A/N: Garr. My stupid depressing life. It's making my fanfiction sad. -.- When I'm unhappy, for some reason, I take it out on Tamaki…He's so vulnerable. It WILL get happy soon—I swear it! I swear it! –watches in devastation as people file out of the shadowed room- Noooo!

Disclaimer: Damn you people. I do not own OHSHC. Else these plotlines—these would be EPISODES! HaHA!

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Ongaku no heya: Music Room

Daijoubu desu ka?: Are you all right/okay?

Kirei: beautiful

Gomen: informal version of 'Gomenasai', which means 'Sorry'.

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Chapter 5: Tamaki no Kanashimi.

Recap:

Outside the dining hall, Tamaki sighed and leaned against the wall, arms crossed, his vision averting to the floor. He scowled at the polished floorboards. Digging around in his pocket, he flicked out his cell-phone and hovered his finger over the first button of Kyoya's number. For once, he thought before he rang: Should I bother Kyoya about this…?

Laughter reached his ears; his father's laughter, as Kunio said a joke to lighten up the mood. Tamaki went to the phone's menu, and clicked on the button that enabled him to send a text message. Punching in Kyoya's number, he wrote in the message box: "He's taking the place I never had."

Tamaki stared at his message. Frowned. Clicking 'Cancel', he shoved the phone back into his pocket angrily, walking away from the dining hall, his destination the double doors out of that shadowed building.

Story:

The next day, during Host Club hours: Ongaku no heya ((Music Room

"Kaoru…how could I?"

"Hikaru…"

"How could I have left you in hurt and pain, to dance with that girl at the masquerade? You must have been devastated."

"No, Hikaru…"

"Kaoru…I…" Hikaru took his brothers into his arms and stared into his tearful eyes. "I'm sorry…"

"Hikaru…" Kaoru whispered, emotional tears forming on the rims of his eyes as their faces became within centimetres of contact.

The girls behind them screamed, love hearts replacing their eyes. "WHAT WONDERFUL BROTHERLY LOVE!" they squealed.

"Again…?" Haruhi sighed as she passed them with a tray of boiling tea.

Hikaru and Kaoru broke from their embrace, one fist on each other their hips, as they grinned at her. "What's bothering you today, Haruhi?"

"If you could get senpai to stop pestering me about the musical, that would be helpful…" Haruhi said, looking to the back of her with an irritated glance.

"No, no, Haruhi!" Tamaki cried, sprinting after her. "I've got it, I've got it! You can be the distressed bride engaged to the evil count, and I can be—"

"NO."

"But, Haruhi—"

"NO. I'm not getting married, in a musical or real life."

"Not even in this dress?" Tamaki sniffed, holding up the white dress from yesterday with a pathetic gaze.

"No, and that's final." With that, Haruhi kept walking towards Hunny and Mori. "Sorry it's late," she sighed as she set the tea down on the table. "Senpai wouldn't stop pestering me…"

"…About the musical?" Mori finished for her.

Haruhi blinked at him. "Yes, actually…"

"That's all right, Haru-chan!" Hunny chimed, shoving a piece of cake into his mouth. "You went as fast as you could!"

"Haruhi-hi," Tamaki sobbed behind them, falling to his knees and hanging his head. "Why don't you—Hmm?" He stopped short and frowned as a piece of paper flittered out of his blazer pocket as his knees collided with the ground. Carefully, he picked it up. It was the algebra homework that his mysterious princesses had dropped when she was being abducted. He smoothed it out and sighed, frustrated.

"Still haven't found her yet?"

Tamaki cried out in surprise, spinning to meet he twins. "N-No!" he stammered.

The twins shrugged, sighing. "A shame, really…"

"A shame?" Tamaki gasped, clutching the paper to his chest. "Did she get an answer wrong in one of the math problems?" He held the homework close to his eyes, studying it intently.

Hikaru and Kaoru waved their hands dismissively. "No, no. What we mean is, we thought you were in love with Haruhi, that's all."

Tamaki's face went blank. A line went over his head. "Haru…hi?"

Another frustrated simultaneous sigh. Hikaru shrugged his shoulders, hands raised in the air. "Well, you're so intent on finding this 'dance partner' of yours—"

"—that your attention is diverting away from your desires for Haruhi," ended Kaoru, holding his arms the same as his brother.

