Haruhi bit down upon the eraser of her pencil, anxiously digesting the pages of her human resources textbook. Every word was beginning to feel like gibberish to the small girl as she brushed her bangs out of her face and heaved a heavy sigh. The book was in English after all and while she was fluent in the language by this stage in her life she still got lost in translation when reading any literature. American textbooks had become the bane of her existence.

Groaning out loud, she received a harsh glare from the librarian. "Sorry," she breathed, barely a whisper. She was so close to graduating she could almost taste it and all that would be left after this set of finals would be to take a work-study or internship at a law firm. Once she was finished she would just have to take the bar and she would be a legitimate lawyer.

Glancing around, Haruhi felt lost in the packed library, filled with students all eagerly awaiting exams to start the next morning. Some she recognized as students she had shared a classroom with over the last four years and others she had no doubt were students who had neglected their studies until finals time. She knew quite a few of those types of students.

A pang of heartache slid through her as her thoughts were filled with last minute study sessions, helping with papers and working on projects... and the boys who had occupied all of her High School career.

For a long moment she stood, frozen in her seat, replaying the memories in her mind as they assaulted her senses. She could remember each of them with vivid clarity regardless of the time that had passed between their goodbyes and her future. Biting down upon her lip to calm its trembling, Haruhi hastily pushed her belongings into her school bag and headed out the door of the massive library and into the midday sun.

It had been four years since she had stood in the same room as any of the Ouran High School Host Club and she wasn't about to let their memory cause her any more pain than it already did. She had started a new chapter of her life and moving on had been the hardest thing she had ever done.

The warm sun danced across her alabaster skin, sending waves of calm and comfort through her. Closing her eyes, she lifted her face to greet its rays, glad for the peace and serenity of the quiet campus.

Boston had its charms, but it was nothing compared to Japan. The food was always greasy and the people weren't always so nice to her, but those who had accepted her as her own had made her time here unforgettable. College had been a scary thought and moving to another country had been even scarier, but her support team had been great and her studies had improved greatly as soon as she put her mind to her cause.

Her mother would be proud and lord knew her father was.

As if he knew she was thinking about him, the tiny pink cell phone in her backpack began to ring. Dropping to her knees in the middle of the sidewalk, Haruhi dug through her textbooks and school papers following the sound of one of her favorite songs. "Where is it?" She huffed, the heat of the summer making the sidewalk almost unbearable. "Where is it?!" She repeated again, finally wrapping her slender fingers around the phone and pulling it to her ear. "Hello?" She answered, using the back of her hand to wipe the sweat off of her brow.

"Haruhi!" Her father practically sang from the other end of the phone line. "How is my favorite daughter today?"

"I'm your only daughter." She retorted, her voice deadpan but a light smile turning up the edges of her lips.

"Still my favorite," she could practically see him grinning on the other end of the phone. They were two completely different people with completely different personalities and still, every time Ranka called her, Haruhi's mood was instantly lifted. "How are you doing, sweetie?" He asked, a more serious tone to his voice.

"I'm studying, a lot." She admitted hesitantly. "I've been driving myself crazy with finals but I know I'll be able to return home in a week and I just want to get this all over with." She hadn't spent much time thinking about her return to Japan but the reality was, Haruhi was excited. She missed her home and her father and her life before graduation.

But she knew nothing would be the same again. It couldn't be. She'd burned to many bridges when she left.

"You should be having fun, too, Haruhi." Her father tried to scold her, but the tone in his voice only made her laugh at him. "You have five days left before you leave America and who knows when you will be back?"

"For graduation?" She offered, her grin taking up her entire face. Her goals were in reach, just a few months of internship back home in Japan and she could return to walk for her diploma.

"My daughter... a graduate of Boston College." They both sat in silence, neither needed to say what the other was thinking. Haruhi's mother would have loved his moment. Her mother would have been planning a return party and food and would have set her up with all of the connections she needed upon her return home. "Have you begun packing?" He asked as Haruhi finally began her short walk back to her apartment.

