CHAPTER 4:
WHEN HIKARU WAS FIRST DANNI'D
We had been in Japan attending Ouran for roughly two months now, and I was passing through the neighborhood when I saw the lights on in the Hitachiin mansion. I decided to stop by to see what was to be seen. I knew Ash was at their place since Kaoru was making her a, quote un-quote, fashionable dress.
Instead of seeing Ash with experimental cloth draped off her with Kaoru on his knees, I found Hikaru drying his hair with a towel. He had just got out of the shower, and he had a towel wrapped around his waist.
Made perfect sense to say something; this wouldn't be the first time I purposely Danni'd someone. I decided it was probably a good idea to compliment him on some part of his delicious physique. Why not say something like…
"Nice ass," I said quietly.
"…AAAAHHHHH!" That boy freaked out big time. He still couldn't see me.
Kaoru and Ash showed up right after Hika calmed down. "Nice ass," Ash commented smoothly. Unfortunately, this made Hika freak out again.
"THAT'S WHAT SHE JUST SAID! SHE JUST STARTED TALKING FROM NOWHERE WHILE I WAS IN THE BUFF!"
"You sure are buff…" my disembodied voice echoed.
Looking around, Ash had an expression of absolute boredom on her face. "That's all? Dude, you've just been Danni'd, that's all. Come on Kaoru, you need to finish my dress… By the way, she's probably hanging from the ceiling."
"DON'T YOU CARE THAT SHE JUST CAME FROM NOWHERE AND IS TALKING ABOUT MY NAKED BODY?" Hika was near hysterics.
"What? Don't you like me?" My voice had a hint of hurt.
"Actually, I'm used to it by now." Ash replied casually, "It's actually something that kind of grows on you. It's something that you learn to expect and love about her…" she shrugged as Kaoru followed her out.
"WAIT! DON'T LEAVE MEEE!"
"What? You really don't like me?" I was standing a few feet behind him when I spoke. He spun around and almost dropped his towel. I smiled smugly as I continued, "You know, I sure like you. Although, you're no Takashi Morinozuka…"
He spun around like a madman trying to keep track of me as I slid in and out of the shadows. "You don't still have wet dreams about me, do you Hika?"
He blushed as he mumbled, "Maybe…"
I smiled, and whispered lustily, "Well then, what do you plan on doing about it? Because believe it or not, I want you, Hikaru Hitachiin…" Melting into the shadows, I watched him shiver. "I'm waiting on you now…"
"…Ash-chan! Kaoru! Wait for me!" I laughed my disembodied laugh as I watched him make his escape in his loose-fit, 400 thread count, 100% cotton towel.
"So immature, although there is tomorrow nights' shower…"
(Ash's POV)
"…Ash-chan! Kaoru! Wait for me!" Hikaru shrieked as he made his 'escape' in his Multi-million dollar towel.
"Aren't you missing a few things, Hika?" asked Kaoru successfully masking his urge to laugh.
"I am? Like what?" Hikaru was still shaking at what had just happened. All though Danni didn't really do anything to him. It just scarred him for life that she got passed their security system.
"Oh, I don't know… how about, your pants?" Kaoru pointed at the towel.
"And where's the rest of your clothes?" I chimed in, not bothering to suppress my own laughter.
"Uh, you think you could get them for me, Ash?" Hika asked.
"No need for me to do anything. Look," I pointed at the chair behind him. Where Danni had neatly laid out his clothes (Boxers included). Not to mention that she made sure they were color coordinated with his hair and eyes so he'd look good if he decided to go out.
"How did…" Hikaru stuttered and pointed with large eyes.
"I'm not ALL bad, Hika. Just MOSTLY bad…" she laughed her maniacal laugh as she leapt from their roof.
(Danni's POV)
Now that I'd had my fun, I would go to Takashi's house. He enjoyed it when I spent the night at his place.
I enjoyed sleeping in his bed. It was irresistibly comfortable, and he liked having my body warm him during the night. I'd sleep with my head on his chest with his arm around me. We never do anything, but it's nice to see his face when he wakes up with me next to him. He'd stroke my face and smile.
Tonight, I was going to sleep in his bed, at his right side. And I was going to eat breakfast while wearing one of his shirts. Most of them smelled like me, anyway. Not because we did anything. I just like to wear his clothes when I come over, that's all.
(Jody POV)
I'm fairly sure Danni will tell you this, too; that asking Ash about this would lead you to your immediate death, I mean. Although dragging good gossip (not the "Kyoya likes Tamaki" kind, but the "Ash did what?" kind) out of Danni is not as unlikely as you'd think either…
Sorry, I got side tracked. Club hours started like always: we all changed into "Random Acts of Cosplay", as Ash so bluntly calls it. After that, we all sat around waiting for our faithful (and slightly deranged) customers.
