This is a rewrite of my other OHSHC fanfic "Everything to Gain". I was planning to continue it but I feel like I want to try taking the story in a different direction. This story will follow the old story for the first few chapters. I should also include that the story will take elements from both the anime and the manga. I really hope those of you who read the original enjoy this as well. Please let me know what you think and if you have any ideas or suggestions!どうもありがとうございます!
Haruhi's First Year at Ouran, May
"It looks awful gloomy outside, huh? It looks like it's gonna rain," Hunny noted as he watched the sky darkening through the large, decorative windows of the grand dining room in Kyouya's family's beach house.
"It's not just gloomy outside," Kaoru added from his seat by the window, Hikaru close beside him. "It's pretty gloomy here, in the dining room, as well. Just take a look at Tamaki-senpai." At the base of one of the many pillars lining the long room, Tamaki sat on the ground, curled into himself, looking quite miserable. Hikaru and Kaoru shared a glance and rolled their eyes.
"Come on. Quit moping, boss," Hikaru complained, exasperated.
"You shouldn't have picked a fight with her in the first place," Kaoru added pointedly, sharing a look with his twin.
Before the Host Club's king had a chance to respond, or the twins had a chance to further badger him, the dining room's double doors opened. Mori had returned from fetching Haruhi, at Hunny's request, and all attention quickly left the sad, blond man. Haruhi wore a long, flowing, blush colored dress with frills around the neckline and straps, and a small, red bow on her chest. The eyes of all of the club's members were glued to her, rarely having seen her in feminine attire. They all stared at Haruhi in stunned silence.
But of course, silence never lasted long in the Host Club. "Woah!" Hunny exclaimed, rushing toward Haruhi.
"Haruhi! Where'd you get that dress?" they asked in sync as they, along with Hunny, crowded her for a closer look.
Haruhi shook her head, glancing down at the uncharacteristic garment. "From my dad," she explained, sounding only slightly irritated. "He must have repacked my bags when I wasn't looking." She touched the bow lightly with both hands, looking less than thrilled with its existence. "He's always trying to get me to wear this frilly stuff."
"That's awesome!" the twins cheered, grinning widely. They both gave a double thumbs up."Way to go, dad!"
"You look so cute, Haru-chan!" Hunny cooed supportively.
Tamaki peeked out from behind the pillar and it was clear on his face that he was just dying to join them, but his pride wouldn't allow it.
After a few more compliments, and some almost inappropriate behavior from Hikaru and Kaoru, everyone took their seats. The tension in the room was palpable. No one was entirely sure how it happened, but Haruhi ended up sitting directly beside Tamaki. The host kind looked like a spooked animal while Haruhi maintained the same look of mild irritation that she had gotten while talking about her father moments before.
Finally breaking the heavy silence, Hikaru mumbled, "Well, this is uncomfortable…" which, of course, was not very helpful.
"Yeah," Kaoru agreed, glancing between Haruhi and Tamaki. "Kind of awkward…"
Hunny glanced at Haruhi, forcing a strained smile. "Let's dig in, Haru-chan!" he suggested, trying to brighten the mood. He and Mori each held up one of the large, steaming crabs from the many plates of fresh seafood lining the table. "These are the crabs we caught! I bet they're delicious!"
Wordlessly, Haruhi picked up a crab leg and cracked it open. The sudden, sharp noise caused Tamaki to jump. Kyouya had to resist rolling his eyes. The other second year could be childish at times, but this was getting a bit ridiculous. As he and the others, with the exception of Tamaki, began filling their own plates, Haruhi continued to loudly enjoy the food.
"These crabs taste in-crab-ible!" she praised, her mouth half full of food. "Get it?" It was easy to see that she knew that her passiveness caused her senior great discomfort, and she seemed to relish this as she ate crab leg after crab leg.
With each new crack, Tamaki seemed to be more and more stressed, maybe even getting close to panic as he resisted the urge to speak to Haruhi. Across the table, Kyouya could hear the twins quietly betting on how long it would take Tamaki to break.
Finally, unable to stay quiet, Tamaki hesitantly asked, "Don't you think you've had enough? Give it a rest!"
Haruhi picked up another crab leg without looking at him. "Excuse me? I thought that you weren't speaking to me."
When she cracked open the piece of seafood, it was like a punch in the face to the Host Club's king. He whimpered slightly. "You trying to be cute?" he accused, trying to sound tough. Haruhi shot him a silent glare as Hunny watched, mouth wide open.
Finally having enough of the tension, Tamaki stood from his seat, slamming his napkin down beside his plate. "Okay, fine. I get it. It seems you refuse to admit that you were wrong. See if I care, then. I'm going to bed." He started walking toward the exit, hands in his pockets. "Kyouya, would you show me to my room, please?" he asked, not turning around.
