kandiQ: Nevermind, I lied, THIS is the longest thing I have ever written lol. I wanna thank my nessie-pooh, who is starting to read this and reviewing cause she loves me mucho! Also would like to thank, Demon-R-Us who reviewed, I'm glad you liked it :D also thanks to colorguardgirl87 who added my story to their favorites :D so enjoy chapter 9 and review please!
Chapter Nine
The last few days had passed by in a blur to Saeko, seeing as how it was already Friday; aka, the day of the Winter Ball. But it was also the day Sae had to hand in all her work over to Kyouya to see if she made it as the Host Club's photographer/artist or not. Speaking of Kyouya, Sae spotted him stitting over at his usaul table typing away at his laptop. She sighed, before slowly trotting over to him.
"Ah, Mizore...do you have the pictures for me?" Kyouya asked as he shut his laptop closed.
"Yeah," Sae nodded, handing him a small binder. "Everything is in there." She had her little binder all neat and organized. With multi-colored dividers for each host. If you haven't noticed, Sae actually spent alot of time on her work. She had a sketch, a small painting, and a few photos of each and every host. She even had a few photos of some of them together, like Mori with Hunny, or the twins. She even took the time to do seperate pictures of the twins. He better accept her because if he didn't then Sae would have wasted all her free time for nothing, she had even had to copy some of Haruhi's work because of all the time she had spent working on the stupid pictures. Seriously, Kyouya had better accept her or she'd shove the whole damn binder down his throat!
"Hmm..." He started to flip through the binder pages, stopping every now and then to eye a certain photo or painting.
Sae tried to focuss on watching Kyouya's face, in an attempt to read it for any sign of emotions or any give aways. But unfortunately, Sae noted, Kyouya had mastered the art of keeping a strait poker face.
"Well Mizore," Kyouya started, as he snapped the binder closed. He faintly smiled at her. And Sae didn't know weither to take that as a good sign or not. "It seems as if you take after your mother. You take very excellent quality photographs, and your art skills are just as good." He placed the binder into a messenger bag that was on the floor, Sae assumed that it was his. She hoped it was his. (o.o) Then he smirked at her, "You're in." he stated simply. "I won't have you drawing or painting so much, but I will expect a good amount of photos each week. And a variety of them, so make sure that you don't just stick to one Host. Understood?"
Sae grinned, nodding her head before flinging herself onto Kyouya, wrapping her arms around his neck as she hugged him. "Thank you so much Kyouya-senpai! I won't let you down, I promise!"
Kyouya just chuckled as he slowly patted her back, "You are most welcome Mizore." He raised an eye brow when he noticed that the rest of the Host Club memebers were staring curiously at him and Saeko. This caused him to smirk before standing up, bringing Sae up with him as he did so. He gently grabbed Saeko's arms and turned her around so that she was facing the rest of the members as well.
The brunette's face only reddened as it slowly dawned on her that she and Kyouya had an audience. She quickly averted her eyes from the rest of club and decided that she was rather fond of ground, and therefore chose to stare at it instead of at the others.
"Say hello to our new photographer boys," he smirked before adding, "Haruhi."
"Yay!" Hunny literally bounced his way over to Saeko, smiling up at her as he grabbed her hand. "Let's celebrate with some cake!" He then dragged her over to his and Mori's table, sitting down on one of the couches and pulling Sae down to sit next to him. He looked up at her curiously, "You do like cake, don't you Sae-chan?"
Sae laughed and nodded her head eagerly. "I love cake Hunny-senpai,"
Hunny smiled, before attacking Sae in a big hug. "I knew I liked you Sae-chan! What kind of cake would you like? I like the straberry one the best...I can have the strawberry one...right?" He asked, now clutching a piece of cake that had a big strawberry on the top of it, protectively to his chest.
She smiled, "Of course you can have the strawberry one," she looked down at the cakes that were laid out on the table in front of them. Aw...there's none with cherries... She reached down and grabbed a slice of vanilla cake that had coconut sprinkles on it. Then she grinned, "I'll take this one!"
Hunny was already digging into his cake when Sae finally began to eat hers. After taking her first bite Sae sighed contently, closing her eyes as she savored the sweet, rich flavor of the cake. Sae absolutley loved sweets, cakes especially. She was going to have to remember to hang around Hunny-senpai more often, cause she could so get used to this.
