Starting Over

An Ouran High School Host Club Fanfiction

By Mouzif

Sometimes, things don't end up how you thought they would. Sometimes, you have to start over and begin at square one. No matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, it will all just unravel in front of your eyes. Haruhi's cousin Nel was well aware of this. She'd lived it many times. Kyoya, however, was about to learn the hard way. KyoyaxOC Haruhix?

The clink of porcelain, the giggles and sighs as girls swooned, the words softly spoken by very handsome young men with the intention of making said girls knees weak. This was the typical daily soundtrack to the Ouran high school host club. This is why the guests continued to come, to be swept off their feet by false affection and hope that one day it would be genuine. One guest in particular sat in a corner in the back of the abandoned music room, watching the chaos unfold. Soon, she would make her move.
And though she didn't know it, it was her sole choice of actions that would turn things completely upside down and change the course of the host club forever.

"But I thought you are the one who wanted her to have a female friend in the first place." Kyoya said pleasantly, obviously amused by his friends distress at the current matter at hand. After the incident with the filming of their movie, the self appointed manager Renge had moved her attentions and undying love from Kyoya to Haruhi and was currently trying to whisk her away. This was something the shadow king would in no way object, but Tamaki felt very different about things.

"Oh, yeah, female companion! Not a girl friend!" the blonde yelled in torment, for once wishing he wasn't such an upstanding gentleman and could savagely steal Haruhi away without a second thought. His daughter was being taken from him!

Just as Renge was about to slip through the door, Haruhi in tow, the unnoticed guest stood, a small grin on her face. Now was the time to make her move.

"Come on, Haruhi. Let's go play together!" Renge turned, expecting to see wide open space for her and her crush to go frolic and fall in love. What she got instead was a solid yet strangely soft barrier suddenly in her way. She stumbled backwards and would have fallen had it not been for Haruhi to steady her from behind.

"What in the..." she mumbled in shock and disbelief, finally looking to find what had stopped her. There was a white gleam of light on glass, accompanied by a small giggle, and in a display that put even the shadow king to shame, a pale, long fingered hand reached up and pushed the pair of black framed glasses back up the girls nose. Her eyes were still hidden by waving black hair and she smirked. "Well, so this is the famous host club I've heard so much about. Good to see my cousin is well taken care of." She finally raised her head, revealing gleaming black eyes that seemed friendly, but had a small gleam to them that may suggest otherwise. She smiled brightly, holding up a hand in a casual wave. "Name's Nicole. You can call me... Nel."

There was a short pause throughout the room.

Then another.

And another.

It was finally Haruhi that broke the silence. "Ni...cole?" when she finally put two and two together a huge smile broke her face and with a cry of glee she threw herself at the girl, who met her embrace with a laugh. Haruhi pulled back after the shiort but strong hug, staring in wonderment. "What are you doing in Japan? Why aren't you in Texas?"

Nel laughed a little, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, about that..."

• After Closing Time •

It was all the hosts on one couch, Haruhi and Nel on another. The males stared at the pair of girls with a range of complete disinterest to such a strong gaze of concentration one might be afraid there was actually just something wrong with the person.

Nel leaned back against the plush couch with a sigh. "And, that's why I'm here."

Tamaki nodded, chin resting in the spot between his thumb and pointer finger. "I see. So your grandmother is bed ridden and you're the only one available to come and take care of her full time. That must be tough..." Suddenly, he crossed the barrier of the coffee table between the couches and was kneeling in front of the ebony haired girl, his hand held out and the other on his chest, his face the perfect picture of agony and understanding. "Your caring spirit is the most beautiful I've ever seen... My princess." He bowed his head, and at this point there were two assumptions as to what the next move would be. The boys assumed Nel to be like all other girls and fall for Tamaki's charm. Haruhi expected better of her cousin and was waiting for a rejection much like one she would have given herself.

Oh course, Nel did neither of these things. She reached out a single finger and hooked it into the collar of Tamaki's shirt, slowly pulling him towards her as she spoke. "Oh yes dear, I'm very caring indeed. I love to help and make other people feel good..." At this point their noses were touching and Nel had a wicked gleam in her eye that frightened even the twins. "Very good," she finished in a whisper, and watched as Tamaki turned red from the neck up.

Eventually she couldn't take it and collapsed onto the couch with her cousin, both holding their stomachs in uncontrollable laughter. Tamaki popped like a deflated balloon, and all the rest of the hosts looked mildly disturbed. Haruhi was the first to recover, wiping tears from her eyes. "Same old Nel. I can't believe you actually did that," she snickered. Nel took a deep breath and finally sat back up, tossing her black hair over her shoulder and adjusting her slightly off kilter glasses. "Well, after hearing about the famous host king I knew I had to give him a taste of his own medicine." She glanced over to find Tamaki fully recovered but cowering behind the couch. She smirked and wiggled her fingers flirtatiously, earning her a glare. "No hard feelings?" She asked, still giggling.

Tamaki nearly growled, sinking further down behind the couch. "How is she even related to Haruhi? She looked so innocent and turned out to be a total monster!"

