Rose White Piano Keys

Chapter Six

Haruhi crept around the corner into the hallway leading up to her dad's office. She had a lot of time to think about what her father had told her a few weeks prior and if she was being completely honest, she still didn't have a very good opinion on it. Of course this wasn't a matter of her life being tossed around but even the thought of him betraying her mother like that left a bad taste on her tongue. Well, betraying was a strong word but nevertheless it was the only one that came to mind when she replayed their conversation over and over in her head.

As she stood in front of the large oak door, she almost hesitated to knock. The last thing she really wanted to do was argue with him but she had important matters to speak with him about and this wasn't about to stop her.

Slowly, she opened it to reveal her father sitting in his leather chair, his back hunched over and his hands rubbing his eyes while he groaned over a stack of papers standing in front of him. When his eyes trailed up to see his precious little daughter standing there though, he immediately jumped out of his chair and engulfed her into a hug, not even bothering to take it easy on her small, frail body.

"Oh Haruhi! You've come to see your daddy!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes, easily annoyed by the over whelming display of affection.

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Hm?"

Ranka let go of her, taking a step back and examining her cute, but serious face.

"I... don't really know how to say this," Haruhi started, walking farther into her father's office and sitting in one of the red velvet chairs positioned by the massive window that took up the entire left wall.

"Oh, whatever it is can't possibly be bad! You can always tell your daddy anything!" Ranka squealed with glee. He sat down directly in front of Haruhi and poured himself a glass of water, taking a long sip from it before he redirected his attention back to the matter at hand. The first thing he noticed was Haruhi's inability to keep her leg still; it was bopping up and down in rapid repetitive motions and it almost always meant that Haruhi was nervous.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about how you want me to take over the business, but I'm not sure if that's what I actually want to do," Haruhi continued. Immediately Ranka felt his muscles tense and his face drop in disappointment; after working so hard to give Haruhi a good life she was just going to give up on all of this? "and I really wanna be like mom. I want to help people and make a difference and... I want to be a lawyer."

"A lawyer?"

"Yes."

Her look of optimism made Ranka upset with what he was about to say.

"No."

Haruhi's face twisted into one of confusion and hurt; that was most certainly not the reaction she had been hoping for.

"Why not?" She asked, a small tear escaping her eye but she slowly wiped it away with her inner forearm.

"What would happen to the business if you just left it?" Ranka replied back, sipping his water again and waiting for Haruhi to say something. She went completely silent and let her eyes trail down to meet the floor.

"... nothing..." She mumbled, exhaling a deep breath that she didn't realize she had been holding.

Ranka looked at her. Her shaggy brown hair was kind of covering her face so he didn't know if she was crying or not, but it was still slightly sad to look at. He almost reconsidered his answer but thought about how his advisers had warned him against that and immediately stopped.

"Haruhi? Are you okay?" He asked, but was met with her shaking her head aggressively and standing up. She quickly made her way to the door and was back into the hallway before she could hear her father say anything else.

Haruhi wasn't crying really but the feeling inside her heart was bothering her. All her life she had this great supportive father who always seemed to love and care for her well being more than anything else, and she understood that he was just trying to do what he thought was best for her, but somehow that still really bothered her that he didn't even consider it.

Could it be the influence of the woman he was seeing?

Haruhi sure hoped not.

"Hey, Haruhi, are you alright?"

Her head popped up at the sound of Tamaki's voice closing in on her. She saw the tall blonde walk out of the kitchen with two trays in his hands and his vest soaking wet, which Haruhi could only assume was the work of a child throwing a tantrum with a drink in their hands as she so often witnessed.

"I've had better days, but thanks for the concern."

Tamaki nodded his head and started his descent towards the table he was serving. Sure enough, there sat a little boy with an empty glass flailing his arms all around and crying loudly. She let a little smile spread across her face when she saw Tamaki grin at that kid and hand all of the plates to the guests before bowing and returning in Haruhi's direction.

"That child is going to grow up to be like the twins, I just know it," Tamaki grumbled as he leaned against the wall next to Haruhi while he waited for the next plate to come out of the kitchen.

"I don't know, you handled that a lot better than if that were Hikaru or Kaoru." Haruhi replied, letting her eyes wander around the cafe. She could hear Tamaki scoff playfully before her eyes hit the large black piano sitting in the corner of the room, standing there in all of it's spectacular glory.

"Tamaki, can you please do me a favor?"

"Of course."

"Could you please play the piano for me?"

Tamaki's eyes widened a little bit at the slightly unexpected request. The restaurant wasn't really abuzz but there were more people there than what he felt comfortable leaving Kyoya with. On the other hand, could he say no to his boss' daughter? Not if he wanted to keep his job.

"I'd love to," Tamaki started, looking back around the large room and spotting the two people he was looking for handing menu's to a new table full of customers. "if you could just give me one moment, please."

He quickly walked through the middle of the floor, avoiding all the tables and pulled back chairs until he finally was mere feet away from the twins.

"Hikaru, Kaoru, I need both of you to cover my shift for me." Tamaki commanded, making eye contact with the father of the family seated before him and smiling awkwardly.

"What?"

"No way, boss."

"What if I tell you that Haruhi asked me to play the piano for her and I'm not about to get fired," Tamaki started again, which caused one of the twins to scoff and the other one to laugh darkly.

"It's about time." Hikaru mumbled under his breath, taking three plates off of the table and placing them on the enormous tray he was carrying that held stacks after stacks of dirty, empty dishes.

"Maybe Ranka will finally pull through with his threat and fire your sorry ass." Kaoru agreed, using a wet rag to clean the table of the various stains that the previous guests had left on it and smirking slightly when he heard Tamaki groan loudly right behind them.

"What would it take to get you two to just do this one thing for me?"

