This is csidle's Beta, TheLingeringWolf. Csidle does not own Ouran High School Host Club (OHSHC) or its characters. She also does not own Apple's product, the iPod. Steve Jobs owned it before his tragic death. Enjoy!

Of Road Trips and Romance Novels

Chapter 2: Of Interruptions and Rabbits

Katsuo was in a meeting leaving Mariko in the palatial office with nothing to do.

She was hired for exactly one reason and one reason only: She was prompt. Minus her first day, she had showed up to work at least a half hour early and stayed usually an hour late. She was proud of her work habit, though it often left her with too much time on her hands.

"Oshiro Mariko?"

She looked up from her game of solitaire to see a handsome young man with shaggy blond hair standing in the door way.

"Yes?"

He bounded over to her desk talking a mile a minute.

"Hi! So your Katsuo's new assistant! You're prettier than his last one!"

She blushed, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I'm Kameko Mitsu; I'm the general assistant that relays information to and from big dogs in corporate meetings to their staff when they can't leave or call from the meeting. There are ALWAYS meetings going on so I better get back!"

The young blond had made it back to the threshold of the door when he remembered the reason for his impromptu visit.

"OH! Katsuo said to check your email. He sent you a list of errands! BYE!"

Had he taken one breath since he had been talking to her? She didn't think so. She opened her email and read off some mundane things, including lunch, which would require her to go by car. As she reached for her purse and keys, however, a hyperactive voice came from the hallway.

"Katsuo sent for you a car, its waiting outside!"

Shrugging she slung her purse over her shoulder and headed to the front of the building. While heading down the elevator she thought of her new acquaintance. Mariko assumed he was quite close to Linn-san, being on a first name bases and all. She couldn't suppress the light smile that pulled on her lips thinking about the hyper young man.

He bounced like a rabbit…

As she exited the building, she was greeted by a rather excitable man who escorted and helped her into the back of a large limo. As she snuggled down into the plush leather seats then realized that she could really get used to this.

Why? Why me? Why did I get dragged…

"Oh… wow!" She was stunned. If the outside of the bus was impressive, the inside was astonishing. From its deep cherry hard wood floor to its black leather sofas, with the seat-belts built in, it was nothing short of breathtaking. In all honesty it probably could have been pulled off as a touring bus gone RV. Haruhi stared in shock.

"It has a mini bar stocked with soda, a fridge full of cake to keep Honey-Sempia well indulged and other snacks for everyone else," Kyoya started, seeing her with her mouth still open as she turned in slow circles trying to take everything in.

Damn rich bastards… Wait… I wonder if they have fancy tuna…

"There's also a full bathroom and the couches turn into beds. However, we have a reservation at Shirahone Onsen, a hot springs in the Japanese Alps so we'll be staying in their hotel tonight."

As she stared longingly at the fridge, a thought struck her. Glancing at everyone on the bus she started a mental head count.

Tamaki: Growing mushrooms in the corner… typical

Hikaru: Flipping through songs on his iPod while lounging on one of the love seats… normal

Karou: Sketching in his note book… I hope he's not designing girly clothes for me again…

Honey: Eating cake with Usa-chan… nothing out of the ordinary there…

Kyoya: Looking amused at something in his black agenda… not good… but, hey… he's not adding to my debt so who cares…

And I make six… who's missing?

Feeling a warm calming feeling envelope her, she turned to see Mori stroll onto the bus.

Ah… how could I forget him? So we're all here … wait… who's going to drive this thing?

"Kyoya…" she started. When his eyes didn't lift from his laptop that was perched precariously on his knee while he lounged on yet another sofa, she just continued, sure that he was listening whether he showed it or not. "… where's the driver?"

"Well… we hired a driver…" Hikaru stated, cutting Kyoya off… not that he minded, that just meant he could get some more work in without having to explain irrelevant, in his mind, things to her.

"… She couldn't make it due to some unexpected 'circumstances'…" Karou finished, eyeing his brother and attempting to keep a straight face.

She?

"Karou, hurry up!"

"Geez, Hikaru why don't you slow down!"

