I AM HAVING A BLAST WRITING THIS STORY. AT FIRST, I HAD VERY LITTLE INSPIRATION AND LITTLE MORE THAN A VAGUE IDEA OF WHAT I WANTED TO SEE HAPPEN IN THIS FANFIC. BUT AFTER A FEW MONTHS OF THOUGHT, I SEE EXACTLY WHERE I WANT THIS STORY TO GO. I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY. :)

DISCLAIMER: REFER TO CHAPTER ONE DISCLAIMER. ENJOY!

Chapter 8

"I know who mother is banning from the club." Sarah told Yakumo as the two finished dressing in their uniform kimonos.

"Who?"

"Rin, the one on probation." Sarah whispered and took a seat at one of the tables near the front of the room.

"How do you know?" Yakumo asked, relieved that mother hadn't decided to kick Sarah out for stumbling. It hadn't been her fault in the first place, it had been Rin's for throwing her arm in front of Sarah because she was a beat off during the group routine during last night's recital.

"Look around you." She said quietly. "Everyone is here except Rin."

"Look." Someone said as the door slid open and three girls walked in the room with mother and Eri sama.

"As you all know, Rin is no longer a member of this club." Eri sama told the class as the three girls took a seat on the floor to the left of the stage. "For today, these three will be observing the class. Tomorrow, one of them will become the member that replaces Rin."

Yakumo did not recognize any of the girls except for one. The one with dark green hair, she believed to be Karen Ichijo from her sister's class.

"Today, you will begin dressing in furisode kimonos." Mother said before holding both her arms out to either side of her. "A furisode is like a yukata, only the sleeves are twice as long and it is meant to trail behind you when worn in a certain style. Unlike a yukata, furisodes are for formal occasions. If you ever are told to leave the room in your kimono, you will be asked to keep it from touching the ground. The tatami mats are the only thing the hems of these expensive items can touch."

"The way you style your obis will also change." Eri sama said. "You will now style your obis in the darari musubi style. Meaning it will trail in ribbons from your shoulder blades to below your knees."

"Sarah? Come forward." Mother commanded. Looking slightly afraid, Sarah stood and approached mother. As mother had Sarah turn and face the crowd, Eri sama brought forward a pile of silk. "Take off your obi and kimono but keep on your under robe.

Doing as she was told, Sarah handed her yukata and obi to the club's assistant, Mina. When mother unfolded the orange, silk furisode kimono with the golden flower design, Sarah's fear was replaced with slight excitement. Every member in the club knew that they would one day get to wear a more formal kimono but were unsure of when. Now that it was happening, everyone was determined to watch mother's every move, including the three observers.

Once the kimono was placed on Sarah and tied into place with a koshi himo knot, mother began to wrap the heavy looking obi around her midsection. When mother started to pull at the fabric and tighten it around Sarah, she gasped.

"A kimono this heavy must be put on as tightly as possible to keep it from falling." Mother explained. "It will also be held in place by obijime cords. I want you all to know that this club will be asking for more of your time when we begin taking customers. It takes twice as long to tie an obi this way and even longer to properly apply your makeup and style your hair. It is not demanded of you, but it is advised, that you start styling your hair before school and wear it that way all day. I will give you no longer than half an hour to prepare yourself."

"Because of the complexity of the shape of the obi knot, mother and I also suggest assigning someone to tie it for you once we teach you." Eri sama told us. "Watch carefully."

Twenty minutes later, mother had finished properly tying the obi and adjusting the kimono. "Sarah, walk back to your seat, sit, stand and then approach me again."

Confused, Sarah did as mother said. Yakumo could tell she was a little shaky in her movements due to the way the kimono trailed at her feet and obi weighed her back down. When she made it back to mother, she stumbled forward. "It's hard."

"Yes it is. Everyone, you are now going to be given new uniform kimonos to wear, along with new under robes and obis. Luckily, they are not quite as heavy as this formal furisode. They are sitting on the table in the back. Go get your new uniform and change into it now. You only have forty minutes left to dress and practice moving in the kimono."

