Ch13
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.
Usagi looked up at her father. "Ah…okaerinasai, daddy."
"D…DADDY!" Tamaki repeated in his head, "I'M DEAD!" Sweat began to drip down his face as he saw the blank look on Kenji's face. "Stay calm, Tamaki," he coached to himself, "I'm…I'm sure if I talk to him…man to man, he'll understand…"
The blank look on Kenji's face melted away and the same kind fatherly smile shown on the family portraits appeared back on his face. Seeing this, Tamaki relaxed a bit as he watched Kenji walk over to the two still lying on the floor. Soon all that relief vanished when Tamaki felt Kenji grab hold of his shoulder and forcefully pulled him away and threw him against the wall.
"Usagi, honey, what on earth are you doing on the floor?" Kenji asked, completely ignoring the fact that he had thrown a human body away. He helped Usagi to her feet as he felt her forehead. "I hope you're not overworking yourself to exhaustion again. You know how I feel about you doing that," he said.
Usagi was a bit surprised but not shocked by her father's behavior, she knew that he was very particular when it came to boys near his baby girls. Giving her father a crooked smile, Usagi asked, "How was work? Everything okay?"
Kenji kissed Usagi on the forehead. "Work was fine but tiring," he responded. He sat down on one of the chairs, ignoring the boy on the floor, who was trying to get his attention. He gave out a relaxed sigh. "Usagi, do you know if we have any tea? I would love to have a cup of hot tea."
Tamaki felt flustered as he hurried to the kitchen. "Tea…tea…Usagi, how do you boil water for tea?" he shouted.
"On second thought, how about some lunch?" Kenji said, an angry tick appearing on his head when he heard his daughter's name being mentioned by a boy. He stood up and started walking into the kitchen.
"LUNCH!" Tamaki shouted, searching through the refrigerator, "Usagi, do you have any food we can give to father?"
"But first…" Kenji once again tossed Tamaki to the ground, but produced a shotgun and aimed it to Tamaki, "Who is this insect and why is he calling MY daughter's name indiscriminately?"
"And here comes the shotgun," Usagi sighed. The shotgun, a "secret weapon against predators of my baby girls" as Shingo likes to call it, was something that came into play when Usagi entered junior high. The gun isn't loaded, but none of the boys, who tried to form a relationship with her, knew that and whenever they saw Kenji with the shotgun, they would run.
Before Usagi could get Kenji to put away the shotgun, Hikaru and Kaoru entered back in to the house. "Tono, what are you doing?" Kaoru shouted through the doorway. Together with his twin, they walked inside the house and peeked into the dining room as Hikaru added, "What's taking you so long?"
Their eyes stared blankly at the sight of Tamaki being on the floor with his back pressed against the wall by an angry middle aged man with a shotgun pointed at him. Tamaki began to cry tears of joy when he saw the twins, crying, "Hikaru! Kaoru! My salvations!"
Kenji used the long gun to smack Tamaki onto the floor away from the wall, causing Usagi to sigh deeply. "Do you know this insect?" he asked, his sharp eyes on the twins.
Being the mischievous selves, Hikaru and Kaoru stepped onto Tamaki's back as they made their way over to Kenji. "Did you finally molest Usagi, tono? Hahaha! You're such a retard," they said in unison to Tamaki. They extended their hands over to Kenji to shake them. "Hi, Usagi's otou-san, we're Usagi's friends from Ouran, the Hitachiin Brothers. We're really sorry about this idiot. He's such a womanizer. Tono's known as a pheromone machine who goes after a different girl every day."
"Why did they have to say that?" Usagi screamed silently. While that was true about what they said about Tamaki, that was one of the things you DO NOT tell her dad. When she heard Kenji repeat the forbidden word with clenched teeth, "Molest…"
"NO!" Tamaki shouted. Angrily, he pointed to the twins, "Who are you calling a molester…a…a pheromone machine? I honestly…"
The twins stared wide eyed at Tamaki, thinking it was a type of confession.
Tamaki kneeled down and bowed his head to the floor, screaming, "I honestly consider your daughter as my own daughter!"
Everyone stared at Tamaki with a blank look on their faces before the twins fell on the floor laughing hysterically. "Is…this…guy for weird?" Kenji muttered to Usagi, who facepalmed, "Seems like a moron."
Tamaki sat in the corner of the room as the rest of the Host Club came back into the house. They sat around the table as Kenji studied the boys that surrounded his daughter in school. "So…you guys are from the Host Club?" he asked. He looked at the playful smile on Hunny's face, the stoic expression on Mori's and Kyoya and the mischievous grins on the twins.
Hunny bounced up and down in his seat. "We are!" he replied excitedly. Not only did he get to visit Usagi in her home but he also get to meet her father. "It's really nice to meet you, Usagi-papa!"
