A/N: Thank you to mtnikolle and mythogeek for the help and feedback. Much appreciated. I know that some of you were a little surprised by what Haruhi had gone through, but the good news is that she made it out on the other side. I appreciate all of the reviews I have received for this story and love all of the support! If you didn't see it, I posted a little one shot called Bundle of Joy and I have decided to write a second chapter for it. It should be up in a couple of days. Thank you everyone that have read the stories, you are awesome. Here is the next chapter; you are going to find out what happened the night she left the host club. Review of you can, thanks!
Chapter 4 – Remembering
Haruhi was stuck in a dream, but it more like a nightmare. It was a bad memory, one that she would have rather forgotten. That night was a mistake and she wished countless times that she could have gone back and changed the outcome, but no matter how much time passed, she still woke up and the decision to leave her friends behind was still her reality. She whimpered as she slept, unable to awake.
Hunny had gotten up and laid her on the couch so that she could sleep. He covered her with a blanket and watched her. He wanted so much to get revenge for her, to make Yasu fear as much as Haruhi feared, and to make sure he knew what it meant to be hit by someone stronger. He wanted to make him pay, but knew that was not a possibility, at least not right now. He continued to watch her sleep and wondered what she was dreaming about when he heard a whimper come from her lips.
Haruhi was so happy. She believed she had a man that she loved and that loved her. Yasu Sato didn't come from the same circles as her best friends, but status had never really been important to her. She knew that it bothered him a bit that he would never have what her six friends had just by being born, so she tried to dissuade his discomfort by reminding him that they were both commoners and came from the same social circle. She didn't care about all of the money or status; she just wanted her dreams and someone beside her that would support her. She thought Yasu was that man.
One night Yasu had come over to her apartment and she cooked him dinner. They were going to eat dinner and watch a movie, just spend some quality time together. Haruhi got the surprise of her life when her boyfriend pulled out a ring and proposed. She was shocked and a small voice inside of her said it was too soon and something didn't feel quite right, but she ignored that voice and said yes. She was excited and happy, and she couldn't wait to share the news with her best friends.
The next night was a small host club dinner party. Although everyone remained in touch after graduating and regularly saw each other, every once in a while they had a fancy dinner in order to catch up and according to Tamaki, give Haruhi something that she doesn't normally get as a commoner. She would always shake her head and roll her eyes muttering, "Damn rich bastards."
Tonight was one of those nights and she was full of nervous energy on the way to the party. She was excited to share her news, but at the same time wondered what reaction this would bring out from her friends. She knew none of them particularly cared for Yasu and all six of them had tried to warn her about him at different times. She thought they were only doing that because they were afraid of losing a friend or looked down upon him because he was a commoner. She reminded them on more than one occasion, she was a commoner also. They said yes, but she was better than him and deserved more. She would just walk away in a huff and later forgive her friends.
When they finally arrived at the Hitachiin mansion, everyone else was waiting for them in the ballroom. Haruhi never understood the need for such a big room when it was only the seven of them plus their dates if someone chose to bring one, but shrugged it off as just being yet another one of their extravagant things. Haruhi and Yasu walked into the ballroom and immediately Haruhi was greeted by the twins in a way that stoked Yasu's jealousy. Hikaru put his arm around her shoulders and Kaoru wrapped his arm around her waist, both rubbing their faces with hers and telling her how much they missed their toy. Tamaki came running from out of nowhere telling the twins to get away from his daughter and that they had no right to touch her. He pulled her into a hug which Mori had to extract her from. Kyoya said a polite hello while he seemed to watch Yasu and when Mori put her down, Hunny attacked her with a hug. She smiled and took it all in stride. This was normal; this was how their group operated.
Yasu looked on the spectacle and could feel his ire rising. Why didn't she tell them to stop? Why did she let them continue to treat her like she belongs to them? She belonged to him! She was his and his alone! He is the one that proposed and he is the one that she was going to marry. He would make sure that those rich idiots never came near her again after the "I do's". His eye twitched when the one they called Hunny finally released Haruhi from his embrace and asked, "Haru-Chan, can I have the first dance?" When she nodded, he couldn't hold it in any longer, "No! She is here with me and therefore will dance with me! She is my fiancée. If you want to dance with someone, I suggest you find your own date. All of you need to back off and leave her alone."
All eyes turned towards Haruhi and she was blushing red. The blushed increased when six voices (yes even Kyoya) asked in unison, "Fiancée?" They all noticed how nervous she looked. Haruhi never looked nervous.
She didn't want to announce her news like this; this wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. "Yes, we are engaged. Yasu asked me to marry him last night and I said yes," she said offering a smile to her friends. She wanted them to be happy for her.
Chaos broke out amongst the hosts. Tamaki went ballistic and told Haruhi that she could not marry Yasu who was out of her league. The twins agreed with him and said she deserved better, not someone who would bring her down and controlled her. Kyoya made the comment that it did seem that Yasu manipulated and controlled her to an extent, which she did not like hearing. Hunny told her that she deserved to be happy and he knew that she would not be happy with someone like Yasu. Mori even spoke up and said, "You deserve to be treated better."
She wanted her friends to be happy for her, but all they could do was ruin her happy moment. They seemed to want to tear Yasu down and make him out to be some sort of bad guy. Yes, he liked to know what she was doing when, but that is because he cared, right? She thought if they were real friends, they would have supported her instead of telling her that she couldn't marry him. She was hurt and she snapped, "Hold it! I will remind you, although usually you don't have a problem reminding me, that I am a commoner also. Yasu and I are from the same economic status/class and yet you are saying that he would bring me down? You have used your words to mock me and where I come from more than once over the years."
