Chapter 25
"Clothes and manners do not make the man; but, when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.~ Henry Ward Beecher"
"The door of the Ouran High School Host Club creaks when it's opened, rose petals flying around the entrance when the one who opened the door enters with wide eyes of admiration and probably her first love. A group of incredibly handsome men between the age of fifteen and eighteen -dressed in Late Edo Era Samurai Warrior costumes- chorus a warm "Welcome". Smiles on their faces, lust yet warmth and gentleness in their eyes which is where the girl –entering this room for her first time- falls for immediately" Gin says from her table while the hosts do just what she described them to be doing. Her eyes are closed, living into her role.
Then she sighs and puts her hands on her cheeks for extra drama "And that's how an innocent teenage girl becomes a mindless MOE-Loving monsters called 'Nuts', born from the moment they opened that door. They'll return to their birthplace again and again to try and satisfy their hunger for what the Leader-of-the-Nuts calls MOE".
The hosts all send her a glare and she looks at them slyly, sticking out her tongue at them with a smirk.
'Gin, keep your mouth shut or leave' Kyoya says coldly, his glasses catching the light and causing them to glare.
Gin fakes a pout 'Aw, so cold and harsh Kyoya, you're no fun at all'.
'And you are too much fun and too less seriousness. Your grades have been getting worse, if you don't study you should go to another school. Aren't you the least bit worried about your future?'.
Gin rolls her eyes 'Look, just because you rich Asian people have a superiority complex, doesn't mean me –as an European teenage girl- has to create this same complexion. I like my free time and I like it even more if I'm not wasting it doing homework. Besides, who cares about Japanese History anyway? I don't need to know names of emperors in my future job'.
'Japanese History is a part of your education and integration, you should at least try to learn about the history of the country you're living in'.
'I tried… and I failed' Gin shrugs and then rolls her eyes 'Besides, I have to write those names in Kanji, and the teacher keeps bugging me, saying I write it in the wrong manner, I mean what does it matter in what sequence you draw those lines, as long as they form the damn character right?'.
'No, you're not right at all' Kyoya sighs.
'Well excuse me for not knowing two thousand characters in Kanji before I go to High School. You guys speak fluently Japanese and guess what, I still confuse "Good morning" with "Good afternoon". And your grammar is really annoying too, I don't get a damn thing about the language at all…'.
'And you want to become a doctor…' the twins mutter.
Gin purses her lips and then looks away with a frown, upset about them being right and she wrong because of her never dying laziness.
Only a few minutes later when all the guests have arrived and the hosts have dressed into their role, Gin is standing in the middle of the room with her hair in a high pony tail and wearing a light blue Hakama with a white Shitagi that has pale blue flower embroidery on the edges of her sleeves. On her feet the white socks they all wear and around her middle an obi in the same blue color as the Hakama. Around her waist is also a hakama-himo linked to the katana on her hip. A black sheath and a blue hilt with silver guard.
She walks towards Mori -who's sitting on a bamboo bench- with a tray containing two cups of green tea. There the three guests look at the young woman sitting down next to him and offer him a cup from behind the rise paper wall, he accepts the tea with a smile and a low "Thanks" the two just sitting there for a while drinking tea.
'You look nice in that, like a female warrior' he looks at her and Gin blushes a bit.
'Thanks, you look quite alright yourself, the clothes fit you. Maybe I'm being blunt, but I guess I can imagine you walking through your house dressed like that, it being built in a traditional Japanese style and such. Oh… but you do Kendo so you already know how to handle a katana' she takes a sip, he grunts, saying she's right with just that one sound.
Gin smiles lightly, yes… for some reason she could converse with Mori but all too well. Maybe it's because of the time they've spend together or because Gin just knows such things by instinct, but it's nice to be around someone sometimes while not talking, understanding each other, but not talking. No… that's nice sometimes.
Suddenly Mori stands up, grabbing the long Naginata from beside him, swinging it through the air and pushing it forward just past Gin's head into the rice paper wall behind her. She looks at Mori with big shocked eyes, mouth partly open and an "A-a-ahhhh" sound coming from her mouth.
