Ok, I tried posting this chapter much earlier and that just didn't work out for plenty of reasons…lack of time, temporary lapse in brain activity, computer being uncooperative (erased parts of chapter on multiple occasions, even though I saved) among other things, but anyway…at last. I apologize it took so long, but many of my other readers from my multiple fics are still waiting on their updates as well so it's not like I'm singling you guys out. XD Also, I can't really control when my life becomes so busy that it's all I can do to crawl into bed and get my head on the pillow before I drop dead from exhaustion when I get home. It sucks sometimes, but I'm in college so it's inevitable. Please enjoy~!

P.S. I am also currently re-watching the entire anime to include canon events. Of course, I'm putting my own spin on things. Like the host club has already met Kasanoda instead of meeting him later on when he approaches them for help like in the anime.

The next day, Kasumi stood in front of the entire host club to practice. She nervously bit her lip and tried to find a spot to focus on…her eyes happened to meet Mori and Hunny's. The dark-haired junior nodded in encouragement and Hunny winked, giving her a thumbs' up. She grinned back sheepishly.

"What's your background story? Remember, it needs to be vivid yet believable and go with a possible angle." Tamaki explained, bringing her attention back to him.

Kasumi nodded resolutely. Her host training had officially begun and the whole club had gathered early just to go over some of the questions she'd likely get asked by her guests.

"Well, I'm the youngest of my siblings. My health was pretty poor growing up so I wasn't able to make many friends because I couldn't go outside much, but my brothers kept me company and filled the lonely void," she said softly, her eyes sparkling and her hands clasped together in front of her chest.

Tamaki was practically holding his breath, swallowing with some difficulty. He didn't even register that his cheeks had become a light pink. In his mind's eye Kasumi's large eyes were watering adorably and her cute lips curled into a coy pout. An invisible breeze fluttered her long hair and rose petals blew around her.

"Well, how was that?"

Tamaki blinked, waking up from his fantasy. He glanced around discreetly to make sure no one had noticed. Luckily they were all too busy evaluating Kasumi's performance.

Kyoya nodded in approval, "Very nice. Now, tell us more about your likes, dislikes and hobbies." he instructed.

Kasumi titled her head in thought momentarily before nodding, "The things I like are starry nights, fluffy animals, sewing, foreign snacks, and the smell of winter, bubble baths, and reading classic literature. Um, my dislikes are probably being alone in the dark, bullies, getting sick, unnecessary violence a-and…g-ghosts…" she muttered weakly.

Tamaki was about to ask if she was serious about the last thing, but Kyoya quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and gestured for her to continue. "Oh! M-my hobbies include raising indoor plants, baking sweets for others, playing the violin, painting, spending time with my brothers, collecting cute hair bows and playing on the swing set in our garden when I have the chance."

She looked up at a stunned Tamaki with questioning eyes. "Was that ok, sempai?" Haruhi glanced at the blond warily. He had that look in his eyes. That look that said he was about to do something stupid.

He pounced so fast, Kasumi didn't have time to scream before she was being spun around in the air as the Host King giggled girlishly, "I-it was…fantastic! You played off of your lonely childhood so marvelously, and did you see the emotion?!" he turned back to shout at Kyoya who had been observing silently. "Tell me that was brilliant! I told you having Kasumi join the club was a wonderful idea,"

"I believe that I was the one who suggested it, Tamaki." Kyoya stated.

"T-tamaki-sempai…I feel nauseas…" Kasumi murmured, struggling to wriggle away. The blurred faces of the other hosts caught her eye as she spun, two unhappy faces in particular standing out.

"Hey, hands off!" Hikaru hissed. He seemed to ignore Hikaru and Kaoru's deadly glares as he continued to babble on as usual.

But at least he'd finally stopped spinning her. She had started to see spots at the edges of her vision. "You're soo cute!" he cooed, hugging her tightly before holding her out to admire, as if he was showing off a new toy. Kasumi was beginning to see what Haruhi had told her earlier about Tamaki living in his own world… "It's so wonderful to finally have a female host we can openly spoil~!" Oh god, now he was actually swooning. "We're going to coddle you, and dress you in the finest costumes, and—"

Kasumi blinked dazedly, 'D-dizzy…ugh…what's that…dark aura I feel?'

