Sorry the updates have been slowing down. I'm trying to stay on top of them, and also my hectic schedule. But writing this is what is keeping me sane amidst my daily torture that is college. This is mostly a fluff chapter, but it gets a little more serious towards the end.
Enjoy!
"Wow, Shizuko you look amazing!"
"How are you? We were all so worried!"
"You're so brave to come back to school so soon…"
"You must have been terrified!"
"Your scar just shows how fearless you are! You're as beautiful as ever!"
"Yeah, that costume really flatters you!"
The complements kept coming from every direction, some from girls I had never even met before at Ouran. I sat unmoving, staring at them all, not knowing how to respond. Mori had left momentarily to get the girls sodas and shakes (in keeping with the 50s theme), and in his absence his guests had converged on me. I still disliked being the center of attention, and their endless questions were beginning to give me a headache. But they are just trying to be nice to me, right? I reasoned with myself. So I plastered a smile on my face and took their praises in stride.
"Ladies, enough questions," Mori reappeared with a tray of food. The girls all stopped talking and turned to face him upon hearing his deep voice speak out behind them. I sighed, silently thanking his impeccable timing. I shot him a look to say "thank you" to which he replied with a curt nod. He placed the tray down and passed out the cups of soda.
I took one gratefully, taking a careful sip.
"You two look so cute together as Danny and Sandy!" one girl cooed.
I very nearly spit my drink back out. Mori, who had been in the process of sitting back down, tensed and froze. Our eyes quickly darted to each other, meeting, causing each of us to blush.
"Yeah, you guys look so great!" another girl added, "Like a real couple!"
It took a large gulp of my beverage to hide my deepening blush. I dared a glance at Mori, who appeared as startled as I was. He was intently brushing nonexistent crumbs off of his blazer; he was very obviously avoiding meeting my gaze, though a slight blush could still be seen across his cheeks.
I pointed between Mori and myself, shaking my head and hands, trying to convey we were not together. I saw Mori look away as I did so. He can't even look at me he's so repulsed by the idea of us being together. Why did Tamaki have to do this to us? The girls seemed to get my point as half of them looked disappointed we weren't an item, and the other half looked relieved that he was still available.
I put my head in my hands, willing my blush to recede. Mori had finally turned back to the group, but he remained silent. A hush fell over the group, as none knew how to come back from the uncomfortable statement. After a few more seconds of quiet, one of the girls broke it by asking Mori how his day had been.
After this, the few girls fell back into a dry conversation about the weather and the tea and normal "girl talk" as Mori listened, like usual. I did not understand how someone such as he could tolerate their foolishness. I tried to follow along, but I couldn't keep up with their excessive gossiping. Eventually, I gave up and stood up to refill the drinks.
I took the tray in my hands and walked to the back room, passing by the twins as I went. As they saw me pass, they ran over and took positions on either side of me.
"So, Shizuko, how's it going with Mori-senpai?" Kaoru asked.
"Yeah, you two looked awfully embarrassed by something a minute ago…" Hikaru added.
My blush involuntarily crept back up into my cheeks. I tried to speed up to get away from the pair, but the combination of the tray I was carrying and the heels I had been forced into wearing kept me from escaping so easily.
"Come on Shizuko," Kaoru started.
"We're just playing with you," Hikaru finished.
I looked between the two; their expressions were unreadable, but I had an uneasy feeling that they were up to something, the same "thing" that Tamaki was up to.
"Well, we have some brotherly love to share with some more ladies, so we'll be on our way. Try not to have too much fun with Mori-senpai!" Hikaru and Kaoru said, walking away and high-fiving as they went. I raised my eyebrow, not knowing what they were up to. But I had drinks to refill, so I went behind the counter to the soda stream to finish my job.
Mori blushed furiously as one of the girls mentioned he and Shizuko looked cute together. He stopped mid-sit, looking across the table to where Shizuko was staring back at him. Her face held a similar blush. They each turned away quickly to hide their faces.
"Yeah, you guys look so great! Like a real couple!"
Mori turned his attention to his blazer, smoothing it out in an effort to not look at Shizuko. He feared if he looked at her, with the thought of them as a couple still fresh in his mind, his blush would never fade. He could feel Shizuko's gaze burning into the top of his head, yet he couldn't face her. Eventually, a silence fell over the group, at which point Mori felt safe enough to look up.
"So Mori, how was your day," a small 2nd year girl asked him to break the uncomfortable hush.
"Fine," Mori answered quickly. Without Hunny there to keep the girls occupied, he felt severely out of place. Hunny was the reason he was part of the host club in the first place.
"That's good," the girl replied. With the nervous air dissipating, the girls got back to their normal chatter. He listened intently, speaking up only if directly spoken to. Despite his placid behavior, he really did dislike listening to their mindless gossip.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mori saw Shizuko get up from her chair, pick up the tray, and walk towards the counter. As she retreated, his eyes couldn't help but drift towards her long legs and backside, so wonderfully accentuated by the leather costume. His gulped and looked away before his cheeks could turn tomato red once more, but the vision of her hips swaying as she walked away kept playing on repeat in his mind. He returned to the conversation the girls were having, hoping the dull topic would calm his wandering mind.
I filled the last glass, replacing it on the tray. I picked it up gently, being careful not to let any of the drinks slosh over the edge. Watching my step, I started to make my way back to the Mori's table. I decided at this moment I would never consider being a waitress: I could barely walk in the heels and carry the tray at the same time.
