Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Highschool Host Club any of its characters or events. They belong to Bisco Hatori.
Title: Fujioka Is A Girl?
Genre: All / friendship
Characters: All characters
Summary: "Haruhi, you're a girl?" They all knew in the end. Though it took some longer than others to figure it out.
Kyouya Ootori
Kyouya Ootori knew immediately As a matter of fact Kyouya had always known. It was his business to know. He made it his business to know.
It wasn't often that someone with as low a birth as Haruhi Fujioka scored high enough on the entrance exams to be accepted into Ouran Academy. That alone was enough to warrant at least a little bit of notice on his part. A full scholarship requiring the new student to maintain steady grades at the top of the class was another reason. It was going to be entertaining if nothing else to see if this person could pull it off. Even if Fujioka was going to be in the year below him.
Socially there was no reason to care about the new student. They were from a completely different class. However having a commoner placed in the fortunate position of attending school among the privileged was going to throw things off balance. Kyouya intended never to be caught off balance. So he planned, he calculated, and he observed.
So it was when Fujioka accidentally opened the door to the third music room while looking for a quiet place to study, Kyouya knew instantly that the short person with large glasses, shaggy hair, and wearing a shabby sweater was Haruhi Fujioka, a girl.
-:-:-:-
MItsukuni Haninozuka
MItsukuni Haninozuka knew the moment he first looked into to Haruhi Fujioka's liquid brown eyes. Had he not spent the last year looking into girls' eyes as he played up the adorability of his small stature. He knew what a girl looked like when she thought something was cute and the new special student was no different.
He didn't think it was mean of Tama-chan to request that Fujioka work off the cost of the vase that had been broken, after all if you couldn't pay for something how else did you take care of the cost. Honey wasn't an idiot, far from it in fact.
So what if he liked cute things and sweets. Lots of other people did too. And yes he played the cute card as much as possible. After all people tended to underestimate the unintimidating. Intimidation was what Takashi was for, when it was needed. Honey much preferred to make people happy.
That was why he decided he was going to make friends with the new kid. True Fujioka had a debt to work off, but that didn't mean that working couldn't be fun. So the next day when Fujioka started at the host club Honey reached out in friendship.
"Hold on a minute" Honey smiled at the girls who had settled around the cake table while waiting for him, "maybe Haru-chan wants some too?" and knowing they would watch him Honey bounded over to Fujioka, spun the kid around and promptly offered up his invitation. It was rejected. Fujioka didn't like sweets. Alright Kyo-chan didn't like sweets either, but he was still a friend. Change of tactics then. Did Fujioka like cute things? Honey offered up his precious Usa-chan.
Bingo. The dark liquid brown eyes widened behind the awful lenses that also effectively hid the faintly pleased blush that Honey almost couldn't, see as Fujioka leaned forward and made the comment that Usa-chan was cute. Honey knew that face, oh Honey knew that face quite well. That was the face he worked so hard for, the face most girls made when they looked at him. Oh yes that face most definitely was that of Haruhi Fujioka, a girl.
-:-:-:-
Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin
Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin knew the moment they tried to help Fujioka change cloths. They were twins, changing clothes together had never bothered them, and most guys couldn't really care less, or if they did they rarely let anyone see how much they cared. Only a girl would react the way Fujioka had.
It didn't really occur to them to wonder about their new classmate when the scholarship student had first arrived. There was nothing special about the kid with the possible exception of a lowly upbringing. Fujioka wasn't loud or funny, or even vary social. Fujioka wasn't even obviously good looking.
But hidden under the scruffy exterior . . . Needless to say they hadn't really expected anything very special when they stole the glasses. Just small normal looking eyes, what they found instead were the deep brown liquid pools of innocence that had first tipped off Honey-sempi as to their classmate's true gender. And then Tono was pushing them aside to see for himself.
Hikaru shared a glance with Kaoru, annoyed, and knew his twin felt the same way. Kaoru shook his head at Hikaru as if to say "let's wait just a little bit this might turn out fun." Sure enough Tono was snapping his fingers and barking out orders and it was makeover time. The twins specialty.
They hadn't meant any harm as they dragged Haruhi Fujioka into the next room. After all a makeover was a makeover and most students would be pleased to have the chance to undergo the Hitachiin brothers expert fashion takeover. Especially considering their mother was a leading designer. So even though it was just a new uniform and maybe a hair style the twins were responsible for, they truly thought Fujioka would accept the help.
They were mistaken. There was a struggle in which Hikaru tried to remove Fujioka's sweater while Kaoru attempted to remove the hideous shoes his new classmate was wearing. Hikaru not only got elbowed in the jaw, but Kaoru suffered a knee to the gut and both got slapped in the face before, in their sudden shock, they were thrown out of the changing area.
It was the slap that did it. A slap. Not the closed fisted uppercut of a short male student, but the full armed open palmed slap across the cheek of an enraged female intent on making a point but not causing harm.
"Hikaru?"
"I know Kaoru, I got one too."
That slap had come from the scrawny arm of Haruhi Fujioka, a girl
-:-:-:-
Takashi Morinozuka
Takashi Morinozuka knew the moment he lifted Haruhi-chan his arms. There was no mistaking a female's form when you held her, even if it was small enough to be completely masked by a uniform jacket.
