A/N: I have to admit, I LOVE this chapter... I can't even express how much I love it. The interactions between Tamaki and Kyouya... I love it. So please enjoy! Reviews are loved, as always!
Disclaimer: Still don't own Ouran Host Club or Tangled
Chapter 8: The Best Day of Your Life
The sun rises over a sleeping Haruhi and Tamaki. Tamaki twitches a little as a tiny speck of grit strikes his face. Then another. At the third one, he finally opens his eyes and finds himself staring at the point of a sword. He looks up slowly and his violet eyes meet the sleet-gray ones of Kyouya Ootori.
"Hmm… wha?" Tamaki mumbles. Then he blinks, remembering the slender dark-haired youth whose pursuit of him had started this whole adventure.
Kyouya is dripping wet. His clothes cling miserably to his skin and his limp hair falls in his face. Fury is etched into his every feature. Tamaki manages one of his devastatingly charming smirks, and he rolls onto his side in an attempt to make himself more comfortable.
"Well, I hope you're here to apologize!" he says with a smirk.
Haruhi and Pascal are jolted awake by screams.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tamaki screams as Kyouya grabs him by the ankle and tries to drag him off. "No, no, no, no, no! Put me down! Stop it! Noooooo!"
Haruhi jumps to her feet and grabs Tamaki's arms, pulling against Kyouya. "Give… him… back!" she cries out.
"Forget it!" Kyouya exclaims. "He's under arrest!" He pulls hard and one of Tamaki's boots pops off, sending them all crashing in opposite directions. Kyouya shakes himself off and jumped up, brandishing his sword and charging at Tamaki.
Haruhi springs to her feet and throws herself between Tamaki and the charging guard.
"Whoa, whoa! Wait! Just… hold on a second!" she gasps.
"Out of the way, girl!" Kyouya exclaims, trying to dodge around her. He moves to one side, then freezes, feeling slender arms wrapping around his waist. He stares down as the girl with the masses of golden hair throws herself around him, holding him back with all her strength.
"Haruhi…" Tamaki gasps.
"Please… please, just stop and listen for a moment!" she gasps.
Kyouya takes a deep breath, then another. Finally the tension begins to drain from his body and he takes a half-step away from Tamaki.
A smile appears on Haruhi's face. "That's better… Now, what's your name?"
"Kyouya Ootori, third son of the Captain of the Guards," Kyouya says, moving his sword in a salute.
"It's nice to meet you," Haruhi says with a curtsy. "I'm Haruhi. You already know Tamaki, I think."
"Indeed…" he says, light flashing off his glasses as he glares at the blonde thief.
"Well…" Haruhi begins, but Kyouya's head snaps to one side, obviously hearing something. Tamaki grabs Haruhi's arm to quiet her and jumps to his feet. They can all hear footsteps approaching and see a large shadowy figure approaching. Then a bush is pushed aside and in walks Mori, with Honey clinging to his shoulder as usual.
"Mori! Honey!" Haruhi exclaims.
"Weren't you at that disgusting tavern?" Kyouya asks with a frown.
"Weren't you with those palace guards?" Honey asks. "What are you doing to Haru-chan and Tama-chan?"
"Okay, everyone just calm down!" Haruhi exclaims. "Mori, Honey, this is Kyouya! I'm hoping he'll help us out," she says with a bright smile.
"Wait, that wasn't part of the deal!" Kyouya gasps. He tries to move away, but Haruhi grabs his arm and holds him in place.
Mori and Honey sit down near the fire. "So tell us, Haru-chan, what's going on?" Honey asks happily.
"Well… how do I explain this?" Haruhi wonders. "Okay, look, today is kinda the biggest day of my life, and the thing is… Kyouya, I need you to not arrest Tamaki right now. Just for 24 hours, and then you can chase each other to your heart's content. Okay?"
Tamaki smiles meekly and holds out his hand to Kyouya for a handshake. Kyouya stares at him disdainfully.
"And… it's… also my birthday… Just so you know," Haruhi adds, looking up at Kyouya with her giant brown eyes.
Kyouya closes his eyes for a moment and pushes his glasses further up his nose with one finger. Then he looks at Mori and Honey. "Those two are probably also criminals, but I know of no warrants for their arrest. Why can't they guide you to wherever you're going?"
"Well… Tamaki is the one that originally agreed to guide me and escort me home. I trust him and I like him. I want to finish this with him." And if Haruhi is blushing as she says this, the boys she's with are too gentlemanly to comment.
Kyouya frowns, but finally he holds out his hand and Tamaki grasps it enthusiastically, shaking it until Kyouya thinks it's going to pop out of its socket. Haruhi turns excitedly to Mori and Honey, and so she misses Kyouya's quick elbow into Tamaki's ribs, making him double over a little. A smirk flutters across the young guard's face for just a few moments.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go to the kingdom!" Haruhi exclaims excitedly.
The small group hurries through the forest and soon ends up crossing the bridge into the city. Tamaki spots a Wanted poster of himself and he crumples it up and throws it in the river. Kyouya sees this and glares at Tamaki. Just as they seem about to start fighting, a shadow looms over both of them and Mori glares down at them. Meekly, the pair separate. Haruhi doesn't notice this as Honey has grabbed her hand and dragged her ahead, running as fast as he can and laughing, making her laugh as well.
