The American & the Host Club
It had been four months since the host club had moved to Boston and they were quickly getting used to the strange and unusual traditions of the States, but that wasn't without the help of an American girl that even Kyouya couldn't scare. Her name was Jasmine Roberts. She was a height of five foot seven with long, straight, strawberry blonde hair with blue and purple streaks, sea blue eyes, and tannish skin. Her daily wardrobe consisted of a tank shirt of any color, cargo pants (also of any color), and either lime green or dark purple all stars (or, as she liked to call them, "converse"). Haruhi and the Twins had met her on their first day of class when she pranked the teacher who had also been her father. It had gone a little something like this:
Mr. Roberts, a short, chubby man with thinning blondish hair and a blonde mustache, walked back and forth speaking fluent Japanese (since their first class was "American Life", a class that slowly transitioned from one language to the other). He finished explaining the class and went to his desk to grab a paper, but as he opened the drawer of his desk, confetti and streamers popped out. The Twins howled with laughter, causing Haruhi to have this strange suspicion that they did it until Jasmine walked out from behind the small hallway that led to the front door out of the classroom. She had her hands on her hips and her head thrown back as she howled and hooted with laughter. She walked to the teacher and patted his back as he tried to catch his breath from the near heart attack the prank seemed to cause.
In English (Haruhi and the Twins didn't know the translation until later) Jasmine said laughingly, "Happy first day of class, Daddy! They put me on as your student helper since the music department doesn't have any classes right now!"
She stepped away from the teacher and stood in front of the class, hands on hips, with a confidence that seemed to increase her beauty.
In sketchy Japanese, she said, "Good morning, people! I'm Jasmine and I'm your student helper! Mr. Roberts is my father so it's ok for me to pull pranks on him. Please excuse my horrible Japanese, but I will try to be better." She turned towards Mr. Roberts and said, still in Japanese, "Take it away, Papa!"
Her Japanese had only gotten worse over the months though, but in that time she had become a good friend to the Host Club. She was a good female friend to Haruhi, played pranks on others with Hikaru and Kaoru, put Tamaki in his place, shared karate moves with Honey and Mori, and discussed important business matters with Kyouya. The Host Club also enjoyed listening to her and the rest of her band in the Music Department of the private school rehearsing. She had a beautiful voice and could do anything with a piano. There was a rapper in the band who played the drums when needed, but they also had another drummer. And they had a male vocalist who played the electric guitar. The other instruments included a base guitar, a rhythm guitar, an acoustic guitar, a violin, a trumpet, and a trombone. Their music was very interesting to listen to, especially since they could make any song sound like a number one hit. As she got closer to the club, Kaoru started to show more and more interest in her. Haruhi had caught on fairly quickly and hoped that Kaoru would find a way to show his feelings, especially since Hikaru seemed to think of her as nothing more than a friend. Haruhi decided that she needed to focus on homework and school and let things fall as they fall, until one night.
Jasmine was staying the night at Haruhi's dorm since she was helping Jasmine with a project that needed some translation. They had finished the project by one thirty AM and were finally settling for bed. As Jasmine was setting up her sleeping bag on the floor she asked Haruhi something unexpected.
"Hey, Haruhi? What do you think about Kaoru?"
Haruhi paused and turned to look at Jasmine in shock and question. Jasmine must have felt her stare because she hesitantly turned toward Haruhi and blushed immensely as her suspicions seemed to be proven true.
"Forget I said anything, it doesn't matter anyways. Just make your bed or whatever," she added hastily as she staggered with her bedding.
Haruhi returned to making her futon that she still used and thought about Jasmine's question. They were finished making their beds, the lights were off and were slipping into their blankets and sleeping bags when Haruhi finally answered.
"I think he would be a good match for you."
Silence filled the room and Haruhi wondered if Jasmine was going to say anything back when she finally said, "But I don't want to ask him out or anything in case he doesn't feel the same way. Whatever, like I said, it doesn't matter. Goodnight."
Haruhi heard her sleeping bag move as if she was shifting in it and knew that she couldn't speak about this anymore to Jasmine, but Kaoru was a different story altogether.
