A.N.: Hey there, everyone! This is a sequel to my last fic (Shadow King of Anything), so if you haven't read it yet, I'd suggest doing that… You can find it on my page. Thanks :)

You're the closest thing I have to bring up in a conversation, about love that didn't last.

"The way I see it, with a little push in the right direction, soon Haruhi and I could end up happy together, after all."

"So," Honey started slowly, "You're NOT giving up?"

"Not by a long shot!" Hikaru declared. "Haruhi and I have something special and I won't give up until she sees it, too!"

"Um, Takashi?" Honey pulled on Mori's sleeve. The dojo mats were all but empty as Hikaru explained his master plan. His plan was relatively undeveloped. Actually, all he had worked out was the ending. He had dragged Kaoru out to Mori's place early that Saturday morning.

"Hikaru." Mori grunted. "Bad idea."

"I think it's okay. I'm just going to shake things up a little… just enough to make her rethink things. I'm going to get in her head, until all she thinks about is me."

"Hikaru, I already told you. You have to let them be, for now." Kaoru had been surprisingly quiet all the while.

"Why is this so important, Hika-chan?" Honey looked intensely at him, trying to break his concentration.

"Because." He answered lamely. After a minute, he added, "I think I lo-love her. And… she deserves better than the Shadow King."

"But if she doesn't love you back, what will you do?"

"What will I… do?"

"Yes. What will you do?"

"I suppose I'll… If she doesn't love me back?" He looked a Kaoru. He hadn't considered that possibility. "I've never loved anyone like this before, so I'm sure what you're supposed to do. But, for me, losing isn't an option. Especially to that bastard, Kyoya-sempai."

"Hika-chan? Don't hurt her because you're hurting."

"She doesn't know it yet, but if she stays with him, she's going to get hurt, too."

xxx

"Okay, just a little further. Oh! Watch your step, Haruhi!" Kyoya had his hands cupped over Haruhi's eyes from behind her as he guided her forward.

"Seriously, Kyoya. Where are we?" Haruhi had absolutely no idea where she was or what they were going to do. "You just showed up at my house, without even calling first… Would it kill you to set up a date like a normal person?"

"Normal is not why you love me." He stated plainly. "Okay, we're here."

She pushed his hands off her eyes to get a look around and it was all she could muster not to gasp aloud. The sun, shining brightly through patches of leaves in the trees above, was bright. It was a clearing in the middle of a forest. The trees were budding and the wind was swirling with the late June air. There were paper lanterns in the trees and a picnic table set up with a bento. "It's beautiful…"

"Well, I would hope so."

"Did you do this yourself?" She tore her eyes from the beautiful scene to look back up at him.

"Don't be silly, Haruhi. We have people for that." He sauntered to the table and took a seat.

Don't be silly, Haruhi! I guess some things will never change. She took the seat next to him, on the same side of the table. "It looks delicious. Thank you for this, Kyoya."

"Oh, it wasn't much trouble. Is it alright? I wasn't sure what kind of food commoners are accustomed to, but I tried to make sure—"

She shook her head. "Not the food, Kyoya. For today."

He pushed her hair off her forehead and kissed it lightly. Bzzt. Bzzt.

"Sorry," She apologized, digging her phone out of her pocket, and flipping it open.

Are you with him? Call me when you're not. –Hikaru

"Who was it?" He said, putting a plate of food in front of each of them.

"Hikaru." She angrily shut her phone. "But it's okay, I ignored it. I'm not talking to him anyway."

"You don't have to ignore him for my sake." She caught a glimpse of his still bruised cheek.

"Did he apologize to you?" she asked.

"No."

"Then I won't talk to him." She took an annoyed bite of stir-fry. "He has to learn that he can't be selfish and childish anymore. He's almost 18! I wish he would just grow up."

"I don't really blame him for his reaction," He opened a bottle of water and took a sip. "I probably would have done the same thing in his shoes; especially with you beating around the bush like that. It made it look like it was entirely my decision."

"I was not beating around the bush!"

"You were stuttering."

"So? I made that decision on a whim… It wasn't like I had exactly written a script out or anything." She played around with the food on her plate. "Kyoya, about what you said before… You wouldn't have done that, you're a bigger person than that, aren't you?"

He sighed. "Who knows? I think I probably would have been incredibly upset: possibly to the point of violence, but let's be honest, I don't think I'd want to live in the world where I lost you to Hikaru."

Silence crept over the clearing.

"That's never going to happen." She said after a minute, taking his hand.

"I know." He smiled.

A.N.: So this took me longer than I'm proud of. There's a top 5 list of why this took so long on my profile (at the WAY bottom) if you care to read it.

Happy New Year! My resolution is to finish (start over?) some of my open fics and to read 3 ACTUAL books a month. I love reading, but I usually get sucked into manga and fanfics and leave the "real" stuff behind :(