"~You do know what this means now, don't you Sae-chan?~"
Sae turned around to look at the twins who were now leaning on the back of the couch that she and Hunny were sitting on. She took another bite of her cake before answering the twins. "No...what are you getting at?"
The twins both exchanged a glance before turning to smirk down at Saeko.
"What it means is," Hikaru started to playfully tug at one of her pigtails.
Kaoru grinned, joining his brother as he too played absent mindly with her other pigtail. "You'll be joining us at the Ball after all." He smirked when Sae began to choke on a bite of her cake.
"~Since you are our photographer and all.~" They both looked to Kyouya, "~Isn't that right Kyouya?~"
To which Kyouya answered, "But of course, it would only make sense that she be there to take pictures of us." He shifted his glasses. "Our customers love it when we cosplay, so there's no doubt that they'll love seeing us in our formal attire. And Saeko taking photos of us at the Ball tonight would only serve to benefit us greatly."
Sae just grumbled to herself, before shoving a huge wad of cake into her mouth.
"Speaking of formal attire," Kaoru inquired.
"Do you or Haruhi even have anything decent to wear tonight?" Hikaru finished for his brother, as they both glanced from Haruhi to Saeko.
Haruhi shook her head, while Sae muttered out, "I have some dress slacks and a nice shirt if that's what you mean."
The twins both just face palmed while Kyouya chuckled.
"You can't wear slacks to a Ball!" Kaoru repremended, shaking his head at Sae's idea of formal attire.
"Well, I suppose we can bring you both something sutable to wear for tonight when we all meet back up here before the Ball." Hikaru offered.
"I suppose that will have to do." Kyouya said nodding. "We will all meet here at five then."
Sae groaned, Well, there goes hanging out with Mei and Yuki tonight... Then she sighed, stealing a glance at the twins who were now talking animatedly with Tamaki and Haruhi about tonight's plans. They better bring me something simple, otherwise I'm going to be stumbling all over the place tonight.
~Five PM, back in the third music room~
Mei had been a little dissapointed that Sae couldn't hang out with her and her brother right away after school, but was happy when Sae promised her that she would come right over as soon as the Ball had ended that night.
Currently, Sae was trying to put on one of the dresses that the Hitachiin brothers had brought for her to wear tonight. They had brought five dresses in total, three of them being from their mother's fashion line and the other two being dresses that they had designed themselves.
After they had shoved her into the changing room, Kaoru handed her his dress first. And Sae had to admit, it was beyond gorgeous. It was a deep burgaundy color, and sleeveless, the top of the dress being more snug and fitted to show off her curves, then the bottom being poofy as it flared to the ground.
Sae quickly removed her clothes before slipping on the dress. She frowned when she realized that the back laced up. "Uh," She grudgingly opened the curtain, laughing nervously. "Is Haruhi done changing yet?"
"Yeah, but she's with Kyouya and Tamaki out in the hallway, why?" Kaoru asked grinning cheekily as he stared at Saeko wearing his dress, his design. It had fitted her perfectly.
Sae sighed, blushing as she turned around to show her exposed back to Kaoru as her answer. "I couldn't lace this up if my life depended on it."
Kaoru just chuckled as he walked over to help Saeko with her dress troubles. He was about halfway done with Sae's lacing when Hikaru stopped him.
"No, wait!" The elder twin suddenly thrust his dress at Sae, and then shoved her back into the changing room. "Try this on too!"
"Uhg," Sae graoned, sticking her head out the curtain, looking at Kaoru. "Wanna come untie me?"
"Sure," Kaoru went to walk in but Hikaru pushed him aside before walking in himself. "Oaky...maybe not then." Kaoru whispered quietly to himself, before taking a seat as he waited for his brother and Saeko to re-emerge from the changing room.
Sae just stared at Hikaru, curious as to why he had come in instead of Kaoru, not that she minded, but still. She ended up just shrugging it off seeing as how Hikaru didn't comment on the matter.
She hated to admit it, but Hikaru's dress surpassed his younger brother's immensly. Although, her opinion on the matter might have seemed biased, seeing as how the dress that Hikaru had chosen for her was blue while Kaoru's was red; And since Sae's favorite color just so happened to be blue, yeah, Sae had fallen in love with the dress immediatly.