Very cool Gin. That sounds very intelligent.
'What the fuck?' the words are barely come from her mouth in real English, a thick Dutch accent mingled with it because of the shock. Pale in the face she shoves away from the weapon while Tamaki and the twins freak out.
'No, we have a trespasser' Mori says calmly, stepping over the bamboo bench to the rice paper wall or door, or whatever it's called. When he opens it, Gin turns to see a red haired boy looking quite… disturbing.
Suddenly the redhead launches himself at Mori shouting "Takashi Morinozuka!". Gin grabs her sword but fails to get it out of her sheath so she just pulls the whole katana with the sheath still on in front of Mori. The head of the redhead bangs into it during his launch at his senpai and so he falls onto the ground, moaning while twitching occasionally.
'Oh… sorry, I just… uh' Gin sweat-drops at her own action, her friends staring at her before the twins burst out laughing.
'She just floored the trespasser!' they can barely keep their tears from streaming down their cheeks.
Suddenly the boy moves again and Gin raises the sheathed katana to hit him again, Mori however holds up his hand to stop her. Causing her to look at him questionably. The redhead looks at her and then at Mori before bowing deeply 'Senpai! Please, take me on as your apprentice'.
Everyone, including Gin with her raised sword, sweat drops. They all feel the same way, confused.
XxX
'Ritsu Kasanoda, first year class D. Heir to the third generation head of the Kasanoda syndicate, the most powerful gang in the Kanto area. He was admitted this year at Ouran Academy's High School. He has long red hair, a mean looking appearance, is reserved and has few friends. It is said that if your eyes meet his you'll have bad dreams for three months, if you bump into him you'll end up in the hospital and talking back to him sends you to an early grave. He is so feared by his classmates that they call him the walking blizzard' Kyoya reads the description from his notebook. Why does he even know this kind of stuff?
It's after club hours and everyone has turned back into their usual Ouran uniform with exception of Gin, who walks around with trays of tea and cookies, still wearing the same clothes as before.
'Seriously?' Tamaki asks with big eyes 'But why would a human weapon like yourself want to be Mori-senpai's apprentice?'.
Kyoya snaps his notebook closed while Gin puts the tea down in front of the four boys sitting on the couch and Haruhi. Mori and Honey sitting behind them by a table, Honey waiting to eat cake and Mori waiting for his tea. She looks at Kasanoda and purses her lips before walking over.
'You want some tea?' Gin felt for the guy, at her old school people were afraid of her too, though they never called her nicknames, they just said rude things about her short-tempered behavior and the raising of her voice when she's irritated –Which they would think was angry, but Gin often told them that if they think that's when she's angry, they should be glad to never see her really angry-.
'Uh, yes thanks' he looks at her quite surprised, Gin just wonders why he's so surprised when she offered him tea. Maybe he's used to people jumping away and avoiding eye contact of even avoiding to breathe the same air. Poor guy.
'Here you go' she puts the cup down in front of him and walks over to the table with Honey and Mori. She hands Honey the plate with a big piece of cake and hands Mori a cup of tea with a little bit of honey. She learned over the time she spend in the Morinozuka residence that he liked his tea with a little bit of honey.
'Well because… look I may be tough but I'm not a human weapon. I was just born with a face that makes me look mean all the time' Kasanoda replies, sounding a little bit down about it. Tamaki nods, appearing to understand the situation, though Gin doubts he does. Kyoya takes notes, probably to add something more to the description of Ritsu.
'Well at least you're aware of it, Casanova' they chorus, totally getting the name wrong, which causes Gin to sweat-drop, not seeing the link between the redhead and the Italian flirter form the stories.
'It's Kasanoda' the redhead corrects rather calm.
'Bossanova?' the twins and Tamaki ask.
Ritsu's eyes turn very evil looking, Gin chuckling when the twins and Tamaki hide behind the couch, Kyoya and Haruhi seemingly not bothered by the glare the redhead sends them. Well, Haruhi is more oblivious to it since she's trying to look at what Kyoya's writing down rather than paying attention to their problem maker.
'I said, it was Kasanoda, do you wanna die?'.