Haruhi quickly caught up with the Twins after class and asked if she could speak with Kaoru alone before their next class. The Twins agreed and Hikaru went ahead.
"So, what's up, Haruhi?" Kaoru asked.
Haruhi asked, in that blunt way of hers, "Do you like Jasmine?"
Kaoru lightly blushed and seemed to get a little embarrassed, two things that were so small only someone that had known him for so long would notice.
"What do you mean? Yeah, I mean she's my friend right?" he asked jokingly with a tilt of nervousness and Haruhi knew why.
She looked up at the tall red head and said, "Do you like her like a girlfriend?"
This made Kaoru halt and look down at Haruhi. He switched to Japanese so that fewer of the hallway population could eavesdrop on their conversation, including Jasmine if she was anywhere near.
"Yes, I do," he answered after staring at Haruhi for a long time. He sighed and looked ahead.
"But it's not like she feels the same," and with that, he walked on ahead, hurrying to catch up with his twin who was about to turn to another hallway at that point. You have no idea how wrong you are, Kaoru, Haruhi thought to herself. She headed off to class as she devised the perfect strategy to bring them together.
Kaoru walked out of the classroom and headed for his dorm. His mind was so filled with the earlier conversation he had had with Haruhi that he didn't even think to wait for Hikaru. He had told Hikaru earlier that he might need some alone time after school and he meant it. Still, he couldn't help but feel guilt about not telling his worried twin what was wrong. Why would she ask that? Why would she even worry about it? Doesn't she have to focus on studying or something? All these questions popped through his head as he headed for his favorite café; a café Jasmine had showed them. He got to the counter and ordered mocha with cream. He went to a table in the back.
When he sat down he could hear Jasmine's happy voice speaking English and saying, "This is my favorite table because it has the best view!"
He looked out the window and saw a beautiful fountain in the middle of a garden. Even though the garden was nowhere near the size of the one in Ouran, it still reminded him of the rich school. He felt a twinge of homesickness, but quickly pushed it away telling himself, 'As long as everyone is here, this is home.' He sipped his mocha as he heard the door opening and a beautiful feminine voice singing a song about the terrors of the world and not giving up. He turned around and saw Jasmine walk in, holding a piece of paper, and going to the counter to order a coffee with two shots of cream and three spoons of sugar. She walked toward the table and seemed to finally notice Kaoru when she reached it.
She halted and Kaoru thought he saw a bit of uncertainty on her face but it didn't last long because she soon smiled and asked, "Can I sit here?" Kaoru stared up at her for a while before finally saying, "Uh, yeah, sure. Go ahead."
She sat down across from him and stared at the piece of paper with the upmost concentration as she sipped her coffee. Kaoru caught himself staring at her in awe after a long silence, but she didn't seem to notice. After a while of staring at the paper, tapping her black pen, and sipping her coffee until it was gone, she leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms and legs. She looked around for a little bit before her deep, dark blue eyes landed on Kaoru.
"Maybe you can help me," she said as her face scrunched into thought.
She pushed the paper towards Kaoru and said, "I can't come up with the perfect chorus. Can you help?"
Kaoru silently agreed and picked up the paper. The song seemed to be a rap about all the bad things that were happening in the world and Kaoru could see the problem straight away. He took the pen and wrote the chorus under the many scratched up ones. He pushed it to her and she read it aloud,
"Wars and terrors,
But baby you're not alone,
I'm here and I'll protect you
Because my heart is yours no matter what."
Jasmine's eyes widened in excitement as she read and reread the lines to herself.
She jumped up from the table and exclaimed, "That's it! Kaoru, you're a genius!"
She started to run off but then stopped as if she forgot something. She quickly walked to Kaoru and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"You're awesome, man! Thank-you!" she called after she ran off, leaving Kaoru sitting at the table, holding his cheek, and blushing more than he had ever blushed before.
