I DO NOT OWN OHSHC! SHILOH IS MINE THOUGH!
Chapter 1: WELCOME TO THE HOST CLUB! NOW JOIN US!
I was walking with another scholarship student, Haruhi Fujioka; we were trying to find a library that was quiet enough to study but so far all of them have been noisy. I turned to my companion and scowled, "The students here need to go back to elementary school if they can't even follow the number one rule of a library: NO TALKING. It's quite annoying." I muttered angrily.
She looked over at me with her large brown eyes that were hidden by huge glasses. "I know what you mean. That was the fourth one that we've tried. So, what was your scholarship for Shiloh-san?" she asked curiously with a slight tilt of her head.
"I'm here on a music scholarship. My parents sent in a video of me playing various instruments without telling me." I smiled sadly as I was remembering my parent's smiles but it turned into a frown quickly as I remembered I will never hear my mother's tinkling laughter or my dad's booming laugh ever again. I was the heir to Hayashi Instruments and Shimizu Weapons and Armory but I was raised as a commoner. My grandparents worked hard to get to where they were and left my parents as heirs but they never lost sight of their humble roots.
Haruhi noticed the change in my attitude because she patted my shoulder and we stopped at a large window. Mum, Dad, I promise I'll make you proud of me. It's been four months since you left me alone in this world; I don't know how to do this thing called "life" but I'm trying.
I sighed and looked at Haruhi, she smiled and we continued on our way until we reached Music Room 3. "An abandoned music room?" she asked, "Want to study here?"
I nodded after listening for a few seconds to make sure that it was abandoned. "Sure, maybe I'll even be able to practice." Together we opened the door that would change our lives forever.
"Welcome~!" we heard a chorus of voices beyond the bright light.
After the light cleared we saw six handsome guys standing before us. There were the ginger-haired twins from mine and Haruhi's class, they had mischievous amber eyes and a playful aura about them. The tallest of the group had short, spiky black hair and deep gray eyes, he seemed like one of the more serious people of this odd group. The shortest member had honey blonde hair and big light brown eyes, he seemed very cute and was holding a pink stuffed bunny. The second member that had black hair had his style in a longer, neater style and gray eyes concealed by his oval glasses. The one sitting in the chair seemed excessively cheerful, with shining blue-violet eyes and light blonde hair.
"Oh, it's just two guys," the twins said disappointedly. Really, do I look like a guy? I am a girl even though I may not act like one very often. I was wearing dark wash jeans and a black graphic t-shirt with converse and a gray and black striped cardigan. My gray messenger bag with a leather bottom was over my shoulder and it contained my homework, books, and my music folder. My black hair was an untamable shoulder length mess and my bangs covered my multicolored eyes (my right was a bright electric blue with green flecks while my left was a dark blue with gold flecks).
"Hikaru, Kaoru, I believe that these two young men are in your class. Are they not?" the guy with the glasses asked. Why do I get the feeling like he already knows the answer?
"Yeah, but they're shy and don't act very sociable so nobody knows much about them," the twins said together.
Glasses guy smirked and there was a light bulb that turned on somewhere. "Well, that wasn't very nice. Welcome the Ouran Host Club, Mr. Honor Students."
Suddenly a wild blonde with blue-violet eyes appeared in our faces. "No way! You two are Haruhi Fujioka and Shiloh Makoto Shimizu, the legendary honor students that I've heard so much about.
My head snapped to the blonde idiot, "How do you know our names? We never told you."
The glasses guy smirked, "Why, you two are infamous. It's not every day that a commoner gains entrance to this elite academy, let alone two commoners. It takes audacious nerve and stubbornness to get as far as you two have."
"He's right, you know. You two are superheroes to other poor people for making it to this wonderful academy!" He wrapped his arm around Haruhi's shoulders and continued his rant, "You've been spurned, neglected, but no more! I welcome you, poor men, to our world of beauty!" After his long rant, he extended his arms in what was supposed to be a grand pose but it just made him look like he wanted a hug.
"I'm out of here. You coming?" Haruhi asked me. I could tell that she was ticked because the irritating blonde couldn't get the hint that she does not like being manhandled across the room. I nodded and started to follow her out until we were stopped.