"Are you sure this will work? I really don't want some old guy coming with us," Hikaru asked, looking expectedly at his co-conspirator while leaning up against the door of their custom summer break tour bus. He knew that the hired driver would be the only person on the bus for a time because the company had said the bus would come pick each of them up from their houses separately.

"Yeah, I'm sure!" Karou said, exhausted from hauling the small light blue tub from their limo. He gently poured the contents onto the steps leading inside the bus.

"Now Helga, Henry…" Hikaru started while pointing at the occupants in the door.

"We want you two to give him a good scare," Karou finished, smiling down at his precious pets.

"Come on, someone's coming," Hikaru loudly whispered while dragging Karou behind another bus.

The unmistakable click of heels on pavement came gradually closer and with it the higher pitch of a female voice, distraught, and not at all happy with her latest assignment.

"Sam, you can't be serious… Do you really think it's smart to send me as a chuffer for seven high school boys?... Yes, I know they're in a host club and no, that doesn't help matters… Yes… Yes… Fine!"

Seeing the tall, thin, and downright gorgeous female in her company logoed navy blue dress heading toward the OHSHC bus, the boys looked at each other with wide eyes.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Needless to say, Kyoya was not at all happy with the fact that the chuffer company had called to inform him that the one and only available chuffer quit. Getting the phone call at 5 AM didn't help matters either. When he inquired why she quit, Kyoya just looked at his phone in disbelief.

"What!"

Circumstances…? Wait, do I even WANT to know? From the look on their faces… no…

When Hikaru began to explain she raised her hand to stop him. "I don't even want to kno―" Haruhi was interrupted by a high pitch "girly" yell. Tamaki was standing in the doorway to the little but no less grand bathroom, pointing at some unseen demon.

"Sempai?" she quietly walked up behind him, "What is it?"

Damn… everything is marble…

"S-S-S-SNAKE!"

Following his finger, she looked in the gold rimmed marble sink to see an albino python curled up in a tight ball. Backing up relatively quickly caused her to trip on the furry flax fur carpet.

"G-GUYS!"

They all had ignored Tamaki's yell, but when Haruhi called they were all there in a second.

"There you are, Helga!" Hikaru rushed forward and coddled the python. "Did that big, mean man scare you?"

While Hikaru tormented Tamaki with Karou cheering him on, Mori walked over to a still petrified Haruhi. Kneeling down he affectionately rubbed her head.

"It's gone…"

Coming out of her stupor, she lightly blushed and looked up at him.
"I'm not crazy about snakes."

"Neither is Tamaki from the looks of it…"

Honey, who had appeared over Mori's shoulder looked down at her. From her seat on the floor she realized just how close she and Mori were, with him leaning slightly over her.

Just like in my book…

Honey looked at his two best friends and smiled. Neither had heard his comment, being too caught up staring into each other's eyes. He just shrugged and left the two for the moment to skip over and eat more cake, all the while evil matchmaking schemes hopped around like bunnies in his cute blonde head.

"Sorry for interrupting…"

Both teens jumped apart, blushes littering their faces. Kyoya shook his head, looking at them and braved a glance at Honey who was grinning like a kid on Christmas, or Honey on Christmas. With a very slight upturn he signalled Honey that he was in agreement.

"Mori-Sempai," Kyoya turned his attention to the senior kneeling on the floor. "I know we all agreed the order in which we were going to drive, however, Tamaki is…," he shook his head at the three morons. "occupied… and I really need to finish this report."

Mori, being his usual silent self, nodded and stood. Before he left to the front of the bus though, he extended a hand to Haruhi. When she placed her hand in his she even redder.

"T-Thank you, Sempai."

With a brief nod, Mori hurried to the front of the bus and settled in the driver seat. When he sat down, however, he felt the weight of Haruhi's book still in his pocket. He was about to get up and hand it to her when her smiling face in the rear view mirror caught his eye. Everyone, for the most part, had settled down. Helga was safely put up far away from both Tamaki and Haruhi and the latter was happily chatting away with Honey. So with a little grin on his face he said to himself,

I'll give it to her later…

And We're Off!

Thanks for reading!

Please review!

Character names

Kameko Mitsu- (Katsuo's brother-in-law and Company messenger) Kameko meaning superior child and Mitsu meaning honey