"Yeah. Everything is pretty much boxed up and there are some guys coming over tomorrow to ship everything to you. With any luck, my stuff will arrive before I do."

"And your apartment here will be all ready for you when you arrive, too. I may even start unpacking some of your things for you," he sounded giddier than normal.

"Alright," she laughed, placing the key in the lock and opening the door to the apartment she had lived in for the last four years. "I can't wait to be home."

"Have you told him?"

Dropping her bag to the floor just inside the door, Haruhi heaved a heavy sigh. By him she knew her father was talking about Tamaki Suoh and she didn't have the answer he was fishing for. "He doesn't want to talk to me. Not after last time."

"You don't know that, Haruhi. I've heard rumors." Ranka's voice now took on an air of sadness mixed with a little bit of hope.

Haruhi didn't want to hear the rumors; she didn't want to talk about him at all. Not after the last time. "I don't want to do this right now..."

"Alright, honey. Go and enjoy your last few days in America. I'll see you soon." Ranka made a noise that Haruhi was sure meant he was blowing her a kiss from thousands of miles away.

"I love you, Dad." Hanging up the phone, she dragged herself across her small living room, throwing herself down upon the soft couch and placing her small arm over her eyes. Her father had a way of digging up the past when she didn't want to have it unburied. But if she was being honest, she had thought about the Host Club first. Their memories had struck her hard in the library and her father was right; they did deserve a call from her.

But they were the past and she needed to keep moving towards the future. She resolved herself to forget about the Host Club as her exhausted frame drifted into sleep. Falling into dreams of the last moments she had ever spent by Tamaki's side

The darkness echoed around her as Haruhi sat with her knees pressed firmly to her chest in the window of Music Room Number Three. Her breathing was the only sound reverberating in the halls and as she sat there she reminisced on all of the times she had participated in the Host Club.

Her memories were fond and filled with laughter and kindness and the best friends she could have ever asked for. But their time together was drawing to a close and saying goodbye to them now would be the hardest thing the Fujioka girl had done since burying her mother all those years ago.

"Haruhi?"

Her eyes snapped up, greeting the familiar dark blue almost violet orbs she had come to know and care for over the last four years. Tamaki Suoh. He looked concerned, but even concerned he looked perfect. His hair was tousled in just the right way, his dark black suit clinging to his body in all of the right places, his tie straightened perfectly. He was the epitome of business world perfection and she knew he was thriving in his fathers business.

College was just a side thought for Tamaki Suoh, he already had the job when he was ready to accept it and so she knew what was coming next would be a shock to him. For the last few months their group of friends had done nothing but discuss summer vacation and the many vacations they were going to take together. Honey wanted to go to Spain. The twins bickered back and forth about which beach would be better, Costa Rica or the Bahamas. Mori wanted to go to the mountains, maybe the Swiss Alps. Kyoya simply wanted to invite the girls and make it their last final hurrah as a Host Club and Tamaki had been adamant on traveling to Paris.

But Haruhi would not be going with them, and she hadn't told them why.

"Sorry, Tamaki." She whispered sheepishly, not able to meet his eyes. "I was just saying goodbye." The words felt heavy on her tongue. Today would be filled with goodbyes. Goodbye to Ouran, goodbye to the Host Club, goodbye to her friends and the music room and hardest of all, goodbye to Tamaki.

"You'll be alumni now," he smiled, his bright reassuring smile that had always served to bring her peace in her darkest times. "You can always come back and visit. Or volunteer."

She nodded her head, biting back the lump that was forcing its way up her throat. "I think it'll be very hard to come visit for awhile."

"We'll all go with you. We'll make it easier." He extended his hand, ready to take her off to meet their friends where she would receive her High School diploma.

"I mean... it will be hard because I'll be so far away." Her voice was barely a whisper, inaudible if he hadn't been straining to hear it.

