A/N: You guys may hate me after this chapter, but I promise that Sakura will change. PROMISE. She has a reason for why she thinks in this way and why she despises her father. Don't worry. You'll understand when you read it…don't freak out, I'm not a person who judges others based on their sexual orientation, but for the purpose of my OC's emotional growth and development I need to have her behave the way she does. Sorry if this is offensive…
Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club, nor am I affiliated in any way with the company that does.
Chapter 2
"Sakura, you know you're gonna have to eventually see Dad, right?" Haruhi turned to her younger sister.
"No," was the firm response. "I'm not seeing that gay tranny."
"He's not gay," the twins voiced. "Though he is a tranny."
"Close enough," Sakura shrugged. "I don't see much of a difference anyway."
"Sakura," Haruhi tried again.
"Just don't talk to me about Dad, okay? I don't need him, he doesn't need me. We've been like that for years and it's not gonna change by some sudden insightful sisterly talk you have with me," Sakura snapped.
"Then why are you here?" Tamaki inquired.
"I'm here because my father can't afford to send me to Kirimoto anymore, and I can't work full-time to get the money if I want to excel in school," she retorted. "As new as the idea may seem, some of us actually have to work to support ourselves. Sorry if it's hard to understand for you all damn rich people."
"Where did you work before?" Honey asked.
"If you were paying attention, I explained in the last chapter," Sakura replied. (Fourth wall broken…)
"Librarian, music teacher, and musician," Mori muttered to Honey.
"You're a musician?" Tamaki looked at her in a new light. "Do play for us."
"Like I said, I explained all of this in the last chapter!" Sakura shouted. (Dammit, you're ruining all our efforts to tape up the fourth wall…)
"This is a music room after all," Tamaki ignored her outburst and gestured towards the grand piano in the corner of the room as the Hitachiin twins drew back the silken curtain that concealed it from everyday view.
"I'm not playing for you guys," Sakura said with a sniff. "What makes you think I would?"
"It'd probably get Kyoya out of the closet," Kaoru remarked with a small smile. At this, the condescending expression melted away from Sakura's face as she glanced at the wardrobe dripping with grossly black fungi. Yeah, maybe for the closet's sake.
"Okay, fine," she relented. "If it gets him out of the closet I'll do it."
"I thought you were against gays," Hikaru smirked. Sakura shot him an icy glare that froze the devil in his heart. He backed off, his hands raised in surrender.
"Hey, Kyoya, you can come out now," Tamaki called. "Sakura's going to play us a little something on the piano. You wouldn't want to miss out now, would you?"
"Give me a moment," a weary voice came from the depths of the now slimy cupboard. Sakura felt pity for whoever had to clean up that mess.
"Kyoya-sempai probably needs to change once he gets out of there," Haruhi remarked.
"He's going to be all dirty and mushroom-y!" Honey exclaimed.
"Yeah," was Mori's only contribution to the conversation.
"We'll take care of it," the twins chorused, racing to the closet and dragging a black-cloaked Kyoya from its recesses. They tossed him behind the changing screen, and the sound of clothes being ripped off could be heard.
"Don't take his virginity," Tamaki begged. "Don't do anything to mommy."
"No promises!" the twins called back cheerily.
"Get the hell out of here!" Kyoya roared. In an instant, first Hikaru and then Kaoru was thrown out from behind the screen.
"I never heard Kyoya-sempai swear before," Haruhi said thoughtfully.
"Neither have I," Honey added. "Have you, Takashi?"
"No."
"Ooh, Kyoya's ma-ad," the twins and Tamaki hissed.
"You're only provoking him further with your abominable behavior," Haruhi commented. "Cut it out!"
"We're sorry, Haruhi," the three of them turned to her, eyes quavering with fake regret. Well, fake regret on the twins' part. Real regret for Tamaki.
"Just leave him alone," Sakura said sharply. "Stop with your bullcrap. It's not helping."
