SS- Ugh. I'm back from Disneyland; not sure that I wanna be here, but what can you do?

Athene- If you were still there, you wouldn't be posting this.

SS- Oh yeah. . . I took the laptop to the hotel we were staying at, and here's what happened: my sister takes laptop to the lobby, 'cause that's the only place with free wi-fi, only to find out that it's not working for her. I, being Ms. Computer-Genius-Whilst-My-Father-Is-At-Sea, am forced to spend half an hour trying to fix it. Then my mom comes down because she wants to use it, and my sister leaves. We get it working, mom does her thing, I read one email and try to post this chapter, only to have said sister show up close my stuff down unsaved because she's in a pissy mood. And now, the main computer that my family uses has crashed, taking my iTunes library and my other files with it, so I've been sharing this laptop with everyone, which I normally don't do, so I'm pissed again, especially because the brat is now 'sick'.

Kali-. . .Feel better?

SS- No. . .Yes. smiles Sorry about the rant. Let's start the show!

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

WARNING: Um. . .not really anything drastic. Yet.

Rating: M

Title: Portrait of Takashi

"Haruhi! How come you weren't home yesterday?" the twins demanded to know in unison.

"We went by your place yesterday—"

"—But nobody was there!"

It was once again Monday with the Host Club, and Haruhi was once again greeted with unnecessary and unwarranted theatrics from the twins. Oh well, it wasn't like Tamaki was out here ranting like the lunatic that he was.

"Haru-chan! Oh, my poor daughter, you had Daddy worried sick! Where were you, why didn't you call?! I thought you were kidnapped and held hostage, like that time you went to Karuizawa without telling any of us, and I—"

What was that saying? Speak of the devil and he doth appear? Even thinking about people was dangerous in this place!

"Tamaki-sempai, breathe. Dad had to go away on business for a few days, so I spent the night at a friend's house on Saturday, and then I went to a birthday party on Sunday. You guys overreact way too much," she informed the three calmly. Everything she had said was perfectly true. To a degree.

"Oh."

"Haru-chan, Haru-chan! Did you have lots of fun, and eat lots of cake?" Hunny asked innocently, his eyes beaming up at her.

"I did, and," at this point she rummaged through her bag for the extra box she had brought with her, "I brought a piece for you!" Hunny's obscenely large eyes got larger still and shimmered a bit.

"Yay! Thank you! Look, Takashi, Haruhi brought some cake just for me!" Mori nodded, then glanced at the girl who was looking on at the shorter man fondly.

"Haruhi." The female host looked up at him, startled at his attention, a pale flush staining the bridge of her nose. A crooked smile crossed his face.

"Yes, Mori-sempai?" Dammit, why in all the seven circles of hell do I have to keep blushing when he says my name? At least it's not too dark, Tamaki-sempai might start getting ideas, unless Kyoya-sempai has finally decided to act.

"Would you speak with me, once we're done for the day?" He had more to say? That had sounded like his weeks' worth of words right there. What could he possibly have to say to her? And do I need to look anymore like a damnable loon? It's not that surprising. . .okay, it is, but still! This was sure to garner unnecessary attention. And, oh look!— it seemed as if Hurricane 'Daddy Tamaki' was about to hit in three. . .two. . .one. . .

"WHAT?! HARUHI, TELL DADDY IT'S NOT TRUE!!!" Right on the money.

"First off," Haruhi stated bluntly, "you're not my daddy. You want to play house, play with Kyoya-sempai. Second of all, tell you what's not true? Mori-sempai just asked me to talk with him, he wasn't asking me to marry him, wasn't asking my to go on a date with him."

"I was going to ask if you would like to go to dinner with me tomorrow evening."

"See Tamaki-sempai? He was just going to ask me to go to din. . .wait, what?" the full impact of Mori's words finally hit home. Another delicate little flush once more stained her cheeks. "Dinner? Tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Um, okay then. Yes, I will."

Tamaki and Hikaru looked on, mouths agape, with tear-filled eyes as resonating shrieks of despair echoed through their souls; Kyoya quirked an eyebrow before making a note in his event-planner; the customers screamed with delight as their little fangirl hearts went into overdrive at the new yaoi factor of the club; Hunny sat eating his cake and feeling pleased by his cousin's actions, and Kaoru?

Kaoru sat by himself on the couch watching the drama unfold, feeling happy for his best friend, having long ago figured out that Haruhi's interest had laid neither in the king, nor his brother, but in the taciturn senior. It was just too bad that Hikaru had been too self-absorbed in his own feelings and teasing the king all the time. After all, a good host is ever vigilant towards the emotion of young ladies.

Kyoya finally decided to put everybody out of there misery. "Ladies, as wonderful as you all feel about this right now, I believe it's best that we close early. As gentlemen, we—"

"Fujioka over there is no gentlemen," a new, and completely unexpected voice drawled from by the door. Haruhi's head whipped around in shock to meet the mischievous grey eyes, braided black hair, and slight form in the boys' uniform that went with it. "Haru works for a livin'!" Haruhi cried out in joy, running over to embrace the visitor.

"Higurashi Kagome! What are you doing here?!" the female host laughed, hugging the newbie hard.

SS- Wow. That seemed really short to me. I dunno, it just looked like the best ending place. I kinda feel bad now.

Kali- So make the next one longer!. . .Goddess, I swear that's all you ever do, bith and moan!

SS- Whatever. Heads up y'all, I have a day and a half of semi-freedom before I have to go back to Hell, formerly known as Point Loma High. I'll try to post Chapter 6 soon. Also, does anyone know where the word 'angiosperm' came from? No, I'm totally serious, I really wanna know.

Athene-. . .Right. Okay, thanks and mega-props to DarkFallMoonBeloved, Death by Squishy, TooSweet4Words, tears-of-redemption, Lindsay-chan, Tenshi's-Wings, and sakura5584 for their nifty reviews.

SS- Yup yup. And remember people: if you don't like something, you don't have to read it. Really. So please, review me and tell me what you think.