Chapter Twelve

The newly weds were greeted by the entire host club at the arrivals gate. Chikako had changed into a flowing, knee-length checkered dress and purple cardigan. Kyoya had ended up falling asleep after all, but only for a little while, because the moment he had unconsciously slumped over to use Chikako's shoulder for a pillow, she had promptly shoved him away out of instinct. This had put him in a particularly foul mood, so, needless to say, they weren't exactly holding hands and skipping on their way off the plane.

Mori and Honey were running around the gift shop, oblivious to Kyoya's and Chikako's return. Tamaki was waiting patiently in the background and, to Chikako's dismay, Haruhi was no where in sight. The twins came gallivanting up to them, arms outstretched with big goofy smiles on their faces. Before either Chikako or Kyoya could say a word, the twins began tossing rice in the air, flamboyantly.

"Congratulations!" Kaoru exclaimed.

Hikaru pretended to cry. "I'm just so…h-happy…for you two!"

Kaoru joined in on the charade, chucking the rest of the rice at Kyoya's face and dabbing his face with the hem of his t-shirt. "Our babies, Hikaru," he exclaimed.

"I know, Kaoru-!"

Together they screamed, "They're MARRIED!"

Kyoya narrowed his eyes and shoved past the two, heading toward Tamaki, grumbling about how idiotic they were. "How's the club doing?" he asked as professionally as he could. Behind him Chikako was hugging the twins and laughing about their shenanigans.

Tamaki smiled, smoothly. "It's fine, all things considered, but the ladies sure are…disappointed that one of their favorite hosts is taken."

Kyoya rolled his eyes. "All I need to do is run the club now, which is sort of a relief-"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his wife with a Cheshire cat grin. His stomach dropped; he knew she was up to something and that he would definitely not like it. "Kyo-chan," she whispered, mawkishly. "You'll lose clients if you aren't a host anymore."

Tamaki smiled. "Hello Kako-chan."

She grinned and hugged him tightly. "Tamaki! It's so wonderful to see you again! How are you? How's Haruhi?" She hesitated before adding, "Where is Haruhi, I should say?"

Tamaki took a deep breath and swallowed, but retained his sweet smile. "She's … at home, I think. Helping her father out with something, I suppose?"

Chikako furrowed her brow and opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but she was interrupted by a loud squeal. She turned to see Honey scuttling toward her. He jumped up into her arms and she laughed, spinning him around.

"Welcome back, Kako-chan!" Honey exclaimed.

"Thanks, Honey," she giggled, setting him back on the ground just in time for Mori to scoop him back up onto his shoulders. Chikako smiled up at him. "Hey Mori."

"Hey."

"How've you two been?"

Honey rested his arms on Mori's head. "Busy! College isn't as easy as I would have hoped, you know?" Sighing dramatically, he added, "But that's the way it's gotta be if I ever want to rule the Haninozuka empire!"

Chikako smirked. Mori returned the look of amusement, but a peeved looking Kyoya interrupted their silent exchange. "We need to retrieve our bags, Chikako." He strode over toward the conveyor belts, fists swinging at his sides. Chikako lingered with the others as they followed behind her husband.

"What do you mean you don't know where Haruhi is?" she wondered aloud to Tamaki.

He took another deep breath, shrugged, and settled into his default warm smile. "She didn't let me know where she would be today. It's as simple as that."

Chikako laughed. "That's never stopped you before!"

There was a sober pause. "I think it'd be best to let her be."

That comment shut her up for a while. They trudged on in silence until the twins pranced around the two, chanting various nursery rhymes about marriage. Chikako smirked and whispered, loudly, "Stop it, you two. We're in public!"

They both giggled and normalized their gaits. "So," Hikaru muttered, nervously. "Is Kyoya okay?"

"Yeah, he's a little…" Kaoru trailed off.

"He's acting like a disgruntled ass," Hikaru blurted out.

Chikako laughed. "Well, I sort of…the plane ride wasn't too great, that's all. So, how are the clients taking Kyoya's being married?"

