Well, readers, it's happened again. I woke up this morning to a rain-storm, and was suddenly struck by inspiration! …And lightening. (ouch) So, I've decided to get started on yet ANOTHER fic… even though I have other ones to work on… Meh, good thing I've got free time!
This is my second Ouran fic… I hope to keep everyone in-character… if not, well, forgive me.
Disclaimer: (don't look at me like that, Kyoya!) I don't own Ouran, otherwise I'd be in major-league debt with the Hosts.
0o0o0o0o0
Haruhi promised herself that, someday, she would throttle the weather-man, as she hid in the corner of the changing room.
It was somewhat of a typical day at Ouran, a couple weeks after the fair, and the Host Club was thriving with activity. Their theme today was "Treasure Island", having been inspired after Tamaki's English class had to read the well-known book by Robert Lewis Stevenson. They had set up tropical trees and a small lagoon outside by the gardens, and a couple chests full of gold coins, and all the Hosts had dressed up as pirates, much to their clients' pleasures.
Of course, Haruhi was paying attention more to the skies than the scenery, noticing a couple dark clouds in the distance. Weird… we were supposed to have clear skies all day today. she thought. It was basically the reason why Senpai wanted to have the theme outdoors…
"Haruhi, is something wrong?" One of the tomboy's fan-girl clients asked. "You've been awfully quiet."
"Yes, what's the matter?" Another fan-girl asked.
Haruhi shrugged. "Nothing's wrong… I was just wondering what my mom would think, seeing that her 'son' had grown up to lead the life of a pirate," she joked. No one but the Hosts and her father knew that Haruhi was actually a girl (though there had been a couple occasions where the secret was blown, but never really got out), and for the sake of the club's reputation, she kept her real gender a secret. She often brought up her late-mother, using stories of her passing as an attraction to the clients, as well as her humble personality.
The fan-girls, of course, sighed both sadly and dreamily at her statement.
The Hitachin twins, Koaru and Hikaru, were entertaining their clients with their "forbidden brotherly love" act, have their arms around each other. "Come, Hikaru, let us search for buried treasure," Kaoru said.
"Ah, but we already searched for buried treasure last night in bed, Koaru," Hikaru replied, pulling his brother closer, holding his chin in his fingers and leaning close. "Besides, I already have the greatest treasure in my arms,"
"Kyaaaa!" The fan-girls squealed, dozens of chibi-hearts flying above their heads.
Mori walked along to the lagoon, with Honey on his shoulders. "Wow, you guys sure threw in a lot of coins in there," one of their fan-girls said.
"That's 'cuz we make a lot of wishes," Honey replied, his voice at its usual bubbly-tone. He hopped off of Mori's shoulders, reaching into his pockets. "Here I'll show you…" his grin faded a bit, as he dug deeper into his pockets. "Oh, no, I lost my doubloons!" he then turned to Mori. "Takashi, do you remember where I put 'em?"
"Here," Mori replied, kneeling down and reaching into Honey's shirt-collar, pulling up a small bag that had been tied around his neck.
Honey smiled wide. "Oh, right! I forgot I put them there so I wouldn't lose 'em!"
All their fan-girls giggled. "So cute!" some of them exclaimed, watching as Honey showed them how to toss in a coin and make a wish.
Tamaki, in the meantime, was 'guarding' his fan-girls as he stood on a chest, fighting away Kyoya (who, actually, just stood there, boredly holding out his wooden sword). "Avast, ye treacherous scallywag! What makes ye think ye can steal away my treasure?" Tamaki snapped, using a pirate-accent- which everyone except his fan-girls found to be terrible.
"Surrender, or be forced to walk the plank," Kyoya sighed, wondering how he let Tamaki talk him into 'acting out' a pirate-brawl with him to impress the girls. The only reason he didn't walk off now was that their clients were enjoying it- and when the clients enjoyed something, the club's profit increased.
Tamaki leaned close, breaking out of his act for a moment. "Oh, c'mon, Kyoya! At least pretend to enjoy pretending to be a pirate!" he hissed, then went back into his act. "Yer no match against me, ye scurvy dog!"
Kyoya shook his head, then pretended to glare at Tamaki (which… actually… didn't exactly seem like he was pretending). "You shall regret trying to hide your treasure from an Otori pirate!" he said in a more convincing tone, then plunged his sword, pretending to stab Tamaki, while the 'king' grabbed it and stuck it under his arm, pretending to fall back off the chest.
"Oh no, Senpai!" Tamaki's fan-girls gasped, kneeling around him.