Ashley sat down at her table and I momentarily wondered if she was aware of how elegant she looked. Really, she reminded me of Cleopatra, or Marie Antoinette, or some other great Queen we talked about in World History.
Then again, it might have been the costume talking. It was an 1800's Saloon Girl gown that made her look like n Old Western show girl. It was completed with accurate Fishnet stockings and Garter (rather suspiciously provided by the flirtatious Hitachiin twins) as well as a costume Ponytail holder. A big red feather that matched the stripes in her hair stuck out of the top. Her red crushed velvet dress showed off her curves in a most pleasing manner, as well.
"Ash-chan, you look so cute!" Honey said, bouncing in on a miniature pony like a kid cowboy. He looked so much like a little kid, it almost made me sick. Seriously, the kid's almost 18 years old! He has to stop with the Pre-K act!
"Thanks, Sempei…" She was sensing the Tamaki-ness in Honey's words.
"KAWAII! Ash-chan, you look so SEXY!" Kaoru shouted, scaring the crap out of the Baka-from-Hell (as me and Danni secretly call Hikaru… we also sometimes refer to him as 'Wet Dreamer').
"I… uh… yeah, thanks, Kaoru." I could tell Ash was upset about something he said, but I wasn't sure about what. I didn't know Ash as well as I know Danni, but I can still recognize hurt in someone's eyes when I see it.
Ash tapped her foot nervously in her heels and her blue eyes looked at everything in the room except the Host Club, Danni and me. She locked eyes with Kyoya, who's grey eyes flashed with obvious understanding before returning to his usual blank (I always thought of it as more Demonic, really) expression.
Just as elegant Ash was falling to pieces, an adult woman with long, thick, gorgeous red hair stepped gracefully into the room. "The twin's Mom," Haruhi coughed in my ear. (I was sitting down and she (yes; SHE) was behind me).
"Hikaru, Kaoru," the twins were strangely boring as their mother airily glanced around the room. "I can see why you like this Club so much!" And then her eyes locked on Ash, who was already preparing to run out of the room.
I sent a text to Danni as the sound of Ash's foot tapping grew more rapid.
{W T F R U? Ash is losing it! WD & Co's Mom showed up… think she's going to kill Ash!} Really, I shouldn't have been surprised when a cell phone went off from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Danni came down with a barely audible 'thud' trying to text me back. Yet, she still managed to land on her feet.
"You've got to put that on vibrate from now on," Ash told Danni.
Coming to stand between me and Mori (still not sure when he got there), Danni leaned towards me. "I was well aware ash was about to run away screaming," she said. Darkly, she added, "I can't help: I can't kill anyone in this thing!" She was wearing a deep, deep blue (almost black) version of Ash's outfit.
In fact, her particular outfit also had a few additions: In her ponytail was a big blue feather with rhinestones along the spine. Her corset was tied so as to show off her not inconsiderable top-heaviness. Her dark blackish-brown eyes flashed in sharp contrast with the brightness of her diamond necklace. The Club Dressing Room didn't have such jewelry in stock, so I'm assuming that Mori had bought it for her (it's not like he can't afford buying expensive jewels on a whim).
Ash started laughing and crying at the same time, but after awhile it tapered down to a low groan. After a few minutes, even that tapered into silence. There was an increasingly awkward silence in which everyone sat or stood staring at one another. Suddenly, Ash's phone went off. At least, we knew it had gone off when Ash pulled her Galaxy S out of the front of her… ahem… corset.
"Oh, hell…" she said, looking totally upset.
"Is that your mystery date?" Kyoya asked slyly. Well that was news to me…
"Yes," Ash muttered. "He wants to take me out for Sushi in Tokyo."
"That's funny; my cousin has a sushi date in Toky-" Then it hit me. "Oh, god, Ash… Say you didn't?"
"Didn't what?" Kyoya asked. I looked at him. He was sincere. Crap…
"She wouldn't," Danni chided. She turned on Ash, "You wouldn't, right?"
"Weeellllllll…" Ash drawled slowly.
"… Oh, my God, Ashley! He's a womanizing, spiteful, deceitful BASTARD! How could you?" I couldn't believe this!
"He's not THAT bad… he's actually kind of nice when you get past the…"
"Past what? Past the pitch black, swirling vortex that he calls his heart?"
"Well no, that's just a front he puts on," Is she DEFENDING HIM?
"I just don't want you to get hurt." Keep the peace, got to keep the-
"Really?" she said icily. "I had no idea!" Wait a minute, what now?
"Ash, come on. Don't be like that!"