Kenji stared indifferently for a few seconds at Hunny before he smiled gently and patted the young looking boy on the head. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mitsukuni-kun," he said. Unlike most boys who crowd around his daughters, this one doesn't seem like any threat.
"How come he knows Hunny-sempai's name?" the twins asked in unison.
Kenji drank some tea. "I know everyone's names," he said, "Mitsukuni-kun and Morinozuka-kun are third years. Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun are the first year twins. I heard a lot about you boys." Yes, he has heard lots about those boys and their antics, some making him wish he had a few minutes alone with the still sulking teen in the corner with his shotgun.
"Heard about us? From Usagi?" the twins asked.
"A bit from Usagi and the kids," Kenji replied. He took out his cell phone and opened it, looking for someone's number. "Kyoya-kun was kind enough to keep me updated with the club's activities. We've been emailing and phoning each other for months now. Thank you so much for the info." While he is weary of giving information about his beloved daughter, Kyoya was thoughtful enough to be truthful and keep him in the loop of his children's school life.
Kyoy gave Kenji his host smile and added, "Oh no, I should be the one thanking you, Tsukino-san, especially for those photos."
Everybody stared at Kenji in shock at the knowledge that he has been in contact with Usagi's father for so long. While Hunny, the twins and Usagi continued their staring contest, Tamaki was more or less horrified at the idea of Kyoya talking with father.
Tamaki grabbed Kyoya's shoulders. "Kyo…ya" he called in a grave haunting tone.
Kyoya ignored the dark shadows surrounding Tamaki as he nonchalantly drank his tea. "As long as Usagi is in our club, his precious eldest daughter remains in our care," he noted, "Naturally it is our duty to report to her father every now and then. But really, shouldn't it have been your job, Tamaki?"
With that statement, arrows came out and struck Tamaki's heart and chest as he fell back into the corner of the room.
"What a wonderfully responsible president!" Kenji praised at first before pausing for a minute, "Oh, but wait, you're the vice president. You must have an incredibly horrible incompetent president." For some strange reason, everyone could hear the barbed words literally striking into Tamaki's body. "That poor excuse of a leader must've been too busy fraternizing with girls, I suppose."
Usagi could tell that her father was enjoying the emotional torture on Tamaki. "Daddy, stop tormenting Tamaki-sempai," she sighed. She glanced over to Tamaki as he began to cultivate mushrooms in his little corner. "Sempai, stop growing mushrooms in the corner," she scolded.
Kenji narrowed his eyes at Tamaki as his hand slowly inched over towards his shotgun, which everyone forgot he had, even though it was leaning on the table next to him. Jow dare this boy come into his house and cause trouble for his precious bunny. But before he could lift the gun and aim it at Tamaki, Usagi grabbed the weapon.
"No gun, daddy," Usagi scolded. She took the gun and walked out of the dining room.
The twins leaned their heads as far back as they could without getting out of their chairs. "Where's she going?" they asked.
Kenji just continued to drink some tea with an amused smile on his face. "Hiding my gun," he replied, "She does that whenever she gets annoyed with me threatening her friends. It's most likely in the first floor coat closet again." He chuckled softly and shook his head. "That's where she tends to hide things, just like her mother."
Usagi walked back into the dining room and grabbed her jacket and purse.
"Going out, Usagi?" Kenji asked.
"To the market to buy more groceries," Usagi replied, "It'll be quicker if I go by myself so you guys wait here and behave yourself."
"Ah! Commoner supermarket," the twins complained, "We wanna go!" But Usagi was already out the door so she didn't hear them.
"Let her go," Kenji said, "Once her mind is made up, she can be a bit stubborn." He stood up and picked up a photo of Usagi, Hotaru, and Shingo's first day at Ouran Academy. "Even though I respect her independence, sometimes I wish she would just lean on me more and act her age." Kenji turned to the host club and bowed his head slightly in thanks. "That's why I'm grateful to you. Usagi is starting to relax more in school. I can see that she is even starting to smile more and open her hearts to you. Isn't that right, Suoh Tamaki?"
Hearing that acknowledgement, Tamaki turned around with tears of happiness in his eyes. "Otou-san…" he whimpered.
"So I guess even a pathetic excuse of a man like yourself do have some good qualities after all," Kenji said, sitting back down and turning his back to the half French teen.
"Pathetic?" Tamaki repeated weakly. Tears sprouted out of his eyes like fountains. "Otou-san thinks I'm pathetic!" he sobbed loudly before running out of the house.
"Ah…he ran away," the twins announced as the front door swung back and forth from Tamaki's abrupt exit.