Though he phrased it like a question, Kyouya knew it wasn't. "No problem," he said, dabbing his mouth quickly with his napkin. He had finished eating quite some time ago and was more than happy to return to his own room. They had sat down for dinner so quickly after coming in from the water that he hadn't had the chance to take a shower. "Well, excuse me everyone…" As he stood, he noticed Hikaru looking quite disappointed and Kaoru looking quite pleased. It seemed that the more rambunctious twin had over-estimated Tamaki's patience. Kyouya wondered what Hikaru had lost in the bet as he followed Tamaki out of the room.
Once the doors had closed behind them, Tamaki lost his already very strained composure. "I can't believe her! Acting like nothing even happened! Why is she doing this to me, Mommy? She's so mean!" he cried, stomping his feet like an angry child.
Kyouya rolled his eyes, pushing Tamaki toward one of the many doors that lined the hallway. "Go take a shower, Daddy, and stop being so ridiculous," the vice president instructed, his tone just a hint more gentle than usual. Despite their many differences, Kyouya did have a soft spot for his best friend and didn't like seeing him so upset. Regardless, Kyouya could only take so much unnecessary drama each day. Not to mention the fact he still had work to do before he could go to bed. He didn't want to even think about the number of unread emails he had accumulated over the course of the day.
After a few brief words of parting, and a few sniffles from Tamaki, they both retired to their rooms. As soon as the door shut, Kyouya let out a breath he had been holding for who knows how long. He leaned back against the door, letting his eyes close for just a moment. What an absolute headache this seemingly profitable weekend had become. He took off his glasses, setting them beside his bed, before taking a short, hot shower.
When Kyouya was suitably clean, he exited the bathroom and pulled on a pair of pants, leaving a towel around his neck to collect the water still dripping from his hair. He sat down on a chair and began drying his hair with the towel. Taking a shower, while necessary to maintain proper hygiene, also gave Kyouya some quiet, uninterrupted time to just think. He could put away all of the stressors in his life, even if just for a short while. If he had less to do, he might have lingered in the water, but he had no time for that small luxury today.
Almost immediately after he had sat down, a small form burst into his room, into his bathroom, and slammed the door shut. Kyouya considered this for a few moments before deciding that the only person it could have been was Haruhi, since it would be virtually impossible for anyone to enter the manor undetected, and if anyone had tried, the security team surely would have stopped them. Kyouya made a quick note on his phone to make sure he addressed the invoice for all of the seafood that Haruhi and Hunny had 'found'.
Minutes passed before the bathroom door slowly opened. Kyouya set down his phone as Haruhi stepped out hesitantly.
"Are you okay?" His voice startled her and she jumped.
Haruhi quickly bowed and said, "I apologize, sir. I didn't mean to intrude." She didn't recognize him? Then again, the mistake wasn't too surprising, as Haruhi had never seen him without his glasses, half dressed, in a somewhat dark room..
"Don't be silly. It's just me," Kyouya chided, continuing to dry his hair.
Recognition dawned on Haruhi's face as she straightened herself, her eyes widening slightly. "Kyouya-senpai?" She stopped for a moment, glancing down at her feet. "Kyouya-senpai, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make everyone worry about me today." It seemed that she was finally starting to understand why Tamaki had been so upset. Or perhaps she had already understood before, but was too stubborn to admit it, which was a very real possibility.
"Thanks, but I wasn't especially worried," Kyouya responded passively, moving to his feet. He took a drink from the water bottle that sat on the table beside him. "Although, I did have a hard time separating Kaoru and Hikaru from those two punks." Kyouya had reached the cliff just after the twins only to see the younger club members beating the intruders quite violently. He honestly hadn't known that they were so strong, but it seemed that their anger acted as fuel for their aggressive actions. "They almost beat them half to death," he chuckled darkly. And Kyouya might have let them, if not for the legal problems it would have caused.
Although he may not have been worried when Haruhi was pushed from the cliff, as all of the other Host Club members, with the exception of Hunny, were excellent swimmers and could have easily come to her aid, he was quite irritated. Haruhi was a valued member of their club, so of course her wellbeing was important. She was an asset that needed to be protected. And, well, that one other reason, but Kyouya pushed the thought away before it finished forming.
Haruhi began to look uncomfortable as he continued. "And because of you, I had to send each of the girls a bouquet of flowers to apologize." Kyouya set down the water and moved casually across the room. "They've been looking forward to this trip, and we don't want to disappoint them."
