Katsumi stood in front of music room three, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why would her friend spend all her time in an abandoned music room? Was she in the right place? She checked the text message one her phone again. Nope, she was definitely in the right place. Katsumi had the results from her Ouran Academy entrance exam and scholarship application and couldn't wait to share them with her childhood friend. She knew Haruhi was excited too. From what Katsumi knew, Haruhi spent all her time surrounded by annoying guys. It would be good for her to have a female friend around.
Taking a deep breath, Katsumi turned the handle on the door. She opened it a sliver and peeked in. Rose petals blew into her face. Pushing the door open all the way she coughed, brushing the petals off.
"Hello little lamb" came a voice from the corner. A man with bright blond hair and sparkling purple eyes walked over to her. "You look lost. Is there somewhere I can help you find?"
"Actually…" Katsumi got on her tip toes, peering around the room. "I'm looking for a friend of mine… Haruhi Fujioka?"
"You know Haruhi?" Another man with black hair moved to stand behind Tamaki, adjusting his glasses on his face. His eyes glanced her up and down appraisingly. She was a little taller than Haruhi, with long brown hair. She was more filled out than Haruhi was, much more curvaceous. There was no way she could pass as a boy. Her eyes were an unusual bright green, piercing. She was wearing commoner's clothes, jeans and a black t shirt. It actually looked quite flattering on her. He turned his eyes back to his black book.
"Yeah she's an old friend. Do you know where she is?" Katsumi peeked around them, only catching the eyes of a few more boys.
"Katsumi!" One of the boys jumped up from his seat, running over to her and wrapping his arms around her.
"Haruhi?" Katsumi asked confused, holding her friend away from her at arm's length. "What… happened to you?"
"They have me posing as a boy and acting as a host to make up a stupid debt."
"Why are you in debt?"
"I broke some vase."
The other boys watched them with intrigue. Who was this girl that Haruhi was so excited to see? A friend from middle school?
"You always manage to get yourself in trouble" Katsumi said with a laugh. "Do you remember the time… we broke the thing… and you hid it from your dad… and when he found out...?" Both girls doubled over in hysterical laughter. It took them a good five minutes to stop laughing. The boys all exchanged looks.
"So… your results?" Haruhi asked, pulling her friend to sit with her on one of the couches.
"Right here in this envelope" Katsumi pulled a manila envelope out of her bag and shook it.
"Results?" Tamaki asked, moving to stand behind the couch.
"Yeah, I applied for an Ouran Academy scholarship. Haruhi convinced me I should go for it. Higashi high wasn't for me. I didn't really fit in." Katsumi smiled at her friend.
"I tried to tell you that you should've applied last semester, but you insisted on going to Higashi."
Katsumi sighed. "Yeah well… I learned my lesson, alright. So what do you say? Should we open the envelope?"
Before she could open it, it was snatched out of her hands by the twins.
"So we'd have another honors student around, huh?" One of the asked.
"Let's see what's inside!" The other exclaimed, a wicked glint in his eye. They quickly ripped apart the manila envelope.
"Hey!" Katsumi yelled, jumping up from the couch. "Give that back!"
"No way!" The twins called in unison, running away with a single white sheet of paper.
"They're always like this." Haruhi reassured her friend. "I'll go get it back for you."
Katsumi groaned, taking her head in her hands. "I see why you're always so annoyed with them."
There was a rustle and a thump from the other side of the room. "Here's your paper" Haruhi handed it back to her friend. The twins were on the ground, rubbing bumps on their heads.
"You didn't have to be so violent!" One of them yelled.
"So… what's it say?" Tamaki asked, leaning over them.
Katsumi unfolded the page, taking a deep breath before flipping it over. "I'm in!" She cried, jumping up and down excitedly. "Full scholarship!"
"That's so great!" Haruhi exclaimed. "Look, it says you'll be in class 1A. That's my class!"
"That's ours too" The twins grinned, each one resting an arm on her shoulder.
"Great" Katsumi rolled her eyes. "Wait…" she stared at the page in front of her. "The uniform is… 300,000 yen?! How can I ever afford that?!"
"I have an idea." Kyouya said, scribbling in his black book.
"Oh no, don't you drag her into this too." Haruhi said.
"What do you have in mind?" Katsumi asked, ignoring Haruhi's protest.
"We could use a new errand boy… girl in this case. By the end of the semester you could afford a uniform."
"Don't get involved with them" Haruhi warned. "It's a black hole. They drag you in and never let you go."