"You think I'm stupid because I'm blonde? You think I'm a 'ho because I wear my hair in weird colors and like to party? What you don't know is that I have a 4.0 GPA (which is, like, 2.5 points higher than yours) and I want to be an author. You don't know that, despite your beliefs, you are a terrible liar. You don't care about me being hurt or not. If you did, you'd tell me the truth, Jody 'Flash' Callahan, rather than letting me hope desperately that you'll realize that I loved you! No, you don't care! Because if you did, you would've told me you were GAY! I'm sick of being the Clueless Party Girl! And Jesse, he understands that!" Ash was near tears and screaming.
"Ash, I do care…" Why would she start freaking out all the sudden?
"Prove it." By now, the whole Club was staring. Even Danni was shocked.
"What's my favorite color?" Ash snapped.
"I don't know… pink?"
"My favorite flower?"
"Rose,"
"My favorite song?"
"Umm… 'Mine' by Taylor Swift,"
"Favorite form of self expression?"
"Dance,"
"What's my middle name, Jody?"
"Margret?" I said after a pause. Suddenly, she just started sobbing. Not crying; sobbing. "Marie? Hum… Miranda? I don't know; something that starts with an 'M', right?"
"It's Theresa. Real close." She said venomously. "By the way; my favorite color is black, my favorite flower is an Amaranth, and my song is 'Secrets' by One Republic. The only thing you got right was my favorite form of self expression." She shook her head. "You call your cousin a heartless, womanizing, bastard, but he knows more about me than you do… and you are my best friend. Or, at least I thought you were." Ash turned away from me, tears streaking her face.
"Ash, I…" I reached out after her, but she flinched away, shaking her head.
"Jody 'Flash' Callahan, I never want to see you again." Her voice was flat, but filled with such sadness. I retracted my hand.
"Fine; if that's what you really want." I threw my hand up and shook my head in defeat. I didn't really know what else I could do. I had always known that Ash had a thing for me, but the fact that she knew my secret all this time…
I looked at Danni with large eyes, unsure until she locked eyes with me and slowly shook her head. No; no Danni hadn't told her. Ash had known all along. She's known all along that we had been lying to her…
"You know, it's funny," I said softly. "You knew all this time Danni and I had been holding something back from you, and you never confronted us about it, not even once. You never confronted us… until now…" I turned to walk away and make myself disappear from Ash's life forever. She was right; I wasn't the best friend I had pretended to be. She deserved better than a friend that was willing to lie to her face before he would let someone learn his secret. "Goodbye, Ashley,"
She shocked me yet again. "No!" I felt my sleeve tighten. "Don't go!"
I turned and saw Ash hanging onto my arm. "You know, you're sending me mixed signals here." She looked confused. I'd said it in English.
"I can't push people away because they've seen me for who I am anymore. I understand that now. I need to know that people like the real me, and not just 'Bubbly Air-Head' me that everyone sees because that's what they expect." Ash started crying silent tears as she replied in English. Smiling, I reached out for her. Ash came into my arms like old times, and I hugged my best friend.
"How long have you known…well, ya-know?" I asked in Japanese.
"Come on, Jody. After you turned down every girl in school it was kind of obvious." Since she was speaking in Japanese again, everyone (save Kyoya and Danni, who had understood the English as well) could understand us again. Turning to the dazed group, Ash spoke to everyone. "Sorry, everybody," She smiled, ruefully. "It was nothing; just a complete and total emotional breakdown on my part. Go home now, nothing to see here."
"Boys," I heard Mrs. Hitachiin say. "That is a delightful dress style the girls are wearing!"
"Thanks, mother," they said simultaneously. "We were inspired," I laughed as I watched Ash's face pale.
(Danni's POV)
It was about a week or so later when I was walking down the hallways, that I noticed someone sneaking around. I found this odd, because normally I was the only one who did any sneaking around at Ouran Academy. I figured I should probably investigate what was going on before something bad happened, so I hid my school clothes behind a loose baseboard I found the other day, and then climbed the pillar next to me until I was hanging upside down from a chandelier. Damn, I loved doing that.
"You sure no one saw you?" This was interesting, if not slightly strange. Here I am hanging out above three kids talking about being followed. Wait a minute… three people? I counted off the people below me as I gave a shocked student an evil glare from my perch.
That was Jesse directly below me. I knew that name. He shouldn't even be here, since he wasn't an Ouran Student... He was also Jody's cousin. Well actually they were brothers, but besides me I don't think anyone knew. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking: How the heck do you know if he doesn't? Well, I had Kyoya do some digging for me. What? The guy owed me if he wants me to keep my vow of secrecy for him. Heh, Heh… you want to know, you can either ask Ash, or ask me later.