"The difference is that you have class and he doesn't!" Hikaru said ready to fight.
"Really? From where I am standing, it looks to me that you are the ones without the class! I love him and he loves me. He takes care of me
and wants to see me happy; I guess he is the only one in this room. Real friends would be happy for me, would support me, and would back me up; but you are not real friends. I guess you never were. I am happy with him, but that doesn't seem to matter to you. You have done nothing but try to sabotage our relationship since it started. You have never even given him a chance and that tells me all that I need to know. You are not my friends and I don't need you or the drama that you bring to my life. If you can't be happy for me, then we have nothing further to say and I hope I never see you again you damn rich bastards. I wish I had never met you to begin with!" Haruhi finished in tears. She grabbed Yasu's hand and fled as she heard the twins and Tamaki yelling behind her. She ran out of the room and away from the six men that were only trying to protect her, her biggest regret.
She woke up with a start yelling, "NO!" She looked around the room and seemed to be still lost to her dream.
Hunny was instantly at her side and had his arms around her, "Haru-Chan, its ok. I am here." He was trying to sooth her and could feel her trembles and the wetness from her tears soaking into his shirt. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Why are you being so nice to me right now? Why didn't you just walk away from me today?" Haruhi said as she pulled back from the shelter arms of one Mitsukuni Haninozuka.
He took a deep breath and looked into her sad eyes and started to wipe the tears away with his fingers. He let out a sigh, "Because we have all missed you since that night. I have missed you. Nothing seems right since you left us and although it hurt when you walked away, letting you go again would not be possible for me to do. Takashi missed you also. He was glad we found you again today. We would have contacted you again, but we were afraid that Yasu would do something. We knew how controlling he was."
Haruhi covered her face with her hands, "I am so sorry that I said all of those things that night. I am sorry that I walked away. All of you were just trying to protect me and I threw it back in your faces. I never meant most of what I said. I have missed all of you so much and have felt so empty since I left with Yasu that night. That is what the dream was about, I keep dreaming about that night. Do you want to know the worst part of it?"
"What Haru-Chan?" Hunny gulped. He wasn't sure if he was ready to hear more, but he also knew he would not stop her.
"I knew it was wrong. There was a voice inside of me that told me to say no to the proposal and I didn't. The voice got louder when I was yelling at all of you and then when I walked away, it told me to go back and stay with you, and to let Yasu go. I didn't listen and lost my six best friends and part of myself."
"You didn't completely lose us Haru-chan. Takashi and I are here and we aren't going to leave you again. We won't let you go," Hunny said pulling her back into his arms. When he felt her calm down again, he pulled back and asked if she wanted some tea. She nodded and he got up to go to the kitchen.
Haruhi watched Hunny walk out of the room marveling at the change in him. He had definitely grown up and matured. She used to be the one that would comfort him when tears came to his eyes, and now roles were reversed and he was the one doing the comforting. She smiled at her thoughts and stood up. She looked around the spacious room and noticed a bookshelf with pictures on it. She walked over to it and immediately recognized some of the photos. There was a picture of the host club as a whole when they were all in high school; it had been her first year. There was also a picture of Hunny, Mori, and her when they were at the beach and had gone shellfish hunting. That picture made her shiver with the memory of what happened later that night. She looked at the other pictures. There was one of all of the hosts at Hunny and Mori's graduation and another from when she and the twins graduated.
She continued to look at all of the pictures before one final one caught her eye. It was behind a couple other frames but not hidden. It was a picture of her surrounded by sakura blossoms while she held Usa-Chan. No one else was in the picture and she instantly remembered that day. They had gone to a sakura festival and Hunny was eating all the sweets he could. She offered to hold the bunny so that it wouldn't get dirty. She smiled at the memory.
"It was always one of my favorite pictures of you Haru-Chan," Hunny said from behind her.
She didn't turn around. She continued to look at the picture remembering the day, "I didn't even know someone took a picture of me that day." She finally turned around and looked at the boy become a man, her former senpai. He looked like he wanted to tell her something, but thought better of it.
"You should know better than that, every time we went on a trip, pictures were taken," Hunny chuckled.
Haruhi laughed, "Your right senpai! I mean Mitsukuni." She corrected herself when she caught his look.
They were interrupted by the opening of the door and both turned to see the quietest member of the former host club walk in. Mori turned around and saw Haruhi next to the bookshelf with some of the pictures he and his cousin had collected through the years. He noticed what picture she had in her hands and gave her a small smile. He had taken that picture with his phone for Mitsukuni. She had never been aware that she was being photographed at the time.
"Hi Mori-senpai! How was your deposition?" Haruhi asked trying to fight off the nervousness she was feeling. She knew Hunny forgave her, but did Mori really forgive her or was he acting like he had for his cousin's sake?
"Good," he offered her another smile. He could tell that she was nervous. He put down his things and walked over to where she was and ruffled her hair, "I am glad you are back." He watched a single tear slide down her cheek and then he gave her a hug that he was wondering if she would return. When she did return the hug and whispered, "me too", he knew that they had their friend back for good.
Hunny looked upon the scene and smiled. He thought that the only thing he would have left of Haruhi would be the pictures in the frames. More than once he thought it might be time to pack them up, but he was never able to do it and now he was glad for it. He knew that Takashi knew how he felt about Haruhi and maybe one day he could tell her, but if that day never came at least she was here now and he didn't have to say good-bye to her. At least not the permanent kind of good-bye, "Haru-Chan do you want to sleep over? I will let you sleep with Usa-Chan."