Time continues on

"Dang weeds..." Tomo muttered under his breath, adjusting the cigarette between his teeth as he plucked out long blades of green. His snow-like hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, most of it falling out around his shoulders. He ended up sneezing from the pollen in the air, he was never a huge fan of spring. It always made his allergies act up. Once he finished with the weeds, he planted some red tulips, enjoying the way it lit up this droopy place.

He was at a cemetery.

In front of him was a small grave, reflecting off the top was the words Hara Figumitsu.

Seeing her grave used to bring sadness and anger.

That day, when he waited for her at the park, she never came. He knew right then that something wasn't right. He ran for dear life, despite the pain from his burns. He ran and ran until he couldn't anymore. Tomo couldn't find her, no matter how hard he tried. Until he found Takashi. Hara left with him that day in the hospital. At first, he wanted to hit him and demand where she was but he was frozen in place when he saw Takashi's expression when the word 'Hara' escaped his lips. That's all he needed to know that he was too late. Hara was gone and he wasn't there for her.

That thought haunted him for so many years, it almost brought him to death's door but he knew she wouldn't have wanted that. Hara would have wanted him to live his life in honor of her not being able to live hers. So here he was, cleaning up her grave like he always did for the past 6 years. His life consisted of missing her, taking care of her grave and when he wasn't, he worked odd jobs. He was currently going to college, thinking that Hara would have wanted him too. Tomo didn't know what he wanted to do yet, but he was hoping he didn't have to worry about it so much.

"Excuse me," A feminine voice broke him from his thoughts.

Standing there was a tall woman, her face stern but composed. She had short brown hair combed back behind her ears that glittered from golden hoops hanging from them. Her green eyes glued to the headstone, not even glancing Tomo's way. He noticed her attire, she wore a black suit with a tan undershirt accompanied by a long black skirt. She must work in an office from how she carried herself and her clothing. Then his eyes followed down her arms which were holding onto a child's, in her other hand was some flowers.

Looking at the little girl, she had long straight brown hair that hugged her chubby cheeks as her bright yellow eyes looked at Tomo with curiosity. She was wearing a loose pink dress with a dog on the front. Her finger rose, pointing right at him. "Smoking is bad for you," She spoke.

"I know." He sighed, not wanting to be lectured from a little girl.

She puffed out her cheeks, pouting her small lips. "Then why do it?!" She was completely shocked by the idea of him wanting to do something bad for his health. Smoking can cause cancer and many other side effects, or even worse, death.

His grey eyes glanced onto Hara's grave, making him take another breath of smoke. "It brings me closer to her."

This made the woman react, her hard expression lightening up a bit. In her hand was a small bouquet of flowers made up of daisies and lilies, letting go of her daughter's hand, she placed the flowers in front of the grave. She was trying her best to stay composed, Tomo could see it. He too had that expression quite often when he visited Hara.

The little girl touched the lettering while tilting her head, "Is auntie in heaven?" She asked, trying to understand what the grave said.

Seika nodded, "I'm sure she's up there right now looking at us."

Tomo didn't like that idea. If Hara could see him, she would surely be disappointed. Here he was, just now going back to school and he didn't even know what for. Every night she was on his mind, taunting him, asking him why he wasn't there when she disappeared. No matter how much he came here to apologize, her voice was still crystal clear in his mind. He had grown used to it, however, even if she laughed at him in his dreams, it meant he could still see and hear her in some way. Hopefully, wherever she was, she wouldn't judge him too hard.

"We just wanted to visit, I thought she would love the flowers," Seika spoke, finally taking her eyes of the grave.

Tomo tried fixing his hair, "May I ask who you are?"

"I can say the same for you," She replied quickly. She wasn't very interested in the dirty man who was by Hara's grave, but she did see him clean it and quite often. He must have cared a lot for her sister and the thought brought ease. She wasn't there for her like she should have been, being her sibling, but knowing that Hara had someone made her feel a little less guilty. "I am her sister," She finally said with a sigh, "and she is her niece." The little girl smiled brightly, giving up on the fact she couldn't read the tombstone very well.

Seeing Hara's family in front of him made Tomo remember how unpresentable he looked. Trying to wipe some sweat off with a small tissue he kept in his pocket, he spoke once more. "She'll love the flowers."

Seika squinted her eyes, going to ask Tomo a question but pondered for a moment. "Who are you to her?" Before she could get an answer, a voice shot out behind them.

