Disclaimer: There is some lime in this sooo...anyone who doesn't like that sort of stuff should...I dunno...do whatever you need to do to avoid it I guess :P Anyway back to the story!

Chapter 26

The Ouran fair was the time for children's parents to come in and examine the school for themselves...unfortunately this fair is entirely different that the other fairs I've been to.

"And those go in the central building's main salon, okay?" Kaoru instructed.

While Haruhi and I just watched in shock as huge pieces came to the school to decorate the Host club. Haruhi asked "Uh, aren't school fairs meant to be, I don't know, more about students proudly showcasing unique things they made by hand?"

Kyoya, who was nearby, replied "Perhaps for a mere average school, yes. But, at Ouran, the emphasis is on planning and leadership skills. Keep in mind. Most of our students are being groomed in the position of leadership, so they're required to showcase talent for proper mobility not arts and crafts."

I shook my head "I should be used to this by now...I don't think I'll ever get used to this."

Suddenly a large carriage pulled in with Hikaru at the reigns "Whoa, whoa!"

The carriage stopped and Mori smiled "Nicely done. You handle the reigns like a pro."

Tamaki and Hunny were also in the carriage and Hunny shouted "Haru-chan! Mari-chan!"

Tamaki waved "Climb on board! We're rehearsing for the big Ouran Fair parade!"

Oh joy... Reluctantly we climbed aboard. Although myself and Haruhi despised the carriage many girls loved it,

"Oh wow, it's right out of a fairy tale!"

"How romantic!"

"Can we have a ride, too?"

Please! Take my place!

I tried to ignore the conversation as best as I could...until I heard Tamaki say "Oh and for the actual parade tomorrow, we'll all be in 18th century french costumes. Your outfit will be especially opulent, Haruhi. You too Maria."

Haruhi and I just looked at each other and replied, sarcastically, "Oh, wonderful..."

Tamaki cheered "Ah, the Fair's Opening Ceremony has started. Let's make this Fair the best one yet!"

I shrugged at his cheery mood "Sounds good to me."

Not long after we got changed into our first set of costumes. The guys (including Haruhi) were wearing a grey top with a white wiastcoat and white trousers, while I wore a white cocktail dress with a grey frilly apron around my waist. The girls and their parents soon came in and we started the first part of the Ouran fair.

While serving drinks I overheard a conversation between a girl and her mother; "Isn't is just wonderful, mother? This is the host club I've been telling you so much about. What do you think?"

The mother frowned "Well, actually I cannot say I approve of this. I think that these young men just enjoy being fond over."

Tamaki, hearing this as well, cried "You're quite right, madam. We're such shameless selfish creatures. All of this is mere pretense for spending time with lovely young ladies such as yourself. It is our weakness. Forgive me."

The mother quickly blushed "Oh, what enchanting!"

The girl smiled "I told you!" Good grief...

This seemed to be the theme around the room, Mori and Hunny charming the women with their cute act, Hikaru and Kaoru with their twincest and Kyoya explaining the workings of the club to businessmen.

"One of our daily goals here at the host club is to evoke different time periods, so we make it a point to thoroughly research a wide variety of historical traditions in the interest of maintaining all intensity."

The men nodded "That's quite impressive."

Yeah, quite impressively political...

The men left and Haruhi said to Kyoya "This is a bit too much even by our standards. You could buy a small country with all the money we're wasting."

Tamaki quickly chirped in "What nonsense! That's not the Host Club way at all and you know it. Happiness is above any price tag. Besides, think of all the exposure..."

Kyoya quickly interuppted "No, Haruhi is right. You have overshot the budget. The use of the salon notwithstanding, you had a period style carriage shipped all the way from France. Must you always be so capricious? Your impulsiveness overwhelms my accounting skills."

I rolled my eyes "Typical."

Tamaki shook his head, as if to control his emotions, "Whatever! Capriciousness is just another for creative! I have you know the whims of the host club king are the step of the dreams. No price is too high!"

A lady suddenly called over "Miss! Can I have a refill please?"

"I'll be right over!" I walked to the lady and replaced her pink lemonade.

While serving many people Hikaru and Kaoru said behind me "Look who Haruhi's with!"

I turned to them and asked "Who is he?"

She wasd sitting with a middle aged man with brown hair and holding a rose to Haruhi. "Actually, nevermind I think I know who he is."

I guess Tamaki takes after his father in the flirty section.

