Rivalry

Chapter 10 ~ Little white lies like to collapse too

Kotomi hadn't come back. Rose pouted at her reflection as she brushed her soft strands of perfect golden locks. It wasn't the same with her little pet, she had felt superior with the smaller girl safely stood next to her, hanging off her every word and either mentally or physically taking notes on just about everything. She had seen the girl around school, of course, so she was able to just pass fleeting smiles and nods of the head, however, it wasn't the same and if ever Rose was able to see Kotomi when the infamous Tamaki Suoh was passing she could see the girl quite openly flinch and hide her head. It was painful to watch her former 'underling' as she liked to refer to her be in such a situation. Adjusting the bow on her uniform she rolled her eyes and almost smacked her head for being so stupid about it. She never cared all that much but that smaller girl had somehow found a way to get under her skin and it was…irritating to say the least. Pulling the hem of her skirt and taking another glance in the mirror to make sure all of her make up was intact and she still looked good, she let her chest heave as she sighed at herself and rolled her heavy lashed eyes once more, mentally screaming at herself to snap out of it. With one last flick of her hair, she left the girls bathrooms and started to head over to music room six.

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She was fine. Of course was. She didn't care that Tamaki Suoh was obviously infatuated with Haruhi and that for some strange reason he referred to the boy as his…daughter? The situation would had usually been laughable if it didn't mean she had her fellow hostesses plaguing her every second of the day, asking how she was feeling and all the rest of the typical 'comforting' crap that usually came along with finding out the apple of your eye was in fact homosexual and was lusting after another boy he referred to as his. 'daughter.' Akemi couldn't help but shiver at that, although Emirii had a theory that Haruhi was female, it was still unsettling to think Tamaki was after her…or him. Of course, after her previous slip up, the club had kept their beady eyes on her, monitoring and assessing nearly every mood she dared to make. Despite this, Akemi acted accordingly, giving a few sad smiles here and there and tactfully saying "Oh, you know…" whenever she was asked how she was feeling. It seemed for a little while that this was working. Feeling rather smug with herself, she laid out the china carefully. They were having a 'peace' meeting with the host club, an idea that Emirii had concocted after the accidental outing of Suoh and just to make sure everything was smoothed over. The other girls were, obviously, not as enthusiastic as their leader when it came to socialising with the other hosts, except of course Anika and Asa who rarely complained about anything.

She didn't like to admit it, but she looked forward to the rare meetings and she though that a few of the others secretly did too. It was a chance to just let all hell break loose, to really throw their hands in the air and scream 'screw it.' Plus, with the incessant banter that was passed between Emirii and Kyouya, the often creeping Kasanoda who'd just stand and watch Anika and the cuteness overload that came with Asa and Honey, it was hard to ever get bored in the meetings. Of course, she got to see the twins to…Which she never looked forward to, damn it!

The door flung open with abundant flamboyance that signaled the boy's arrival, the girls turned to face them and the room was thick with varied and indescribable atmosphere as they exchanged shifty looks. As per usual, Tamaki strode to 'center stage', his arms outstretched and his lips split into an aggravatingly perfect grin. Akemi hung her head, playing the part of heartbroken accordingly but she struggled to bite back a snigger as Hinata mumbled a, "Here she comes~ Miss American Dream" as Tamaki approached them all. The rest of the girls shook with laughter but quickly snapped out of it as Emirii clicked her heel on the ground sharply and grimaced at the offender. Tamaki gave a prim 'ahem' to call all attention back to him, his features lighting up as all eyes fell on him. His words drifted out of his lips in a feverish frenzy, as if they were all too eager to escape the confines of his tongue. It was just the normal 'restore official balance' talk they had heard over and over again. With a swift clap of his palms, the two groups sat orderly around the biggest table in the room with two sofas positioned opposite each other just for the occasion. Akemi found herself lodged protectively between Miyuki and Rose, both of them pointedly glaring at the Suoh boy whom, as usual, was blissfully inobservant and joking around profoundly with Kyouya. Akemi felt two secure hands come down on her shoulders and peered up to see Emirii smiling professionally but clinging on the material of Akemi's dress as if to emphasize her defensive feelings towards the younger blonde. It was all getting a bit too much but Akemi gave a smile to attempt to convey graciousness although she really did not need them all pandering at her.

Hinata sat on the arm of the chair, one arm lazily placed at the back of it and around the obviously anxious Anika whom kept looking worriedly over at the door as if she was expecting Kasanoda to pop up out of the blue and kidnap her and Asa sat on the head of the sofa and balancing her chin, rather uncomfortably, on top of the elders head. She kept letting her eyes hazily drift to Akemi and making sure she was okay without smothering her too much, unlike her companion who seemed to not know the meaning of subtlety. Only Tamaki and Kyouya were really sat on the sofa, each of the other boys had placed themselves around there as if modeling for some sort of upper class tabloid magazine. Miyuki abruptly standing up and letting out an aggravated groan as she began to pace the space between the girls sofa and the coffee table that provided a barrier for the two clubs broke the silence. Cheeks pink, Emirii took in a sharp breath and said through gritted teeth, "Miyuki…Sit down."

