Chapter 1 – The Wish and the Fight
Haruhi woke up to the bright weekend morning of February 4th surrounded by the Host Club. Sounds of noise makers blasted her ears and she was showered with streamers. "Happy birthday Haruhi," they all yelled. She rubbed her eyes from the sleepiness and then remembered that February 4th was her birthday. How did these guys get in here?
"How did you guys get in here?" she asked groggily. They all smiled at her and Hikaru tossed her a key, the key her father always kept under the door mat outside in case she forgot her key at home. I told him it was a bad idea. "What do you want?"
"You turn 17 today Haru-chan," Hunny said joyfully. "And we wanted to celebrate with you! Takashi and I even made a cake!" Hunny showed her a container with a poorly made chocolate cake inside it with pink frosting slathered thickly on it and strawberries all over it. "Happy 17th Birthday Haruhi" was written on it in blue frosting. Haruhi sweat-dropped at the cake.
"It looks good Hani-sempi," she said. Hunny smiled, and the twins suddenly grabbed ahold of her arms. "W-what are you doing?" They cast her a devilish grin and dragged her out of her room and threw her into the bathroom.
"We brought some clothes and put them in there," they said together. "Get changed." With that, they closed the door. Haruhi sighed and locked the door, trying to avoid the clothes that were behind her on the sink counter. She turned and faced the frilly clothes their mother made and fingered through them. Why is there so much frilly stuff? She picked up a pink skirt that had lacey poofs running across it horizontally every few inches. Geez and I thought my dad was obsessed with me dressing girly. After what felt like forever, she found a dress that was yellow and had white, flowery edging around the neck line, skirt, and sleeves – which went down to her elbow – and it was thankfully poof-free. "Hey Haruhi you done in there?" Hikaru called, knocking on the door. "You have been in there forever," Kaoru called after him, knocking as well.
She sighed and opened the door, and was greeted by five shocked expressions. Geez, they have seen me in how many dresses last year? I would think they would be used to it by now. Tamaki's face went pure red and the twins were just staring. Hunny was smiling and said, "Wow Haru-chan, you look pretty in that dress." Everyone nodded silently. "Come on let's go to the party so you can blow out your candles Haru-chan!" She followed them out the door and locked it behind her. She stared at the doormat key and shrugged, sticking it in the mail slot.
Tamaki – like the 'gentlemen' he is – opened the car door for her. She got in and he scooted in, followed by the twins and then Hunny and Mori. Then she noticed a missing face. "Hey where's Kyoya?"
"He was up late last night," Kaoru said. "Tamaki tried to wake him up and Kyoya threw him out the window," Hikaru said, smirking at Tamaki. Haruhi looked over at Tamaki and saw him shutter. "He probably wouldn't like the party anyways," they said together, shrugging. The car came to a stop and everyone got out, but Tamaki stopped her and put a blindfold on her.
"Is this really necessary?" she asked as they lead her around in circles.
"Yes," they all said together. Then they sat her down on what felt like a plastic bench and took the blindfold off. Blue line covered her face as the shouts of her whole grade yelled, "Happy Birthday Haruhi!"
"Guys… what's going on?" she asked shakily.
"Not only are we celebrating your birthday Haruhi," Tamaki said. The Host club all said together, "We are celebrating your accomplishment of finally getting over your 8 million yen debt!"
"I'm done with my debt?" she asked smartly.
"Yea, we invited the whole school to celebrate and we decided to let your big secret out along the way," Hunny said. A bunch of people began to swarm her now. They all asked if she was really a girl and why she dressed as a boy and if she would still be in the Host Club. She felt a headache coming on.
"Alright guys, give her some room to breathe," Hikaru said, pulling a few people away. "Yea you'll have time to ask questions later during club hours and after the party," Kaoru said, also pulling a few people away. "Let the party begin," they shouted together, blowing blow-outs in her face. She was once again showered with streamers and music began playing. What surprised Haruhi was that it was normal music! Not that boring classical piano stuff, but actual dance music.
The party was slow for a while, but it soon became interesting when the twins decided to spice it up a little. Hikaru began dancing with a girl, and whispered in her ear. The girl blushed madly, but then Hikaru was pulled from the girl to Kaoru. "Hikaru, you said you would dance with me before anyone else! And then you start flirting," Kaoru said. Tear formed in his eyes. "I thought you cared for me more than any other person in the world." Kaoru turned to run away, but Hikaru quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him close, tilting Kaoru's chin so he was looking right up at him. Collective gasps filled the crowd.
"Forgive me Kaoru, I didn't know what I was thinking," Hikaru said sadly, tears in his eyes as well. "Please, I will only dance with you the rest of the party, just don't leave me."
"I won't, I forgive you." Screams filled the park at the twins act, but Haruhi only chuckled. She gained a few stares from fan girls, but it only made her laugh harder. "Well now that the birthday girl is now in party spirits, I think it's time to open gifts!" The twins walked up to her and grabbed her arms, dragging her to a large table she hadn't noticed earlier. Haruhi guess-timated there was a gift from almost every student at Ouran.
