Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ Moving on in Life ❯ Knocking In Sense ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: Yay, it didn't take me forever to get out one more chapter!

 

This will be the first chapter that's done outside of Haruhi and Kyouya's point of views. I think it's better that to get a little more perspective on the situation, and I always thought that Kaoru was one of the more perceptive ones to ongoing intrigues. Hunny and Mori might have worked too, but I don't think they are as close personally to Haruhi and may not be able to talk to her or see everything. Sorry though, this is going to be a lot of Kaoru-musing.

 

By the way, if you were to choose one of the hosts, who would you pick? Personally, I think Kyouya is my type, but I'd probably end up falling for a Kaoru. Although, my second choice for Haruhi, if I were to start another fic (as if this one isn't taking long enough), would be Hikaru.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club.

 

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Kaoru

 

Looking at her staring out at the rain in the little window seat while Hikaru is busy finding a nightgown for her to sleep in, I still remember why I fell in love with her. Why we both fell in love with her.

 

Haruhi was just so innocent that she seemed past the pettiness that the usual girls were made of. When she looked at you, she could see you, even if you didn't know who you were. Hikaru and I had always been regarded as a single unit, but she had looked straight past our masks and saw how different we were. She never once took for granted that we would want exactly the same things, as people were wont to do with identical twins. Instead she would tailor her responses, knowing what made us tick, knowing what made us feel.

 

Hikaru fell in love with her first, I think, without knowing it at all. He was always one to dive headfirst into things without knowing what was going to happen. I was a bit more cautious, but all the same, I still fell as deeply if not more. Her personality and attention made you feel special, like you wanted anything to make her laugh or enjoy herself. That's why the entire Host Club fell in love with her.

 

But Haruhi, dear little Haruhi, fell in love with the one who wouldn't believe she would love him back. She fell in love with his matter-of-fact manner and his aloofness, something that complemented her personality well. She even got used to his mad schemes and reveled in his ability to control the Club in an almost “Shadow King” manner [1]. She confessed this all to us one day over drinks after graduation. I asked her why she didn't seem that ecstatic about finally graduating and it had just popped out that she had been missing Kyouya. Luckily for her, the rest of the Host Club had gone, but Hikaru and I had a grand time teasing all the details out of her for that night and many nights to come.

 

Kyouya was no better than she. Although Kyouya could understand and know everything about his friends and business and school, he seemed to have a blind spot for Haruhi. It was as if he viewed her as impossible because of Tamaki's love, which was probably true enough. Tamaki was - is - Kyouya's best friend, even now. Kyouya, even if he might through contemptuous remarks at the “Idiot King” [2], would always look out for him.

 

But that didn't explain what was going on now. I thought they had finally worked things out between them. Haruhi must have told him that she wasn't with Tamaki anymore, so why did she look so resigned?

 

“Here it is!” Hikaru cried out, brandishing the plain cotton nightgown that had been stashed into the back of our closet. Hikaru and I still lived together, even after picking up our respective girlfriends. I suppose they both knew, tacitly, that we could never truly love them over Haruhi, but they accepted it all the same, knowing that we would remain faithful nonetheless. So when Haruhi called, they would always smile and tell us to invite her over to sleep and talk, knowing that our friendship with her was important. Do you see why we love those girls?

 

What was I talking about? Oh, Haruhi staying over. Right, well, Haruhi comes over about once every few months to sleep - hence the nightgown stashed in our closet - and we catch up on everything that is going on in our lives and reminisce about our past. Rarely, we meet up more often, when we are troubled and need to talk - like when Hikaru and I finally decided to move out of our mansion, or when Haruhi's job stress became overwhelming. Or, like now, when Haruhi couldn't stop brooding over Kyouya and needed a distraction.

 

“Thanks,” said Haruhi, accepting the nightgown with a slight smile. Hikaru beamed at her, before shooing her to the bathroom to brush her teeth and change. I couldn't help the grin that spread over my face; it was like we were in high school all over again.