As they enter the marketplace, Haruhi finds that her long hair is even more of a hindrance than when she was in the woods. People are stepping on it and tripping over it. Tamaki and Mori move to help her bundle all her hair up into her arms, and then Tamaki sees three little girls braiding each other's hair. He whistles to catch their attention and gestures to the mass of hair tumbling from Haruhi's head. The girls gasp in delight and race over. Haruhi kneels on the cobblestones with Tamaki standing next to her while the girls braid her hair and weave flowers into it, while Kyouya, Mori, and Honey wander about the marketplace. When they're done, Tamaki helps Haruhi to her feet.
"Ahh, thank you," Haruhi says with a sweet smile. Tamaki blushes, then pulls her around a corner as several guards pass by. Kyouya watches this scene with a raised eyebrow and Tamaki shoots him a glare.
As they hurry through the marketplace, Haruhi stops in front of a mural of the king and queen and the infant princess. She sees two small girls sitting in front of the mural and one lays a flower reverently in front of the mural. "It's for the lost princess," she tells the other girl.
Haruhi stares up at the baby princess with the short golden locks and the large brown eyes, but she doesn't recognize it as herself. She stares in silent contemplation at the mural, but then she hears a band start to play music. Tamaki turns to find that she's run off into the town square and has started dragging other townspeople into the square to dance as well. Somehow Tamaki and Haruhi's other companions get dragged in as well. There are moments where Haruhi and her new friends are in the library looking at books, eating snacks while hiding from guards, and drawing with chalk on the cobblestones. But they keep going back to dance, and soon Haruhi has danced with all her friends except for Tamaki, as they keep missing each other. The music reaches a crescendo and finally Tamaki and Haruhi are thrown into each other's arms just as the music ends. They laugh a little and pull apart, hurrying to rejoin the others.
"To the boats!" someone calls.
Tamaki finds a tiny rowboat and gallantly helps Haruhi into it.
"Aren't you guys coming?" Haruhi asks them.
"Nah, we found a nice place on shore to watch, that's where we're going," Honey says. Mori just nods his agreement.
"I have seen the floating lanterns many times from every conceivable angle since I was a young child. I have no desire to accompany you," Kyouya says coolly. "I will be waiting here though to ensure that the thief doesn't try to run away again."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kyouya!" Tamaki says brightly, pressing a bag of cakes into his hand. Kyouya's eyebrows slide up. "Wh-hat?" Tamaki says with a huge innocent grin. "I bought them." He starts rowing away as Kyouya cautiously takes a bit of one of the cakes. "Most of them," Tamaki adds mischievously. Kyouya chokes and glares furiously after him.
"Where are we going?" Haruhi asks him as he continues rowing away.
"Well, best day of your life, remember?" Tamaki points out. "I figured you should have a decent seat."
The moon rises up above the lake as they make their way to the center of the water, staring up at the city and the castle above. Haruhi sighs as she lets her fingers trail through the water.
"You okay?" Tamaki asks.
"I'm terrified," she whispers meekly.
"Why?" he asks.
"I've been looking out a window for 18 years, dreaming about what it might feel like when those lights rise into the sky… What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?"
"It will be," Tamaki assures her.
"And what if it is?" Haruhi asks. "What do I do then?"
"Well, that's the good part, I guess," Tamaki says, tilting his head to one side to regard her. "You get to go find a new dream."
She smiles at him at last, then they both look up to the castle.
Far away at the castle, the king and queen, Haruhi's parents, stand together on a balcony. The queen straightens her husband's pendent and then touches his cheek as a tear appears in the corner of his eye. He clasps her hand and they hold each other close for a minute. Then they walk over to a lantern sitting on a table. The king lights it and together they lift it up and let it float away into the heavens.
As that first lantern floats up into the sky, other lanterns are lit down in the little town and in the nearby valleys and from boats on the lake. One by one they are also lifted up into the air, floating away and filling the sky like hundreds of little fireflies that never have to blink.
In the middle of the lake, Haruhi has been plucking flower petals from her braid and dropping them into the water. Seeing a glimmer reflected in the water, she looks with a tiny gasp of surprise.
"All those days watching from the windows, all those years, outside looking in, all that time, never even knowing just how blind I've been." She leans forward eagerly, nearly tipping the boat over as Tamaki gently catches her around the waist to pull her back. "Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight. Now I'm here, suddenly I see. Standing here, it's oh so clear, I'm where I meant to be. And at last I see the light, and it's like the fog has lifted. And at last I see the light, and it's like the sky is new. And it's warm and real and bright, and the world has somehow shifted. All at once everything looks different, now that I see you."
She glances to one side and sees Tamaki sitting there with an affectionate smile on his face and a pair of lanterns in his hands. She gasps in excitement and scoots close to him.
"I have something for you too," she tells him, and she holds out the satchel with the tiara inside it. "I should have given it to you before, but I was just scared… And the thing is, I'm not scared anymore. You know what I mean?"
Tamaki puts his hand on the satchel and pushes it down to the floor of the boat, staring deep into her eyes. "I'm starting to." Then he hands her a lantern and they release their lanterns together. "All those days, chasing down a daydream… All those years, living in a blur… All that time, never truly seeing things the way they were. Now she's here, shining in the starlight. Now she's here, suddenly I know… If she's here, it's crystal clear. I'm where I'm meant to go."
Haruhi turns toward him and he clasps her hand. And they sing together for a moment. "And at last I see the light."
"And it's like the fog has lifted," Tamaki sings almost in her ear. "And at last I see the light."
"And it's like the sky is new," Haruhi adds.
"And it's warm and real and bright, and the world has somehow shifted. All at once, everything is different… now that I see you, now that I see you." They lean in close to each other and Tamaki runs his fingers through her hair, starting to pull her closer. Just when it seems they're about to kiss, Tamaki sees something out of the corner of his eye and he turns his head to get a better look.