Ouran High School Host Club

Haruhi looked at Hiromi, stunned. She stalled briefly by taking a sip of her tea so she could think over the answer. Should she say no and risk someone trying to date her or say yes and lie? "No, I don't." haruhi answered slowly. "is there a reason why you ask?" she glanced at Tamaki and raised an eye brow at his blatant staring.

 

Several of the girls around squealed like they'd just learned about the greatest secret ever. Hiromi tried to ignore them. She answered Haruhi, saying, "Do you ever get lonely? I mean, do you think life would be... more enjoyable if you had a girlfriend... or someone who cared very much for you?"

Tamaki started pointing to himself -- a way of saying that he was the one who cared about Haruhi the most. But someone else might take it as him saying that he cared about Hiromi.

 

Haruhi smiled at her other guests, ignoring Tamaki's gestures, but looked back at Hiromi more seriously. She couldn't tell where the converastion was headed but she had to tred carefully. Plus the question hit her a little harder than she thought it would but she kept a neutral expression. "I don't think so. My father cares for me and makes sure I'm not lonely. Why are you so curious about this anyways? Hiromi, are you lonely?" she asked, a sincere concern on her face.

 

"No." Hiromi was quick to answer. She didn't want too much to get out with all the other guests watching and listening so intently. "It just seemed that," she tried to think fast. "That only Hikaru and Kaoru have someone special to be with outside of the Host Club."

Tamaki frowned. The Host Club wouldn't be very appropriate if all the Hosts had girlfriends. It was best the way it was. Of course, it would be better if Tamaki could keep Haruhi all to himself and not have to share her.

 

Haruhi frowned a little, unsure how to deal with this sort of thing. Hiromi was right, but the problem had never seemed like a problem at all before. "Well," she began, shaking off the frown. "I don't know much about everyone yet, but from what I can tell Mori and Hunny stick together througout the day. And Tamaki and Kyouya, well they don't seem upset over being single, but I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you if you asked. I'm happy too." she tried to answer in a way that would satisfy Hiromi but she doubted it would work that way.

 

This day just seemed to drag on and it looked like there was no end in sight. One of the other girls named Hiromi had ventured into the club and was asking many questions. She seemed troubled and it looked like she was trying to get to know Haruhi on a different level. This would be disasterous if the truth got out. Hikaru didn't know nor could he trust Hiromi would keep their secret so the only solution was to make sure she didn't discover the truth. He completated to himself if he would talk or keep quiet? Chossing the latter, he stared at what seemed to be the emptyness in the room except for the squeals and conservations from the other host club members. He sat in silence, observing everyone involved and then took one glance at his brother Kaoru whom wasn't saying anything either. "So what do you think of this whole mess?" He drug his finger across the armrest of the couch and sighed upon completing his invisable doodle. "Looks like we'll have to devise two plans or one involving the boss and her."

 

Kaoru thought carefully of how he should respond to his brother's question, his golden eyes never leaving his brother's own. Most of the times he was honest with him, but then there were some things that he kept hidden which was pretending to agree with something when in fact he was against it. No matter what, Kaoru would attempt to keep peace with his older sibling if it meant sacrificing his own thoughts or feelings. In this case, Hikaru's question, however;was a no brainer. "Well I think you and I need to devise something, but not here. Someone could overhear us. We'll be away from the others when we're home and alone." His right hand touched Hikaru's palm gentely caressing it in a slow forward motion. "The last thing we would need is for some nosy person to find out." With his other hand tapping the edge of the sofa he was sitting on, he was counting down the mintues when they could be alone from everyone's watching eyes and be able to say whatever was on thier mind. Sure, it was nice to hear the girls scream with exhiliration over them when they did their facade of "forbidden brotherly love" but that special bond that his brother and him shared would never go unnoticed or fade away even after they graduated in another three years. Hikaru was his other half, one to whom he would treasure always no matter what anyone said or thought.

 

It hadn't helped much, but Hiromi decided to let it be at that. "Thank you, Haruhi," She stood up and said good-bye to Haruhi. It was hard to not feel the eyes that watched her leave. It was odd, but it felt as though everyone's attention was on her. Once outside of Music Room Number Three, she walked at a pace that could have been a jog if it was any faster.

Tamaki, with the air of a king, stood up and gestured to all the guests to get their attention onto him. "My dear ladies, I'm afraid it's that time of day again: the Host Club must close it's doors. Oh, but don't despair," He placed his hand on the cheek of a girl who'd sighed sadly. "We'll be here for you again next time." He slid his hand slowly down her cheek bone, causing the girl to nearly faint. Tamaki smiled a handsome smile that was really a reflection of all his charm.

 

Haruhi stood up as the girls left her table and said a polite good bye to them each. She was more curious about Hiromi's questions than anything, but until the girls left she played her 'natural host' role.

Hunny hugged each girl, sending them into squeals of delight before they left. "Come back tomorrow for more cake!" he said, waving his bunny's paw good bye at them.