"Honestly, I feel like calling this girl a word I shouldn't ever have to use," Hikaru growled.
"Just say 'brat' instead," Sakura gave a cheery smile. "I'm used to it."
"Swear at my sister and lose your life," Haruhi scowled at the eldest twin.
"What do you all want?" Kyoya stepped out from behind the curtain in a spare uniform, an angry frown on his (now clean) face.
"Sakura-chan's going to play for you!" Honey exclaimed, smiling happily.
"Yeah," Mori added. Kyoya's eyes narrowed behind the silvery lenses of his glasses.
"I don't recall there being a Steinway piano in this room," he finally said. "We only ordered a Yamaha grand."
"That'd be Tamaki," the twins chorused.
"I'll have to take this into account when calculating this month's budget," Kyoya muttered, pulling out his black book and making a note. "Tamaki, you had better outperform all the other hosts this month in return for this extra expense."
"I always outperform wherever I go," Tamaki replied airily. He was brought back down to earth soon enough.
"Don't think yourself all that and a cup of tea, sempai," Haruhi snapped. "Last time I checked with Kyoya-sempai, the twins had higher sales than you did."
Hitachiin Twins, 2. Boss, 0.
"You mean, a cup of instant coffee," Kaoru corrected. Sakura rolled her eyes at the twins' strange obsession with the commoners' drink.
"Hell yeah!" Hikaru pumped a fist into the air with a smirk on his face. "Too bad, boss."
"Looks like another point for the Hitachiin Twins," Kaoru smiled eerily. "Don't stay too far behind, boss. Or you'll lose the game."
"You little demons!" Tamaki roared.
"Tama-chan, I think Sakura-chan is waiting to play for us," Honey interrupted Tamaki's lash of incoherent, foul language.
"You guys are a really crappy audience," Sakura deadpanned.
"Glad you could tell," Mori muttered.
"Please, do excuse our repulsive behavior and begin your magnificent performance," Tamaki turned on the charm. When was he going to learn that this girl thought he was a dumbass transgender? His flirtatious tendencies weren't improving her opinion him, anyway…
"Tamaki, trying to act charismatic around Sakura isn't gonna make her like you any more, you know," Haruhi said blankly. "Her opinion of you'll probably stay negative for quite some time."
"Oh…" Tamaki shrunk down.
"Yeah," Sakura nodded. "Now, if you don't mind, could I get this started? I actually have other stuff I want to get done today. I don't have any time for you losers to screw around, okay?"
"Okay!" the twins, plus Tamaki, stood straight as soldiers and saluted her simultaneously. "Please begin, my princess."
She rolled her eyes before folding up her sleeves, revealing a small black tattoo on her left wrist. Tamaki leaned forward, trying to make out what it was. It seemed like…oh, it was a cluster of cherry blossoms. Understandable. After all, her name was Japanese for "cherry blossom." At least, Tamaki believed so. He didn't exactly search up the etymology of every name he heard in his lifetime. That was more of something Haruhi would do, to be honest.
But forget the tattoo and etymology and whatever. Focus on the performance, Tamaki. Damn, that girl was good at piano. She waltzed through Chopin's waltzes with ease (ha.), pounded away at Beethoven's sonatas, smiled when it came to Haydn, and pulled off Medtner's graceful fairytales with a serenity unique to herself. That was a completely different person seated at the massive black instrument.
"Is that still Sakura?" Hikaru hissed.
"I think so," Kaoru whispered back. "I mean, she couldn't have escaped without us seeing her, right?"
"And it'd be hard to find a look-alike for her," Hikaru responded quietly. "Unless she had a secret twin…"
"Would you two shut up and listen?" Haruhi shushed their conversation. "That's definitely Sakura."
"Wow…" Honey breathed. "She's really good! Right, Takashi?"
"Yeah," Mori whispered before placing a finger to his lips in a silencing gesture.