"Seika?"

Tomo saw Takashi walk up to them, he was dressed in a light T-shirt and jeans. His stone cold expression was the same since Tomo first encountered the man years ago. If anything, it looked like he barely aged. Takashi came by almost as often as Tomo did, maybe even more at times when he wasn't here. He didn't say much when he arrived, sometimes he would help keep the grave clean or come and deliver some flowers.

Seika approached him and the little girl almost jumped into his arms. "Takashi!" She squealed.

Takashi smiled at her, fixing some of her loose hair. He then turned to Seika, "I dropped her books off earlier."

"Thank you," Seika nodded then towards the little girl. "Let's give him some time, we will see him tonight." She would have stayed longer but being around Hara with Takashi around always left her with a weird taste in her mouth.

When Hara didn't come back to the hotel, he showed up in her place. He sat her down and explained everything Hara had told him. At first, she thought the man was crazy and demanded he'd leave. However, as time went on and Hara never came back. Father sent police out to find her but they too never found a single trace. Eventually, they stopped trying to find her and the idea of Hara being dead all along crept into Seika's mind. Eventually, before she had the baby, she decided to believe Takashi and found him. Ever since then, he's stuck around and helped her with her daughter.

'It's what Hara wanted', he always said.

"Aw, okay. Will we come to see Auntie again?" She asked, looking at her mother with big eyes.

"Of course," She took her daughter's hand. "Let's go home, Hara." She then walked away, ignoring Tomo's shocked expression finding out her daughter's name was from her sister.

Once they were gone, Takashi stood there, being silent as usual. His dark eyes laid on the grave, "Thank you for cleaning it today"

"I just want to make sure she's taken care of."

Takashi paused to answer his ringing cell phone in his pocket, even Tomo could hear the voice on the other ends as the person spoke. "We are parking now! We will be there in a minute."

"Okay."

He then hung up, putting his black phone safety in his pocket. About a month after Hara's passing, Takashi couldn't keep the secret any longer. Too many questions started arising and he knew all the answers. The Host grew extremely worried and those who knew the quiet girl. He decided, telling them would be for the best and it would help carry on the memory of Hara. When he told them everything, he received looks of confusion. He didn't think they would believe him so he wasn't that surprised but Kyoya stepped forward. He had done some research of his own and openly accepted Takashi's explanation on her disappearance. Besides, Kyoya couldn't deny him from what he's seen that day in the janitors closet.

Of course, Honey trusted him and decided to believe every word which resulted in him crying for weeks. As for the twins, they were skeptical at first, thinking Takashi fell off the deep end until they realized, she truly wasn't coming back. They wanted to believe in the idea of her just running away but they couldn't think of a reason why. Hikaru wasn't as torn up about it like everyone else in the club, if he was asked about it, he wouldn't really give an answer. As for Kaoru, he was torn. He often caught himself thinking it was their fault for her disappearing.

Tamaki and Haruhi didn't know how to take the news of their friend being dead the whole time. Haruhi, being the logical girl she was, didn't want to believe it. How could that be possible? If she did die, she couldn't have been walking around and Haruhi didn't believe in ghost either. The whole thing was a mess and her mind was still trying to comprehend it to this day.

Tamaki could only cry, for he had lost a dear friend.

He cared for Hara deeply, from the very first day they met, he wanted nothing but the best for her. To find out she had killed herself out of misery crushed a part of his heart, he had tried his best to comfort her, but he was already too late. He always knew she was hiding something but he didn't know it was something of this magnitude. Tamaki sometimes thinks there was a way to keep her here with them, despite being dead. If he had been by her side, maybe, he could have found something.

Tomo saw them get out of a black car, all of them slowly walking to the grave. Honey rushed to Takashi's side, grabbing his hand for comfort as he looked down at her grave. Honey tried his best to hold back tears. The twins were next as they could only stare, it never got easier for them to be here. Hikaru's eyes could even look in the direction of the small grave, feeling like Hara was watching him, judging him like she had before. Next was Kyoya, holding onto a bundle of roses.

Tomo placed a hand on her grave, he remembered how she hated roses.

Kyoya placed the flowers next to the bouquet Seika left behind. He fixed his glasses, sighing from the atmosphere everyone gave off. He wasn't the man to admit being wrong or even think of the idea. However, he sometimes caught himself cursing at his own curiosity. If he had backed off from Hara when he saw how abnormal she was, made she would have had more time. But, he couldn't, he was intoxicated by the idea of discovering something new. Hara was different and that drew him in like a moth to a flame. Who knew it would have been her that was engulfed by the fire.

