Tired of card games, Haruhi stood up from the table and grabbed her school bag. "Time for me to go. I'll see you at school Monday." She turned to leave and was stopped as Tamaki jumped out of his chair to grab onto her.

"What!? You can't leave Haruhi! This is a sleepover; you have to stay the whole night with us!"

"What, again? We just did this!"

"That was two whole weeks ago!" Hikaru was quick to defend the gathering.

"And that was at Honey-senpai's house! It's completely different!" Tamaki explained.

"How is it different, Tamaki-senpai? We're all together and you want us to all spend the night. Sounds exactly the same to me." Haruhi managed to take a few more steps towards the door.

"But this is my house! There's way different things we can do here than at Honey-senpai's house!" Tamaki was frantic to make her stay.

"Haru-chan didn't you have fun at my sleepover?" Honey went for a guilt trip with wide eyes and a frown. Haruhi could've sworn he was going to cry.

Haruhi sighed and looked at their smallest member. "I did, Honey-senpai. It was a lot of fun and I'd love to do it again some time, but right now I need to go." She turned away from them and walked out of Tamaki's room.

Haruhi was nearly free when a voice stopped her in the foyer. "Haruhi."

She knew who it was and turned around to find out what he wanted. Had it been Tamaki or one of the twins she wouldn't have bothered. They would've just begged more.

Kyoya had followed her, knowing exactly how to manipulate her into staying. "Stay as a host. There are six of us meaning I'll decrease your debt by 6 people if you remain with us tonight."

Haruhi was shocked. Be host to the hosts? Why would they even want that? "You want me to dress up and pay you all compliments and make sure you always have a drink and snacks?"

Kyoya lowered his head and pushed his glasses up. He wanted to roll his eyes; Haruhi could certainly be dense. "No, you don't have to be the same kind of host as we are to the ladies. You just have to stay and keep us entertained." He watched her think about it, but Kyoya knew he had won when she didn't immediately turn him down.

"Why is this so important, Kyoya-senpai? Why does everyone want me to stay? They'll see me again in a couple days at school, or even sooner, knowing them."

She raised a valid point. "That is true," Kyoya acknowledged, buying himself a few seconds to figure out the best answer. "They just want quality time as a group. During club activities all of your attention is on our guests, so they'd like some time with your attention on them."

"And you, senpai? You managed to leave yourself out completely." She could be dense, but when she wanted to be, Haruhi was quite perceptive.

"Yes, well it doesn't matter to me if you stay or go. If you really must leave then it doesn't change how my night goes."

"That's a lie." Kyoya was shocked at her deduction, but only raised his eyebrows slightly, questioning her reasoning. "If it doesn't matter to you, you wouldn't be offering to lower my debt. That would just be a total loss for you, and you don't do anything without gaining something, right?"

Kyoya smiled ever so slightly, continually intrigued by their female host. "Indeed."

"Okay," Haruhi decided, walking back the way they'd come. "I'll stay." Before she rounded a corner she looked back at Kyoya still standing there and smiled. "And senpai? I want it rounded up to ten!"

She didn't see the little chuckle Kyoya gave as she headed back to her friends. When Haruhi opened Tamaki's bedroom door she was surprised by what she found. Mori, stretched out on Tamaki's bed, was staring at the ceiling. Hikaru was halfway laying on the couch, half slouched over the arm of it, his arms dangling to the ground. Kaoru was slumped in a chair, looking completely defeated. Honey was sitting cross legged in front of the coffee table, frowning and sighing between each slow bite of cake. Most ridiculously, Tamaki had collapsed face down on the floor where he'd been begging Haruhi and seemed to be wallowing.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" She demanded, causing everyone to jump and look towards the door. "You were all bouncing off the walls not 5 minutes ago!"

"HARUHI!" came their collective response. Hikaru, Kaoru, Honey, and Tamaki all ran towards her and enveloped her in a group hug. Mori stood back some, giving her a nod when she looked in his direction.

