But for Ginori: Or, the Prophetic Powers of Hescafé

A/N: Greetings and Salutations! This is the first chapter of But for Ginori- The first part in a three part story arc. Hope you enjoy

Acta!

Disclaimer: Helas. I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or the characters that appear therein.

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Kyouya Cogitates

It was the Monday following the Club's long weekend at my family's beach house and my mind had yet to let go of certain events that had transpired there. Unfortunately for me, my fellow hosts had detected my bemused state. However, I was so enwrapped in my inner world that I remained unaware of my surroundings. This was very uncharacteristic of me I know, but in my defense even the most ruthless and far seeing can be caught flat-footed at times. Thus on that Monday afternoon thousands of Yen could have gone missing and I wouldn't have noticed.

Finding it nearly impossible to focus on my accounts I cast aside my faithful notebook in favor of my forgotten cup of "coffee." Staring into my Ginori coffee cup (which was filled, as per Tamaki's whims, with that horrid commoner sludge) I found my mind wandering back to Saturday afternoon. However, not liking the feelings of confusion that were clouding my usually diamond-honed mind I pushed that day into the recesses of my psyche where my boyhood dreams played and focused my attention on my coffee cup. A litany of facts that were pounded into my skull about the various qualities of Ginori, fired through my mind in a staccato procession:

Porcelain tableware; House of Ginori, Doccia, Italy; 1730s; 24 karat gold chases the rim of the cup; note the fine curves of the fluting, the near translucence of the porcelain when held to the light and the paper-thin walls of the cup; its tall, cylindrical shape, as opposed to the bowl-shape of the teacup, marks it as a chocolate or coffee cup. Take care not to mix up the two when setting a table.

The cup was smooth beneath my fingers; its normally cool exterior warmed by the dregs that sat within, conforming to the fluted shape of the cup. My mind wandered back to Okinawa unbidden; back to my bed where my body hovered mere inches from hers; eyes locked; one move away from…

My inner theatre's projector broke as a familiar voice sounded over my shoulder.

"Kyouya-senpai," Haruhi called, "What are you looking at? Are you trying to divine your future? I don't think Hescafé has prophetic powers."

Jostled from my reverie, I straightened my glasses and snapped back, "I don't believe in such old wives' tales. And I was just noticing a hairline crack in this coffee cup. It is of course unusable now. Perhaps it is one of those you bumped while serving coffee to Ms. Kasugasaki?"

Her pallor matched the snow-white porcelain of my cup as her warmth ebbed away. Of course the cup was perfect, but for some reason I needed to find a cause for my uncharacteristic bemusement. Damn it! Why didn't I have my notebook at hand? It served as a wonderful shield to keep the world at bay. Instead, I held a coffee cup, fragile in nature yet amazingly enduring given that had survived over 200 years. And it was undoubtedly beautiful.

Her retort, delivered with her characteristic sarcasm, was, "I'm sure you'll find a way for me to pay for it."

Given the tenor of my previous thoughts my brain derailed. My one thought was hadn't I said something similar just last Saturday? I could feel the hot traces of embarrassment and a cocktail of other emotions course through my body. Putting down my coffee cup I rose with as much decorum as I could muster (given that that cocktail was soon going to make my state of growing excitement very obvious), snapped my notebook closed, adjusted my glasses, and said,

"Well Haruhi, as I have a pressing appointment I will deal with this tomorrow. Kindly deal with the coffee cup."

Brushing past Haruhi while attempting not to let our hands touch I nearly ran smack dab into the Hitachiin twins who observed our tableau like theatre-goers at the latest melodrama. They chimed in unison, "Khoda hafaz, Kyouya-senpai!"

Staring at them for a moment I continued on. I had nearly forgotten that I was dressed in the finery of a sultan and thus it was only fitting that they had wished me goodbye in Farsi, the modern equivalent of the Persian tongues that were spoken in what is now Iran. We were all reenacting Burton's translation of 1001 Arabian Nights for our customers. Cursing my bemused state once again I wished that the plaster set of the Persian palace erected around the perimeter of the music room would fall on their heads thus silencing them forever.

Haruhi Retorts

It was the Monday following our trip to Okinawa and as usual the Host Club was a seething cauldron of teenage hormones. The latest theme, 1001 Arabian Nights, was a particular success as it left many a bare chest. I myself was dressed as Scheherazade, the spinner of tales. As always I kyboshed the twins' attempts to dress me in a bikini top. However their efforts seemed more assertive than usual as I barely got away with my own choice of costume: a pair of genie pants, a silk tunic and a long flowing veil. Despite my modesty I garnered the usual group of faithful customers who were still absolutely convinced that I was a) male and b) attracted to them. I blithely danced through my sessions, telling them that I would spin a thousand and one tales if it meant that I could spend just a moment with them and other such fluffy nothings. After deftly avoiding several swooning ladies I sat down on a couch and let my eyes wander over to Kyouya-senpai. As it was a good day I wanted to get my most recent tally of customers. However, he seemed lost in thought. His notebook, a constant presence, lay forgotten and he appeared to be staring into his coffee cup.

