I'M SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SUCH A LONG TIME! There was absolutely no inspiration for this story and I really didn't want to bring myself to write something that was forced. I hope that my writing skills haven't deproved too much after my super long break! My exams are over and a new term is going to start soon once my results come out on Monday *fingers crossed I get posted to the school that I want to get into*. Thank you for all the favourites, alerts and reviews, I'm so touched! So here's the next chapter, it's angsty, fluffy and funny so it's a combination of all the stuff that I like and the stuff that I think that I'm better at writing. Now, to reply to reviews!

To kia: I'm glad that you like it, the next chapter is here. I'm sorry for the long wait and I hope that you'll enjoy this too! :D

To Pokoto: Was Portugal fun? I'm so sorry for taking so long to update! I hope that you'll like this too! Oh oh, I don't know why, but your reviewer name always makes me smile for some reason, it's such a cute name!

And that's all to all my anonymous reviews! Please review, it makes me super happy and drives me to update faster, haha. Happy reading! Oh, and a Happy Lunar New Year! :D

Ouran high school host club Fanfic

Chapter 35

Kaito gazed tiredly at his reflection in the mirror that stared back at him. After combing out the tangles and knots in his previously messy hair, he sighed and smoothened his dress shirt. A knock on the other side of his door was heard and he told them to come in.

"At least you look human now." Kelly snorted as he walked in, closing the door behind him. "You looked like a zombie just now."

"Shut up… Haruhi's coming over, and I can't let her see me like that, can I?" Kaito turned, lifting an eyebrow at his cousin.

"Yeah, yeah… so are you ready to tell me about what happened while I was gone?" the red head asked, standing next to Kaito.

"No…" Kaito grumbled, playing with his hair.

"You can't hide it from me forever…" Kelly sang, ruffling Kaito's hair.

"I'm not planning on. I promise that I'll tell you later after my dinner with Haruhi, okay?" the brunette sighed and Kelly took his hand off Kaito's head.

"Alright, but you better keep your promise or I'll kill you." Kelly smirked, flicking Kaito's forehead. Kaito chose not to reply, choosing to just rub at the spot where Kelly had flicked him and glare back at him.

A knock on the door broke Kaito's glare and a maid stepped in, curtsying at the two of them before announcing that Haruhi had just arrived and was waiting downstairs.

"Well, guess that I'd better get going." Kaito let out a heavy sigh, once again checking his appearance before turning to Kelly and asking him to get out of his room.

"Fine, fine… you sure are grouchy today." Kelly pouted, walking out of the room with Kaito next to him.

"I haven't been sleeping much these few days." Kaito grunted in reply, closing the door behind him.

"And it's ironic because you've been lazing around on your bed for the past few days." Kelly mumbled before patting Kaito on his shoulder and went up the stairs, towards his room.

"It's now or never…" Kaito sighed as he walked down the steps. He had slightly more than an hour before Haruhi would arrive and he was intent on making that night one that Haruhi would never forget.

"Argh, I look horrible!" Haruhi groaned as she twirled around in front of her full body mirror. She was dressed in a simple short-sleeved black dress that reached slightly above her knees. A few buttons were sewn onto the front of the dress and the middle section of the dress was elastic so it clung onto her figure. It was a casual dress that Kaito had gotten her two years ago that she loved dearly, and she was wondering if it was too casual for their dinner date.

"Haruhi~! I'm back!" Ranka sang as he entered the house, spinning in a circle and then posing. And it was then when he noticed her troubled look. "You look so cute, Haruhi! Are you going out tonight? Why do you look so sad?"

"I'm going over to Kaito's house for dinner, and I don't want to overdress, but neither do I want to underdress! Does this look too casual?" Haruhi asked pensively, "but it's just a dinner date right? It should be alright…"

"Well, I know that Kaito will think that you're cute no matter what you wear…" Ranka giggled, placing his handbag on the floor before skipping over to Haruhi.

"But you're right, it does seem a little casual…" Ranka murmured, spinning Haruhi around. Just then, an idea hit him. "I've got it!"

Haruhi stared at her father as he scrambled over to his handbag and rummaged through it, trying to find something. When Ranka finally returned, he had a small shopping bag in his hand.

"I had some free time today, so I went shopping, and I saw these adorable clips!" he gushed, taking the package out of the bag and ripping the plastic wrapper off, his excitement clearly spiking. "and they were really pretty, so I immediately thought of you because you're my very pretty daughter, so I bought them for you!"