Takashi knew something was up the moment Mitsukuni let go of Usa-chan. Mitsukuni rarely let anyone else near the stuffed rabbit unless he was the one holding it. But he had placed it in Fujioka's arms and ran off to eat cake with the girls. Takashi chalked it up to Mitsukuni trying to make the newcomer feel welcome.
If he had been paying attention he would have noticed the way Kyouya never addressed the new student as a male. He would have caught the look on the new kid's face when Usa-chan was held out. He would have seen the twin's confusion after they left Fujioka to change alone, and if that hadn't been enough Tamaki's ignorant comment about Haruhi being as cute as a girl would definitely have clued him in.
Takashi wasn't paying attention though. He was focused on Mitsukuni. Making sure his best friend didn't over indulge in the sweets to the point of illness, and keeping track of the other boy's belongings as Mitsukuni intentionally lost things because the girls found it adorable. Takashi was also dividing his attention between the girls who had designated him as host. Keeping glasses filled and passing pieces of cake, smiling equally at each in turn and inputting the correct word or phrase where required. It was a lot to keep track of, and it left very little room to care about the new scholarship student.
The cry for help just couldn't be ignored though. There was just something about it that indicated immediate distress. Takashi simply reacted. He didn't think, just let his martial arts training take over, jumped to the victim's aid, and lifted the small figure out of the club president's reach. He knew immediately. With the placement of his hands, unintentional though it was, he couldn't help but know. It was a female he was holding. A small form, but a woman's form nonetheless. He put her down gently and glanced over a Kyouya. Kyouya nodded, he knew. Tashashi then shot a pointed glance toward Tamaki, who was saying something ridiculous about being a father. This time Kyouya shook his head slightly. "No, let the president figure it out on his own," that nod said. Takashi gave his own nod in understanding though he couldn't fathom Kyouya's reasons for letting the masquerade continue.
He could only watch in a slightly confused fashion as the small form went back to work. That form he had swung through the air, the one that belonged to one Haruhi Fujioka, a girl.
-:-:-:-
Tamaki Suoh
Tamaki Suoh knew the moment he saw Haruhi Fujioka's student ID card. Remarkable that he hadn't picked up on it before. Wasn't he the ladies man ,the host club's king?
Tamaki had to admit he'd never really thought about the possibility. He'd always taking it for granted that girls wanted to look feminine to be made to feel like princesses to be loved and adored. It never even occurred to him that he'd ever have to worry about anything like cross dressing! Not that Haruhi had been cross dressing, at least not until he, Tamaki, had forced the new student into a male student's uniform in order to work as a host. In fact Tamaki came to the conclusion that if Haruhi had stayed in that terrible baggy sweater he would have figured it out for himself . . .wouldn't he? Yes he was sure he would have. Kyouya would have dropped enough hints given enough time, Kyouya was good at that sort of thing. After all it had been Kyouya who had given him the clue about what had really happened to Fujioka's bag.
"Kyouya?" he asked in a slightly hurt voice as Fujioka changed into the second school uniform they had so generously provided behind the curtain. "Were you going to tell me before I made a completely fool of myself?"
"You were doing quite a good job of that on your own. As for telling you, I simply didn't think it was important."
It was then that Haruhi immerged dry and changed into the new uniform, a girl's uniform. Everything from the stockinged legs to the narrow shoulders to the cute bewildered face screamed that this was Haruhi Fujioka, a girl.
-:-:-:-
Ritsu Kasanoda
Kasanoda knew the moment he walked in on Haruhi changing cloths. In fact for him the realisation was probably the most obvious one. The female form is simply impossible to mistake when it is in a state of undress.
Suddenly it all made sense. His attraction to the scrawny little person against all his previous assumptions of being straight, the way the other club members tended to be protective (overly so in Tamaki's case), the way Haruhi seemed to relate so well to the female members of her class. Of course she could relate well to them. She was a female herself.
In that one instant, after he had gotten over the initial shock and embarrassment, Kasanoda knew everything would work out okay.
But wait . . . why was she dressed as a boy . . . and the looks on the twins faces - oh light! They were going to kill him. All because Kasanoda had figured out that Haruhi Fujioka was a girl.
-:-:-:-
The Student Body
The Student Body found out the moment they heard Ranka call Haruhi his "daughter". They had all gathered at the airport terminal, or rather those who called themselves Haruhi's friends and fans had, to see Fujioka off for the exchange trip to America.
They were all there to witness the scene Ranka made the moment he realised that Tamaki was going to America as well, the moment the father realised how serious that relationship actually was. Obviously a man worried for his child's welfare was not about to confuse that child's gender. So when the word "daughter" was thrown out so many times the matter was clear.
The classmates felt a moment of shock as the realisation set in. They suddenly understood so much - why Haruhi looked so good in woman's clothing, why Tamaki was all over her, that their greatest rival for the Host King's affection had been another host the entire time. Of course they had realized that last part earlier and decided it was fine, so why did it feel so different now knowing that Haruhi was female?
Perhaps they should have ignored their feelings of politeness and dug deeper into Haruhi's situation after all much earlier, but as they had explained to Kyouya they had wanted to respect their classmate.
Yet in the end they decided it was fine. Haruhi's gender didn't change who Haruhi was, a kind, caring if apathetic person who just wanted to do the best she could to achieve her dreams. So they all began making plans. Plans to schold Haruhi upon her return and at the same time embrace her once more as the friend she was.
Some even began planning a holiday trip to America themselves. Plans to visit one Haruhi Fujioka, the girl.