A/N: EDITED - 6/24/17

Yeah, I'm not even going to bother with excuses now. I know it's been a while and it's always for the same reasons. So, without further ado, here is my next chapter (which I had a ton of fun writing).

Chapter 14: Ties and Connections

"Blaise? Blaise dear, wake up."

The girl gave a soft moan and curled into a tight ball.

Suddenly the blanket was yanked away from her. "Come now, Blaise! You need to get ready."

The girl cracked an eye open. "For what?"

"The dance of course!" Pema scolded, hands on her hips.

There was a groan. "Right. Okay, I'll get up."

"You better. Your mother has a lot planned."

Then, there was the sound of a door closing and Blaise was alone.

The girl laid there for a while, still curled into a ball. Then, she straightened out and laid on her back to stare at the ceiling. She didn't really want to get up, especially for this stupid dance. She was tired and felt like she hadn't slept at all last night. But she knew that she had to go.

With a sigh she rolled off the bed and grabbed her glasses from her bedside table.

Time to get ready.

Blaise exited her room, closing the door behind her. She looked down unhappily at her dress. It was blue with spaghetti straps and a white ribbon tied around her waist. Sure it was pretty, but she was just tired of wearing dresses all the time. At least this dress reached her ankles.

She turned, about to go look for Pema, when a certain brother of hers caught her attention.

"Aldric?"

"Hi, Blaise."

She walked up to him, eyeing the black tux he was wearing. She was about to ask why he was wearing it when he had been so psyched about this red dress he had been gushing about, when she realized that her mother probably forced him.

That woman.

"You look beautiful."

Blaise looked down at her dress. "You think so?" She gave him a smile. "Thanks. You don't look bad yourself." Then she tried to stifle a laugh. "Except your tie. I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to look like that."

"Well I'm sorry ties aren't usually not in my wardrobe, Blaise!" Aldric retorted loudly.

"I know, I know. Calm down," she soothed, reaching up to fix it.

Aldric looked down, watching as she moved the fabric with her fingers.

"This seems familiar."

Blaise slowed down for a second. "It does, doesn't it?" Then she pulled his tie so that it was neat around his neck. "Done. You look handsome."

"But I don't like it." Aldric whined. "Mom has no fashion sense whatsoever! It's just black and white and there's hardly any style. I would rather wear your dress, it's gorgeous. Do you think we could switch?"

The girl sighed. "Mom wouldn't like that." Then she took his arm like he was going to escort her. "Now come on. Everyone's waiting to congratulate you. You should be proud. You're finally showing them that they misjudged you."

He gave her a small smile. "I guess I should thank you for that. You supported me all the way."

"No problem. That's what siblings are for right?"

Aldric studied her smile for a moment. It's been a while since she was able to smile at him like that. She did it all the time when they were kids... but after five years of separation, it was a rare sight. When he first saw her six months ago, she seemed so depressed, he often wondered why. And now, after spending some time in Japan, she seemed to revert back to her old self a little bit.

"Come on, Aldric! You don't want to be late for you own party," Blaise scolded as she tugged her brother along.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," Aldric whined, following his sister down the stairs.

Blaise's head was swimming. She had been standing at the entrance greeting people for over an hour and about a hundred different names and faces were swirling around and making her brain hurt.

"Hello there."

Blaise cringed. "What the hell are you guys doing coming in through the front entrance?"

The twins smirked at her. "We like arriving fashionably late."

"What the? That doesn't make any sense! You guys are staying at here!"

"Come now, Blaise, don't spoil the fun!" Tamaki chided as he came to stand beside her. "As the host club, we like to make an entrance!"

"That's stupid."

Tamaki gave her a horrified look.

"Hey, where's Haru-chan?" Honey asked, looking around.

"I'm right here."

Everyone turned to see Haruhi walking up to them, wearing a long dress that was so light gray it almost looked white.

"Sorry I'm late," she said as she came to stand by Blaise. "Pema-san wouldn't leave me alone until my make-up was 'perfect'."

Blaise grimaced. "That sounds like her."

"But it was worth it!" Honey chirped. "You look great!"

"Uh, thanks, Honey-senpai."