The last former Host members walked up, Tamaki's hand was intwine with Haruhi's, her slender arm resting on top of her enlarged stomach. Tamaki was dressed like a prince as normal, his attire made of white and gold. While Haruhi had grown more into her feminine side. Her hair no longer short like a boy but long past her breast, her outfit was a smooth comfortable pink maternity gown as she was close to her due date.

"Glad you came to see her," Tomo spoke not as interested as he tried to sound.

They were all silent until Haruhi spoke, "We wanted her to see the baby but this was the only time we could come." Tamaki and Haruhi had moved away when they graduated from school. It wasn't often they stopped by and they were hoping she would have already delivered by the time everybody decided to get together and visit. Perhaps, another time they will stop by and show her their child.

"You shouldn't travel being so late in your term," Kyoya frowned eyeing Tamaki as he should have stopped Haruhi from coming.

Tamaki spoke for her, "She really wanted to see everybody and Hara again."

Hikaru was quickly growing uncomfortable, not liking the idea of being in a graveyard. "Can we hurry up? It's almost time for our lunch reservation."

Karou shot him a glare, "we will go on ahead and save the table." He then apologized for his twins rudeness as he said his goodbye to Hara.

They watched them walk away, Tomo almost got up and confronted Hikaru for being disrespectful in front of Hara but bit his tongue. She wouldn't have liked him to fight. Ever since after the fire, Tomo had given up fighting for good. Hara made him promise to never do it again and he broke it. Because of that, he ended up in the hospital and that led him to not being by her side in the end. That thought haunts him to this day. If only he had kept that promise.

Tamaki noticed Haruhi starting to breath uneven as standing up for long periods of time put stress on her body, "We should probably go too, Haruhi needs to sit down."

"I'm fine," She tried protesting but Tamaki quickly shot her a worried look, making her sigh in defeat. "We will come again soon to show her the baby."

Before they departed, Tamaki pulled something out of his pocket, placing it in front of Hara's grave. They then said their goodbyes as they slowly walked back to the car, Haruhi trying not to waddle so much. Tomo's eyes landed on the item he left behind and saw a small necklace, in the middle of the pendant was a blue gem. He couldn't help but smile, seeing her grave fill up with gifts. She must be happy to see them remember her.

"Do you still see her sister?" Kyoya asked.

Takashi nodded, "Hara wanted me to watch out for her."

"I understand that but you surely must know how she feels for you. You can't continue to do this to yourself." Kyoya sounded harsh but he was looking out for his friend. He still lived here along with Takashi and Honey. From time to time, they would catch up for lunch and sometimes Seika would be there with her baby since she sometimes got stressed and needed to get out of the house. As time went on, Kyoya saw the way she looked at Takashi and held herself. There were feelings there and Takashi knew.

"I know..." Takashi's eyes laid on Hara's stone.

Honey piped up, "How about we go eat?! I'm starving."

He knew how Takashi felt about Hara and he didn't want him feeling pressured to think about Seika's feelings. This wasn't the time or place for that conversation. Honey ended up grabbing Kyoya's hand, trying to lead him away. "We will meet you there!" He said to Takashi, trying to give him some time with Hara.

Again, it was just Tomo and Takashi. It was often like this so they were comfortable with the silence. "You know," Tomo spoke, his voice low. "It's okay to move on." He couldn't figure out if he was saying that for his or Takashi's sake.

"What about you?" Takashi answered, sitting on the other side of Hara's grave.

Tomo rested his head on the cold stone, "Rather not think about it."

Takashi grunted, placing his weight on the palms of his hands. Sometimes, he swore he could still feel the heat from her hands on his. That night was crystal clear in his mind and visited the abandoned playground even more just to see the little red ornament that resembled her. He wondered if she was still here, he just couldn't see her. Would she be proud of him? Surely, she would.

Perhaps she was always with them, wishing only for the best as she always done. Sometimes, Tomo felt her eyes on him, giving him the energy he needed to go on. He couldn't wait for the day until they met again, he would run to her with open arms. Swing her around and tell her what he's always wanted to tell her since that day. He decided to put his thoughts to rest as they both looked up into the sky, watching the clouds float away slowly.

They wondered if she too, was there with them watching the endless sky.