SS- Yea! The countdown to spring break begins. . .NOW!!! I have four more days until the glorious days of freedom from the oppressive regime known as 'high school'.

Athene- Don't mind her. She's just bitter because all of her teachers this year are prissy, drama queens.

SS- Oh, man! If anyone out there used to go to Point Loma, or still does go to Point Loma, I am totally talking about Mr. Z!

Kali- Quit your bitchin'! On with the show!

Disclaimer: Ouran High School Host Club and all affiliated characters belong to Bisco Hatori-shishou, no matter how much I may wish otherwise.

WARNING: Meh. I really can't think of anything for this chapter. Takashi-sempai may be a little out of character, but it's just his thoughts and opinions.

Rating: M

Title: Portrait of Takashi

Takashi had been awake for hours, since the drugged tea had first begun to affect the others. He hadn't had anything to drink, but figured it would be interesting to found out who was the culprit and why. Takashi had been surprised to find Haruhi at the heart of it (he would have figured it to be the twins) and observed with avid interest as she took out a large sketchbook and began drawing in earnest. She was efficient, spending no more than an hour at most on each subject. Still, there was a certain cuteness in the way she would chew on the corner of her bottom lip when concentrating, and there was an endearing quality in the way she would put a pencil behind her ear, then forget was there while she searched frantically to find it.

He took the opportunity, once she had dozed off on the divan, to look at what she had done. What he found astounded him. The quality of her work was simply amazing, and these were only the rough sketches! Each sketch had a life-like feel, a sense of motion, even though it was obvious that the subjects were asleep. Truly fantastic. The self-portraits that she—

Motion on the other side of the room brought him out of his thoughts. Hmm, so she was going to wake up the others? And she was going for Kyoya first? Bold, smart, but incredibly dangerous. Should he help, should he just watch? Too late now, she was already at the shadow king's side!

"Kyoya-sempai," the young woman gently prodded his shoulder, "you need to wake up now. It's time for you to get Tamaki-sempai home. . .Kyoya-sempai!" The ever feared "Eye of the Devil" special technique was employed upon her, but consistent exposure to her father's own "Eyes of the Bloodthirsty Demon" had rendered her immune to such amateur tactics. "Kyoya-sempai, if you don't get up before the twins, they'll start taking incriminating photos of you two for blackmail, and then you'll get nowhere with Tamaki-sempai! Now wake up!!"

Haruhi had learned early on in life that when someone can't be woken up with kindness, a few idle, yet completely accurate, threats were the best way to go. Kyoya's eyes popped open; he glanced down to the source of the weight on his chest (and the erection on his thigh) then up to the freshman who was kindly setting their briefcases next to him. "It seems you are more perceptive than I have realized, Haruhi," he murmured as he fumbled to stand up, all the while taking care to ensure that the blond in his arms remained asleep.

"I'm sorry Kyoya-sempai, but I took the initiative of calling one of your drivers to come take you home. . .will you be taking Tamaki-sempai home as well?" At the slight nod, Haruhi grinned, passed off the cases to the dark-haired man, and wished them a safe journey home. She sighed happily once they were out of earshot, then turned around to face the twins. This one would be a piece of cake.

"Hikaru-kun, Kaoru-kun, would you take a look at this dress I'm wearing? It's a little tight around the chest. . ."

The twins were both up ready to see which of their mom's wonderful creations their little Haruhi-chan would actually wear only to find. . .! They'd been duped.

"That was unbelievably un-cute of you, Haruhi-chan!"

"It woke you guys up, didn't it? Call your limo, and I'll see you at school on Monday, alright? Unless, of course, you two want to wake up Hunny-sempai—!" The Hitachiin twins were out the door before she could even finish the senior's name. "Cowards. . .and then there were two," she sighed. Waking up Hunny-sempai would be bad, but would she be able to keep her Ouran renowned cool when waking Mori-sempai? Crap, crap, crappy crap, CRAP she was better than this! She could do it!

With new resolve, she whirled about and strode right into a warm, fleshy wall. Good job, dummy. . .good job. "Ah! Mori-sempai, you're awake! Good, one less person to wake up! Just let me wake Hunny-sempai, and we can all be on our way home!" Ouran renowned cool my ass! I just hope he doesn't realize I'm nervous, or anything like that. Things could start to get tricky. Tch!

"Should I go wake Mitsukuni?" Haruhi shook her head lightly, then asked if he would call for their ride. "Haruhi. Do you need a ride?"