She yelped when she felt herself being lifted yet again, just as Tamaki was tackled to the ground by two orange blurs. Kasumi attempted to elbow her captor in panic, only to stop struggling when she heard a small grunt. She turned carefully, wide eyes meeting calm dark ones, "T-Takashi-sempai?!"

"Hm…"

"T-thank you…" she blushed. He was still holding her up in the air.

"Yeah, no problem," The quiet junior carefully placed her down beside Hunny as she watched her brothers pummel Tamaki to a pulp.

"Keep your pervert germs to yourself boss!" Kaoru growled.

"Yeah, Tono." Hikaru added.

Kasumi blinked, watching as the trio rolled around on the floor, Tamaki's wails for mercy missing with the boys' growls of annoyance. She looked around to see Haruhi reading a textbook, Mori listening to Hunny talk about what kind of cake he wanted to eat at snack-time, and Kyoya smirking in dark glee.

'Shouldn't he be stopping this or something?' She had found out from Haruhi that Kyoya was something like the club's 'manager'. Well, more like he took it upon himself to balance the club's budget and subsequently, exploit the other hosts to a degree in his quest to make a profit. But no one seemed to mind because he was so thorough at what he did.

"I know what you're thinking. But if it wasn't our little devils it would have been someone else that he provoked into putting him in his place. It's best to let them resolve it themselves," he patted her shoulder lightly.

She frowned, "But—!"

"It is the natural order of things, after all." Noticing she still looked unconvinced, he gave her a frighteningly disarming smile, "On another note that was very good for your first attempt. I believe you'll be a very charming addition to the host club. Who knows, keep it up and you may very well be giving Hikaru and Kaoru a run for their money," he smirked over at a glaring pair of redheads, who turned the brunt of their animosity on him at the comment. Tamaki took that moment to pick himself up and scamper to hide behind an ever stoic Mori.

The ginger-haired boys rudely stuck their tongues out at Kyoya.

"Greedy bastard…" Haruhi murmured, knowing that Kyoya had that gleam in his eye. He always leered like that when he was thinking of blackmailing someone or how to turn a profit.

"Well…I think it's quite obvious." Kyoya cleared his throat, ignoring Tamaki as he cried on Mori's shoulder pitifully. Everyone else looked at him curiously.

"By which I mean, what type you'll be…We already have a boy Lolita type, the cool type, the princely type, the mischievous type, the strong silent type and the natural type. But now, we'll have…the moe-type."

"Um, what?" Haruhi drawled.

"She will play the part of the sweet younger sister. Cute, somewhat clumsy and endearingly awkward. A younger sister you can't help but care for," he explained.

"Eh?" Hikaru and Kaoru echoed.

"Uh, isn't that already kind of like what Hunny-sempai does though?" Haruhi mumbled. Hunny sniffled and his big brown eyes watered pitifully at the thought of being replaced.

Kasumi opened her mouth to object, not wanting to hurt her new friend, when a certain blond leader interrupted.

Tamaki, having finally recovered, nodded thoughtfully, "Hmm…yes, yes I like it! Kasumi is the adorable little sister I want to spoil!" He grabbed her hands excitedly, "Say 'Tamaki-niisan!'" he cooed, "Go on, say it!"

Flushing brightly, she fumbled to comply. "T-Ta…ta…Tamaki-niisan…" she squeaked, refusing to look anyone in the eyes as her face hit an all time new shade of red. Tamaki was over the moon and she could feel the steam coming from Hikaru and Kaoru. They were fuming.

Tamaki bounced around giddily after releasing her hands. "Did you hear that, did you?! She called me niisan!" …And it probably didn't help that he was now dancing around tauntingly in their faces. She sweat dropped as Tamaki wriggled around boundlessly in some sort of improvised happy dance and her brothers' faces set back to irritation.

Kyoya stepped forward, effectively blocking her view of the spectacle, "May I be the first to welcome you as an official member of our humble host club," So she did pass after all. Kasumi suppressed a shiver. His lips said "welcome" but that dark chuckle was anything but inviting.

Kasumi smiled weakly. 'Ooh. So this is what Haruhi meant when she said they're exhausting…' Her fate was sealed.

Kyoya smirked in satisfaction as he cast a quick look at the Hitachiin boys who were staring at him venomously, 'Checkmate.'