I eventually started getting the hang of walking in the heels with the full glasses as I got closer to the table, but of course when I was less than a few feet away, the inevitable happened: I tripped. I could only hear the sound of glasses breaking upon impact with the ground, my eyes shut tight as I plummeted towards the ground. I felt my knees hit the floor amidst the glass shards. I put my hands out in front of my chest the rest of my body fell towards the tile and shattered remains of the glasses, but the expected collision never occurred. Instead I felt a pair of strong arms catch me.
Before I opened my eyes I already knew whose arms I rested in. Slowly my eyes fluttered open…and looked directly into Mori's worried ones.
Mori watched as Shizuko stumbled, trying to keep the tray steady as well as keep herself steady in her heels. He sighed inwardly, cursing the twins for putting her in those torture devices. As she got closer to the table he saw her start to look more comfortable in her gait, but no sooner had he thought this than he saw her miss a step. He knew what would happen next and leapt up just as her feet went out from beneath her.
He could not get to her before her knees hit the ground, but he was there in time to keep her entire upper body from also coming in contact with the sticky and glass covered floor. She was light in his arms as he held her inches above the floor. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Mori holding her. He looked back down into her eyes with concern.
"Are you alright?" he asked her. She nodded at him, as he helped her into a stand. She wobbled, so he grabbed back onto her arm and brought her over to a nearby chair. She still looked slightly surprised as she sat, looking around at the faces of the guests and hosts, who were in turn all looking back at her.
Mori took the brief moment to check her over and assess the damage the glass had done, his protective nature kicking in. She had pieces of glass rooted in her legs, and she was beginning to bleed a little. He sighed, knowing he should clean them out soon. He did not mind in the slightest though, as long as he was the one taking care of her. He tried to get her notice but she was not paying attention. He placed his palm against her cheek, not failing to miss how soft her skin was against his hand.
"You're knees need to be cleaned. They are bleeding," Mori said. She finally heard him, nodding yes to his request. Slowly he helped her up again and walked her into the back room where he could fix up his silent princess.
"Are you alright?" he asked me softly.
I nodded a few times, blushing in embarrassment. How could I be so clumsy? I thought to myself as Mori slowly helped me over to a nearby chair. The entire club was staring by now. I was so mortified that everyone had seen what had just occurred that I did not even notice Mori had started to speak to me. He put his hand on my cheek to get my attention and my head snapped towards him.
"You're knees need to be cleaned. They are bleeding," he said calmly. I looked down to see some of the glass had pierced my knees and the tops of my shins through the leather pants. Small amounts of blood could be seen trickling out of some of the cuts. I nodded to him as he helped me up.
The hosts and guests had gone back to their conversations after assessing I was all right, and a custodial crew was cleaning up the broken glasses. Mori walked me into the back room where he took out a first aid kit. He helped me up onto a table, then bent down and started to cut away the fabric of the pants from just above my knees down to my ankles. I blushed as he did so, but he did not seem to notice as he intently cleaned out the cuts with antiseptic wash.
He finished by wrapping a layer of bandages around my shins and individual bandages on the cuts on my knees (so I could still move). "You should be more careful," he said as I maneuvered off of the table, back into a standing position. I nodded again. This was the third time he had come to my aid. Granted, the other two times were far more serious, but I was ashamed of my inability to keep myself out of trouble.
He turned and held the curtain open for me to enter back into the main room. As I walked out, I stopped short as the music room had gone silent again. I felt him stop close behind me. We looked to the front double doors where a heated argument was going on between the twins and an unknown person. The rest of the hosts were slowly making their way over to join them. Mori gave me a look saying, "Stay here" and then walked over to the others.
I couldn't see whom they were talking to, but as my curiosity kicked in and I inched towards the fast growing crowd, I could hear voices.
"What are you doing here?" Kaoru growled.
"Please I just want to talk to Shizuko!" the unnamed person cried.
"I'm sorry but you won't be getting anywhere near Miss Koi," Kyouya calmly stated.
"Please, I just want to apologize!" the voice answered back.
"You want to apologize! You think an apology will solve anything? She almost died!" Hikaru spat out.
I watched as Mori maneuvered through the crowd. Whoever was there must have seen him appear because she (it was most definitely a girls voice) addressed him next.
"Mori, please you have to help me! You know I didn't want anything like that to happen to her!" the voice sounded near tears.
"Let her speak. She was not the one who hurt Shizuko," Mori's quiet voice spoke out.
"But Mori-senpai! She might not have been the one to directly hurt Shizuko, but she was part of the plan! I won't let her near Shizuko!" Hikaru shouted.
"Hikaru," was all Mori had to say in a stern tone to get Hikaru to close his mouth. I could see Mori's tall form towering over the girls in the crowd as he placed a hand on Hikaru's shoulder to calm him. He turned to face me as Hikaru's breathing started to return to normal, shooting me a look to say "Don't worry, I'll be here," and then he started to walk back through the crowd towards me.
As the crowd parted I finally caught a glimpse of the girl, now crying while following Mori, who had been on the other end of the argument. It was Rin.
What's Rin doing at the host club? We last saw her with the police, how did she get out?
Keep reviewing as always! Your reviews never fail to put a smile on my face!