Haruhi stared at what her father held in his hand. It was a simple clip with a light pink rose attached on top.

"Here… I'll just clip this on here…" Ranka mumbled to himself as he clipped the clip onto Haruhi's short hair. Pulling back, he stared at her for a few moments before grinning. "There you go! Now, you look even more beautiful than before!"

Haruhi glanced at her reflection in the mirror, touching the rose on her head. Smiling, she turned towards her father and hugged him. "Thank you, Dad!"

"Aw… anything for my darling daughter!" Ranka cooed, returning the hug. "Hey, shouldn't you be heading over soon?"

"Ah! I was supposed to leave five minutes ago!" Haruhi gasped, grabbing her bag and rushing towards the door, wearing her heels. "Bye, Dad! I'll see you later! I've already prepared dinner, so you just have to heat it up."

"Alright, have fun and say hi to Kaito for me! Bye bye!" he waved, as Haruhi left, her heels clacking against the steps of the staircase.

Standing by the doorway, Ranka smiled as he watched his daughter turn and run around the corner of the building.

"They grow up so fast…" he murmured to himself before he turned and walked back to the living room. All of a sudden, he stopped in his steps and his jaw dropped.

"B-but… that means that…" Ranka's voice quivered as he spoke, his expression turning from a shocked one to a horrified one. "I'm old!"

"NOOOOOO!"

"Alright, that should do." Kaito nodded to himself, standing alone in the garden of his house.

"Kaito-sama, Haruhi-san has arrived." A maid informed him as she curtsied.

"Okay, can you please bring her here?" he asked, and the maid nodded before bowing once again and walking away.

"I hope that everything will go as planned…" Kaito sighed, massaging his temples.

"Dinner was absolutely delicious." Haruhi smiled, looking over at the other end of the wooden table where Kaito sat. They were having dinner in the garden, where Kaito had set up a round wooden table and two simple wooden chairs. The lacy white tablecloth twirled whenever a gentle wind blew, and the lighted candles added to the warm ambiance as they ate underneath the blanket of stars.

"Yeah, so much better than the sandwiches that I prepared the other day." Kaito chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Nah, your sandwiches were much better because you were the one who made them." Haruhi smiled, a light blush dusting her cheeks. Kaito just smiled back and a comfortable silence reigned over them, the both of them just staring at each other and enjoying their time together.

"Have I mentioned that you look really, really beautiful tonight?" Kaito suddenly said, breaking the silence as he sat up and leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table, and resting his chin on the back of his hands.

Haruhi's blush darkened and her smile grew as she giggled, "Hm… you only said it about ten times."

Kaito did nothing but laugh cheekily, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

"So, what have you been doing for the past few days?" Haruhi asked casually, taking a sip of wine from her glass.

"Um, I've been under a lot of stress lately. The paperwork has been flowing in and it's building up so quickly, so I've been trying to catch up. I'm still nowhere near done though." Kaito explained, a nervous smile appearing on his face. "I'm sorry for not calling you that day. After I came back from my appointment, I was so tired and it totally slipped my mind. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I understand. I forget to return your calls too when I'm super busy with my cases. So I guess that we're even." Haruhi laughed, waving her hand and leaning back against her chair, gazing up at the stars shining brightly above her.

"The stars are really pretty tonight…" she murmured, looking back at Kaito, only to see that he too was staring at the stars.

"Yeah, the sky's been really dark and gloomy for the past few days and there hadn't been any stars at all. I'm glad that they finally appeared today." Kaito agreed, before standing up and moving his chair over to sit next to Haruhi.

"But it's a pity that it's a crescent moon and not a full moon tonight…" he added, pointing at the moon.

"Really? I like crescent moons more than full moons." Haruhi smiled, also looking up at the moon.

"Why? The full moon is huge and round like a big, fat fish ball." Kaito laughed. "The crescent moon looks like someone's taken a huge bite out of it."

"I'm not sure why, I just like crescent moons more." Haruhi shrugged. Just then, something caught her attention, making her grab Kaito's arm tightly.

"Kaito, look! It's a shooting star!" she squealed.

Kaito watched in awe as the glowing star shot across the sky, leaving behind a trail of sparkles that slowly diminished, fading into the black sky.

"Hurry, let's make a wish before it disappears!" Haruhi squeaked, taking her hand off Kaito's arm and making a wish, Kaito following suit.

