Entering Ouran High School

Chapter 8: Welcome to the Higurashi Shrine

Soon after Kagome entered the third music room, she was engulfed with a multitude of roses. She stood frozen for a moment before she scanned the area and saw Honey and Mori at the far side of the room with an open box. She approached the two and asked politely,

"Ano, Honey-sempai what are you and Mori-sempai doing with the flowers?"

The two seniors were startled to have not felt her presence and the small blonde tried to hide what they were doing from her inspection while giving a stuttered reply,

"F-f-lowers? Where? We aren't doing anything, right, Takashi?" He said this while trying to kick the half-empty box of roses.

"Ah..." Mori affirmed while trying to hide his own embarrassment of being found in such a situation. Kagome, on the other hand, eyed them sceptically and continued her line of questioning.

"Really sempai, you don't actually think that I'll believe you for a moment?" She approached them slowly while looking like the cat that caught the canary and continued, "Now, what are you really doing with those flowers? From what Kyouya-sempai told me before, those are supposed to be used upon the opening of the club today, right? I wonder what the others would think if they realize that one of the club's props are rendered useless by our elders. Surely, it will decrease their respect, but then again that only applies to Mori-sempai since nobody would think that he's capable of such conduct. Or perhaps they would think that Honey-sempai has decided that flowers are better desserts than cakes and has merely dragged poor Mori-sempai into his crusade. Basically, that would only be a lose-lose situation for you, ne, Honey-sempai?" She finished with a sing-song voice while towering over the sweet-toothed third year.

"Kago-chan's sooo mean! Usa-chan only thought that it's a box of cake and tried to open it. Usa-chan didn't think that the flowers will scatter around the room! Besides, why are you only focusing on me? Takashi is here too, you know." He answered tearfully hoping to win over his kouhai.

Unfortunately for him, Kagome only grinned and answered, "Because one, you lied to me when I asked so nicely. Second, I find it interesting that you would blame your own stuff toy just to get out trouble. Third, Mori-sempai is only following you to keep an eye on you. And fourth, it's fun to tease you, sempai..." She giggled a bit before smirking at the blonde, "Besides, you don't really believe every word that I have said about their reaction, ne, sempai?"

Honey blushed and replied a little unsurely, "Of course not! I know that you're only trying to be mean..."

"Hontou ka?"

"Hai...?"

"Buck up sempai, you turning as red as a tomato..." She stood to her proper height and turned to Mori who was watching at them with amusement and told him to his surprise, "Be that as it may, Mori-sempai, I don't think that the others would appreciate the mess that your curiosity has brought so I think that it's best to clean up before they arrive, ne?" She inclined her head to indicate the direction to which the petals have flown. The quiet young man nodded at her and followed Kagome into to get a broom.

After their clean up, the two were surprised to see Kyouya sipping some coffee beside Honey who was now eating his cake all traces of the previous event forgotten in favour of deciding which flavour is better.

"Hello, Kyouya-sempai. Have you been here for long?" Kagome inquired at the young man.

Kyouya inclined his head in agreement and answered, "I've been here as soon as you started your teasing of Honey-sempai." He smirked when the blonde made a choking noise beside him. He didn't think that the senior has been able to tell he was there the same with the other two, busy as they are with their short conversation.

"Ah, sou ka." Kagome answered; a bit peeved that she was unable to sense his presence. I'm just thankful that Aniki isn't here to witness my blunder. She sighed and sat on the other side of Kyouya and talked animatedly about the day, excluding her encounter with some annoying girl. Kyouya noticed her omission and began to think of reasons as to why she would keep such things. The two seniors, however, decided to listen to the two trying to determine how their kouhai has managed to make the Shadow King become more talkative.

"Kago-chan's really special, ne, Takashi." Honey mumbled towards his cousin who merely gave an affirmative, "Ah."

After a few minutes, the rest of the host club entered the room and proceeded to prepare for their duties. They have forgone wearing costumes to help Kagome integrate into the club.

As soon as they opened, the girls flocked into the room and went towards their designated people. Seeing that there's someone new into the group, some girls decided to approach him and asked whether it is alright to designate him for the day, to which she replied with a polite smile and a, "Of course, hime-san-tachi. I'm always here to humbly serve you."

Upon hearing this, the girls oohed and aahed and some even fainted after seeing her smile. She led the girls to the place prepared for her and began asking what dessert they would like to have. When asked why she joined, she only replied, "Ah, it's simple really, I have always wanted to be of service to others and I thought that why not join this club." She cringed at the lie and wince a bit more when she heard the girls gushed out how, "Aww, Kagome-kun's such a gentleman. Always thinking of others!" and other similar terms.

She scanned her surroundings for a moment and saw that Kyouya wasn't entertaining anyone. She grinned a little when the Ohtori-heir caught her eye. She turned back to her customers and said a bit apologetically, "Ne, minna, would you mind if I invite Kyouya-sempai to join us? I believe that he's been getting lonely over there." The girls merely replied a big "no" and continued to her praises of how "he's being so considerate of his sempai."