'He really is mean looking' the three cowards chorus.
Gin chuckles and looks at the redhead before passing 'Believe me Ritsu, it's a lost cause, those idiots are just that, complete and utter idiots'.
'Hey!' The three chorus. Haruhi chuckling softly behind her hand.
Ritsu looks at her with a slight bit of admiration. Gin just smiles gently at him, she always found it important to give people reassuring and nice smiles when you don't know them too well. That's just like her, be always nice to the people you don't like and open up by showing your real feelings about stuff to your real friends. Well, it's complicated.
She returns with a plate of left-over-rice-balls she made together with Haruhi yesterday evening from the leftovers. Sitting down besides Ritsu and taking one.
'Morinozuka-senpai, that's why I need you to show me… how do you manage to have so many friends? When you're just as mean-looking as me'.
Shock.
'You're expressionless, distant and you hardly ever talk. Plus you've got a mug that looks like a watchdog from hell so, how come you got so many friends? What're you doing that I'm not? Please! Teach me your secrets!' he bows again before Mori 'I'm begging you!'.
Mori looks… troubled. Gin smirks when she remembers what Ritsu said about Mori and him looking mean.
'You know, I think you've got the wrong idea my friend' she walks over to the redhead and pulls him up by the neck of his blazer roughly, not even trying to consider his feelings 'Mori isn't mean looking, he's calm looking. You see, at first I was a little intimidated by him, but since the guys at my home-country are just as tall if not taller than him I quickly adjusted to that. And since I was considered pretty mean back at my old school too, I didn't want to judge and that was the best thing to do because in the end we became very good friends' she points at Ritsu.
'Your problem is simple 'You've got no style. Your hair is… just no. You frown all the time but try to relax your eyebrows and smile. If you keep your hair out of your face-' she takes his bangs and pulls them back 'You'll look like a pretty decent looking guy, maybe even considered appealing to some girls' standards. But your shoulders are slouched, your walking is more like you're about to rob a bank than go to class. You've got a bad breath so try and use mints or something. Well… those are the basics, but who am I? You should ask the masters who are going to screw you up for certain, I can tell you that much already' she folds her arms and then turns around, referring to the hosts who are about to make Ritsu Kasanoda a "better" man.
I'll pray for you redhead. And I'm not even religious.
'Why… are you trying to help me? Aren't you afraid of me?' Ritsu asks.
The twins start laughing 'Gin afraid? Maybe if you looked like a spider!'.
Hikaru nods, arms folded in front of his chest 'Bossanova, if you need to know one thing about Gin-'.
Kaoru nods knowingly too, taking the same pose as his brother '-Is that she is an evil maniac herself'.
'Hey!' Gin turns around, a dark look on her face making shudders go down everyone's spine except for Mori and Kyoya who appear to never be affected by her glares 'I'm NOT an evil maniac! I just express my irritation with a punishment of my fist forcing your teeth down your throat. So watch what you're saying Hitachiins because you're pissing me off!'.
The twins look at her from behind the couch 'Is that a threat?'.
'Oh no' Gin shakes her head 'That's no threat, it's a promise'.
They swallows, the girl turning around and walking away again.
'Say Gin' Hikaru suddenly calls, the blonde stopping in her tracks, turning her head with a quirked eyebrow.
'Why are you still wearing your Edo Era costume?' Kaoru asks.
She blinks before walking away again 'Well because these clothes are easy to move in and comfortable, plus the blue brings out my eyes beautifully. Now shut up or I'll make sure you're limping into next week'.
'She has a point though, the blue really does bring out the color of her eyes' Haruhi agrees with the blonde, totally ignoring her threat towards the twins.
When she returns to the club room from the kitchen, she regrets it instantly. If it was even possible, Kasanoda's fashion grade had lowered fifty degrees. The shawl and shades alone were enough to make Gin want to scratch her own eyes out. But the Teddy bear… it only made the look much worse. He looked more like a retard or a mentally ill person than a high school teenager.
And the hair… it made her want to cut it all off that instant.