"Th-That's nonsense!" the King stuttered, waving his arms in the air. "Why would I be in love with Haruhi?! She's my daughter, you perverted twins! Just because you encourage incest every day by—"

"We only thought, we only thought," the twins assured him. A grin spreading over their faces, they said, "Although, the mysterious dance partner of yours MIGHT be Haruhi…then what can you say, m'lord?"

"…m-might be…Haruhi?"

They had lost interest in talking about it, however. Sighing, Hikaru leaned against Kaoru, whining, "Kaoru, I haven't eaten since lunch. Let's go steal one of Hunny-senpai's cakes."

"Sounds like a good idea," Kaoru agreed, and they both crept over to Hunny, their minds set on persuading him to hand over some of his food.

Tamaki kept staring at the homework, at the ground, new issues unravelling in his mind. I…love Haruhi? He turned his head in Haruhi's direction. She was smiling graciously to a group of her fans, casually talking as love-hearts formed around their heads. Hunny bounced over to her, his cakes piled in his hands. He cried about how Hikaru and Kaoru were trying to steal them.

Tamaki frown deepened as she bent next to him, patting his hand and assuring him that Hikaru and Kaoru would never really do such a thing. She offered to hide them in the storage room for him.

"No, no, they'll steal them there too!"

"Hey, Hunny-senpai…" said Hikaru and Kaoru spookily, appearing on either side of Hunny, their faces dark. Crying out in terror, Hunny took off running again.

Haruhi looked after them with an exasperated look and sighed. She turned her head to Tamaki, who was staring straight at her. She tilted her head in confusion, then smiled awkwardly.

'I love Haruhi?' was all Tamaki could run through his mind.

Shrugging, and assuming Tamaki was just swamped in his fantasies again, Haruhi turned back towards her guests.

If I do…why is this mystery princess taking her place in my mind? Tamaki suddenly gasped, slapping his hands on his cheeks as his mouth formed into a large 'O'. "It's because I…I danced with a witch who is replacing my true feelings with falsehood!!" he cried.

As he sat there, white with shock, Haruhi passed by him carrying an empty tray and asked, "Still dreaming of things that can never be, senpai…?"

He broke from his shock, waving his arms about, crying, "Shut up, shut up! I'm in grave peril!"

"Uh huh."

"Haruhi, you must listen to me!"

"Senpai, I'm not playing as a bride."

"No, no, not that! There's a witch, and she—"

"Tamaki-kun…" someone began shyly.

Tamaki halted, spinning around to meet the girl who had asked for him. He smiled graciously, bending down before her and taking her hand softly in his. "Princess," he breathed. "How little I come across such a beautiful face…"

"Oh, boy," Haruhi sighed with a roll of her eyes, continuing her journey to one of the tables.

The girl blushed furiously and pointed to a group of girls on the couch. "We were wondering…if you weren't busy…if we could ask you about something?"

"Of course," Tamaki said, smiling brightly and leading her to the couch. He stood over them, hands behind his back, his lips curved in a smile. "How can I help you ladies?'

"Tamaki-kun," one of the girls with short black hair piped up, "we met Kunio-kun today. He's in our biology class. He says that he's your cousin. Why did you not tell us you had such a kind relative?" she asked, her eyes going starry at the thought of the handsome Kunio. The rest of the girls behind her did the same.

Haruhi, who had harboured not too far away from them, stopped pouring tea for a moment to turn and frown at Tamaki's face. It had gone rigid—as it always did at the mention of his cousin.

A small frown appearing on his face, Tamaki replied, "I didn't find the need."

The girls' eyes widened. They huddled together and shuddered as his cold look practically chilled the room into an ice cube. Haruhi blinked in surprise, not accustomed to seeing such a harsh look on his face.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kyoya gesturing for the twins. Hikaru and Kaoru frowned, inching over to Kyoya and bending down as he muttered something to them that was inaudible. A few times he gestured over to Tamaki and the group of girls. The twins nodded dutifully, their fists clenched in a determined way.

Haruhi frowned, wondering what he could have been whispering to the twins. She turned her head back to the scene with Tamaki and the girls as one of them asked, "Tamaki-kun? Did I say…something wrong?"

Tamaki kept his irritated look on his face as he pictured Kunio in his mind. His eyebrow twitched. "Absolutely…nothing," he growled.