The dress was simular to Kaoru's, the top was also sleeveless/strapless, and was form fitting around all the right areas. Hikaru's dress top had a few rhine stones embroidered into it though. But the bottom puffed and flared out to the ground, also like Kaoru's, and the back, Sae noted grimly, was also a lace up.
Hikaru walked out after he had unlaced her, telling Sae to hurry up and put his dress on. To which Sae just rolled her eyes before pulling the curtain closed again. Hikaru went and stood next to his brother, his eyes never leaving the changing room curtain as he waited in anticipation for Saeko to emerge.
A few minutes later, Sae came out chuckling, as she walked over to Hikaru and turned so that he could lace her up. So he did, as Kaoru sat watching the two of them with a frown set on his face, I liked my dress on her better.
"There you go," Hikaru grinned, taking a hold of her hand as he spun her around to face Kaoru and himself. "So what do you think?" He asked honestly,
"Who's dress do you prefer?" Kaoru added, ignoring the aggravated look his brother tossed him.
"Honestly, both dresses are breath taking." Sae said genuinely. "But, I'm going to have to go with Hiakru's dress." She laughed watching as Hikaru did a fist pump, not noticing the sullen expression on Kaoru's face. "I love both dresses, but blue is my favorite color, so natually I would have went with your dress Hikaru." She explained with a shrug.
"Here, put these on." Hikaru said shoving a pair of black strappy heels into Sae's hands.
She sweat droppped, "Don't you have any flats?"
Hikaru scoffed, "No, only heels should be worn with my dress. Now hurry up," He grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her over to a chair before pushing her down onto it. "We are going to need to do something with that hair."
Sae pouted, "What wrong with my hair?"
They both stared at her with a blank expression, "You are not going out there with pigtails." Hikaru stated bluntly. Then he clapped his hands, before addressing his brother. "Kaoru, I will leave you in charge of her hair. I'm going to work on her makeup."
"Makeup too? You've gotta be kidding me!"
~An agonizing half an hour later~
"It's so good to see you all tonight my little lambs. The Ouran Host Club would like to bid you welcome." Tamaki greeted all of the ladies with a bow.
All of the chandalers lit up, exposing a huge musical group that Kyouya hired for the night no doubt. Upon seeing all of the beautiful decorations and the many musical talents provided for the evening, all the ladies present began clapping their hands in appreciation, earning a bow from all of the Hosts.
Sae smiled, quickly snapping a few pictures. Kyouya really out did himself tonight, this place looks gorgeous.
The twins had kindly walked her out to the hallway so that she could meet back up with her cousin. And after they had all made it out to the Ball room, Sae secretly took her shoes off and hid them behind the Host's table, shoving them under her purse, just in case so that Hikaru or Kaoru wouldn't see them. She only wore the shoes for a total of maybe twenty minutes before they started to kill her feet. So she felt a ton better after she ditched the shoes.
"As always ladies," Kyouya greeted, "The Host Club memebers are here for your entertainment, so we invite you to dance to your hearts content. Based on her dancing skills," He went on to explain their contest rules. "One lucky young lady will be chosen as tonight's Queen. The winner's reward will be a passionette kiss on the cheek from our King." He gestured over to Tamaki,
"Good luck to you," he winked, "My darlings." Which in turn made most, if not all the girls swoon, making some even faint dramatically.
Sae grinned as she watched her cousin groan, before she was repremanded by the twins.
"~Haruhi, show some enthusiasm.~"
"Well excuse me you guys, sorry. But I'm not used to this sort of thing. I've only ever gone to the festivals held in my neighborhood park." Haruhi explained, her eye brow twitching in annoyance.
"I don't know if you could hardly consider that a party or not. Well, since you're already here you might as well get yourself something to eat." Kyouya stated, writing something down on his clipboard. "We've got quite a spread,"
Now that got Haruhi's attention, "A spread? With fancy tuna?" She questioned curiously. Causing Kyouya to break his pencil, and the rest of the Host members to all gasp in shock and pity. The twins ran over and hugged Haruhi, rubbing their cheeks against hers, chanting, "Aw, poor Haruhi." Over and over again.
"Get some fancy tuna here right now!" Tamaki ordered, pointing a finger at Kyouya.