"Alright" Katsumi said, standing up taller. "Fine, I'll be your errand girl for a semester. It'll allow me to spend some time with my friend." Her green eyes met Kyouya's steely ones.
"It's settled then" Kyouya snapped his book shut. "Starting tomorrow you're our errand girl."
"What do I wear until then? Am I even allowed to come to school without a uniform?" Katsumi asked, turning to face Haruhi.
"Just normal clothes. That's what I wore the beginning of last semester until these guys dragged me into their black hole." She answered, sighing. Her friend was incredibly stubborn. She knew that there was no warning her. She would make her own decisions.
"Let me introduce you to everybody, okay?" Haruhi continued. "Those two are the twins, Hikaru and Kaoru. The one to your left is Kaoru and the one to your right is Hikaru."
"Hi there" the twins said in unison, smiling at her.
"The short blonde one is Hani- senpai, and his tall companion is Mori-senpai."
"Want some cake?" Hani asked her, holding up a piece of chocolate cake.
"Maybe later" Katsumi answered, shaking her head with a smile. "Thank you though Hani-senpai."
"The one with the glasses is Kyouya senpai. He manages the club." Kyouya just glanced up at Katsumi, smiling softly at her.
"Why don't you introduce me to your little friend" The tall blonde one said, walking up to them.
"This" Haruhi said, gesturing to him "is Tamaki senpai. He calls himself the king of the host club."
"That's right! I am king! Oh come on Haruhi, give your daddy a hug!" Tamaki wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
"Tamaki senpai!" Haruhi exclaimed, struggling to escape.
Katsumi giggled. These boys sure were eccentric.
"So Katsumi" Tamaki began, finally disentangling himself from Haruhi "What's your type?"
"My type?" Katsumi asked.
"Your type. Are you interested in the mischievous type, the boy Lolita, the strong silent type, the cool type, or the princely type?"
Haruhi rolled her eyes. She already knew what her friend was going to answer.
"I don't have a type." Katsumi answered. "It's what's inside that counts, not what's on the outside. Plus those are all acts anyway, not the real you. Those girls must really be deluding themselves to fall for it."
Kyouya's eyes snapped up to her. She was intriguing. She didn't deal in falsehoods.
"Oh shit!" Katsumi checked the watch on her wrist. "I have to go home. Mom's going to freak out. I'll see you guys tomorrow! Bye Haruhi." She headed for the door, giving a small wave on her way out.
"Well she's interesting" Kyouya remarked.
"Yeah she is, isn't she?" Haruhi responded.
"How long have you known Katsumi?" The twins asked.
"Since elementary school. She's probably my best friend." Haruhi answered. "It'll be nice to have her around."
The next day Katsumi dashed through the halls, trying to reach Music Room three by three o'clock. The instructor had wanted to have a word with her after class, all because she had corrected him. It wasn't her fault that her history instructor had incorrect information about World War II. She burst through the door, doubling over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath.
"Sorry I'm late" she gasped.
"Just barely on time" Kyouya remarked.
"You sure showed our teacher a thing or two" Hikaru and Kaoru said together, approaching her and resting their elbows on her shoulder.
"You didn't have to correct him" Haruhi said, smiling at her friend.
"I did and you know it" Katsumi pointed an accusing finger at Haruhi.
"Yeah I know" Haruhi said with a laugh.
"Looks like you're a pretty confident princess." Tamaki remarked.
"I'm no princess. And no, not too confident. I just know when I'm right." Katsumi placed her hands on her hips.
"Ooh so sassy" Kaoru remarked.
"I think she's cute!" Hani- senpai exclaimed. Katsumi felt a little proud. She'd tried really hard to be cute today. She was wearing a knee length black lace skirt, with knee high stockings and black combat boots. On top she wore a striped long sleeve sweater. "Don't you think so Takashi?"
"Hnn" Mori responded.
"I guess I should get to work, huh?" Katsumi asked. "Where should I start?"
"Well today we're not really doing anything. We're planning a party for our guests." Kyouya answered, adjusting his glasses.
"So you don't need me?"
"Not at the moment, no" Kyouya replied.
"You can study with me, Katsumi." Haruhi offered.
"Sounds good." She adjusted her pack on her back and sat across the table from Haruhi.
"She's interesting" Hikaru and Kaoru said.
"So what happened in your class today?" Kyouya asked them.
"Oh she totally roasted the teacher. He was giving false information about some World War or the other, and she blasted him." Hikaru responded.