The twins nodded in agreement. "Mm-hm!" They both stared suspiciously at the girl and said "Are you really Haruhi's cousin? And just where did you get that uniform?"

"Yeah, that's pretty shady," Kaoru said with a raise of his brow, crossing his arms over his chest. Hikaru performed the mirror version of his bothers actions. "Come to think of it, we never saw you come in. Just who exactly are you?"

Haruhi rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by none other than the shadow king.

"Relax you two, I saw her come in myself. I knew she didn't go to school here, but she wasn't causing any trouble so I decided to leave her be and see how things panned out." He made a few quick marks in his black book.

Tamaki, Kaoru and Hikaru turned on the bespectacled male with a raging fire. "You knew about this from the beginning?" They all shouted in perfect unison.

Kyoya merely pushed his glasses up his nose. "Of course," he answered simply.

"But Kyo-chan! How did you know she didn't go here?" Honey asked, munching on a cookie. "She looks like any other student." Mori nodded his agreement.

Kyoya lifted his gaze, staring at the girl that had been watching them all calmly. Tamaki slid up beside his friend, also staring at the girl as one might study a difficult puzzle. "I'd like to know that as well Kyoya. She does appear to be like any other student here at Ouran, how were you able to tell?"

Indeed, Kyoya mused, Nel was dressed perfectly head to toe in Ouran's uniform, and appeared to be a model student. But he knew better. "Well my main clue was I had never seen her before. And I have a file on just about every student in this school, especially the females in our age group." He pursed his lips. "But it was actually the amount of makeup she's wearing."

Haruhi looked at her cousin. "Huh? But she's barely wearing any at all!"

"Exactly," Kyoya replied, snapping his black book closed. "The majority of our clients, in an attempt to appear more beautiful and desirable in front of us, tend to cake in on. Your cousin here keeps it natural, but still vey nice. None of the schools girls would ever think of such a thing."

Now all of the hosts had their full attention on Nel, which she had to admit unnerved her a little. She sunk back as if the couch could swallow her whole.

Tamaki narrowed his eyes. "She does look quite sweet and innocent..." at the sudden sound of laughter he blinked and looked at the source of the noise, Haruhi.

"Nel, sweet and innocent? You've got a lot to learn sempai," she snickered. This brought the hosts attention back to the other girl, who merely shrugged and stood up, grabbing a fistful of yellow dress. She pulled it off with a flourish, revealing the actual outfit underneath.

There was general shock all around, with a few eye twitches. Dark mahogany colored hair settled on leather clad shoulders. The light coming from the windows gleamed off black, knee high heeled boots, leading up to dark blue skinny jean clad legs. She finished off the look with a simple white tank top underneath her black biker jacket that fit her like a glove. With a sigh Nel sat back down on the couch, crossing her legs. "Nice to finally be out of that awful thing. I don't know how the girls at this school can handle it, that dress is hideous."

The host club attempted to make a reply, but only succeeded in croaking weakly. Kyoya seemed to be the only one unaffected by the show and went back to his notes. Nel simply snickered behind her hand, always enjoying when a shock factor was introduced. "Sorry to surprise you boys like that." she finally broke a genuine smile, her eyes sparkling and much more approachable looking.

Tamaki was the first to stutter a response, though he still seemed a bit shaken. "Q-quite alright, but... Now I'm really questioning if you're related to Haruhi."

"Now now Tamaki, just because their personal sense of style are polar opposites doesn't negate the fact that Haruhi and Nel look shockingly similar." Kyoya watched the girl with a steady gaze as she finger combed through the black wig she had been wearing previously. "Save for Nel's eyes of course, but if I had to guess I'd say that's because she's not completely Japanese."

This caught the girls attention, and she glanced up with a small smile. "You'd be right, Kyoya-san. My father is Caucasian. I was born in Japan but raised in Texas. Physically I'm a pretty even mix between my parents."

The rest of the hosts now realized the same fact Kyoya had to explain. Nel had the general almond eye shape of a Japanese girl, but she had a natural double lid. But other than that, she was nearly identical to Haruhi. The two could have been sisters more than cousins.

"Remarkable..." Tamaki muttered, staring at the two. He was the only one to notice how Nel gave a quick sideways glance to her cousin before sighing. "Man, I'm thirsty."

Haruhi instantly perked up. "Oh, let me go get you some water."

Nel shook her head. "You don't have to do that."

Haruhi was already walking away. "It's no trouble, just stay right here!" she exited the room, and suddenly the atmosphere changed dramatically.

The males turned to look at Nel, the only possible source of the sudden foreboding feeling. She sat dead center on the couch, the sun setting directly behind her head in the twenty foot tall window. She stared them all down with a cool look, her hands resting lightly in her lap. "Well now that I've gotten rid of her for a short moment, there's something I need to explain to you gentleman. Haruhi is like a little sister to me. I'd do damn near anything for the girl. Now, caring as he is, her father isn't exactly the best for listening when it comes to the subject of your host club. He'd rather believe you're all out to deflower his precious daughter than be her friend. So, she comes to me instead."