The usually reasonable and reserved girl shook her head defiantly so that the team leaders eyes grew stern and piecing as she repeated, even harsher than before, "Sit. Down." Each word was punctuated with a threatening gaze thrown at Miyuki as she once again shook her head and stuck out her chin, the reminiscent of an angered spoilt brat. She pointed bluntly to Tamaki and turned back to face the enraged Emirii, a low whistle sarcastically emanated from Rose's lips as the rest of the room stared blankly and intently at the disturbance of the usual blissfully awkward feeling that they endured in past meetings.

"Why do we just sit and ignore the fact he's completely thrown two of our girls off track? Poor Kotomi hasn't shown her face since and it's…It's not fair that he's left not knowing what he's done!" Tamaki's eyebrows shot an inch up his forehead, unsure how to react to the younger girl scalding him as though he was a toddler again, instead of making up any type of retort, he offered rather girlish stammers and Kyouya's face contorted back to his characteristic sneer. Emirii did nothing to help the situation as the anger was almost radiating off her body and she found herself unable to say anything other than 'shut up!' or 'sit down!' Anika flinched, making both Rose and Hinata quickly jump to mother her as they stared fascinated by the apparent discomfort of the room.

"Akemi and Kotomi both overheard your conversation with him," Miyuki growled, now staring directly at the blond male and motioning towards the uncertain looking Haruhi, "He or…She, I don't even know...Well anyway, Haruhi was right. Kotomi had feelings for you and she's been so upset since that she hasn't even shown up to say hi anymore and Akemi…"

Akemi felt her cheeks flare as all eyes seemed to be on her, she suddenly became very interested in her lap and in twindling her fingers unsurely. She didn't know what she was meant to do now, it was difficult to just stay put as others discussed her.

"She tries to put on a brave face but you can tell she's upset too. She had feelings for you as well, pretty boy."

Tamaki's eyes snapped at the quivering blonde, his face also warm from either embarrassment or just sheer shock. Miyuki opened her mouth to continue but was quickly cut off by Akemi getting up and shaking her head, her vision getting blurred by frustrated tears, and her head spinning as she tried to keep up with what was going on.

"Shut up!" her yells echoed off the walls and it fell deadly silent, waiting until she knew she had Miyuki and the other hostesses undivided attention she shook her head choked out a shaky, "I lied, okay?" Not being able to bear any more judgmental looks, Akemi gave a shaky giggle and turned on her heel before promptly leaving.

It took a little while for everyone to calm down so that they were able to comprehend what had happened in such a sudden and fast matter of time. Hikaru rolled his eyes at his brother and left with his departing words being only, "She's always such a drama queen…"

When Hikaru had left, Kyouya began to snigger and got to his feet, "What a fuss…" he drawled, his framed eyes looking directly at Emirii as he spoke, "Perhaps you should have done something to stop it other than stand there like a blundering fool, hmm?" That had set off something, as if a trigger went off in Emirii's mind that made her lash out completely. She stepped from behind the sofa shrieking insults at the elder male opposite only to have Tamaki solemnly get to his feet and, idiotically, try to calm her down. The room was chucked into full scale chaos as the adolescences bickered pointlessly, throwing around obscenities like there was no tomorrow and a few scraps, even the usually quiet Haruhi argued relentlessly with Rose over something that seemed stupidly trivial. Hinata cast a weary look at Anika and Asa who watched like two children would their parents fighting, she tried to remain firmly neutral and stay out of it but as she watched the younger girls begin to get frightened she felt herself get riled up. Her eyes fell on Mori who stared back intently at her, as though they were having a silent conversation, he had his hand placed firmly on Honey's shoulder and was glaring at the bickering teenagers avidly. She nodded and he made his way to her, ruffling his younger cousins hair as he did so.

"Oi! Retards!" she attempted yelling, but no one paid any attention, she continued to yell failed attempts at trying to steal someone's glance for even a fraction of a second but to no avail. Eventually, Mori just lifted her with ease and perched her on his shoulders before murmuring, "Try again."

When she got over the initial shock of not feeling the ground beneath her feet, she called out, "Shut the hell up!" This time everyone turned curiously and watched as the tall male placed her down on the floor. She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes, "What the hell is bickering going to do? Nothing. That's what. So why don't you all just calm the fuck down. Yes, Tamaki, Kotomi had feelings for you but then overheard a conversation in which you called the little one your daughter. First things first, that's pretty messed up, especially if you like the guy. Secondly, it's not like anyone yelling is going to change how posh boy here feels, if he wants to…I don't know, frigging elope with Haruhi then we can do nothing to stop that, okay? And sec-thirdly," she couldn't help but trip over her words, "Thirdly, we thought Akemi had feelings for you but apparently now she doesn't… I don't even know. Women are scary."

And with that, the two clubs blinked feverently and slowly but surely sat down. Hinata grinned smugly, not knowing that Mori stood rather terrifyingly tall behind her and was glaring at them all in a manner that would make a mafia boss keel over and cry. Emirii huffed at Kyouya and sat where Akemi was previously perched before Miyuki shook her head and ran a hand through her hair,

"Now what? We just wait for Akemi to come back and act like happy families again?"

Admittedly, Hinata hadn't given much thought to what she planned to do next, "Ermm…" she paused before nodding firmly, "Yep. We'll give that a go."

((A/N: SO. MUCH. LATENESS.

That is all.))