"No, that's okay, I'll be fine," she threw a smile over her shoulder as she walked towards the sleeping senior, "but thank you, sempai; it's very kind of you to offer." Expertly and efficiently, she shook Hunny-sempai's shoulder, then waited for the glare to appear. When it did, she was ready and armed with a small piece of cake, of which she forced a forkful into his mouth before he could snap out at her irritably. She smiled at his surprise.

"Haru-chan, I'm still sleepy! Why'd you wake me up?" Haruhi smiled and held out Bun-bun for him to take.

"Because Bun-bun is sleepy too, but I think he wants to go home." Takashi was amazed. This was the first time he'd ever heard of someone being able to wake Mitsukuni (beside himself) without coming to any bodily harm. Not only that, but she was more than capable of handling the horrible temper of a freshly woken Kyoya. There truly was something unique about Haruhi.

"Oh! Okay, Haru-chan, that makes sense!"

"Car's here."

"Yay! C'mon Taka-chan! Bye Haru-chan, we'll see you on Monday!" With that, the incredibly cute seniors (yes, she considered Mori-sempai cute, but in a sexy let's-make-out way instead of a childish oh-I-just-want-to-hug-you way) left the third music room. A huge sigh of relief had her pulling out her cell phone to make one last call.

"Hey Ritsu-kun. . .can you pick me up from school?. . .No, I just wanted to do a few drawings for a client. . .can I stay the night too?. . .Yes?. . .Great, this way we can go to Umehito-sempai's together! Tell Tetsuya-kun I said hi, and I'll see you in a few. . .okay, see you then." Now she just had to change and wait. Shrugging into her regular stuff quickly, she chuckled a bit as she thought about the Kasonoda Ritsu.

Everyone had thought that she had been amazingly dense back then when Ritsu had tried to say that he liked her, and that was okay. She'd known, but she'd also seen the way that Tetsuya looked at the next boss of the Kasonoda gang. She'd known that, eventually, with a little poking and prodding, she could get Ritsu to see what she'd noticed about Tetsuya, and that was his absolute devotion to the fierce freshman. Now, they were a very happy couple, and there were a few more people who were no longer under the impression that Haruhi was a guy.

Getting her mind back on track, she did a quick mental scan on what she was wearing. Tight black jeans, layered light blue, green, and white tank tops, black ankle boots, and the motorcycle jacket that Ritsu-kun and Tetsuya-kun had given her for her birthday. It was a beautiful jacket, a blue so dark it was close to black, with a silver dragon on the back, and silver thorny vines spiraling down the arms. She hoped that Ritsu was bringing his bike because hot damn! That thing was so much fun!

As she walked out to the street in front of Ouran, she noticed two things, and missed a third. One, there were two bikes out front, Ritsu's and Tetsuya's. Two, the owners of said bikes were making out like crazy beneath a street lamp. "Hey perverts," she called, "be more careful! There are innocent young ladies that are waiting to go home out here!" They all three shared a good laugh once the two young men broke apart with a blush. They chatted happily as they meandered over to the bikes, where Haruhi got on behind Tetsuya. The three friends then proceeded to race off into the night.

What Haruhi happened to miss was the limo that was waiting in front of the school— the one that contained Hunny and Takashi. Both watched the interactions of the Host Club's only female member and the two mob candidates, Mori expressionlessly, and Hunny with all of the incredulity that Takashi held behind his eyes. "Ne, Takashi," Hunny said slowly, still attempting to think out what he was trying to say, "do you think that there's more to Haruhi than what's there?. . .I know that Tamaki and the twins have this idea that she could act really cute. . .but. . .I think that Haruhi might be more 'cool' than 'cute'."

"Hn."

"Should we tell Tamaki?"

". . .No. Everything will reveal itself with time."

And with that, the eldest members of the Host Club went home.

SS- No cliffhanger, just a straight-up ending. . .or is it? Who knows!

Athene- Anyhow, shout-outs go to knifebladenails, TooSweet4Words, sveta89, Death by Squishy, jayanx, machigirl, MaileKitten, and mikomi bansiki for reviewing.

Kali-Oh yeah! The Candy Corn sketch was good, we're totally with you on that, but you have to give props for the End of the Universe sketch.

SS- As always, reviews and constructive criticism are what encourage authors to provide more chapters. Flames and degradation, and overall ignorance, are what encourage authors to prove that yes, we do have hacker friends, and yes, we are willing to totally trash your system.