DISCLAIMER: I still do not own Ouran. However, I am hoping such a thing changes, as I've been saving up my lunch money diligently in hopes that the creator is willing to part with her creation for about fifteen dollars and thirty-two cents. Thirty-three cents if I find that penny I saw a while back…
Chapter Eight
In Which the Rehearsal Dinner is a Disas—Success
Demand for the play was high. Haruhi could not turn a corner of Ouran High School without running into a mob of crazed fangirls, all holding up questionable, if not a tad too graphic, signs that depicted a nearly naked Tamaki holding a nearly naked Haruhi. And while Haruhi had always hated sports, she had never been more grateful that Ouran demanded participation in physical education as part of the curriculum, since running away had become one of her regular escapes, especially when they led away from the fangirls and towards a safer haven—like the boy's bathroom.
When she arrived to the Third Floor Music Room (and wasn't she just extremely lucky that the Host Club had decided to close for the day?), out of breath and near collapsing, she found the members all gathered and discussing something of important value that most definitely involved her in some way, even if it was indirectly.
"Oh Haruhi, my darling daughter! You have finally graced us with your presence! We have all missed you terribly so and would love it—"
"What were you talking about?" Haruhi interrupted Tamaki with a clear voice, her eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed. He always rambled on when nervous. He always performed dramatic gestures when extremely nervous. He always went after her using those tactics when he was in desperate and dire need of distraction because of his nerves.
The blonde man pouted and turned to look towards his best friend, who was currently scribbling furiously away into his notebook, glasses flashing dangerously as he flipped through the pages and simultaneously began to plug numbers and countless equations into the calculator by his side. Haruhi never paused to wonder how the man could do so many things at once, for she was sure that dwelling on the thought would only kill the limited supply of brain cells her brain provided for her, and most of them had already dropped dead with the presence of those men.
The Twins, who sat by the stoic Shadow King, gave her their identical charming smiles as they extended their hands to her. A hug is what many would say if they were observing, or a peace offering as those who were more intelligent would suggest. But Haruhi, who was cleverer and far more intelligent then most, knew it was their way to distract her from something that was going on behind the scenes, and most probably, behind her back. If she even so far as stepped close to them, she'd find herself trapped in their grasp and hauled away into another dark room. Or perhaps they'd be more inventive this time and throw her into a cave or haunted mansion, that way Tamaki's presence as savior would be practically guaranteed.
"What is going on?" she asked, carefully stepping to the side to avoid all the males. She disliked their stares or lack there of. It always led to trouble.
Honey, who had been engrossed in eating his cake, finally looked up to her and smiled, teeth whitened with frosting. "Kyo-chan is planning the rehearsal dinner!"
"The what?"
Mori grunted in approval, passing Honey a napkin and staring directly at his teeth. "Frosting."
The honey-eyed boy nodded and smiled, a hint of a pink tongue peeking out to lick his pearly whites clean.
"What does he mean by that?" Haruhi asked, gesturing towards Honey as she stared directly at the King.
"The rehearsal dinner is a very important part of a wedding," Kaoru informed her, leaning forward from his seat to look at her more directly, even if she was avoiding meeting his gaze.
His brother followed suit. "And since this play is nearly almost identical to a real wedding, it is only obvious that we'd have to put on the rehearsal dinner as well."
Kaoru nodded, turning back to his brother and flashing a smile. "All the girls have been requesting it. A perfect way to promote the release of the play and ensure that tickets will be sold out by the time it is performed."
"Not to mention that Kyouya thinks that the funds that the dinner would bring would launch the Host Club into economic independency for years to come."
"So really, it's a question as to why we haven't all thought of it sooner," Kaoru finished, a satisfied smile fitting neatly upon his lips.
Hikaru leaned against his brother. "Besides, the opportunity to see you in a dress only doubles the merits that would come out of this venture," he added.
Haruhi frowned and turned her stare towards Kyouya, who paused when he felt her glare upon him.
"Is that true?" she asked him coldly. "I've already agreed to the damn play. Why must—"
"She used damn!" Tamaki howled his voice so high it nearly cracked. "My darling daughter is using horrid, vulgar words!"
"Oh Tono, it's only expected from the commoners!" Hikaru whispered.
Haruhi scowled but didn't further express her anger at them, instead directing her fury at the Shadow King. "Well. Answer."
