Chapter 2: Welcome to Japan

Hani was pacing nervously back and forth across his room. His breathing was steadily quickening and he clutched Usa-chan even tighter. He was, to be blunt, pretty darn nervous.

Even though he had nearly three days (which wasn't actually that long, to be frank) to prepare for this, he wasn't ready. His breathing increased in speed as he started to mumble his worries aloud. "I mean, what if she hates me? Or her friends hate me? What if I don't like her (Actually, I'm not too worried about this one)? W-what if Chika-chan hates her?" Oh god. That last one was actually plausible. Though he hated to criticize his little brother ('little' being a relative term), Chika-chan didn't like most people and could be really disagreeable at times. Hani was pretty sure a long-lost sister neither of them had never met before wouldn't be the exception.

Okay, let me explain. Two weeks ago, Yorihisa Haninozuka, Hani's father and head of the Haninozuka clan, received a phone call from America from a young girl. Imagine his surprise (and guilt) when she revealed she was his daughter, whom he had allowed to be cast away along with her mother nearly nine months after Yasuchika was born. The conversation went on for five hours straight, behind Yorihisa's locked office door.

Three days after the mysterious phone conversation, the Haninozuka estate suddenly went up in a tizzy, maids working double time and the chefs calling up every caterer they knew. It was mysterious, to say the least, but both boys were too distracted with school and their respective clubs to really care much. But then their father started disappearing, holing up in the dojo or his office for hours at a time. The boys still payed no mind to it, figuring that it was just an important business partner that was coming over.

But the chaos went on for a week without stopping. Finally, Yasuchika had had enough and demanded to speak with his father. The next day, the Haninozuka head called his two sons to the dojo, and told them to sit down. Hesitating, he revealed information that had Hani pacing across his room and made Yasuchika more irritable than normal.

They had a sister.

Yorihisa told them the story, but didn't reveal the details of the phone conversation.

And he didn't need to. The two boys understood. The story was a rumor among the Haninozuka's, one not often talked about. One the two brothers had never given much thought to. They were paying for it now, as their father's gruff voice told them the bed-time tale they had thought to be merely that.

"The clan elders were - are - very… finicky, as you both know. The first girl in eight generations was not received well by the traditional men, and they demanded that the girl be cast away. The mother refused, as did the father. But the elders wore away at the father's resolve like a river wore away at a salt block. Soon, the father agreed, but only until another son was sired, as was clan tradition. Soon, though, another son was born, and the daughter was tossed away. The mother followed after her baby daughter, and neither were seen again."

They knew that part of the story, but their father continued, bowing his head in shame so that his long, bristly brown beard brushed his knees.

"But she had not disappeared, nor had the mother. They moved across the world to the western lands and made a living in New York. The girl grew up, grew older. But so did the mother. Soon, a tragedy befell the two, and the girl, with no where else to turn to, called her father. The father, remorseful for his weakness and cowardice, and for turning his back on his family, asked the girl to return to the eastern lands. And so she did."

It was silent for a moment. But only a moment.

"I don't have of tell you who that girl is, do I?"

Hani was the first to speak, his youthful voice small from shock. "Why is she coming now?" He didn't mean to sound rude, really... but why now? Why not before?

Yorihisa was stoic when he told Hani about how his mother had died two weeks ago in America, where she moved after she was cast out of the Haninozuka clan.

Hani was unexpectedly calm about his mothers death. He had never really known her (aside from a warm presence and blond hair in his earliest memories), as she left when he was only about four, and his father never talked about her. Hani mourned her, of course, but he shed only one real tear.

His younger sister, however, was another story.

Hani bit his lip as he heard the front door sliding open from his room. 'Oh my gosh, did she come early? She wasn't supposed to come until tonight!'

He took a few deep breaths to calm down, reminding himself that it was waaay too early in the morning to be worrying like this (even though it was already 11:34 AM. Hani didn't believe in anxiety before his tenth cake), and that it was probably just Chika-chan going to the dojo for his usual morning training. Besides, they would be meeting her in the western styled mansion, not the main one.

Hani blinked as the cellphone on his bedside table hummed, blaring out a cute tune (that he picked, of course).

"…Huh?" he muttered, confused. He picked up the phone and saw that it was the reminder that he had set up for himself yesterday. "'Going to Host Club to finalize Winter Ball details. Don't forget Usa-chan :3' Oh yeah!" Hani giggled, excited for the Host Club's Annual Winter/Christmas Ball. He shut off his phone and slipped it into his back pocket. He made to open the door to call for a maid, but then paused. His sister was coming tonight. Tonight. If he did go to the club meeting, he definitely wouldn't be able to come back in time to greet her and her friends (seeing as how they will probably fight for three hours before actually doing anything. And since it was a weekend, they had less of a time limit to their (read: the twins' and Tamaki's) bickering).