"Are you sure you'll be okay? Maybe you should go to the infirmary for the first period…" Haruhi looked at the auburn haired girl as they stood outside classroom 1-D. She looked slightly paler than even her normal pallid complexion.

"You don't have to do this! We can still get Kyoya to put you in 1-A." Hikaru gave her an almost pleading look.

"Hikaru-niisan…we talked about this," Kasumi reminded gently.

"So your mind's made up then?" Kaoru asked.

She nodded resolutely. "Yes, this will be my homeroom for the remainder of the year."

The boys sighed dejectedly. It was strange to be able to get almost any girl to fall for their charms, only to be turned down by their own sister.

"In that case," Hikaru began.

"We'll just have to accept it…" They both said, though neither looked too happy about it.

"Thank you," she grinned, "See you all later!"

"Yeah, see you later…" Hikaru and Kaoru replied gloomily. Haruhi was the only one to give her a supportive smile.

"Don't worry about these two." she told her, linking her arms with both of theirs and beginning to lead the pair away, "Good luck, Kasumi!" she called over her shoulder.

Kasumi waved, giggling into her hand. 'I'm so glad there's such a nice girl like Haruhi in the host club, too. I love my brothers and everyone seems really great, but being alone with six boys would be a handful.' She mused, opening the door to room 1-D to find she was a little early.

'Good,' she thought, 'I don't have to worry about any awkwardness by drawing attention like yesterday.' She didn't even hesitate as she wondered over to the desk she had sat in the day before. She noted her new friend hadn't arrived yet. She smiled fondly as she looked at his empty desk. 'That's right. Mom wanted me to invite him over for dinner tonight. I just hope he's free…and that mom doesn't do anything…weird.' She suppressed a shudder as several embarrassing topics her mother might bring up came to mind.

"Um excuse me," Kasumi snapped out of her thoughts of how to best avoid a dinner-disaster and looked up to see three girls had approached her. They were all staring at her curiously.

Still not quite used to interacting with new people she smiled nervously, "Ah, y-yes?"

"Sorry if this is kind of rude, but um…you're…the new student everyone's talking about, right?" the girl in the middle asked, "I mean you're Hikaru and Kaoru's sister?"

Kasumi relaxed slightly, nodding. "Yes I am. I-I'm Kasumi Hitachiin, it's very nice to meet you." she said politely.

The three glanced at each other before smiling warmly at the new girl. "It's nice to meet you too, Kasumi! I'm Momoko Umeda by the way." The shortest of the three girls introduced. She had honey brown hair in a bob cut that stopped just above her shoulders.

Her friends followed her lead. "And I'm Sakuya Harada." The only girl with black hair said.

"I'm Mei Tomodachi," said the girl in the middle, a girl with two cone-shaped buns in her long burgundy brown hair, "How do you do?"

"We were all curious when you came into class yesterday. And I told Mei and Sakuya when the teacher said your last name was Hitachiin that I just knew you were related to Hikaru and Kaoru somehow!" Momoko rambled excitedly.

"And I saw you in the hall earlier," Sakuya added, "You looked lost, so I figured you weren't a student. But the orange-hair was so familiar…"

"So of course we had to meet you!" Mei squealed. Kasumi sweat dropped. They seemed nice, if not a little…excitable.

"Haha…w-well I'm nothing special…my brothers are the popular ones." said Kasumi humbly. She noticed that all three of her classmates were staring at her intensely.

"I-is there something wro—"

"So cute!"

"Adorable!"

"Oh my goodness she's like a female Haruhi-kun!"

'A-are they Haruhi's fan girls from the host club?' she wondered, shortly before she felt someone bowl into her.

"Eep!" Kasumi heard herself yelping as they all converged on her in a group hug.

"We've decided, you should be our new friend, ok?" Sakuya told her happily.

"Yes! You're new, so you're gonna need girlfriends." Mei agreed.

"It'll be fun, so hang out with us sometime, yeah?" Momoko begged with sparkling eyes.

The trio clasped their hands together with hopeful faces, "Oh won't you please?" they chorused.

Kasumi nodded rapidly, "O-of course…!" she squeaked, slightly daunted. 'Looks like I still have a lot to learn about what most girls my age are like…'

"We're going to the host club today, will you come with us?" Sakuya asked.

