"Right Here Waiting" Revised Edition 2013 © natsu_no_sora

Ouran High School Host Club 2002 © Hatori Bisco

I do not own anything. Support the mangaka by buying her works.

:::

Chapter 07: Hallucinations to Reality

:::

Tamaki stared intently on the piece of paper like he was trying to burn a hole on it.

"New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, New York..." he muttered over and over again for the past five minutes.

"Are you going to blubber there all day like a demented parrot or are you planning to talk to us in coherent sentences?" the twins asked in a bored voice.

"Shut up, I'm trying to think here," he snapped.

"I printed out the top ten universities from the Forbes' list. I excluded the military academy since there's no way Haruhi could've gone there," Kyouya said, feeling silly at the thought of her going to military.

"Of course not," his friends agreed with the twins snickering.

"What do we do now with the list, Tama-chan?" Hunny-senpai asked between bites of cake.

"We'll divide it among us: you and Mori-senpai, Kaoru and Hikaru. But Kyouya and I will be separated so we'll have four teams to conquer America!" Tamaki yelled like a commander of an army, complete with a hilarious pose. He snapped his fingers and settled down to business. "Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai, attack California!"

"Okay!"

"Hm."

"Kaoru, Hikaru, you two conquer the New England!"

"New England? I thought were going to chase Haruhi in America?" they asked dumbfounded.

"New England is the region in the northeast of US: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut," Kyouya sighed exasperatedly.

"Ooohhhh..." the twins chorused. "Alright, we're in!"

"Actually," Kyouya intercepted. "I should take the New England other than any state."

Everyone looked at him curiously. "Why?" Tamaki asked.

Kyouya took a deep breath and clasped his hands together on the table. "My father is sending me to Harvard for college."

"Really? You're going to study in Harvard?" Tamaki widened his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" The twins glared at him.

"That's because I just heard it from him last night." Kyouya explained his father's intention of kicking him off to Harvard since the engagement was cancelled. He said he might as well make use of his time enriching his mind if he ever wanted to take over the Ootori Empire. To hell with the stupid empire, Kyouya just wanted to be with Haruhi.

"Oh. Well, I think that's more convenient for you since you'll be in Harvard," Tamaki nodded in agreement and scribbled a note on the piece of paper. "So that's settles it, then. Kyouya will be in New England. Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai will be in California. You, evil doppelgänger, will be in New York." Tamaki handed them the list of prominent universities in their respective assigned area.

"Eh, what about you, Tono? Where are you going to scout?"

"As for me, I'll be jumping around America to visit the scattered schools that made it to the list. Like, uh-" he peeked at his paper. "Like New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania- oh, by the way Kyouya, I'll check out Connecticut and Maine for you because that's pretty far from Massachusetts," Tamaki added.

"Do whatever you want," Kyouya muttered.

"Yosh! This ends our discussion here. Gentlemen, prepare for take-off, we're going to the United States of America."

Two weeks had passed since the school started. Haruhi stretched on her seat as the lunch bell rang through the high school department of Harvard University.

"Haruhi!" A gorgeous Caucasian girl with strawberry blonde locks and ocean-blue eyes called her from the door. Her name sounded funny coming from the the girl.

"What is it, Aaliyah?" she turned to her classmate and smiled.

"Let's eat lunch together!" Aaliyah linked her arm around Haruhi's and dragged her to the canteen.

Haruhi was warmly welcomed in her class. Her classmates seemed genuinely friendly and interested in her. All the nervousness melted away as she gained new friends, enjoyed their company and laughed freely with them; all that by the end of her first day.

Aaliyah was one of them; nice and cheerful, kind of like a female version of Tamaki. She always invited her to lunch and introduced Haruhi to her circle of friends.

That day, just like every day in the past two weeks, they had eaten their lunch in the school canteen and went back to their classroom for the afternoon session.

The day passed like a blur. Haruhi found herself trudging the now-familiar hallways towards the amazingly huge library of the university. After school, instead of going home early, she buried herself under thick books from the infinite bookshelves that contained priceless books and references. For a bookworm like her, the place was heaven on earth.

That particular sunny afternoon, she immersed herself in an english classic novel; a worn out copy of The Count of Monte Cristo. Haruhi lazily rested her cheek on her palm as her read the book. She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts and looked out the glass wall.

The bright sun rays shimmered a rainbow colored sparks against the glass and the garden outside was reflected beautifully. She stared at the landscape; there were a few groups of students hanging out, some girls were gossiping and giggling; others were playing chess. A typical Harvard afternoon.

Haruhi realized she enjoyed observing people; a feat she got from dating the Shadow King. Oh well, she sighed. As she was about to return to the book she was reading, her eyes caught a figure walking in the garden.

She frowned; the familiar bespectacled guy with raven hair and dark eyes walked with the same confidence and power as Ootori Kyouya. She watched the guy intently as if he was the weirdest creature on earth, until he disappeared from her view. Her heart was beating like helicopter blades and she almost made a mad dash towards the garden, calling for Kyouya. But reality kept her from doing it; he couldn't possibly be in Harvard's garden strolling leisurely, could he?