Kyouya flipped his phone open, "Add some deluxe sushi."
Haruhi twitched, her face turning a bright red. Damn these filthy rich jerks!
Sae just laughed before snapping a quick picture of a red faced Haruhi with the twins, before walking off to take look around.
~About an hour later~
Sae sighed, Mori and Hunny had grabbed Haruhi and had run off, to where Sae had no idea. But after they had disapeared Sae noticed that Kyouya and the twins were gone as well. She frowned, That can't be good.
Only Tamaki, Sae noted, was left and when he had noticed that the rest of his Club members had gone missing, he quickly made his way over to Sae and grabbed her before dragging her out of the Ball room with him.
She almost fell over trying to catch her balance after Tamaki had let finally let her go. She glared at him before dusting herself off. "Did you need something Tamaki?"
"Oh my precious daughter!" Tamaki quickly swept Saeko back up into his arms, hugging her to him for dear life. "Those shadey twins took your dear sister away; we must find her and rescue her at once!"
Sae sweat dropped, "Sorry Tamaki but I didn't see where they dragged her off to." She stared at him blankly, "Did you try calling Kyouya-senpai?"
Tamaki froze, "Oh yeah..." He squeeled before hugging Sae closer to himself, rubbing his cheek against Sae's. "Aw my widdle girl is so smart!"
After Tamaki had finished rubbing cheeks with poor Saeko, he immediately fished out his cell phone and called Kyouya. And once he found out that the twins along with Kyouya, Mori, and Hunny were in the Club room, he set off with Sae to go and rescue his other daughter.
"Gentleman, here you all are; what are you doing? The guests are waiting for ooh," he stopped mid-rant and froze up, blushing as Haruhi turned around to face him.
The twins had dressed Haruhi up in one of the dresses their mother had made, one of the extra ones they had brought for Saeko. The brothers had also taken the liberty of putting a wig on her, and had done up her makeup. Haruhi looked like she did back when she was in middle school.
"~So what do you think?~"
"Wow, you look so cute!" Hunny complemented excitedly, as Haruhi attempted to walk towards the door.
Sae bit back a grin, Haruhi walked as well as she did in heels.
"It's hard to walk in these shoes, and my face feels heavy with all this makeup on." She complained as she walked out the door, now on her way to go and confront Suzushima. Haruhi was only doing this because Tamaki had made her a deal to cut her debt by a third if she went along with his plan on getting Princess Kanako and Suzushima together.
"~Good luck Haruhi!~" The twins called out, grinning as they watched as Haruhi walking horribly down the hallway.
"I can't believe it...she's so pretty." Tamaki mumbled, still blushing.
After making sure that Haruhi had made it safetly down the hall, the rest of the Club members started to file out of the club room to make their way back to the Ball room and back to their guests.
"Uh, Kaoru?" Sae reached out and grabbed the younger twin's arm, tugging him back a few steps.
"Hmm? Oh," He cocked his head to the side. "What's wrong Saeko?"
"Did you or Hikaru by chance bring any jackets?" She rubbed her arms a bit, "It's kind of cold."
"Um...no, but you can borrow mine. Here," he shrugged off his jacket, holding it open for Sae to put on. He snickered, "Hikaru's gonna throw a hissy fit when he see you in this. Plaid goes so well with your dress, ya know?"
Sae smiled faintly, putting the jacket on. "He'll just have to deal with it. My warmth is more important, sorry." She said with a shrug.
Kaoru chuckled, before offering her his arm, which Sae took gladly. "You know, for someone who complained about not being able to walk in heels you sure are doing exceptional. I don't think I've seen you fallen or stumble even once tonight."
She laughed nervously, avoiding Kaoru's gaze. "Hmm, oh yeah, erm I guess I just over reacted hehheh..."
Kaoru quirked an eye brow at her, but dismissed her awkward answer as they made their way back into the Ball room. He went to ask Sae if she wanted to dance but Kyouya beat him to it.
"Ah, there you are Mizore."
Saeko smiled up at him, nodding. "Yes, here I be," she laughed at herself.
"Dance with me?" Kyouya asked, offering Saeko his hand.