Hikaru and Kaoru plopped down on either side of me and followed my line of sight. Sensing a misunderstanding in the making, I attempted to escape. However, they had propped their elbows on each of my shoulders thus trapping me there.

"Hey Har-U-Hi-Chan!" they chimed in unison. "Let's play a game!"

Sighing, I gave in, knowing that there was no stopping them when they got an idea into their devilish little heads.

"What game?"

Smiling even more mischievously the shrieked, "It's the what's Kyouya-senpai thinking……GAME!!!!!"

Sighing once again I mumbled, "How should I know? He's the Shadow King after all."

"Are you sure," Hikaru intoned.

"That you don't know?" Kaoru ended.

And together they chimed "Could it have something to do with last Saturday, né?"

Last Saturday? Okinawa? Huh? My perplexity must have shown on my face for they seemed ever more amused. As usual their voices carried thus catching the attention of the whole room, including Tamaki-senpai. A strange look passed over his face but then he turned back to the girl he was hosting. Our Lord was relishing his role as a djinn, stating that he was there to grant her every wish. Taking the twins up on their game some of Kyouya-senpai's ever-ignored customer frothed themselves in a tizzy by suggesting that he was dreaming of taking them up on a magic carpet and would soon sweep them up to show them the world. Tamaki-senpai, having finished with his last customer, seemed eager to push this theory, thus making some of the braver girls draw closer to the Shadow King. As for Kyouya-senpai, he neither confirmed nor denied their guesses.

Hikaru and Kaoru seemed even more amused by the situation and began pushing me towards the Shadow King.

"Go on Haru-Chan," they chimed, "go and see if he will spin his tale for you. Bet it has something to do with Saturday!"

Saturday again? Why Saturday? I had gotten into a bit of a scuffle that could have gone badly. I had worried Tamaki-senpai and the others. I....and then it hit me.

"Oh come on you two!" I hissed. "That was nothing! And by the way how do you know about that?"

"Hmmmmm. How indeed! Now OFF-YOU-GO!!!!!"

And with that they gave me a big shove towards Kyouya-senpai and broke into a twincest moment that drew the attention of every girl in the room thus effectively shielding my progress towards the Shadow King. However they did not catch Tamaki-senpai's eyes for I felt two bright violet-blue globes sweep towards me. I was really beginning to wonder what was going on! After preventing myself from falling across Kyouya-senpai's lap, (which I was positive would have endeared myself to him), I asked,

"Kyouya-senpai, what are you looking at? Are you attempting to divine your future? I don't think that Hescafé has prophetic powers."

Snapping his head towards me and straightening his perfectly straight glasses he said "I don't believe in such old wives tales. And I was just noticing a hairline crack in this cup. It is of course unusable now. Perhaps it is one that you bumped while serving coffee to Ms. Kasusaki?"

Great! He had been inspecting the china for damage. Sighing, I said "I'm sure that you'll find some way for me to pay for it."

With that he put down his cup with more zeal than usual, straightened his glasses once again, snapped his notebook shut and said, "Well Haruhi, as I have a pressing appointment I will deal with this tomorrow. Kindly deal with the cup."

The twins, who had been attempting to eavesdrop, got in Kyouya-senpai's way. His glare, matched with my own, sent them running for the hills.

Once he had left I picked up the cup and discovered that, despite the fact that the white china would need to be soaked to get out the nasty coffee stain that was already starting, there was absolutely no damage. Rather, there was no damage that I did. Further observation revealed that there was a tiny chip missing from the cup's base. Kyouya-senpai had chipped a cup! But regardless of the tiny imperfection it seemed a shame to throw it away. It was still beautiful. I washed and put it away, figuring that it could be used as a daily meeting cup.

I could not help but wonder why he had slammed the cup in that manner. Had Kyouya-senpai gone over the edge? He was so wound up all of the time that I wouldn't have been surprised if he had finally snapped. But then I reconsidered the Twins' insistence that his reverie had something to do with Saturday. Did he feel awkward? Nah! He had always made it abundantly clear that, as I was a commoner, there would never be anything between us. But I had to admit that it had been thrilling having him so close.

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And so it begins! I hope you like it! And without further ado, onto chapter 2! Please r and r!