"Sakura! Sakura-chan!" a distinctly feminine voice was heard as the doors to Music Room #3 were slammed wide open.
"What the…" Kyoya nearly jumped out of his seat in fright, to the twins' amusement. "Oh, why hello, Ranka-san. It does us good to see you here. Would you like anything to drink, perhaps?"
"Why, Haruhi, why didn't you tell me your adorable little sister was here to visit?" Ranka ignored Kyoya's offer completely and rushed to the piano, embracing his daughter. She stiffened at his touch and squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
"Because she got here less than an hour ago, Dad," was Haruhi's plain response.
"Still no excuse to not let daddy know that one of his little girls is in town! Aw, you're such a little cutie, Sakura," Ranka let out a squeal.
"Cut it out," Sakura muttered, struggling against his hold.
"Sometimes I see why she doesn't like her father," a sweat drop ran down Kaoru's head. "That might be a little hard to deal with on a regular basis."
"You don't say," Hikaru snorted.
"It's not just that," Haruhi said quietly. "It's because of an accident that happened years back, when Sakura was still a little girl…"
"Sakura!" Ranka, ten years younger, called out to his younger daughter.
"Daddy!" the toddling girl squealed, jumping into his outstretched arms.
"Hello, my little sweetie," Ranka cooed. "Did you miss your daddy?"
"Yes," Sakura replied honestly. "Wanna play hide-and-go-seek with me?"
"Sure thing, love. You go hide first, is that all right?" Ranka smiled.
"Okay!" she giggled, pigtails bouncing in glee.
"I'll count to twenty! One, two, three…" Ranka covered his eyes as Sakura looked from side to side in search of a good hiding spot. Just then, she saw the counter her father was standing right in front of. He'd never think to look behind him. Muffling her laughter, she clambered up soundlessly (or so she thought) up onto the counter, upset a glass of orange juice, spilled an open box of cookies from which her sister had taken half of the contents, and positioned herself directly behind her father's back. He winced at the mere thought of the mess he'd have to clean up after the game was over.
"…Nineteen, twenty! Ready or not, here I come!" Ranka called out. He pretended to look around in search of his younger daughter, pacing to and fro across the room. "Hmm, I wonder where my little blossom is…"
Sakura covered her mouth to hide her childishly delighted giggles.
"Aha! Found you," Ranka raced back to the counter, where Sakura was convulsed with laughter. But as soon as he picked her up, he slipped on the spilled orange juice in his hastiness. The little girl fell from his arms to the crown with a sickening thud.
"Sakura!" he shrieked, kneeling down next to her lifeless body. Blood was already seeping from a gaping wound in her head.
"Dad, what happened?" a child Haruhi raced down. "What did you do to her?"
"Haruhi, please find some cloths to try and stop the bleeding," Ranka tried to remain calm. "I'm going to call the hospital. It'll be fine."
"You killed her!" Haruhi screamed at him, cradling her sister's head while applying several towels to the injury. Blood seeped into each snow-white towel, dying them all a hideous shade of red.
"The ambulance is on its way," Ranka's face was deathly pale. "Give her to me."
Wrapping the motionless child in a quilt lying on a nearby couch and ignoring his elder daughter's cries, he and Haruhi hurried down the stairs, ignoring the inquiring calls of their neighbors. Down by the sidewalk, a large white ambulance made a screeching stop.
"Lay her here," a blue-clothed hospital worker commanded. Ranka made no protest as he gently set down the unconscious girl on the white stretcher. It was immediately rushed into the waiting vehicle. Haruhi let go of her parent's hand and ran after her sister. After a moment, Ranka followed.
In the hospital, Ranka stared into the emergency room through the glazed window as Haruhi paced back and forth in worry. Tears slowly clouded his vision as he turned away.
"Will she be okay?" Haruhi pulled at his hand. The dams of her own eyes were soon to burst with waterworks. Ranka bent down and pulled his daughter in for a tight embrace.
