Chapter 1: The New Guest

As the Host Club prepares for the big celebration of the anniversary of them becoming a club, Kyouya stresses out when trying to get all the members to focus. The event was only 2 weeks away and almost NOTHING was completed as of yet. Even the calm headed Haruhi fails at attempting to bring the club together to accomplish something, but to no avail. Precious time ticks away as the girls in the school countdown on their calenders the days remaining. There's so much left to do, but nothing else could go wrong...right?

(Haruhi's P.O.V)

15 days from the anniversary party and there are a countless amount of things to be done. Thanks to the "help" from Tamaki, the only job we've completed is announcing it to the entire academy. You can practically grab the excitement in the air emanating from the girls in the hallways. Although I am rather stressed out myself, it is nothing compared to Kyouya. For the past week it's been a daily fix of yelling, orders never being completed, sweating, and bottles of Tylenol. Today, however, he seems even more frantic than usual. The other members aren't much help in calming him down either.

The twins are once again putting on a great show for two girls who are melting just like ice cubes set outside in 100 degree weather. I'll never understand why they enjoy the whole "forbidden love" thing so much, but it sells. A few others are swooning over Tamaki and his different types of tea sets again. Before I came to the host club, I never knew there were so many different styles of cup handles. Honey has already scarfed down 3 whole strawberry cakes while Mori-senpai attempts to take them away from him. Some days I wonder why he hasn't gained tons of weight by now.

Kyouya has been on the phone for hours trying to arrange plans for the food and decorations but cannot seem to find someone willing to do it at the time we need them. I've offered to do all of that by myself but refuses to let me so he's left me in charge of keeping everything else in order. You'd think that after being here for a year or so I'd be able to handle this sort of thing, but it's turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected...

It's actually very difficult to notice the tiny details of all the hosts when you're not on the other side. By "other side" I mean the one running around and making sure the system doesn't fall apart and crumble on the floor in pathetic little pieces. Each of their random quirks adds to the organic feel that we're going for, but it can be extremely annoying to deal with at times. Even so, in a way, it's like this club has become my second home. A place I can run away to to get away from the real world. And even though I'd probably not be able to admit it just yet, I treasure it.

While I'm standing at the food table making some more tea, Kyouya stops pacing back and forth like a maniac for enough time to tell me I have a request. He made it a point to say that it was very unique...whatever that's supposed to mean. He takes over with the tea for a while, while I go to the front to greet the guest. At first I don't see this "guest" until I hear someone say,

"You're Haruhi Fujioka, right?"

Standing in front of me was a male student with short spiky black hair, dazzling blue eyes, and gray square glasses. Yes, a MAN. I must admit...he's pretty cute.

"Y-yeah...may I help you?"

"My name is Hiroshi, I requested you as my host, did I not?"

His voice rolls around in my head like a beautiful melody composed by a magical rainbow unicorn. I get so lost in my "fantasy" that I almost don't hear what he's actually saying. It is a bit odd that there's a male customer coming to the club, but it isn't a first. There have been plenty of male students with quite odd fetishes, but none of his "type". This must be what Kyouya meant by "unique". But still, I must wonder, why did he request me?

"O-oh yes! Yes, of course, just come this way." I awkwardly lead him to an empty table where I serve him tea and ponder on all of my questions. When I have my chance I'll ask them. An urge to try to impress this guest has erupted in me. It feels rather weird as I don't think I've ever wanted to do this sort of thing before. The brilliant and vast amount of teacups that I am to choose slightly overwhelms me, so I grab the first ones that catch my attention. Of course, I just HAD to choose the floral patterned ones. SO manly, Haruhi. I set the flower designed cup in front of him and sit down on the other side of the table across from him. The awkward silence starts to get to me so I decide to break it.

"What brings you here? It's not often that we get a visit from someone like you...pretty rare actually." He sort of snickers before responding.

"Someone like me? By that you mean male I presume?"

"Well...yes..." What else was I supposed to say?

" Actually Haruhi," he begins, "I came here to see you."

Me? Of all people in this club he came to see me?

"I'm very flattered but, may I ask why?"

"I must admit, I was very intrigued when I first heard of you, after all, you are the only girl host they've ever had in this place."

I guess that is something to be curious about, but still. He had to come all the way down here just to talk to me? We do go to the same school after all. We're only a few sentences into this conversation and I already have an odd feeling with this person.

"I see...well it's nice to have you here," I say trying to sound like I understand what he means.

He closes his eyes and lifts the cup to his mouth and takes a few sips in pure silence. All of his actions are giving off the impression that he's a very important person. Or..at least thinks he is.