"I wish that tomorrow's surgery will proceed smoothly and that I'll be able to live to see everybody, especially Haruhi again. And if the surgery doesn't succeed and I die… then please, let Haruhi carry on with her life happily." Kaito wished in his head, before he opened his eyes to meet Haruhi's amused ones.

"Wow, that was a long wish that you made, the shooting star's already dissapeared. What did you wish for?" she asked excitedly.

"Nothing much… what did you wish for?" Kaito shot the question back at her.

"I can't tell you… if I do then it won't come true." She grinned playfully, hitting Kaito on his shoulder. Kaito did nothing but chuckle before gazing into her eyes.

"I have something to give you." He smiled, getting up and heading into the house. "Stay here for a while, I'll be back soon."

"Alright." Haruhi answered, shifting to a more comfortable position on the chair.

A few minutes later, Kaito returned, a beautifully wrapped present in his hands.

"Here you go." He smiled, handing the present over to Haruhi who accepted it gladly.

"What is it?" she asked curiously, trailing her hands across the pale blue wrapping paper and the navy blue satin ribbon.

"It's something very special. But you can't open it yet." Kaito replied, laughing at the pout that she showed him when he said that she couldn't open it yet.

"I'm going on a business trip tomorrow morning, and I'm not sure when I'll be coming back. So you can only open it the morning after when I arrive at Singapore." He grinned.

"You're going to Singapore? If you're going to meet Renee and the others, then please send my regards." Haruhi's eyes brightened with excitement.

"Sure thing." Kaito smiled, patting Haruhi on her head, earning a pout from the girl.

"I feel like I'm your dog more than I feel like I'm your girlfriend…" She pouted, puffing her cheeks.

Kaito just laughed, moving his hand on her head down to her puffed up cheek and pulling her towards him, planting his lips gently on hers before pulling away and smiling at the grin that had blossomed on her face.

"That's more like it." She giggled, reaching for Kaito and kissing him again.

Kaito groaned and plopped on his bed, face-first into a pillow. Haruhi had gone home and now he had to face his idiot of a cousin.

What was he supposed to do? Tell the truth? If he did, then Kelly would be devastated and would yell at him for not telling him sooner. Or he could lie… but Kelly was too smart for that, he would see through it immediately and yell at him for lying.

"Kaito."

Kaito jumped and flipped around, staring at his cousin that was leaning by the doorframe, staring at him expectantly.

"Are you ready to tell me now?" the redhead asked, closing the door and walking over to sit next to him.

Well, either way, Kelly was going to yell at him, so he must as well tell the truth…

Kaito took a deep breath, steeling himself before he poured out the secret that he had been keeping for the past few years of his life.

The brunette didn't notice it, but halfway through his speech, tears began to fall from his eyes, streaming down his cheeks and falling onto his bed sheet.

When he was done, Kelly did nothing but sit there and stare blankly at his cousin, his mind in a state of shock.

"You idiot, why didn't you tell me sooner?" Kelly shouted, hitting Kaito on his head.

"And say what? "Oh hey, Kelly, I'm going to die in a matter of days, let's go get some ice cream and act like I didn't say anything!"" Kaito yelled back, hitting Kelly's shoulder, rendering him silent for a while.

"You still should have told me though…" the red head sighed, leaning back on the pillow.

"I know, and I'm sorry, okay? I don't even know what to do now…" Kaito groaned, slamming his face into his pillow.

"Wait, does Haruhi know?" Kelly asked, his eyes growing wide when he saw Kaito tense up and shake his head.

"You're scheduled for an operation tomorrow and you didn't tell your girlfriend? Bloody hell, Kaito, what are you thinking?" Kelly roared, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "That's it, I'm calling Haruhi."

"No!" Kaito suddenly shot up and grabbed Kelly's hand that was reaching for his hand phone.

"Don't…" the brunette said softly.

"Don't tell her. She's busy enough with the cases that she's handling. I don't want to give her another matter to worry about." His voice quivered as he spoke, his hand on Kelly's trembling slightly.

"But…" Kelly tried to reason, only to get cut off when he felt something wet drip on his hand.

"Please, don't." Kaito pleaded, letting go of his cousin's hand to wipe the tears away.

"C'mon," Kelly sighed, hugging Kaito gently, patting his head. "Don't be like this, everything is going to be alright, I promise."