'I'm… just going to keep my mouth shut and clean the floor with the broom listening to some de-depressing music' she says flatly and walks over to the said closet, taking out a broom and starting to clean, not even looking at the poor redhead anymore.
Haruhi sighs and looks at the others blankly 'If even Gin can't say anything about this than it means you guys really overdid it'.
'Nonsense!' Tamaki tries to convince everyone, even though he looks a little bit uneasy about it himself 'Everyone will LOVE the new look! They'll just all stare at him stunned by his antics!'.
Gin snorts. Having heard it but not even going to say anything, the sound itself made it clear how she thought about all of this though and the two dark haired males were sure to remember this silent yet critical side of her.
XxX
The next morning, Gin walks with Mori and Honey to class. They insisted on walking her since her grandparents are at home and needed to use the limousines. They called the Morinozuka's for a lift.
However, all three of them stare at the redhead, dressed in his usual style again, hair normal (or what would be considered normal) and the creepy updates gone. Gin mentally wiped the sweat off her forehead in relieve.
'Big brother Morinozuka. I just wanted to day good morning' he bows, in gang style of course. They all blink. Mori and Gin wearing blank stares while Honey looks at the redhead with questionable eyes before cracking a bright smile.
'Good morning to Bossanova!' he lifts his hand as a greeting. Some people stare at them but they ignore it all.
'Yeah, morning' Gin yawns.
Kasanoda looks at them and then suddenly yells 'Right back at ya Haninozuka-senpai! Crow-Senpai!'.
It didn't startle Gin at all, having been yelled at before. Honey however, searched for refuge behind Mori, muttering softly 'Back at ya' with a nod. The people around the place all freezing with exception of the four in general.
Ritsu holds out his hands 'Want me to carry your back to your classroom, senpai?'.
'That's okay, I can manage' Mori answers. Gin however snorts and holds out her own bag.
'You can carry mine if you don't mind. It's quite heavy this morning'.
'S-sure Gin-senpai I'll-' before he can finish, Mori pushes him backwards and pulls Gin behind him. The blonde gasping softly with his sudden forcefulness.
Ritsu shouting "What the hell you-".
And Gin just keeping silent until a plant falls down and this the ground, the pot scattering in a hundred different pieces. Another one falls down but this time Mori slashes his hand through the pot to keep the porcelain from flying around and possibly hurt someone. The pot breaks into two and lands on the ground, still scatting, but the pieces not bouncing back into the air.
'Mori, you're not hurt are you?' asks one of his regulars.
'You Ok Morinozuka?' asks another one of his classmates.
'Hey, are you ok?' Honey climbs onto Mori's back and Gin just stares at the pot and the plant for a moment. Mori answers with a usual 'Yeah' before turning to Gin 'Are you hurt?'.
Gin is for a loss of words for a moment before smirking 'That was totally awesome'. He takes this answer as a "No" smiling kindly at her, a little proud of impressing the European girl who seems to never be really impressed. Well, she's not easily impressed and if she is she won't show it very easily.
She then turns to the redhead 'Hey, you alright over there? You look a little pale. You weren't scared were you?' she taunts the last part with a sly smirk, wiggling her eyebrows up and down before chuckling softly.
'Gin-Chan, are you really alright?' asks Honey softly.
'I'm totally fine! Hey Honey, how about I make some cupcakes today and you help me decorate them? I'm warning you though, no tasting the chocolate glazing, well…' she blushes a little 'Maybe one lick won't bite… so, you in?'.
'Yeah! Do you hear that Takashi? Gin is going to make cupcakes this afternoon and we can help her!'.
'Yeah' Mori nods, glancing at Honey before looking the blonde in the eyes. Gin blushes a bit at Honey's excitement and then smirks at Mori.
'Well then, I'll go get the stuff we need when classes are over and we'll bake them during club hours alright?'.
'Yeah! I can't wait!' Honey cheers.
XxX
When Gin returns that afternoon with a paper bag filled with everything she needs for the cupcake bake with Honey during club hours, she's pretty stunned to walk into the third music room, seeing Kasanoda stand there with cat ears on.
Silence in the Host Club 'A cat-monster' Honey criticizes.