"So far away?" He repeated. "Where are you going?" But the look of dread that had crossed his soft features told Haruhi he already knew. The talk of Haruhi going off to law school had been taboo. No one had discussed what college she might choose because none of the boys were looking into colleges themselves. Hikaru and Kaoru wanted to become fashion designers like their mother and they didn't really need to go to school for that. Honey and Mori were already finished with their third year of business school and Kyoya had just finished his first year with them there.

It was only Haruhi that had remained the unspoken unknown.

Slowly rising to her feet, Haruhi smoothed out her uniform and rang her hands together nervously. "Boston."

"America..." The word was immediately off his lips, taking a shaking step back from where she lingered by the windowsill. He seemed to be thinking, lost deep in thought, as he possessed exactly what Haruhi was saying.

She was immediately reminded of all the nights they had spent talking and planning and working out the future. They always made grand plans for what would happen after. After college. After law school. After Tamaki took over the business. After, after, after.

It had all ended with the same conclusion; whatever they did they would do it together.

It had taken very little time after Lady Eclaire had left for Tamaki to realize his true feelings and even less time for him to make them known. He had always loved Haruhi and a part of her had always known she loved him, too.

Telling him goodbye would be the hardest thing she had ever done in her life, even if it was only four years of school.

"Well that's it then... I'll go with you." The words seemed so natural from his lips, the smile creeping over his soft features. He had made up his mind and there was nothing that Haruhi could do to stop him.

"You can't... what about your fathers business?" Haruhi asked, her eyes wide as she thought about the implications of his moving to another country.

"The business will still be here when I get back." He shrugged, nonchalantly.

"What if someone tries to take over for you?"

"So what if they do?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You could lose everything."

"I could lose you."

The small girl stumbled back as his words hit her, the back of her knees bumping against the edge of the windowsill as she tumbled to sit upon it. Visions flashed across her mind of Tamaki miserable and unhappy in America, of him coming to hate her, of his family business falling to ruin all because she had tricked him into falling in love.

"I'm going with you and that's final." He smirked, crossing the distance and grasping her hands gently in his.

"You can't." She could see him ten years down the line, blaming her for all for taking everything from him.

"And why not?"

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU!"

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, echoing in the abandoned music room and down the hall. All the nights they had spent planning their futures together vanished forever with five little words.

Of course she didn't mean it, she did want Tamaki, she wanted him more than she had known was possible, but she wouldn't let him ruin his life for her. It was not too late, as he stood their shock written all over his face, she knew she could take the words back and fix what had started to crack. It was not too late to fix what she had almost broken. But Haruhi was not yet done digging her grave.

"I don't want you, Tamaki. I want my own life. I don't need some spoiled bastards paying my way through life and earning me success I don't deserve." Lies. Lies. Lies. She really did not want their money but she needed their friendship, their compassion and mostly she needed his love. "I don't want to be a part of this life anymore."

"I see." The shock was replaced by a momentary flash of hurt and a constant look of understanding. "You could have told me all of this earlier... Or were you just leading me on because my father paid your scholarship?" His words burned her like venom, sinking deep into her veins where they would live forever. He was hurt, she knew he didn't mean to retaliate and wound her, but she had brought this upon herself.

"I don't want you to come to America. I-"

Tamaki held up his hand to silence her, straightening out his form and smoothing his suit jacket as he went. "Don't worry. I don't ever want to see you again."

He turned on his heels, heading back the way he had come. "I'll tell the others. Don't bother coming around again." Without another word he left the music room, the door clicking closed behind him as he went.

Slowly the girl sank, off the bench and landing upon her knees on the cold tile floor. Her shacking hands lifted to her lips, tears streaming from her eyes as the sobs began to work their way from her chest.

He was stupid to believe her and she was stupid to give him up. Her career meant everything to her, but so did Tamaki. Her promise to her mother, her promise to her heart and the pain her choices had inflicted on the blonde Adonis she had fallen for, it all was too much for the small girl to bear.

She could hear the pomp and circumstance radiating through the halls signaling that the ceremony had begun but Haruhi did not move. She remained upon her knees, sobbing into her hands as her graduation passed.

And she never spoke to anyone from the Host Club again.