"And not just that, Haruhi, but you and our king are matching," Kyoya said, an amused smirk on his face.

Tamaki's eyes widened as he looked Haruhi over. Her dress matched his white suit perfectly. Almost too perfectly... but of course, he didn't notice that.

Haruhi looked down at her dress. "I guess we are."

"On top of that, Hikaru, Blaise is wearing your color," Kaoru said quietly, but not enough to keep the others from hearing.

Hikaru blinked as he looked at Blaise. He realized that was true. She was indeed wearing his color. His rose color: pale blue.

Blaise eyed his tie. Why was it the same color as her dress?

"Are you cramping my style now, Blaise?"

The girl scoffed. "I can't cramp something you never had."

This is where everyone expected him to spit something back at her. But no, he didn't. He did something else entirely.

Hikaru briefly looked her over again. "Eh. It doesn't really matter," he said with a smirk. "I like the way it looks on you."

Silence. Absolute, complete silence. Then...

Blaise could feel her face heat up. She looked away from him, and instead, placed her gaze on the floor. "Uh, th-thanks," she stammered.

Hikaru stared at her for a moment. Then, his face grew red as well as he realized what he said and how it had sounded.

"Um..." was all he could bring himself to say.

Kaoru gave a small wolf whistle. "This worked out better than we hoped, senpai."

"I don't know what you mean, Kaoru," Kyoya said coolly.

"Aw, come on! We did a good job," the younger teen said, holding his hand up to offer a high-five.

Kyoya eyed it warily, but when he saw that Kaoru wasn't going to move his hand anytime soon, he hit his hand to his palm to appease him.

"You can be more enthusiastic than that," Kaoru said teasingly, but when he saw the dark glare the demon king was giving him, he cowered away.

"Oh. I just remembered," Tamaki said suddenly. Then he turned to Blaise and Haruhi. "Ladies, I think that we hosts deserve the chance to dance with each of you at least once." They gave him a weird look, but he just looked at them seriously.

"We'll cut your debt by twenty percent." Kyoya added.

The girls glanced at each other. "Deal."

"Excellent!" Tamaki said cheerily.

"Blaise! It's been so long!"

Suddenly, the girl in question was tackled by someone else who seemed to have the idea of "arriving fashionably late." As they had been talking, the hosts hadn't noticed the white limousine that had pulled up or the person who had come out.

"Yeah. Hey, Renge."

"Renge?" Tamaki asked, as he and the twins gaping at their previous manager.

Renge looked up at her name, then gasped.

"The Host Club?!" The girl grabbed Blaise by the shoulders. "Blaise! Why is the Host Club at your party?"

"What?" Blaise asked in confusion. "You guys know each other..? Wait. Renge, don't tell me that the school you went to in Japan was Ouran Academy."

"Yes!"

Blaise looked between her and the hosts. "Wow... it's a small world."

"May we ask how you know Ms. Houshakuji?" Kyoya inquired.

"Well, her parents are close friends with my mom, so..."

"Wait, Blaise! You didn't answer my question!"

The girl sighed. "Right, uh. Well I had to join their club to pay off some uniforms that I needed and... they followed me here for the summer."

Renge blinked. "But you're a girl."

"Hehe. I pretend to be a guy at school so..."

Renge ogled her. "Wow! That's so elaborate! How did you come up with it?"

"Actually, it's not an original idea," Kyoya interjected.

"What do you mean?" Then she saw that he had glanced at Haruhi. "And, Haruhi, why are you cosplaying here?"

Hikaru and Kaoru came to stand beside her and sympathetically put their hands on her shoulders. "About that. There's something we should tell you."

"No! She can't know!" Tamaki said frantically.

"It should be safe to tell her, boss. Renge doesn't go to school with us anymore. Her dad made her go back to Paris."

"Tell me what?"

They pointed at Haruhi. "Haruhi's not cosplaying."

Renge didn't seem to get it so they sighed and just told her.

"She's a girl."

Renge stared long and hard at the girl before her. Then she exploded. "WHAT? But-but I had a crush on you!"

Haruhi gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry I couldn't tell you, Renge.