"Open mine first Haru-chan," Hunny yelled, grabbing a box from under one of the larger piles.
"Hani-sempi no don't," she and the twins yelled at once, but it was too late. Hunny yanked the box from under the pile and the whole pile fell on them. Haruhi popped her head out first from the sea of presents, followed by Hunny and the twins. Haruhi began to laugh from the rush, and soon everyone around her was laughing too. She made her way over to Hunny – who was looking a bit embarrassed – and plucked the present out of his grip. "I'll open yours first Hani-sempi," she said with a light chuckle. The present opening took a few hours – seriously – and she ended up with a lot of expensive stuff she would never had thought of using in her entire life. I'm going to have to rent a storage unit to store all this stuff in.
"Cake time," Hunny yelled. Once again, Haruhi was dragged by the twins to another table with the homemade cake on it. Tamaki slid into view and stopped behind Haruhi, placing a hand on her shoulder. The twins put a number 17 candle in the cake and lit it. Then everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" very badly. Some people were making up the words. They didn't have to learn the birthday song just because it was my birthday geez. When the torture music ended, Tamaki got close to her ear and said, "Make a wish Haruhi." Haruhi shivered and fought at the thought of wishing for Tamaki to go away. She closed her eyes and thought. I wish I knew what the future held, will it stay like this or change after high school. That is my wish. With that, she blew out the candle and the crowd erupted into applause.
"What did you wish for Haru-chan?" Hunny asked jumping up and down.
"She can't tell us that or it won't come true," the twins said in perfect synchronization.
"Here you go Haruhi I'll help you cut the cake," Tamaki said, handing her the knife. He Held onto her hand as the knife eased into the cake – which Haruhi found was utterly unnecessary. Hunny – obviously – got a large piece of the cake, the twins didn't want any, Haruhi only had a sliver, and Tamaki ate a normal slice – giving all the strawberries he had to Haruhi.
After the cake was gone, Haruhi had to cut a much larger cake on the foods and beverages table so everyone else could have some cake. Once the cake was gone, she began to roam around the crowd. The music was turned up now and there were more people dancing to it. It surprised Haruhi how much different these rich kids were outside of the prying eyes of rich society. They were almost like normal teens. She danced with a few guys on the slow songs, and chatted with girls – also getting some seriously annoying questions about being a girl and dressing as a boy, so she did more dancing than chatting – but she soon found her way out of the crowd and out near the hedges in the park.
It was sunset now, and the clouds were all sorts of different shades out orange and pink. Think about the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen, and this was what Haruhi was seeing. Suddenly, Hikaru appeared next to Haruhi. "Hey Birthday girl, what's up?"
"I thought you were going to stay by Kaoru the rest of the party?" she teased.
"Well, it was just an act after all, and I don't think he will mind me dancing with the birthday girl, would he?" he said, copying her teasing tone. She caught onto the question.
"No I don't think he would mind." Hikaru turned to her and bowed.
"Then may I have this dance Miss Fujioka?" he asked very formally. As if on cue, a slow song began to play and people began to pair up. Haruhi smiled and said, "I would love to," in the same formal tone Hikaru gave her. He took her hand and led her onto the dance floor. He laid his hand on her waist and she put her hand on his shoulder, and they started doing a simple waltz, like the music intended.
"So Haruhi, like the party so far?" he asked as he twirled her out and then back to him.
"It's alright."
"How does it feel to finally have the secret out? You no longer have to pretend to be a boy."
"Actually, it doesn't really feel any different than any other day," she admitted. They had begun to slow down, just going in circles.
"Man, you got to use to the Host Club then," he laughed.
"Don't laugh at me," she said, smacking his shoulder jokingly. "It's not my fault."
He gave her a devilish smirk and said, "Well it actually kinda is."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you did smash that vase after all. I mean, that was pretty stupid of you."
"Don't call me stupid," she said, no longer joking. Hikaru didn't stop though.
"Well, come on, it was a stupid thing to do. And besides, only an idiot would actually go on for almost two years pretending to be a different gender!" That did it; Haruhi went red with anger. She stepped back and pushed him hard, sending him to the ground.
"Shut up! You are such a jerk! I'm not an idiot, and my father is a cross dresser remember," she yelled loudly. The music came to a stop and everyone turned their attention to the two of them. "I swear sometimes you are so stupid and self-centered and you are as bad as Tamaki!"
"Haruhi I'm sorry," Hikaru said, getting up and reaching to take her hand. She slapped his hand away.
"Shut up! Don't touch me! I can't believe you would be so heartless! I HATE YOU HIKARU!" Her voice was so loud that it echoed for a long moment, and they were so cold that it was almost like the temperature had dropped to -50 degrees. Tears came to Haruhi's eyes as she turned and ran away.
"Haruhi wait," Hikaru called, but Haruhi only ran faster. She ran and ran until she finally came to a place she saw was familiar; then she continued to run until she made it to her door. She stopped and leaned against the door and cried. After a few minutes, she went into the empty apartment and fell into bed, drifting off into restless sleep.