Kaoru sighed, dramatically. "Not well."

Hikaru put the back of his hand on his forehead, pretending like he was going to faint. "They are absolutely and tragically disheartened! They cry every morning and then cry each night. They pray for your death so they may marry him to relieve him of his grief!"

Chikako raised her eyebrows. "That last part isn't true…is it?"

Kaoru chuckled. "For some girls, it is."

"Awesome…" Chikako murmured, making note to watch her back for a girl with a knife.

The twins laughed.

When the cab was packed full of Kyoya's and Chikako's bags, plus the entire host club, Kyoya was finally able to relax. "I hate airports," he muttered before falling back against the seat and closing his eyes.

Tamaki looked over toward Chikako and squeezed her hand. "Are you okay, princess?" he murmured. He had always possessed an innate ability to make any woman feel safe.

She smiled, weakly, and looked down at their intertwined hands for a moment before squeezing back then releasing his grip. "I will be."

He smiled back. "Of course." He chuckled. "Now, the real question is, is Mommy okay?"

Kyoya groaned as an answer. The car was silent; everyone knew how excruciatingly exhausting this trip must have been for the both of them. Kyoya was ragged from the chase and Chikako was ragged from the fear. The seemed to stare off into space, but Chikako tried her best to look happy to be home. Honestly, though, she had no idea how to show that emotion anymore. She hadn't yet registered what had happened. The only name that bore a hole in her heart every time she took a breath was Jake.

Honey broke the silence as he sat up in his seat. "Now that they're married, does that make Chikako Mrs. Mommy?"

That did it. Every one burst out into hysterics. The twins repeated Honey's question with significant gusto and Tamaki began reenacting the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Mommy and telling Chikako how he didn't mind sharing. Mori and Honey pretended to throw rice and even Kyoya couldn't hide his smirk. Chikako giggled. "I'm not much of a fan of that name."

Kyoya sighed, loudly, trying to sound as annoyed as he could muster. "Neither am I, Mrs. Ootori."

She glared at him. "Ootori-Akiyoshi," she hissed.

He waved his hand in the air, noncommittally. "Of course, of course," he mumbled, drifting off beside her.

She sighed. "Don't fall asleep yet, you idiot. We'll be home in ten minutes."

"Then I have ten minutes to nap."

"That's absurd. Nobody can nap that quickly."

"Not when they're wives are talking nonstop," he grumbled.

She sighed, loudly so the entire car knew how annoyed she was, but no one seem to listen except the Hikaru who had been watching the whole thing. She glanced over when she heard him chuckling, but he quickly looked out the window, idly, a smile still on his face.

Flower petals fell from the ceiling at the entrance of the Ouran Host Club. The girls in their lovely yellow dresses flounced in with a chorus of giggles and squeals. The hosts all bowed, ceremoniously, and extended their hands to their guests. "Good afternoon, ladies," they crooned together, even Kyoya with his clipboard, assuming he was no longer a host.

They split up to head toward their regular tables, their clients following behind them. Kyoya's clients flocked to his side, begging to know about his marriage, most of them looking horribly disappointed. Before he could even get a word in, Chikako came strutting out of the back room. Her movements were so loud that every girl in the music room stared. As soon as Chikako saw Kyoya and his clients, tears started welling up in her eyes and she cried loudly, running away from the scene. Half the girls who had been Kyoya followed his wife instead, curious about her drama.

"Oh Miss Chikako!" they called, frantically. "What's wrong?"

Chikako hadn't gone very far—she had retreated to the other side of the ballroom, standing at the perfect place where every person there would hear her sniffling. She looked up at the girls with glassy eyes. She knew their names from studying Kyoya's vividly descriptive roster. "Oh Lila," she sobbed. "Terra, Kyoko, Maria…! M-My marriage is horrible."

The girls were visibly delighted by this news, but, out of propriety, they pretended to be downhearted. "Oh, no, Kako-chan, no," they murmured. "You two are lovely together."

