Author's Note: This story was a collaboration type-a thing. The girl I wrote it with is on DeviantArt and you can find her under the name NeonObssessed! She's pretty great! I thank her very much for her help! I had all the odd chapters and she had the even so that's that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran or any of it's characters!
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Kazumi sat with her legs crossed and her chin resting on her hands. Misaki insisted going to buy new dresses for the upcoming dance. And by upcoming she meant the dance that was going to occur tonight. Kazumi was kind of a last minute kind of girl and had made it her mission to avoid the dress shopping. Finally Misaki was able to drag her out to a 'quaint' little store right off of campus. Kazumi raised her head as her friend walked out of the dressing room smiling.
"What do you think?" She asked knowing Kazumi would give her the blunt truth.
Kazumi looked at the yellow dress adorning Misaki's body and grimaced. The dress all together just fit her body awkwardly. It did her curves no justice. Plus, the sequined design across the chest was just flat out hideous.
Kazumi opened her mouth and made a gagging motion. "Gag me with a spork. The sight of it makes me violently ill."
Misaki rolled her eyes placing her hands on her hips. "It's not that bad." She sighed and walked back into the dressing room. She had a couple more dresses she could try on.
Kazumi let her eyes trail around the store bored out of her mind. Dress shopping just wasn't for her. Trying on a bunch of dressing was such a hassle, and Kazumi, to say the least, was just an all around lazy person. She turned her attention to the stores entrance as a group of guys walked in. Kazumi widened her eyes and furrowed her brows. Why in the world was the host club here? She bolted up and stomped over to the group of men.
"What the heck are you guys doing here?" Kazumi asked raising an eyebrow.
"Were grabbing our tuxes for tonight's ball, of course." Tamaki replied stepping in front of the others. Kazumi looked at him with the same confused expression.
"Don't you have someone to do that for you?"
Kyoya stepped out from behind Tamaki, adjusting his glasses. "Well normally that would be the case, . But today Tamaki decided he would like for us to take a small break, run this errand, and proceed to a lunch outing ."
Kazumi let out a sigh glancing back to the dressing room Misaki was occupying. "Whatever. Just hurry." Kazumi did not want Misaki to get all distracted with Mori and end up delaying their return home. She just wanted to curl up on her bed and take a had barely slept the night before and was extremely exhausted.
Honey walked past everyone and came up to Kazumi. "Wait Zumi-Chan. Do you want to come out and eat with us?" He tugged on her hand like a child would and gave her this disgustingly adorable smile.
Kazumi frowned look at the brown eyed boy. No. She did not want to go out and eat with them, most likely she couldn't afford the expensive place they planned on dining. She didn't want to let Misaki pay for her either. Besides she had plans. Her bed was waiting for her. "Uh-"
"We would love too!" Misaki jumped in cutting Kazumi off. Kazumi turned to see Misaki modeling a beautiful violet dress; it hugged her torso complimenting her feminine hips. The rest cascaded down stopping halfway on her calf. It was simple yet gorgeous.
"Wow. That is most definitely the one." Kazumi smiled approvingly.
Mori stood in the back his face a light let his eyes linger on Misaki for a couple moments before adjusting his gaze to Honey who had his eyes widened and his mouth smiling, "Whoa Miza-Chan! You look so pretty!"
Kaoru nodded his head in agreement his face flustered as well. "You look incredible." Hikaru snapped his head over to his twin giving him a look. "Uh-I mean the dress. It looks incredible. The designer did a great job." Kaoru spat out trying to cover his earlier compliment. Mori glanced over at the twin with a small look of aggravation.
Kazumi cleared her throat noticing the tension in the air. "Anyways... Misaki you should go buy the dress. It fits you pretty good. And we don't have time to get an exact fitting any ways." Kazumi shooed her over to the counter.
Misaki nodded her head walking towards the counter. Kazumi turned back to the Host club. "Anyways, about the whole lunch thing, yeah I don't think I can make it." She tried to look disappointed. "I am just too busy."
Misaki walked back over her dress draped over her hand and a receipt in the other. "Nonsense." Misaki cut in. "We will both be there."
Kazumi gave her the death glare and groaned inwardly.
Honey jumped around a little bit smiling. "Yay! Zumi-Chan and Miza-Chan are gonna eat with us!" He cheered in a sing-song voice.
