"Haruhi!" the twins chorused from behind her.
Tugging back the left cuff of her uniform, Haruhi glanced at the cheap watch secured tightly around her wrist.
"You two are early today," the scholarship student commented. After all, school didn't start for another twelve minutes.
"That's not a very nice way to say hello," both twins chimed simultaneously.
The girl, not in the least bit bothered by their statement, shrugged her shoulders and continued to scan through the notes she had taken the night before.
She heard one of the twins release an agitated sigh from behind her as she flipped to the next page in the notebook. The next thing she knew, her notebook had been swiped away by one of the twins.
"May I have my notebook back?" she asked, turning around to face the culprits.
"If you can win our game," the twins chorused, grins widening.
Although she did not particularly wish to be involved in their antics so early in the day, Haruhi nevertheless complied and asked, "What game?"
"All you have to do," one twin said.
The other twin continued, "is guess..."
"...which one is Hikaru?!"
"Hikaru," Haruhi said, pointing to the one on her right.
"Wrong!" the twins chorused.
"No, I'm not," Haruhi deadpanned.
"You're wrong," they repeated.
"It's far too early for this," Haruhi said, more to herself than anyone else, "will you please return my notebook, Kaoru?"
Kaoru sighed dejectedly and complied, returning the notebook to its rightful owner.
"See, Hikaru," Kaoru said, turning to his brother, "it's not just dumb luck. She knows which one of us is which."
Hikaru peered at the girl with narrowed eyes, as if trying to decipher some complex puzzle. After a few seconds of silence had passed, he concluded, "I'm still not convinced."
Haruhi gave the older twin a pointed look, "I don't care whether you're convinced or not, but it's very troublesome to have both you and your brother interrupting my studies with your childish games."
The twin's faces dropped at her comment and they jutted out their lower lips in pitiful pouts. It was like she had just kicked their favorite puppy into a busy intersection.
Feeling momentarily ashamed, even though Haruhi knew she was right, she reluctantly consoled them, "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. Even if you're both rude, disruptive, and disrespectful of others, I don't think the two of you are too awful."
Although she had meant for her apology to hold no malice, one really had to wonder...
Hikaru and Kaoru, having ignored the last part of her apology, wrapped their long arms around her in a tight embrace, wailing, "Haruhi! Do you really mean that?!"
Awkwardly patting their backs in a befuddled manner, Haruhi nodded her head.
The twins, with sly grins plastered across their faces, sobbed, "We'll be the best of friends forever!"
The girl stopped patting their backs and blinked, "Huh?"
She tried to step back from their embrace, but they clung to her, pressing their faces into her neck.
"Wait," Haruhi said, squirming a bit as she attempted to wriggle her way out, "I didn't agree to being best friends with the two of you."
The twins stepped away, but continued to hold her in their embrace. They stared at her with teary eyes that were threatening to burst.
"Haru-" hiccuped Kaoru, "-hi."
"Doesn't want to be our best friend!" finished Hikaru in a wail.
"Would you two please stop overreacting?" Haruhi asked as she tried to calm them down. However, her question only brought along more of the twin's complaints.
"Haruhi's so mean!" the Kaoru cried.
"She hates us!"
"All we wanted was another friend!"
"We're so lonely!"
"At least I still have you, Hikaru."
"Kaoru," Hikaru whispered with watery eyes.
A series of thumps could be heard from the classroom's entrance. A group of the twin's fan girls had just entered the room, but ended up fainting in the doorway from the sudden overdose of brotherly love.
"You two," Haruhi muttered under her breath, shaking her head.
"Well," Hikaru said, resting his hand on his hip and leaning a bit to the side.
"I guess that means," Kaoru continued, mimicking his brother's pose.
"Haruhi's going to be our new toy!" the twins exclaimed excitedly.
"What?" Haruhi said, clueless as to what the twins had just meant by 'toy.'
"Toy," the twins repeated, as if she hadn't heard them the first time.
"I didn't agree to be your plaything either," Haruhi pointed out.
"Ooh," Kaoru said.
"Plaything," Hikaru repeated.
"We like that title so much more."
Before Haruhi could retaliate with her own response, the teacher entered the room (stepping over the unconscious girls still passed out in the doorway) and told the class to settle down.
Haruhi mentally sighed and flipped to a blank page in the notebook in front of her. She'd deal with the twins later.