Haruhi looked over to me, a bit shocked, and I teasingly waved at her. She glared while Tamaki tried to break his father away but then...SLAP.

We all turned to the source of the sound and, what looked like Kyoya's father, had slapped Kyoya across the cheek. My eyes grew wide, anger boiled inside my views but yet I was too stunned to move.

Kyoya's father spat "Is this how my son has been wasting his time?"

Hunny turned to Mori "That's Kyo-chan's father, is it?"

Mori nodded "Yes."

Kyoya's father stated before walking away. "You're an embarrassment to the Otori name."

As soon as his father left we all ran over to Kyoya and Tamaki asked "Kyoya, are you all right?"

Hikaru stated "Your dad is so mean!"

Hunny frowned "You should never ever hit someone who's wearing glasses."

Kaoru sweat-dropped at Hunny's statement "I don't think it's really about that."

Haruhi knelt down to him "Senpai, he wasn't upset with you because of the Host Club, was he?"

Kyoya quickly got up and started walking away "Don't worry about it. It's not like I haven't been expecting this."

Angrily, I grabbed Kyoya's wrist and said "You're coming with me to the kitchen!" Without even muttering a word he quietly followed.

I sat him down in the kitchen and damped a cloth with cold water. "Here, it will help with the swelling."

I held the cloth against his pink cheek, not realising how close our faces had become. When I did realise our noses were pratically touching and I could see deep into his beautiful eyes. The strange part was...he didn't move, he stayed right where he was. I thought about all the times my mum has told me to just confess to Kyoya and I suddenly found the courage.

Okay Maria, you can do this! Just say it!

I blushed and quietly said "Kyoya...can I tell you something?"

He simply nodded and I took a deep breath. "Well...I don't really know how to say this but...I have had this feeling for a while now. I don't know when it started but I only realised what it was not too long ago. I guess what I'm trying to say is...I really like you, Kyoya."

Kyoya's eyes widened, an emotion that is rare to see as I continued, "I love your sense of maturity, your kindness, your blunt humor and your strength to deal with your family issues. I admire that about you. I mean I understand if you don't like me back but..."

Before I could even finish Kyoya stood up and pinned me against the wall. He raised my head with his hand and a cheeky smirk had appeared on his face, "Oh you took my chance to confess to you first, naughty girl. But I've loved that about you.

You have the strength that I wish I could have, your bravery, kind heart, beautiful face and mature features. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to punish you since a man is supposed to confess first."

I smirked at this change in behavior "Oh, and what kind of punishment is that?"

Before I could even think properly he kissed me, hard on the lips. We broke off, but gently went back in for another kiss. The way he spoke, the way he kissed, made thrill after thrill run through me like shafts of electricity. He was everything a man should be: strong, authoritative, commanding but at the same time tender and understanding.

The kiss quickly grew passionate as his tongue slid across my lips, asking for entrance. I quickly allowed his access and suddenly our tongues were battling for dominance, which I quickly lost as he explored every inch of my mouth with his tongue. Shock-waves of pleasure ran though my body as we both moaned in pure bliss.

Unwillingly, we pulled away from each other; resting our forheads against each other's as we caught our breaths. Kyoya smiled "How unprofessional, we've left our guests. We need to go back."

I nodded "Do we have to?"

Kyoya smirked and whispered in my ear "Or we can continue where we left off."

My eyes widened and a blush painted my cheeks "Back we go!" I ran out of the room and heard Kyoya chuckling behind me.

As soon as we went outside we quickly noticed that Tamaki was taking this girl somewhere as Hunny stated "Tama-chan isn't coming back, is he?"

Hikaru began "So, does he really plan to spend"

"The entire fair escorting some stranger?" Kaoru finished.

Hikaru asked "Eclair, right? Or something like that."

Koaru continued "Who is she to him? That's the mystery."

"I can tell you." An all too familiar voice said.

"Oh, Renge." The twins said, unentheusiastically.

Renge continued "Eclair Tonnerre, she's the youngest daughter of the renown French Tonnerre family. They descend from royalty."

Kyoya, after regaining his composure, added "Indeed. The family has quite a history. Their wealth is something of a legend among financial heavyweights. In fact, just being associated with them makes you part of a very elite group. They also own Grand Tonnerre, a firm that's been buying up a lot of businesses in Japan lately. Of course, that doesn't explain why Lady Eclair has come here to visit Tamaki."