"Hmm?" Sae raised an eye brow at him, but accepted his hand anyways. "Sure," She looked back to Kaoru and gave him an appreciative smile. "Thanks for the jacket Kaoru, you may want to go and check up on your twin...he's looking a little lonely over there." And with that said, Kyouya whisked Sae away to the dance floor, leaving Kaoru to his brother.
Once they were out on the floor, Sae nervously looked up at Kyouya, "Um...can you try extra hard not to step on my feet? N-not that you would or anything!" She stuttered out, afraid that he may have taken her question the wrong way.
Kyouya smirked, as they slowly swayed to the music together. "May I inquire as to why?"
Sae grimaced before peering around Kyouya for any sign of the twins. When she didn't see any ginger colored hair near by, she slowly lifted up her dress a bit to show Kyouya her bare feet. "Yeah," she dropped her dress back to the floor before lacing her arms back around his neck. "I hate wearing heels, and the ones Hikaru gave me were starting to make me blister. So, I took them off and hid them with my purse." She smiled up at him sheepishly. "Just don't tell Hikaru or he'll kill me." She asked, chuckling lightly as Kyouya twirled her around.
"I suppose I can keep your secret," he flashed her a smile, before lowering her into a dip. Chuckling as Sae squealed and desperatly clutched to his arms, much like she had with Kaoru a few days earlier. "Afraid that I might drop you Mizore?" He asked, with Sae still dipped close to the ground.
"What is it with you guys and dipping me?" Sae asked, flustered. "Do you guys get some sort of sick twisted pleasure from it?"
Kyouya chuckled, before admitting, "Maybe a little."
Sae frowned, giving him a blank expression. "Are you gonna lift me back up, or what?"
"And what if I don't want to Mizore?"
Hikaru and Kaoru watched as Kyouya and Sae bantered; Kyouya still keeping his hold of Sae in a low dip. The two of them were both currently taking a break from dancing, both leaning against the wall as they watched the other couples dance. But they were mainly eyeing their new toy who apparently had caught the eye of a certain Momma.
"What do you suppose Kyouya is thinking?" Kaoru asked his brother, watching as Kyouya finally brought Saeko back up, smirking as he continued to sway around the dance floor with her.
Hikaru shrugged, tossing an arm around his little brothers shoulders. "I'm thinking that someone has taken a liking to our new photographer, that's what I'm thinking."
Kaoru frowned, confused by Kyouya's intentions with his, no no, their new toy. "But why?"
"I don't know," Hikaru bluntly answered, turning to look at Kaoru before curiously asking, "Does it bother you?"
"What? N-no, why would it?"
Hikaru frowned, Kaoru had not only stiffened up at the question, but was now avoiding looking at Hikaru's face altogether. Yeah, Hikaru thought, sarcastically agreeging with his younger twin. I bet it doesn't bother you. He stole a quick peek at Kaoru's face, rolling his eyes when he noticed the light blush that was now adorning his cheeks. You are a horrible liar Kaoru. "Whatever," he grabbed Kaoru's hand a little forcefully, "Let's go. Tamaki should be announcing Kanako and Suzushima for the last waltz any minute now." And with that said, Hikaru dragged his brother off to go and meet up with their boss and other Host members.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for us to begin the final dance of the evening's festivities. The last waltz of the night has been chosen by the Host club for this couple," Tamaki announced, waving a hand down to point at lady Kanako and Suzushima.
"Princess Kasugazaki," Suzushima bowed lightly, offering his hand to a stunned Kanako. "May I have this dance?"
Kanako gasped quietly, staring down at Suzushima. Then she broke out into a small smile, and placed her hand delicately into his openly inviting one. "Yes."
Suzushima smiled, before gently taking her into his arms for the last waltz of the evening.
Sae smiled, as she along with all the rest of the other Hosts stared down at the young couple who were now blissfully dancing together, seemingly unaware of the rest of the world that surrounded them.
After watching the couple dance for a few more moments, Sae quietly made her way back into the Ball room to go and grab her purse, and to secretly put Hikaru's heels back on before anyone could notice that she wasn't wearing them. When she made it to the table, she slowly bent down to get onto her hands and knees so that she could reach under the table to grab for her purse. She felt around for a few seconds before her hand came across the fabric of her purse. Grinning she pulled her purse out and then reached back underneath the table for the shoes. Her face paled considerably when she felt no shoes after patting around. Crap...
