Love is But a Dirty Trick

chapter one

Tamaki grinned, extending his hand to the young woman before him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, beautiful princess."

The "princess" giggled shyly, placing her small hand in his, face flushing prettily as he brushed his lips against the pale skin. Haruhi scoffed at the Host's antics, turning toward her guests with a small smile. She couldn't, however, fight the uneasy feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach. It may have been due to the presence of Tamaki-sempai's grandmother (Who had brought the giggly, blushing girl into the Host Club in the first place), but no, that wasn't right. The elderly woman saddened her, sure, with her complete disregard for her only grandson's feelings, but this was different.

She stole another glance at Tamaki and his guest, the former whispering some nonsense into the poor girl's ear as she batted him away flirtatiously. Not jealousy, nor was it anger or hurt, but.. More of a feeling that something wasn't right. Obviously, she knew the Host King wasn't going to try to leave again, but that didn't stop her from wondering what exactly his grandmother had up her sleeve. She didn't just introduce Tamaki to random girls for no reason, after all.

There was a movement somewhere to her left. When she turned to see what it was, she was met with the sight of the Shadow King, laptop open but forgotten on the table in front of him. The light glinted off his glasses, making it impossible to see his eyes, but it was no guess as to where his gaze fell. He seemed unusually tense, and his lips were drawn in a thin line, fingers resting just above the keys he had once been typing. She would have laughed at the sight, but something about the way he stared..

"Haruhi, are you alright?"

Her cheeks flushed, and she dragged her eyes away from the older teen and back to the three young women sitting in front of her.

"Sorry ladies, I guess I sort of zoned out there.."

They resumed their conversation peacefully, her guests offering her small homemade cakes and other sweets, and her thanking them with a kind smile that sent them sputtering. She risked another look at Kyouya, but the older teen had resumed his typing, albeit a bit harder than he normally did. She still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, even after their customers left and the club closed for the day.

As she waited at the bus stop on the way home, her mind still couldn't wrap around it, couldn't understand what had seemed so off. Tamaki-sempai flirted with girls every day, and though it wasn't as common, Kyouya-sempai would also become extremely appalled by the King's stupidity from time to time. Sempai must have just done something ridiculously idiotic while she wasn't looking, and the Shadow King had caught it. Of course, and he was probably so tense because the girl that Tamaki's grandmother had introduced him to had been a very wealthy business owner's daughter.

She sighed softly, boarding the bus and scanning her pass. The unease was still there. She hadn't solved anything, and she could feel a headache forming at her temples.

Dammit.

The very next day, that girl was back.

Haruhi scoffed. She had really hoped the girl, and all the stupid feelings and confusion she brought with her, wouldn't have returned again. Unlike yesterday, though, she sat next to Tamaki the entire time, and even after the last of the guests were gone, she remained sitting, bubbly as ever. The twins had been busy all day conjuring up jeering nicknames for the red-faced girl, and though Haruhi chided them for being rude, she had to admit that it made her feel a lot better. It was obvious that the teens had noticed how off things had been, just like she had. Though she guessed that they understood the situation better, even if they refused enlighten her.

"Hey, what's Raggedy Ann still doing here?"

Hikaru muttered, he and Kaoru standing closely behind Haruhi, sending their guest identical, sardonic stares.

"I'm not sure."

Kaoru replied slyly, causing their female friend to roll her eyes.

"But I wonder if that red-faced thing is contagious? We might want to keep Haruhi away from her until we know for sure."

They both nodded in agreement, placing a hand on each of Haruhi's shoulders and pulling her close. She felt her cheeks warming slightly, and she tried to pry herself out of their grip to no avail. Kaoru gasped, whirling her around to face the two of them.

"Oh no, Hikaru, it's already happening! Our beautiful Haruhi's turning into Blushing-Monster!"

She growled loudly, still trying to escape them, all the time hissing for them to shut up before someone heard.

"You're right Kaoru! We have to get her away before she starts giggling uncontrollably!"

She finally broke free, flushed with annoyance and so flustered that she almost couldn't find the strength to call them idiots. Of course, she would have told them off good if it hadn't been for Hunny-sempai intervening.

"Why are you guys always so mean to Haru-chan?"

The Boy-Lolita asked, clutching lightly to Mori-sempai's wrist.

"Well that's easy-"

Kaoru began, cutting off so Hikaru could finish.

"Haruhi's cute when she's embarrassed."

She felt her cheeks becoming unbearably hot, and almost didn't catch the twin's joint remark of,

"Unlike some people."

