A week passed. Their chess game seemed to have come to a halt. All the pieces had been pulled away besides his king, her king, and her knight. Stalemate. She behaved well, surprisingly well, almost frighteningly well. Her sudden goodness seemed like a ploy, to convince Kyouya that he didn't have to worry. She was pushing him away expertly, and he couldn't find a motivation or reason to reach back out to her.

He wanted to. That was the odd, yet undeniable truth. He couldn't help being slightly intrigued, slightly confused. She was a whirlwind of happiness and sadness and apathy and too many emotions and truth and lies. For all her teasing and poking fun at Tamaki, she was ridiculously similar to him; and at the same time, not at all.

However, just wanting something wasn't a good reason to go out and get it. So he let her be. Although per her request, he had taken her to visit Haruhi as soon as he found a time when Tamaki would be out of the room. He found it odd, how she refused to learn how to drive, but he didn't argue. He had quickly learned that arguing never worked with her.

"Here you go, Miss Masachika." Kyouya paused in front of the apartment door, holding his umbrella carefully over her head as well.

"Thank, Ootori. I don't need you for anything else anymore." Her words were harsh, blunt, and surprisingly didn't carry any of the amusement that she usually had.

"Miss— Kuri."

She stared up at him, eyes wide, then crossed her arms tight across her chest. "Huh. All this asking, Ootori, and now I don't know what to do when you do call me by my name. Kyouya."

They looked at each other for a few moments, then Kuri shook her head. "I'll… go now."

"Of course. Do enjoy yourself." Kyouya cleared his throat. "Will you require me to pick you up?"

"I… yeah. I'll call you." She hesitated, then stepped out from underneath the umbrella's protection, pulling her leather jacket closer to her. With a brisk knock at the door, she glanced back at the tall man for one last moment. "Well? Piss off."

He obliged softly, thoroughly missing the fact that she stared after him as he went. That is, until the door opened.

"Kuri Masachika," she introduced promptly, turning back to the girl and shaking her hand. "Your boyfriend is crazy."

"Tell me about it," the brunette responded dryly. "Come on in."

Haruhi waved Kuri into her apartment, pausing to pet Antoinette as she went to the kitchenette. The usually hyperactive dog nosed at her hand, then padded away into the apartment. Antoinette seemed to calm down to a ridiculous extent whenever Kuri visited. Tamaki had marveled over it before, but Kuri had taken no notice, as usual.

"Do you want anything to drink?"

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks, though." The girl sat down on the armrest of the sofa, sticking her hands in her pockets. "So. You, four guys, friends since the first year of high school. How did that happen?"

"Six, actually."

"You met them in your sixth year of high school? And here I thought you were the scholarship kid," Kuri teased.

"I met six guys," Haruhi clarified in a deadpan.

"So what's the whole story behind that? Like, I know that you were part of some Host Club or something…?"

"I… knocked over a vase."

Kuri stared at her. "How does dumping their favorite flowers on the floor have to do with anything?"

"The vase didn't have flowers in it. It was meant to be sold in an auction."

"Oh man. For an ton of money, I'm guessing?"

"Unfortunately. Then… There was the whole thing where Tamaki thought I was a boy. And forced me to join the Host Club until I repaid the debt. And then he found out I was a girl."

"He's an idiot."

"He is." The girl nodded in agreement, running her hand through her hair.

"But… why did you stick with them?"

"Because I had to repay them. Trust me, I'd have never come back after the first day if I hadn't knocked over that vace."

"Were they really that bad?"

"Worse." Haruhi took a seat, gesturing at the couch, but Kuri shook her head, obstinately remaining seated on the armrest. "What's your story, then?"

"… my story?

"How did you meet Tamaki?"

"Oh, right. Um, well… it started out when our parents wanted to make a business deal. I don't really know what it was about, but yeah. They wanted to strengthen relations between our family and the Suohs. So they shipped me over to France to become friends with Tamaki. I was the closest to his age in my family, and I was the most rambunctious, surprisingly enough.

"So I went over to France and I met him, and he was this bubbly little kid. Absolutely ridiculous. And I spent a few weeks there. Um, by the way, they have some god-awful food in France. Just to let you know in advance for the honeymoon."

"Kuri." Haruhi gave her a level glare. "Go on."

"Fine, fine, I'm just saying! Geez, you try to be helpful…" The tall girl trailed off, then continued with the story. "Um, so, we got into this fight. I can't even remember what it was about, but it was a kid-ish fight, you know? Where you just get all harrumphy at each other over some little thing. And I tore off his teddy bear's ear. Just like that. I was a vicious child, yeah.

"At that point, he started wailing all over the place and went over to corner of woe or whatever and started cultivating, like, mushrooms. And I'm allergic. I ended up in the hospital with an allergic reaction. I will hold that against him for the rest of my life – even though his family paid my hospital bill."

