Hikaru stifled a yawn. Kaoru felt his eyes grow heavier with each passing second. Haruhi continued to jot down the important facts that the professor was droning on about.
While Haruhi listened intently to the lecture and Kaoru allowed his shoulders to slump, Hikaru added a few finishing touches to the matching outfits that he and his counterpart would be wearing to the 'Ouran Host Club Dance Party.' He had just decided on green ribbons instead of orange bow-ties.
Tamaki Suoh, King of the Host Club, had sent the elder of the two a text message during first period stating that the dance party would take place in a week. The message also 'subtly' mentioned that the brothers should inform the female scholarship student aboutd the dance and, in doing so, ensure her presence at the event.
Hikaru had already informed his twin about the dance party, and they had decided, since Kaoru was the more level-headed of the two, that Kaoru would find a way to get Haruhi to agree.
Kaoru had already decided, during lunch, on the perfect time to tell her: at the Host Club. After all, the 'little-devils' hadn't given up playing pranks on Kyoya for nothing. If she wasn't going to come to the club willingly, they had alternative methods already planned out. The younger Hitachiin twin glanced at the studious girl with a mischievous grin – one that she didn't notice as she proceeded with her note-taking.
Eight minutes later, after looking at the clock situated above the white board, the professor concluded, "I'll finish up the lecture next time; make sure to finish pages sixteen to nineteen in the practice workbook by next class."
Shuffling could be heard from around the classroom as the students stood up and grabbed their supplies. Hikaru and Kaoru shared knowing glances as they watched the girl close her notebook and tuck it into her schoolbag.
"Going somewhere?" Hikaru asked slyly.
"Home," she stated dully, "where else?"
"I don't know..." Kaoru trailed off, "the Host Club, perhaps?"
She looked at the younger twin for a second before placing her index finger against her cheek and tilting her head to the side. She appeared thoughtful as she attempted to figure out where the conversation was going and what exactly the younger twin was hinting at.
"I'm not coming with you two to the Host Club," she said, "remember what I said yesterday?"
"That you'd be coming to our club meetings every day from now on?" the twins innocently inquired.
Giving them a bland look, Haruhi bid them farewell and turned to leave, but was unfortunately prevented from doing so. In the few seconds that followed, Haruhi could only recall a glimmer of silver, an audible click, and the sensation of cool metal securing itself around her wrist.
"Eh?" Haruhi questioned, glancing at her now-handcuffed wrist. Kaoru locked his own wrist in the metal contraption before tossing her a devilish smirk.
"Guess you can't go home now, ne?" Hikaru asked, "So let's go to the club before my lord has a seizure."
"Or pops a blood vessel," Kaoru added.
Hikaru grinned, "Or orders Kyoya to sic his secret police on us."
"Or has Mori-senpai track us down."
Hikaru swallowed nervously "That means Hunny-senpai would come beat us up and drag us back. Black eyes and cracked ribs have never been considered chic."
"Kaoru, remove the handcuff, please?" Haruhi politely asked in an even tone despite her growing impatience for the conversation.
The younger twin looked at her with a smirk before replying in a taunting voice, "I don't think so!"
"Besides," Hikaru stated with a Cheshire-cat worthy grin, "we like having you around."
"Yeah," Kaoru agreed, "and it's not like you actually have to pay to be at the Host Club like any of the other girls."
"And – best of all – you get to stay with us the entire time!" the twins announced.
"Fantastic," Haruhi muttered as she tugged helplessly at the secure bond that the handcuff had on her wrist.
.x.o.x.o.x.
'Opening the doors to the third music room, I discovered a tropical paradise...'
It was a tropical paradise. A heated tropical paradise, to be exact.
Haruhi gazed around at the lush trees, exotic plants, and various tropical rain forest inhabitants scattered about the clubroom.
When Haruhi and the twins arrived at the clubroom, they had discovered that the rest of the members were already in the process of changing clothes; an 'occupied' sign hung from the doorknob of the Host Club's dressing room.
"Now will you release me?" Haruhi inquired as she glanced at the changing room door, already plotting her escape from the exotic clubroom and its eccentric members.
"You'll just try to escape if we do," Kaoru said, easily reading her thoughts as if she was an open book.
Hikaru continued, "And we can't have that happening, now can we?"
"So, we'll just wait until the others are out. They can keep watch over our toy while we change," the brothers chorused.
"Or," Hikaru purred against her ear, "you can watch us change."
"We don't mind," Kaoru whispered into her other ear.
"No thanks," Haruhi deadpanned despite the close proximity of the two.
"No fun!" the twins pouted while remaining propped up against her.
"How about you change into a different outfit? Surely you must be hot," Kaoru said as he fanned at his face with his free hand.