"Oh, the pain…" Tamaki moaned, going into a pitiful act. "How tragic it is for a pirate to give his life defending a box of worthless coins," he sat up, caressing a girl's face. "…without realizing the real treasures that are around him…"
The fan-girls sighed dreamily, and Kyoya shook his head, then sat down at a table, typing away at his laptop. "Your costumes are so realistic," one of his fan-girls said.
"How did you ever come up with them?" another fan-girl asked.
Tamaki had made the rest of the club watch every pirate movie known to man, until he found the kind that had the most convincing looks. Finally, after stumbling upon Pirates of the Caribbean, he finally made the choice- which was a good thing, because the rest of the Hosts were growing sick of watching pirate movies and were planning on locking Tamaki in a trunk if he made them watch one more film.
"We managed to purchase them from a movie-studio," Kyoya answered.
"You mean, you bought copies of the costumes?" one fan-girl asked.
"Copies? No. These are the real thing- we just have to make sure to have them back before the next flick comes out." All his fan-girls sighed dreamily- getting to wear the actual clothes worn by actors!
Finally, it was time to wrap things up. Haruhi was left to clean up, as usual, and began carrying some of the props into the 3rd music room, until a distant rumbling from the skies made her freeze. Take it easy, Haruhi… she told herself, setting a box of doubloons off to the side. It's probably just going to blow over to the next town. It's supposed to be a clear day-
*Kraka-boom!*
"Hah!" Haruhi gasped, then rushed into the changing room, slamming the door behind her.
0o0o0o0o0
Kyoya and Tamaki were walking through the garden, taking a detour to the front entrance, since the 'king' wanted to see how the club's roses were blossoming. "I want to keep our roses in as fine a condition as possibly, before fall hits, Kyoya." Tamaki explained as they walked. "It's hard to greet clients with withered petals, you know."
"Right, no use using fresh petals that will wither after we pluck them, anyway." Kyoya commented, rolling his eyes.
"It is best to use them while they have a sweet scent," Tamaki caressed the side of a blossomed rose, taking in its smell. "Such a wonderful sensation, especially when you want to give someone a warm welcome."
"Can we hurry this up? I don't want to wait for my limo in the rain,"
"Fine, but I want to-" Tamaki then froze, a shocked chibi-expression spreading across his face. "Rain?"
"Yes. It appears the weather advisory was off for this week." Kyoya looked up at the dark storm-clouds. "From what I can guess, we may have a few storms the next few days-"
"YAAAAAAAAAH!" Tamaki ran through the gardens, frantically. "I can't believe it! A storm was coming in, and I left Haruhi in charge of clean-up! She's gonna hate me!"
Surprising she doesn't already. Kyoya thought, running after him. "I'm sure she's fine. She's probably inside with the other hosts."
Tamaki calmed down a bit. "Ah, you're right." At least she won't be alone and scared… he thought.
"Of course I am. They'll probably calm her nerves if the storm frightens her."
Tamaki became frantic again. "EEEEEAAAAAH!" He shot across the lawn to the building, the thought of one of the other hosts getting close to 'his daughter', putting their arms around her to comfort her, holding her close- things he wanted to do!
Kyoya shook his head, following at a slow pace, though a smirk came to his face- he loved using his friend's feelings for Haruhi against him.
0o0o0o0o0
As soon as I get over this, I swear I'm going to throttle the weatherman! Haruhi thought as she sat in a corner, her hands covering her ears as the storm roared.
*Boom!*
She winced. The storm seemed to be getting worse…
0o0o0o0o0
Kyoya stood, glowering, in the pouring rain, as Tamaki tried to open the doors with no prevail. "Oh, this is terrible!" the Host King cried, yanking and pulling on the handles. "The custodian probably locked this door already! Quick, we must get to the other side before those get locked too!"
Without waiting for Kyoya, Tamaki bolted back into the pouring rain, running around the corner of the building.
"Or… you could just try pushing the door open." Kyoya deadpanned, pushing the door in and walking into the building, out of the rain.
0o0o0o0o0o0
The Hitachin Twins walked down the hall, carrying a bag of glow-sticks, flash-lights, and light-up flash-toys. "Wait 'til Neko-san opens his locker tomorrow." Kaoru said. "He'll never expect the inside of it to be brighter than him... like everything else."
"C'mon, lets find the cam-corder to put in, too. I want to catch his reaction at the right angle," Hikaru said as they entered the third music room.
The first thing they noticed was Mori and Honey carrying some chests into their storage-area, both of them appearing to be a little wet. "Hey, I thought Haruhi was on cleaning duty,"
"Yeah, did she skip out?"