"I guess we are." Kazumi whined mostly to herself. There really wasn't a choice on going now.
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Kazumi sat in a cushioned wooden chair with a plate of fancy tuna in front of her. Haruhi convinced her it was the most delicious food there was. Kazumi agreed. With every bite her mouth exploded with flavor. And the rice on the side was just as amazing.
"How is the food Zumi-Chan?" Honey asked with a mouth full of cake.
Kazumi laughed and nodded her head. "It's pretty amazing." She smiled taking another bite of her tuna.
Haruhi nodded her head, stuffing her face with fish. "Isn't it?"
Tamaki squealed randomly causing Kazumi to jump. His whole face lighting up, he wrapped his arms around Haruhi's head."AW MY HARUHI IS JUST SO ADORABLE WHEN SHE IS HANGING OUT WITH HER FRIENDS!" He shouted rubbing his face against hers. Haruhi slapped at Tamakis hands a look of annoyance on her face.
Misaki sat across from the two, her eyebrows raised. "Uh...How often does this happen."
Kyoya smartly adjusted his glasses, "An average of about six times a day."
Misaki widened her eyes. "That often?"
The twins nodded their heads simutanesouly. "Boss is a real perv." Hikaru stated.
Kaoru nodded his head in agreement, "The perviest!"
Tamaki sat there in shock his hands no longer gripping Haruhi's face. "I am no such thing!" He declared pointing an accusing finger.
Kazumi shrugged her shoulders. "You seem kind of creepy to me." Tamaki shrieked running off and stuffing his face into an emo corner occasionally letting out small whimpers. Misaki and Kazumi sat there dumbfounded. "What got into him?" Kazumi questioned her eyes fixed on the weirdo in the corner.
"This is what usually occurs after the earlier emotional explosion." Kyoya said as if it were obvious.
"Alrighty..." Kazumi nodded her head deciding to just except the strangeness around her.
Kyoya nodded along with her. He adjusted his glasses and clears his throat. "Well I suppose now is as good of a time as any to leave. We will divide the bill among all of us and then proceed back to Ouran to get ready for the dance." He waved his hand in the air signaling he was ready for the check. A waitress scurried over handing them a small folder. Kyoya shifted his glasses once more reading over the amount they owed and dividing the numbers in His head. "Two-hundred yen each." He concluded pulling out his wallet.
Kazumi gaped at him. "Two-hundred yen?" She squeaked pulling out her wallet right along with him. Even if she used all of this weeks lunch money she would be fifty yen short. She had spent all of her spending money getting ready for the dance with Misaki. Staring into her wallet she glanced around panicked. Everyone was pulling out their fair share casually as if I made no difference to them.
Standing up abruptly, Kazumi slipped out from behind her seat. "I'll be right back." She said walking out of the restaurant.
The air outside was gross and humid and the street was jam packed with cars. Taking back out her wallet Kazumi sighed. She would have to go back and face the music eventually, stepping out here was more of just a stall. She hated the insanely wealthy. Not having one worry when it came to money. It's not like Kazumi was poor or anything. They had enough money to get by and then some. So life was pretty good. Paying the fee for Ouran put a dent in their bank account but nothing they couldn't recover from. But normal people didn't spend Two-hundred yen on lunch. Kazumi sighed turning around. As she turned her face collided with someones chest. She tilted her head up to find Kyoya looking down at her expressionlessly. Kazumi stumbled back a little bit scratching her head. "Oops." She shrugged. "Sorry." She tried to walk around Kyoya, but someone reached out and grabbed her arm making her stop in her tracks. "Wha-" Kyoya had his hand gently wrapped around her arm and his eyes locked on to hers.
"Here." Kyoya said holding out Two-hundred yen. "I believe this covers your share."
Kazumi looked up at Kyoya confused. "Why would you give me money?" How would he know she couldn't cover her meal?
Kyoya looked at her, his hand still wrapped around her arm and the other offering her the Two-hundred yen. "Because, Miss. Ayaka. You need it. I know you wouldn't accept pity money so I am offering you a small loan. I expect a full repayment."
Kazumi looked at him numbly. "Of course I would pay you back. It's not like I am some charity case or something." She said looking at the money in his hand. "Why would you help me? I doubt you would do this for anyone else." She asked him once more, curious.
