The Snow-Colored Sakura
Chapter 2: The Host Club
Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait! Here's Chapter 2!
After school, Sakura was about to head home when the twins blocked her path. They wore identical smiles that gave her the shivers. It was a devious smile that boded no good. Sakura tried to walk past them, but they would not budge. She sighed and whipped out her phone, dialing her aunt's phone number.
"I have something after school, so don't pick me up for a while. Bye," Sakura spoke, ignoring her aunt's frantic protests on the end. After hitting end, she looked up at the twins, a perfectly calm expression on her face.
"Is there anything you two need from me?" Sakura asked. They looked at each other with satisfied smirks on their faces as they started walking out the door and down the hallway. She followed them, listening carefully to see if they had planned to ambush her in any sort of way. The twins led her to the entrance of Music Room #3, a seemingly abandoned room, and opened the doors. Rose petals wafted out as Sakura stepped inside the brightly lit room. What she then saw amazed her beyond comprehension.
There were chairs and tables all over the room, comfortable and extremely elegant. Lots of girl students sat with one or two boys and eager conversation was heard from all tables. Tea cups and sweets adorned the tables. On each table was a beautiful bouquet of red roses that made Sakura wonder exactly what she got herself into. As soon as Sakura had taken a few steps forward, the handsome blonde rushed towards her and eagerly shook her hand. The other guys talking to the ladies stood up and came over, quite curious to see what was going on.
"Welcome to the Host Club! I am Tamaki, King of the Host Club! That person over there is Kyoya, the twins are Hikaru and Kaoru, the loli shota is Honey-sempai, and the tall person next to Honey-sempai is Mori-sempai. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have you see what the Host Club is like! You're Yukiko Umenokoji, right? If you joined the Host Club, you could use your good looks on the ladies and be extremely popular with them," Tamaki spoke eagerly. His violet eyes gazed deeply into hers as he leaned in closer to get a good look at her face.
Enraged at such rude behavior, she took a hidden knife from her hair was about to stab him with it when Honey-sempai hit her wrist and sent the knife flying across the room. Sakura shoved the annoying Tamaki out of the way as she watched Honey-sempai with narrowed eyes. He looked short and innocent, but she could tell right away that he was a martial arts master. Sakura would have to watch him carefully. Right next to him stood Mori-sempai, his enormous figure quite intimidating. That boy was also a martial arts master and by the looks of it, Honey-sempai's protector.
"Why did you try to hurt Tama-chan? He didn't mean to offend you," Honey-sempai asked tearfully. Sakura gave a sigh and took a deep breath so she could calm down. Tamaki was crying in the corner while Hikaru and Kaoru tried to comfort him. Kyoya stepped forward, his expression calculating and cold.
"Yukiko-kun, we would like to recruit you to join the Host Club. You would make a very good host," Kyoya offered. His smile was a seemingly friendly one, but Sakura could feel a darkness underneath it that was almost frightening.
"Is there a reason why I should join when I don't even know if I can trust you guys? I've already done enough by coming here," Sakura returned in a low voice, her eyes narrowed and dark. She walked towards the door, but Mori-sempai blocked her path. Reaching for another knife in her hair, she hurled it at him and dashed for the exit. He caught her arm and his dark eyes caught hers. Frightened, Sakura desperately tried to pull her arm away, but he held fast to her arm. She knew she had to get out of here.
With her extremely long nails, Sakura scratched at him until blood began to appear. When he let go of her arm briefly, she turned to leave, but then realized what she had done. Long scratches of blood were visible on the boy's arm and horrified, Sakura staggered and backed away. Her eyes began to fill with tears and soon her vision was completely obscured. All she could see was blood and the Host Club looking at Mori-sempai's arm. Before they turned around to look at her, she bolted out the front door and soon found herself outside again, in the crisp cold air. Sakura fled as fast as her legs could carry her, wanting to get as far away as possible from the school. She found herself under the same sakura tree and sat down underneath it. Leaning against the trunk, she felt its comforting, familiar presence wrapping itself around her.