'W-well actually, I'm supposed to start hosting today…' Kasumi thought. "Um, I was actually already planning to go. My brothers asked me for help with something so—"

"Yay! Then that means you'll be there!" she cheered, clapping. "We can all have tea with Haruhi-kun from class 1-A. He's the scholarship student that just joined the host club and he's so sweet!" she gushed, blushing.

Kasumi suppressed a slight giggle. Hearing them go on about Haruhi made her wonder how they'd react to find out the humble, sweet boy they all were so infatuated with, was really a female! She opened her mouth to respond when the classroom's door slid open and a familiar scary-looking boy walked in.

She didn't even notice how her new friends instantly tensed. "Oh look, it's Kasanoda-san…" Mei whispered.

"Whatever you do, don't look him in the eyes!" Sakuya warned. Kasumi's reaction was anything but worried, though. They were stunned as their new friend raced by to greet him at the door.

"Ritsu-kun, ohayo!"

They gasped. "Ohmygosh! She made eye contact! What should we do…?!"

"I-I'm not sure…I can't believe she just ran right up to him like that!" Momoko replied, incredulous.

"I-isn't she even a little scared…? I mean she's new, but she has to have heard the stories, right?" They held each other fearfully with concern for the petite auburn-headed girl marking their faces.

Kasanoda entered the room, ignoring the other students that noticed him and all looked away in terror. That was nothing new. Happened every morning. But the sound of approaching footsteps was an unexpected change in the norm. He paused and looked at her in surprise. "K-Kasumi! Uh hey, I-I was wondering if you'd be in c-class today, a-after well, you know…!" he fumbled awkwardly, his face becoming a light pink.

Kasumi giggled. 'I get it Ritsu-kun; you're not good with showing emotions.'

"Yep, I feel much better today so…I came!" Kasumi noticed he still looked awkward, probably shy, she guessed. "Is it bad that I'm here?" she teased.

Kasanoda's mouth hung open as if he was unsure of how to respond before he shook his head vehemently. "No, no, no, no! 'Course it's nothin' bad! Hahaha…" he laughed awkwardly, "Erm…actually I kind of got something…for you," He said the last words so quietly Kasumi strained to hear. She watched him curiously, noting the way he held one hand behind his back.

"H-here…!" Suddenly he had whipped out a small potted plant with a single sprout poking up from the soil. His arms were shaking violently as he held it out to her and he was staring at the floor, his face beat red. "I don't know t-that much about picking out 'get well' gifts…sorry if it's uh, well, not what you'd normally give."

The trio of girls who had been watching curiously guffawed at the gesture. "Did he just give her a plant?!"

"Sure looks like…I think that's a peony by the looks of that stem. It's supposed to be a flower that represents healing. And sometimes, it also reflects the giver's bashful nature." Mei explained. Her family did own a very high-end floral arrangement boutique after all. In fact, anytime the host club needed exotic, hard to find blossoms for their themes, they put in an order to her family.

"Oh my gosh, no way!"

Kasumi's lips slowly lifted from the delicate "o" that they'd been in to a gentle smile. Kasanoda glanced up from his hands when he felt the weight of the pot disappearing. He caught his breath as he looked at the orange-haired girl reverently holding the pot in both her dainty hands and examining the small sapling fondly. "Arigato Ritsu-kun. I love plants," she assured. "I'll be sure to treasure it."

He grinned uneasily, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "I-it's no big deal…j-just a silly get-well plant. Hahaha…" his forced laughter trailed off awkwardly and when he saw she was still admiring the plant fondly, he felt it would be a good time to slink away. But Kasumi had other ideas.

"You know, Ritsu-kun," she began, taking a small sniff of the sapling's dulcet earthy aroma. "My parents would really like to meet you. And my brothers understand that they were out of hand yesterday…so that's why my whole family would like you to join us for dinner this evening." She finished, beaming. He gaped at her, not sure how to respond.

He'd never been invited over to someone's house for dinner, or anything! When he'd been assigned school projects to do with a group in middle school, his classmates would call him instead of meeting somewhere to work on it together. Sometimes, they willingly offered to do his share of the work, just for fear he would beat them up if they didn't, even though the thought never crossed his mind.

He had long since given up hope of ever interacting normally with his peers. The only people he had for company were the boys in the syndicate, and they were too busy respecting him to see he just wanted to be a normal teenager.

