Keep Your Enemies Closer
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. Anything you recognize is owned by Bisco Hatori! I receive absolutely no money from writing fanfiction.
(The authors note is at the bottom.)
"Prepare yourself, Shippo. It's time," Tamaki warned the newest host. Kagome rolled her eyes as the blond boy settled himself into an elegant pose. Today's theme seemed to be Arabian Nights; elegant silks and decorated turbans were strategically placed to show ample amount of skin (or hair, in the case of the headwear. Weren't turbans meant to cover hair?). The hosts looked beautiful, but Kagome refused to acknowledge it. Hosting in itself disgusted her.
What appeal did these girls find in a bunch of boys lying about their true feelings?
"Remember to experiment with your recommended host types," Kyoya reminded from behind Tamaki. He wore deep purple clothing in comparison to Tamaki's light blue. The Shadow King had given Shippo a list of attitude characteristics to try out and see which worked best. Rebel, sporty, artsy, and a thoughtful author were all included in Kyouya's written advice, but Shippo had tried them all out for Kagome and Sesshomaru, and Kagome already knew that none of them worked. Mischievous was the type that she would peg him as, but Tamaki was adamantly against the idea. Apparently the twins already had that role.
"Alright," Shippo said even though he knew he was setting himself up for failure. Kagome huffed at his side.
"I understand that I'm helping to pay back my debt, but I don't see why I have to wear these," she said, pointing upwards. Two yellow cat ears poked out of her head. They were attached to a headband that was covered by her long, dark hair. The embarrassing ensemble was apparently her Host Club uniform, according to the twins.
"Because you're the Host Club Cat, and they make you look authentic as well as adorable!" Tamaki said from his chair. He winked in her direction, causing her to stick out her tongue back. At least he wasn't trying to spin her around in circles like the first time he saw her in the cat ears.
"This is humiliating," Kagome moaned as the door opened. She wasn't ready for this. Social exclusion that was worse than before was bound to be in her future, and she couldn't handle the fear that was compressing her chest. She didn't want to be made fun of. She didn't want to be talked about behind her back. She just wanted to go back to her home and have a nice warm coffee prepared by her mother.
Too bad that was never going to happen. Not anymore.
The next few minutes passed in a blink. Squealing girls entered, quickly found seats at different stations, then began conversations with their selected hosts. It all happened so quickly that Kagome wasn't sure what to do with herself (at least until Kyoya sent her for some tea). Cheeks burning from all the stares, she scurried off to make the beverage.
Kagome thought that the next hour was going to be excruciatingly horrible; that she'd never be able to look her peers in the eyes again. It turns out that she was wrong, because it was so much worse than that. It seemed that there were only two proper responses to female servitude, and they either happened to be curiosity (she was sure she'd want to rip off not only her fake ears but the real ones too once she entered class tomorrow) or an envious anger. Two out of three girls at Shippo's table had taken on the later emotion, so Kagome kept a silent vigil near the door when she wasn't being ordered around by the hosts. Shippo was too busy trying (and failing) to find a host type that he didn't notice Kagome's plight.
"-do you think of the new uniforms, Shippo?" a second year girl asked. "I was horrified to find that the dresses had been replaced. Now we look just like the grade schoolers, except in yellow."
"Yellow is a beautiful color. It reminds us to live in each moment and to enjoy ourselves on the ride of life," Shippo said thoughtfully. Kagome wasn't sure if that was an attempt at the artsy or thoughtful-writer type, but whatever it was, it was awful. Two of the other girls apparently thought so too. They traded a confused glance, but a third girl began talking, oblivious to the awkward tension.
"I was simply appalled at the new girl uniforms," she agreed with the first girl. "In fact, I had my daddy contact the Chairman of Ouran. I simply would not stand for it, because those dresses were so pretty! Daddy tried to fix the issue, but no amount of convincing or bribing would sway the Chairman's decision. That means someone very prestigious must have a hand in this, otherwise Daddy could've bought them over. He's the head of the Tsukuda Rice Corporation, you know."