He bit his lip, struggling to decide as he rocked back and forth on his heels, the doorknob still clenched in his hand. Usually he had Takashi to help him make the decision, but he hadn't told anyone about his sister, not even his cousins.

But Takashi wasn't here. And all of the worries and fears that had been eating him alive before he was interrupted came back and his spinning pink flowers wilted to dust. He… he couldn't face her. Not just yet.

'But family is important! You owe it to her to face her and welcome her into the family!' one side of his brain argued. 'But- but I'm not prepared to meet her! What if I say or do something stupid and she and her friends hate me! And besides, it's my duty to go to the Host Club!' the other side reasoned. There wasn't a response, and Hani briefly wondered that maybe the worry was literally driving him crazy.

He shrugged off his worries for the moment, took a deep breath to wash away the fear and apprehension, and shouted for his maid to get the limo ready.

He felt guilty and cowardly about not greeting his sister, and he knew his dad wouldn't be happy with him at all (he wasn't quite happy with himself either), but he would use the brief respite the Host Club offered to calm down and get prepared to finally meet his long-lost sister.

…Whom he just realized he didn't know the name of.

Oops

Mai breathed in and out rapidly, fanning herself with her hand in a lame attempt to calm down (It didn't work, it really didn't). As she paced back and forth across the carpet of her hotel room, she twisted the end of one of her two braids between her fingers, a nervous habit. Lainie merely tapped her foot and watched her mini freak-out with amused eyes.

There was a sudden knock at her door. She jumped and rushed to answer it, flinging her right braid back over her shoulder. Unfortunately, she flung it too hard and it came back around and smacked her in the face right as she opened the door*.

She heard laughter as she rubbed her stinging nose and glared at Bridgett, who was the only one outright laughing (the others at least had the decency to attempt to muffle their snickers). She sighed and opened the door wider for them. Lainie was already inside, as she and Mai shared a room; as did Candy and Lacy, and Bridgett and Brittany.

"Is everybody ready?" she asked anxiously.

"Yes~," Candy chirped, letting go of the handles of Lacy's wheelchair and spinning around. "And may I say, y'all look gorgeous!"

The girls were all dressed up, not knowing what to expect for the dinner. Bridget and Brittany were opposites, dressed in a black halter top and dark jeans and a white dress with a leather vest, respectively. Candy was all color, though; contrasting the twins monochrome outfits with a floaty pink dress and cowboy boots. Lacy was the least dressed up in a long beige skirt and a dark blue sweater over a white shirt. Mai had actually helped Lainie pick out what she was wearing: a dark green dress and black leggings. Mai smiled when she saw Lainie wearing her mother's gold good-luck necklace. Mai had just put on a nice white blouse with a thick lavender ribbon around the waist and a denim skirt with white lace on the edge.

Mai smiled at her peppy friend, and everybody laughed at her antics. "Well, let's 'ead out," Lainie said.

Mai nodded, and everybody shuffled outside, Mai last in line and locking the door behind her. She speed walked to catch up to her friends at the elevators, which 'ding'ed as soon as she got there.

Inside the elevator, she tapped her foot nervously. She relaxed slightly when Lainie rested a hand lightly on her shoulder. She really couldn't help it though; she was a nervous, shy person by nature. Many described her as 'sweet' (some as a 'worry wart', but she chose not to dwell on the negative, she had enough of a headache as it was), but she wondered if her family would be okay with her being just 'sweet'. From what she knew, they were a famous martial arts clan, one of the best in the world, and had very strict ideals.

But Lainie's hand on her shoulder helped a little.

The six gawked. When they had finally got off of the (incredibly slow) elevator, they had made their way through the lobby. They bypassed the desk clerk, ignoring him (aside from Bridgett, who made faces at him over her shoulder). They had finally gotten outside only to find… this waiting for them.

'Oh god,' Mai thought, 'just what the hell have I gotten us into?' Normally she didn't cuss - not even in her mind - but she felt that this whole situation called for it. Her father had sent a…a…

"Is that a limo?" Lacy asked, dumbfounded.

Yes. Oh dear god, her father sent a limo to pick them up from the hotel. Oh no, people were starting to stare. "J-just get in," Mai ordered, flustered. She didn't really like being the center of attention.

The girls all climbed in, Lacy and Candy getting in last. Candy picked Lacy up and put her in the limo before loading the wheelchair into the trunk. As soon as the door shut, the driver took off at a speed she wasn't even sure was legal.

When the limo finally stopped, everybody took a moment to let their stomachs and their spinning vision settle before getting out. Mai was the last out, taking a deep breath before looking up at the mansion.

'Well…' she mused, 'we're here.'

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. If I did, you could bet your life savings Haruhi and Hikaru would end up together.
*I do this sometimes...

Sorry it took so long to update, I had to do pre-winter break homework (don't procrastinate kids!)

Anyway, grazie for reading the second chapter and please motivate me with reviews! Ciao!