"It'll be okay, Haru-chan. Everything will be okay. Daddy's here," he whispered.
After what seemed to be an eternity, an exhausted nurse opened the door.
"You may see her now," she said breathlessly. "She'll be fine. That's a tough little girl you have, sir."
"I know," Ranka gave a relieved smile. Haruhi instantly raced into the room. Joyous shouts could be heard as the sisters were reunited. Ranka walked in, trying to invoke a sense of leisure into his step. He didn't want to scare his youngest girl any more than she'd already been. But it was too late. As soon as she saw him, her brown eyes narrowed fiercely.
"I hate you!" she spat. Ranka recoiled, a shock of hurt travelling through his body.
"But—" he tried to speak. "Sakura-chan…"
"I hate you! You dropped me when you picked me up. You almost killed me," she spoke slowly. "Go away. I don't want you to come visit me."
"…and so you see, Sakura doesn't exactly trust our father," Haruhi finished the story. "And once she grew old enough to understand what he worked at and where he worked, that detest only grew. She'd never supported homosexuality. I think she's Christian, though I could be wrong."
"You don't know what your own little sister's religion is?" the twins exclaimed.
"Just leave me alone!" Sakura spat, wrestling free of her father's embrace. "I told you. I don't want you to ever visit me. I hate you!"
"Kura-chan, you're being way too harsh on Dad," Haruhi pleaded with her little sister.
"Maybe we should leave the three of you alone," Tamaki suggested.
"No, it's fine," Sakura shook her head. She glared at her father, who was currently holding his heart in anguish. He played it off with drama, hoping that his daughter's loathe of him wasn't genuine. Well, too bad that wasn't the case.
"Why don't you get that I want you to leave me alone?" she said angrily. "If you want to be my father, then pay my academy bills and make sure I have a place to sleep. Don't do anything else. I can't believe that you managed to forget Kirimoto has an annual payment but you don't hesitate to hug me when you see me. Isn't that just a little wrong to you?"
"But Kura-chan, aren't you happy to see Daddy?" Ranka's eyes filled with fake tears.
"Stop acting like such a drama queen," Sakura growled.
"This is the real deal," Hikaru muttered to his twin.
"A classic family fight," Kaoru responded with a nod.
"It's just Ranka's more like the teenage sister of the family than the dad," they said in unison, nodding wisely.
"Don't talk about Haruhi's father like that!" Tamaki ordered.
"You must admit that their statement has a good amount of truth to it," Kyoya said with a shrug.
"I thought you were the one who liked Ranka-san, Kyo-chan," Honey looked up at the tall Ootori boy.
"He is," Mori said shortly.
"But that doesn't mean that I don't think his theatrical actions are a bit over the top at times," Kyoya responded calmly.
"Just…go," Sakura finally snapped. "You don't need to pay my bills, you don't need to act like my dad. I don't want you to be my father. All I ever wanted was a normal family. But we can't have that, can we? Mom's dead, you're practically gay, and Haruhi's so book-obsessed she doesn't realize there's a world outside of her own!"
"So the little girl feels left out and without a family," Tamaki said thoughtfully. With a snap of his fingers, he added, "Easily solved."
"You're planning to play daddy for her?" Kaoru raised an eyebrow in doubt.
"Sounds like something the boss would do," Hikaru shrugged.
"You may want to be careful with your courses of actions, Tamaki," Kyoya suggested lowly. "Sakura already thinks you an oddball, possibly not even male. Anything else out of the ordinary would fix her opinion of you as firmly negative."
"Don't worry," Tamaki flashed them a sunny smile. "I know what to do."
"Does he, Takashi?" Honey asked his tall friend.
"Probably not."
"Yeah…" Honey looked back to where Tamaki was describing his plan in its full glory to the twins, who each had a large sweat-drop on the back of their heads.
"No way that's gonna work," was their simple answer. "Nice try."
Tamaki instantly shrunk down, a cloud of depressed indigo-blue showering violet and black rain over his head.