"Who cares about uniforms anyways? I don't even wear them most of the time," Shippo said while casually glancing away from the girls. Kagome assumed he was attempting the rebel type at this point. However, it was ruined by the perfectly pressed and ironed uniform that hung neatly on the side of the couch, not worn only because of the green lungi that covered his waist. It left his chest provocatively exposed, which is probably why the girls were still at his station. If it were Kagome, she would've left after his deep interpretation of the color yellow. Although these girls obviously didn't have the same opinions as Kagome if they thought those dresses that used to be Ouran's uniform were pretty. There was only one condition eventually placed on Sesshomaru if he wanted her to go to Ouran, and it was that she didn't want to wear that monstrosity of a dress. Either he changed the uniform or she dressed as a male. Sesshomaru quickly called Ouran and gave a generous offer to change the female uniforms. After all, it wouldn't be realistic for a girl to pull off being a guy for longer than a few days. What would happen when she had to use the bathroom? When they had to go to the locker rooms for gym? When physical exams came up? Or when Shadow Kings with stalkerish tendencies did a background check on her and discovered she was lying (thank kami that she avoided that road).
"So how is the Host Club Cat fairing?" a voice in Kagome's ear asked. She gasped and spun around, staring into the face of Hikaru. Or Kaoru. She wasn't sure which.
"Why do you care?" she replied grumpily.
"Aw, you poor pretty kitty, forced to watch from the sidelines." the second twin said at her left.
"Hikaru! Do you really think that Kagome is pretty? Would you rather look at her than at me?"
"Never Kaoru! You are the most beautiful person in the world! You're my candle in the dark, my lighthouse out at sea; there is nothing that could possibly divert my attention from you!"
"Oh Hikaru!"
Kagome rolled her eyes as the two embraced, causing fangirls all around the room to drop dead from the kawaii-overdose. Those two were ridiculous, and Kagome had yet to see the appeal. The way she saw it, the two were identical. So, by saying that one was beautiful, the other was just being a dramatic narcissist. Plus the whole incest act was annoyingly fake. How did none of the girls see the identical smugness behind their dramatics? This was all just a game to them. And Kagome hated being played.
Her fist tightened. She hated liars, and that was all that these boys were. Glorified liars.
"Do you promise to never leave me Hikaru?"
"Of course I won't leave you. I told you that just last night in bed, remember? After we had our fun?"
The girls were going delirious. Everyone was watching by this point, even the other hosts. Hikaru caught Kagome's unamused glare and sent her a grin equivalent to the Cheshire Cat's.
"You know, Kaoru, I was thinking, maybe next time we play in our room, we should invite someone else to come. What do you think? Should we take Kagome?"
A sly glance in her direction caused her to glower at Hikaru's twin.
"I think that sounds like fun, Hikaru. I would love to... play... with Kagome."
"Alright, that's enough! Back off!" Shippo's voice yelled. He pushed both twins bodily up against the wall. Gasps from the girls echoed across the music room. The image he made, half-naked and threatening the two rascals if they ever came near Kagome again, made hearts stop and screams of delight to freeze in throats.
"KAWAII!" the girls all around the room yelled. Kagome stared around wide-eyed as girls surrounded the three red-heads like a swarm of ants.
"What's happening?" she said, flushed from the twins' teasing and unsure if she should attempt to cut through the throng of girls to stop Shippo or not.
"Well, miss Higurashi, I do believe that we just classified your brother's host type," Kyoya said while restraining Tamaki, who was trying to join the girls to fangirl himself.
"Huh?" Kagome asked, still confused. "What type is he?"
"Possessive," came a deep voice, sending Kagome's jaw straight to the floor. Takashi Morinozuka could speak? She had been half sure that he was made out of stone! And now Shippo was apparently popular with the ladies. What is this world coming to?
Author's Note: Next chapter! I want to give a special thanks to the 12 encouraging reviewers; you all are awesome! There was one review that mentioned I need to make this original, and I can promise you all that I'll try my best to avoid the redundant plot lines most authors use for these stories. The beginning chapters will be light and fun, and we'll get into all of the angst later on. This will be my last day with internet for the next four days, and I'll try to post something on Friday, but since I'm on a mission trip I'm not sure how much time I'll have. But expect something ny late Tuesday at the latest (of next week, not the incoming one)!
Special thanks to kakashixangela for pointing out a mistake last chapter! I accidentally called Kagome Haruhi at one point :) Don't worry I fixed it.
Remember, this has no beta, so let me know if you see any spelling or grammar mistakes!
Read & Review please!
