This is drawing to a close, and it makes me kinda sad. :( Oh well, that means I can work on new projects!

No, I don't own Ouran.

"Happy birthday Emi!" a little voice yelled, waking her up. Her little sister Kimi was standing on the edge of her bed, bouncing up and down

Emi laughed and hugged the two-year-old, "You're home."

"Yep yep." Kimi and her step mother Tanaka had been spending time with Tanaka's mother to keep them safe from the attacks on the family.

"Do you know how old I'm going to be?"

"Really old." she said, drawing out the old.

She laughed again, "Not as old as daddy." but the reminder of her father made her somber again. She was refusing to speak with either parent because she was furious at them, and herself.

When she had went back to school she had dutifully informed Takashi of everything that had gone on that she hadn't told him, but she had been able to bring herself to tell him about what she had just learned the day before. So, in a way, she was still keeping secrets from him. She was purposely avoiding Kyouya, not wanting to know if he knew anything about it.

When she went to school, she felt sick and considered skipping out on everything that was going to happen today. Kyouya was standing there waiting for her, there was no way she was going to avoid him, so she put on a neutral face and stepped out of the car.

"Happy birthday Emi." he said with a small smile.

"Thanks Kyouya."

"I'm sorry, for everything."

"Me too." Emi said, "It was all mostly my fault anyway."

"I think we both can take the blame. Are we still. . . friends?" of course, Kyouya used the term friends lightly because he felt more for her than that.

"I guess we are still. . . friends." 'Act normal Emi, act normal. Act like nothings wrong and just do what you would normally do.' she thought to herself, "Well then friend, lets go to class." she hooked her arm around his and they walked off too class.

"Emi-chan! Happy birthday!" Tamaki sang out when he saw them.

"Thank you Tamaki, would you like to come with us to class?" she offered out her other arm.

"Of course my darling daughter!" he cried. Emi cringed at that, but didn't shy from him.

"Emi-sempai!" Hikaru and Kaoru chimed, "Come by the Host Club later, we want to give you your present early!"

"Of course you two!" she felt her spirits lifting and she almost forgot about being engaged to Kyouya for a few hours.

Kyouya sat through class silently. He was thinking about Emi, she was acting like her normal self, not the gloomly person she had been the last week. She sat at her desk, humming as quietly as possible to herself and she seemed happy. He liked it when she was happy.

"So we talked to your mom." Kaoru said later that day in the third music room.

"And she said that you needed something to wear for your party."

Emi smiled, "You didn't."

"We did." they said.

At first, she had visions of some of the terrible frilly things that they tried to put on Haruhi at times, but when they showed her the dress, she loved it. It was a simple medium blue dress with single flower stitched on one side. "I love it."

"We knew you like simple things, so our mom made this for you."

"Your mom is amazing."

"Thank you Emi-chan." their mother said, stepping into the room, "Put it on so I can see if it fits. The boys gave me measurements but I want to make sure they were right.

Emi had fun at her party for the most part, the dark engagement still lurked in the back of her mind. She was talking to Haruhi when someone tapped her shoulder. Takashi was standing there with his hand held out and a small smile on his face.

"I'd love to." she said.

He swung her out onto the dance floor. It was so easy to dance with him, as easy as breathing. "Happy birthday." he said quietly.

"Thank you." He pulled her off the dance floor and to the side and handed her a small box. She opened it revealing a necklace with a silver heart shaped locket. "It's beautiful!" she exclaimed, turning it over in her hands. On the back of the locked was written in fancy script was 'Nothing'. "Nothing." she whispered, then she opened it and on one side was written 'Else' and on the other side was 'Matters.' Tears filled her eyes, "I love it."

"I knew you would." He helped her clasp the necklace on.

"Emi." a new voice said. Kanaye was standing there, "Dad wants to talk to you."

Fear dropped in her stomach, 'No.' she thought, 'Not now.' She had known this was coming, but she wasn't prepared at all.

"I'm sorry Emi." he said, "He's in the waiting room in the entrance hall, I'll see you there." he walked off.

"Takashi, no matter what happens, I want you to know that it will always be you."

"What?"

"I have to go."

"Emi-"

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, "I have to go, but I want you to know. . ." she took a deep breath, "That there's no one in the world that I would rather be with than you."