"I…uh…" he continued to flounder, scratching his temple shyly. Inside, he was over the moon. Although, the fact that those two evil orange-haired sadists would be there, made him a little nervous... And he could only imagine what her parents would be like…but Kasumi would also be there, and he doubted she would let anyone get away with bullying him as she had already proven.

Kasumi's bright grin slowly melted into a frown as she noticed his hesitation. "What's wrong? I-I'm sorry…please forget I ask—"

He caught her shoulder gently as she turned to walk back to her seat. "No! No i-it's not that…I've just never got invited to anything before is all…but I…I want to come! Y-yeah sure, invite accepted," he grinned weakly.

The change was immediate. The almost blinding grin replaced her gloomy frown again, and she eagerly gave him a quick hug with one arm, careful not to drop the plant or tip the soil onto her dress. Little did he know it was a first for her as well.

Isolated and frail since childhood, Kasumi had never experienced having friends over either. She had been elated to hear Kasanoda wanted to join them for dinner. She glanced to the three girls still watching with stunned expressions. Maybe next time Sakuya, Mei and Momoka could come over too!

She thought of them all sitting in her room, giggling and doing each other's nail and hair while they talked about clothes and boys and had to bite back the squeal of excitement that almost bubbled out. It was something she'd always dreamed of…being able to have a sleepover like normal teenage girls.

"Alright! Let's meet in the music room #3 after school today," she said, finally taking her seat and carefully placing her plant on the desk.

Kasanoda nodded mutely, quickly taking his own seat as more people filtered in. The trio gaped at one another. Their new friend was full of surprises…

When the teacher came in and demanded everyone to settle down they quickly scrambled to their own desks at the front of the class, deciding they'd ask Kasumi about it later.

Tamaki was overjoyed to see Kasumi return to the music room that afternoon with three of her female classmates trailing behind. He gushed about her having girlfriends and quietly bemoaned Haruhi not being able to participate in the joys of feminine company as a girl, though the brunette truly seemed not to mind.

Of course, he was in his "host king" mode and had to try to charm them with pleasantries. Much to Kasumi's amusement, her new friends only seemed to have eyes for Haruhi. They clung to every word, staring at the cross-dressing girl with adoring eyes.

The female Hitachiin was impressed by her acting. Of course they had excitedly tried to get Kasumi to join in to their session, but she had politely declined, explaining that she would begin hosting soon as the club's first female member, and that her duty was to observe for the afternoon.

"Good, isn't she?" she noticed Kyoya beside her, looking pleased. She had come to find out that wasn't so unusual since he was rather proud of the way he ran the host club. Though as she had already glimpsed, he had the heart of a demon when someone crossed him, even if it was a member of the club. Haruhi had explained to her that initially she was made the host club's "dog" to pay her debt, then Kyoya black-mailed her into becoming a host once they decided she had potential.

"She's got everybody fooled, and she makes pretending to be a boy, look so easy…I'd give myself away in only a day." Kasumi responded quietly. There were other guests present and she'd hate for anyone to figure out Haruhi's secret because of her.

"She's certainly got a lot hanging in the balance." he agreed. "I imagine being careless enough to slip up would end badly for her," Kasumi gave him a wide-eyed look of fear. He said it so casually, but the threat was evident.

'Sometimes it's like Kyoya-senpai is more like the scary yakuza I've heard of than Ritsu-kun.' Speaking of the awkward redheaded thug, Kasanoda had agreed to meet her here after classes.

He hadn't said how soon he'd come, but she had assumed he wouldn't be long. She didn't think he'd ditch her, but it was possible he may be intimidated by the thought of facing the hosts again. She couldn't say she blamed the poor guy…the boys could be pretty menacing at times, despite their good looks. 'Maybe I should have asked him to meet somewhere else, like the library or the courtyard…'

"Is something wrong?" She glanced up from staring at the door to see Kyoya watching her intently, his eyebrows arched in question. She must have had a dazed look on her face again…she tended to get that way when she let her thoughts wander.

Kasumi quickly shook her head, "No, no!" she tried to give him a placating grin, but then decided that while it may have been easy to fool someone gullible like Tamaki, Kyoya was a different matter. "…Well, actually it's just…Ritsu-kun is supposed to meet me here…my parents asked me to invite him to our house for dinner." she quickly explained when his eyes narrowed.