.x.o.x.o.x.
"C'mon, Haruhi," the twins said.
Haruhi gazed at the two boys in front of her with her large, chocolate-colored eyes.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Lunch period had just started and the starving teenagers of class 1-A had hurriedly rushed from the room in hopes of being the first in line for food at the cafeteria. Well, that is, except for the Hitachiin brothers and the scholarship student.
"We're hungry," the twins whined.
"Then go get food," Haruhi suggested.
The brothers sighed in exasperation, "We're waiting for you."
"I already have my lunch," Haruhi said, taking out the bento from her schoolbag and placing it on the desk in front of her.
"It's so small," the twins observed, leaning in closer to peer at the container.
Haruhi stared at them both with a dull look, "Shouldn't you two be leaving for the cafeteria now?"
"We can't leave our plaything to sit in the classroom all by herself!" Kaoru proudly proclaimed.
"I'm not your plaything," Haruhi said, removing the top of the container which held her food.
"Yes, you are," the twins corrected her.
"No, I'm not – wait, Hikaru, what are you doing?" Haruhi asked as the older twin stuck his hand into the container and withdrew a piece of beef that she had saved from the previous night's dinner.
He held it in front of his face for a moment, inspecting the piece of meat before slowly placing it inside his mouth. He chewed for a few seconds before his face lightened up in surprise.
"Wow, Haruhi!" Hikaru exclaimed between bites, "this is really good."
"I want to try some!" Kaoru said, not waiting for the girl's approval as he grabbed a rice ball.
Haruhi watched, stunned, as the twins quickly devoured her lunch and then placed the empty box back onto the desk top.
"I'm glad the two of you like my cooking so much," Haruhi said, a look of irritation crossing her features as she watched the twins pat their stomachs in contentment, "but what am I supposed to eat?"
"Well..." Hikaru began.
Kaoru grinned, saying, "I guess you have no choice but to come to the cafeteria with us."
Having previously viewed the cafeteria's lunch menu in the school's brochure, Haruhi already knew that the cost of any of the meals served there were well over two weeks of her allowance. No matter how tasty it looked, she had no desire to waste her money on it. Haruhi shook her head and decided that she would just start on the homework that had been assigned
"We'll treat," the twins added quickly as they saw her hand creep towards her notebook.
Haruhi stood, grabbing her schoolbag in one hand and notebook in the other, "Alright."
.x.o.x.o.x.
The cafeteria was packed when the three students of class 1-A arrived. Haruhi glanced at the tables; many of them were already occupied. She then directed her attention to the dwindling line of students that were placing their lunch orders in front of the cashier.
Kaoru and Hikaru carted her over to the lunch line and they claimed their spots behind a group of what appeared to be well-built athletes.
"What do you want?" Hikaru asked.
"Huh?" Haruhi looked up at him with a curious glance. There was so much food to choose from and he wanted her to pick so soon?
"To eat," Hikaru explained with a grin.
"I don't know," Haruhi admitted before mentally pondering over the choices available to her.
She could order the least expensive meal, the garden salad, because she disliked having to rely on others. But she could always choose one of the rich delicacies she could only dream of trying because, after all, the twins were the ones handling the bill.
"The garden salad," Haruhi finally said when they became second-in-line.
"Didn't take you as the type of girl who obsessed about watching her weight," Kaoru teased.
"I'm not," Haruhi dully replied, "I just don't think my bento was worth much more than the salad."
Hikaru waved his hand as if dismissing her comment, "It doesn't matter to us. You can order whatever you want."
"I'm fine with the salad," she replied, having already made her decision.
"Whatever," Hikaru said, stepping towards the cashier.
"I'd like three Selection D's."
Haruhi's eyes widened and she glanced up at the boy at her side.
Kaoru chuckled at her expression, saying, "You'll like it way more than the salad."
"But I didn't ask for that," Haruhi retorted.
"You're our toy," Hikaru said, stuffing the change into his wallet, "and we can do whatever we want with you."
"I'm not your toy," Haruhi replied.
"You are," the twins chimed.
Sighing in exasperation, Haruhi moved forward to pick up one of the three identical treys that had been set before both her and the twins.
"Thank you," she said.
Hikaru smirked and Kaoru smiled, but they had already turned away from her and were heading into the sea of tables.
Haruhi trailed behind with a thoughtful expression on her face.
.x.o.x.o.x.