Renge hung her head. "First Miyabi and now you? Am I destined never to have a relationship?"

"Apparently so," the twins deadpanned.

"No one asked you!"

The rest of the afternoon was busy for Blaise. She had to meet and dance with a lot of people she didn't know and it was all a blur. She didn't really like it, but there were some parts that had been worth it, at least a little bit.

Her dance with Aldric was the first, as it was his party. He couldn't stop talking about, well, everything. The hosts, the decorations, the hosts. Blaise didn't really mind though. He looked happy.

Next, interestingly enough, was Haruhi. Blaise saw that Tamaki was about to ask the girl, so she thought she might mess with him a bit. She had gone in there, smirk and all, and asked Haruhi to dance before Tamaki could put his hand out. Haruhi played along, and as a result it was very amusing to watch their king chase after them. After a few minutes of that, Blaise spun Haruhi so that she came to stand right in front of the blond. He looked surprised, but he asked her to dance anyway. Haruhi agreed and they took off, Tamaki a little red in the face but relatively happy.

Kyoya had been watching this little spectacle, and when Blaise looked in his direction, he caught her eye by giving her a small round of applause. Blaise smirked and gave a bow. She had a feeling that she had done something he would do. Then she danced with him, having an interesting conversation that was mostly centered around their president.

Her dance with Honey was certainly interesting, though it couldn't really be called a dance. He basically just spun Blaise around in dizzying circles, laughing his innocent little laugh but still almost making them topple over. Luckily, Mori saved the day by asking his cousin if he could "cut in." Honey agreed with a smile before running off to eat more cake. Blaise felt a little awkward to dance with someone so tall, especially after dancing with someone so short, but Mori just smiled at her, and they danced in a comfortable silence.

Tamaki asked her a few minutes later. It was amusing, seeing how Tamaki tried to act all princely and father-like at the same time. He struck up a conversation with her, asking if she was enjoying the party and if she had danced with all of the hosts yet. Blaise appeased him by playing along, and by the end, pretending to enjoy herself wasn't difficult at all. In fact, it was like she wasn't pretending.

The twins came last, but Kaoru was first though. It was rather pleasant, actually. They talked and Blaise realized that he was nice and really easy to talk to. Not that she didn't know, it was just easier to tell when he wasn't with his brother. Speaking of him, her dance with that twin was... bad. It was really awkward as they remembered what Hikaru had said earlier, so they mostly glared at each other the whole time.

As Blaise went to sit down after that last one, she went toward the table where Kaoru seemed to be watching.

"That looked painful."

"It was," Blaise groaned as she sat down. "I felt like I was going to die, it was so awkward."

Kaoru laughed. "Yeah, that's Hikaru. But once you get used to him, he's not that bad."

"Easy for you to say. You've been together forever."

"Yep. Since the day we were born. Actually, more like the day we were conceived."

"Hmm," Blaise hummed absently, tracing the pattern on the table. "That must be nice." She waited for him to say something, but when he stayed silent, she looked up. The red-head was just staring at her, and she quickly looked away.

Damn it, I said too much.

Suddenly, a large shadow fell over them. They looked up to see Mori standing there, holding a sleeping Honey in his arms.

"Hey, Mori-senpai," Blaise greeted.

"Hi," Mori said in return as he sat down.

"What happened to Honey-senpai?" Kaoru asked.

The tall college student grunted. "He ate too much cake."

"Haha, sorry about that," Blaise said apologetically. "I tried to keep the cake to a minimum but Aldric wouldn't hear of it."

"You should take him to bed, senpai. The party's almost over anyway."

Mori just sat there for a minute, and the other two were starting to wonder why.

"But he didn't brush his teeth."

Kaoru waved his hand, grimacing slightly. "Not brushing this once won't hurt him."

After thinking this over, Mori nodded, got up from the table, and left, taking his cousin with him.

Blaise smiled to herself as she watched him. He and Honey were so close, it was heartwarming. The host club seemed to be full of relationships like that: Honey and Mori seemed joined at the hip, Hikaru and Kaoru were together since birth, and Kyoya and Tamaki had been friends for a while before founding the host club. Then Haruhi came and seemed to fit right in. Blaise couldn't help but think how lucky they all were.