"I'll see you tonight for dinner!" Ranka placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead as she wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Not coming," Sakura called after him as he slammed the door shut.
"You know, you could at least try being civil to him," Haruhi said flatly. "He is your biological dad after all."
"As a father, his duties include paying my academy bills," was the disdainful answer. "He didn't live up to that. So sucks to be him."
"Family circumstances are harsh, Kura-chan," Haruhi tried again. "It's not entirely his fault."
"Well, he could have at least told me that before I was kicked out of the dorms!" Sakura spat. The others watched the testy exchange between the sisters with a good amount of confusion and surprised. And a healthy dose of raised eyebrows.
"That's pretty intense," Hikaru said out loud.
"Yeah, if they go at it like this all the time we'll get no peace in here," Kaoru agreed.
"Haruhi, it's nearly time for our guests to come. Please save your family quarrels for afterwards. After all, you still have that debt to pay, do you not?" Kyoya's glasses shone with an eerie white light.
"That's right…" Haruhi muttered. "Hey, Kura? You think you could wait for me at the middle school? There's some…um, business that I have to take care of here first."
"And what business could that be?" Sakura asked, curiosity filtered through her voice.
"You see, Ouran High School's Host Club entertains young ladies every afternoon," Tamaki explained. "Our dear Haruhi is paying off a little debt by being a host here."
"Which explains why she's dressed as a guy," Sakura said slowly. "You know better than that, getting yourself wrapped up in all kinds of debt when our family is poor as hell."
"I'm not paying in money. I'm paying in time and dignity," Haruhi replied.
"Ouch," the twins chorused.
"Dignity?" Honey asked. "Why dignity, Haru-chan?"
"It's not exactly glorifying to flirt with girls day by day, you know. Especially when you are a girl yourself," Haruhi deadpanned.
"True," Mori shrugged.
"Can I stick around and watch?" a mischievous gleam appeared in Sakura's eyes.
"Absolutely not," Haruhi said firmly.
"Sure thing," the twins smirked.
"I see no problem in that," Kyoya glanced down at his little book.
"Will you eat cake with me?" Honey asked. Sakura nodded, smiling cheerily.
"Yeah," Mori said briefly.
"We welcome you to the Ouran High School Host Club, my little princess," Tamaki swept a dramatic bow. He felt a stinging sensation on his head as he flounced back up. Glancing back at the ground, he saw a brown loafer mocking him, bottom side up.
"Did you really just throw that shoe at him?" Kaoru asked Sakura as he and his twin cracked up openly.
"Seeing as it's over there right now, yeah," Sakura replied.
"You have a pretty damn good aim," Hikaru nodded approvingly.
"Thanks," Sakura flashed him a genuine smile. "I've practiced quite a bit on some nuisances back at Kirimoto."
"Don't tell me you got into fights at school," Haruhi placed her palm on her forehead in frustration. "That'll get you suspended, or even expelled."
"They don't count as fights if I'm the only one who beat someone up," Sakura shrugged. "Plus, no one ever told on me."
"Were they scared because you're so good at martial arts?" Honey inquired.
"Probably," Mori snorted.
"Yeah. No one wants to tangle with a girl who can kick your ass to the moon and back," Sakura said with a peace sign and a wink.
"That's one violent shoe," Tamaki tried to give a good-natured grin.
"You mean, one violent girl," Kyoya corrected. "If I recall, the shoe does not have the capability to remove itself from Sakura's foot, soar through the air, and land a sound hit on your head, daddy."
"Oh, come on, don't contradict me with reality, mommy," Tamaki complained.
"Only because I love you so," Kyoya smirked, patting his friend on the shoulder. He seemed to have recovered from his case of phosphoric fungi and dripping bacteria pretty well.
"If you loved me, you'd kiss this bump better," Tamaki jutted his bottom lip out in a pout as he gingerly massaged the welt.