 

"Haruhi!!" Tamaki's cry errupted once all the guests had left. He ran and tried to glomp Haruihi, thinking she needed consolment from her tough day of being a Host.

 

"oof!" Haruhi had all the breath knocked out of her as he hugged her with unreal strength. She pushed at his arms, trying to pry him off of her. This couldn't become a daily activity, she'd get bruised lungs!

 

"Agreed." They nodded thier heads just after Tamkai's announcement that the Host Club was closing for the day. At last the day was over and then there was just one more half day before a day off from school. It was cruel that the japanese school system made students go to school on Saturday, but at least school would be over at noon and then doors to the host club would open. Before then they had to come up with a plan. It was going to be a long afternoon and could slip into the hours of the night. Knowing what they had to do, their steps were almost silent as they passed by Tamaki and Haruhi not even saying a single goodbye. Stopping in thier tracks and looking over their shoulder they witnessed what looked to be harassment. Of course the moron was holding her like a snake constricting its victim and Haruhi did look like she needed help. "Oh please," came the unison reply of exasperated teenagers. Against their better judgement, they helped her out by literally grasping Tamaki by his waist and pulled back making sure they weren't kicked or punched in the process. "You can thank us later. We'll be waiting outside in the courtyard until we're picked up." Their reply was directed at Haruhi. Not waiting for her to answer on the chances of being clobbered by thier king, they left the room in a quick fashion. Passing down the halls, with their school bags tucked underneath one of thier arms, the sun's light basked their faces nearly blinding them once they got into the courtyard. Setting themselves down on the green grass and tossing the bags alongside of them, the twins enjoyed the presence of what nature had to offer while the cool swift breeze blew through their hair.

 

Tamaki was going to go on a rant of how cute Haruhi had been that day, but the twins got him distracted. "Those little devils! They have no respect for their king! Haruhi!" He whined. "You don't devise plans with them in your classes do you!? They haven't swayed you to their evil side, right?" His royal purple eyes were begging and putting on their best pout yet. It was a pout that was dangerously close to his famous puppy dog eyes.

 

Haruhi took several steps away from Tamaki incase he pounced again. She was about to thank the twins when they cut her off and she settled on a simple nod to indicate she would thank them later. "No, Tamaki, I don't devise any plans in class. Do you need any help cleaning up before I go home?" her thoughts had turned to thanking the twins before going home to do her large amount of homework and cook dinner for her father, this is, if he wasn't too late. A slight frown crossed her lips, He works too hard sometimes...

 

Minutes passed as the sun was beginning to set. Hikaru was leaning aganist Kaoru's back for support as he finished his homework, a rather half ass job for he wasn't striving to be the best in his class. He ranked fifth in his class and his brother was one level above him; for academics were not as important on his list of priorties. He only did what was required and maybe once in a blue moon a little bit beyond that to keep the teachers off his back. Shoving his homework as if it was ridden with a disease, Hikaru pulled out his hand held video game system striving to reach another level. With his fingers pressing several buttons for different combinations, he grew agitated with his progress. "Oh come on you call that fair? This boss won't die. It's like this game is rigged or something."

Kaoru swung his right arm around his brother's neck and looked on at the screen. "That's because you need to level up more." He smiled before pointing the hp level on the bar. "You're never going to beat him that way." Kaoru had just finished his homework and was satisfied that he completed his essay on ancient japanese culture. Pulling out his brother's paper from his bag, he looked over and shook his head. "I'm going to make a few changes here. The teacher might strike you with the ruler across your hands if she saw this pitiful english grammar mess." He took some white out from his bag, covered up the errors and re wrote the corrections in black ink.

 

With his golden eyes focused on what he was doing, he carefully copied his brother's hand style dotting every i and crossing every t just as he would. They were so identical, even their writing was the same and couldn't be told apart. Fooling the teachers time and time again with the subjects that troubled them was like a game. Hikaru was strong with science and some math, where as Kaoru excelled in the arts and humanties. By helping one of another out with their weaknesses it just meant less time to study and more time for leisure activites. Proof reading the paper, Kaoru blew on the paper so the ink would dry before placing it in his brother's bag.

Glancing at his cell phone, he sent a text message for the driver to pick his brother and him up. "Oh I bet she would. She never let's us get away with anything in her class, disruptions or poor work ethic. Remember the time she called our home and no one answered? And then she called again and it went right to voice mail? I'm glad we deleted that message. Mother and father would have had a fit if they heard that our grades dropped all because of a stupid test."

"But at least we got it back up with that report that was half our grade so they never found out. Still, is it allowed for a teacher to hurt a student? I heard in some places like America for example, the teacher could be arrested for causing physical harm," Kaoru leaned up, and hugged his kness. "America never used corporal punishment unlike our country."