Kyouya saw her approached so he raised an elegant eyebrow in question. She merely smiled and said, "Come with me for a bit sempai, you're way too focus on that records of yours, you know. Come and have some fun with us."

"I don't know, maybe, I'd decline seeing that I seem to believe that you're only using me to distract your customers."

"Now, now sempai, that's not a good way to thank the person who decided to relieve you of your solitude."

When they reached the table, they heard the girls gushing about him so Kyouya, in retaliation to being dragged by the miko, told them, "You are correct, he really is quite considerate. But, I should thank you as well for accepting my presence." With that, their group continued in having some other mundane conversations.

On the other side of the room, Hikaru noticed that his twin was quite distracted from properly performing their brotherly act. He caught him staring somewhere else and when he realized where he was looking, he nudged Kaoru and said mischievously, "Ne, Kaoru, don't tell me that you want Kagome to drag you there as well?" This startled the younger twin out of his reverie and back at their job. Kaoru, trying to hide his embarrassment, replied coyly at his brother who was caught off guard of his quick recovery, "Of course not Hikaru, you know that my eyes are only there to look your way." Then, Hikaru decided to play along and within seconds their customers where screaming for their brotherly love.

The rest of the day went by without any hitch. Club activities ended smoothly apart from those two events. So when it's time to go home, Hikaru decided that it's time to see whether his suspicions are correct and followed Kagome's limousine by hiring a nearby taxi. He told his twin to go home without him so he will be free to do as he wished.

Kagome and her chauffeur didn't notice the taxi following because one, Kagome is asleep due to exhaustion, and two, Hae-ran was busy driving to even bother to look.

The two vehicles reached the shrine almost simultaneously. The chauffeur woke his charge and allowed her to walk up the shrine steps. Only upon driving away did he notice the redhead that has been following them ever since they left school grounds.

It was actually a surprise that Kagome even reached half the distance to the shrine so it was unexpected that she would falter a bit only to have Hikaru catch her in an instant. She was so surprised to see him that she didn't even protest when he lad her up towards her home.

Hikaru, on the other hand, was cursing himself for putting himself to such a situation. Really, he didn't think that he had to trek such a number of steps. Oh, the things that he'd do for Kaoru. The only thing that he was thankful for was that he was there to catch Kagome when she faltered for a moment. Sure, he knows that the teen would be able to regain balance but it doesn't hurt that he's there to assist. So he dragged the semi-conscious miko up the shrine and knocked at the door of the only visible house. Her mother wasn't even perturbed that he was a stranger and only ushered the two inside.

Inside the house, Kagome's mother smiled and said, "Now, tell me, are you Hitachiin Hikaru-kun or Hitachiin Kaoru-kun?"

Hikaru was surprised but he was still able to reply, "Hikaru desu, oku-san. Anou, how do you know my name, if you don't mind me asking?"

Mrs. Higurashi gave him a flustered smile and said, "Ah, Taishou-san gave me your profile along with the others in that club of yours. He thought that I should know my daughter's friends."

"Daughter?"

"Why Kagome of course!" She exclaimed as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Just as I thought. I can't wait to see how I can use this fact?" He grinned while he settled the now discovered girl on the couch.

"Ne, Hikaru-kun, what do you mean by that?"

"Ah, gomen, it's just that everybody believes that Kagome is a boy."

"Sou ka, it's probably because of the uniform. She refuses to wear the girl's uniform for some reason." At this point, Kagome finally decided to come out of her shocked state. She turned around to see her mother conversing with Hikaru and realized that he probably knows that she's a she and not a he.

"Hikaru, what are you doing here?" She inquired confused about his presence.

"Well, uhm, let's see... I followed you here to test a theory of mine. And guess what? I'm right after all."

"When did you suspect?"

"After that incident yesterday...you know, the one after the..." he stuttered only to have Kagome giggle at him, "I know what incident you are talking about. So I guess, I should act as a proper host now that you're here." She stood up and told her mother and her classmate, "I'll be heading upstairs to my room to get changed. Mom, could please bring out some refreshments? And Hikaru, you can seat on the couch, you know. I'd be back in a moment."

Upon hearing this, her mother went to the kitchen and prepared some snacks while Hikaru sat down and waited for her.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Now that's finish...

For those who wants me to use an all English story, I would have to disappoint you because Ouran and Inuyasha are Japanese anime so basically it's highly improbable to remove some of the most common phrases used in dialogues. But, if you want me to, I can set up some definitions in here.

Sempai – senior

Hontou ka – really

Hai – yes

Anou – uhmm

Sou ka – I see

Aniki – big brother

Kouhai – someone who is a year younger than you in class

Hime-san-tachi – princesses

Minna – everyone

Miko – priestess

Hikaru desu, oku-san – It's hikaru, ma'am

Gomen – sorry

I hope that I didn't miss anything...

Well, that's all for now...

Next chapter: A plot, the second discovery, and a crush...

Ja ne

Kyuubi04