"Are you actually back, Haru-chan? Are you staying?" Honey was sure she must be, but they all needed to hear it.

"Only if you don't suffocate me!" Contrary to her intentions, that just made them squeeze harder out of excitement.

"Now that is settled, will you all move yourselves out of the doorway?" Kyoya asked, finally rejoining them.

The strength of their grip on Haruhi lessened, but none of them were willing to let go. Instead, they slowly shuffled towards the couch together.

"Guys this is ridiculous! I'm going to be here all night so let go already!"

"Okay, Haru-chan! We'll just hug you again later!" Honey was cheerful as ever in divulging his plan, but Haruhi was just glad it got the others to release her.

She sat down on the couch and looked at Tamaki expectantly. "So, what now? Your house, you pick."

His smile grew as he declared, "Truth or Dare!"

Tamaki hurried everyone into a circle on the floor and placed a bottle in the center. "So I'll spin first because it's my house. Whoever it lands on has to take a truth or dare from the spinner and after they complete it it's their turn to spin!"

Without further ado, Tamaki gave the bottle a quick spin. It came to rest pointing squarely at Mori.

"Aha! Mori-senpai, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Oho, courageous! Okay then I dare you to sing us a song!" Tamaki felt like he was winning something forcing such a quiet person into song.

Mori only paused for a moment to think of a song. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear no one, happy birthday to you." His voice was monotone the whole way through, but no one was about to argue the semantics of "sing".

"Ah no fair! That was too short of a song!" Tamaki demanded a do-over, but Mori was quick to deny him.

"You should've clarified." He gave the bottle a spin to move the game along, and it landed between the twins. Hikaru was quick to stick his foot into the circle and nudge the bottle so it pointed at his brother ("Hey!") and smiled. Mori looked at Kaoru to ask "Truth or dare?"

Kaoru, still grumbling, picked dare as well.

"Go steal something from the Suoh's head of staff."

"What! Are you crazy? She'll bite my head off if she catches me!"

"Don't get caught."

"Easy for you to say." With a sigh, Kaoru stood and left the room.

"Do you think he'll be able to do it?" Kyoya asked Tamaki.

Tamaki laughed in response. "Not a chance! Shima has eyes everywhere!"

"Maybe I should go help him..." Hikaru was worried what the old house keeper would do if she found Kaoru.

"No way, Hika-chan! This is Kao-chan's dare so he has to do it!"

It wasn't long before Kaoru came running back into the room, slamming the door behind him. He proudly held up a hair barrette. "It's what she usually has holding her hair up!"

"Hide it, quick!" Tamaki cautioned. "She'll come looking for it and you'll regret it if she finds you with it!"

Kaoru slipped it into his pocket and rejoined the circle, finally taking his turn to spin the bottle. It landed on Kyoya, who didn't even wait to be given a choice.

"Dare."

Kaoru's smile lit up his face. He slipped the barrette back out of his pocket and held it up for Kyoya. "I dare you to take this back to Shima, and you can't mention who took it!"

Kyoya's glasses flashed as he adjusted them, but he stood up without a word, snatching the barrette from Kaoru's hand. He was only gone a few minutes, but came back with an innocent smile on his face.

"What did you say?" Kaoru asked, slightly worried by Kyoya's expression.

"Oh just something about you having been fortunate to come across her barrette and asking me to deliver it safely back to her. She asked me to inform you that she would be keeping her eye on you."

"I said you couldn't tell her I stole it!"

"Which is why I implied that you simply found it."

Kaoru groaned, knowing he had been defeated. Kyoya took his turn spinning the bottle and it landed on Tamaki.

"Yes! I want a dare!"

"I dare you to tell Haruhi why we're all here today."

"That's basically a truth though! Come on give me a real dare!"

"I don't know boss, sounds fair to me. He used the word 'dare' and everything." Kaoru was quick to Kyoya's rescue.

"Fine, doesn't matter, it's not a hard question."