A crash reached everyone's ears from a few feet away. Haruhi and the rest of the guests' heads turned at the sound. Kaoru lay sprawled on the ground, his eyes squeezed shut in pain as he held his arm.

"Kaoru!" Hikaru shouted, sprinting over to him. "Kaoru, daijoubu desu ka?!" He bent down beside him, picking Kaoru from the ground and cradling his head in his lap. He brushed his brother's hair back from his face, frowning worriedly down at him. "Kaoru?"

"I'm fine…" Kaoru assured him, managing a small smile up at his distressed brother. "It was clumsy of me to fall over that table…"

Hikaru shook his head forcefully. "Never," he breathed, helping Kaoru to his knees and taking his face into his hands. He stared into his tear-glistened eyes. The girls held their breath and waited in anticipation, wondering what would happen next.

Haruhi raised a skeptical eyebrow and stared.

"You're…graceful enough to me…in bed…" Hikaru uttered, bending his face inches towards Kaoru. Since the room was so quiet, everyone easily heard.

"H-Hikaru," Kaoru whispered, blushing furiously. "Everyone will know now!"

Tamaki's fan girls leaped to their feet, squealing. They gathered around the fallen twins, dabbing their eyes with a handkerchief. "Kirei!" they chorused tearfully.

Haruhi rolled her eyes at their emotional scene. She stole the free moment to step up to Tamaki, who was still standing, fuming over his cousin. "S-Senpai?" she asked cautiously.

He looked down at her, jostled from his thoughts. He sighed, his eyes softening as he made eye contact with her wondering brown eyes. Taking a step towards her, he took her wrist and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms gently around her. She blinked in surprised and blushed at the touch.

"Gomen…" he whispered to her. His voice was as soft as dust falling upon her ear.

Haruhi could only stand there in his arms, frozen, unable to move; not wanting to move. "F-For what, senpai?" she asked in amazement.

He just kept holding her. As if he didn't want to let go. For another moment they stood like that. Haruhi didn't ask any more questions.

Finally, he broke away, his face closer to hers that it had ever been. She saw his eyes

up-close to hers: his penetrating violet eyes that so often saw into her thoughts.Transfixed, she was startled when he abruptly pulled away, letting go of her arms. He let out a frustrated sigh, his eyes wandering from hers, off to the side. Forking back his blonde hair in an agitated way, he muttered, "Nothing," and strode away from her, past the twins' scene, past the surprised Kyoya, out the door of the music room. The slam of it echoed in Haruhi's ears as she stared at where he disappeared.

In…his eyes…

Her eyes widened. A flashback from the night of the masquerade hit her, when she was gazing into her partner's white mask, through the eyeholes, past the material. She remembered his eyes: violet, penetrating.

For some curious reason, Tamaki's eyes…

And her mysterious prince's eyes…

Were exactly the same.

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In the field behind Ouran, on a bench by the trees

"Haruhi-kun, aren't you going home yet?"

Haruhi turned her head, looking up at a few girls standing over her, frowning down worriedly. She nodded, smiling. "Don't worry. I will in a moment. I'm just…thinking for a bit."

The girls nodded, giving her a soft smile. "All right, Haruhi-kun. See you tomorrow!" they called, giving her a wave before they ran off.

Haruhi's smile disappeared as she turned back to where she was staring before: at the ground. She clenched her schoolbag tightly, letting out a small sigh. She shivered as she realized how cold it was.

Senpai…acted so oddly…

She remembered how that cold, frosty look had gone over his face at the mere mention of Kunio. She remembered his spontaneous hug; not one of his glomps, but a tender, gentle, real hug. It meant something more that time. And his apology…apology for what?

I know it adds to something…but I don't know what he means.

She sighed, finding all the clues Tamaki was throwing out there very confusing. She knew that something was wrong with him. Something was bothering him. Just with senpai…there was no easy way he could tell you when something was upsetting him.

A tall shadow fell over her, darkening the grass in front of her. Turning, she squinted against the sun and saw a tall young man standing over her. His blonde hair glinted in the sunlight.

"Senpai?" she asked hopefully. Shading her eyes from the light, she saw Kunio grinning down at her. "Oh." Her tone became suddenly flat.

Kunio chuckled at her disappointment. "Hello, Miss Fujioka," he greeted, going round to the other side of the bench to stand in front of her. One hand in his pocket, he leaned on his opposite leg. He sighed, shaking his head. "You know, you really fooled me. I thought you were simply a boy with girlish features."