He looked up and cocked his head, a hand snaking up to push his glasses back into their proper place on his nose. "I will not deny that the revenue the Host Club would receive upon the dinner would launch us into a whole new level that we have never achieved during the two years we have been in business. However, I will not force Haruhi to do anything against her will."
She nodded. "Good, because I wouldn't have participated," she declared defiantly, turning on her heels and preparing to stalk out of the room.
"Mommy!" Tamaki whispered desperately. "Stop her!"
Kyouya sighed and nodded. "However, Haruhi, I do have a proposition for you."
The brown haired heroine stopped mid step, allowing her foot to hang in the air as if time stood still. "What is it?"
"I'll cut your already halved debt in half."
She shook. The offer was more than tempting. By the end of the play, she'd need only to remain in the Host Club for a few more months to pay off the rest of it. That way, she was free of all the hassle, all the responsibility, all the craziness that came with the job description.
Not to mention, it would get her away from feeling any sort of emotion when the members left for university or a position in their family's companies.
Not that she would feel any sort of emotion in the first place, but it would be nice to make sure of these sorts of things before they actually happened. There was nothing like an unprocessed thought coming back to bite someone in the a—
"Three-fourths," she responded.
Tamaki nodded, pulling at Kyouya's sleeve. "Yes, yes. Agree!"
Kyouya sighed. "No. Half."
Haruhi's shivering stopped. She turned slowly. "Why not three fourths?"
"We're not that financially capable as of yet."
"But you will be!" she snapped back.
"Even so, my only offer is half."
There was an unbearable pause of silence that threatened to drown them all as they waited for Haruhi's response. Even Honey's hand paused on its way to deposit another mouthful of cake. Everyone was poised with a breath sucked in their guts, held in to await the decision.
"Fine," she said.
They all released the breaths they were holding and looked much calmer than a few seconds before.
"You needn't all act desperate," Haruhi finally said, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "I would have agreed to half anyway."
"Sometimes you do surprise us," Hikaru reminded her gently. "Like that time with the carriage."
"Or that time when you tried to fend off those guys at the beach," Kaoru supplied.
"Or when you actually enjoyed being on stage with the Lobelia girls," Honey said through his mouthful of cake.
"Or when you showed me around the mall," Kyouya said, nodding sagely.
"Or when you tried to help me with Honey," Mori said, though his voice was monotone and void of emotion.
"You're an amazing person, Haruhi," Hikaru said seriously.
There was a dramatic pause before Kaoru ventured, "Aren't you all wondering how this suddenly became a very sentimental moment in time where we all express our fascination with the only heroine, even though it is completely irrelevant to the earlier topic?"
Haruhi shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Just tell me what to do and it will be done. I have to go home now. My father will be waiting for me."
They all nodded, watching her go as she collected her things and began to trek her way to the door.
Once she was out in the hallway, she leaned heavily against the wall, trying to catch her breath.
Why was it that even when she wished to remain beyond infuriated with the lot of them, they pulled something like this that made her question every single decision up to her entry into the club? Why did they make her wonder if the life she was living before them was all a lie?
Right before she was ready to make her way to the bathroom (she hadn't realized she really needed to pee) she felt a hand clamp onto her shoulder, freezing her on the spot.
"Haruhi, you are amazing."
She turned to find Tamaki staring down at her, eyes lidded with something she could not identify.
"You've surprised me numerous times as well."
"Tamaki-senpai?"
"Like that time where you prevented me from making the biggest mistake of my life."
"Tamaki-senpai…"
He shook his head, raising a finger to lie gently upon her lips. "As much as I love my mother, there are people here that I love just as much."
Haruhi sighed.
Tamaki smiled.
She sighed once more.
"What's wrong?" he asked finally.
"I really need to pee."
"I don't know what they're expecting from me," Haruhi said to herself as she dried the last dish she had been washing and placed it gently on the counter beside her. She ran a hand through her hair, sighing exasperatedly as the rehearsal dinner hit her full force now that she was able to think clearly without six, gorgeous, distracting faces looking back at her.
What could they possibly want? This play, she mused, was far too elaborate, even for them. Actually, that would be a lie. There'd been numerous times before when they had done plenty of things that seemed far too extravagant, even for them. Like their "jungle theme" or their vacation spot to whatever deserted island it was. But something about this play was different.