 

Hikaru shot me a quick glance after Haruhi had gone in, signaling that he, too, had been worried about her avoidance of the topic of Kyouya. I just nodded, knowing that Hikaru would understand that I had meant to question her afterward. I slipped into my pajama bottoms and slid into our bed as Hikaru did the same. Haruhi always slept with us, sandwiched in the middle like our own teddy bear. She trusted us enough to know that we wouldn't do anything, and we both loved her enough that we really wouldn't.

 

Haruhi came out of the bathroom and crawled up into the middle of the bed. “Thanks for letting me stay here again,” she smiled.

 

“Ha-ru-hi,” sang Hikaru, deliberately drawing out her name. She looked at him questioningly, but it was me that answered the glance.

 

“You went out with Kyouya.” It was just a statement, I didn't expect an answer and I know she didn't know how to give one. I felt her tensing as she heard his name. She inclined her head stiffly. “You've been acting funny,” I continued. Still a statement, but this one I did expect an answer to.

 

She didn't disappoint me. She frowned and said in her matter-of-fact tone, “I've been acting as I normally act. Why should my going out with someone change that?”

 

“Because it's not just someone,” sighed Hikaru, reaching down to pick up one of her hands. “It's Kyouya.” She just frowned and tugged her hand out of his.

 

“What exactly happened?” I was curious, everything should have worked out and she should have been skipping on the moon with him.

 

“I…” Haruhi started. And then she muttered rapidly, as if daring us not to pick it up, “He doesn't want a girl who's interested in his money.”

 

Now I know that Hikaru and I are identical, but we don't often wear identical expressions unless we are meaning to. However, in this case, I can honestly say we both looked at her in identical faces of shock. Hikaru's mouth was the first to recover. “But you're not.” Simple, blunt, but very adequately said.

 

“He doesn't know that,” muttered Haruhi, cheeks turning red with embarrassment. “He would hate me if he figured out I liked him. What if he thinks that the only reason is because of his money?”

 

“Haruhi,” I began, slightly annoyed. “If you were really a gold digger, you didn't have to go after Kyouya. Any one of us would have done. Do you really think Kyouya would be dense enough to believe that you were coming after him for cash?”

 

“What do you take him for?” Hikaru retorted, echoing my sentiments. “Any one of the rest of us could have given you a comfortable lifestyle with no more work for the rest of your life if it's what you truly wanted.”

 

“But you're a hard-worker, Haruhi. You would never stoop so low as to go after someone just to benefit yourself. That's why he likes you,” I finished.

 

“So you say…” she sighed softly. “I don't think he likes me.”

 

Now Hikaru was getting impatient and exasperated. “Why not?” he demanded.

 

“He thought…” she hesitated before plunging on. “He thought that I was going to marry Tamaki.”

 

Silence. Then I prompted her, unable to figure out her meaning. “And?”

 

“All this time, don't you think that he would have noticed that Tamaki and I weren't together?” she exclaimed, clearly thinking that it was an obvious explanation.

 

“Haruhi, I think you're missing the point.”

“He likes you. Always has.”

“He thought you liked Tamaki.”

“He would never get in the way of his best friend.”

“And now you made him think you don't like him.”

“So now what?”

“What are you going to do, Haruhi?”

“Are you going to go after him?”

“Are you going to tell him?”

 

Haruhi had been moving her head back and forth, trying to keep up with our statements. Then she buried her face in her hands and muttered, “I hate it when you two do that.”

 

“So?” we both prompted, with identical Cheshire cat grins on our faces. We both knew we had gotten through to her. After all this time, she was still our best friend outside of ourselves.

 

“I'm not telling you,” came a muffled retort.

 

We both laughed pulled her into the blanket to go to sleep.

 

“Good night, Haruhi,” we chorused.

 

“Good night, Kaoru, Hikaru,” came the whispered response. And then, almost as if she hadn't meant to say it, she quietly murmured, “Thank you.”

 

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[1] She refers to him as the “Shadow King” in the anime since the Host Club usually listens to him, even over their real “king” Tamaki.

[2] Tamaki is the “Idiot King” for obvious reasons. Haha. And have you noticed how Kyouya always seems to look out for him, even if moments before he's calling him idiotic? It's really sweet in a scheming, almost underhanded sort of way.