She honestly didn't understand why the host club seemed so wary of Kasanoda being around her. She could understand her brothers, but the others were nearly just as overprotective! Maybe they were afraid it would take time away from her hosting responsibilities.

She didn't think anything about Kasanoda himself seemed really threatening. Once you got over the natural scowl and inherited gang status… and she had seen for herself how sweet he really was underneath the tough guy exterior. She just felt a little sorry for him, people always being scared off by his appearance before they got to know the real him.

"I see." Kyoya replied, sounding curt. Kasumi began to get a little anxious that he was scheming something. Before she could ask him, the collective gasp in the room and the suddenly tense atmosphere made her turn toward the door in dread. Sure enough, Kasanoda was standing awkwardly in the door frame, looking lost and more than a little embarrassed as bright red rose petals danced in his face. She really had to wonder how that happened everytime someone opened the door...

"H-hey, isn't that..." one girl started frantically.

"Y-yeah! It's the yakuza from class 1-D!"

"What should we do? There's no where to run. Maybe if we just don't look that way...?"

Hushed exclamations slowly drifted toward her and she knew Kasanoda had to be feeling out of place. Kasumi knew she had to rescue her friend, and fast. She began rising from her seat while everyone was still focused on the dilemma of Kasanoda showing up.

The hosts studied the looks on their guests' faces and silently looked at each other, wondering how to handle it. Haruhi looked toward Tamaki, who was floundering to placate a girl clinging to him, and sent him a sharp look. When he caught her eye he gulped nervously. Tamaki shakily pointed a finger toward himself and mouthed "me?" incredulously.

"Go!" she hissed, glaring.

Tamaki of course made a show of rising to stroll toward their unexpected guest, much to the awe of his fans. Kasumi paused from inching out of her seat to see what the host king would do, as curious as everyone else.

"Oh wow, isn't Tamaki so brave?" one girl breathed. The other hosts heard this and mentally rolled their eyes. Anyone could practically see how his knees were knocking together. But they had to look like they actually had some faith in their leader, didn't they?

Kasanoda watched him, not really sure what to make of the blonde who was approaching him. As far as he could tell, the guy was just...odd. "Ahem," Tamaki cleared his throat grandly. "Welcome to the host club, kind sir." he made a sweeping motion to the room of staring people behind him. "We usually don't get many male patrons, I admit, but perhaps our reputation has piqued your interest?"

Kasanoda blinked, "Uh, I just-"

"No! No, don't say another word!" Tamaki motioned for him to stop with a hand. "I can tell by the look on your face that you grew curious and wished to partake in our lovely club~ Luckily, our hosts aren't a discriminating bunch and will cater to you, no matter your preference!" he exclaimed passionately as he led a flustered Kasanoda further into the room by the arm. It was easy to see Tamaki was slipping into his normal theatrics the more confident he became.

"Now! Tell me what it is you desire? Is it...the cool type?" He pointed to Kyoya. "Or maybe...the boy lolita type?" He gestured toward Hunny this time. "We also have the strong silent type, the natural type, the little devils, the angelic type," he pointed to each one of the hosts, including Kasumi in turn before pausing dramatically as he turned back to Kasanoda, "Or just maybe, you'd prefer me, the princely type." h" finished, pressing both hands to his chest in a swoon. Kasanoda gaped, the guests gawked, and the rest of the club could only guffaw at their boss' seer idiocy.

"The idiot king does it again." Haruhi muttered. Kasanoda was so flushed he was almost fuschia and clearly had no response to Tamaki offering up himself. Kasumi decided that it would be a good time to act and rushed forward to stand at her friend's side. "A-actually, Ritsu-kun is here to see me!" the girl grinned sheepishly, grabbing the redheaded boy's arm. "I-isn't that right, Ritsu-kun?"

He quickly nodded, staring into her big, pleading eyes. It wasn't like he had any complaints about a rescue. He decided he could really use one right about now. Tamaki deflated slightly, realizing he had probably made a fool of himself. Ever quick to rebound, he perked back up and gave Kasumi an approving grin. "Your first customer?!"

Sensing another potential disaster on the horizon so soon after having one averted, Kasumi vehemently shook her head. "N-no it's nothing like that, Ritsu-kun is just here because," she began protesting.