"Yeah," Hikaru added as he withdrew his cellphone from his pocket, "we can call our maids and tell them to bring some of our mother's designs over. You can pick out a bikini and sunbathe on the couch, or something, while we entertain our designators."
"I'll pass," Haruhi blandly responded, "I've got homework to do. Seeing as I'm not getting out of here anytime soon," she gestured to her handcuffed wrist with her free hand, "I might as well get started on the history essay."
"That's not due for another two weeks," the twins sighed exasperatedly.
She merely shrugged her shoulders in response as Hikaru tucked his cellphone back into his pocket.
The three freshmen turned to face the dressing room door which was beginning to open.
"Haru-chan came!" a blur of blonde exclaimed before attaching onto her midsection.
"Huh?" Haruhi asked as she looked down at the young-looking boy clinging to her waist like she was a stuffed animal. Speaking of stuffed animals...
"This is Bun-Bun!" the little boy exclaimed in a sunny and bright tone; his personality easily matched the vibrantly colored wrap that he donned, "You can hold him for awhile if you want, but make sure you give him back, 'kay?"
Haruhi blinked at the newly-obtained pink bunny before nodding in a confused manner. The little boy ran off to sit at one of the tables set up within the artificial forest setting.
The second member to emerge from the changing room was the tall senior that had carried Ritsu Kasanoda from the supermarket the previous day. Haruhi wondered if her friend had made it home safely, seeing as she hadn't seen him at all during the day. Instead of allowing the somber giant to pass by undisturbed, Haruhi inquired about her redheaded friend's wellbeing.
"He's fine," he replied before joining the younger-looking boy. With another glance at the table, Haruhi noticed that there were sweets and sugar-filled delights gleaming delightfully under the clubroom's bright lighting.
"Don't damage the bunny," Kaoru stated in a low, but deadly serious tone.
Hikaru, having overheard his brother's comment, nodded in agreement.
Before the twins could further explain the meaning of the stuffed animal, Kyoya Ootori swept out of the dressing room with the utmost grace, not bothering to even look at the three freshmen. Haruhi thought it was rude to act as if the three of them weren't even there to begin with, but decided against telling him so.
"If money – or merit – is not involved," Kaoru whispered, acknowledging Haruhi's tensed figure, "Kyoya-senpai wouldn't even think twice about the situation."
Finally, Tamaki Suoh, the president of the Host Club, entered the room with flourished arms and a vibrant atmosphere already surrounding him.
"Haruhi-hime!" he cried out in delight at seeing the brunette-haired girl.
"Hello, Suoh-senpai," she greeted with a smile. She was a bit uneasy around the boy, but he seemed harmless enough.
The exuberant blonde reached out to embrace her, but she was immediately tugged out of the way by Kaoru's quick reflexes.
"You pranksters!" the violet-eyed boy cried in despair, "Why must you always ruin such precious moments?"
"Kaoru, Hikaru," the raven-haired vice president called from his position by the refreshment bar, "go change. The clients will be arriving in less than seven minutes."
The twins waved away his comment, chorusing, "That's plenty of time!"
"Now, if you'd please," the Shadow King stated, a glimmer of light reflecting off the surface of his spectacles.
Haruhi shivered a bit from the sight of the Shadow King radiating a dark aura, but was relieved when Kaoru whipped out the key to the handcuffs from his pocket. He was already involved in the process of undoing the lock.
Well – that would have been the case...
"The key isn't working, Kaoru?" Hikaru questioned, moving in closer to examine the key being jabbed into the lock.
"Er, no, it isn't," Kaoru stated with a frustrated expression as he tried to unlock himself from the cuffs.
"You better not be joking," Haruhi deadpanned with narrow eyes.
"I'm not," Kaoru said before handing the key to Hikaru, "here, you try, Hikaru."
The older twin twisted the key in the lock, jiggled it, but nothing seemed to work.
"Four minutes until club opens," Kyoya Ootori stated in an unamused tone.
"Er," Hikaru and Kaoru said, exchanging looks. They directed their attention to Haruhi who was staring so intently at her wrist that the twins thought she was trying to bend the metal with her mind.
"I do wonder how you two will manage to change clothes," Kyoya mused with a dry chuckle, "after all, it's very difficult to be discreet when taking one's pants off. Can't exactly put the swim trunks over your boxers, can you?"
"You twins are dastardly villains out to corrupt the purity of innocent maidens," Tamaki proclaimed, ready to defend the scholarship student's honor at any second, "I shan't let that happen to Haruhi-hime."
"Eh?!" Kaoru exclaimed as his wrist fell to his side. Haruhi had somehow managed to free them both from the cuffs.