"Meaning," Kyoya chimed in, "anything Haruhi knows about us-"

"I also know," Nel finished with a small grin. "So far, I see nothing bad about her hanging out with you boys, and I'm quite happy she's found some friends at school. But..." she looked each host dead in the eye in turn, leaving Tamaki for last. "If I happen to find some aspect of this is going to harm her, I'll remove her from this club and you'll have nothing to say about it."

"Thats all good and well," Kyoya popped in again, adjusting his glasses just so for his trademark flash of light across the lenses, "but you seem to be forgetting about the debt Haruhi owes us. Shes not exactly here of her own free will."

Nel met Kyoya with a flash of her own, but it was deep in the back of her gaze, and promised trouble. "I'm well aware of that, Kyoya-san. Though my family is a bit better off than Haruhi's, we don't have that kind of money to just throw away. My grandmother, on the other hand..." she shrugged, leaving it at that.

"As I said, I have nothing against any of you. Frankly, from what I've seen so far I actually like all of you. And Haruhi has seemed a bit more cheerful since she met all of you, albeit she's also a bit more stressed out. But just know I'll be keeping an eye on things."

Tamaki stood suddenly and bowed low, arms at his sides. "I promise you, miss. Your cousin shall come to no harm while under our care."

Nel stood as well, and held out her hand. "Good to know, Suoh. I'll hold you too that."

Tamaki grinned and shook her outstretched hand. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Haruhi chose that moment to return, a bottle of water in one hand and staring at the group like they all had just announced their pledge to join a nudist colony. "What did I just miss?"

Nel nearly tackled the girl to the ground, hugging her around her neck. "Nothing at all little cousin." she said brightly. "Ohhh thanks for the water, you're the best!" she took the bottle from her and drank half it's contents in record time, all the while the twins were staring at the two curiously.

"Ya know," they both began, "Nel keeps calling Haruhi 'little' but even with those four inch heels on she's barely taller than her."

Haruhi 'huh'ed and looked up at the two identical boys. "She calls me little because of age, not size."

Hikaru stroke a pose of defiant disbelief. "I don't buy it, no way she's older than me."

Nel rolled her eyes. "I'll have you know I'm nearly twenty, dear sir."

This caused jaws to drop all around. "You mean to tell me you're the oldest person in his room?" Tamaki cried.

Nel slid up next to the king and walked her fingers up his chest. "What wrong, sweetheart? You don't have a thing for older woman?" she winked. "After all, I never actually admitted I was a high school student, now did I?"

"Shes got a point boss," Kaoru grinned, leaning against his brother. The only reply Tamaki gave them was to promptly turn to stone and crumble onto the floor.

As the host club congratulated Nel for being the first to fluster their king beyond speech, Haruhi watched on with a smile, unable to help thinking that things from now on would be a lot more interesting around the host club.

Kyoya finally closed his laptop, the days work done, and stood up from his desk, just looking forward to going to bed. He paused when he heard a familiar buzzing sound, and a quick glance at his bedside table told him yes, someone was indeed calling him. But seeing as it was nearly three in the morning, he had no idea who it might be. He silently padded over and picked up the vibrating device. It wasn't a number he recognized, but he flipped open the phone away, curious as to who was on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Kyoya-san. It's Nel."

Kyoya held the phone away from his ear for a moment, staring at it in mild shock. Well first off, how in the hell did she get his number, and second why was she calling him so late? He voiced these questions to her, and listened as she gave a small laugh.

"I have my sources. And I couldn't sleep, and had a feeling you were a night owl as well and decided to take a chance." She sounded amused. "But, I do have a reason for calling."

"Oh? And what might that be?" Kyoya sat down on the edge of his bed.

"I wanted to thank you," she said quietly. Kyoya could have sworn he heard soft guitar strumming in the background, but his curiosity was quickly over shadowed by what the girl had said.

"Thank me? What for?"

"For keeping up with uncle Ranka. He worries so much about Haruhi, and we both really appreciate the updates from you on how she's doing."

"Ah, so that's how you got my number," Kyoya said, picking up a pencil off the bedside table and twirling it between his fingers.

He was met with a giggle from the other line. "Smart man. Yeah, I got it from Ranka. I just wanted to personally give my thanks for keeping an eye on her."

Kyoya heard another noise and momentarily wondered where she was and what she was doing. "No thanks needed. I'm merely doing my job."

"Well thank you regardless. It's good to know there's even more pairs of eyes making sure she doesn't get into trouble." she sighed. "Well I suppose I'll let you go now. Goodnight, Kyoya-san."

"Kyoya."

"Huh?"

"Just call me Kyoya."

He could have sworn he heard the small smile in her voice. "Goodnight, Kyoya."

He gave he smallest of grins. "Goodnight, Nel."

As he finally drifted off to sleep, Kyoya had to wonder what this new addition would mean for the host club.

Well, he mostly wondered what kind of profit would be made from it. But he'd think more about that tomorrow.

Oh come on, you didn't honestly believe that Kyoya was being nice just to be nice, did you? Silly people.

Review if you like and I'll type up some more, this was more of just an intro to see if people would be okay with the idea.