"No homo," the twins said simultaneously.
"Sakura-chan disapproves," Kaoru explained, in response to the dirty look Tamaki sent him.
"At least someone understands me," said girl bestowed upon the twins a gracious smile.
Hitachiin Twins, 3. Boss, 0.
"So, when's the party getting started?" Sakura took a seat on one of the couches and propped her feet up. "I'm looking to see a pretty damn interesting show."
"If that's what you're looking for," Mori said suddenly. "You'll get even more than that."
"Takashi's right," Honey nodded. "There'll be food too!"
"You and your sweets," Hikaru muttered, eyes slitting.
"But stick around, and maybe you'll see one of us you like," Kaoru leaned in suggestively.
"And maybe you'll request one of our services sometime," Hikaru added. They were getting dangerously close until Tamaki decided to take matters into his own hands.
"All right, you two. Stop figuratively raping Haruhi's little sister," he pulled them far apart and away from the younger girl who was rolling her eyes in distaste.
"Thanks," she said with a sarcastic smile. "I love how you assume I'm helpless and vulnerable when faced with two immature, devilish doppelgangers. I think I can handle myself, faggot."
"Did she just call me a…" Tamaki gasped.
"Do you even know what that word means?" Haruhi demanded.
"It's a swear word," Sakura shrugged. "Fair enough."
"It's not a good idea to use vocabulary you aren't familiar with," Kyoya said doubtfully. Even he had been taken back by her casual usage of the word.
"How else do we learn, if we're only using what we know?" Sakura challenged. "If we don't try new things, there's no way we'll learn anything in this lifetime."
"True," Mori muttered. Kyoya stared at Sakura, who returned his narrow gaze with twice the venom.
"She speaks sense and she has a good aim, what else could we wish for?" Tamaki threw open his arms in a grand gesture.
"You recover quickly," Haruhi said blankly.
"He always does," Hikaru said quickly.
"Yeah, and we'd know," Kaoru smirked.
"No doubt you would," Haruhi replied monotonously. "Are you two gonna be done with that staredown contest of yours anytime soon? It's almost time for the guests to arrive, Kyoya-sempai."
"Right," Kyoya averted his gaze. Sakura smirked,, knowing victory was hers. "The guests."
"What's the theme for today, Tama-chan?" Honey inquired.
"The Romantic period of classical music," was the dreamy response.
"Get real," the twins and Haruhi said unresponsively.
"He's actually being serious," Kyoya said with a slight frown, flipping through his little book. "Though not exactly pertaining to the period in classical music, today's theme is built off of the late 1800s to early 1900s."
"You guys even have themes?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah," Kaoru turned to her. "Most of them are kinda weird."
"Kinda?" Hikaru snorted. "More like really weird."
"Anyway, gentlemen plus lady, get into the changing rooms and put on your preselected outfits—we have no time to waste today. Let's get moving!" Tamaki clapped his hands in an authoritative manner.
"That goes for you too, sempai," Haruhi said flatly.
"Oh, that's right," Tamaki proceeded to follow Haruhi into one room.
"What are you doing in here? Get the hell out, you pervert!" Haruhi exclaimed, kicking the crestfallen Tamaki out of her personal changing space.
"Nice try," Sakura sneered. "My sister's harder to get than that, you know."
"Oh, I know," Tamaki groaned. "Believe me, I know."
A/N: Yeah, so Sakura doesn't like her daddy because he dropped her and she thinks he did it purposely. Because, well, she was pretty young at that time and her memory of the incident isn't really clear. Don't worry; it'll clear up. And I'll start focusing in on the other characters in Chapter 3. I wanted to get my OC's background as well as Kyoya's up first…I'll probably have a filler next about the afternoon. I also want to get a oneshot up (per request of my good friend) of Haruhi and the twins on a purely friendly outing. I don't know how often I'll update. March is a pretty dang busy month for me. But I love writing so…I think I can easily say see y'all soon! ^-^