Ch12
It was an ordinary day in Juuban where the kids were running through the sidewalks to meet up with their friends, teenagers were wandering around and hanging out with their friends, housewives were in their front yards gossipping and talking to each other. At a specific street in Juuban, an interesting sight appeared, causing everyone to stop and watch as two expensive looking Rolls Royce and Benz cars rolled by. The cars weren't something new to the streets since they knew that Usagi tends to have friends, who have lots of money, that comes to visit her, but the wierd thing is that most of the time, her friends prefer to walk to her house rather than ride the expensive cars. They stared curiously as the doors opened and five good looking guys and a cute boy exited from the cars. They were not the group of friends who usually visited Usagi, but figured by the nice clothes and cars, they were the classmates of that rich school the Tsukino children got into. Shrugging their shoulders, they continued on with what they were doing, with the exception of several teenage girls staring at the guys dreamily and with blushes on their faces.
The members of the Host Club looked at amazement at the two story white house with the red roof. There was a large yard surrounding the house with a few trees and a small garden of flowers located in the front. There was a driveway that was missing a car, probably indicating that the father was not home.
Hikaru shielded his eyes from the blazing sun and gave an appreciatie whistle. "Wow, this house is bigger than I thought it would be," Hikaru said.
"Yeah, I thought it would be a lot smaller, like a shack or something," Kaoru added.
Kyoya pushed his glasses slightly higher up. "Usagi's family is considered to be a part of the upper middle class, so why would they be living in a shack?" he asked.
Hunny grabbed onto Mori's arm, causing the tall giant to look down at him. "It's a good thing that Usa-chan doesn't live in a shack, right, Takeshi?" he asked with a big smile on his face, with Mori nodding his head in response.
A few feet away, Usagi was coming back from an errand at the supermarket, buying the groceries for the next few days. She started to go over the chores she had planned to do that day while their father was still at work since the night before. She could hear Shingo and Hotaru talking about their plans for later that day as they walked on both sides of thier sister.
Shingo stopped abruptly with a confused look on his face. "Hey, what are they doing here?" he asked. Shingo was pointing to the direction to their house.
Usagi and Hotaru stopped and looked up. The sight of the six boys from school caused Usagi to groan in annoyance as Hotaru silently wondered why they were visiting.
Not noticing Usagi, Shingo, and Hotaru was behind them, Tamaki was giving a pep talk to his club members, especially the twins. "Now listen here, this is supposed to be a 'just happened to be in the neighborhood' type of visit," Tamaki said urgently, "Rumor has it that the father is currently not in the house, so I forbid any form of words, such as 'cramp', 'small', 'miserable', to be used, ESPECIALLY from you devil twins!"
As the twins and Hunny verbally responding back and Mori just doing the movements, Kyouya noticed Usagi and Shingo staring at them with annoyed eyes and Hotaru just smiling and waving hello to them. He nodded his head in greeting as he heard Tamaki ordered, "So do NOT say or do anything that'll make Usagi or her father tell us to go home."
"GO HOME NOW!" Shingo shouted, causing everyone to turn and take notice of the Tsukino siblings.
"Usagi!" Tamaki shouted, running over to her wtih the full intent of giving her a hug.
Usagi moved off to the side just as Tamaki was going to throw himself at her, causing him to fall flat on his face. "Go home, Tamaki-sempai," she muttered softly, though everyone could hear it.
Tamaki turned his head with his face all red from landing on the concrete sidewalk. Tears were streaming down his face as he whimpered, "Usagi...so cruel..." He jumped to his feet and pointed to the twins, who was ignoring him, yelling, "This is all your fault! Bad influence on my precious daughter!"
Shingo grabbed Hotaru's hand and began to drag her quickly to the front door of their house. "Let's get in and lock the door. Hopefully, they'll leave once the door is locked," he whispered.
Hunny jumped up and wrapped his arms around Shingo's shoulders. "Shin-kun, we bought cake presents with us!" Shingo turned his head to see Hunny pointing to Mori, who held up a box of expensive cakes. "We got strawberry and chocolate," he said with a bright smile, the ancipation of eating cakes making him excited.
Shingo glanced over to his sister to see Usagi glaring at Tamaki for creating a scene but at the same time her ears perking the minute she heard Hunny mention cake. He turned his head and said in a somewhat forced annoyed voice, "Well since you were at least kind enought to bring something, I guess you guys can come in to eat cake and perhaps drink some tea."
When the door was open, the three siblings walked inside and began to take off their shoes and jackets. As Shingo and Hotaru lingered in the living room, Usagi went into the kitchen to put away the groceries.
The six male teenagers slowly stepped into the house with quiet voices they said, "O-jama shimasu"(1). As they looked around the house, they took notice of the spacious layout. Their eyes were glued to the family pictures that decorated the walls, pictures dating back to Usagi's parents dating to more recent ones. In a tall glass cabinet were achievement awards for Usagi, Hotaru, and Shingo from schools and other clubs they had joined throughout the years. Before they could step further into the house, a pair of slippers flew out and hit Tamaki in the face, causing him to scream in surprise and fall down.