Yakumo stood once everyone else had began making their way to the back, not wanting to get in anyone's way. It took her little to no time in the club to know that there was an unspoken seniority. Maki and Yumi were always permitted to do things first since they were veterans of the abolished Beauty Club.

Finally gathering her own uniform, Yakumo quickly unfolded it and admired the design. The fabric itself was a bright rose red. The design was white blossoms with a few blue and pink ones. The blossoms covered almost the entire kimono, from the shoulders to the hems of the sleeves and length of the fabric. The obi was white with blue, pink, red and green floral designs, the underrobe itself was white with a red collar.

"Quickly put it on!" Eri sama demanded when Yakumo still hadn't stopped staring at it.

Quickly removing her obi, yukata and under robe, she dressed as quickly as possible in everything that she could single-handedly put on. When her koshi himo was tied around the kimono to keep it closed, Yakumo pulled at the collar and the hem, making sure that enough of her neck was visible and that it trailed the floor enough.

"Good, good. You all seem to have put it on right." Mother murmured as she began helping someone tie their obi.

"I've worn this sort of kimono and obi before." Sarah told Yakumo. "I can tie yours for you."

"I'm starting to fear that I might fall on my face in front of the customers." Yakumo whispered as Sarah helped her tie the obi.

"Don't worry. It just takes practice. You've got at least a week. Hold onto the front around your waist and keep it in place."

When Sarah began to tighten the obi, Yakumo understood why Sarah had gasped earlier. It acted as a corset in a way.

"Tighter than that." Eri sama ordered when Sarah had begun to finish the knot. "If it falls off her, it might get damaged."

"Yes ma'am." Sarah whispered before pulling the fabric even tighter around Yakumo. Before Yakumo could begin to feel too lightheaded, Sarah finished tying the obi and started to tie two obijime cords around the middle of it. "Done!"

Taking as deep of a breath as she could, Yakumo began to practice walking around the room like the others. "It's harder than I thought it would be." Yakumo told Sarah as she caught up to her.

"Now, practice sitting, standing and bowing." Mother told everyone as she went to take her seat on the stage. "You are not to leave this room until you can do all three without stumbling. If you rip the hem of your kimonos or the sleeves, you will be made to pay for its repair.

Bending down, Yakumo smoothed the kimono over her knees and rested herself on her legs. As she was standing, Yakumo saw Eri sama walk on stage and kneel next to mother.

"Should we tell them?" She murmured. If Yakumo had been any farther away, she wouldn't have heard their conversation.

"They need to practice more before we announce that. I'm still not sure who will be ready."

"The Matsumoto sisters seem capable enough." Eri sama insisted.

"We can't put our faith in only two members." Mother nearly shouted. Yakumo flinched. She had never seen Tenma's friend lose her temper.

Eri sama bowed her head. "I'm only thinking of the time. If we wait, how will they be ready? There's the opening dance to teach them and none of them have even picked up a shamisen."

"I'm aware of that. So far, I'm putting my money on the Matsumoto sisters and that Emiko girl. They seem like they're learning fast enough."

"And Tsukamoto? She brought the crowd to their knees yesterday."

"I want to wait to introduce her and a few others. We don't want to present all the best ones at first." Mother said as if it should be obvious.

Eri sama smirked. "I knew you had a plan. Tell me."

"Start off with five. Two amazing ones, two average and one very poor. How will the customers be able to tell if someone is truly talented unless there is a poor example to compare her to?"

"Ah, I see. And then when we bring out another star, it causes the others to try twice as hard. But with ten apprentices and only us as full hostesses, it seems like it will not work very well."

"Yes, I know. According to the feedback the treasurer is giving me, we're getting a lot of attention. If thirty people come to the opening event and we only have five hostesses, it will wear them out and make all of them desired. We want to have enough hostesses that it's easy to get one to your table but difficult to get specific ones."