"We don't know," Honey replied. "Takashi and I were just getting back into our school-clothes, when we noticed that there were still a few things left outside. We went out there to see if Haru-chan needed help, but we couldn't find her, and it was starting to drizzle, so we decided to finish the job for her so she wouldn't get in trouble."
The rain! Hikaru thought, looking out at the storm- catching a glimpse of Tamaki trying to pull open a door, then run off- and realized why Haruhi didn't finish the job. He had been in this kind of position before.
"Where do you suppose she is?" Kaoru asked. "It isn't really like her to abandon a job-"
"I think I have an idea," Hikaru said. She's probably somewhere where she can hide from the storm- aha! he thought, his eyes falling on the changing room. "C'mon, lets check in here."
They pulled open the door, seeing Haruhi in the corner. "Haru-chan! Are you okay?" Honey gasped.
"Guys…?" Haruhi asked, her voice in a whisper.
*Rumble!*
She gasped at the sound of thunder, cringing. "Remember during summer vacation when Haruhi and I went out?" Hikaru asked Kaoru in a whisper. "Tamaki called me and told me she was afraid of storms."
"I remember that." Kaoru said. "He was yelling into his phone loud enough for the whole town to hear."
"Go get your iPod, and I'll find a blanket."
"I'll go get Usa-chan. He comes in handy when it comes to needing comfort," Honey volunteered, then turned to Mori. "Takashi, you stay with Haruhi, so the storm doesn't scare her."
Mori gave a nod. When the others ran off to retrieve their objects, he walked over to Haruhi. "You guys really don't have to-" Haruhi began.
*Crack! BOOM!*
"Agh!" she hit the floor, pulling the bandana of her pirate-outfit over her eyes.
Mori sat down beside her, putting his hand on top of her head, feeling her tremble. The twins returned, and Kaoru placed his earphones into Haruhi's ears, his music draining out the sound of the storm, while Hikaru placed a blanket around her. "Here, Haru-chan," Honey said, handing her his pink stuffed bunny. "Usa-chan always helped me feel better,"
"Don't worry, Haruhi," the twins said in unison, wrapping their arms around her. "We're here, now."
Mori only nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Tamaki ran to the last door, out of breath and drenched. It's no use! My poor Haruhi is probably trapped inside, cowering in the arms of some other boy, and I'm LOCKED OUT WITH NO WAY OF RESCUING HER! he thought, leaning against the door. "Oh, what am I going to-WAUGH!" he cried out, falling backwards. He looked up, seeing Kyoya holding the door open. "Kyoya! How did YOU get in?"
Kyoya merely pointed to an engraving above the door-handle, which read "Pull."
"Take a guess." The Shadow King scoffed.
"Oh, never mind that now! Hurry! We've got to find Haruhi!" Tamaki snapped, running down the hall. "C'mon! She's probably in the club-room!"
"…Which is THAT way…" Kyoya pointed in the opposite direction.
Tamaki quickly turned around and shot off down the hall.
0o0o0o0o0o0
The storm brewed loudly outside, rain crashing against the windowpanes as if trying to break through, lightening flashing every five seconds, the thunder roaring. Ouran's headmaster, Mr. Suoh, announced over the intercom that any students that were left in the building were to stay inside until the storm cleared, and all outdoor activities were cancelled…
Yet Haruhi heard none of it, distracted by the twins hugging her, Honey offering her strawberry cake to calm her nerves, and Mori sitting behind her. If her friends weren't the ones keeping her mind off the storm, the songs on Kaoru's iPod were.
I'll be back
Neon dashi nareul chajeul geoya
Geuttae dashi naega ol geoya
Geu nugudo neoreul naboda sarang hal sun eopgie
It was a song by the artists, 2PM, a music-group Haruhi had heard about, though she never really listened to any of their music until now. …She liked it.
Letting out a calm sigh, she leaned back, though she sat up quickly, forgetting that Mori was behind her. "Sorry, Mori-senpai-" she began. In response, Mori put his hand on top of her head, giving her a small grin.
"He doesn't mind, Haru-chan." Honey told her. "He lets me lean against him all the time on long road trips. …Are you sure you don't want any cake? It's strawberry- your favorite!"
Haruhi grinned. "It's okay. I'm good."
"The storm is starting to pass," The twins said in unison, taking out the earphones so Haruhi could hear. "You want to come back out, now?"
Haruhi listened. The thunder had stopped, and there wasn't much lightening, and the rain had slowed down to a light drizzle… yet she didn't feel like getting up just yet. "Well-"
*BAM!*
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTER!"
Everyone looked over, seeing Tamaki standing in the doorway, looking absolutely furious.
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A/N: So… what do you guys think? Please give your completely honest opinion- no flames, but I accept constructive criticism.