"You're such a kind person, Kuri."

"Shut up. You're the one who asked about the story."

"Fine, go on."

"So there I was in a hospital bed, and to make a long story short, he apologized and hung out with me for the rest of the time that I was stuck in there. And we were best friends, until I went to England and never saw him again in my life. Till now, that is." She trailed off, staring at the floor as she pondered. After a moment of quiet, she murmured, "I'm glad, incidentally."

"What?" Haruhi raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"You. You're good for him. Opposites attract and all that." A slight smirk passed over her face. "Tall, short; light hair, dark hair; stupid, not stupid?"

Haruhi blushed, trying to roll her eyes and remain nonchalant. "Stop it."

"I would, but this is really amusing. Like, not going to lie."

"It wouldn't be amusing if you were in my position." The short brunette grumbled, crossing her arms and leaning back against the couch.

"Not like I'm ever going to be in your situation. I mean, be serious." Kuri shrugged, as if the answer was obvious to all those who saw her.

Haruhi, however, remained confused, a definite crease in her brow. "What are you talking about?"

"Look at me, Haruhi. I smoke, I drink, I cuss, I'm arrogant, I'm stubborn… There's no way. I'm not looking to end up with someone, and quite frankly, I prefer being alone in those regards."

A silence fell over the two girls, as Kuri's gaze dropped to her feet and Haruhi's eyes remained calmly trained on her.

"You're selling yourself short, I think." After a moment, the short girl shrugged as well. "But that's just me. What do I know?"

"I'm really honestly not selling myself short. I mean, I do have good qualities. I know that. I'm funny, sometimes, I have a good taste in music, thanks to my mum, and I'm not that bad looking for a mutt. I swear, I realize that. I just… I don't think that my qualities are what any guy's looking for these days. Just… they aren't. And I'm more than okay with that.

"And wow, this conversation got really depressing. On the scale of general happiness, handfans and tea are on one end of the spectrum, and Kuri's love life is on the opposite. That is, if nonexistent things can even be placed on a spectrum." Kuri scoffed, and Haruhi couldn't help but chuckle dryly in agreement.

"Alright, alright. I understand. So how are things with Kyouya, then?"

Kuri raised an eyebrow at the other girl. "S'okay. Why do you ask?"

"Because I can't imagine how the two of you are getting along without one punching the other in the face. Like, actually, to be extremely honest with you. It's very confusing."

The tall girl cracked up at that. "Why would you say that? That's ridiculous. He's a cool man, Ootori. Yeah, he needs to, like, learn the definition of fun and let his hair down sometimes, but besides that…" There was no mention of the little dispute that they were going through at the moment. Haruhi didn't need to be burdened with that.

"I didn't realize Kyouya had hair that he could let down," Haruhi said in a deadpan voice.

"Oh, don't you know? His hair is huge. He has to hide all of his secrets, after all."

"—What?"

Kuri gave her a stare, frowning. "You… don't know that quote?"

Haruhi shook her head and Kuri continued to stare at her for a few moments. Then- "Girl, we are having a movie night together. You need to be introduced to the world of quality movies, okay? And yes, Mean Girls is included in that world." Her lips curved up into a mischievous smile. "Do you think Kyouya would murder me if I tried to force him to watch the movie with us? It's such a chick flick."

"I'm fairly sure that while he might not murder you, it still wouldn't be the best thing to do for your sake."

"Oh, come on. What's the worst he can do?"

"Buy up all the Masachika's stocks." Haruhi rolled her eyes, but Kuri paused, frowning a little at that.

"We don't have stocks. We get our money because we buy other people's stocks. That's all there is to it."

The brunette shrugged. "Hey, I've been going to Ouran for years and I still don't understand how this whole rich and prestigious world actually works."

Kuri was silent for a few more seconds, then mirrored Haruhi's shrug. "Yeah, me neither. Don't even try. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, trust me. You don't want to get caught up in that unless you have to." And with that, she checked the time on her cellphone. "Hey, it was nice talking to you – but I've got to get going, okay? I have to have the daily phone call with my brothers."

Haruhi nodded. "Yeah, I understand. Thanks for stopping by though. Feel free anytime."

"Of course. Not a problem." Kuri gave her a brief grin, then headed for the door. "Thanks for having me over. I'll eat next time I come, I promise." And with that, she slipped out of the door, the rain pounding even more incessantly on the rooftops. After sending a quick text to Ootori, she began to walk in the direction of her own apartment. Meet the girlfriend, check. Now she'd properly met the majority of them, and she wasn't obligated to meet any more. Good. This whole plan had been faulty, faulty from the start. She didn't need anyone in her life besides her brothers and herself.

And that? Was definite.

A/N: This is the part where I beg your forgiveness for being gone so long. So. Please forgive me. And I hope you enjoy this chapter!