"Haru-chan! Shi-chan! You two must be superheroes! That's so cool!" the smallest host grabbed onto our sleeves.
"Hate to break it to you kid, but we're not superheroes. We're honor students." I informed the kid.
"Yeah. AND WHO'RE YOU CALLING HARU-CHAN?!" Haruhi yelled in the kid's face. Poor kid, he didn't deserve that. Immediately the small blonde ran off to his taller companion who was trying to cheer him up with his stuffed bunny.
"Who would have thought that the famed honor students would be so openly gay?" the taller blonde idiot exclaimed. Wait, what? WHAT!? Since when am I gay? As far as I know I am definitely attracted to guys.
"Openly what?" Haruhi asked in disbelief. She gave me a look that clearly said, "you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me?" I'm sure I had a similar look on my face mixed with some confusion.
"So, what sort of men are you two into? There's the strong, silent type," he pointed to the tallest member, the one with the kind eyes and black hair, "the boy-lolita type," here he gestured to the still sniffling small blonde, "the little devil type," here he pointed at the twins. Why does that not surprise me? "Or the cool type?" the one with glasses smirked when the idiot pointed at him. Suddenly the blonde was in both of our faces and was holding our chins in his hands to gaze into our eyes or try to in my case. "Or would you like to try me? Well, what do you say?"
Haruhi was weirded out and jumped out of his grasp exclaiming something about just wanting to study. I smirked and said, "I don't think you understand the concept of personal space." I turned away from the tall blonde and saw Haruhi about to bump a pedestal that had a large vase on it. Oh no. I charged ahead as the vase hit the ground. I dove to try to catch it but it broke before I could so I ended up sliding in the broken pieces.
I winced as I got up. The tall raven haired guy helped me and looked at me in concern. "Are you okay?" he asked in a deep voice. I nodded and started removing the shards from my flesh and clothing. He started helping me get the ones out of my arms. "You need to go to the nurse," his deep voice rumbled in concern.
I shook my head, "I'm fine. Besides these are only scratches." He looked surprised and even more concerned.
I looked up and saw the small blonde and the one with glasses came to where we were, glasses guy picked up one of the shards that didn't end up inside me. The twins were lecturing Haruhi about the 8 million yen vase and how it was going to be featured in the school auction next week.
"Are you alright?" the one with glasses asked. "We don't want the club to have a bad reputation, now do we?" his expression said "you-better-be-okay" but his eyes were genuinely concerned before they were covered by the glare of his glasses.
I nodded and gave a small smile, "I'm fine, these are only scratches."
Glasses turned to the twins and the tall blonde and said, "What do you want to do Tamaki?" I looked over to see the tall blonde, Tamaki, sit in a chair and cross his legs.
"You two have heard the phrase 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.' Since you have no money you two can pay us with your bodies. Starting today you two are now the host club's dogs." He smirked darkly as he was pointing at us. Well, what do you know? He has a dark side.
Haruhi was petrified and I honestly didn't care. It'll give me something to do. I watched as the small blonde poked Haruhi and she just fell over. "So…what now? What does a 'dog' do?" I looked over at them all. They all looked over at me and tilted their head, considering what to do with us both now. I brought my hands up to make it look like I was a begging dog and smirked, "What do you want me to do? Devote my never-ending loyalty to you? It comes at the price of head scratchies." I started laughing and smiled as I saw Tamaki-senpai's insulted expression, "I'm not going to turn tail and run." The twins and the short blonde were laughing at my pun. The two raven-haired guys were trying not to smile and chuckle. Even Tamaki was having difficulties.
"Well, technically you never broke anything so you can walk out right now if you wanted to," glasses guy said.
"I'd rather help out with the debt, after all, I was unable to fetch the vase. I don't want him to be shattered." I saw the twins chuckling, "Too soon?" I looked down at Haruhi as she was waking up. The glasses guy chuckled and shook his head. I looked at the tall black haired guy and he was smiling a small smile in my direction and the small blonde was giggling.
"Haruhi, we need you to do the shopping. Here's a list of the things we need. Have fun~!" Tamaki-senpai ordered Haruhi. She sighed and grabbed it.