Hikaru gripped his fist just thinking of seeing his brother embarrased in front of the whole class when they were in middle school. The reason; because Kaoru forgot his homework at home. Shaking those memories out of his head, he could only imagine himself being humilated in front of Haruhi if he or his brother did anything to call attention to themselves in the classroom. "Well we can't do anything about it." He rubbed his younger brother's back. Seeing the sad smile on his face, touched his heart as he reached out and caught one of the tears Kaoru shed from his eyes. "I'll make sure something like that never happens again, but in the meantime do you think Haruhi got our message or will she pretend we don't exist?" He kept texting on his cell phone to pass the time, telling the driver to take the scenic route on purpose so that they may get to talk to her.

Kaoru held his brother's hand and leaned on his shoulder, feeling his warm shoulder against his cheek. His brother was always there for comfort and would keep his promise to him no matter what. "To answer your question I have a feeling she might come if it's in the direction she needs to get home." With his other hand he pulled up some strands of grass and rubbed them between his hands. "If not then we'll see her tomorrow in class." He shrugged after letting the grass slide out of the palms of his hands. "Besides the boss is probably putting on his puppy dog face," he held out his hand in the air and shook the grass residue off his palm.

"Yeah he would." Hikaru leaned back on his elbows not caring that his school blazer would get dirty or not. "The sooner we got off these grounds the sooner I can change out of these clothes. I feel like going for a dip." His words peaked Kaoru's interest which resulted in his brother laying on his stomach.

 

"Oh no, Haruhi; you don't have to trouble yourself with this," Tamaki said smoothly. He could see the traces of a frown on her face and had the feeling that she wanted to get home quickly. The sweet gentleman inside him wanted to let her go home. He didn't mind the mess all that much; it was just cleaning up the plates and cups -- no big deal.

After waiting an extended amount of time, Hiromi figured her father was not coming to pick her up. The sun was forming a beautiful golden-red sky, and the clouds were in the just right position to gently absorb and reflect it rays to create a near-perfect sunset. Hiromi decided to let her hair down from its high pony-tail for the walk home. It wasn't very far, but it seemed so when wearing the shoes that she was.
She walked outside, bag in one hand and the other blocking the glowing rays of the sun. The breeze was soft and playful, but she kept her hair down as it was not too much of a trouble. She walked the pathway towards the gates of Ouran's front entrance and saw two people sitting together.
The Hitachiin twins? They're still here? Hiromi wondered what was keeping them at Ouran so late. Didn't they have a limo or something that took them home? It occured to her that she'd never seen any of the Hosts outside of the Host Club except for passing in the halls or during lunch. She was suddenly awkward for a moment. If she just walked past them, would they ignore her? Or would they pull one of their odd pranks?
Hiromi decided to just stop thinking of such silly things and get on with her walk. She stopped by the wall, a modest distance from the twins, to check for passing cars before crossing the street. Just then the breeze changed to a brieft gust, sending her hair flowing behind her. The colors of the suns setting rays shone against the red rue of her hair, making a sheen of orange-red highlights in her long locks, and a matching glow on the yellow of her dress. She held her bangs to the side until the gust died down.
The beauty of the short moment was gone when Hiromi set off across the street after a car had passed. She didn't look back at the twins but looked at the sidewalk passing beneath her feet instead. She just wanted to get home quickly and find out why her father hadn't been there.

 

The traces of a frown disapeared to be replaced with her usual slight smile. "Thanks. I'll see you all tomorrow." she waved to them and quickly headed out of the grand school to her apartment. Walking down the halls, she mentally listed her homework for the night and thought of the ingerdients in the house for what she could make dinner from. Her thoughts being else where, she nearly passed the twins entirely without notice. Luckily she caught their voices and stopped to thank them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hiromi walking home. She really does seem lonely, maybe I can catch up to her on the way home.

 

(OOC: Not one of my best posts because I'm tired and I typed this after 12 am.)

Hues of shades of pinks, blues and purple, reflected from the clouds that were setting in with the tiny particles of light. He caught notice of the young woman's vibrant hair when she froze for a moment before continuing on her way. Pulling out his cell phone from his pocket for what seemed to be like the third time, he texted the driver once more. Dropping his hand by his brother, he leaned close to him to whisper something into his ear. "There has been a change of plans." Surely his brother would know what that meant. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Haruhi who did take his invitation to talk to them after all. Like a moth drawn to flame, his orbs starred at her own. "Is there something on your mind?" His lips formed a smile. Everything was good just as long as Tamaki didn't show up.

Getting off his elbows, he leaned forward and nodded in approval at his brother's words, but his mind was else where. The stranger who seemed to be a mystery was on his mind and for some reason he felt sorry for her. He wondered how far she walked each day just to get home or if she even had any friends at all? Shaking his head for a moment, his attention was directed at Haruhi as well. Giving her a single wave from his hand, he was distracted by Hiromi. "So Haruhi how is Hiromi as one of your guests I mean?" Perhaps she knew more than what they did.

 

Haruhi joined her two classmates and sat down on her heals to be eye level with them. "Hiromi?" she repeated, surprised the twins even remembered her name. "She's very nice and seems curious. But she's private. Why exactly?" she asked, perplexed by their interest. Haruhi's gaze traveled from one twin to the other before glancing behind them to Hiromi's retreating back.