Great, now I'm hallucinating, Haruhi thought as she closed her eyes and shook her head to clear her head. She closed the book and decided to go home. Maybe she was just tired. Or maybe because the book was recommended by Kyouya and her subconsciousness played tricks on her.

And that incident started her "hallucination". The following days, Haruhi was haunted by Kyouya's image.

Several times during lunch, she thought she saw him from the far corner of the canteen. One time, as she was walking towards her next class with Aaliyah, she saw a glimpse of him walking hastily a few meters ahead of them. She tried following him to make sure of what she was seeing. But he disappeared at the hallway intersection. And more frequently now, she saw him by the garden when she was in the library.

Haruhi was confused as hell and started to doubt her sanity. She was sure it was Kyouya but some logical brain cells in her head reminded her that he couldn't possibly Kyouya because he doesn't know she was in Harvard. And even if he knew, he wouldn't cross half-way around the world to follow her, would he? Because he doesn't care about her anymore. Maybe it was just the pain and longing for him messing up with her head.

One ominous Friday afternoon, Haruhi was comfortably sitting in her favorite spot in the library. She was reading a new novel and this time, she avoided the books that would remind her of Kyouya.

Haruhi paused and automatically looked out the glass, which she realized was a bad idea because there he was again, walking purposely across the garden. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to clear her faulty vision.

Stupid idiot, she scolded herself. It's not him. It can't be him. It's just another illusion. That's what you get for daydreaming about him all the time.

With a frustrated growl, Haruhi shoved her books in her bag and left the library.

A prickling sensation at the back of his neck made Kyouya looked back at the garden of Harvard. His eyes landed on the glass wall of the library and his brows furrowed.

Weird, he thought and continued towards the waiting limousine.

These past days, Kyouya got the feeling someone's looking at him. He thought it was just his imagination but it happened quite often now.

"Good afternoon, Kyouya-sama." Tachibana opened the passenger door for him. His young master nodded seriously and slid inside the limo. "Where would you like to go, sir?" He asked as soon as he was on the steering wheel.

"Willian College," Kyouya replied. And the car surged forward slowly.

It has been weeks since the host club's mission of finding Haruhi commenced. Luck wasn't on their side. Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai were still in California, checking out five universities. The twins were pulled out from New York since their senior year in Ouran had already started. They put up so much fight about it but eventually, they reluctantly flew back to Japan. And while Tamaki was searching Illinois like a madman, Kyouya was on his way to the third school.

A ride from Harvard to William College would take approximate three hours; Kyouya sighed.

They were moving out of the university premises when thunder rumbled overhead, making Kyouya snapped up. Instinctively, he pulled out his BlackBerry to call his girlfriend. Then realization hit him hard in the face. He wanted to laugh at himself as he remembered the sole reason why he was currently in US territory.

He shook his head and threw his phone on the empty seat beside him. He looked out the window, wondering for the millionth time about Haruhi. Wherever she was, he hoped it wasn't thundering there. It pained him to think about her trembling in fear without him to comfort her. The thunderstorm continued and every roar was pounding him to pieces.

It started to drizzle. The car was moving real slow to accommodate the building traffic. Kyouya hated it. With another frustrated growl, he focused his attention to the blurring world outside the limo.

As they approach a highway, thunders were rolling like someone upstairs was playing nonstop bowling. The wide asphalt in this part of Cambridge was surprisingly cleared from traffic. Kyouya caught a sight of a petite girl curled up on the bench under the shelter of the bus stop.

The girl was hugging her knees tightly and resting her head on it. She had a windswept brown hair that looked stunningly familiar.

Haruhi, was all his mind said.

Then with another slap of realization, Kyouya jolted on his seat like an electrified fish.

"Stop!" he yelled. Tachibana, who seized the opportunity of clear traffic, started to speed up the car only to step hard on the brakes, causing them both to lurch forward.

"Kyouya-sama, what is-"

But Kyouya was already out the car. His heart was punching his ribs from the inside as he slowly approached the curled-up form of the girl. Now that he can see her clearly, he was absolutely 100% sure that she was Haruhi even with her face buried on her knees.

Thunder clapped again and he heard her whimpered; it sent a ripple of devastation to him as well as an enormous amount of relief. After months of agonizing search, he's finally a few feet away from her.

"Haruhi," he called out softly.

The girl froze. And then slowly, too slowly, she looked up to reveal her frightened, child-like face. Her beautiful milk-chocolate eyes were rimmed with unshed tears.

"Kyouya..." she whispered and it resonated to the young man's ears like the sweetest lullaby in the world.

:::

02/06/13 OWARI

:::

SORA'S RAMBLING CORNER:

Whoa. They finally met! Hallelujah! I hope you like my latest update. Not much dialogue in this chapter but I'm sure the next will be filled with it.

Thank you for the views, reads, reviews, favorites and follows! I appreciate it very much :)

Sorry for the cliffhanger, hehe! Till next time, Ja~!