Then there was a sigh as Haruhi herself plopped down in the seat next to her.

"I'm tired. I just want to go to bed."

Blaise put a hand on her shoulder. "I know. Me too."

"You heroines are so lazy," Hikaru said as he came to stand behind them. "What kind of story is this? The person who wrote this must be insane."

"Technically, Hikaru, this is a fan fiction," Kaoru cut in, "so you could say that what's happening right now isn't real. Anyway, the person who wrote this is an amateur who doesn't really know what she's doing."

"Be that as it may," Haruhi deadpanned. "Saying that stuff won't improve the story line, especially for you two."

Hikaru just shrugged. "Whatever. It's not like lightning is going to strike me or anything."

"Hello~!"

Everyone looked up. Standing standing beside the table, with Kyoya and Tamaki in tow, was a woman with deep blue eyes and long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She had on a long, frilly, red dress and her face was covered in make-up.

Blaise slammed her head onto the table as this woman continued to speak. "How is everyone tonight?"

"Uh. Fine," Kaoru said. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm marvelous! Thank you for asking."

"Kumiko-san?" Haruhi asked, eyes squinting.

"Thank you! Someone sees it!" Blaise exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air.

Kumiko winked. "The one and only."

"What are you doing, Kumiko? What if you get caught?" Blaise growled.

"But there's only about twenty minutes left and I wanted to dress up! Besides, this way, I can dance with some of the hosts."

His sister gave a sigh. "You're unbelievable."

"But you know you love me!" Then, Kumiko scooped up the twins, along with Tamaki and Kyoya. "Come on, boys! While the night is still young!" And with that, they were gone.

Blaise sighed, feeling sorry for them already. Then she turned to Haruhi, wanting to take advantage of the quiet. "Hey, I realize that I never asked you how you joined the host club."

Haruhi laughed. "Well, that's an interesting story. On my first day, I was looking for a quiet place to study. I found Music Room three, and it seemed promising, so I opened the door."

"You poor girl."

So, Haruhi told Blaise about her first day at the infamous Ouran Host Club.

Blaise's mouth hung open. "Eight million yen?"

Haruhi hung her head. "I know."

"You broke a vase, and it was worth eight million yen?"

Haruhi nodded.

"You'll be a host forever!"

"Actually, Kyoya-senpai told me that I paid my debt off last year."

"Then why the heck are you still here?"

Haruhi sighed. "Well, soon after that, I crashed a horse drawn carriage so..."

"Kyoya-senpai put you in more debt?"

There was a nod.

"He's evil."

"Yep."

"...So what would you have done if you didn't have more debt?"

Haruhi sat there, thinking. Come to think of it, she hadn't given that much thought.

"Well... I'm not sure if I would have left the host club. Sure, they can be eccentric and a pain in the neck, but they grow on you, you know?"

Surprised by that answer, Blaise sat in thought. "...Yeah. I guess you're right."

"So what you're saying, Haruhi..."

"Is that you actually like the host club?"

Both girls jumped at the new, but recognizable voices.

"Bloody hell!"

"Why'd you say that, Blaise?"

"We thought you were French, not British."

"You scared the crap out of me!" Blaise yelled. At the same time, she was confused as to how they escaped Kumiko.

"You're not answering our question. Do you like the host club or not?"

"Nope. Not in the slightest."

"Oh come on, Haruhi! You can't deny what you just said."

"Yes I can. I just did. Besides, whatever nice feelings I had toward the club are gone, thanks to you."

"You like us."

"No I don't."

"You really like us."

"I do not!"

"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt."

"Shut up!"

Blaise found it really hard to keep from laughing at this point. For some reason, she just found this situation extremely funny.

Then, her urge to laugh disappeared in an instant. Across the room, she could see Joseph Stone, and he was walking in her direction.

Blaise's heart dropped. He was probably going to ask her to dance again. She had agreed the first time just to get it over with, if she had declined, then there would have been questions. But dancing with him made it feel like her insides were squirming, and she wasn't sure she could do it again. She might throw up.

