A frail, elderly man sat alone on a bench, over looking the gardens of the home he lived in since he had first gotten married. His eyes were unfocused as he re-lived the memories he had accumulated in his seventy-five years - memories of school, of the Host Club, university, his job and his life after he was married. It was around this time of year that one memory stood out from the rest...

It was mid-April. The ground was wet and the smell of rain and concrete hung in the air. It warm but not uncomfortably so and a light, cool breeze ruffled the hair of the youngest Ootori.

Kyoya stood outside his father's office building. He had only graduated from University a year earlier but his father didn't want him wasting his time so Kyoya had found himself accompanying his father to all of his business meetings. It was tedious but Kyoya knew this would take him one step closer to over taking his older brothers.

A sleek, black car pulled up nearby and the driver immediately jumped out to open the door. Kyoya started forward, Tachibana shadowing him closely. Yoshio Ootori emerged from the car and Kyoya bowed to greet him.

"Good morning, father."

"Come along, Kyoya," his father said, walking past him without stopping, "we've got an important meeting to get to."

On one of the upper floors of the Ootori Group Headquarters (know to the public as Ootori Tower), Kyoya raced along after his father, listening to everything he said as he briefed him.

"The Mikado Company are a minor group who have recently gone into financial difficulty. After sometime it was advised that they liquidate the company. The Mikado Company are debtors to the Ootori Group. They have come here to settle the debts they owe us in an orderly manner. Mr. Mikado, the company's chairman, is here to discuss the matter along with his lawyer and accountant."

"I thought the accountant didn't usually come to meeting like this," Kyoya commented.

"Ah, well I requested she come to assist you on understanding the situation," his father explained. Kyoya eyed his father. Since when had he assisted him on understanding anything? In the past eight months Kyoya had worked here, other that the briefings he gave his father had always expected him to get a grasp on things on his own. And what was with his voice? It sounded…odd.

The meeting room they arrived to looked like all the others in Ootori Tower. A long, blacktopped table surrounded by twelve comfortable, leather chairs sat in the middle of the room. On the walls were some of the most expensive art works in Japan. On one said of the table was a man with thinning, mousy brown hair and a tattered brown suit sitting beside a more well kept man in a slightly more expensive suit. They both sat opposite a man who Kyoya recognised as one of the Ootori Group's lawyers. All three stood up when they walked in.

"Gentlemen," his father greeted in what Kyoya knew to be his 'business voice'. When they all sat down, the elder Ootori turned to the man in the brown suit. "Mr. Mikado, where is your accountant?"

"Ah, eh, she's running a little late," he said in a shaking voice. "She sends her apologise."

"We'll just start without her, then," Yoshio said and then Mr. Mikado's lawyer launched into his client's position financially. Kyoya listened with feigned interest.

More than ten minutes into the meeting the door to the meeting room opened and in rushed a woman with shoulder length brown hair. She carried a worn black brief case but her navy suit looked brand new.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," she panted, seating herself down next to Mr. Mikado, directly across from Kyoya.

"No worries," Yoshio said in an oddly light tone. Kyoya was slowly starting to become suspicious of his father who he knew hated when anyone was late. "You of course know our lawyer, Kinomoto, and this is my youngest son, Kyoya."

"Nice to meet you," she said, holding out a hand to shake. Kyoya took it with only a nod of his head before the meeting resumed as though there had been no interruption. The accountant took a bundle of sheets from her briefcase and set them on the table along with her phone and gave a quick recap of the Mikado Company's financial standing. She spoke in a strong, sure voice of someone who not only knew what they were doing but enjoyed it.

Kyoya was surprised to find she interested him. She had to have been around his own age, maybe a year or two younger but she immediately had the respect of everyone in the room when she started talking. Kyoya was drawn to her. He found himself looking at her even when she wasn't talking, intrigued by the way her brow furrowed when she was concentrating or taking notes. Once he even caught his lip twitch into a smile when a strand of her hair fell into her emerald green eyes and she pushed it back impatiently without even seeming to realise what she was doing. He chided himself for it and turned his attention back to the meeting but suddenly found himself wondering why he was so captivated by someone who wasn't even that pretty. When the meeting ended, he held onto her hand a little longer than necessary though no one – not even her – noticed.