Eri sama tapped her chin. "What if we only open the club to those we give invitations to. Say we open it to ten or twenty."

"Twelve." Mother said. "We will give invitations to twelve. Most of the people we plan on opening the club to are friends or fellow classmates. They'll choose to sit together, leaving blank tables. We don't want the place to look too empty. We have to choose wisely. We don't want to cause any of them to become enemies, either. Not yet, anyway..."

"You should be practicing." Yumi said as she and her sister passed by Yakumo.

"Sorry." Blushing, Yakumo walked away from the stage and continued her practice.

As Yakumo attempted to practice her solo routine from the recital in her new uniform, the door slid open and Miss. Osakabe, the club's supervisor, entered. "Sorry I'm late."

Other than showing up the first day, Miss. Osakabe hadn't actually been here for any of the last meetings. She hadn't even been present for the recital. Yakumo couldn't put her finger on why, but she had a feeling that mother preferred it this way.

"Is everything alright?" Mother asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. The treasurer ran into me on my way out the door and wanted me to bring something to you."

Walking all the way into the room, Miss. Osakabe approached the stage and slid a large white envelope towards mother. "Did he say who it's from?"

"Nope." She said before walking directly from the room.

Mother had lifted the packet up, ready to open it, when she caught the whole class staring. "Time to leave. Go undress and place your new uniforms in your cubbies. Fold them correctly and be careful. There will be days when you need to wear your yukata uniforms so put those with your new uniforms. I want all of you to start styling your hair and wearing it to school that way. This is only a recommendation."

Though mother tried to pass it off as a request, something about the way she said it made Yakumo think it was a command.

The following morning, after Yakumo had dressed for school and finished brushing her teeth, she did consider styling her hair in the same fashion as the photograph that had been taken of her. Said photo was hanging on the wall next to Yakumo's vanity, reminding Yakumo of exactly what she looked like when done up to look like a geisha.

"I don't want to get in trouble with mother and Eri sama..." Yakumo tried to reason with herself as she sat at her vanity and brought out an untouched pack of bobby pins from a drawer. Wrapping her hair up the way it was done in the picture, Yakumo pinned it in place until she was sure that it would not fall down.

It was a little formal for school, though not nearly as formal as the Matsumoto sisters looked when they had their hair up. Taking the red silk ribbon that Eri sama had told her to use in her hair, Yakumo tied it in place and tucked most of it under her hair so that the knot was only visible if viewed from the back.

"Yakumo! We're gonna be late! And I thought I took the longest..."

"Coming!"

Grabbing her book bag, Yakumo exited her room and met her sister downstairs. When Tenma caught sight of her sister, her eyes widened. "Why did you do your hair up like that? It looks kind of-"

"Silly?" Yakumo guessed, her face burning.

"I was gonna say pretty. Why did you do it?"

"Mot-I mean, Takano san, says to start doing this everyday." Yakumo said.

"Well, don't let it get wet. It's raining today." Tenma told her as she pulled her little, pink umbrella from the closet.

Yakumo sighed. Of all the days. Her good umbrella had just ripped a few weeks ago. "I should have a karakasa in my room." She said, referring to her traditional lacquered umbrella.

"Well, go get it then! I want to get to talk to Karasuma before school!" Tenma complained.

"Alright sis." Fetching her red karakasa, she and her sister left the house together.

When the two had arrived at Yagami high, people who knew Yakumo began to stare right away. As the sisters entered the school and put on their school shoes, someone finally approached her.

"What's up with that?" Mikoto, one of Tenma's friends, asked. "Have they started celebrating Halloween in April?"

Yakumo blushed. "No..."

Tenma sighed. "The Hostess Club is making its members do their hair, now. Stupid, huh?"

Mikoto circled around Yakumo, looking at her hair from each angle. "I don't know. Looks kind of cool. And if she's not the only one doing their hair up today, maybe people will think it's a style."