Jasmine took a turn from the café and mentally kicked herself for doing what she just did. A kiss on the cheek? Jeez he must think I'm weird now. Great, just great. Still, she couldn't help but to smile to herself and blush a little. She was happy with her fake confidence back there and was definitely glad she finally got the chorus for that song. She could now go to practice and worry about something else than that song. Then her mind drifted to something else: the fact that she felt Kaoru staring at her for a long amount of time. She was so nervous to look up that she just stared at the paper and pretended to be thinking about the song. Ok, maybe it wasn't the fact that she thought he was staring at her; it was probably the fact that it was just the two of them at that one small table. I should've just found another table, she thought to herself. But, at the time, she was so happy that they ran into each other like that. Still, with Jasmine, nervousness overcomed any other emotion and made her a coward, but it's not like she'd let anyone else know. She became drowned in thoughts like that and before she knew it she ran into a tall, dark, handsome figure; a figure she had exchanged moves with multiple times. She looked up at Mori, who towered her, and smiled with a confidence and joy she certainly didn't feel.
"Ha-ha, sorry about that, Mori! I need to pay more attention next time, huh?" she said as she backed up.
Mori almost seemed to smile in a cool and collective way before asking, "Have you seen Honey?"
Jasmine scratched her head and said, "You know, I haven't seen the little guy in a while, or you for that matter. You could go try his department's office, but besides that I don't know."
Then an idea popped into her head and she could feel her face drop into annoyance before she asked, "Speaking of blonde guys, do you know where that spaz, Tamaki, is?" Mori jabbed his thumb behind him.
"I just ran into him outside of his math class. He might still be there," he answered without little emotion.
Jasmine sighed and said, "Thanks. Laters."
She walked off without another word and went to go see most likely, for her, the most annoying one in that whole group. She found him quickly because, as always, the girls were fawning over him and he was acting accordingly. She felt deeply annoyed at his normal actions and thought I'm pretty sure if we were in a manga a few of those pressure points would be on me right now. On another note, Haruhi really needs to train this dude. She stepped behind a wall that she could use as a shield for what she was about to do.
"HEY! LOOK IT'S BRAD PITT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
It didn't take any time at all for everyone in the hallway, including those that were fawning over Tamaki, to run towards Jasmine's voice. That was easier, and less painful, than trying to reach him through the fan girl crowd. She stepped out from the wall and headed straight to Tamaki who looked pathetic in his emo corner that he joined after his fans ran off.
"Tamaki," she called.
He turned his head around and immediately stood up when he saw Jasmine. He glided over to her and grabbed her hand in his, leaned down, kissed it, and said, "What can I do for you, Jasmine?"
"Well, for starters, you could let go of my hand before I make u a soprano for a week with my foot," Jasmine bluntly said.
Tamaki immediately jumped back, understanding the threat quickly. "Next, I want to ask you a question and you have to answer completely honestly," she said.
"What did you want to know?" he asked back.
Jasmine started to get all fidgety and nervous, something Tamaki thought was a little funny.
"I, I mean, how did you know that you loved Haruhi?" she finally asked.
This shocked Tamaki. He started blushing immensely and looked away.
"Well, I-I don't know exactly how to explain it, I just figured it out. She makes me all nervous but at the same time I can be myself around her and I feel happy when she's near me. I don't know how else to explain it. Why?" he finally replied.
It was Jasmine's turn to use a few gallons of blood in blushing.
"Oh, um, no reason! No reason at all! Ahahaha…" she answered.
She turned around and waved as she called back, "Well, that was a nice chat! I guess I'll see you later then!"
Well, that was a weird question, thought Tamaki as he went the other way.
Hikaru locked the dorm door after him before plopping his bag on the floor. He followed but this time it was the couch. He massaged his temples as worry filled his being. Why is Kaoru acting so weird? What's bothering him so much? And why can't he tell me? Kaoru had done the same thing when they both loved Haruhi, but Hikaru was still getting over her and had no one else he had fallen in love with yet, but that didn't necessarily mean Kaoru didn't. Hikaru had noticed the way Kaoru would look at Jasmine. He had to think of her as something more than a friend, and he had to realize it by then, no question about it. Does he think I think the same way? Our tastes have always been the same, ever since we were little. Jasmine was a great friend, and she always came up with the best pranks, but there was something about her that Hikaru just wasn't turned on by; but, apparently, it did turn on Kaoru. Hikaru tried to go through the problem but his thoughts were interrupted by two knocks on the door. He went to answer it and saw a small blonde on the back of a tall, dark, silent figure, a tall, calculating figure with glasses, and a shorter female with short, brown hair.