Hiding in the shadows, was Kaoru, only he was alone, and by 'alone' I mean no Hikaru. This could only have meant that the girl standing in front of Jesse was Ash. I had found out by the end of the first month here that the only real amount of time the twins spent separated involved Kaoru following Ash around like a lost puppy. He was obsessed ever since he found out her measurements for a dress the twins were making. I'll have to tell you about it later, because it was funny beyond belief.
"Of course I wasn't followed; I know how to sneak around!" Obviously, he did not otherwise I would not have been hanging from a chandelier over head. Ash knew I was everywhere and that I usually knew everything before it happened. Hardly anything got past me. I watched and listened carefully to the exchange that followed.
"I don't want to hide anymore, Ash," He wasn't hiding very well as it was…
"I know Jesse, but it's only until I can get Kaoru off my back, I promise!" Was Ash ever going to get him off her back? I thought it was highly unlikely.
"And how long will that take? I don't want to be secretive. If I wanted secrets, I'd be with Danni or Mori!" The dude made a valid argument, not to mention he was pretty spot-on with the Kaoru thing...
"Why aren't you, then?" Ash sounded smug, and why wouldn't she be? She totally had the upper hand here.
"I don't know! I don't know why I wait for you!" Jesse sounded so confused and agitated. So Un-Jesse from what Flash told me about the guy.
Leaning close to him, I barely heard Ash whisper, "It's because you know I'm worth waiting for…" At that she leaned over and kissed him.
Kaoru was barely controlling himself when he snuck down the hallway, keeping to the shadows so they wouldn't see him. Which they didn't…but I did.
Talking with Mori, I told him what I heard. "What should I do?"
He turned from me and looked silently off into the distance for awhile, thinking. The sunlight danced in his eyes, and they sparkled like deep blue Sapphires. It reminded me of the way Jody once said that my eyes glitter when I get a sneaky thought running through my head.
One time I saw my reflection when I was jumping across the rooftops one night. I was in Tokyo and I was on top of the tower. I was getting ready to jump down when I saw my face in the glass. My eyes were glittering, and it made me look dangerous and mysterious.
Still, I waited patiently for Mori to tell me what he thought. Mori doesn't say much, but I don't mind. I don't say that much, either.
Finally, he looked at me. "I think you should do whatever you think you should do. I'll handle Kaoru," He leaned towards me and whispered in my ear, "You know I've got your back, whatever you decide," Then he kissed me until I shivered with his touch.
'This is interesting; just wait until I tell Takashi…' I thought as I watched Jesse and Ash mack out in a closet. It was about a week since the whole thing with Ash, Jesse and Kaoru had taken place and I was in a hidden air duct making notes about the Host Club's private affairs.
I had already taken note of Honey's carrot eating (the vegetable, not the type of cake); Hikaru's lipstick fetish (rosy pink is not his color); Tamaki's picture of Kyoya in a swimsuit (it's quite disturbing, actually); Kyoya's practice dummy for telling Tamaki how he feels (it is really rather sad); and Kaoru's streaks around campus in the middle of the night (I didn't need to know that and I desperately wish I could forget). I already knew Takashi jumps on the roofs blindfolded at night (I race him a lot). However, I still needed some more info.
Shockingly, even with the whole Kaoru thing I just mentioned, this was beyond what I thought I was going to see. Normally I came to that particular closet to think and regroup. Sometimes I found Takashi waiting for me and I would kick him out because I wanted to be alone. Yeah, I would kick his hot butt out of my thinking closet. So imagine my surprise when I find Ash and Jesse in there.
I decided I would have a little fun. It had been awhile since I had Danni'd anyone, and I didn't want to lose my touch. Like always, there was no warning. I'm not saying how I got out that air duct (Cause Kyoya would stop up the hole… in a totally calm-yet-secretly-frantic way of course) all I'm saying is that I did. "You guys sure like to Mack out, don't you?"
"…AAAHHHHHHHH! Oh…" Dude fainted. I tried so hard not to laugh.
"How did you get in here, Danni?" Ash demanded.
(Ash's POV)
"…AAAHHHHHHHH! Oh…" Jesse fainted. Danni was tying so hard not to laugh and still managed to fail at it.
"How did you get in here, Danni?" I demanded.
Laughing, she turned on the lights. Sometime while I was looking down at the unconscious form of Jesse, I slipped back into the air duct. I was slow; it took me about 3 seconds to get through and close the door. Sitting there, I snickered as I heard Ash mutter, "Damn…"
(Danni's POV)
I moved silently down more shafts. 'I'll have to talk to Takashi and Kyoya about those two, but until then…' I settled down and watched Kyoya stutter through another tale of his feelings to a Tamaki dummy.
"Want some popcorn?"
"Takashi! Thanks, I'd love some."
"Did I miss anything?"
"No, he just started. This is fun to watch together, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