Haruhi had watched the exchange, curious what Kyoya meant. Weren't they all here for a sleepover?

"Haruhi, we're all here at my estate today to have a sleepover. After Honey-senpai's sleepover we decided we should each take a turn hosting one, as that's the only way to be completely fair. Today is my turn." Tamaki turned to Kyoya and smiled. Kyoya should've been more specific in what he was daring Tamaki to say, and Tamaki had taken full advantage of Kyoya's vagueness. But Haruhi wasn't blind. She knew she was missing something that everyone else was apparently in on, and she would find out what.

"My turn again!" Tamaki spun the bottle and was ecstatic when it landed on Haruhi. "Well, Haruhi, truth or dare?"

"I'll take dare."

"Oh." That momentarily stumped Tamaki, as he was so sure she'd pick truth and had a question ready for her. He pulled himself back together as an idea formed, and his smile returned. Haruhi saw the expression and began to worry. He was definitely up to no good.

"I dare you to sit on my lap for the rest of the game!"

Hikaru almost jumped up, only barely stopped by Kaoru. They were both glaring at Tamaki, not expecting such an act out of him.

Haruhi, on the other hand, looked relieved. "Sure, easy." She rose from her place in the circle and went to sit in Tamaki's lap. When she reached forward for the bottle she noticed the looks on the rest of her friend's faces. Hikaru and Kaoru were angry, Honey almost seemed sad, Mori was looking down and Kyoya had adjusted his glasses, allowing a glare to hide his eyes..

"Uh, everything alright, guys?" Her eyes shifted between them, waiting for an answer that didn't come.

"Oh, don't mind them, Haruhi! Go ahead and spin!" Tamaki encouraged her to continue, wrapping his arms around her middle to stabilize her as she leaned forward in his lap.

She spun the bottle. Everyone's gaze returned to the middle as it glided across the carpet, interested in what dare or question Haruhi would be giving. Tamaki didn't bother to let go as she sat upright.

"Dare," Hikaru declared when the bottle stopped on him.

Haruhi laughed. "As much as everyone's picking dare you would think we all have something to hide!" The others looked around guiltily.

"Let's see, Hikaru… I dare you to….ugh, I'm not good at this. Oh wait, Hikaru come over here!" He did as he was told and she whispered the dare into his ear.

"You're going to get me killed!" He whispered loudly back so everyone heard.

"What was your dare, Hikaru?" Kaoru asked

"Oh you'll see shortly, don't worry." Hikaru stood up and shook his limbs out, jumping from foot to foot. He looked like he was warming up for something physical, making Haruhi chuckle. The oldest twin started walking around the gathered group members. "I would just like to apologize in advanced to the affected party. Keep in mind that I didn't choose this!" As he continued walking he knelt down first behind Mori and whispered something into his ear. He stood up and continued walking, eventually stopping by Honey and doing the same.

The others watched on, completely confused, and Haruhi laughed. This wasn't part of her dare at all but she was pretty sure she knew exactly what he was doing. Hikaru was faking them out. By kneeling next to multiple people first, he was creating a false expectation so that when he knelt down to carry out the dare, no one would suspect a thing until it was too late.

Finally, Hikaru knelt down again, this time behind Kyoya. He leaned into his right ear and quietly said, "I'm sorry."

Kyoya turned towards him, worried at what came next, and fell straight into Hikaru's trap. His tongue was out and when Kyoya turned he licked from the bottom of Kyoya's cheek to the top. It was so unexpected that Kyoya froze as everyone around him laughed. He slowly turned to glare at a Hikaru who had wasted no time in retreating from Kyoya. Hikaru shrugged as if he wasn't to blame.

Kyoya's eyes narrowed at Haruhi and she laughed more. "Why must you drag me into this?"

"Sorry Kyoya-senpai, that's all I could think of!"

After Hikaru reclaimed his seat his spin pointed to Honey. "Finally! I'll take truth. I don't have anything to hide!"

"Honey-senpai, what was your favorite part of your sleepover?"