Gin starts laughing. If even Honey doesn't think it's cute, than one could die trying convince anyone this was anything but scary. When they all look at her she stops and smirks 'Well, I'm just going to put these in the kitchen and get things ready for the cupcakes'.
When the door of the kitchen closes behind her, she gets the bowls and takes all the ingredients out, putting the ones she needs on the counter while putting the rest away. 'let's see, the glaze comes later… so we'll put that here. I'll need eggs right now so those go here…' she mumbles to herself while getting everything ready. Turning on the oven, she starts preparing the dough, puts them in the multi colored papers and then into the oven. When that's done she starts making the dough for the chocolate cupcakes and the multi colored cupcakes. When the dough of those are done, she does the same with the blank ones and puts them in the oven too.
While they're getting ready, she cleans the kitchen and takes all the decoration stuff out. When they're all done and cooling off, everything is ready for her and her seniors to decorate the cupcakes. She walks back into the club room to stop in her tracks and see something that'll never leave her retina.
Ritsu Kasanoda. In a kitty-maid costume. Shouting into the face of some blonde dude with a pony tail. She doesn't say anything when he shouts something and runs away.
'Well, now you've done it. He was really miserable and you make fun of him by putting him in a kitty-maid costume. Even I won't wear such a ridiculous thing…' Gin sighs deeply and rubs the back of her head 'Well, this is going to be a mess'.
'You said it' Haruhi agrees 'But with the Host Club, everything gets messy'.
'Touché' Gin nods. The hosts all glaring at the two women.
Haruhi sighs and takes the kitty ears the redhead dropped off the ground, looking at it in thought 'Maybe an image change isn't really Casanova needs'.
'I think you're right' Honey crouches down next to Haruhi, Mori and Gin both watching with a slight smile 'I sure hope he realizes it soon'.
Gin nods 'Being yourself is important, but changing yourself so that others like you better isn't the right way. Inside or outside. No one should feel the need to change who they are, simply because of who they are. Changing yourself makes you a faker and a liar. Which is what many more people hate than the people who hate your first appearance. I may sound like a hypocrite right now, but then again… telling others what they have to do and doing it yourself are two whole different things. The only thing we can do, is watch over him and make him feel comfortable enough to let us support him. Be a friend… cause in the end-' Gin smiles lightly and then looks Haruhi in the eyes '-Friends is all you need'.
XxX
Gin just walked from behind Haruhi and Kasanoda to see if the bad guys who were trying to hurt Kasanoda are behind them. Some people were trying to hurt the redhead for some reason, all three witnesses that morning knew that from the moment those plants almost dropped on him, not Mori, like Kasanoda seemed to think.
So since their first attempt didn't really go as planned, because of Mori, they were pretty sure those guys would try it again. Now being the perfect time since Kasanoda is alone or in this case together with Haruhi.
While the two seniors would look at the other side of the garden, Gin had Kasanoda's back. Until…
'Look out!' a shout belonging to Honey causes Gin's head to snap up, standing behind the two first years, about to tell Kasanoda she's sorry for what happened. A can of paint flying towards them until Honey kicks it away, Usa-Chan still in his hands.
The can opens and paint flies through the air, hitting Haruhi, the sparrow in her hand flying away.
'Oh no!' Gin shouts loudly, causing the two to turn around 'Haruhi! Those stains will be such a pain to get out of that costume! Don't worry! I'll pay for the dry cleaner's on my cost, no debts, no expenses, so you don't owe the Host Club any more than you do already!'.
'Uh… hey Gin-senpai'.
The blonde freezes 'Haruhi, how many times have I told you not to call me Senpai? It makes me feel like an old hag' she says dryly.
Haruhi chuckles softly 'Sorry, I tend to forget about that'.
Another shout scares them all.
'AH! Haruhi what happened?!' Tamaki jumps around the brunette, making a fuss even greater than Gin about the uniform, the drama-king of Ouran probably thinking it's blood instead of paint.
'Moron' Gin states while Haruhi assures him it's paint and not blood, telling him to calm down. Tamaki gasps from what could be relieve or shock that his assumptions were over-dramatic just like always.