"Take off your shoes before coming in, Tamaki-baka," Shingo shouted, as if it was the most obvious thing, "Are you trying to make onee-chan your maid too?" He trudged over to the dining room. "When you're done, come here so we can eat the cake."
Everyone, but Kyouya, quickly took off their shoes frantically and accepted the slippers from Hotaru before she left to follow her adopted brother. They entered the dining room with caution, not knowing what to expect but saw a dining room that was similar to theirs only much more modest. The table was big enough to accomadate a large group of about ten people and surrounding the walls were decorations of plants and photographs.
Hikaru walked over to the wide variety of small trees and flowers that surrounded the wall near the window. "Wow, what's with all the plants?" Hikaru asked, touching one of the leaves.
Shingo helped Hotaru take the cakes out of the box and onto small plates Usagi had placed on the table. "That was one of Okaa-san's hobbies. She planted and collected those plants," he said, not looking up, "After she died, we continued to look after the plants. We even collected other flowers or trees as if she had bought them here."
When they heard his explanations for the plants, Tamaki, Kaoru, and Hunny all jumped on Hikaru and silently reprimended him for his thoughtless question.
"So...where's your otou-san?" Tamaki asked immediately, as if to get rid of the awkward silence.
"He's at work," Hotaru answered as Shingo ignored them and walked back to the kitchen.
Usagi stepped into the dining room, asking, "Is everyone all right with tea or do you prefer coffee?"
Kaoru reached into his bag and pulled out a small paper bag. "If it's tea, we got some that our dad brought from Africa," he said, handing it to her.
"It goes perfectly with milk, got any?" Hikaru asked.
Usagi brought a finger to her cheek as she wondered if they still have any milk. "Hmmm...I believe we still have some," she whispered as she went to check the refrigerator.
Tamaki grabbed the twins and began to berrate them. "You morons! What did you do that for? Are you trying to embarass Usagi by giving her that item?" he whispered harshly, not knowing that Shingo and Hotaru were watching them with weird looks. They glanced back to see her fiddling with something on the stove. "Look, she's too embarassed to say that they don't even have a tea pot and she doesn't know what to do."
"How stupid can these guys be?" Shingo muttered, smacking his forehead.
Kyouya was ignoring the idiot trio and looking at the photographs, trying to study and see what information could help benefit him. He heard Shingo and chuckled. "They can be brilliant but when it comes to Usagi, well, all common sense is lost to them," he said
"Usagi," Kaoru said weakly, crawling over to the kitchen, "It's okay. You don't have to make the tea."
"What?" Usagi had an annoyed look on her face when she turned around wtih a tray filled with tea cups. "You know, you should've told me this ahead of time before i make it." She placed the cups down and handed them each to her schoolmates. She turned her head to Shingo and Hotaru as they sat down at the table to drink the tea. "Do you want to eat your cake now or later?"
"I'll eat it later," Shingo answered, glancing at the clock, "I need to meet up with my friends at the park. We're gonna play soccer and then head to Ryu's house to play video games and pizza. I'll be back by around 8."
"Don't cause trouble for Ryu-kun's okaa-san," Usagi called out to him as he ran out the door.
"You're just gonna let him go off on his own without a chaperone until evening time?" Kaoru asked.
"Ryu-kun lives right next door, so it's fine," Usagi replied.
"Onee-chan, I'm going over to Sora-chan's house for the sleepover," Hotaru said, "Can I save my cake for tomorrow?" After seeing the older girl nod her head, Hotaru grabbed a small backpack near the wall and left the house.
Hunny grabbed the box of cake slices and lifted the cover. "Usa-chan, there's strawberry cake and chocolate cake. Which one do you want?" he asked excitedly.
Tamaki, Hikaru, Koaru, Hunny, and Mori all stared at Usagi's face, especially the starry look in her eyes as she looked at the cakes. "S...strawberry please," Usagi said hestitantly.
As Hunny handed her the cake, Tamaki and the twins all bit their lips as they forced back the urge to squeal and hug Usagi, proclaiming her cuteness to the world. Their bodies shook as they watched Mori take a strawberry from his cake and pass it to Usagi's plate. When they saw Usagi's face immediately brighten up from the kind gesture, they threw themselves to the floor and began to cry and pound the floor, all of them wanting to take Mori's place.
When the cakes were all finished, Usagi went to collect the plates as Hunny began to complain, "The cake just made me more hungrier."
Usagi glanced over to the clock hanging on a wall. "Well, it's after lunchtime now," she said. As she walked into the kitchen to put the plates into the sink, she silently hoped, "Maybe now they'll go home and eat lunch and I can finish up the chores."
Unfortunately she hoped too soon, since the usual suspects (Tamaki, Hikaru, Koaru, and Hunny) all looked at her innocently asking, "When are we having lunch?"