"Yakumo!" She heard Sarah yell. A second later, Sarah ran into the locker room with her hair done up too. The only difference being the part of her hair that drapes over the shoulder. Today, she had braided that part. "I've been looking all over for you. We have to get to class early. We're being surprised with a pop quiz and I need help studying."

"I'll see you later, sis." Yakumo said as Sarah drug her off. As the two were walking up the nearby stairs, Sarah paused halfway to the second floor. "Actually, I just said that to get you away from people. I'm supposed to tell you that you've been selected to pass out invitations to customers today, during school."

Yakumo's eyes widened. Sarah lied? She never lied. She had her heart set on joining the convent at her church after graduation and always stood as a shining example for all things moral. "Why didn't you just say so in front of my sister?"

Sarah looked out the nearby window, her expression showing just how uncomfortable lying made her feel. "Mother doesn't want the club to be mentioned in front of females anymore. And once we pass out the invitations, we're only allowed to bring it up to the people who get invites and their friends. Nobody else."

"Why?" Yakumo asked, though she was fairly sure that Sarah had no idea.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that mother ran into me as I was passing the club room and asked me to tell you as soon as you got to school. She wants you to report to the club room as soon as school starts. She's already asked that you be excused from your homeroom class for the first two hours."

"I'm surprised that she wants me to pass out the invites. You'd think she'd ask Maki and Yumi to."

Sarah shrugged. "Her reasoning is that Maki and Yumi are only well known in their own year. You're pretty well known in all three years. You'll deny it like you do every time but...you're pretty popular with the boys, Yakumo. Hey, I gotta get to class. Go ahead and head to the club room."

As soon as Sarah ran up the stairs to class, Yakumo realized that she was blushing. Was that true? Was she well known in that way? A rumble of thunder broke her out of her thoughts, bringing her back to the task at hand. Running upstairs, she headed for the club room.

"There you are." Mother said with a sigh when Yakumo entered the room. The first thing Yakumo noticed was how peaceful the room was when it wasn't crowded. Mother had traditional Japanese music playing from a nearby CD player. One of the rice paper windows had been opened, allowing the sounds of rain to filter into the room. The brick awning that surrounded the roof kept any rain from flying through the window and soaking the warm tatami mats.

As soon as Yakumo had shut the door to the club room, mother pulled the lid off a lacquered box that was sitting on the stage to reveal a lavender kimono. Pulling it out, she allowed Yakumo to briefly admire it. Though it had no decorative design, the furisode was made of a very fine material. Laying the kimono carefully across the stage, mother picked up a white under robe with a red collar that was covered in lavender colored petals and laid it over the kimono.

"Take off your uniform and start applying makeup. Quickly."

Nodding, Yakumo removed her uniform and set to work on herself. Removing her camisole, she finished painting the design on her back and allowed mother to use a blow dryer to dry the makeup.

"Are we pressed for time?" Yakumo asked, a little surprised with how quickly mother was working, today.

"Yes. I promised to have you back in class at the start of third hour. Today, you are going to enter the classrooms of twelve people. You will tell them in front of everyone that they have been specially selected to become a patron of the Yagami High Hostess Club and then tell them to report to the club room right away. When they get here, I'll serve them tea. Do not return to the club room until thirty minutes after you send the final patron here. Understood? Now up. Time to get dressed."

Standing, Yakumo held out her arms and let mother dress her. "I understand that much, I just don't understand why."

"Do as your told. I don't have time to explain further." Was mother's only reply as she slipped the under robe onto Yakumo.

Half an hour later, the elaborate kimono was tied into place. Taking a silk overcoat with lavender and green colored flowers on it, mother had Yakumo put it on as lavender flowers were placed in her hair. A pair of lavender colored geta were handed to Yakumo, along with a pair of white tabi socks.

"Okay..." Yakumo said as she put on the socks carefully, trying not to mess up the way the kimono was positioned. "...I enter the room and directly approach the patron? Not the teacher?"