"I'm scared, Kelly." Kaito whispered, his throat clenching painfully. "What if I close my eyes tomorrow and I never get to open them again? What if I never get to see you and everyone else ever again?"

"Hush, Kaito. The surgery is going to succeed, don't worry." Kelly murmured, rubbing Kaito's hair soothingly.

"I don't want to die…"

The next morning, Kelly awoke to the sun shining brightly in his eyes, causing him to groan and turn around, only to fall down onto the floor.

"Ugh… what? Where am I?" he groaned, sitting up and trying to remember what happened the night before.

Just then, the memories of last night's happenings all came back to him, making him gasp and look around the room desperately trying to find Kaito. Suddenly, the door leading to the bathroom opened, revealing a topless Kaito clad in only sweatpants, a towel around his neck, his hair dripping wet. The brunette caught sight of Kelly on the floor and immediately went over to offer him a hand, pulling him up.

"A-are you alright now?" Kelly asked hesitantly, remembering how Kaito cried himself to sleep last night.

"Yeah." Kaito answered, a blush surfacing on his pale cheeks. "I'm sorry for scaring you by crying. I feel so emasculated now."

"Shut up, do you know why studies have shown that men die earlier than women? It's because they bottle up their feelings and never express them often. It's alright to cry once in a while." Kelly smirked, flicking at Kaito's forehead.

"Go and freshen up, your morning breath is killing me." Kaito stuck his tongue out, pointing at the bathroom. "Then we can go down for breakfast together."

"Fine, fine…" Kelly grumbled, trudging over to the bathroom before stopping in his tracks. "When are you going over to the hospital?"

"Sometime after breakfast." Kaito replied softly, rummaging through his closet for a shirt.

"Great, then I'm tagging along. And I don't care what you say, I'm going." Kelly added, knowing what Kaito would surely protest, as he skipped into the bathroom and closed the door.

"Kelly is going to be the death of me one day, I swear." Kaito sighed, pulling on his shirt and sitting down on his bed, waiting for his cousin to exit so that they could go get breakfast.

"Oh, I want to open you so badly!" Haruhi growled at the present in front of her as she rolled around on her futon, pulling at her hair exasperatedly.

It was her day off so she had decided to sleep in, but what was unexpected was for her to wake up bright and early with one thing bugging her mind. And the said thing was now sitting right in front of her, almost as if taunting her to open it.

"I can't open it, Kaito said that I can only open you tomorrow!" she pouted, placing her hands above her head.

"But he won't know, he's boarding the plane to Singapore now…" Haruhi argued with herself, reaching towards the present.

The present was quite tiny, a small box that was even smaller than her palm. What could be inside it? Haruhi glared at the box. She could practically picture it mocking her for not daring to open it.

"Maybe a peek won't hurt…" she reasoned, poking at the box.

Wait a minute, the present was a box. And the box was a small box. Ring boxes were also small boxes…

In her mind, Haruhi connected the dots before realization dawned and a grin appeared on her face.

Could it be?

Could it be that Kaito's present was an engagement ring?

Just when Haruhi was about to rip the paper off to find out whether her guess was correct or wrong, she stopped.

"I can't open it. Kaito trusts me and I can't betray his trust." She nodded, her resolve fixed, and she opened the drawer on her dressing table, placing the box in gently before closing it.

She was going to wait until tomorrow morning to open it, no matter how agonizing it would be!

"Ah, Kaito, you're here. Oh, and you've brought someone." Doctor Dylan smiled, shaking Kaito's hand when the brunette entered his office.

"I'm Kelly, Kaito's cousin." Kelly introduced himself, shaking the doctor's hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Kelly. Well, since you're here I supposed that you know all about Kaito's condition." Doctor Dylan's tone suddenly got serious, and when he received a nod from Kelly, he continued. "Well then, Kaito you can just head over to your hospital ward and I'll explain things over there."

"Alright then." Kaito answered, grabbing his bag and leaving the room along with Kelly with Doctor Dylan leading the way.

As they negotiated a bend in the hallway, Kaito didn't notice a certain someone hiding in the shadows, staring at the three curiously.

Chapter 35 end

And, it's done! So? Anyone wants to guess who's the mystery person at the end? Hm? I left a hint there already. Here's another clue for finding the hint. The clue starts with the letter 'S'. Please leave a review! I'm going to update as soon as possible, and once again thank you for all the favourites and alerts! Love you all!

Wintercrystal