"I've already ruined everything. There's no way I can start over now," she whispered, burying her face into her knees. A tear trailed from her eye as she began to cry silently as the wind blew past mournfully. Meanwhile in Music Room #3, the twins were bandaging up Mori-sempai's arm. Tamaki was talking to Kyoya about what had just happened. Honey was standing tearfully by Mori, clutching his stuffed bunny.
"It was rather surprising, the way he reacted to Mori. Normal people would not have reacted in such a way," Kyoya noted. Tamaki nodded in agreement and they watched as the twins finished bandaging the boy's arm.
"Tono, wasn't there a fire years ago that burned down the Umenokoji mansion?" Hikaru asked, standing up. All the other hosts looked at him curiously, not quite understanding where the conversation was going.
"There was apparently a fire that suddenly started in the mansion at night. Yukiko's parents were killed as well as Yukiko's twin sister, Sakura. Yukiko was later adopted by his aunt, Meiko Umenokoji, and is currently the heir to his late father's law firm," Kyoya answered, pushing his glasses up his nose. Taking out his notebook, he started scribbling something down. Kaoru went over to Hikaru and put his arm on Hikaru's shoulder.
"We should help him out since he lost his twin sister. It's hard to go through something like that," Kaoru spoke. The rest of the hosts murmured in approval and Tamaki dashed forward, his violet eyes filled with sparkling tears.
"Oh, this is simply touching! We must help those in need whether it's the ladies or the handsome Host Club potentials!" Tamaki cried dramatically. Hikaru pushed Kaoru's arm off, looking annoyed.
"Why do we need to help him? He hurt Mori-sempai!" Hikaru asked angrily. He turned away and looked out the window, watching sakura petals whirl through the air. Hikaru noticed Kaoru looking intently out the window at something below. After squinting his eyes, he saw Yukiko huddled under a sakura tree with his head buried in between his legs. Hikaru suddenly understood what his brother had been trying to tell him. Yukiko had just transferred from a faraway school to a school where he knew nobody. After losing his twin, he had no one to talk to. Yukiko was just as alone as they had been in middle school, unable to trust anyone.
"Let's go help, Kaoru," Hikaru murmured. And with those four words, the twins left the room. The only sound in the room was the sound of Kyoya's fingers tapping on the keyboard. Tamaki stood right next to Kyoya, his eyes quickly scanning the data results.
"Something's strange with these data results, Kyoya," Tamaki spoke, his expression serious. Kyoya examined the data and found that Tamaki was indeed right. Yukiko had no history of learning any type of martial arts and yet the Yukiko they had met knew how to throw knives quite skillfully. The Yukiko they had met had facial features that were very close to the picture on the screen, but didn't quite match up exactly. There was definitely something suspicious going on here. After a moment's thought, he searched up his twin sister, Sakura, to see if she had any history of learning martial arts. The data results came up and Kyoya saw the proof right in front of his eyes. He sat back in his chair and stared at the picture of Sakura, the twin who was supposed to have died in the fire and yet was at Ouran while being disguised at her brother. Yet what confused him was that the investigation of the Umenokoji fire clearly proved that the twin who had died was the sister, not the brother. What exactly happened the night of the fire? Why had the investigation revealed false results?
"By looking at the data, it appears that the Yukiko we just met wasn't Yukiko, but his sister, Sakura," Kyoya announced to the others. Honey looked up, shocked, while Mori's eyes widened in disbelief. Tamaki paced the room, apparently deep in thought. After pacing for a while, he stopped and turned around, his expression determined.
"We need to gain Sakura's trust because that's the only way she'll agree to be a host. Even though she's a girl, there is no way for her right now to reveal the truth. If she's able to trust us, we can support and help as friends. What the twins did was, indeed, the right choice. Now it's up to her whether to trust us or not." Tamaki pointed his finger at the rest of the Hosts and shouted, "It's Operation Make Sakura Trust Us!"
"Change the name, please. That name is just ridiculous," Kyoya sighed, rubbing his temples. This would be, with no doubt, a very tiring operation.
Author's Notes: What will happen next? Will Sakura's trust be gained by the Host Club? Read on to find out!