I stood next to Megane Boy because he seems the sanest of the group and cleared my throat awkwardly, "So…you haven't told me your name… Who are you? What do you like to do?"
"Kyoya Ootori at your service," he smirked as he looked down at me. "As for my hobbies, …you'll know them…eventually."
I nodded along, "What do you want me to do? After all, you are fully aware of what I can offer," I looked up at him curiously.
"You will provide musical entertainment, among other things," he stated matter-of-factually. "After all, you were the one that wanted to help Haruhi with the debt," he whispered, "but that little detail will stay amongst us and the other hosts, understood?"
I nodded vigorously with wide eyes. You are one scary motherfucker. Remind me to never get on your bad side.
"Do you want me to start now? You know what I can do, or at least have an idea of it if you know why I'm here," I smiled up at him.
He nodded and opened his notebook, "You're skilled at singing, violin, piano, cello, guitar, drums, and trumpet. Quite interesting, you're a music prodigy and viewed as the next greatest musician. It's also interesting that you are the heir to two companies but you are an honor student," he smirked. "The piano is behind those curtains. Feel free to play anytime."
I was unnerved that he knew about my parents' companies but I nodded anyway and walked over to the curtain and pulled it aside. I heard footsteps behind me and looked up to see Tamaki-senpai. "Hiya. What's up?" I asked confused with a tilt of my head.
He smiled, "Any idea what you want to play?"
I contemplated for a second then shrugged, "No, I'm open to suggestions, though." He whispered in my ear and pulled back with a smile.
I nodded and smiled. I sat and started looking over the music that I found in the compartment of the bench. The song that Tamaki wanted me to play was there as well, I noticed that almost every piece was a cheerful, light-hearted piece that flowed very nicely. It matches the atmosphere, light-hearted, warm, happy. The opposite of me…
After about 15 minutes the club was opened for business. Haruhi was still shopping and I was standing next to Kyoya and observing everyone. Haruhi came in and the hosts and customers were amazed by instant coffee. Meh, I prefer brewed myself but I'm not going to be a jerk about it.
I stayed out of the mess and thought of the song that Tamaki-senpai wanted me to play. It was a cheerful, somewhat complicated tune but not too difficult. I've been asked to play more challenging stuff but I always have fun.
I noticed that everyone was back to their previous activities. I looked over at Kyoya-senpai and nodded over to the piano, he nodded and I made my way over to the curtain. I sat on the bench, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. I opened my eyes and started playing Remembrance. I was smiling sadly and closed my eyes as I got lost in memories. Warm summer days with my family, the puns that my dad and I made, my mum shaking her head disappointedly and muttering 'I swear I have two children', my dad's booming laugh, my mum's tinkling laugh, me playing the piano for them late in the evening.
Mum, Dad, I miss you. I'm trying to stay happy but it's so difficult. How am I supposed to know what to do? I was still playing so I never noticed the tears make their debut. After a few more minutes of playing, I finished the piece but I didn't want to stop, I took a calming breath and smiled a little. Clapping jolted me out of my thoughts, I completely forgot that I was at the Host Club. I looked up at everyone and they had smiles on their faces and looked amazed.
Tamaki-senpai made his way over to me with happy tears in his eyes, "That was amazing. You looked so into it, so focused on the music."
I nodded and smiled, "Thank you." I left to join Kyoya-senpai and Haruhi on the other side of the room to observe. We were all standing off to the side; I was thinking of talking to Kyoya-senpai about other music to play for the club.
"What sort of club is this?" Haruhi asked confused. Her question jolted me out of my thoughts and I looked at her and Kyoya to (hopefully) get an answer.
"Here in the Host Club, we utilize our individual characteristics to cater to the desires of our guests. Tamaki, our king, has a request rate of 70%." We looked over at Tamaki-senpai as he was flirting with a group of five girls.
"-so then he bolted right out of bed," the twin with the deeper voice was telling a story about some nightmare his brother had.
"Hikaru! I told you to never tell anyone that." His brother blushed and looked away, he had tears in his eyes as well. "Why are you being so mean to me?"
"I'm sorry, Kaoru. You looked so cute when it happened so I had to share it with the ladies. Will you forgive me?" Hikaru grabbed Kaoru's face and held it close to his.
