Hosts…and Hostess?!?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
AN: I'm really, really, really sorry for the long wait. Every time I tried to continue the story, I would get sidetracked or held up.
I had written a one-shot HP story called "Love by Letters". If you have no problems reading about a female Harry Potter and haven't read the story yet, please do so, it is on my profile. If you have read the story, please review if you haven't and tell me what you think of if.
I had also began a story that's has crossovers with the main storyline of Naruto called "Tengokugakure". Please read the warnings in the first chapter before reading the rest of the chapter. If you enjoyed that story, then please review it and tell me.
Ch8
Usagi looked up from a mystery novel that Haruka had recommended when the Hitachiin twins asked her a question. "The beach?" she repeated with an eyebrow arched.
"Yup! Now that the finals are over, summer vacation officially begins!" Hikaru exclaimed excitedly. He quickly grabbed the book out of Usagi's hands as his brother added, "Didn't you say that you want to go to the beach? So where do you want to go? The Caribbean? Hawaii?"
Usagi tried to grab her novel back. "Nowhere that extravagant," she replied. She rolled her eyes and said, "The beach near home is just fine."
Kyoya drank some tea that Usagi had brewed earlier. "I can loan you some money with no deadlines or interests, if money's the problem," he told her.
"Money's not the issue," Usagi said. She managed to take her book back after stomping hard on Hikaru's foot, she immediately placed the bookmark in place, in case they took it away from her again, and closed the book. "Hotaru and Shingo had left for the club's camps for the summer and daddy's going on a business trip for a few days so I have to watch the house."
"But you have to come with us!" Kaoru whined, draping himself over the girl's back, "We picked out the perfect swimsuit for you to wear from our mom's fashion line." Hikaru nodded his head, continuing, "While that one piece you wore at the pool was great, we think a bikini is a much better choice," while he held up a black colored bikini. The twins grinned slyly when they saw Usagi's face turn bright red.
Hunny shook his head and said, "I like Usa-chan to wear a one piece. I think it looks cute on her!"
The two troublemaking twins shook their heads with a sigh as they said in unison, "Hunny-sempai, you're just too innocent for your age." They both gestured towards Usagi, who had decided to ignore the conversation and continue reading. "While it is true that she looks cute wearing a one piece , her body clearly starts that it's much more suitable for a bikini since they'll help emphasize her assets. Wearing a revealing swimsuit and being surrounded by gorgeous guys brings out an appearance of a playgirl who's looking for a fun night out."
Tamaki, in anger, grabbed a bat and swung at the twins, who evaded the attack. "Why are you two sexually harassing your sister?" he demanded to know. He turned to Kyoya with tears in his eyes. "Okaa-san! Hikaru and Kaoru are harassing their sister! Send them to bed with no dinner!"
"At the age of seventeen, I have three kids, all of which are a year younger than me and I'm married to a male," Kyoya observed; he turned back to his binder and tea as he sighed, "What have I done with my life?"
"Well, if dono is against Usagi wearing a swimsuit, does that mean that we're not going to the beach?" the twins asked, crouching behind a two seated sofa from Tamaki's wrath.
Tamaki turned his head to the side with an arrogant smirk, "Of course we're going," he said, "There's no way I'm leaving my daughter home alone by herself."
"I can take care of myself, you know," Usagi said, not bothering to look up from her book.
The twins just smirked as they gave each other a high five. "Yosh!" they cheered, "It's set!"
Hunny then asked, "Can we bring Bun-Bun along?" to which Mori replied with a silent nod.
Usagi threw her book down as she shouted, "Stop planning events without my consent!"
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In one side of the beach, Tamaki was flirting with a long haired brunette situated in the shallow waters whereas in the other side, the Hitachiin twins were playing volleyball with their usual flirting with each other. Mori was standing watch as Hunny was showing off his cuteness with the pink floatation device he wore around his waist. Kyoya just stood back at the side, calculating the time for each customer's time to spend with the favorite host.