Haruhi frowned up at him. One of the hands that rested on her legs tightened. "Tamaki-senpai won't like that you found out."

"He never seems to like anything I know," said Kunio with a shrug, a smirk appearing on his face.

Haruhi stared into his blue eyes. "How…are you enjoying your classes?" she asked, deciding to veer the conversation in a different direction.

"Classes? Why should you wonder about my classes?"

Blinking in confusion, Haruhi said, "Well…it's polite to ask a new student how they're going in their studies."

Kunio chuckled, forking back his hair in an almost embarrassed way, plopping down on the bench, next to her. "Oh, yeah, I forgot the Japanese were so considerate." He grinned at Haruhi, a shine entering his eye. "You want to know the first thing that freaked me out about this place?"

Haruhi shook her head. "No…"

"Just guess," Kunio urged. "I'm sure it's not hard."

"Um…" Haruhi tapped her chin in thought, looking towards the sky. She felt Kunio's eyes on her, anticipating what her speculation would be.

"The…food?"

With a chuckle, he said, "I thought you might say that. But it's the wrong answer, unfortunately. What really horrified me was the manners."

"Manners?"

"Yeah, the way everyone was bowing to each other, how polite they were, how tidy everyone's eating habits were. Especially here at Ouran. To eat with your fingers would be appalling to everyone else!"

Haruhi raised an eyebrow at Tamaki's cousin. Maybe he was trying to connect with her. Maybe that's why he was talking about such a random subject. "Oh, the manners," she said stupidly, trying to act like she knew what he meant. "I guess it can seem strange…to someone foreign." She bit her lip. What a dead way to end a sentence. There was a moment of silence as she averted her eyes to her hands, as her fingers fumbled with one another.

You are forbidden to speak with him. Hang around with him. Do anything that involves interacting with him.

Haruhi's head shot up and her eyes widened as she remembered Tamaki's words. He had called Kunio 'dangerous'. 'Not right in the head'. She snuck a gaze in his direction. Kunio had occupied himself during the silence by picking off a loose thread on the hem of his blazer, his brow clenched in concentration. He didn't SEEM harmful.

There has to be a reason why Senpai is so against him.

"Do you and Tamaki-senpai have a bad past?" She couldn't help it. The words just ripped themselves from her.

Kunio looked up in surprise, the loose thread forgotten. His deep blue eyes were bewildered. "Do we have a bad past? What kind of question is that? Even stupider than the classes one."

Haruhi mentally kicked herself. "What I mean is…you two seem so determined to hate each other. If two hate each other, it has to be because of your past. In France. It'd make more sense, why you two are fighting, if you explained it."

His face relaxing into a grin, Kunio asked, "You're really blunt, aren't you?"

Haruhi shrugged.

Letting out a sigh, he rested his hands against the back of the bench and leaned his body's weight against his thin arms. He frowned towards the sky. "You seem like an intelligent enough girl, Haruhi Fujioka. I'll tell you the whole story." He turned to grin at her. "Then you can fit the pieces together yourself."

"I'll try," said Haruhi slowly, a frown creasing her face.

Quietly clearing his throat, Kunio launched into his story, his words at first hesitant and thoughtfully put, then strung together with more speed as his explanation went on. "My Dad died when I was 4. I couldn't care less, being too young to even comprehend his importance, but my mother freaked. He made 98 of the income, the money that we survived off of, so everything rocketed downhill. Because my mom suddenly had to work, I was never home, and I had more freedom. When I was older, I went out into the streets more often after school. Made a few friends on the 'darker side' of town, you could say. I guess Tamaki was afraid of me for this.

"I always used to go over to his house, because his mother—my aunt—was constantly sick, and my mom always had to go over to take care of her. I tried to be friends with Tamaki, but he really was weird. Even as a kid he was acting out dramatic love scenes with his bear as the lead character and his stuffed rabbit or something as the damsel in distress. Half the time he'd spend hours and hours daydreaming about his future castle, family, and wife. He was a really strange kid."

Haruhi couldn't help but grin at this piece of information about her eccentric senpai. Even at childhood…she thought with an internal laugh.

"He always had a grudge against me," Kunio went on, his tone becoming darker. "A grudge against me, just because me and my mother lived in a dirty old shack with the rats making homes in our kitchen's corners. We were poorer; therefore the lesser. He always treated me such as that."