It went beyond being simply about profit on Kyouya's part. Went beyond getting her into a dress on the Twin's part. Went beyond fatherly affection on Tamaki's part. Went beyond getting more and more cake on Honey's part. And it even went beyond taking care of Honey and Haruhi on Mori's part.
There was something more. Something like…
Rushing towards the calendar her father had nailed haphazardly on the kitchen wall, Haruhi flipped through the months (the last time her or her father had changed the month to its proper place was in October) until she reached May. She scanned the dates and stopped on the small box that read 'May 23: Play' before moving on to stop a few days later to where 'May 27: Last Day of School' was printed in large, bold letters.
And suddenly, it hit her with a greater force than the realization of having to wear a dress for the rehearsal dinner hit her. It hit her as if a giant carriage had run over her, or as if she had fallen from a high cliff into a sea of jagged rocks.
It hit her as if someone, handsome and beautiful and near-perfect, had taken her heart out from her chest and dangled it before her eyes before tossing it away like garbage before turning on his heels and walking away, towards another figure, another girl, much more beautiful and intelligent than her.
It hit her, right there, in the kitchen, the sound of her father coming home distant in her ears, that the only reason the Host Club was making this play as elaborate as they possibly could was because the last day they would all be together was far, far too near.
The preparations for the dinner went smoothly, despite the fact that the lot of them often found themselves arguing about whether or not something belonged here or there. Haruhi and Honey were never near the other members as they prepared for the special night, instead opting to sit in the corner consuming plenty of snacks to make any hungry animal keel over from overeating. Honey was never much aware of anything besides whether Haruhi had taken his last cake or not, but Haruhi found herself staring more and more constantly at the other boys as they worked to turn the Music Room into a beautiful dining hall.
The day before the night of the dinner, Haruhi was not allowed to run out of the room the moment the end of club meeting hours chimed as she had been doing during the past few weeks of preparation. She was dragged back by the usual suspects of Hikaru and Kaouru, who immediately proceeded to forcing her into one of the many plush armchairs littered around the room.
"Where do you think you're going?" Hikaru asked her, leaning close to her and watching her through narrowed eyes, his brother following suit.
"You do realize you have to stay here until our customers come by, don't you?" Kaoru asked gently, giving her disarming smile that held no affect to her by now.
She shrugged. "I'm tired of being stuck here. Just hand me the dress and I'll go put it on."
"We thought it would be better…"
"…If you received some… professional help."
Haruhi's eyes widened as she pushed herself further away from them, back straight against the chair. "No. Oh, no, no, no! I refuse. You make them stay away from me."
Two identical figures emerged from the corner of her eyes, both looking devilishly happy as they held up a dress between the two. Their eyes glinted evilly as they descended upon her, the Hitachiins cleverly moving out of the way to avoid getting run down by the other possessed Twins.
"Keep them away! No!"
And soon, Haruhi's cries were drowned out by maniacal laughter that filtered from beneath the crack of the closed door that led into the room the maid twins had pushed Haruhi into to help her prepare.
"You know, Hikaru," Kaoru said, "I'm scared of those two. Especially when they're handed pretty, soft, fabric like things that could be forced upon another seemingly innocent person like Haruhi."
"To be honest, I'm actually pretty frightened of those two myself." Hikaru's eyes were still set on the closed door, trying to ignore the cries of help interlaced with curses he'd never heard. "Guess we should consider ourselves lucky they work for us, no?"
"It would seem so…"
"Sometimes, I must truly ask myself how a man like you could possibly achieve higher exam scores," Kyouya observed, bowing his head towards Tamaki as the blonde stared critically into the mirror, fingers dancing across his forehead as he moved his bands this way and that. "You're far too vain for your own good and have no sense of direction whatsoever. You seemingly fail at expressing your innermost feelings and then feel devastated when others cannot guess to them."
The blonde turned away from the mirror to stare at the Shadow King, large violet eyes wide and unblinking. "Were you saying something just then?"
