It's been a long time since I've updated much of anything on here. Yet, here I am! I love this story, and I love OHSHC too much to give up on it. So, here you go, another chapter! – McKenna

I awoke to the smell of food in the air and someone lovingly petting the top of my head. I burrowed my face farther into the comfy pillow it was resting on and pulled the covers over my cold body, shivering in delight to the warmth. It felt serene in a mess, but I couldn't quite place the feeling that I was forgetting something important…

…Oh yes, that.

My eyes flew open and I quickly sat up, pushing away whoever it was petting my head. Immediately my head pounded and my neck felt stiff, but I was too overwhelmed to lay back down when told to by various voices. Tears welled up in my eyes despite my feelings of confusion, not sorrow or anxiety. I just felt like a mess. An insane mess.

"Shoo, all of you, let me talk to her. Go away!"

"Fine, but don't be a perv, Boss!"

"I am not a perv you shady twins!"

…Well, at least I definitely remember who my friends are here. Tamaki came over and sat down at the foot of my bed, taking my hand in his and smoothing his thumb over it. He waited for my drippy tears to subside before speaking.

"Are you okay? Do you know where you are and what happened?"

I nodded only slightly. Tamaki waited again, patiently. He was quieter than usual, almost as if he was guarding some high emotions at the moment. Almost like he cared more than a friend, but like family. "Y-yes. And my name is Orie Hoshiyo and I like martial arts and Taka- um, Tic Tacs." I cleared my throat as the heat rose to my cheeks, but Tamaki didn't seem to notice my blunder.

He chuckled slightly. "That's good Orie. You took quite a fall out there. You wanna give me your side of the story? I've tried talking to Haruhi, but…I think I was a bit harsh…she doesn't want to speak to me right now." His face fell a little at the thought of it, and I took a moment to recognize that I had never thought of Tamaki actually having feelings of real concern and familiarity with the people around him.

"I, uh, remember that the girls wanted to climb up to the point and watch the sunset. I was scared. I'm really afraid of heights. They pushed me over, but hey, wait- what happened with Haruhi?"

Tamaki shifted uncomfortably. "She was pushed off right after you. May I ask you something now?" After I nodded, he proceeded. "Why didn't you just defend yourself? I know you can."

I stared blankly at him. "I…felt paralyzed." I admitted to him, hanging my head lower.

Tamaki nodded slowly, obviously thinking somewhere else. "Haruhi won't see that she acted recklessly. Although I counted on you to defend yourself, Haruhi has no method to do so. She worried us all, and she's too stubborn to get it."

It all immediately returned to me- being jealous and angry at all of them over the obsession with Haruhi and my feelings of not being good enough. "Oh, yes, god forbid Haruhi gets hurt." I said distastefully. Tamaki opened his mouth slightly and stared at me.

"Orie-Senpai?"

Crossing my arms, I refused to meet his gaze. "I feel so inferior to her. I matter too, you know. Not everything should be about Haruhi just because she's such a forbidden fruit to you people. I'm a girl, too, and just because I know how to defend myself doesn't mean I shouldn't be worried over, either!" I snapped, feeling hot tears welling up in my eyes once again.

Tamaki smiled and laughed. "Orie-Senpai, I was worried sick over you. You wouldn't wake up. At all. You're just as much a part of this family as Haruhi is. I'm sorry we've made you feel like that. I'll try to make a more conscious effort. Now…" He glanced to the door, where Takashi was standing, stoic as ever. Tamaki's eyes glanced back at me, where he offered me a smile. "I believe someone wants to talk to you alone." Tamaki moved off the bed and ruffled my hair for good measures.

"Thank you, Tamaki. I appreciate it." With that, he left, and Mori shuffled in slightly. I looked up at him cautiously. "H-hi, Takashi."

"Mm." He replied.

"You can take a seat."

He did as I said, sitting on the edge of my bed, still watching me. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I have a slight headache and I'm hungry, but other than that, I'm just kind of getting over the shock. I heard Tamaki's having issues with Haruhi."

Takashi nodded at this. "I think it'll all be better. Orie?"

"Hm?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone you were afraid of heights?"

I laughed. A full, belly-aching, tearful laugh. "Well, Takashi, the problem never arose before this situation!" After I calmed down, I gazed back at the serious boy. "I'm sorry, Takashi."

"For what?"

"For any worry I caused." He merely shook his head.

"I was more worried about what I'd do to those two guys…They didn't…touch…touch you, right?" It was the most I'd ever heard Takashi talk, and what's more, talk about his concern for me. I felt blissful as his focus was only directed to me, carefully listening to anything I had to say.

I smiled at Takashi's sweetness, shook my head, and grabbed his hand. "No, they didn't, no worries. Mio Dio, I'm starving. Do we have any leftovers from dinner?"

"Ah." Takashi said, gesturing the plate beside me, stacked with crab legs.

"That works." I smiled at Takashi as he broke the legs for me and I ate the meat out, occasionally giving him a bite or two. Meanwhile, I silently thanked the universe that everything seemed to be falling back in place.

After we returned to Ouran, things were busy and hectic as ever. Girls from Lobelia, a private school made solely for girls, came charging in for about a week, demanding the host club fork over the "fair maiden" Haruhi. Sure, I was jealous over Haruhi, but there was never a time during that whole week where I felt jealousy to be in her position.

Classes were going smoothly, and many of the girls in my classes were asking me about my fall. Some gushed over how it was so heroic of Takashi to get me from the water, others, I heard, were spewing hateful things over it. While finishing up the last of some notes in one of my classes, the girl I sat next to opted to begin a conversation.

"So, Orie, right?" She said, smoothing a hand over her long, beautiful brown locks. I glanced up at her from my work, suspicious. She had never talked to me before.