"You just need to add a certain amount of pressure to the cuffs," Haruhi stated dully, "you can get those handcuffs at any Halloween store or magic shop. They don't require a key."
"Oh," the twins chorused.
"Kaoru, Hikaru," Kyoya snapped, "two minutes."
"Fine, fine," Hikaru stated, waving his hand in the air as if dismissing the older boy. The twins wandered into the dressing room, leaving Haruhi in the hands of a glistening Tamaki.
"If you're already perspiring – even though it's April and the weather is considerably cooler," Haruhi thought this was unreasonable and her tone successfully conveyed her opinion, "perhaps you should turn on the air conditioner."
"Ah, my fairy princess! How intelligent you are!" Tamaki praised before embracing her, "However, I will bear this heat solely for beautiful maidens such as yourself, so that my perfect body may be gazed upon by all!"
Haruhi slipped through his arms and took a few steps backwards.
The twins stepped out of the dressing room thirty-two seconds before the doors were scheduled to open. Haruhi was offered a seat at the twin's table, but opted to sit at the refreshment bar where Kyoya was scribbling down notes in his black notebook.
"Why did you choose to sit over here?" The youngest son of the Ootori family asked without looking up from his notebook, "Do you not find the twins to be appealing company?"
"It would be impossible to get any of my work done," Haruhi replied in an even tone as she outlined her history essay on a piece of paper that she had torn from her notebook, "besides, I wouldn't want to steal their attention, especially not while they're on duty."
Nodding his head to himself, Kyoya agreed with her decision and left it at that.
.x.o.x.o.x.
Twenty minutes had passed since the doors to the third music room had swung open.
...Twenty minutes before all hell broke loose.
Haruhi glanced up from her essay as she heard a feminine voice address the boy she had forgotten was sitting next to her; she had been too caught up in her essay and was already prepared to work on her second body paragraph.
"Kyoya-kun," a brown-haired girl said in a politely cool, "perhaps I can designate you today?"
"Lady Kasugasaki," Kyoya greeted with a charmingly fake smile, "I must apologize, but I am extremely overworked; perhaps Tamaki's company might be able to appease your desires?"
"Ah," the girl replied with a pout, "but I have grown dreadfully tired of his company, and I wish to be entertained by someone new."
The sound of a teacup being smashed into a million pieces had Haruhi craning her head towards the blonde haired club president who was looking terribly childish with a forlorn and distraught expression plastered across his elegant features. Apparently, he had heard the comment.
Haruhi heard the boy next to her emit an audible sigh of frustration before he muttered, "At least that wasn't a part of the new collection."
While "Lady Kasugasaki" had followed Kyoya over to the scene of the mess, Hikaru and Kaoru had somehow sidled up next to her during the confusion over the broken teacup.
"My lord seems depressed," Hikaru commented as he leaned against the refreshment bar.
"Well," Kaoru added, "Kasugasaki-san had favored him for such a long period of time."
"Yeah, compared to us. How long did we entertain her for? Ten minutes?" Hikaru asked with an amused tone.
"Couldn't seem to understand our brotherly love," Kaoru sighed in mock disappointment before deciding to nuzzle Haruhi's cheek in affection.
"Not like our beloved toy," Hikaru said, mirroring his brother's actions as he pressed his face against the girl's cheek.
"So who is she?" Haruhi inquired. Her large, brown eyes were locked onto the girl.
"Kasugasaki Kanako," Hikaru stated, as he wrapped his arms around her neck in an embrace, "over time, she hops from host to host, but she's always here."
"While most girls constantly designate their favored host," Kaoru added, "Kasugasaki-san is never satisfied."
"Then why is Tamaki-senpai so distraught over her decision to designate Ootori-san?" Haruhi inquired, choosing to use the more formal tone for the raven haired upperclassmen because she did not feel at all comfortable around him – except when they were both in mutual agreement about ignoring each other's presence.
Hikaru shrugged his shoulders for a moment, "He was designated for the longest period of time out of all of us."
"And," Kaoru added, "that comment must have stung."
"So, he's vain?"
Hikaru and Kaoru cracked identical grins as they stared at their pitiful club president, "Basically."
.x.o.x.o.x.
After cleaning up the broken teacup (Kyoya had called over one of his personal house cleaners), the rest of the members returned to the task of entertaining their designators. Well, Tamaki was more or less comforted by his other clients who sought to find different ways to cheer up the miserable violet-eyed blonde.
Kanako Kasugasaki had chosen to sit at the refreshment bar with Haruhi Fujioka and she absentmindedly sipped at her tea.
"So why aren't you being hosted?" Kanako inquired of her younger companion who was still working on her essay.