"I can't imagine Senpai being that way," Haruhi cut in, her face confused. "He never judges people on their material possessions, not from what I've seen. Are you sure…"

"Let me finish, Haruhi. Your senpai isn't always as he appears to be, I assure you."

Haruhi crossed her arms, annoyed at being interrupted, her face in a disapproving scowl.

"Anyways, the ending to my story that practically sums everything up is when I got into a fight with this annoying college kid, that I gave a pretty bad blow to. Everyone was horrified because I had put him into the hospital with the wounds I gave him, and Tamaki jumped at the chance to degrade me for what I'd done. We got into a huge fight, a few weeks before he left. We still haven't cooled off from it."

Haruhi nodded slowly, taking it in. She frowned, remembering the hatred in Tamaki's eyes. But that wasn't the only thing. There was always something else in his expression, mingling with his anger towards Kunio…

"Did that get through to you?" Kunio asked with a smile in her direction.
"It…explains a few things," said Haruhi truthfully.

His grin growing, Kunio slid closer to her on the bench, so that his leg was centimetres from hers. "Now I see why Tamaki kept your gender a secret," he chuckled, eyes glinting.

Suddenly on her guard, Haruhi stiffened as his arm brushed against hers. "H-How did you come to that conclusion?" she asked, managing to keep her voice even and strong, despite her discomfort.

"So he can have you all to himself, eh?" went on Kunio with a wink.

Her eyebrows raising high, Haruhi replied sharply, "First of all, it's my choice to hide my true gender, and second of all, he's never 'had me all to himself', not once. You have the completely wrong idea."

"Ah, yes, but you'd like him to have you, wouldn't you?" Kunio raised an eyebrow challengingly.

Her brown eyes widened. Taken off guard, she could only stammer in shock, "I-I—"

"Ah," said a deep, blank voice behind them.

Simultaneously, Haruhi and Kunio's head raised to see Mori standing high over them—and I DO mean, high over them—with Hunny perched on an even taller height on his shoulders.

"Don't you have somewhere to go?" Although Mori's voice was monotoned, he made his point to Kunio very vividly.

Seeing the threat, Tamaki's cousin stood up, taking a step back from Haruhi, giving Mori a casual salute. "Just goin', chief." His smile flashed in Haruhi's direction. His eyelid flicked into a subtle wink at her. "Glad we had this talk."

Haruhi nodded stiffly, her lips tight. She didn't care for him to stay another moment.

Sticking his hands in his pockets, striking up a casual tune by blowing the air through his pursed lips, Kunio sauntered away from the three, towards the exit beyond the trees.

"Yay, Takashi scared him off!" cried Hunny, burying his face into Mori's hair and grinning.

"Did he bother you, Haruhi?" asked Mori as Hunny celebrated.

With a shake of her head, Haruhi said, "No…we just…talked."

"About Tama-chan?" Hunny looked into her eyes with a stony gaze, abruptly serious.

"Yes. He…explained a few things."

Mori nodded, looking off into the distance. "Tamaki does seem to have a problem with Kunio."

"A deeper one than I imagined. It seems to go past a grudge," Haruhi sighed, feeling familiar worry twist her heart.

"I thought as much," Mori replied.

"I wonder why…Tama-chan's not telling us." Hunny's face drooped. "He only tells Kyoya about these things."

Haruhi slumped her small shoulders, looking hopelessly lost on what to think about their depressed and angry King. "I…don't know."

Her prince's mysterious violet eyes popped in her mind, and Tamaki's embrace.

In his eyes, when Kunio is mentioned…there's not only anger in his face, but…

A frown twisted her features. Sadness.

As she, Mori and Hunny all were silent as they thought, she could have sworn that as the trees swayed in the wind, whispering a gentle breeze, that she heard Tamaki's soft, soothing voice floating on the currents.

Gomen….

But why should he apologize? Why should he apologize…about being sad?

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Hmmm…for some reason some of you didn't like the previous chapter. If you want to, I can make modifications…its just that no one's telling me WHAT they don't like about it. So, please, if you have a disagreement/criticism, shout it! Well, not literally, but ya know…

Now all go treat yourself. Like gorging yourself with pizza, like I just did! It's fun, really….Oh, but first, review please.

-KuroHinote