Mother sighed. "Approach the teacher and hand him one of these papers. It explains what you are doing there and has a pass attached that will excuse whoever you come for from class. Then approach the student and hand him an invitation. Tell him he has been specially selected to become our patron and tell him to report to the club room for tea directly. Speak in a soft voice, give them a very quick, small smile, bow your head before and after talking to them, then leave."

"Yes ma'am."

Mother handed a stack of small, light blue envelopes to Yakumo, each adorned with cherry blossom designs. Written on each envelope in what looked like fountain pen were the names of who each invite should be given to. Next, a paper with a list of names with pictures next to them was given to her.

"Do not get the invites mixed up and do not hand them to the wrong person. Present them in the order they are listed, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"To pass time while you wait for me to finish serving tea, go to the main office and give this envelope to Vice Principal Izanagi. If he invites you to talk, accept. Do not accept his offer to go anywhere else with him. If he compliments you, allow it. If he attempts anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, quickly say goodbye and leave his office."

Handing Yakumo a stack of passes to excuse the students from class and a larger envelope for the Vice Principal, mother grabbed Yakumo's shoulders and escorted her from the room. Helping her put on her geta without tripping in the heavy kimono and obi, mother pointed in the direction of the first patron and shut her out of the room.

Taking a deep breath, Yakumo knocked on the first patron's classroom door and waited. The first name on the list was Ganji Nishimoto.

"Come in." Sliding open the door, Yakumo tried to ignore the class as they began to gawk and whisper. The teacher seemed to almost glare. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"No, sir." Yakumo whispered as she handed the pass and the attached note to the teacher.

Once the teacher looked over the note, he sighed. "Well, if Vice Principal Izanagi insists, I can't argue. Go ahead."

Bowing her head once again, she turned to the crowd and tried to ignore her sister, who was waving at her frantically from the back. As much as she tried not to, Yakumo couldn't help but notice that Karasuma was not in class at the moment. Stopping in front of Ganji Nishimoto's desk, Yakumo bowed her head and presented the small envelope, causing the entire class to resume their whispering. Nishimoto himself stared at her with wide eyes, reminding Yakumo of someone in awe.

"On behalf of the Hostess Club, I would like to congratulate you on being one of the selected patrons." She said softly. "If it pleases you, please adjourn to room B10 for tea with mother and the other accepted patrons."

Giving him a small smile, Yakumo bowed and exited the room. As she handed out each invitation, Yakumo felt more and more self-conscious. She had never been stared at so much in her life. On her way to deliver her final invite, she glanced at the paper for the room number and finally took notice of just who this invite was going to.

Oji Karasuma. With only the stark white makeup hiding her blush, Yakumo hurried to the first floor and exited the North building. Walking through the hallway, surrounded by glass windows and ceiling, Yakumo entered the West building and knocked on classroom D8.

"Come in!" A girl called.

When she opened the door, Yakumo saw that it was not a classroom, but a band room. All of the desks had been pushed back to make room for a set of drums, a microphone and a few guitars that were resting on stands. Standing near the instruments were a few students, Karasuma among them.

The girl who had spoken stared at Yakumo with wide eyes. "Nice outfit. If this has to do with any of us being out of class, we got permission to practice today because we have a performance tonight."

"I am here to present an invitation to Oji Karasuma on behalf of the Hostess Club." Yakumo explained, wondering if she should be talking this much to anyone but the patron. She hoped mother wouldn't mind.

Karasuma stepped forward and accepted the invitation that Yakumo had in her outstretched hand. "Thank you."

Yakumo bowed. "The Hostess Club would like to congratulate you on being one of the twelve selected patrons. If it would please you, please adjourn to room B10 for tea with mother and the other patrons."

"Thank you." Karasuma repeated, one eyebrow raised to show his slight surprise.

As Yakumo bowed her head and left the room, she wondered why she had to give him an invitation. If he was the club's treasurer, why was he a customer, too? Standing in the glass hallway with the large envelope in hand, Yakumo watched the rain as Karasuma passed by her, on his way to the club room. Giving her a nod, he entered the North building and left Yakumo's sight.