"I forgive you," Kaoru said softly.
"Hikaru and Kaoru use twincest as their appeal," Kyoya explained.
"That's…odd," I admitted. Kyoya-senpai lifted an eyebrow, "I'm not homophobic or anything but I just didn't think that that was a thing. It threw me off."
He nodded and we continued observing and I started thinking about some songs that I could play. I wanted to sing for some reason but I had no clue what.
"HARU-CHAN! SHI-CHAN!" the small blonde ran up to us, effectively snapping me out of my thoughts. "Do you want to have cake with me?" he asked happily.
I smiled and ruffled his hair, "Not right now, but maybe in a bit."
"I don't like sweets," Haruhi said.
"Then how would you like to hold my bunny, Usa-chan?" he asked while holding up his pastel pink bunny.
"I don't like bunnies," Haruhi said.
"You mean, you don't like my Usa-chan?" he asked with tears in his eyes.
Haruhi stared at the bunny which caused it to blush. Wait, what the hell sort of witchcraft is this?! "I guess he is sort of cute, huh?" she finally admitted.
"Indeed. I love stuffed animals too. Especially owls," I smiled brightly at the shorter blonde. He blushed and another light bulb turned on somewhere.
He shoved Usa-chan in my arms and smiled, "Take good care of him, 'kay?!" He ran off to his clients and snuggled on one of the customer's laps.
"Is he really a high school student?" Haruhi asked uncertainly.
"Hunny-senpai's the oldest among us and quite the intellectual. Don't let his looks deceive you. Mori-senpai is also quite intelligent and is the second in his class. Mori-senpai's allure is his strong and silent disposition and Hunny-senpai's is his childlike nature."
"Why does this sort of club even exist?" Haruhi questioned incredulously.
"Do you two have a problem with the way we run our club?" Kyoya-senpai said threateningly. I shook my head. "Remember that you owe our club 8 million yen. You can try to run but my family employs a private police force of 100 fully trained officers. By the way, do you both have passports?" he smirked evilly with a dark aura.
Haruhi and I looked at each other in fear. What mess have I gotten myself into? Why didn't I just walk out while I still could?
I looked over at Haruhi who wasn't paying much attention, Tamaki was sneaking up behind her and started whispering in her ear and blowing on her neck. Suddenly Haruhi was four feet way holding her neck and panting.
"Please don't do that ever again," she said looking at Tamaki with an annoyed glare.
"You both need to clean up or no girl is going to look twice at you," Tamaki said matter-of-factually.
"Well, I'm not trying to get girls to look at me," Haruhi replied somewhat calmly.
I shrugged, "Looks aren't that important, at least to me. I like people based on their personality, if they can make me laugh, we can be each other around the other with no judgment, if they can hold me up when things get rough. Honestly, this club seems fun and everyone seems great. As such, I'm looking forward to getting to know you guys."
Tamaki-senpai came up, "It's a shame that you must delude yourself in such a way. It's not every day that God creates a perfect person inside and out. After all, why is art put into a museum? So, people can marvel at it." After that I ignored him. I frowned and thought of my parents, they were each other's best friend and could do everything together. Was it really that bad of a thing that I wanted friends that could help me, make me laugh, and be themselves? I guess I am foolish to think that these guys could ever be my friends.
"Obnoxious!" Haruhi exclaimed as Tamaki-senpai was talking about how useful a side glance could be when wooing ladies. Immediately Tamaki-senpai paled and started moping in the corner.
The twins came up to Haruhi and started laughing, "Good job, Haruhi. You're a hero alright. You have been the only person to upset Tono this much." Hikaru put his arm on Haruhi's head and Kaoru did the same to mine.
"Boss," Kaoru started.
"Call me King!" Tamaki-senpai exclaimed.
Hikaru continued, "You could teach them the basics of hosting but-"
"-They won't go very far if they-" Kaoru continued where his brother left off.
"-Don't look the part," Hikaru and Kaoru finished together.