Honey smiled as he cheerily gave his answer. "That's easy! Kissing Haru-chan as I stole the cookie from her mouth was definitely the best part! Oh and you know Haru-chan, you can call me Mitsukuni if you want. You're too formal for someone you've kissed!"

Haruhi was shocked by the admission and the offer. At the time, she had thought Honey's – rather, Mitskuni's – kiss was a joke or an accident brought on by his hasty cookie retrieval. And she was confused by Tamaki's reaction. He seemed to freeze in place around her, apparently not liking Honey's answer.

Hikaru was smiling, having heard pretty much what he expected. Honey seemed oblivious to everyone's reaction and spun the bottle.

It landed on the duo of Tamaki and Haruhi. She turned her head to look at Tamaki and asked, "Should we flip a coin or something?"

He didn't get a chance to answer though because Hikaru jumped up. "Nope I think that means you guys broke the game. The end, no more Truth-or-Dare."

"Awww I didn't even get to give a dare though!" Honey felt cheated.

"You can let me up now, senpai." Haruhi was ready to get up if they were finished, and Tamaki reluctantly pulled his arms back so she could. He only allowed himself a moment of sadness though before he jumped up to excitedly announce the next game.

"It's time to tell a story!" He ran over to his piano and started playing a soft melody. "In this game, everyone will take turns telling a sentence or two of a story. The music will change tones as the story evolves and changes with each person's telling! I'll start! Once upon a time a handsome prince was walking through his kingdom when he spotted a beautiful maiden!" The music was upbeat and playful as Tamaki spoke.

They had spread throughout the room, so no clear order on who should go next. When Tamaki noticed this he spoke up again. "Come on guys! It doesn't matter who goes! Kyoya! You go next."

"If I must. The prince wanted to approach the maiden, but as soon as he started forward she turned and disappeared into the crowd." Tamaki change the music to signify walking and then settled into a gloomy melody.

"Good, Kyoya! Who's next?"

"After that single glance of her beauty the prince decided he could no longer live without her, and began searching his kingdom," Kaoru continued the story.

"And the first place he looked was a bakery!" Honey cheered. Tamaki laughed as the music turned chipper again. "The maiden wasn't there, but the prince was at least able to enjoy delicious cakes while he searched!"

"It was night by the time he left the bakery and he next decided to search a spoooooky alley. A rickety door lay waiting for him." Hikaru's two cents forced Tamaki to switch to a more chilling tune.

"He opened the door," Mori continued.

"And inside he found a wonderful flower shop where he purchased a bouquet in anticipation of finding his maiden!" Tamaki took the story back over to add some cheer.

"He decided to wait until morning to continue his search and then returned to the spot he'd seen the maiden previously." Haruhi had finally joined the game.

Kyoya went next. "She wasn't there though, so the prince enlisted some friends to aid in his search."

"He found an artist to describe her to, so he would have a painting of her to show people," Kaoru added.

"But the painter turned out to be an assassin in disguise and had used acid in the paint. As soon as the prince took the paining, his fingertips were burned!" Hikaru had to give the story another twist.

Tamaki's playing sputtered into broken chords before he jumped in to save the prince again, preferring to play the livelier melodies. "But the prince dropped it before it could do much damage! After binding his wounds he found another painter and had a very safe painting created of his maiden."

"He continued his search." Mori's additions weren't very helpful.

"Eventually, he found a man who said he knew who the maiden was!" Kaoru was happy to play along with the cheerier version.

"But it turned out to be her dad, and he hated the rulers of the land!" Hikaru was smiling. He enjoyed this game, even more so when Tamaki punctuated his addition with a foreboding dun, dun, DUN.

"However, the man was wise enough to know that a Prince is not yet a ruler, and therefore had no reason to hate him," Kyoya stepped in with a bit of logic.

"So the man showed the prince to his home and introduced him to his lovely daughter." Tamaki's music sped to a happy jig.