"She's a fiery one!" Hani said, sitting on a chair and swinging his legs back and forth.
"Yeah, she is" Mori responded.
Katsumi rested her head on the table, groaning. "Why does math hate me?"
"Because it's math" Haruhi answered. "I don't think it's that hard."
"You've never found anything difficult." Katsumi raised her head just enough to glare at her friend.
"That's not true!" Haruhi insisted. "Everyone here is difficult."
"Including moi?" Katsumi asked, sitting up straight and gesturing to herself.
"Especially you" Haruhi glared at her playfully and Katsumi laughed.
"Fine, I'm going to go ask one of the twins about our math homework, since you don't seem to want to help me" she accused lightly, getting up from her seat. Haruhi rolled her eyes and got back to work on her math. Katsumi gave a quick look around the room. Kyouya was writing notes in his little black book, Hani- senpai was eating a piece of cake and Mori was reading a book across from him. Tamaki was sitting across from Kyouya, going on and on about something and pointing to pictures in magazines. The twins were lounging on a couch, playing video games.
"Hey Kaoru, can you help me with my math?" she asked, approaching the twin on the left.
"I'm Hikaru, not Kaoru" he answered coolly, not looking up from his game.
"No, you're definitely Kaoru." Katsumi replied, glaring at him. His eyes snapped away from his video game and up to her. "Hikaru has a more mischievous look in his eyes. His tone tends to be more sarcastic when he's speaking on his own. You're the calmer one. That's how I know you're Kaoru."
"You… got me." Kaoru answered, his eyes big.
"So can you help me with my math or not?" Katsumi asked flatly, arching her eyebrow at him.
"Uh… yeah… sure" Kaoru responded, scooting over on the couch.
"Great, thanks!" she plopped down right next to him, opening up her math book. Kaoru was surprised. She was able to tell them apart no problem. She acted like it wasn't even a big deal. How could she do that after only one day? It took Haruhi a few weeks before she was able to do that. He looked her up and down, doing more than just glancing her over as he'd done before. She was interesting, and cute. She didn't look anything like Haruhi did when she wore commoner's clothes to school. She didn't need a host club makeover. He knew that Hikaru adored Haruhi, but Kaoru only fawned over her to annoy Tamaki. None of his guests really intrigued him. They couldn't tell them apart anyway. They weren't really interested in getting to know the real him. They were boring and predictable but this girl… she was different.
"Kaoru, did you hear what I asked?" Katsumi looked up at him, waiting for a response.
"Oh… no I didn't, sorry."
Katsumi sighed. "I was asking about this problem. I don't understand how we can take the derivative in this case."
"You just multiply the number in front of x by the exponent and the exponent goes down by one." Kaoru answered.
"But in this case the exponent is a fraction. How does that work?" she groaned. "Sorry to pester you with all this… I hate math. It's never been my easiest subject."
"No… it's alright." Kaoru responded. She definitely wasn't pestering him. Hikaru glanced over at his brother and felt an intense pang of jealousy. Kaoru was smiling at that new girl. He'd overhead them earlier. She could actually tell them apart; an impressive feat. He didn't understand why Kaoru looked so taken with her. She wasn't anything special, just a commoner. He glanced up at the table where Tamaki and Kyouya were sitting. Every once and a while Kyouya would glance over towards Katsumi and Kaoru. Was Kyouya taken with her too? He had admitted she was intriguing. That was as good as a declaration of love from Kyouya. But still, he didn't understand why Kaoru liked her. She wasn't even that pretty. He ground his teeth. There was no way she was going to get between them.
"Oh I see. So I multiply the 2 by the 3/2, and then the 3/2 becomes ½?" Katsumi asked to clarify.
"Yeah exactly" Kaoru said with a smile. "Looks like you've got it."
"Thanks a bunch" she returned his smile.
"Hey, you have a cell phone?" he asked her.
"Yeah… why?" Katsumi asked skeptically.
"Can I see it?"
"Sure, but no funny business, alright?" She pulled her phone out of her bag and handed it to Kaoru.
"Here's my number" Kaoru offered as he typed, "in case you need more help later and I'm not around."
"Oh, thank you" Katsumi smiled up at him. They didn't seem nearly as bad as Haruhi said they were. Kaoru was definitely less mischievous when he was alone. "I'll definitely let you know." She gave him another wide smile before gathering up her stuff and going back to the table where Haruhi was sitting.
"Got the help you needed?" she asked Katsumi.
