Disclaimer….. As you know by now, I don't own Ouran High School Host Club or its characters. Would be fun if I did, but oh well. LOL. I do enjoy using the characters for my stories though.

A/N: Here is my Hunny/Haru story. I had planned on waiting to start posting this for another couple of days, but the ideas kept twirling around in my head and as I started to write, I decided may as well go ahead and upload. LOL. I just ask that you give it a chance. It is not going to just jump into the relationship, it is going to have to build to it. Review it if you get the chance and thank you for reading it. You rock!

Chapter 1 – We Meet Again

It had been one year, seven months, two weeks, and six days since she had last seen or spoken to the other members of the host club directly. It had been eight months, three weeks, and two days since she finally let go of the reason for the separation and got it out of her life.

Haruhi Fujioka was in her final year of law school at Tokyo University and found herself with a lot of time on her hands one Monday after her morning classes had finished. She didn't work at her part time job on Monday nights and her law internship had given her the afternoon off due to some reason or another, so she had gone to the coffee shop that she used to frequent with her friends and pondered life. She thought about her friends. She had kept up with them through interviews, news, and articles, but it wasn't the same. When Haruhi had walked away and chosen Yasu Sato, ties had been severed and she never heard from them again.

She sat there drinking her coffee and pretended to study her text book, but she couldn't get her six friends out of her mind. Haruhi missed them, and if she could do things all over again, she would have made different decisions. She wondered what was happening in their lives beyond what was reported. Knowing there had to be more than the printed story, she shook her head because she was no longer privy to that information. It was no longer her right to ask, but she still wondered and hoped that they were ok.

When Haruhi finally broke things off with Yasu, she thought about calling them, but was unsure of the reception she would receive; and since it had been almost a year, she felt it was best if she stayed away. They had been so right. They had been her real friends and she couldn't see it because she thought she was in love. She hoped one day to right the wrong and tell them that she was sorry. As much as they got on her nerves, they were her best friends and she really wanted to see them again.

Haruhi was pulled out of her musing when a new customer entered the shop and placed his order. She knew that voice! Her heart sped up and when she looked to the counter towards the person to whom the voice belonged, her breath caught. There at the counter was her friend, Mitsukuni Haninozuka. Haruhi quickly scanned the premises for the rest of the club, but no one else could be seen, no one else was there. Not even his silent cousin that would also stand so vigilant next to him, standing guard over someone who did not need it, but always appreciated it.

She stood up and started to walk. Haruhi was determined; she couldn't let him leave without saying hello. Her palms were sweaty and her breathing was erratic, her heart felt like it was about to come out of her chest, but she didn't stop. She couldn't stop, not now. One of her long lost friends was standing right there just a few feet away from her.

Haruhi should have been paying attention to where she was going, but she wasn't and therefore she didn't see the wet floor sign or the wet floor in front of her. The fall would have been comical if she was in the mood to laugh. All she could think about while she was on the floor was that she missed her chance and he would leave. She would never see him again. Then Haruhi saw a face move into her line of vision; familiar brown eyes looking down into hers and she heard, "Haru-Chan?" That was all it took before the tears came.

The last person that Mitsukuni Haninozuka expected to see when he walked into the coffee shop the host club used to frequent, was Haruhi Fujioka. He had come in for some tea and a couple of slices of cake while he waited for his cousin to finish up at the dojo down the block. Hunny had not seen Haruhi in over a year and had often wondered about his friend. Now here she was lying on her back after slipping, crying. Hunny helped her up and waived the manager off before he could get too close, "She is fine, don't worry." Pulling her in the direction he had seen her approach from, he spoke softly to her, "Come on Haru-Chan, let's sit down. Do you already have a table?"

Following Haruhi to her table, Hunny helped her to her seat before sitting down himself. He handed her some napkins and waited for her to calm down. In the meantime, his cake and tea were delivered to the table by a very worried looking waiter. Dismissing the waiter, he waited for Haruhi to speak as he studied her.

"I'm sorry Hunny-senpai. I know I am the last person you want to see right now and yet you are being so nice to me. It's just that I was just thinking about all of you, and then I heard your voice and saw you," Haruhi started in an emotional rush. She wasn't sure why she could not get control over her emotions, but she couldn't seem to stop crying. This was not her norm, and she really wished she could gain the upper hand on her tears.

"It's alright Haru-Chan! Where is Yasu?" Hunny inquired. He didn't like saying the other man's name or even asking about him, but if Haruhi was upset, it might be in her best interest to call him.