The twins exchanged mischievous looks, which out of Tamaki's personal experience, never meant a good thing.

"Well, it would sure help if we could take a few shifts off next week, wouldn't it, Kaoru?" Hikaru absent mindedly said out loud as Kaoru released a loud yawn behind him and nodded his head in agreement.

"That would be awesome, but there is no way Ranka would do that for us if we don't have someone to cover the shifts, Hikaru." Kaoru replied, shaking his head solemnly as he pretended to not know what possibly to do in this situation.

Tamaki gritted his teeth as he knew exactly what the twins wanted from him and for the slightest of moments, he just considered quitting instead. They never ceased to make his life hard in that way.

"Fine." Tamaki agreed, watching as the twins grinned wildly before they high fived each other. He turned his attention back towards the piano where Haruhi was already waiting for him.

"I get the feeling that you're holding onto more than you'd like me to know." Tamaki wondered out loud as he sat down on the bench, stretching his arms quickly before allowing his hands to hover over the keys.

"It's a long story," Haruhi started, looking over the piano and through the window where she had witnessed Tamaki saving the little girl's life.

"Well, lucky for you I have plenty of time," He replied as his right hand slowly touched the beautiful ivory keys, playing a slow repetition of a lullaby's melody.

Haruhi stared slightly swaying to the music, enjoying the sweet, innocent sound of the song Tamaki was playing, it seemed slow, yet graceful and full of passion.

"Have you ever felt... betrayed?" Haruhi asked. The sudden question caught Tamaki off guard, his left hand slipping and hitting a wrong note, but he quickly recovered.

"On more than one occasion, yes." He answered, letting his eyes leave the keys and looking over at Haruhi, still staring at the crosswalk and not wavering. "Why do you ask?"

She sighed heavily, her eyes slightly rolling while she remembered her conversation with her father an hour prior.

"When I was a child, my mother died." Haruhi started, gulping slightly as she started to wonder where to go from there while Tamaki awaited patiently. "I always looked up to her, the way she would fight for what she just knew was right and how she loved her job, everyday she told me that she was going to do her best and work and every day she did."

"I'm sure she was an amazing woman." Tamaki agreed, watching as Haruhi nodded her head in response.

"She was the type of woman I strive to be. I want to be a lawyer. I want to make a difference and by able to tell my daughter one day that I'm going to do my best."

"I'm confused, Haruhi. What does this have to do with betrayal?"

"Just now, I went up to my dad to tell him that I don't want the business, that I wanted to be a lawyer instead. He's always supported me in what I want to do, so I automatically assumed that he would say that I should follow my dreams but he immediately shot me down." Haruhi started to explain. Tamaki listened intently, nodding his head.

"You've always felt like he was there for you and always wanted you to be happy but now you just feel betrayed that he won't let you follow in your own mother's footsteps instead of his." Tamaki finished Haruhi's thought for her, continuing his song on the piano but starting to crescendo into a loud pattern of repetitive harsh eighth notes.

"That's... more or less what I'm trying to say." Haruhi agreed, sighing loudly and closing her eyes, rubbing them hard enough that colors started to form.

Tamaki was momentarily at a loss for words, he didn't know if trying to relate to her situation would just make her more upset or if it would actually even give her comfort, but after a minute of Haruhi looking miserable on the piano bench next to him, he knew he had to at least say something.

"I'm not going to act like I completely understand what you're going through because I don't. I can see that it's really hard on you though and I'm sure eventually Ranka will see that too and perhaps give in. He never was the type to be able to break your heart anyway." Tamaki explained as he cracked a slight grin. Haruhi had giggled at his last statement and had pushed her hair out of the way of her face to reveal a small, pure hearted smile that made him feel good inside.

"I'm sure Suko's still cooking in the back if you would like for her to make you something. I know that food always manages to cheer Hunny and I up when we're sad." Tamaki offered as soon as his song ended. The brunette next to him proceeded to get up, bowing low to her friend and whispering a soft thank you before she made her way towards the kitchen.

As everyone was closing up shop that night, Hikaru and Kaoru opened the employee door of the restaurant and immediately caught a glimpse of the dark brown hair of Haruhi sitting on the old wooden bench to the right. If she had noticed them, she didn't say anything, and the awkward silence that had accumulated made the twins exchange questioning glances.

"Hey." The twins greeted as they slowly started to walk by. Haruhi forced her head up and gave a halfhearted smile towards the pair, not returning their greeting before crossing her legs and not paying attention anymore.

Kaoru started to continue walking ahead, while Hikaru stayed behind for a moment and let his eyes linger on the girl. He would be lying if he tried to say that he did not over hear her conversation earlier with Tamaki, but he didn't know if it would be crossing boundaries if he tried to tell her what he honestly thought about it.

Well, he always was one for crossing boundaries anyway.

"Haruhi, just do whatever the hell you want alright. In the end you have to do what makes you happy." Hikaru spoke up, watching as his colleague's eyes raised themselves to meet his. For a second he could have sworn that they were shining, almost as if she had finally gotten the optimism that she needed from his two on-the-spot sentences. As she flashed him a quick smile and whispered a soft thank you to him, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and started to catch up to his brother who was already at the gate at the end of the dirt path.

A:N: Aye okay so lemme tell y'all something.

I know it's been almost a year since I last updated this story but it's been a real busy year. (Not to mention I had the worst writers block during this chapter. Honestly I had 3/4 of this chapter written out probably three days after I last updated but I didn't know how to end it, but sadly that happens to the best of us sometimes.)

But, even knowing all that, I genuinely hope you enjoyed the chapter. Favorite and follow to your hearts desire, and reviews would also be nice. I promise the wait won't be quite as long for the next chapter and I guess I'll hear from you guys then *Insert peace sign emoji*