Kenji rolled his eyes. Usagi and Shingo mentioned that Tamaki can be a bit of a drama queen, but he's much more melodramatic than he thought. "He's a big boy, I'm sure he'll be fine," Kenji said as though a teenage boy running out of his house crying is a normal thing. "I'm gonna head to the supermarket," he told the remaining hosts, "If you want to come, you can come along."
"Didn't Usagi tell us to stay here?" Kyoya asked.
"With all these mouths she needs to feed, chances are, Usagi will be buying a lot of food," Kenji explained, "You think she can carry that many bags?"
Hunny gasped and quickly pulled Mori's hand. "Takeshi, we have to go and help Usa-chan carry those bags!" he said anxiously. Everybody got up and followed after Hunny and Mori out of the house.
/-/
Usagi sighed as she headed back to the supermarket she had just came from earlier that day. "I didn't know that Kyoya-sempai and daddy was keeping contact with each other," she said dejectedly. She stopped walking as she cupped her cheek with her hand. "I wonder why daddy actually kept in contact with Kyoya-sempai rather than heading to the school with his gun a blazing."
As she pondered about that thought, she felt a gust of wind with a blur that looked like Tamaki fly right past her. "Tamaki-sempai?" she called out.
Hearing Usagi's name, Tamaki stopped and quickly hid behind the telephone pole, trying to hide his beautiful "pathetic excuse of a man" face. He dropped down to his knees and continued to sob.
Usagi took a deep breath and sighed. No doubt her father had said something to trigger this situation. She walked over to Tamaki and knelt down beside him. "Tamaki-sempai, are you okay?" she asked. The sophomore didn't say anything. Usagi bit her bottom lip gently. Tamaki could sometimes be a handful when he's in one of his moods. "Is there something you want to eat?" she asked.
"Hotpot," Tamaki replied. Tamaki followed behind Usagi, holding onto the sleeve of her thin jacket, as they headed to the supermarket. "I want a hotpot with a miso broth, with lots of prawns and crabs and beef with udon noodles," he continued on, "We have to eat it under a kotatsu table."
"It's hot and you want to eat hotpot under a kotatsu table?" she asked.
As they continued on their way to the market, they were being followed by Usagi's father and their friends. Kyoya and Kenji walked normally as the other boys were hiding behind the telephone poles and mailboxes.
/-/
Tamaki's eyes widened and sparkled with anticipation as they entered the supermarket. The place was bustling with people, some shopping by themselves and some with their family. "A commoner festival!" Tamaki cheered, his head moving side to side as he tried to get everything in, "Is this a foreigner supermarket, Usagi?"
Usagi grabbed the red basket from a pile. "It's always like this, especially on Sunday," she responded. She started to walk through the aisles to the seafood, telling Tamaki as she walked past him, "Tamaki-sempai, catch up please before you get lost."
Tamaki followed after Usagi with his head turning side to side and his sparkling eyes glistened with excitement. His eyes caught a mother and child taking the shopping cart. He tugged on Usagi's sleeves and pointed to the cart. "Usagi! Usagi! I wanna push that rolling thingie!" he shouted.
Not even bothering to turn around, Usagi replied, "We're not going to buy a lot so there's no use in having the cart. Please behave yourself, Tamaki-sempai."
"It's cheap! Dirt Cheap! A 15 minute limited sale starting now" a loud shout caught Tamaki's attention. He turned his head and saw an elderly man wearing a white apron, waving a wrapped package of meat. "Items sold regularly at 980 yen is now being sold at 780 yen! I'm risking bankruptcy! Get on line, everyone!"
Tamaki's jaw dropped as he grabbed his wallet. "Must…get…on…line. Must…show…respect…for…this…man," he said.
Usagi sighed and grabbed Tamaki's hand before he reached the seller. "You don't need to go," she told him, "Stick close to me."
Tamaki glanced down at the hands intertwined, his face blushing bright red. "Usagi…hand," he said softly.
"Hmmm?" Usagi looked through the vegetables. "We'll take forever if you keep wandering off." Her eyes caught a sign mentioning a product being on discounted price so she took a few steps away from Tamaki to reach into the open air ice box.
Tamaki got distracted when one of the supermarket employees offered a free sample of some pickled vegetables. When he took a few steps forward and was about to reach for a sample, he felt a sharp painful abrupt feeling when something ran between him and Usagi, severing their linked hands.
Hikaru and Kaoru were pushing a shopping cart, looking excitedly at the products surrounding them, but when they caught sight of Usagi grabbing Tamaki's hand, they felt a rage of jealousy growing within them. Before when Tamaki was holding onto her sleeve, it looked more like a child and mother, but when they saw them holding hands, it looked like they were a couple…which they hated. So when the opportunity arises, they walked between their two friends and separated the holding hands, saying nonchalantly, "Excuse us for a second," and continued wandering on.