"Maybe if we took of Haruhi's glasses it would help," Hikaru suggested as he removed Haruhi's glasses. His, Kaoru's and Hikaru's eyes widened in surprise and everyone else was staring at Haruhi's wide brown eyes and feminine face. She started saying how she lost the contacts and needed her glasses back. After Tamaki snapped his fingers the twins dragged her off.
Kyoya-senpai got in my face after he made a call for a hairstylist and a uniform. "What lies behind your long fringe, hmm?" He brushed my bangs aside and was staring into my multicolored eyes, Tamaki-senpai, Mori-senpai, and Hunny-senpai came over to see why Kyoya was frozen. As soon as they saw they froze as well.
"What is it?" I asked, tilting my head. "Is there something wrong?" I tried to move my head out of Kyoya-senpai's grasp.
"Mori-senpai, send him to the back as well," Kyoya ordered.
Mori-senpai nodded and lifted me over his shoulder, "Woah!" I was grabbing his uniform coat to prevent myself from falling. He set me down inside the changing room and ruffled my hair and left to join the others.
I turned to the other's in the room who haven't noticed me yet, "So," everyone jumped. "Kyoya-senpai sent me back here. No clue what for and I didn't ask."
Kaoru came up to me, "You're probably here for a haircut. No offense but it's a mess." He ran his fingers through my hair to get rid of the tangles but there were none, there never are. "Your hair is so soft, I've never felt hair this soft," he seemed surprised.
"Thank you. I don't do too much to it, though. It's just always messy so I've given up on taming it," I explained with a shrug. I was shoved into a chair and the stylist tried straightening my hair to see what he had to work with but it kept sticking up at odd angles.
After a lot of cursing, several attempts to style my hair, and a few products he gave up too. My hair was now to the nape of my neck and my fringe no longer hung to my cheekbones but was instead short and lightly brushing against my eyebrows, it seemed excessively fluffy but that's what happens when someone tries to tame it. My eyes seemed to stand out even more now.
The twins had two uniforms, "Change into these," each of the twins held up a uniform.
"What?! But why?!" Haruhi exclaimed.
I nodded as well but went over to them and grabbed a uniform from Hikaru, "Thank you, Hikaru," I looked right at him, "Thank you, Kaoru," I looked at him this time. They were both surprised. "I think we are capable of changing by ourselves." I turned back until I felt the twins trying to speed up the changing process. Haruhi and I each grabbed one and threw them out.
"I SAID WE COULD CHANGE ON OUR OWN!" I shouted out of the curtain. I turned to Haruhi, "I'll go to the other divider. I have a thing about changing in front of people. Don't worry, I'm a girl too," she nodded and started changing.
I made my way to a separate section and started changing. I had no clue how to tie a tie so I just rolled it up and put it in my pocket. I had my shirt untucked, the top button undone, and I wore my converse instead of the dress shoes. I shrugged and left to see Haruhi wearing the full uniform properly. She looked over at me and we both stepped through after Tamaki asked, "Are you two done yet?"
We opened the curtain and I smiled at everyone. The boy's eyes were wide as they stared at us.
"You two clean up nicely," Hikaru said circling us. "Whoa. Your eyes Shiloh…they're awesome."
"If you would have told us how you really looked we could have helped you sooner," Kaoru said.
"You both look so cute, Shi-chan! Haru-chan!"
"Thank you, Hunny-senpai."
Kaoru came up to me, "Why aren't you wearing the tie?"
I blushed, "Well, I don't know how to tie one. Also, I don't like things around my neck."
Mori-senpai came over and held out his hand, "Tie," was all he said.
I nodded and pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to him, "Thank you Mori-senpai."
He nodded and continued tying the tie loosely around my neck, similar to how he had his. After he finished he nodded and joined the others.
"Much better, Shiloh." Kyoya exclaimed, "I think these two will be able to bring in quite a few customers."
"That's just what I was thinking, Kyoya!" Tamaki said in an excited voice. Bullcrap. Tamaki considered for a moment and grinned, "If you both can get 100 customers to request you we will forget about your debt."
"We're going…to be…HOSTS? You're joking. Surely you jest," I murmured to myself. I looked at the others to see them smiling at Haruhi and me encouragingly. "Oh boy…this will be a long few years."
"Hosts?" Haruhi whimpered.