Chikako eased herself into an armchair, balancing on the edge of the cushion, and the girls kneeled around her. It was as if Chikako was a queen, and they were her eager subjects. They ate up her words like pecking hens. "Oh, we may seem lovely on the outside," Chikako wept. "But he…well, he is in love with another girl."

Mixed emotions clouded the girl's faces. They began to murmur curiously to each other about this news until one girl spoke up, "Who?"

Chikako choked on her own emotion. "I-I don't know, I don't know," she rasped. There was a pause as she caught her breath. "But I do know that…she's a client." She narrowed her eyes at the girls around her, seeming to stare at each one of them, desperately. "She's…she must be one of you, but…" She sighed, heavily. "It's useless. She could be any of you. You are all so beautiful, and the way Kyoya looks at you… it is obviously that he loves you."

They began shouting at her with excitement, each girl glowing with pride, as if she was the one Kyoya loved. Each girl thought that she was the one who was ruining Kyoya's and Chikako's marriage, and it was clear that this both excited and terrified them, but either emotion made them happy, because they were crazed by the idea of Kyoya's love.

Every host and his clients were watching this scene unfold. Kyoya's palm smacked his forehead. "You have got to be kidding me," he hissed.

Tamaki meandered over to his best friend, hands in his pockets, and a sly grin on his face. "So, it appears our newly wedded flower has some thorns."

Kyoya snorted. "No, our newly wedded thorn has some flowers. Very small and not well bloomed, though. She's always had something up her sleeve, no matter what's been going on, but I usually find out what it is before hand."

"Did you know this time?"

Kyoya was silent

Tamaki burst out laughing, throwing his head back and clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I envy you, Mommy! She's wonderful."

"I hate her right now."

Tamaki gawked, comically, but Haruhi silenced him as she walked around the two toward Chikako. Nobody had seen her all day. Tamaki reached out toward her, but stayed silent, so she didn't notice his gesture.

Chikako looked up to see Haruhi. Joy fluttered in her stomach, but she kept her façade of sorrow on as she jumped up and ran into her best friend's arms. The clients looked on, compassionately. "Oh Haruhi," Chikako cried. She whispered into Haruhi's ear, "Good to see you."

Haruhi pulled back and smiled. "What's wrong? Why are you fake-crying?"

Chikako gasped, dramatically. "I-I'm not faking, dear Haru-chan! Oh, let's go somewhere private; I'll tell you all about it, and trust me, it's a…" she choked. "Heartbreaking story."

Before Haruhi could say anything, Chikako had whisked her away into the back room and locked the door. Her face relaxed and she wiped the tears off her cheeks as if they were pesky raindrops. "How have you been, lovely?" she exclaimed, grinning.

Haruhi blinked. "What the-? What are you doing?"

Chikako furrowed her brows. "Talking to you?"

"No, no, I mean out there, with the girls."

Chikako grinned again. "I'm giving Kyoya more business. If those girls think that he is desperately in love with one of them then they are all going to flock to him twenty-four-seven!"

There was a long pause. "How does Kyoya feel about this plan?"

Chikako waved her off. "Oh, Kyoya, Schmoya! Who cares? It's fun and fun-ny, so that's enough reason to do it. Plus, he'll appreciate the future economic benefits."

Haruhi sighed. "I can't argue with that."

Chikako pulled up two of the dining chairs and urged her friend to sit down with her. She leaned over her knees, excitedly. "So, Haruhi, how have you been?"

Haruhi shrugged, almost uncomfortably. "Not bad. Uh, how was your honeymoon?"

Chikako chuckled, confused by Haruhi's tone. "Uh, not bad. We went to Scotland." She paused and her smile faded as she looked down at her hands. There was a long pause as the elephant in the room heaved an anticipatory sigh. Finally, Chikako asked, "So, why weren't you there yesterday?"

Haruhi was silent.

"Tamaki said you… you had chores to do? With your father?"

Haruhi nodded, refusing to make eye contact.

