki rambled, "Well, you know, they said it would work, and it did, so…" He proceeded to poke his fingers together, blushing just a little.
Haruhi felt her head grow light again. She began to sway where she sat. Everything grew fuzzy, but she did see a worried Tamaki reach out to grab her before she officially fainted.
"Haruhi!" he hurriedly called out to her. Haruhi thought he started to say something else, but she jolted up in the warm reality of her room. Her neck was sore from bending over to lay on her desk. She was shaking again, but not as heavily. Maybe because she hadn't technically been awake for the actual…dare she say it, kiss.
"Wait a minute," Haruhi thought to herself, "I wasn't awake for any of it." The thought calmed her down a bit, but she still couldn't stop the gentle trembling of her fingers.
"Ah, Haruhi! You're awake!" Ranka cheered from her room's open door, "I came home and saw you were asleep, so I took the liberty of making dinner!" Haruhi laughed weakly. Her dad had never really been the best at cooking…He simply didn't have the experience. But it was sweet and fatherly of him anyway.
"Are you all right?" Ranka asked, becoming concerned, "You're shaking. Did you have a bad dream?" Haruhi felt a small smile cross her lips against her will.
"I'm…I'm not sure…" she told her semi-worried dad, "Never mind. Let's eat. I'm excited to see what you made!" She smiled and jumped out of her chair, listening to her dad's joyous cheers of his accomplishment and his extra step to being the perfect dad. Haruhi didn't think he had to work at it whatsoever, but she didn't think she would mind her dad making dinner every now and then.