She left quickly and as Kyoya was leaving himself he spotted a little black rectangle sitting on the table. He recognised it as her phone. Grabbing it, he rushed down the hall towards the elevators, getting there just in time to see her disappearing behind a pair of closing doors. He pushed the button calling for a second elevator. When he was down in the main lobby, he craned his neck to try and spot her. She was making her way towards the exit and Kyoya began to quickly follow her. A little way away from the doors she froze and then frantically began searching in her pockets. When Kyoya reached her, she turned quickly and darted forward, bumping into him.

"Ooof! I'm sorry!" she apologised instantly like a reflex reaction. "I'm really s-oh! Ootori-sama. I didn't know it was you. I'm sorry, I just forgot my-"

"This? Kyoya asked, holding up her phone. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree and she snatched it out of his hands.

"You found it" Oh, thank God!" she exclaimed, hugging the phone. "You have no idea how important it is! It has everything! Clients' phone numbers, email addresses…" She bit her lip, which Kyoya found oddly endearing. "I can't thank you enough for this! I really can't. But I can try. Can I buy you a coffee or something? Just to say thanks?"

Kyoya paused, and then found himself smiling. "Sure, that sounds great," he said.

And so Kyoya found himself in a small coffee shop just down the road from Ootori, drinking the coffee she had insisted she pay for, despite how much he insisted otherwise. She was surprisingly easy to talk to, he found.

"A host club?" she exclaimed in disbelief when he told her. "You were in a host club?"

"Yes, why is that so hard to believe?" Kyoya asked, amused by her reaction. He had been wary when she had asked about his schooling but the sound of her laugh changed that. It did something to him and made him laugh too.

The young accountant shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "It's just a host club seems so…unusual and you don't strike me as the type of person to be in one. You seem more like the type of guy who…" She flushed and shook her head. "Never mind."

"No, go on," Kyoya prodded. She bit her lip and he grinned. "I seem more like a guy who…?"

"I was going to say you seem more like a guy who folds his ties."

Kyoya's eyebrows shot up. "I see."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, her cheeks turning pinker. "You see? That's why I didn't want to say it. Now you're offended."

"For the record, I don't fold my ties."

"No?"

"No. I have the servants do it for me," Kyoya only half joked.

Her laugh made him smile and want to reach out to the hand she had resting on the table. He couldn't explain it, and he didn't really want to, either.

Her phone beeped, startling them both. She picked it up and frowned as she read the text message.

"Crap, it's my boss," she said in an annoyed tone. She turned to him with an apologetic look. "I have to go, but it was nice meeting you."

She stood up and offered him her hand and this time he held onto it much longer than necessary.

"Can I see you again?" he asked without thinking. She stared at him.

"Um, sure," she said softly and Kyoya smiled.

Kyoya Ootori, sitting alone on the bench, smiled at the memory. The garden was alive with the sound of children playing. There was a smell of roses in the spring air.

"What are you doing here on your own?" a women's voice asked. Kyoya turned to see his wife walking towards him.

"Remembering," he told her as she sat down beside him.

"Remembering what?"

"Of how we first met."

She took his hand with one of hers and pointed down to the garden with the other, "Why are you wasting your time on the past when the future is right down there?"

And she was right. Further down in the garden were the playful shouts of he Ootori family – children, grandchildren and even one great-grandchild on the way. Mixed in among the Ootoris were the generations of the Suoh, Fujioka, Hitachiin, Haninozuka and Morinozuka families; some married, some best friends. The former Host Club members all sat around a garden table, smiling as they watched their families playing a commoner game of Kick The Can.

One man playing with his children turned and looked up at them. Kyoya watched his third and youngest son – now the President of the Ootori Group – pick up his own eight-year-old daughter. He whispered something to her, pointing up at her grandparents. They both smiled waved brightly.

Kyoya raised his free arm and waved back, knowing he was truly happy, while squeezing the hand of the woman sitting beside him, knowing she helped make it so.

A/N: And it's over! For now, at least.

I really hope you guys liked it.

And I'm sorry for not putting this up last night like I planned but I had studying to do, (and I missed precious French study to finish this so if I fail, I'm blaming you guys!)

But, despite me putting it up later than planned you guys should be glad because I'm supposed to be in school right now but it snowed a lot yesterday so 'Can I hear a whoop whoop?' (this is the part were you review and say woop woop.) I'm supposed to be studying for exams right now too but I'm under the pretense that I'm looking for past examination papers. :P

So enjoy, review and...uh...wish me luck in this freezing cold that I don't get hypothermia and die...[pause] :D

~Turtle
X

P.S. - It was so weird writing Kyoya as a elderly man! I just couldn't picture it! Never again! :S