"What are you guys doing here?" Hikaru asked.
Haruhi looked up at him and said, "We need your help on a way to bring Jasmine and Kaoru together."
Marcus, the male singer/electric guitarist of the band More Than Music, tuned his guitar while everyone was setting up their equipment and waiting for the tough princess of the group: Jasmine Roberts, female singer/pianist of the group. He thought about how he was gonna set her and Sam, the drummer/rapper of the group, up on a date. Sam had had a crush on her ever since middle school when she and Marcus met Sam, and of course it was no secret to anyone except for Jasmine. Jeez, she may be smart when it comes to books but she's as dense as a brick when it comes to other people's feelings. That was no secret either; it was almost as if understanding body language was like trying to understand Latin for her. As Marcus's British father would say, "A bloody dimwit, that's what she is!" Marcus smiled to himself as Sam obsessed over the perfection of his set. OCD drum freak. And Sam was; he always spent at least thirty minutes just making sure it was perfectly symmetrical and balanced. When Sam finished setting his drum set his face contorted into confusion as he looked around the room. He checked his watched before getting the groups attention with a loud "BAM!" on his main drum.
"Does anyone know where Jasmine is? She's a half-hour late," he said was the attention was caught.
"I don't know, but she's usually not this late," Stacy, violinist, said.
"Well, no duh she's usually not this late. If she were would we be worried?" Erick, drummer, said sarcastically.
"Hey, man! Don't be rude to my little sis!" Joshua, bass guitarist and oldest of the group, snapped.
"You two! Quit it! Sasha, do you have Jasmine's number or any way to contact her?" Esther, rhythm guitarist, asked.
"Yeah, you've known her since, like, kindergarten, right?" Isaac, acoustic guitarist, asked.
Sasha, the trumpet player, gave the two a look that sarcastically said, "Really?" followed by a "Really? You really think, as technology challenged as that girl is, that she would have a cell phone?"
The whole room sighed in unison before Paul, the trombone player, said, "She'll get here when she gets here, just be patient."
As if that had been Jasmine's cue to enter, the door burst open. Jasmine ran in with a, "The song is finished!"
The whole room exclaimed, "WHAT?" in unison.
Jasmine pouted as she whined, "Y'all say it like I've never finished anything before."
"You usually don't, not without someone's help," Marcus said.
Marcus expected her to come back with something like, "Well, I did so there!" or, "Shut up! Let's just practice already!" but when she didn't, he turned from his guitar to look at her and find something he thought he'd never see in his natural life; she was blushing.
The girls in the group seemed to notice this before the guys because they started giggling as Stacy jumped on the chance to tease Jasmine saying, "Oh, maybe it was that Japanese exchange student! What was his name again? Kaoru?"
This made Jasmine blush even further and murmur, "So what if it was Kaoru? At least it's finished…"
Marcus looked over to Sam and saw his teeth clench at the sound of Kaoru's name escaping Jasmine's lips. Marcus sighed as he thought, Poor man in love.
Jasmine raised her voice again and said, "On another note, let's start practicing people! Time is money!"
"You're the one who was thirty minutes late!" the room yelled back in unison.
"Humph!" was Jasmine's reply.
Marcus started to put up his guitar as he heard Sasha and Esther talk.
"I love the fact that that Kaoru kid makes Jasmine happy, but I feel like that whole group is taking them away," Esther began.
"Yeah, I feel the same, but there's nothing we can do. If we confront her or the group about it they'll get defensive. Besides, she promised that we would all stay as a group forever. I've known her long enough to know that she doesn't go back on her word."
"Yeah, maybe not intentionally, but I'm really worried that if she gets any closer to them then we won't see her practicing with us anymore."
Marcus silently agreed with Esther. Jasmine never went back on her word intentionally. He sighed as the truth of the matter hit him hard. The truth was, she was slowly getting closer to the exchange students then to the group; to More Than Music. He did his best to push the thoughts out of his head but as he left Jasmine and Sam in the room he couldn't help but wonder if that was the last time he would see her in that room.