Chikako didn't look up either, but her voice started to tremble. "I-I was so excited to be home, finally, and away from that silly Kyoya," she added with a weak giggle. "But you, my best friend…well you weren't there. Why?"

"Like you said: chores."

Chikako scoffed. "No, I mean, why weren't you really there?"

Haruhi looked up at her friend. "I was helping my da-"

Chikako narrowed her eyes. "Bullshit."

Haruhi gawked. "What?"

"Bullshit. Your father very much would have understood if you didn't want to help him because I was coming home? I, you're friend who had been kidnapped—KIDNAPPED, Haruhi! Does that mean nothing to you? Do you know how terrifying that was?"

Haruhi looked around the room, murmuring, "Chi-chan, please, keep your voice down."

Chikako sighed, frustrated, but lowered her voice, regardless. "I just… I don't know, I just wanted my best friend there to comfort me. We've been spending time with each other since the day I arrived and we've… you know everything." Her voice cracked. The last three weeks washed over her and she tried her best not to tear up for real. If she did start crying, none of the clients, or most of the hosts at that, would notice it as being an unordinary moment; she had been crying about Kyoya's fake love affair early, so it would make sense.

But Kyoya would know, and she couldn't risk that. He seemed to know everything these days.

Haruhi reached over and touched Chikako's hands that were covering her face. "I'm sorry. I didn't come because, well…look, what happened to you scared me too. Besides, Kyoya saved you. No doubt he had someone bust down the door or whatever, so I thought maybe you wanted to just be alone, you know, with him." She paused. "Victims tend to stick to these kind of people that save them like glue. I've been reading up a lot about these cases and-"

Chikako jerked back in disgust. "Cases?" she echoed. She scoffed. "I'm a 'case' now?"

Haruhi took a deep breath and shook her head. "You know what I mean. It's just, there have been people in a similar situation and they didn't… well they didn't look as put together as you do right now. I'm worried… You're probably experiencing some kind of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so-"

"Disorder?" Chikako snapped, jumping to her feet. Her voice rose, dramatically. "My order is just fine! JUST FINE! I was scared, sure, but-but to say I have some kind of mental or emotional or-or spiritual disorder now or to suggest that he-they did something to me-!"

Haruhi stood up too and tried to calm her friend down. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm just worried!" She lowered her voice and her fingers trembled, unsure of what to do.

Chikako's heart beat madly, her brows were furrowed and raised in fear, and her lower lip shook faster than her breaths did. She didn't understand her rash reaction and quickly pulled her friend into a rough embrace. "I'm sorry," she breathed. "I'm sorry."

The room was quiet as the air settled around them. The only sound that seemed to disturb the dust was the hustle and bustle of the club on the other side of the white French doors. They were frozen, embracing each other, and Haruhi leaned her head on Chikak's collar bone. "I'm sorry…" she whispered.

When they were finally calm, Chikako stepped back, slowly. She gave Haruhi a small, scared smile. "Please…please don't…" she shook her head. "I'm fine, okay? So don't worry so much." She mustered up the energy to grin. "So, when's our next sleepover going to be?"

Haruhi scrunched her brows together, obviously not okay with the event that had just exploded. "I don't know, but…you need to talk to someone of this."

Chikako sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, Haru-"

Haruhi glared this time. "Bullshit," she spat. "When you realize that's not true, then we can talk."

With that, she left Chikako alone in the room to stare at the doors as they opened and closed. It wasn't until Kyoya had wandered into the room, looking for his falsely-emotional wife, that Chikako noticed she was still shaking.

A/N: Hello my lovely readers 3 I hope you have had wonderful summers and I am so terribly sorry that I haven't been updating! It's been a really ridiculously crazy summer since I was getting reading for university. I am now an official student! I've got the card and books and disgustingly large student debt to show for it!

Let me know what you thought, as usual, in the reviews and I will do my best to put up the next chapter :) Let me know if you have any suggestions, too! I love it when readers help me with the plot! I'll be seeing you lovely people later.

~Kit Koko