Haruhi shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as she scratched out a phrase that was in desperate need of rewording, "To be honest, I think it'd be a waste of my time."
"Do you really think that?" Kanako asked in a surprised tone. She had never heard any negative criticism about the Host Club from any other female on campus.
"Yes," Haruhi stated as she jotted down a conclusion to her second body paragraph, "being entertained by sweet words and false promises has never seemed appealing."
"But at least you know they're not out to hurt you," the older girl retorted, a bit more forcefully than she should have, "you don't fall in love with them, only to have them leave you."
Haruhi looked at her curiously, feeling as if she was missing out on something, but could not inquire further because she was interrupted by the twins throwing their arms around her. Apparently, she had not even been aware of the fact that the session had just ended.
Kanako, who appeared to have recovered from her rant, stood up from her seat atop of the bamboo stool and faced Tamaki.
"I'm sorry for my rude comment; I did not mean for it to be offensive," she said in a polite tone.
Tamaki nodded in an understanding way, although he was still disappointed with her decision to abandon him as her favorite.
"And Kyoya-kun, I must say this tea set is lovely. Ginori, I assume?"
"What a wonderful eye you have," the Shadow King stated in a pleasantly falsified tone despite the irritation he felt for having to entertain guests even after the club had closed down for the day, "they just came in the other day."
Haruhi noticed that the other girl's fingertips were still absently stroking the cup.
"Excuse me?"
Haruhi and the other members turned to face the newcomer; however, Kanako's whole body seemed to stiffen at the tone she was well familiarized with.
"Suzushima-kun," Kyoya Ootori greeted the newcomer in a business tone, "is that the new shipment?"
"Yes," the newcomer stated as he handed the box he had been carrying to the raven-haired boy.
Haruhi examined him with a curious gaze. He was average-looking compared to the Host Club boys, but he was wearing the standard Ouran uniform, just without the blue jacket.
"Excuse me," Kanako said as she hurried towards the door. As she strode past the newcomer, she pretended not to notice his presence, "I must be going."
The average-looking boy spun around to watch her leave, but did not call out to her like Haruhi thought he would. He had a bewildered expression on his face, and Haruhi could easily derive that there was something going on between the two; however, she did not feel that it would be correct to interfere.
The boy wandered out of the room a moment later after bowing to Kyoya and thanking him for his business. Kyoya nodded his head in blatant dismissal before moving to set the box on top of the refreshment bar.
"What's going on between those two?" Hikaru asked, having also picked up on the uneasy vibes that the two upperclassmen had been practically radiating.
"Suzushima Tohru and Kanako Kasugasaki are engaged," Kyoya stated in a bored tone as he pulled out his cellphone, "their parents agreed on their engagement when they were both children."
"How long have you known about this, mother?!" Tamaki cried out in an annoyed fashion.
"Mother?" the twins deadpanned as they looked at each other from over Haruhi's head, "Who is he referring to?"
Kyoya rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Does Kasuga-chan not like Suzu-chan?" Hunny asked in his boyish tone of voice.
The Shadow King flipped open his infamous black notebook and turned to a particular page before reading out, "Suzushima-san is expected to travel abroad within the month; therefore leaving Kasugasaki-san to remain here."
"How tragic!" Tamaki cried out in a distressed voice, "We must aid the two!"
"We?" the twins asked.
"Yes, we,"Tamaki stressed the word, "the Host Club, exist solely to for the purpose of bringing happiness to all of the young ladies at this academy."
"Eh," Hikaru said, scratching his head, "what's in it for us?"
"I've got a deal for you, Kyoya-senpai," Kaoru interrupted, "you make Haruhi come to the dance party, and we'll help out."
Kyoya, who already had a plot forming in his mind about how to go about solving his friend's idiotic plans to assist the young lovers, gave the younger twin a professional smile, "Deal."
"Dance... party?" Haruhi inquired, looking at the two twins with a curious expression.
"We – well, I," Kaoru corrected himself, "was going to tell you later, but I guess now I don't have to come up with my own plan to get you to go."
"And why do I have to go?" Haruhi deadpanned, "I do have a life outside of school, you know?"
"Yeah, our friendship!" the twins teased.
"You wouldn't happen to have a passport, would you?" Kyoya asked the girl as a glimmer of light reflected off his glasses, giving him an intimidating aura.
"Uh... no," Haruhi said.
"Good," the Shadow King replied with a small flash of teeth: the smile of a predator.
Haruhi swallowed nervously and wondered if she already had a dress at home to wear to the event.
I wonder how many of you thought that Haruhi was going to be stuck with Kaoru for the whole chapter or longer? I'm glad the title-change didn't bother you guys.