Taking a deep shaky breath, Haruhi looked up at Hunny, "We are not together any longer. It turns out that all of you were right, and I broke up with him. I'm sorry, I should have listened to you and I didn't. I was just so caught up with everything, and I wanted so badly to prove Tamaki wrong, that I didn't listen to anything, not even my gut."

"You should have called us! We knew you thought you were in love, and when you left that night we were really worried about you. We all knew you were mad at us, and we thought you didn't want to have anything to do with us anymore."

Laughing humorlessly, Haruhi shook her head, "He didn't want me to have anything to do with you, any of you, senpai. All of you were my friends and I turned my back on that friendship for nothing." Seeing her friend here sitting across from her, reminded her of how much she truly missed him and the others, "Do you still talk to the others?"

"Yah, Takashi should be here shortly. He was finishing up a class at the dojo down the block. Kyo-Chan has been name the next successor to the Ootori Empire, Tama-Chan has finally been named heir, and Hika-Chan and Kao-Chan are working on a new line. We like to meet once a month and have dinner together," Hunny explained to the sad looking girl across from him. It was at that time he had an idea. "You know next weekend is our monthly dinner. Would you like to come with me?" He asked hopeful knowing the others would like to see her. As upset as everyone was at her because of what she did, they could understand to a certain degree why she made her choice. All of them still thought about her a lot, and Hunny knew they missed her.

"I don't know senpai," Haruhi said hesitantly.

"Will you at least think about it? Don't worry about the cost, I will take care of everything," Hunny bribed her while giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes he could. He knew she had always been a sucker for those eyes; she could never resist.

She looked into those large brown eyes and knew she had lost the argument. Exhaling loudly, Haruhi said, "Ok senpai, I will come with you."

Hunny and Haruhi continued to talk, and as they slipped into easy conversation, she marveled at the changes that had taken place over the last year and a half. Smirking to herself; if she actually thought about it, he had changed a lot since she met him in the host club her first year of high school. He was no long the short little cute loli shota of the host club. He was still cute, but Hunny had matured into a handsome young man. Apparently growing, he was a lot taller, and Haruhi guessed that he was about 6 inches taller than her. No longer looking like he belonged in grade school, he could now pass for a young college person. He still had big brown eyes and golden locks that had a slight curl to them. Usa-chan was nowhere to be seen and she started to wonder if he gave up the cute things completely when she spotted a bunny keychain on the key ring he placed on the table. Cute was not completely removed from his lifestyle, and for that she was grateful because that was part of who he was, something she always associated with him. As Haruhi watched him devour the cake he ordered, she giggled a bit and decided he hadn't changed all that much.

Hunny knew that Haruhi was watching him, assessing him. He had seen her walking up to the counter, and at first he couldn't believe that it was her. Haruhi had kept her hair fairly short, although compared to high school it was a bit longer. The only hint of make-up she had on her face was a touch of lip gloss that gave her lips the slightest color of pink while adding a hint of sheen. Her eyes were still large and brown with long eye lashes, and when he looked into them he had detected the sadness lurking in their depths. When he had seen her falling, his stomach clenched into a painful knot, he acted on instinct racing to get to her as soon as he could.

When there was a lull in the conversation, Hunny asked, "What are you thinking about Haru-Chan?" She had been staring at him like she was trying to read all of the secrets written on his soul, like she was trying to figure him out again after all their time apart.

"I was wondering if that was the only cake you were going to have since I seem to remember you eating a lot more before," she grinned before she started to laugh.

Hunny's own giggling joined her laughter. He had missed her, had missed this. Her companionship had always been treasured by him, something he had learned to depend on through the years. When it was gone, he still had the other hosts and his cousin, but no one could replace Haruhi. "They were out and I got the only cakes they had left," he pouted receiving another round of giggles from his old friend. It felt so good to hear her laugh, the sound of her voice again.

Both Hunny and Haruhi had ventured into their own world, neither hearing the bell above the door, and neither knew they had company until a quiet "Mitsukuni" was spoken above them. Haruhi snapped her head up quickly and her breath caught. Standing in front of her was Takashi Morinozuka. "Mori-senpai you're here!" She exclaimed in an awed whisper.

"Haruhi?" Mori uttered lifting his eyebrow in silent inquiry. What was she doing here? He noticed the dried tears on her face. Was she alright? Had she sought out his cousin? What was the story? He had not seen her in so long, and yet it felt good to have her in front of him again. He missed his friend. They all did.