Usagi sat on a blanket shaded by an umbrella with an annoyed look on her face. Despite the fact that Tamaki had prohibited her from wearing the black bikini, stating that it was too seductive for his "precious daughter", but he was the one of many who voted on her wearing a two piece bathing suit. So it was decided that she would wear a white bikini but with a pale blue shawl tied around her waist. While she mourned for her freedom from the host club, Usagi flinched when she felt someone splash cold water on her face.
"Bunny-chan, what are you doing here by yourself?" one of the girls asked. While the girls would usually call for the twins or the other hosts, several girls often called for Usagi, almost as a lesson in learning to become future brides or mothers.
"Just looking around," Usagi replied. She looked over the outfits the girls were wearing. "Your swimsuits are so cute, did you buy them for this occasion?"
The girls nodded their heads. "Did Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun's okaa-san design that outfit you're wearing, Bunny-chan?" one of the girls asked. It was common knowledge in not just the host club, but in the whole school, that the twins love to use Usagi as a dress up doll with the clothes their mother designs.
Usagi shook her head. "I have a friend who works in the fashion department so to speak, she made this one and gave it to me," she said.
"It looks exactly like the outfit that Hikari modeled in, I think it was last year," one of the girls said.
"You know, that you don't have to stay with me," Usagi quickly said, changing the subjects. A slight blush came on her face as she looked embarrassed and said, "I was planning on enjoying a nice nap in the shade."
The girls all reluctantly looked away, saying, "All right then, we won't disturb you, Bunny-chan." They waved their hands and went to join the male hosts as Usagi leaned down on the towel, closing her eyes and resting.
Hikaru and Kaoru plopped down on the beach chairs with disappointed groans.
"Man, we have so been tricked," Hikaru whined, "I didn't know we would be entertaining customers here." Kaoru took a big gulp of his ice beverage as he added, "No wonder Kyoya-sempai gave us the green light to come to the beach."
Tamaki made his usual 'I have an idea' pose as he reprimanded them, "Fools, as the commoners would say, 'Work hard then play hard'." And with that he imagined Usagi wearing a nice white sundress that he had especially bought for her. He sighed dreamily as they took a walk down the beach together hand in hand, just the two of them enjoying the beautiful sunset. "Yes, Usagi'll look so beautiful in that outfit, so much more than that sunset," he said, still in his daydreams.
The twins ignored him as they continued to whine, "Why didn't we go somewhere overseas instead of staying in Japan? On top of that, we're on Nekozawa-sempai's private beach."
With that Tamaki froze at that name mentioned and when he felt a hand touch his shoulder with a familiar cloaked figure leaning towards him. "Are you all having fun?" a disturbingly recognizable voice asked him.
Tamaki jumped up in the air and away form the senior, shouting, "Kyoya, we were supposed to go to your private beach!"
Keeping his eyes on his binder, Kyoya said, "Unfortunately, one of my father's clients is using it. Couldn't anyone else cough up a better location?" He asked that, knowing that his family's the only one with a beach located in Japan since Usagi didn't want to go overseas.
Usagi was ignoring everything else as she tried to sleep, but opened her eyes when she heard Hunny calling for her. Hunny knelt down beside her with his bright brown eyes staring at her with his trademark innocent smile. "Usa-chan, do you want to hunt for seashells with me?" he asked.
Usagi sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Isn't it the wrong season and tide to go hunting for seashells?" she asked.
Beaming in his usual manner, Hunny grabbed Usagi's hand and pulled her in a small run to a place in the sand that held so many shells scattered about. "But there's so many to choose from," he said. He watched as Usagi smiled gently, probably remembering going to the beach with someone close to her.
(Flashback)
"Okaa-san, look!" a three year old Usgai said, clad in a pale pink one piece with her hair in pigtails. Her mother had taken her to the beach, just the two of them because her father had to work. She showed an open palm with a small shell planted in the center to her mother, who just smiled.
Ikkuko patted her on the head. "That's wonderful, Usagi-chan," she said. Tilting her head slightly to the pail half full with shells, she asked, "And what are you going to do with those shells you're collecting?"