She huffed, willing her embarrassment to subside before crossing her arms and staring at the brothers sternly.

"Guys, if she hears you saying that she's going to get really mad (just like anyone in their right mind would), and since Tamaki-sempai's grandmother went through all the trouble of bringing her here, she must be from a really important family, right?"

Everyone paused at this. Not because Haruhi's words had been particularly shocking, but because of a shrill squeal that emitted from the couch-area, and all six pairs of eyes snapped toward Tamaki and the red-faced girl (who, truth be told, didn't look right rosy cheeks). The blonde host seemed quite terrified as he was held in a rather painful looking embrace, but the girl was completely unaware.

"Oh Tamaki!"

She exclaimed, and the worry that had been building in the pit of Haruhi's stomach since the day before grew tenfold at the sound. All of the sudden she was wondering where Kyouya was, and if he could see everything that was going on. Hikaru and Kaoru were sending each other strange glances. Hunny-sempai, having crawled onto Mori-sempai's shoulders during the exchange, held a troubled look in his eyes that Haruhi wasn't sure she had seen before.

"Hey, everyone come here for a moment! I'd like to introduce you to someone!"

The sound of Tamaki calling to them almost made her jump out of her skin, and she was momentarily fearful that he had heard everything the group had been saying about him and the girl. Before she could even register the Host King's words, however, Hikaru had a hand around her arm, and was dragging her (gently, of course) after the rest of the club.

"Stop thinking so much."

He chided, grinning sarcastically, before releasing her and turning toward the ruckus. Ignoring his comment (for the time being), her eyes settled on the object of her frustrations. For the first time, she actually got a good look at the strange, easily embarrassed girl. She wasn't ugly by any means, but not breathtakingly beautiful either. Besides her cheeks, her skin was pale, and her small lips seemed to be set in a permanent grin. Her eyes were a light brown, almost exactly matching the short, wavy hair that was tied in twin braids and rested at her shoulders. She was probably two or three centimeters shorter than Haruhi herself, and a (seemingly expensive) flower-printed, brightly colored dress clung tightly to her small form. Sure, she was pretty, but sort of.. plain. Much too plain for Tamaki's tastes, surely.

She paused, wondering when she started caring about people's appearances. Of course, it was probably the damn Host Club's fault.

"There you are Kyouya! I didn't want you to miss anything!"

Tamaki's voice, once again, startled her from her musings, and her eyes landed on the black-haired teen, who had indeed, just joined the group. He seemed just as tense as the day before, and Haruhi wondered if he and Tamaki had a fight, or something of the sort. She was however, cut off by a cold glance from the Shadow King himself, and Tamaki's oblivious introduction of the brunette girl, who now clung to his arm affectionately.

"Everyone,"

He drew out regally.

"This is Ima Watanabe. Ima, these are my friends!"

He grinned widely, and Haruhi could have swore she heard the twins muttering,

"Watanabe! Of course!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kyouya adjusting his glasses, not quite facing the blonde, but not quite turning away.

"It's very nice to meet all of you."

Ima spoke, and there was something in her voice that said that she actually wasn't all that happy to be meeting them.

"I'll probably be seeing a lot of you now, since Tamaki's asked me to be his girlfriend."

Haruhi froze. Maybe it was the snide tone of voice she had used, or maybe it was the word 'girlfriend', but she couldn't believe it. In her peripheral line of vision, Kyouya had begun to leave, slipping out the door, almost completely unnoticed.

"Are you serious?!"

Kaoru muttered, horrified.

She felt a hand grip her shoulder, and she glanced up at Hikaru. His face was hard as he stared at the doors Kyouya had just closed behind him. She then looked to Tamaki, the King appearing less majestic and more like kicked dog. This girl -Tamaki's new girlfriend, she couldn't possibly wreak too much havoc at the Host Club.

..Right?

to be continued.

--

First and foremost, Ouran doesn't belong to me.

Also, reviews would be greatly appreciated! (The button's right down there! Go ahead, just click it!)

As of right now, the pairings for this story are Kyouya x Tamaki (main), Haruhi x Hikaru (main-supporting), and maaaybe some slight Hunny x Mori, but it depends on how everything turns out. Any suggestions as to who Kaoru should be paired with?

The title comes from the book 'A Writer's Notebook', by W. Somerset Maugham. It goes, "Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species."

And finally, this entire idea was inspired by Taylor Swift's song "You Belong With Me" (which I also don't own, obviously.)

Thanks for reading! Chapter Two should be up soon!