Kyoya raised an eyebrow. "Don't flatter yourself . You are no different than the others I am simply saving you from embarrassment. You should thank me and not question me."
Kazumi knew better. "But you gain nothing from this. It wouldn't benifit you. Only me. So why would you do it?"
Kyoya looked down at the money and the grip he had on the girls wrist. He lifted her wrist up and in one swift move placed the money in Kazumi's open palm. He let go of her arm and walked past her towards the eatery.
"Kyoya?" Kazumi called looking down at the yen in her hands.
Kyoya paused for a second, his back still turned towards her. " ?"
"Thank you."
Kyoya smiled walking back into the restaurant.
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Kazumi sat on the edge of her bed as Misaki messed around with her hair. The dance was in less than two hours and they had done just about nothing besides buy dresses to get ready for it. Misaki pinned a couple bobby pins into Kazumi's hair to secure the braid around her head. Misaki had insisted doing Kazumi's hair and she decided on putting her hair into a French braid that wrapped around Kazumi's whole head.
Kazumi stood up and walked over to the mirror. "Wow Misaki, It looks pretty dang good." She ran her hand over the braid. Tonight she would probably look decent. Maybe people wouldn't even recognize her, dressed up, with makeup on, her hair not just thrown into a messy bun. She might even look….pretty.
"Why thank you. I really do try." Misaki smiled pulling her hair out of curlers. Her hair dropped out of each curler landing in thick brunette waves onto her shoulders. She walked over to the mirror and stood next to Kazumi, clipping the front of her brown hair back. "There, Hair is all done. Now we just need to do makeup, put on our dresses, and slip on some shoes. "
Kazumi groaned pulling out some bags of makeup. "This is going to take forever." She turned to Misaki and smiled. "You know what we need?"
Misaki raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Some tunes." Kazumi pulled out her Ipod and blasted the music. She reached forward and grabbed Misaki's hands starting to dance in the most unflattering fashion.
Misaki giggled dancing around with her. They had had been in some need of silly and random and this was as close as it got.
Kazumi gripped a hair brush from off her dresser and belted out the lyrics into it, as if it were a microphone. She dropped down to her knees and fist pumped the air really getting into it.
Misaki burst out laughing, falling onto Kazumi's bed. "Kazumi….Stop! Your…Killing….Me!" She shouted out in between fits of laughter.
Kazumi came back onto her knees and fell back onto the bed besides Misaki giggling.
After the laughter died down Misaki sighed. "Okay we should really finish getting ready for the dance."
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Kazumi followed Misaki into the ballroom wobbling a little bit on her heels. She was wearing a red dress that stopped just around her ankles, the dress strapless and had a black belt wrapped around her waist. Her lipstick matched the exact shade of her dress and she wore a tad bit of eyeliner and mascara. She leaned over towards Misaki, "I feel like a Barbie." She complained looking out into the crowd of people.
"You look great." She assured, walking forwards in her the purple dress from earlier. Her hair cascaded down in perfect curls. She wore a light lip gloss and her light blue eye shadow accented her eyes perfectly.
Kazumi rolled her eyes looking through the crowd. She was looking for someone in particular. Her eyes locked onto him and she turned to Misaki. "I'll be right back. Just gonna grab some punch. Or whatever you rich people drink at dances." She walked as fast as she could trying to stay balanced in her black heels.
Misaki tilted her head watching her friend hurry away. "Alright…" She sighed letting her voice trail off. She stood there in the middle of the room, waiting alone.
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Kazumi rushed towards Mori and Honey almost tripping tons of times. She stopped in front of them trying to catch her breath.
Honey's face turned a light crimson. "Wow…Zumi-chan…You look pretty."
Kazumi sucked in some air and then let it out slowly. "Thanks Honey." She turned to Mori and gave him a crooked smile. "Now, down to business."
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Misaki stood there waving occasionally to random people who looked her way.
"Misaki?" Kaoru asked walking over to her. "You look stunning."
Misaki turned towards him raising an eyebrow. "You mean me? Or the dress?"
Kauru laughed scratching the back of his head. "You of course."
Misaki offered a smile. "You too." Honestly she was a little surprised to see Kaoru over here without Hikaru. She could have sworn were attached at the hip or something.
Kaoru looked around. "Hey where is the girl version of Kyoya?"
Misaki laughed a little. "Kazumi? She went to get some punch five or so minutes ago. I wonder if she got lost along the way."