"Yep! Looks like I don't need you anymore!" Katsumi giggled.
"You'll always need me."
"You're right. What would I do without you?"
"Fail math." Katsumi laughed.
"Oh so I realized that being errand girl for this club of yours means I can't be a part of any of the martial arts clubs."
"Hey at least you're only tied down for a semester. I've got all four years." Haruhi responded flatly. "Join Karate or Kendo next semester."
"But I'll get rusty!"
"So practice with Hani- senpai or Mori- senpai. They're both martial artists." Tamaki offered from across the room.
"Stop butting in to my conversations!" Haruhi yelled.
"You guys are martial artists, huh?" Katsumi asked the boys who were sitting one table over.
"Yep!" Hani- senpai answered, taking a huge bite of strawberry cake. "I practice Karate and Judo and Takashi practices Kendo!"
"Awesome! Would you want to spar sometime?"
"I would… but I just ate this cake. Takashi, why don't you spar with her?"
"Alright" Mori set his book down and stood up.
"Right now? Alright then." Katsumi asked with a smirk, getting up from the table.
"Katsumi!" Haruhi exclaimed with alarm.
"Oh come on Haurhi, this'll be fun. It's been a long time since I've had a worthy opponent." She shifted into fighting stance. Haruhi groaned. Her friend was hopeless. She was going to break something.
Mori's steely grey eyes met Katsumi's piercing green ones. He got the feeling that this was going to be easy. He tried to kick her side, she blocked with her arm and ducked, swinging her foot out and trying to trip him. Jumping over her leg, Mori tried to punch with his left arm. Ducking under his arm she slid between his legs. Confused, Mori turned around too late, receiving a swift kick to the stomach.
"Woah!" Hani exclaimed. "I've never seen anyone do that before!"
"Did she just-?" Tamaki asked.
"Mori-senpai!" The twins exclaimed.
Getting to his feet, Mori had to admit that he'd underestimated this girl. She was a good fighter. Mori tried her move, ducking low to try to trip her with his leg. She jumped high, wrapping her legs around his neck so she was sitting on his shoulders from behind. Ducking had been a mistake.
"Give up yet?" She whispered in his ear.
"Not by a long shot."
"Your funeral." She smirked. She pushed on a pressure point behind Mori's ear, causing him to collapse on the floor.
"Piece of cake" Katsumi said, climbing off his shoulders and wiping off her hands on her skirt. Mori sat on the floor mortified. It had been years since he'd been beaten. What had just happened? She had no predictable fighting style. She hadn't caught his eye before, no woman ever had. He'd been too wrapped up in school and Kendo. Now however, his mind was racing. Taking a closer look at her he realized that she was good looking, sturdier than Haruhi and most of the prissy, upper-class entitled girls that were their guests. Mori was really only a host because Mitsukuni was. Katsumi thought for herself, was incredibly observant, spoke her mind, and could fight on his level. Who was she?
"How did you learn to fight like that Katsu-chan?" Hani asked her.
"I grew up in a rough neighborhood. My mom decided I would martial arts from a young age, so I'd know how to defend myself" she answered, offering the boy a smile.
"She's deadly" Haruhi warned. "I've watched her knock boys on their butt for looking at her the wrong way."
"Is that so?" Kyouya asked. This girl really was intriguing. Honest, intelligent, observant, and also an amazing marital artist. He'd never met anyone like her. All the heiresses he'd met were quiet and super composed. They always kept a wall up. They were fragile flowers. This woman was wild, loud, and spoke her mind. She wasn't a flower, she was a bright sun, hot and could burn you if you got too close. He smiled to himself. Looks like he was going to be risking a sunburn.
Kaoru was staring at her amazed. She was more amazing than he'd initially thought. He didn't know anybody that could kick Mori- Senpai onto his ass except perhaps Hani-senpai. She was observant, incredibly honest, and kick ass too. She was unlike any girl he'd ever met. He felt his heart skip a beat. He glanced at HIkaru. What would he think if he knew how Kaoru felt about Katsumi?
Mori had picked himself up off the ground and was dusting himself off. He could see the way that Kaoru and Kyouya were looking at her. Kouru's eyes were wide, as if he'd never seen anything more brilliant. Kyouya looked hungry, as if she were a piece of meat he was evaluating for tenderness. Tamaki, Hikaru, and Mitsukuni just looked merely intrigued at her ability to knock him on his ass. Mori locked eyes with first Kyouya, then Kaoru. Looks like he had competitors. Things were about to get interesting.