Disclaimer: I do not own "Ouran High School Host Club" or any of the characters in this wonderful manga/anime in any way.

Shelter in the Storm

Previously in chapter thirty two: Kimiko turned to stare at Haruhi, who just shrugged and stared back at her. Both girls giggled and they jogged to catch up to Takeshi who had been purposefully taking long strides. Takeshi slowed down as the girls caught up to him. Kimiko stood to his left, where he was holding the boxes, as Haruhi reached his right side. He reached down and held her hand as they walked through the mall.

Chapter Thirty Three

The walked along chatting amicably until they reached Takeshi's destination, a jewelry store. He walked in with no hesitation, but both girls paused before walking in. The dress that Kimiko had gotten was emerald green in color, while Haruhi's was sapphire blue with silver trim. Takeshi walked straight up to the display with the colorful gems. He searched the display until he found exactly what he was looking for, a delicate set of emerald dangle earrings and a matching drop necklace with emeralds. The sales man pulled the set out for him to examine better. After holding the necklace up to Kimiko's neck, he nodded to the sales man, but continued to look in the display case. Kimiko protested. She could never afford such an extravagance. She had planned on finding costume jewelry to go with the dress. However, Takeshi turned a deaf ear, ignored her protests and continued looking, only this time at the sapphires.

Finally he found what he was looking for. It wasn't as simple as the emerald design, nor was it going to be as inexpensive. Not that he purposely looked for a more expensive design, but sapphires looked best next to diamonds. The set he found to go with Haruhi's dress was set in Platinum to accent the silver colored trim on her dress, sapphires to accent the blue of the dress itself, and diamonds to bring out the sparkle in his girlfriends eyes. He knew without even holding it up to her skin that it would bring out the cool rosy colors of her cute blush. I wish that I could be as confident at finding her a ring as I was with her dress or accessories. I don't know how she would react though. The sales man brought Takeshi out of his own little world with a simple statement.

"Sir, there is a ring over here in this display case that matches that particular set, if you would like to see it."

"Yes, let me see it."

I could see that on her left hand as an engagement ring, with a simple platinum band as the wedding band. Eh, maybe not. She definitely wouldn't accept it at this point. Maybe she will accept it as a promise ring. I doubt that she even sees herself as ever getting married at this point, but I honestly would be the happiest man in the world if she would accept it as an engagement ring. I guess I should be happy with little victories. He sighed. So, a promise ring it is. But one day… He wanted to surprise her, so he pulled the sales man to the side and asked if there was some way to size the ring without letting her know. "It will be for her right hand."

Haruhi sighed heavily, as she did not want him spending any more money on her than he had already done. But she allowed the sales man to measure her ring size anyways. The ring would not need to be sized as it was already the correct size. Another sales person was polishing the items and boxing them for the sale as the sales man that had been assisting him went to prepare the paperwork. He nudged his buddy and whispered to him just loud enough were Takeshi could hear but not the others, "Must be nice to have enough money to bed two hot chicks like that. Did you hear the bitches pretend to not want the expensive jewelry he was buying them?" It took every ounce of self control that he had not to jump the counter and beat the man to within an inch of his life. Takeshi took a deep breath and then asked if he could speak to the manager.

The manager came over and Takeshi pulled him aside where no one could hear. Moments later, the manager came back and took the paperwork from the sales man. He was told him to go home for the day since he had upset such an important customer. He handed the paperwork to a younger girl who was apparently new and hadn't had the confidence to approach when the trio walked in at first. She would get the commission. Haruhi and Kimiko had not been witness to the ordeal as they were looking at the charm bracelets. After the sale was complete, the young sales girl walked over to the charm section and offered to help the girls. Kimiko purchased two charm bracelets and two pairs of identical charms, which she had put onto the two bracelets.

Once the charms were attached, and handed to her along with her receipt, she told Haruhi to hold out her hand. She did as she was told, and Kimiko placed one of the bracelets on her arm. "It's not much, but I wanted to thank you for being my friend. I've learned more in my time with you that I ever thought I would, and I am not just talking about cooking. I had forgotten what it was like to have a real friend, and not just come co-workers. Plus, now you have a bracelet so that your boyfriend can buy you charms for special occasions instead of buying you expensive jewelry." She shot a look over at Takeshi who just shrugged.

After that, they grabbed a bite to eat and then when home so that Kimiko could get ready for her date. Haruhi helped her with her makeup and putting on the jewelry. They went to show Takeshi the finished product, giggling the whole way to go find him. On their way, they passed his mother, who admired the outfit. "Takeshi bought the whole thing for her, well minus the bracelet. I never knew that he had such amazing fashion sense. The outfit he bought me was even more amazing."

"I don't know if it is fashion sense, but he definitely had a keen eye in regards to the people he cares about." She turned to go, but then called back to Haruhi, "When you wear your outfit I would love to see it. If it is even more amazing than this one, it must be something spectacular."

"It is. It truly is. I'll let you see it when I wear it," Haruhi called over her shoulder as they left to find Takeshi. The girls found Takeshi making a phone call; he hung up as they walked in to show off the results of his finds.

"You look lovely." He walked over to Haruhi and put his arm around her waist. "Where is he taking you?"

"I don't know. I may actually be overdressed," she smiled weakly.

"Doesn't matter, he wont be able to take his eyes off of you. And just so that you know, if he doesn't treat you right, I can promise that I'm going to make him go through a living hell as he works for the rest of his life!" Both girls giggled as Kimiko left to go find her boyfriend. Takeshi looked at Haruhi for a moment.

"What?"

"We haven't had a real date either, have we?" A slight smile played at his lips as he tried to look serious.

"I don't know. What do you call a real date? And does not having what you consider a real date mean that we're not dating?"

"What do you say to going out to dinner, just the two of us?"

"But you've already spent way too much on me today, I couldn't…"

"Why do you think that I bought you that outfit? So that I could take you out and show you off."

"Eh, really?"

"Of course. So, will you give me the honor of escorting you to dinner tonight?"

"It would be my pleasure."

"Good because we have reservations in two hours. We will need to leave here in an hour and a half in order to get there on time. Can you be ready?"

"Hai! I'll be waiting at the door for you in one and a half hours." She ran out the door to get ready.