"Um, yes. That'd be me." She nodded knowingly, her eyes never leaving her work. "Can I help you with something?"

She shook her head. "No, just wondering."

To say it was odd and off-putting would be an understatement. By the time I got to the club that day, I was beat. I wanted to nap and never face any more people for the rest of my life. Or, at least, that's how I felt. I wasn't at all prepared for what was going on when I reached Music Room number Three.

"Why, hello there, Orie-Senpai. How are you today?" Kyoya greeted me at the door, giving me a sincere enough looking smile as he tapped his pen lightly against the black notepad. I grumbled something back to him, waving him off as I trudged to the cart of teas and cakes. Thankfully, after my little episode at the beach, Kyoya simmered me back down to errand girl rather than Hostess. I hated Hostessing.

I stacked the china plates, saucers, and tea cups as well as whole cakes and steeping teas onto the cart in the back room, all the while my eyes threatening to close and my mouth turning sticky and gross.

"Orie-Senpai?"

I turned slowly to see Haruhi standing in the door way, looking at me in confusion. I lifted an eyebrow at her, trying to get across that it was okay to speak, just not to touch or convey any serious information to me. She cleared her throat and came closer, her big, brown eyes searching my face.

"Are you okay, Senpai?"

I shrugged at her, as my bottom lip trembled. God, what the hell is up with you today, Orie? Just an emotional wreck. "Truthfully, Haruhi, I'm just exhausted. I feel very unorganized and irritable ever since we got back from Okinawa." I sighed, setting down a tea kettle and looking up at her.

It was time to come to terms with my jealousy over Haruhi. I reached for her, grabbing her shoulders and holding her in a hug. At first she squirmed, unaware of how to proceed, but she quickly chuckled, and followed suit. She hugged me back, rubbing my back and gripping my frame tightly. We both let go around the same time, and I chuckled nervously, tucking hair behind my ear and looking anywhere but Haruhi's face.

"Listen, Haruhi, this may be a little…uh…forward, but would you like to have a sleep over this weekend? You know, just us two girls?" I smiled at her, watching as her face lifted into a smile.

"I'd love to, Senpai!"

"Great, we can figure out the details later, then."

Haruhi smiled, and we parted ways as unlikely friends for the moment. Walking out of the back room, I felt lighter, like a weight was lifted off my shoulders now that I could spend time with Haruhi and get to know the real Haruhi. I began serving as I typically, stopping at each station to talk to each of the hosts.

"Hello, Orie-Senpai!" The twins said simultaneously, smirking devilishly at me from the table they sat at.

"Hello, Devil Twins. How are you two today?" I asked as I poured more tea into everyone's cup, waiting for an obnoxious response.

"Oh, we're very fine today, Senpai," Hikaru (maybe) began. "In fact, we've been…planning something for a while, and we're hoping to put it into effect very soon!" Kaoru ended, making harsh eye contact with me. I rolled my eyes and got away as soon as possible, not wanting to really hear about what they had or had not been planning.

I made my way to Tamaki, who blabbed on about how I was "so brave" and "very cute" at Okinawa to the girls, who giggled and gasped along with his ridiculous accounts. I smiled at him, though, knowing how he really reacted towards my fall and how caring he was. When I set the cake slice next to his cup, he thanked me in only a Tamaki manner:

"Thank you, oh greatest niece!" He shouted, looking at me with those puppy-dog eyes he had down packed. I rolled my eyes, but smiled gratefully towards him anyway, feeling a new sense of respect for the younger, handsome blonde.

Next was Kyoya, who nearly never had guests to entertain, yet I still attended to his tea drinking needs. I set the cup down wordlessly, preparing to not have any conversation with him, when he cleared his throat.

"Yes, Kyoya-San?"

"I'd just like to tell you that we were all worried about your fall, not just Tamaki and Mori-Senpai. Despite the unintentional property of it all, you have fit in quite well with the host club." He said, never looking up from his computer screen and not bothering to stop the quick, efficient typing. "Just thought I'd let you know that."

I let that tumble around in my mind for a few moments before I allowed a corner of my mouth to go up in a smile. I managed a slight nod of my head in his direction before taking off to Honey and Takashi. Honey was entertaining, showing off just how cute and adorable he was with his cake and stuffed rabbit, Usa-Chan. Takashi, on the other hand, was sitting silently, listening and absorbing conversation like a stoic sponge. His eyes flickered to me and offered a slight smile and nod as Honey kept up the chatter with the ladies.

Lately I had been rather confused about Takashi and me. He basically saved my life, Honey's told me a thousand and one times that he did, in fact, like me, and we've talked many times over the course of the month I had been inducted in. Yet, he still felt strange to me, as if I didn't know anything but the trivial things. As I served them tea and cake, my mind wandered to my mom, and how she was doing, and how I seemed to only know the trivial matters of most people these days.

No wonder I was so down in the dumps. I hardly bothered with trying to keep up my relationships these days.

When I got home, I immediately jumped on my computer and emailed my mom. I asked her about the dojo, her personal achievements in martial arts, her life, her romantic relationships, if applicable. Just to catch up. Writing and pouring out everything in my mind calmed me in such odd ways. It only seemed natural. Only another thing to consider as a career! I thought bitterly.

After I finished my email, I settled in with an unused journal. I had decided after writing the email to my mom that from there on out, I'd document things. Particularly things about Takashi. I wanted to know more of him, to be someone out of the normal in his day to day routine. I craved attention from him. Sure, it started out with a stupid crush, but now, it seemed more real. I wanted a relationship. And maybe not necessarily a romantic one.

And so, I wrote:

Takashi Morinozuka

Loyal, stoic, handsome, intelligent, strong, swift, caring.

I fell asleep with the scenes of him unfolding in my dreams.