Okay, so first off, I'm very sorry that it's taken me this long! I had things going on, and just generally I didn't really know where I was going, so the improvising got harder. I know I've missed my own deadline... and by quite a bit!

So, without further delay, here's chapter 5!

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Hikaru stepped forward to follow her, his brow creased in confusion, but Kaoru put his hand on his shoulder, a sign for him to stop. Kaoru knew that literally running from the room, she clearly didn't want company.

"Well that was nice of her." Hikaru said sarcastically.

Kaoru's mouth pulled into a line. It had been rude of Cho to run away like that, but with the percentage of time he'd seen her blushing, it was obvious she wasn't particularly comfortable in social situations.

"And what the hell was she wearing the guys' uniform for anyway?" Hikaru said.

This was followed immediately by a sigh from Kaoru. Hikaru was back to his blunt old self. The apologetic stage had passed. At least it had happened, if only for a few minutes.

"Unless she's the opposite of Haruhi? You know, we thought Haruhi was a guy but she was a girl? Maybe Cho is really a guy!" Hikaru said, entering into one of his rare serious tones.

Kaoru just looked at his brother. It was understandable that people thought Haruhi was a guy; as they had said before, she was 'as flat as a board', but the same could definitely not be said for Cho - she had curves. So why had she adopted the shirt and tie look? Surely she couldn't be that unfeminine and opposed to the idea of wearing a dress?

"Hikaru? Kaoru?"

Tamaki waltzed into the room, leading the rest of the Host Club in after him.

"I thought I heard your voice, Hikaru. What are you two doing in here?"

"We came to apologise to Choyo," Kaoru said, and went on to explain her reaction, as well as her unorthodox choice of uniform.

"What's wrong with that? Surely it's okay for a girl to wear trousers?" Haruhi asked.

"Don't skip past things, Haruhi. The important thing here is that the Hitachiins have achieved some personal growth – they apologised." Kyoya said, writing in his notebook, as his laptop had been put away and was now residing in a plain black bag, hung over his shoulder.

Okay, so it was something that the twins had admitted to themselves they were wrong, and another thing to have admitted it to everybody else, but what was wrong with a girl wearing trousers?

"See, Tama-chan, Cho-chan didn't just reject you," Honey started, striking a chord with the blonde prince, who promptly returned to his corner of woe. "She just isn't happy around people."

"Yeah," Mori reaffirmed.

Tamaki paused. He returned to the group, his eyes on the floor. However, this only signalled to the rest of the group that he was about to announce his new idea. Thrusting his arm into the air, he started.

"We're going to help Choyo become more comfortable around people!"

"Senpai, are you sure that's a good idea?" Haruhi asked.

Surely, if Cho felt so uncomfortable and awkward that she would literally flee, how were the Host Club going to make it any better? Haruhi felt a little better in knowing that she had managed to have some sort of conversation with Cho the day before, even if it had been cut short.

"Haruhi, perhaps you could become Choyo's friend?" Kyoya said, ramming his hand into Tamaki's face, to stop him complaining and rambling.

Haruhi blinked. Kyoya really did never miss a trick. But was his sudden interest in the matter really for Cho's benefit? Kyoya always seemed to have some sort of hidden agenda.

"Sure, I guess…" Haruhi answered, trying to figure out the look in his eyes. Considering he knew so much about everybody else, Kyoya was so difficult to fathom.

"Then that settles it!" Tamaki proclaimed, pulling away from Kyoya's hand. "Honey-senpai! Make sure we have the best cake available tomorrow! We're going to make sure that everything is perfect and make Choyo feel as comfortable as possible."

"I'm only trying to make friends with her, senpai; I'm not going on a date with her." Haruhi objected, before Tamaki could go on handing out more jobs for the other Hosts. "We don't need amazing cake or anything like that."

But Tamaki had zoned out. His mind was working overtime, his imaginary theatre taking over. He forgot to take into account that Cho was painfully shy, so it was unlikely that they would become fast friends, let alone anything more.

Haruhi ignored him, bid them all goodnight, and left. She'd tried her best to help her dad, but he had been panicking and in a bit of a state by the time she'd left, so getting back to him was her priority right now.

---

The next day was a cloudy one. Haruhi sighed. She hated it when the weather was like this. It made everyone miserable and easily agitated, as well as making her nervous. It was not uncommon for a storm to brew from conditions like this.

Walking to school, Haruhi stared at her feet. She couldn't help but think of the others, warm and comfy being driven about in their posh cars, unaware of how easy they had it. She'd like to see how they'd cope one day without having anybody do anything for them.

She shivered as the wind blew fiercely, blustering her hair around her face and in her eyes, instinctively closing them and putting her hand over them, shielding her eyes and her view. She heard the beep of a car horn, and glancing to the side, she frowned slightly. She saw Hikaru leaning out of the open door of the Rolls-Royce that had pulled up by the side of the road, with Kaoru's head visible over Hikaru's shoulder. Just as she'd expected.

Haruhi paused. Did she really want to put herself through the twins torment before they'd even reached Ouran? The wind blew again, resounding in her ears. She wasn't stupid or too proud to accept a ride into school, not in this kind of weather.

Rushing over, the twins shuffled over so that Haruhi could sit down. Clipping her seatbelt into place, the door closed, and the car continued on its journey to school.

"So, Haruhi, did you not consider doing something with your hair this morning?" Hikaru asked, ruffling her hair to accentuate his point.

"Yeah, even just a quick brush through can do wonders you know." Kaoru added, grinning.

Haruhi jerked her head away, and refused to acknowledge them. She knew there was a reason she had hesitated before getting in. This was it. Staring out the window, she watched the rest of the world struggling with the gale force winds. She glanced upwards, looking at the still miserable grey sky. Surely with this much wind, it should be shifting.

The car drove along, attracting fleeting looks from almost everybody, and Haruhi was so glad that the windows were tinted. How could anybody stand being watched every moment of the day?

But then she noticed that the people outside suddenly had their attention drawn elsewhere. Following their gaze, Haruhi gasped.

"Stop the car!" She shouted.

---

So yeah, there's the very delayed next chapter! Because I was so slow, I've decided to update two at once for you! Little bit of devotion required, I felt!

Review if there's anything in particular you wanted to say about this chapter (be kind – I know it was a bit pointless!), or you can just carry on to the next one! Onwards, readers!

~KW