Usagi stared down at the pail to think. She nodded her head and declared, "I'm gonna use them as decoations to make something for daddy."
"Decorations, honey," Ikkuko corrected. She winked at Usagi and said, "Well then, we best be collecting as many as we can and go home soon, other wise, daddy will come home and we won't be done with the surprise." Usagi nodded her head enthusiastically as the two paired up on the project.
(End Flashback)
"Usa-chan?" Hunny asked, shaking her arm gently to get her attention, "Are you okay?"
Usagi knelt down and picked up a random shell; she just grinned softly as she whispered. "I'm okay…just remembering something." She stretched out her arms into the air and cheered, "All right! I'm gonna pick some and show them to Shingo and Hotaru! Maybe we can use them for our scrapbook!" Energetically, Usagi began digging and filing through the sand as she picked out shells that weren't broken and dumped them into the pail.
Tamaki and the twins all watched with glee and tears streaming down their faces. "She looks so cute having cute…despite the weird scenery," they thought, looking around the background where Nekozawa had decorated the beach with tombstones and skeletons.
Kaoru sat down beside Usagi and picked out a big shell, "Hey, Usagi, look a huge scallop! You like scallops, r ight?"
Usgi took the shell and smiled. "Yup, arigato, Kaoru." It was then that that rest of the Host Club members began to crowd around her, offering other shells and sea life. Usagi watched in confusion as they showered her with, rather than empty shells, those that still have living entities living in them. "What's with the competition?" Usagi asked herself when Hunny presented a watermelon to her.
"Usagi, look!" Tamaki said, happily presenting a large crab to her, "Do you like crabs?" It wasn't until a millipede crawled out form under the crab's legs, causing the girls to run away crying and most of the host club members running away laughing hysterically. Tamaki stared sadly at the crab, upset at his chance of impressing Usagi.
Usagi stared at the insect before gently picking it up and throwing it into a small grassland area. The Hitachiin twins threw their arms over Usagi's shoulders, shaking their heads. "I never pegged you to be the kind of girl that likes bugs," Kaoru said while his brother asked, "But couldn't you have just let it go on the grass or something?"
"I don't like bugs," Usagi said. She shrugged the arms off her shoulders. "When she was younger, Hotaru went through a phase when she had an obsession on insects." She pointed to the bush and added, "Besides, a fall like that wouldn't kill it."
Usagi then headed off to continue to dig through the sand for more shells as the girls around her admired her for her braveness against the creepy crawly. The twins stared on disappointed at the outcome, since they were planning on Usagi being terrified of the millipede so they can play protector. It was then the two troublemakers had an idea and sauntered over to Tamaki. "Hey, dono, we thought up a game. Wanna play?" they asked in unison. With an evil smirk, they leaned in and said, "It's called, 'Who can find out what Usagi's weakness is'."
Tamaki gasped, "What an evil minded game!"
Hikaru and Kaoru shrugged their shoulders and said nonchalantly, "Well, sorry if you don't have any confidence to play? I mean you have to be pretty close to Usagi in order to find out what her weakness is."
Tamaki's face tightened as he glared at the two demons as he likes to call the twins. He was so sick and tired of hearing Hikaru and Kaoru gloat about how they're closer to the female member of the Host Club than he is. "The rules?" he asked, automatically entering himself in the contest to prove them wrong.
The brothers smirked with confidence that they would find out the girl's weakness first. "Deadlines at sunset tomorrow," they said, "First one to find out what it is wins."
"And what's in it for the winner?" Tamaki asked.
Kyoya showed them three photos: a smiling Usagi dressed as a maid, most like likely for a school festival, another with her dressed in her physical education uniform, and the last Usagi wearing a miko outfit with a broom in hand in front of a temple. "Assorted pictures of Usagi when she was in middle school," he said as the thought, "Now I won't get bored," ran in his head. He watched as the seniors wanted to join in.