"No need to explain, Kasumi darling, show us what a brilliant host you are!" he gushed encouragingly. He plowed on ahead, pushing the reluctant pair toward an empty table that had already been set up for Kasumi to entertain. Everyone could only continue to stare as Tamaki had them seated in the blink of an eye and stepped back to watch what he considered to be "the host club magic". The orange-haired girl and the bashful boy met eyes and blushed. She gave him a silent look apologizing for him getting dragged into this and he managed to give her a small smile of reassurance. "Y-you don't have to do this if you don't want to?" she whispered.

"No it's c-cool." he stuttered, rubbing his head.

It was amazing that the two of them, both awkward as they were, got through a successful hour of talking as host and guest. Neither had been expecting to be put in the situation so suddenly, but by the time everyone left, the guests had a whole new reason to gush.

Apparently they thought watching Kasanoda and Kasumi interact was the most adorable thing they had ever witnessed. Kasumi couldn't be happier. In one afternoon, the school's perception of Kasanoda as a scary thug had changed to that of an adorably awkward teddy bear and Tamaki had told her she was well on her way to being a fully recognized host.

'One challenge down and one to go,' Kasumi thought, walking toward the limo where her brothers stood waiting after bidding the rest of the hosts goodbye. It had taken her a minute to get away from Mei, Momoka and Sakuya after they insisted on apologizing to Kasanoda about always avoiding him and then once again swooned over the sight of Ritsu and Kasumi together.

Kasanoda fidgeted nervously at her side and she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, they promised me they'd behave." she assured gently.

Kasanoda took one look at the Hitachiin boys and couldn't help but have his doubts. Kasumi seemed to genuinely believe they were going to give him a chance, though. Hikaru and Kaoru kept perfect poker faces as they allowed their sister to get into the car first, then Kasanoda, before boarding. As Kasumi helped a fumbling Kasanoda with his seatbelt (of course causing him to blush harder), she was perfectly unaware of the conspiratorial looks her brothers shared over her head.

Hikaru and Kaoru had telepathic communication, if ever there was such a thing between siblings, down to an art. Hikaru gave his brother a smug look. "Hey, let's make sure you make Casanova feel welcome at dinner tonight, okay?"

Kaoru nodded giddily in response, "Wouldn't dream of anything less bro."

I am sorry if this chapter seemed in anyway rushed or wasn't as fluffy as the first two, but I admit I lost steam for it after being away so long. Plus, I wanted to hurry up and start adding canon events from the anime, starting with episode four, the arrival of Renge (Kyoya's delusional fan-girl in case anyone forgot). So I promise I will try to get the next chapter out post-haste (I've already started the rough outlining for it) and to include more fluff and funny moments. Kasanoda will not appear in EVERY chapter based off an episode since I am trying to follow canon to an extent (of course with the exception of Kasumi existing~), as much as I love him. He's so adorable! But, Nekozawa will make an appearance or two at some point, along with Haruhi's dad and other wacky characters. So stick around please!

Note! Kasumi's three female classmates (Sakuya Harada, Momoka Umeda and Mei Tomodachi) are not my characters! I don't know whether or not they're in the manga, but in the anime, they are some of the first girls to request Haruhi at the host club (of course thinking she's a guy) and subsequently they all are wooed by how "in touch with his feminine side" 'he' is, and pop in and out randomly in certain episodes.

They're never given names, as far as I know, and just for the sake of possibly needing some filler characters in a future scene at some point, I decided to have them befriend Kasumi and be her "girlfriends". I mean sure, hanging out with a bunch of cute guys (and one other girl) all day is fine, but a girl's gotta have some quality time with other girls occasionally ;).

So there you have it. I made up their names, but they are still technically property of Bisco Hatori. Just wanted to go ahead and say that~ XD Please review if you want to read more!

P.S. The much anticipated dinner scene will take place next chapter! Look forward to more of Yazuha's embarrassing antics and possibly a little dinner crashing. XD Also, even though it's early and there won't be any established pairings for a long time, any ideas of which boy or boy(s) -yes I am willing to consider a triangle as the final pairing- you think Kasumi should end up with. You can also make suggestions of fluffy scenes you'd like to see between her and any of our charming hosts. Of course you don't have to ask for triplet fluff because that will be thrown in throughout the story regardless. I even got a couple of people requesting a possible incest triangle and I am also willing to take it into consideration if enough people show an interest in it. 'Til next time!