"Fair princess!"
Haruhi whipped around, almost dropping her food in surprise as the exuberant and eccentric Host Club president attempted to pounce on her.
The twins, however, moved in front of her and immediately blocked her from the violet-eyed boy's sight.
"Hey, my lord," the twins said with devilish grins, "hands off our toy."
"You demons!" the blonde replied with a shocked expression, "Why must you go and corrupt the innocence of this beautiful, young maiden?"
"Because," Hikaru said in a bored expression, "we're saving her from people like you."
"Yeah," Kaoru added, "you should have seen how many guys were professing their love the other day."
Haruhi glanced at the dark-haired boy sitting next to the empty seat that Tamaki had just abandoned. Although he appeared to be eating his extravagantly-prepared meal, she could sense that he was paying more attention to the situation at hand than his outward-appearance revealed.
"My lord, we're keeping her away from you for her own safety," the older twin stated before nudging Haruhi towards the unoccupied table on their right side; the one positioned directly next to the Host Club's unofficial table.
"Is this really far enough?" Kaoru questioned aloud.
"I don't know," Hikaru said while plopping down into his seat and placing his trey on the table. His brother followed suit, taking the chair next to him. Haruhi chose the seat across from the two, hoping that they wouldn't try to drape themselves around her or cause another scene. It would only serve as a distraction from her meal.
Haruhi glanced at the defeated-looking blonde who had returned to his seat before letting her attention focus solely to the food in front of her. Everything looked so good!
"So... you can make us lunch tomorrow," Hikaru said, interrupting her mental praise.
"Why?" Haruhi inquired, picking up her chopsticks.
"I want Haruhi's cooking too!" the Host Club King wailed from his seat as he eavesdropped on their conversation.
Haruhi felt her face distort into an expression of disbelief. Stupid, rich bastards...
"Because we treated you to lunch today," Kaoru stated, taking a bite of his meal.
Haruhi thought to herself for a moment before saying, "You two already ate my lunch earlier."
"You devils were able to try Haruhi-hime's cooking already?!"
The twins turned to face the distraught Host Club president with dull glances, "Stay out of this, my lord. This is a friend's-only section."
"But, but..."
The brothers turned their attention back to Haruhi and chorused, "That only counted as half-a-meal. We were still hungry after eating it."
"That's because it was meant for only one person," Haruhi irritably replied. With all of their questions, she really wasn't being allowed to savor the delicious meal.
Hikaru smirked at her and draped an arm over his twin's shoulder.
"You see," Hikaru said with a mischievous grin, "treating friends to food is what friendship is all about."
"I thought I was your toy?" Haruhi replied blandly.
Oh, she had fallen right into their trap!
"My lord!" Kaoru called over to the other table, although they all knew Tamaki could hear them fine, "she admits it."
A wave of murmurs started to arise from around the cafeteria, especially from the twin's fans located at the table to the left of the Host Club's.
Tamaki looked at her with a gaping-mouth and large, violet eyes. The bespectacled, raven-haired boy next to him stared at her with a blank expression. The child-like boy that she recalled from the previous day's visit to the Host Club was watching her with a curious gaze while his companion, a dark-haired and tall boy only stared at her with a stoic, unchanging face.
The twins, however, had (somehow) positioned themselves at her sides and were embracing her like she was their personal teddy-bear.
"I'm still not making you lunch," Haruhi stated, but the twins were too busy nuzzling her face to care.
.x.o.x.o.x.
At the table to the left of the Host Club, amongst murmurs and whispers ("why did the twins pick her?!"), ("what about their brotherly love for one another?!") one girl sat with an unamused expression gracing her sharp features.
"Ayanokoji-chan, can you believe the nerve of that girl?" one of Hikaru Hitachiin's most avid admirers said, "she's taking Hikaru-sama all for herself!"
"I don't care about that," Ayanokoji sniffed indifferently with a toss of her glossy, brunette hair, "but she will pay for attracting Tamaki-sama's attention."
Sorry to all you Kyoya fans, but the Shadow King has yet to make his grand appearence. He'll probably be doing so in chapter five. I suppose a lot of you are curious about the couples, but I'll just tell you now that it's going to be a funky love-shaped thing with Haruhi, the twins, Kasanoda, and maybe some unrequited Tamaki-love. Thanks to everyone for reviewing last chapter; your comments really made my day!