"I'll pay you back for the flowers, senpai," Haruhi offered quickly, earnestly, as she watched him stop beside a set of light switches.
Kyouya almost laughed. "Each bouquet cost me ¥50,000. That's a grand total of ¥600,000, Haruhi." There was no way she could afford that, especially not on top of all of the other money she owed the club. Kyouya placed his hand on the dimmer switch for the main light and slowly moved it down.
He turned to face her in the near darkness, her innocent, doe-like features looking up at him. "Uh, why'd you turn the lights off…?" Her unease and confusion were clear from her tone.
Kyouya felt his pulse begin to race. What was he doing? The others always ogled over Haruhi, especially when she wore feminine clothing, calling her cute and comparing her to a doll. But here, in his room, all the lights off, Kyouya couldn't imagine any word being enough to describe her beauty. Her soft features, big eyes…
"If you want…" he said, lowering his face toward hers, "You can pay me back with your body." Kyouya grabbed her wrist as she let out a cry and tossed her onto the bed beneath him. His bed. He wondered if she could hear his heart pounding against his chest. She was so close that he almost couldn't stand it. He could stop there. He shouldstop there. He knew better, yet he continued. This was all to teach her a lesson, he told himself. Maybe a little fear would make her realize just how naive she was acting.
"Surely you aren't so naive as to believe a person's sex doesn't matter. You've left yourself completely defenseless against me." It was almost too perfect. She wasn't fighting, wasn't afraid. Why wasn't she fighting? This wasn't what he had thought would happen. Could it be that she also…?
"Ah…" The startled expression Haruhi wore changed to one of understanding. "You won't do it, Kyouya-senpai." Kyouya pulled back ever so slightly, unprepared for her words. Had his lesson actually reached her? And why did he feel...disappointed? "Because it wouldn't do you any good. You wouldn't gain anything from it."
Kyouya couldn't conceal his slight smile. So that's what she thought of him. He ignored the twist of disappointment in his stomach as he sat up. "You're right." But she wasn't. She couldn't have been more wrong. Nevertheless, he shifted away from her, sitting on the edge of the bed while she still lay where he had tossed her, watching him. "You're a fascinating young woman, Haruhi." He watched out of the corner of his eye as she sat up.
"But I've learned something from this," Haruhi concluded. Kyouya glanced at her, putting his glasses on. "I never realized what a nice guy you are, senpai." He chuckled darkly in his head. Nice guy? What kind of a nice guy would handle a woman the way he had? Now that everything was becoming calm again, Kyouya felt uncomfortable with his actions. He had lost control of himself, something he never let happen. Sure, he toyed with people, but not this way, and certainly not with her. A wave of shame washed over him. "You're just trying to prove what Tamaki-senpai said earlier."
Of course her thoughts went straight to him. Tamaki Suoh. His best friend. The one man to whom he always seemed to come second. He scolded himself for being surprised since his whole plan had been to reinforce Tamaki's words. Of course she would think of him. Kyouya rose to his feet, looking away.
Haruhi continued, "I know you're trying to prove his point, that you're just posing as the bad guy."
Before Kyouya had a chance to think about her words, a soft knocking came from the door. "Kyouya?" called Tamaki as he opened the door. "Do you have any lotion? This sunburn is worse than I-" Tamaki stopped mid sentence as he realized the scene before him.
Kyouya fought the urge to groan. How it must have looked to Tamaki, with Kyouya half dressed, with Haruhi sitting on his bed, with the lights off and the door shut. Kyouya would have laughed at how poorly his plan had gone if he didn't think it would cause Tamaki to punch him. Kyouya allowed Tamaki time to process as he crossed the room, rifling briefly through his bag.
The shock in Tamaki's lavender eyes melted into a look of hurt, of betrayal, and then to absolute rage in a matter of seconds. "You bastard-!" Kyouya cut Tamaki off, hitting him roughly in the face with a tube of lotion he had retrieved moments before. Dealing with Tamaki was nothing short of exhausting.
"Here. Use as much as you want, you big goof," Kyouya said as he walked past Tamaki and out of the room, letting the door close behind him. Nothing he could have said would have calmed Tamaki, not when he was emotional and irrational. Better to let him cool off, even if it meant leaving him with Haruhi.
Haruhi. Kyouya replayed the scene in his head, thinking about what she said. He definitely could have handled himself better, should have handled himself better, and he was thankful it ended when it did, with Tamaki's intrusion and all. One thing Haruhi had said kept repeating itself in his mind as he wandered through the silent house. "Nothing to be gained from it, huh?" Kyouya mused to himself as he walked down the hallway. "An interesting thought, in its own way…"