"Thank you...I actually have a few questions for you if that would be alright?" He lowers the cup and looks up at me. I barely even have the chance to nod before he begins to ask one of them.

"You see, Haruhi, I find it quite hard to believe that a composed woman such as yourself would simply join this club out of sheer interest," with those words a slight chill runs down my spine but I'm unsure as to why, "I have come here today to simply ask why it is that you're here."

The first thing that runs through my mind is why he even cares. He's the only person so far who's questioned my purpose for being here. A sense of self defense wells up in me. My first instinct is to say 'it's none of your business', however I have a feeling that that wouldn't run very good with Kyouya. Instead, I decide to say,

"May I ask why...?"

"As I have said before, I am very intrigued by you, Haruhi, I would like to know more about you and I felt this would be a good place to start."

The way he says my name in every sentence is kind of annoying to put it bluntly, but that's not all. This whole thing is getting creepier by the minute, but it's not really a 'secret' why I'm here.

"Well originally I was stuck here trying to pay off a pretty expensive vase I broke...but I've actually grown to like it." There, I said it.

"Is that so..," he speaks in a low voice yet he seems to be mischievously smirking at the same time, "Just how much was this vase?"

I can't help from my hand reflexively scratching the back of my head as I give my response.

"Heh heh...it's kind of embarrassing to say but...8,000,000 dollars. Knowing that you can probably guess that I haven't payed it off yet." I can visibly see his eyes widen behind his glasses even though it seemed as if he was expecting that much.

"Whew. That's quite a hefty amount for a commoner such as yourself isn't it?" I nod, anxious to know the real reason why he wanted to know this. I have this itching feeling he's hiding something, "However...that is not much for someone of my standing...how would you like it if I were to pay of your debt for you so you can get out of this raggity old place?"

Wait what? I get completely distracted from what he's just said by a hint of gold hair peeking out from behind a plant near our table.

"Tamaki?!" I scream out.

He falls out from behind the plant and lands face first onto the floor. Hiroshi and I stare at him in amazement before he gets up and starts yelling at him.

"Who do you think you are?! What makes you think you can just jog on in here and try to steal away my Haruhi? The host club is a family and I'm not about to let someone like you break it up that easily!"

Here we go again. I stare at Tamaki before Hiroshi stands to speak.

"Have you even stopped to think about how Haruhi is feeling? What if she secretly hates it here and is in desperate want to leave? I don't exactly remember her answering my question yet. And just as a reminder, this is a rather crude way to treat a guest now isn't it?"

Tamaki's face heats up and stares directly at Hiroshi in heating anger. It gets to the point where it seems like it's about to burst (it gets THAT red). He quickly grabs my wrist and drags me out in the direction of the hallway. Before we're there I take one last look back at Hiroshi who is merely standing there staring at the ground...smiling? Why would he offer that sort of thing? When we reach the outside I'm grateful it's completely empty so no one stares at us as he angrily slams open the door. He lets go of my wrist and instead grabs my shoulders and looks at me in the eyes. I've never actually noticed how intense his violet eyes really are...but they're actually really beautiful.

"Haruhi, what are you thinking?!"

"What do you mean?" I say very dumbly.

"I mean what do you thing you were doing with that!? He's obviously a threat so why didn't you walk away?" His grip on my shoulders becomes almost painful.

"Um, he was a customer I couldn't just walk away! The host club has a reputation y'know."

"I don't care about the damned reputation!," With every word his voice rises and becomes more powerful and emotional, "all I care about is you staying! Do you realize how lost we would all be if you were gone?!" He pauses and looks at me as if he has surprised himself, then slowly releases my shoulders. This sort of thing happens so often it's getting somewhat repetitive, but I can't help but feel it gets more intense each time.

"Tamaki, what's wrong with you? I mean honestly. What makes you think that I would just leave all of you that easily? I am just as aware as you are that you'd all fall apart without me here."

I'm not saying that to sound conceited and over confident, but it IS the truth. Tamaki's always been one to act like this so I know the right way to calm him down is to reassure him that everything is perfectly okay. There's no point in denying that Hiroshi intrigued me as much as I did to him, but I have no intention of ever going back.

"Didn't you hear me back there? I like being here at the host club. You're a really bad eaves dropper, you know that?. Some random guy that I've literally only known for about 20 minutes isn't going to take me away from it. "

"Haruhi...if that's really the truth, I need you to promise me something." he grabs a hold of my shoulders again, "Promise me that no matter what happens, even if you hate it here, even if you hate us...that you'll never leave this club. Please." He spits out those sentences like they're his final words before death. With 100% certainty and confidence I respond...

"I promise..."

An extremely short first chapter...oops

Hope you liked it!

~ Stay fabulous (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