Sam pushed his drum set into the storage closet and noticed the old sketch on the main drum. It was an anime person saying "Don't forget to put the drum sticks up!" in Jasmine's handwriting. He smiled as he remembered how that drawing had come to be.
He was in seventh grade and Jasmine had stopped him in the hall again to lecture him.
"You can't keep leaving your drum sticks on my dad's car! One day he's gonna drive off, not notice them, and then they're gonna end up on the highway or something!" Jasmine said while waving his drumsticks in his face.
"Ok, ok! I won't do it anymore!" he replied pleadingly.
"I know you won't! Because I'm gonna draw a picture on your drum set during practice to help you remember!" she stubbornly said.
Sam smiled again as he walked out of the storage room and saw Jasmine playing on the piano. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail with only her bangs hanging down. She looked like a punk princess with her perfect posture and motorcycle gloves. He stood there and listened to her song; as he always did after rehearsals.
He didn't know how long he was standing there when Jasmine finally turned around and said, "You can come sit down if you want," her dazzling blue eyes never once leaving his.
Jasmine patted the seat next to her and watched as Sam's strong build walked over to the seat. Sam had black hair and chocolate brown eyes that were always full of emotion when she saw them. His skin was somewhat tannish and his hands were at least twice as big as hers. They held hands as they talked on that piano bench; Jasmine thinking nothing of it until she saw his expression change when she started to talk about Kaoru. His eyes were filled with hurt and a little bit of jealousy, something she never noticed before.
"Sam? Are you ok? Do you not like Kaoru?" she asked, fully concerned about one of her closest friends.
"OF COURSE I DON'T!" Sam yelled as he jumped from the bench.
"ALL YOU EVER DO IS TALK ABOUT THAT DAMN HOST CLUB! WHAT ABOUT US? WHAT ABOUT THE GROUP? DID YOU FORGET ABOUT US?" he yelled but his next words came out as a whisper, "Did you forget about me?"
Jasmine could see that he was on the verge of tears, and in an effort to not yell back she looked away and asked, "What are you trying to say, Sam?"
Sam grabbed Jasmine close to him and kissed her without another word. Jasmine froze as she stared in disbelief at what he was doing; the only thing breaking her spell was the thought He liked me? She struggled and pushed Sam away.
They both stood there away from each other, staring at each other, breathless and gasping for air. In an effort to prove the question in her head wrong, she asked him, "Why….why would you do those?"
This only angered him more as he replied, "Isn't it obvious? I love you, Jasmine! I love you; I always have! And what do you do? You fall for some foreigner! God, what's wrong with you?"
"It's not my fault you didn't have the balls to tell me sooner!" she snapped back.
Sam stared at her, stunned; but what really stunned him was what she said next: "That's why I never fell for you! You're a great friend, but you're too shy for me. And that's why I fell for Kaoru! He's outgoing and charming; he says what's needed to be said without hesitation, unlike you."
Sam's eyes filled with realization. I get it now, he thought. He smiled to himself and started to laugh; which caused him a scowl form Jasmine.
"What are you laughing at now?" she snapped.
"I get it now; I get why we would never work! You're too irresponsible for me!" he replied.
He developed a smirk on his face as he said his next cold words: "You're too childish for me."
Jasmine stared in disbelief as he stood there laughing. She could feel her blood boiling and she felt the anger build up higher.
"ASSHOLE!" she screamed as she ran out.
Through the tears she was trying to prevent, she couldn't see the tall red head she was about to bump into. They fell to the ground with a thud.
Kaoru got up as quickly as he realized their position and asked, "Are you ok, Jasmine?"
Jasmine hadn't even noticed that she fell to the ground, but she did hear Kaoru's voice. She opened her eyes enough to see him. When she saw his concerned face she jumped to him, cried, "Kaoru!" and squeezed his neck as she cried into his shoulder.
Kaoru didn't know why the girl he loved was crying, but he knew he'd do anything to make her smile returned. He held her as close to him as possible and kept repeating, "It's ok. Everything will be fine," into her ear. He didn't know how long she had been crying before she finally calmed down enough to say, "I love you, Kaoru. Please don't ever go away." Kaoru smiled, held her tighter, and said, "Why would I ever leave the one I love?"