We all shrugged, Renge disappeared and we all went back to work. Unti, Haruhi dragged me into another room and asked "Hey everything okay? You and Kyoya took a long time in there."

I blushed at the memory, "Well..."

Before I could even continue Haruhi bluntly said "You confessed to each other didn't you?"

I gasped "H-how did you know?"

Haruhi chuckled "You're glowing like a light bulb. I've never seen you with such a happy look before. It's about time you two admitted it to each other."

I shook my head in shock, "Wait...how did you know Kyoya liked me?"

"He told me...but made my promise not to say anything otherwise he would have raised my debt."

I rolled my eyes, "Typical Kyoya...hey don't you need to go and change outfits?"

Haruhi nodded "Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me."

She quickly left to get changed and came back wearing a snazzy white suit, the same as all the other guys. Girls around looked at her in awe and Hunny smiled in glee "Haru-chan looks great!"

Mori smiled and nodded "She does."

Hikaru blushed "Not bad. So, where did the Boss go?"

Kaoru finished "He was looking forward to this the most."

Haruhi frowned and irritably said "Our king is lounging in Music Room 3. He's entertaining Lady Eclair."

The twins grinned and Hikaru began "Well well well."

"Sounds like someone is a little jealous." Kaoru finished. Yeah...she's usually not bitter about stuff like this.

Haruhi sighed "Like I said, I'm not."

We all tilted our heads in confusion "Like you said?"

Haruhi quickly said "Look. I- I just think that he's being even more irresponsible than usual today. You said it yourself, Kyoya senpai. He's impulsive."

Kyoya nodded "True. He certainly is. But in this instant, he's obeying the whim of his grandmother." His grandmother...is she that cruel? From what I've heard that's the case...

Haruhi asked "Um, you know, now that I think about it, Tamaki senpai's grandmother seemed a little cold toward him earlier. Is there some special reason for that?"

The guys all looked at each other until Hikaru said "Well, everyone else knows about it."

Kaoru turned to us and began "See. Tamaki senpai is an illegitimate."

Hikaru continued "20 summer years ago, the Suoh family patriarch died at a young age. For political reasons, Chairman Yuzuru was rushed into a marriage at the behest of his mother to a woman of her choosing. That's how he became head of the family. But several years later, the Chairman fell passionately in love with a beautiful young woman he met in Paris."

Hunny added "Not long after, Tama-chan was born."

Kaoru continued "The boss's grandmother vehemently objected. Because of poor health, living in Japan proved too difficult for senpai's mother and so she raised him in France until he was 14. His childhood seems to have been a happy one. But as time wore on, the family business on his mother's side went belly up, and when they were forced into debt,"

"The boss's grandmother worried about there being no heir to carry on the family name came up with a proposal." Hikaru finished.

I stared in shock "Wow..." I had no idea...

Kyoya added to the story "The current patriarch may be chairman Yuzuru Suou technically, but for the time being, all of the family's assets remain under the control of Tamaki's grandmother. What's more, with his mother's health being so frail, Tamaki understood the grim prospect facing her she would have to live in debt. So...he decided to go to Japan with his grandmother.

Not long afterward, either out of anguish or just plain guilt of handing over her son away for financial security, Tamaki's mother left France in shame and went into hiding. Her current whereabouts are unknown. To this day, he's never seen her again, not once."

Haruhi almost had tears in her eyes and she said "I had no idea. He always seems so cheerful. Who would have ever guessed? If I were in senpai's shoes, I don't know that I could forgive my grandmother for something like that."

Kyoya reasured us by saying "It's easy to feel sorry for him, but the hardships he endured as a child helped mold him into the person he is today. He'll be fine. The host club is his refuge, which means when it's all said and done, he still has us."

"Tama-chan!" Hunny exclaimed.

As if right on que, Tamaki appeared with Lady Elclair at his side. He had a solemn expression on his face as he said "Everyone, I have an important announcement. As of today, Lady Eclair Tonnerre and I are officially engaged. Furthermore, the host club will be permanently dissolved after the Ouran Fair. That is all."

A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUUN! The plot thickens! Oh btw...I'm sorry for not posting anything for ages! I have had a really tough few months and it has seriously affected me. I decided to give you a new chapter for Christmas so...Merry Christmas everyone! I'll try and finish this ASAP. Please R&R and have a jolly good holiday :)