"Emi I-"

"I'm sorry." and she walked off. She knew what she had to do to save herself.

Waiting for her was her parents, step-mother, brothers and Megumi, her future sister-in-law. Also there was Ootori Yoshio and Kyouya. She took a deep breath and sat down.

"Emiko-" her father started, but she held up her hand to interrupt him.

"No need, I know what this is about. I overheard you talking to Kanaye."

"What is this about?" Kyouya asked.

"You mean you don't know?"

"No." he shook his head.

"Well then, let me fill you in. You and I are engaged."

Kyouya stared at her in shock. How was she handling this so calmly when she loved another man. "When did this happen?"

"When we were little, about seven I would guess."

He looked at his father, "Is this true?"

"Yes." his father said.

Emi stood up, "I refuse to marry him. Now that that's out of the way I will go back to my party and my boyfriend, thank you very much.

The entire room went silent, "Boyfriend?" her father managed to choke out.

"Boyfriend father. You know, maybe if you had told me about this earlier, I wouldn't have fallen in love with someone else. Now if you don't mind."

Her father blocked her way to the door, "No, you aren't leaving until you explain."

"I fell in love, I don't want to marry anyone else but him. Kyouya," she turned to him, "I do love you, but it's not the same as the way I love him. You are my friend and I can't chose between one or the other. I want both of you in my life, just in different ways. I can't marry Kyouya and if I do, I swear, I'l get a divorce as soon as I can." She looked at Yoshio, "Do you really want me to marry your son if I won't do anything good for your family? Dad, how could you do this to your little girl? Have you already made arragements for Kimi's marriage? Are you going to do this to her too?"

"It is aparent that you have spent a lot of time in America." Yoshio said, "You have a lot of opinions on how things should be."

"You do know that she is coming to America with me as soon as this party is over." her mother said.

"None of this changes my mind about our agreement."

"Well I'm sorry then." she side stepped around her father and ran out of the room.

Takashi saw her run pass, as did the rest of the Host Club. "Emi-chan!" Tamaki cried out, but she didn't hear him so they ran after her. Morinozuka Akira saw his son running with the Host Club after Kichida Emiko. 'Well.' he thought, 'I guess it's time to find out the truth.' and he followed after them.

Kanaye caught up with her first, "Emi, calm down." he said, catching her shoulders and pulling her into a hug, "Stop running from your problems."

Her mother came next, "Darling, we can leave now if you want." she said.

Emi nodded, "Please, lets go."

"Emi-chan!" the Host Club cried when them got there too.

She gave them a weak smile, "Thank you all for coming, but I have to go."

Everyone else came about then, the rest of her family, the Ootori's and Morinozuka Akira.

"Will someone tell me what's going on here?" Akira asked.

"I'm leaving for America, right now." she said. "My parents engaged me to Ootori Kyouya when we were children. I don't love him the way I love my boyfriend so I can't marry him." she looked at Takashi, "I'm sorry for not telling you, but I couldn't."

"It's okay." he said.

"So you two are in love." Akira mused, "I figured as much."

Hiroshi looked at him, "You knew, and didn't tell me?"

"I didn't know, and I didn't know your girl was engaged, so I let it be."

"Emi, we should go." her mother said.

She looked up at him with her big blue eyes, "Takashi, I love him too, but just as a friend, and I have to go."

"Emi, I love you."

Tears filled in her eyes, "I know, but I can't stay here, not with both of you, not with him still here." She buried her head in his chest, "I'm going to miss you." Then she looked at Kyouya, "Both of you."

"Emi, it's almost time to go." Her mother said.

"Just a minute mom." She kissed her baby sister on the cheek, gave a somewhat friendly nod to her stepmother, gave her brothers both hugs and told them that they were still the best big brothers ever. Then she came to her father, "I'm sorry I couldn't be the daughter who would just do whatever you say dad."

Hiroshi Kichida put his hands on his daughters' shoulders, "Don't be sorry. You wouldn't be my daughter if you did what I told you." He hugged her, "I'll try to fix this for you." He whispered to her, "To make you happy."

"Thanks dad."

When she came to Kyouya, she gave him a small smile, "Kyouya, I'm sorry that I can't choose you."

"I'm sorry too, I know you love him. But I love you too, I guess it wasn't meant to be. I feel like this is my fault."