The Hitachiin twins decided to go first; they took a bunch of the customers and Usagi with them into the cat-faced cave. The customers were scared and hesitant to go into the cave so Kaoru tried to placate them, "Relax, according to the maps, Nekogaiwa cave leads out to public roads." But Hikaru warned them in a scary voice, "But the locals never use this path because it is said that those who were cursed to death by the Nekozawa family were to be buried in these walls." With a pale face and holding the flashlight to his face, he continued, "And at night, a bloodied skeletal hand comes out and drags those who walk in these tunnels into the walls," causing the girls to scream.
Usagi stared on blankly. "This sounds like those scary stories we tell to each other during the sleepovers we had in grammar and middle school," she thought to herself. She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked down to see a skeleton hand touching her.
Usagi just stared at it for a few seconds in silence and a emotionless face. "Were you even paying attention to the story?" Kaoru asked from behind her after not hearing her scream. He was holding onto a hand that he had grabbed from one off the many skeleton decorations outside.
"I was listening…but this reminds me of those stories one of my best friends tells us during sleepovers, only hers were much more scarier since they are all true facts," Usagi said, rolling her eyes, "Besides, if this place really is haunted, she would of told us, she has the most reliable sixth sense in the world."
For the rest of the day, the other members, beside Kyoya, began dragging Usagi around, from the top of the Nekogaiwa Cave to showing her sharp weapons, in hope of her being terrified. Usagi remained clueless and just followed around with a bored look on her face, not once did she show any fear on her face, voice, and posture. The starters of the contest groaned and mumbled about how nothing they do is working as they sat down beside Tamaki, who was shoveling the bugs in the dirt into a bucket.
"Dono, a bunch of bugs would freak out anyone, so it won't be considered a weakness," Kaoru stated. Hikaru sighed in bored tone, "How can a princess have no fear of anything? It's so not cute."
Tamaki narrowed his eyes as he scolded, "how can you say such things about your sister like that?"
"How serious are you about this daughter/sister thing? I mean, we're not even really related," Hikaru and Kaoru asked, "Are you just using it as some sort of defense mechanism?"
Tamaki froze but before he could really think about what the doppelgangers were talking about, his eyes spotted a snake in the tree above. "Look, a blue serpent! Show that to Usagi!" Tamaki ordered, causing the twins to sigh at his short attention span.
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Two female customers were sitting at the mouth of the Nekogaiwa Cave when they heard unfamiliar male voices coming from inside the cave. "Hey, this path leads out to a beach!" They turned around to see the three strangers leering at them. "Hey babe, let's party," one of the males said, "You must be bored with only girls around."
"Hey, this is a private beach," the second year customer exclaimed; she felt horrified when one of them grabbed her hand.
"Ooh, a little rich miss," he sneered, "This could be fun. Why don't we…" He screamed in pain when a punch of shells and other sea life were hurled at the group.
"They asked you to leave them alone," Usagi said, glaring at them and clutching the now empty pail in hand, "Didn't you mothers ever teach you to leave girls along when they tell you to?"
The men's faces revealed everything, especially of what they had wanted to do to the girls, when they stared at Usagi with lust filled expressions. "All right, we'll leave them alone…" the one holding the second year's arm said, "So I guess that mean's that you'll have to take their place."
"Let them go," Usagi demanded. She hated guys like them; its guys like them that make her father and friends so over protective over her and give other guys bad names. "You let them go and I'll stay," she said.
"No, Bunny-chan, don't!" the girls exclaimed in horror of her sacrifice.
"Sure, we'll do that, Bunny-chan," another guy said with a smirk. They pushed the girls, who quickly ran off to get help when they saw Usagi give them a firm look, away and crowded around Usagi to prevent her from escaping. "Why don't we show you how to have fun with some real guys? Not like those rich pansies you hang out with," one of them said in what was supposed to be a husky manly tone.
Usagi just stood her ground and rolled her eyes, even Haruka sounds more like a tough guy and most of the time, she's not even trying. When she felt someone grab her arm, her reflexes cause her to slam the pail she was holding into the guy's face.