Kaoru cracked a smile. "How long have you guys known each other?"
Misaki shrugged a little. "For a while. Maybe like four years? If I were to label someone my best friend it would be her…"
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Kazumi glanced over at Misaki who was now talking to one of the twins. She shrugged turning back to Mori. "You ready?"
Mori nodded his head, glancing over at Misaki. "Yes."
Kazumi grinned. "Awesome. Go get her tiger." She gave him a wink shoving him off in the direction of Misaki watching intently.
Misaki turned her head as Mori approached. She raised her eyebrows until he was standing in front of her.
"May I have this dance?" He asked holding out a hand.
Misaki widened her eyes blushing profusely. "Uh-Yeah. Sure. I would love too." She reached out taking his hand glancing back at Kaoru.
"Excuse me."
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Kazumi stared at the two her eyes trained on their every move. "I wonder what their talking about." She mumbled.
"Well, most likely, Misaki is doing most of the talking." Kyoya stated.
Kazumi turned her head looking over at Kyoya. "Really? Because I thought Mori was a huge talker." She said sarcastically rolling her eyes.
Kyoya smirked. "Well if you really want to know you'll have to take a closer look." Kyoya held out a hand raising an eyebrow. "May I have this dance?"
Kazumi pursed her lips glancing once more towards Mori and Misaki. "I suppose." She gripped his hand walking out to the dance floor with him.
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Misaki slipped her hand into Mori's and he pulled her out onto the dance floor with the other couples. A hesitant hand rested on her waist and Misaki reached up to place hers on his shoulder. At first, Mori seemed nervous as he started moving her to the music. She glanced over her shoulder at Kaoru, who looked exceptionally ticked off by Mori cutting in on his conversation. He cleared his throat and Misaki's attention immediately snapped back to Mori.
"I ... Didn't interrupt, did I?" he asked, noticing her gaze.
"Oh no! No, not at all. I don't mind at all... I think Kaoru might have though ..."
"Mm ..." was his simple reply. Misaki swallowed, adjusting her hand on his shoulder, Mori did the same on her waist. He really did not care if Kaoru minded. Misaki was not one of the Host Club customers. Not a toy for the twin to play with.
"You look nice ..." Misaki said, gazing over his tuxedo before her eyes returned to his face.
"So do you ..." Mori said quietly. The both of them blushed darkly and it was silent for several more moments.
"I ... I'm glad you guys are here. It's been so long ... I've really missed you and Honey-Chan."
"Mitsukuni missed you too." Misaki pressed her lips into a line, stepping a little closer to him during the dance. Her eyes turned away.
"And ... And what about you Takashi? Did you miss me?" Misaki felt his hand lift from her waist, and her eyes widened when he rested his finger under her chin, tilting her head back until she was looking at him.
"I missed you very much, Misaki." he murmured.
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Kazumi watched the Mori and Misaki grinning. "Wow they are really hitting it off. Like REALLY hitting it off." She turned back Kyoya.
"Indeed they are." He agreed, "I have never seen Takashi form so many full sentences in one night."
Kazumi nodded her head. "Well I guess my work here is done. If you want we can stop dancing." She looked up at Kyoya raising an eyebrow.
"If that is what you desire." He said raising an eyebrow back at her.
Kazumi rolled her eyes. "I'm giving you an out. If you want to stop dancing with me then we can stop."
Kyoya lightly shrugged his shoulders locking eyes with her. "Well, Stopping in the middle of the song might be a little odd. We can continue to dance for a couple more, I suppose."
Kazumi tilted her head. "Alright." She shifted her hold on his shoulder. "So why are you such a jerk all the time?" She asked trying to start a conversation going. She really wasn't good at socializing.
Kyoya cracked a small smile. "I'm a jerk?"
Kazumi shrugged. "Yeah, but it's okay. So am I."
Kyoya let out a small chuckle.
Kazumi's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. "Whoa. Were you... laughing?" She gasped. "What is this craziness."
Kyoya pressed his hand into the small of Kazumi's back pulling her in closer. " , I'm not as artificial and rude as you portray me."
"Oh yeah?" Kazumi questioned. "Pro-"
Kazumi got cut off by an announcement, "Now announcing tonight's spotlight dance!" The voice paused for a second, "Takashi Morinozuka and Misaki Saito!"
