AN: After editing this, I only changed three things: the title and two words used incorrectly. The title was original Left On the Alter, but I think this title is better considering what is about.

Chapter 3: An Alter Offering

The day was sunny and bright, but for her, it was gloomy. Her head was bowed, allowing her long hair to cover her face, and she was walking forward. Today was an anniversary that she wanted to forget and to never remember again: her mother's death day. Her father had shooed her out the door, telling her to get something for the family alter from the bakery. As she continued to trudge her way to the bakery, she didn't respond to any of the greetings that her neighbors offered her, and they didn't seem to mind because all knew about her mother's death.

When she entered the bakery, she sat down at a table and stared at all of the sweets that she didn't care for. She didn't want to get something that would disappear too quickly, but she didn't know what that would be. Trying to think about what to get for her mom's alter, she didn't notice a pink rabbit being placed in front of her or a blond boy looking at her with perceptive honey-colored eyes until the blonde boy spoke. "Are you sad because someone is gone from the living?" He asked.

She was very startled by the question and gazed at the boy. "Sorta," she started her reply. "It's an anniversary of when it...happened."

"Cheer up. They wouldn't want you to be so down," he said before looking at his stuffed rabbit. "Right, Usa-chan? Maybe we should help her."

"Nani?" (What?)

"Don't worry. I want to help you. Are you needing something for an alter that can last a long time?"

"That's what I want to get, but I don't if here is the right place..."

"It is. You wait here," the boy said before he left with his rabbit named Usa-chan.

She just starred at where the boy was and laid her head on table intending to get a little bit of rest while waiting to see if the boy would make good on his promise. If she had been listening she would've heard the boy's name was Mitsukukuni and his father uttering his sympathy for her, but she didn't because she had actually fallen asleep. When she woke to a cashier nudging her, she saw a small slice of cake with a strawberry on top, and next to it was a small decorated cake that didn't look it was real except for the frosting.

"Miss, a man and his son paid for this to be made for you, and his son said that he didn't want you to be sad," said the cashier before leaving her alone.

As she was eating her slice of strawberry cake, she looked at the decorated cake in more detail. It was decorated with white frosting and had bunnies shapes all over it. She smiled at the shapes and began to laugh quietly to herself for the first time since she last seen her mother alive.

Haruhi had looked up from her homework and walked over to one of the closets before sliding the door to the side. She immediately looked up and saw a Styrofoam cake and platter with bunny shapes drawn drawn in a black marker. Walking back some ways, she looked at the fake cake again and remembered the day she had gotten it. Now, she fully remembered how she had met Honey-senpai and why a menu from that bakery made her realized that she had met him long before she had met the host club at Ouran. As she went back to organize her homework, something else caught her eye that was behind the Styrofoam cake and made her go back to the box resting on the table.

She pulled out another thing from the box and run her hands along it. The memories associated with it were much clearer than the others that she had remembered to this point, but some how these memories seemed more like forgotten treasures that she hadn't been able to connect until now.

Hope you guys like that little cliff hanger. Can you guess who I will be talking about next? Thanks to everyone who reviewed and suggested ideals because they did help me!

Edited: 9/2/2011 (Added the translation for "nani" in () after it's use.