"The prince handed the bouquet he had bought to the maiden, but realized they were poisoned when the maiden died almost immediately!" Haruhi added, deciding she liked the direction Hikaru kept turning the story.

Hikaru smiled at her as he took over. "And the prince had been exposed to the poisoned flowers for so long that he died shortly after as well!"

Tamaki's fingers crashed down on the piano and turned around. "Hey! This was supposed to be a happy tale!"

"And there was lots of cake at their funerals. The end! There, it ended happy Tama-chan!" Honey's addition had the others laughing, but Tamaki scowled. "Speaking of cake, I'm hungry!"

There were murmurs of agreement and most of the club headed for the door. Haruhi heard the piano pick back up and noticed Tamaki still at the bench. "Aren't you coming, senpai?"

"I'll be down in a minute."

Haruhi walked back over to their leader and joined him on the bench. She watched his fingers glide across the keys playing a soft sweet song. "It's beautiful."

Tamaki smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

"Is that how you wanted the story to sound?"

"It would be nice if that's how life worked, wouldn't it be? You see what you want, you go after it, you get it, and it's all lovely and soft and effortless."

"What fun would that be?"

Tamaki looked at Haruhi, still continuing his song.

"If there was no challenge in getting your goal you wouldn't appreciate it as much once you had it. You need some of those twists in the story if you want your ending to be worth anything."

Tamaki looked back to the piano and changed the tempo of his song. It picked up the pace and extra notes were added occasionally so that a similar but more complex song was now playing. Haruhi thought it was even more beautiful now.

He looked back at Haruhi who held his gaze. "I think you're right, Haruhi. And I do like a challenge." He leaned toward her to rest his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. He concentrated on his hands and the song he had created, as well as the challenge his maiden was posing.

When he opened his eyes he found Haruhi's had closed like his, and a small smile played on her lips. She enjoyed listening to his music. "Haruhi." Her name was only a whisper, just enough to get her to raise her eyelids. Her eyes locked with his and he leaned forward to press a sweet kiss to her lips. He only stayed for a moment, less than three seconds if he was still keeping time with the piano correctly.

He was looking at her when he pulled back, watching for a reaction. She remained sitting next to him with her lips slightly parted, eye now fixed on his hands. When she finally looked up at him she wasn't sure what to say. "Tamaki-senpai-."

"Just Tamaki." He smiled softly, encouraging her to continue.

"Tamaki...I don't know what to say." She looked back down, now embarrassed that she'd just admitted her mind was drawing a blank.

"You don't have to say anything, Haruhi. I can wait. I've waited this long already." He brought his song to a close and stood up, offering her his hand. "Come have something to eat."

Tentatively, she took his hand and allowed him to lead her to where the others were dining. He let go before the others could see, but still guided Haruhi to a seat near his. She didn't really notice what she ate or what everyone was talking about, too busy with her own thoughts. First Honey had kissed her, and though she had written it off, it was apparently on purpose. Now Tamaki had as well. What was she supposed to think? What was she supposed to do?

Back in Tamaki's room the group settled in to do some homework. Haruhi was grateful for the choice. It gave her something else to think about, and she was able to act more normally.

There was a collective sigh of relief as Haruhi asked Kaoru a question about their homework. They all had noticed her lack of participation at dinner and how much she wasn't paying attention. They also knew whose fault it was, but that was something to be discussed at a later time.

They continued working until too many conversations had veered off course. Haruhi was laughing with Honey again and talking to the others like normal. No one wanted to rock the boat. If she was happy sitting around talking, homework forgotten, then so were they.

When the first yawn hit they decided to lay down much the same as they had at the Haninozuka estate. Haruhi found herself between Honey and Tamaki again. Honey scooted in close to her and grabbed her arm to cuddle. Tamaki hesitantly slid his hand into hers and squeezed slightly. She squeezed back but made no other move to acknowledge he was there. She stared at the dark ceiling while the others talked, making herself join in occasionally. Surprisingly, surrounded by the warmth and safety of her friends, she was the first to drift off.