The dark haired, bespectacled man sighed in exasperation, shaking his head in dismay. "You're a paradox; you realize that, don't you? Absurd in every way. You are incredibly wealthy and speak of the common folk as if they're otherworldly creatures, yet you were one once yourself. You seem high and mighty, and you drone on about the sincerities of life and those you love, yet you are incapable to tell the person you do love how you feel." Pushing his glasses up his nose, he turned to stare at Honey and Mori as the "younger" of the two reached for something on a shelf too high for him to reach. "Except… I know the answers to these perplexities. You are just Suoh Tamaki, this… person none of us could truly peg down to a label. I once heard someone express this fabulously famous celebrity during an interview. The person compared them to a butterfly—that try as you might to stick the pin through their wings, they'd only go through and the butterfly would escape."
"Kyouya? What are you going on about?"
"We have very little time left to spend together. I only wish you could see as I see that we will not always be together. There comes a time where people must part, as it is a normal thing in life. But it would be cruel if feelings were unexpressed and buried deep within. Do not allow that to happen, Tamaki. As your best friend, listen to my advice."
Tamaki, as intelligent as he was, could only stare at the Shadow King in confusion. "Well, alright."
"Oi, Tono, everyone has arrived for the dinner." A flustered Hitachiin came rushing through the secret doors that led into the secluded room the others inhabited. "We should get started soon."
Tamaki smiled genuinely, standing with a flourish. "And where is our lovely bride?"
The other Hitachiin, the older one, appeared just in time, with a very lovely heroine on his arm. "Here she is."
Tamaki nodded, gulping as he made his way towards them, Kyouya, Honey and Mori by his heels. He took Haruhi's hand in his own, holding it lightly as he turned her to face the larger doors that would open to the dinner party.
He ignored the feeling of his heart doing summersaults in his chest as the image of Haruhi in her rehearsal dinner dress replayed rapidly through his mind, and focused at the task at hand.
There was a dinner to be made underway, and he would see that it was one that would be remembered for ever in the Club's history.
It was like a real rehearsal dinner. There were laughs and sighs and gasps, filled with moments of pure amusement. The guests all 'ahh-ed' at the sight of such a feminine looking boy in such a pretty, and controversial, short dress, with the perfect little hat and white veil covering his pretty face. The fangirls squealed at the sight of the perfect male holding his 'dearly beloved' so close by his side. The males invited to the dinner rolled their eyes in disgust at their girlfriends, sisters, and classmates. And somehow, the dinner was perfect.
It occurred to Haruhi, sitting by Tamaki's side, watching as he interacted with his fans, conversed with his friends, and smiled, that he was someone she could never truly come to understand. He was a rich bastard, she knew, but somewhere in between, he'd managed to become just a bit more. In between his dramatic gestures, his infective smiles, his genuine concern in others, and his ability to look her way for just a moment even as he entertained others, it made her realize that there was more to the Suoh Tamaki she knew. And it scared her, truly and utterly scared her that her heart stirred at this realization and that it didn't mind getting to know more of this Suoh Tamaki.
And perhaps it scared her most of all that her heart, however unsettled it was, due to one realization or indigestion of such amazingly good food, when he looked her way once more, with that disarming smile of his on his good natured and handsome face, could send her careening into an abyss of unknown emotion so fast that it made her brain flash a warning sign that read: "Warning: You have now fallen in love."
AN: Haha! Aren't you all happy to see me again?
Eh, I don't know how to explain myself or the author's note chapter I posted a few months back. Call it an act of desperation or a crazy woman's ranting or some random schoolgirl trying to explain the crap that goes on in her life. Whatever it was, I'm happy to say that it still controls most of my life.
Is that a good thing?
I don't know. There isn't much I can say concerning it. As a person, you define your character and learn to change. You experience things, accepting new feelings and letting go of old ones. You change and evolve to fit your situation. You go on through life, accepting its flow.
So I guess that's how I am right now. Just going with the flow. Not trying to swim against it 'cause I'm still too tired for that kind of exertion. But I like to think I'm fighting back just a little, by making myself sit down and write this chapter. It isn't brilliant or amazing, and I've noticed my writing style has changed considerably since I began the story. But that's all I can really say in regards to it.
Oh, and that it'll end soon enough. Maybe in two or three more chapters. I'm not sure yet.
Thank you to all the readers who stuck by me, to the reviewers who left such encouraging reviews. They all hit home with me, and made me want to come back to writing all the more. I read each and every one a million times through, and I'm so glad I did.
So thanks a billion times. You guys are absolutely amazing.