"You people really do live a carefree pampered life, huh?" Usagi muttered to herself. She turned around after placing the dishes into the sink. "Anything you have in mind?" she asked, "There's a bunch of restuarants nearby that I could order from." She pulled out a small packet of take out menus and handed them to the uninvited guests
While Tamaki and the twins poured through the menus, trying to find something that is cheap, Kyouya offered to lend Usagi his credit card, which Usagi immediately declined in fear of being even more indebted to them. "Don't worry, it's just the money earned from auctioning one of your notebooks," he assured her.
Usagi closed her eyes and slowly counted to ten, trying to calm herself down before she hit something, nameless those shameless thieves.
Hunny grabbed onto her sleeve and tugged on it gently, pulling her out of the thoughts of doing physical violence. "I...I want to eat something Usa-chan made," he said with bright eyes looking at her expectantly.
"HUNNY-SEMPAI!" Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru all gasped in complete shock at his boldness. But when they heard Usagi actually agreeing to cook for them, they threw themselves to the ground and silently began to pray to the heavens, "There really is a God!(2)"
"Just so you know, you're gonna have to wait a while since apparently I have to go back to the supermarket," Usagi warned as she grabbed her purse. "There goes my day of peace and quiet," she said silently to herself as she sighed.
"AH! Commoner Supermarket!" the twins shouted excitedly as they jumped to their feet, "We want to go!" They ran off to change their shoes and be the first to go outside.
Hunny followed after them, shouting, "ME TOO! ME TOO!" Mori followed after his cousin in a calmer fashion compared to Hunny's jump-like skips to the doors.
With more composure and dignity, Kyouya got up and walked to the front door. "Well, who knows, this might be a good thing to experience," he said.
Usagi stretched her arms into the air and gave out a silent sigh, "Well, there goes my day of taking it easy." She was about to follow them to the front door, when she noticed that they were missing one person, someone she thought would be jumping with joy of exploring a commoner's supermarket. "Sempai, everyone's leaving," she said, truning around to see Tamaki kneeling in front of the small shrine holding an insence burner and a picture of Usagi's smiling mother.
"Hmmm, I know," Tamaki replied back, "I just wanted to say hello to your mother before I go. I couldn't do that before since the others are very loud."
"Funny, how that's coming from you," Usagi said quietly to herself, but at the same time, she felt touched at this simple gesture. A small smile grew on her face as she knelt down beside Tamaki to see the photo he had picked up. "Thank you, Tamaki-sempai," she said softly.
Tamaki's face turned bright red when he saw how close Usagi was sitting next to him. Clearing his throat, Tamaki turned his attention back to the photo and said, "Your okaa-san is very pretty. You look like your okaa-san, Usagi."
Usagi was confused since her and her mother looked nothing alike. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and her mother had blue hair and brown eyes. But there was something that her father had told her...
"The two of you have the same beautiful gentle smiles...kind friendly eyes," Tamaki said, not noticing the the puzzled look on Usagi's face, "She must've been a wonderful person."
A big grin grew on her face as Usagi nodded her head. "Okaa-san was wonderful! She came from a big family and met otou-san when they were in high school," Usagi said, smiling in remembrance of her deceased mother, "She stayed at home while otou-san worked, but she was very outgoing in the community, always baking and cooking. Otou-san always said that if okaa-san wanted to own a restuarant, she wouldn't have any trouble in making it the number one place to eat. When I was little, I always wanted to be a mother just like her."
"A mother just like her," a silent thought repeated in Tamaki's head as he glanced over to the female member of his club.
The sound of a door opening as Tamaki shouted happily into the house, "Tadaima!"
"Okaerinasai, anata," a female voice called back from the kitchen. Soft footsteps could be heard walking towards him revealing Usagi wearing a simple blue dress and a white apron. She turned her head to face whoever was in the kitchen and announced, "Children, come and greet otou-san."
A stampeded of footsteps could be heard as five little boys, that surprisingly looks like the younger version of their friends, burst in the hallway. "Okaerinasai, otou-san," they said.
Tamaki shook his head, trying to shake the image of Usagi being his wife, as his face turned all red. "Sh-shall we get going?" Tamaki asked, all flustered, "The others are probably wondering where we disappeared to."
In his rush to get up on his feet, Tamaki tripped over the rug and fell on top of Usagi, causing her to lie down on her back. Feeling the soft body of the girl under him, Tamaki's face turned bright red as he lifted his upper body. "G-g-g-gomen, Usagi!" he shouted.
"It's…all right," Usagi muttered, feeling uncomfortable with the heavy weight, "But can you get off?"
But before Tamaki could get off of her, the sound of the front door opening and an unfamiliar male voice calling out, "Tadaima, Usagi…Hotaru…Shingo." A young man in his mid-thirties with short brown hair entered the dining room area. Kind brown eyes hidden behind square shaped lenses stared in shock at the sight of his beloved daughter being forced to the ground by a young man.
(1) What to say when entering someone's home which translates to "Sorry for disturbing"
(2) I know there's a high chance that the host members aren't Christians, but in my opinion, if I was in their position, I would definitely say that.