"This was my choice Kyouya, don't blame yourself because we can't be blamed for our parents mistakes." She turned to his father, "Ootori-sama, I'm sorry, but I don't want to marry your son, and for that reason I am leaving. I'm sorry that my father can't see the future, and made plans with you for us to get married. I'm sorry that your plans have failed. And I'm sorry, but you are the real cause for my decision to leave."

"I too am sorry."

"I'm sure you are."

Next in line was the rest of the Host Club, "Thank you for letting me play the piano for you, I owe you more than you know."

None of them made any noises, except Mitsukuni who was crying. They were still taking in everything that had just been revealed.

"Don't cry Mitsukuni-sempai." She ruffled his hair.

"But but but, you don't have to to leave." He cried.

She smiled, "I'll be back some day. After all, Ryou's getting married in the spring, I'm not going to miss my brother's wedding."

Second to last was Akira Morinozuka, "I apologize to you too, Morinozuka-sama. I went behind your back and fell in love with your son. It was wrong of us to do that and it's my fault. I was the one who made Takashi keep it a secret. I know he didn't like keeping it a secret, but he did it because he loved me."

"I understand."

"Thank you for understanding."

Finally she was back to Takashi, "Takashi, I love you too."

The words were out in the open, but somehow it was bitter on their tongues, knowing that she was leaving.

"Emi, it's time to go." Her mother said.

"One more minute mom." And she stood on her tiptoes and gave Takashi a lingering kiss. Kyouya avoided his eyes, this wasn't new but he still didn't want to watch it. Somehow it didn't hurt as much as it had earlier. Maybe that was a good sign.

Her father coughed nervously, "Emi, really. . ."

Emi broke away, "If you have a problem then I think you know where I'd want you to stick it."

Kanaye's mouth dropped, "Emi!"

She sighed, "I'm tired of people having problems with me. If anyone else has problems with me then they can stick them-"

Her mother quickly covered her mouth, "I think that it's time we leave." She bent down, "Don't get your father in trouble honey." She whispered.

"Fine, fine."

Takashi had to watch her get in a car and drive away. He didn't really understand why she was leaving; she was vague on her reasons. If she had chosen him over Kyouya, why was she still running? Why not face this with him instead of leaving him alone?

Kyouya appeared next to him, "It's what she does." He said, "She runs."

Takashi didn't believe that, Emi had changed so why was she still running?

"You're not going after her Takashi?" his father said.

"Why should I? She's made her choice."

"Why shouldn't you?"

He looked at his father, who shrugged innocently. So what could he do, but get in a car and follow her to the airport.

They were at a small airport, a single hanger and a short runway. They were flying to Australia, then on to America on a bigger plane there. The plane was small, why this was her mother's idea of an inconspicous departure, she had no idea. "Are you sure this thing can get us to Australia?" Emi asked, "It hardly looks like it could get off the runway."

The pilot snorted, "Don't worry Kichida-chan, you'll get there in one piece."

Emi didn't say anything more, she was still thinking about her good-byes to everyone. She didn't want to go away, but this was something she had to do.

A car pulled up and Takashi got out. He had come after her, and the air caught in her throat, tears in her eyes.

"Emi, lets go!" her mother called from the plane.

Emi didn't hear her, she ran out of the hanger and threw her arms around Takashi's neck. His arms wrapped around her and spun her around, "Don't go Emi." He whispered.

"I have to." she said, tears streaming down her face.

"No, you don't."

She looked him in the face, "No Takashi, I have to."

"Emi!" her mother yelled.

"Emi. . ."

"Takashi, I'll be back, sooner than you think. Just, give me some time. Please." She gave him a pleading look.

He couldn't deny her, "Be back soon."

"I will." she promised.

"Emi!"

"I will miss you every minute of every day."

"As will I." Takashi said.

"EMI!"

She pulled out of his arms and walked back into the hanger with the plane.

Takashi told the driver to pull away, he was going to watch Emi leave. It was just self torture really, but he couldn't help himself.

The plane pulled out and started down the runway. He didn't see Emi through the windows as it passed him by, but he knew she probably didn't want him to see her crying again. He watched the plane take off and fly into the fading light.

Even though she was gone, he knew that it wouldn't be too long until she was back with him.

The end is near! (Please review)

~Cloudy