Usagi glanced at the twins for a second but then ignored them and continued on looking through the groceries. Tamaki was the one in complete shock. "What…why are the twins here?!" he shouted, pointing to them.
"You just notice them? They've been following us for a couple of blocks," she told them. She continued to look through the bag of vegetables and finally picked one and placed it in the basket. "Daddy probably had them come and help us bring the groceries back home."
Tamaki looked around and sure enough all of his friends were here in the supermarket. Kyoya was buying the instant coffee mix in huge bulk. Hikaru and Kaoru were browsing through the snack aisles, buying one of each commoner snacks they could get their hands on. Hunny was currently riding in the large compartment of the shopping cart with Mori pushing the cart around to wherever Hunny pointed to.
After seeing his friends being in the supermarket, Tamaki immediately started searching left and right to see if he could spot Usagi's father. Flicking his head back and forth, he was so busy tring to find Kenji that he didn't realize that a young girl pushing the shopping cart was heading his way until he felt a slight push from behind. Tamaki turned around to see a girl about ten years old looking startled.
"G-gomen ne," she said in shyly.
Tamaki smiled at her as if to show her that no harm was done. "It's all right," he said, patting her head. He watched as she bowed her head in apology again and then walked away to continue on her shopping. Tamaki watched in amazement as the little girl looked through her shopping list and proceeded to put the vegetables into the cart.
"Keep staring at her and people will la
bel you a pedophile."
Tamaki turned around and saw Kenji standing behind him with his arms folded. Tamaki shook his head and hands frantically. "NO! It's just that I was surprised to see a little girl doing the shopping by herself," he tried to explain.
Kenji made a thinking humming sound as he thought about Tamaki's explanation. "Probably cultural shock for you, but it's not uncommon to see young children helping their parents with," Kenji told him. He turned his attention towards Usagi who was talking with the salesperson who was selling seafood. "My daughter lost her mother at a young age and immediately took it upon herself to care for her younger siblings and help out with the house whenever I can't."
Kenji thought back to the days when Usagi was younger. After his wife passed away, it was like Usagi had forced herself to be independent, coming straight home to help him instead of playing with her friends. Granted her friends were understanding and even offered to assist them, but even then, Usagi refused to let herself depend too much on anybody. That sudden transition surprised Kenji and he grew worried that perhaps she was upset over the loss of her mother.
"And ever since then, she's just continually looking after other people," Kenji continued, his eyes looking back to the past, "I don't know if it's because she's selfless or because of she's just so use to it, Usagi would never let anybody take care of her. However, once she acts like that, it just makes people want to take care of her."
Tamaki smiled brightly. "I know how you feel," he told Kenji. Thinking back, Usagi had always acted so strong and independent, as if nothing in the world can bring her down, but during their time together in the Host Club, he had seen several rare incidents where his friends had rushed off to help her.
Kenji was surprised by Tamaki's response, but the shock quickly dissipated. He glared at Tamaki and knocked him down to the ground and pulled out his shotgun and pointed it at the fallen boy.
The shoppers looked at their way for a second before continuing on their way. They knew full well that the shotgun isn't loaded and most of them had seen the boy come in to the supermarket with Usagi. Kenji's just being his overprotective self again.
Ignoring the other shoppers as they were ignoring him, Kenji continued to point the gun at the frightened boy. "Who the hell do you think you are?" he began his storm of anger, "Don't think just because you spent a few months with my daughter, it means you know what's best for her! You know absolutely nothing about my daughter. You're nothing but an enemy, trying to take my daughter away from her family."
Usagi grabbed the shotgun out of Kenji's hands and rested it on her shoulder. "Daddy, I told you not to take your gun replica out of the house. You're lucky that everybody in this neighborhood knows its fake or otherwise you would've been arrested," Usagi scolded, "I already paid for everything so lets go home."
The menacing face Kenji had shown to Tamaki immediately disappeared when he turned to Usagi. "'Of course, sweetheart," he told her with a bright smile, "Let me help you with those bags." He turned his head towards Tamaki so she couldn't see his face as he glared at the shivering boy. "Why don't you help us by carrying some of the bags as well, Tamaki-kun?"
Tamaki ran over to his friends and grabbed all the bags before running back to Usagi's house. Tears streaming down his face as he sobbed, "Otou-sama hates me!" The rest of the group shook their heads and sighed before following the Host King in a much slower pace.
Usagi sighed deeply before glaring at her dad, who was looking at her innocently. "Did you have to do that?" she asked him. Kenji waved away her question and placed his arm around her shoulders as they walked back to their house.