"Looking for these?" A voice called out, starttling Saeko, making her jump and bash her head off of the table.
Biting back a groan, Sae slowly came out from underneath the table, and grimaced when she saw Kaoru standing behind her, with Hikaru's heels dangling from his hand. Frowning, Sae stood up and stretched her hand out to Kaoru, "Give me those."
Kaoru smirked, "Why should I?"
She glared up at him, "Give me the damn shoes Kaoru."
He tsked at her, shaking his head. "Such a foul mouth,"
"Oh, bite me!" Sae growled.
"Don't tempt me," Kaoru teased, chuckling as Sae started to turn red. "Aw, don't get mad Kitty."
Sae raised an eyebrow at the new nickname. "Kitty?" Then she rolled her eyes, "Whatever, I don't care. Look, will you please just give me the freaking shoes already?" And I thought Hikaru was the more annoying of the two.
Kaoru grinned, "Here you go Sae-chan," he tossed her the shoes, then he winked. "All you had to do was ask nicely."
Sae snorted, shoving the shoes back on. "Are you going to tell your brother? Cause if you plan on it I'm just going to start walking home right now."
"Nah," Kaoru shrugged, earning a sigh of relief from the brunette. Then he smirked, "Not tonight anyways."
"Uhg," Sae groaned, giving him a deadpanned look. "Tell him this weekend when I don't have to put up with him."
Kaoru just laughed before patting the top of Sae's head. "Then you'll just have to deal with it on Monday," he quickly linked Sae's arm with his and began to drag her out back to the balcony to join the others.
"Don't remind me." She muttered out gloomly, causing Kaoru to laugh before pulling her into a sideways hug.
"You know you love us."
"Pft," she just rolled her eyes. "Whatever floats your boat kid."
As they made their way back to stand with the rest of the Host members, Kaoru left Saeko to go and join his brother, who was randomly eating a banana. Sae just smiled faintly before going to stand next to her cousin.
"May this awkward couple be forever blessed!" Tamaki decreed, making Sae snicker while Haruhi sighed in embaressment.
"And now we'll announce the Queen of the ball!" Hikaru came to stand next to Tamaki.
Kaoru, following his older twin's actions went to stand on the other side of Tamaki, "Congradulations Princess Kanako Kasugazaki!" Then the Club members, along with all their guests clapped for the Queen of the night.
Hikaru went on, "And for her reward a kiss on the cheek by our King,"
"Are you ready," Tamaki asked slyly, but was intturpted by Kaoru.
"Haruhi Fujioka will stand in for Tamaki!"
"Whaa!" Tamaki spazzed out, looking back and forth between the two ginger haired twins, who just shrugged before responding, "~Kyouya did say that a little accident by the end of the night might make the evening more thrilling for everyone.~"
Haruhi's paniced face brought on another snicker from her cousin, who just patted her shoulder sympathetically.
"It's okay," Suzushima comforted his fiance, "It's only a kiss on the cheek. You should except it, it will comemorate your graduation fromHost hoping."
"There's no way I can kiss her." Haruhi angerly muttered out.
"If you do it," Kyouya once again offered, "We'll cut your debt by one third."
"Well," Haruhi re-considered. "It is just a peck on the cheek."
Sae had to excuse herself before she busted out laughing infront of everyone. So while Haruhi was making her way down the staircase to kiss Kanako, Sae made a dash back to the Ball room. But not before hearing Hunny question, "Hey, you don't think this is Haru-chan's first kiss do you?" Then she heard Tamaki yelp out a, "What?" Now that got Sae's attention, so she turned to watch what Tamaki would do.
Haruhi was gently turning Kanako's face so that she could kiss her cheek when Tamaki started to run down the flight of stairs, reaching a hand out to Haruhi. "Wait Haruhi!" Then everything seemed to go in slow motion as Tamaki's foot came in cntact with a misplacen banana peel. "?" His eyes widened and his face fell as the hand he was reaching out to stop Haruhi pushed her into Kanako, making them kiss for reals instead of just on the cheek.
Sae couldn't stop herself this time and she did bust out laughing, thankfully it was unheard as all the girls collectivly gasped and then screamed at Kanako's good luck. After settling down, Sae grinned to herself. Tonight wasn't so bad after all.