Without really thinking, Blaise got up and grabbed the first hand she could reach, rushing off to dance. Utterly confused, Hikaru got into position and lead Blaise in a slow waltz.

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "What was that for? Didn't we just finish our dance?"

Blaise didn't answer him. Instead, she remained silent, her eyes nervously darting to the side. Hikaru slowly looked in the direction of her gaze and just caught sight of her uncle, watching them.

"You were trying to avoid him, weren't you?"

"..."

"Blaise."

She looked up at him and saw his golden eyes boring into hers. Finally, she just sighed. "Yeah."

"Why do you hate him so much?"

"What? I didn't say I—"

"I'm not stupid, Blaise. I see how you act when he's around."

She stayed quiet, not confirming but not rejecting his hypothesis.

"Why?"

"We... We're supposed to be engaged."

Hikaru's eyes widened, staring at her like she had grown another head. "What?"

Blaise sighed. "Yeah. He's about twenty-five, and mom supports the idea because it would be beneficial for our companies. We're not related by blood anyway, so-"

"But he's ten years older than you! And you're not even sixteen yet!"

"I know... Luckily, my dad was able to keep us from being officially engaged, at least until I'm older. But now it's more like we're engaged to be engaged... But I don't even like him! And I don't want my marriage to be decided for me. I thought arranged marriages were out, but apparently my mom thinks I shouldn't think for myself."

Hikaru eyed her for a minute. It was hard to notice earlier, but now that some of her make-up had faded, he could see the dark circles under her eyes and how unusually pale her face was. Now that he was really looking at her, he also saw that she looked really thin. Something was going on with her. Could the engagement be what's been bothering her so much?

He decided to take her mind off of it. At least for a while.

"So... about earlier."

She gave him a weird look, but he just smirked and continued.

"You agreed with Haruhi. So you must like being in the host club too."

"What?" Blaise asked, startled by the sudden change in topic.

"Come on. Admit it. You like the host club. I heard you say it."

"Wh... Fine. But tell anyone and I'll hurt you."

"Oh come on—Ow!"

Blaise smirked. "Oops. I'm sorry, I must have slipped."

"Damn girls and their heels," her partner muttered. "Fine. I'll keep my mouth shut."

"What are we all looking at?" Kumiko asked as she skipped up to the table with Kaoru and Haruhi.

"Blaise and Hikaru are dancing," the ginger answered.

"But why is that worth watching?" Tamaki asked, not understanding.

"Because this is the second time that their doing it!" Kaoru pointed at them across the room. "And look! It's so different from before! The first time, they barely looked at each other. Now Blaise is laughing."

"They look happy," Renge said as she appeared. "Right, Kumiko?"

"Yes, they do, don't they? But if Hikaru moves his hands below the equator I'll kill him!"

"I think I ship them," Renge said suddenly. "Have you guys thought of their name yet?"

"Isn't that going a little too far ahead?" Haruhi asked.

"No," Kaoru said, ignoring her and looking at Renge. "Do you have any ideas, Miss Manager?"

"Hmm." Renge put her hand to her chin, thinking. Then her eyes lit up as her managerial, otaku brain came up with something. "I got it! Blaikaru!"

"Wait! But my little girl is too young to be in a relationship!" Tamaki protested. "Especially with one of those evil doppelgangers!"

"What's that supposed to mean, boss?" Kaoru asked threateningly.

The last ten minutes of the party weren't much. Nothing really important or interesting happened, but for Blaise, they were quite enjoyable, and probably the most significant ten minutes of her summer. She had danced with a lot of people that night, most of them she couldn't remember very well, but Hikaru Hitachiin was the only person that she danced with more than once.

A/N: Yay! Great chapter considering it took me so long to concoct. I know that I end up insulting myself, but I figured that I eventually had to make them break the fourth wall. They do it all the time in the anime. Anyway, this is mostly a development chapter, but it's still serves a purpose. It's not there to just be there. Hopefully, the next chapter will be up sooner. And just so you guys know, I might be editing the first couple chapters. I won't change anything significant, I just want to make the wording flow better. Review, favorite, and follow please! I will see you next time.