The one who grabbed her arm immediately let go with the pail made contact to his cheek. The taste of blood surrounded his mouth and he felt a tooth being loose from the impact. "Trying to be a tough girl, huh?" he said to the still glaring Usagi, "All right, we'll be tough."
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The two escaped girls quickly ran to the male members of the Host Club, screaming, "Tamaki-sama, Bunny-chan's in trouble!"
With trembling hearts, they turned to see the only female member was being cornered by three guys. They ran over as fast as they could, wondering why instead of trying to run away, Usagi was fighting back. "Damn it, Usagi, why aren't you escaping?" the same thought ran in all six of their minds.
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Usagi was doing a fine job dodging the hands and punching and kicking her harassers, remembering all the lessons she had learned from Haruka and Makoto. Whiel she congratulated herself on remembering those defense and offense lessons, she kicked herself for forgetting the pepper spray her father had bought for her for her getting into high school. She heard Tamaki scream out her name and became distracted, causing her to get caught. Not wanting to give up, Usagi kicked the one who grabbed her on the crotch.
The members of the host club watched in horror as Usagi was pushed off the cliff into the ocean after kicking the guy in the groin. Hikaru and Kaoru immediately went into the action of beating the guys up as Tmakai dove after Usagi with the customers watching in terror.
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The minute Usagi felt her body hit the water's surface; she could feel the anxiety build up in herself. Like all people, Usagi has a fear of dying, worried about those who she would leave behind and what they'll do in her absence. She closed her eyes tightly for a second before opening them once more. It was then she thought she saw her mother's apparition, looking at her with soft concerned eyes with her arms out reaching for her. "Okaa-san?" she thought to herself as she continued to sink downwards. In the end, Usagi just felt exhausted and tired to fight against the currents as she closed her eyes and gave up.
Tamaki swam towards the sinking girl and felt his heart stop when he saw Usagi close her eyes. He immediately swam faster and wrapped his arms around her; he sighed in relief when e felt her heartbeat, slow but steady. With Usagi in his arms, Tamaki swam back up to the surface to their awaiting friends.
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When the two made it to the surface, Tamaki carried a coughing and regaining conscious Usagi to the beach in his arms. "Kyoya, those men?" he asked.
"We took their IDs and had them leave," Kyoya informed him.
Tamaki handed Usagi to Mori and quickly instructed the twins to take the customers back to the hotel they were staying and for Hunny to call for a doctor. Tamaki turned to see Usagi trying to persuade Mori to put her down and glared at her before screaming, "BAKA! What were you thinking?" Usagi stared at him in confusion. "Are you some martial arts expert like Hunny-sempai or something?"
"Well, Mako-chan and Ruka-chan taught me some self defense," Usagi reasoned out.
"That's not what I meant!" Tamaki shouted, "Do you honestly think that a single girl like you can take on several fully grown men by herself?"
Usagi turned her head to face the other way as she said, "Well what else was I supposed to do? Let those girls get harassed while I just walked away? What if they got into more danger because I took the time to call you guys?" Sighing angrily, she turned and argued, "Gomen for causing you guys trouble, but I didn't do anything to get you upset with me."
Tamaki growled as he stated, "Fine! Do what you want!" He pointed to her and continued, "And until you apologize, I won't speak to you!" And with that, he stomped off, only to turn his head a few feet away, looking at Usagi with pleading eyes once more.
The twins felt a sweat drop on the back of their heads as they saw him. "Why don't you just apologize to dono, Usagi?" the twins asked.
Usagi turned her head as she silently thought, "For what?" She leaned against the tall silent senior as she said, "No."
Kyoya watched as Tamaki walked away and thought, "Well, this day certainly has become interesting. I wonder what he's gonna do now." He then started to head off to Nekozawa's summer house where the Host Club would be staying for the night, which he had inconveniently forgot to tell the others about.
AN: As you can see, each chapter that I write is based on the chapter in the manga. So, it's next chapter that we read what happens between Tamaki and Usagi and how they'll patch things up. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!