Gin sighs and turns around 'Well, this leaves me with no option, I'll have to call for some quickly or the stain will forever be visible 'She takes out her phone dramatically and pushes a button with serious face, Tamaki staring at her. Then her face turns totally bored and blank, she blows against her nails 'Hey Mika, please send someone to bring some clothes to the dry cleaners for me, it's pretty important. Paint splashed all over a navy-blue blazer, expensive, just get here quickly'.
When she hangs up the twins are tying two pretty ugly guys, they look like gang members. So it had something to do with Kasanoda's family's "Business" after all. Gin smirks, they had been right to assume that.
'Don't you get it?' Honey asks Kasanoda 'See, Takashi wasn't on anyone's bad side, these guys were after you. Until we caught them, we decided not to say anything to you, because we didn't want you to have to mess with them' Honey looks at Kasanoda like he looks at everyone he likes. The more mature yet cute side of him showing.
'Yeah' Gin nods and walks over to Mori's side, looking at Kasanoda with folded arms and a teasing smirk 'You caused us some real trouble and moreover, lunch time'.
'But… I can't believe it' he walks over to them, stopping in front of Mori 'So you helped me? But how come?'.
The tall dark haired senior puts his big hand on Ritsu's head him 'We can tell who the bad guys are by looking at them'.
This causes the redhead to widen his eyes. Both Honey and Gin smiling slightly.
'I should get changed' Haruhi looks at her uniform, Gin nods. The twins move over and look at her mischievously 'Want us to come help you?'.
'Drop death' is the answer of the brunette. Gin smirking widely 'Oh my! Haruhi! You actually told them off!'.
The twins sigh deeply in chorus 'Gin is rubbing off on Haruhi'.
'Come on' the blonde moves over to the brunette 'I already send someone to come and pick up your dirty clothes. Let's go'.
'Yeah, sure' Haruhi nods, the two girls moving away to the third music room. Gin telling Haruhi all about sometime in the past when she got paint on her clothes but her family didn't go to the dry cleaners so the stain stayed there forever until the shirt got too small and Gin had to throw it away.
When they arrive in the Dressing room, Gin gets a bag and puts the dirty blazer, tie and button up in a sack. She smirks and points at Haruhi's bra 'it's cute Haruhi, I didn't think you'd wear something like that'.
Haruhi blushes 'Well I uh…'.
'Don't worry about it, mine has got lace' Gin chuckles 'so I shouldn't talk about cute and girly right?'.
'Lace? Isn't that itchy?' Haruhi raises an eyebrow.
Gin shakes her head and stands up, opening her shirt to show it to the brunette 'No, look, the lace is on the bra not really the bra itself, otherwise it wouldn't be supportive at all'.
'Yeah, I guess you're right' Haruhi motions to the bra 'You always wear something that red?'.
Gin blushes 'Well I have many bra's since I can't help but buy something sexy or just beautiful when I see it, so I have a lot of this kind of underwear but I also have plain black and white bra's without lace or stuff. However I figured that since you can't see red through white I'd put this one on today-' the doors open. Haruhi –Who was just about to pull a frilly top over her head- and Gin –Whose shirt is still open from showing Haruhi her bra- both freeze.
'Fujioka? Hey you ok? I'm sorry about the-' the redhead stops, staring at Haruhi who turns her head and a blonde with wide open eyes and slightly open mouth, quickly closing her shirt in front of her, Haruhi quickly covering her own chest even though she's facing him with her back.
'Get out!' they shout in chorus, blushing like crazy.
A weird look of utter shock appearing on Ritsu's face.
TBC
A/N: sorry for the late update and the non-update of last week, I was gone on a trip to Spain with my school. Was fun. Have pain in my feet and three blisters. Anyway, here is this Chapter, I'm going to work on the next tomorrow right away so you'll have your chapter next week-end! Probably…
It's vacation and there's a chance I'll be gone for a few days. So who knows. Anyway, hope you liked it and… In the last chapter I told you to tell me if Gin turns into a Mary-Sue or the plot-line gets unbelievably dramatic or something.
I can try to change that, so… just tell me alright?
R&R!