Disclaimer: I have no rights over any Ouran characters

"I wonder if we'll see any famous French designers!" Mei exclaimed happily as she practically bounced on her train seat.

"I wouldn't count on it, I never saw any when I was living in Paris," Alianore said from behind her book. She looked like she was ignoring Mei, but Haruhi knew what wasn't true. From the first moment the two of them had met they'd established a rivalry that was only tempered by their friendship with Haruhi.

Though Haruhi had no clue how the two of them had ended up as her friends, or even how this trip to Paris had come about. All she'd done was make the mistake of Skyping with the Koenig Twins while Mei and Alianore were in her dorm and before she knew it they were all scheduled to meet up in Paris between the second and third term.

"Hah! You wouldn't know fashion designer if they walked right up to you and said, 'Bonjour!' Right Haruhi?"

Haruhi's eyes grew wide and she held her hands up in protest, "I'm not getting involved in this."

"Haruhi! You know she's wrong! Right?" Alianore whined.

Haruhi did nothing to respond, it would only encourage them. Yes, it was much safer to ignore them. Much, much safer.

Once the two of them realized that Haruhi wouldn't get involved they both entered into a sulky silence for the duration of the ride. When they finally pulled up to the station in Paris Haruhi couldn't have been happier.

Chiye and Masaye were waiting for them on the platform.

"Haruhi!" they screamed together as they enveloped her in a hug.

She hugged them back as Alianore and Mei followed her off the train, pointedly ignoring each other.

Introductions were made and the five of them headed for the apartment Alianore's family maintained in Paris. Currently the Roux family was in Japan, so it would just be the five of them, which excited all of the girls, except for Haruhi. She was a bit worried when she thought up the trouble these girls could get into.

Well, maybe not a bit.

She was quite worried.

Masaye had done some research and found a rather high class bar not too far from the apartment. And that's where they all ended up after a delicious dinner at one of the many cafes in the neighborhood.

Haruhi's jaw dropped when she walked inside. Though she should've known what to expect, they had forced into a tight little green dress that was much too classy for her, though it meshed well with all the tight little numbers everyone in the group was wearing. The entire bar just screamed money. From the decorations to the people sitting on the elegant chairs. It made Haruhi want to roll her eyes and walk right back out, but she resisted.

She had to remember what Masaye had said the first time she saw Haruhi roll her eyes and mutter, "Rich people."

"Haruhi…you know you're very smart. And you're also very dedicated. One day you'll make lots of money, and even if you give it all away you'll have to work with the people that make lots of money. You'll need to play their games enough to understand them, and then defeat them at their own game. If they know you hate them, you'll get nothing from them."

"Right now, though, I'm just with you and Chiye. I don't need to play those games."

"Yes, you do. You need to practice, Haruhi. You're a naturally honest person, so you need to practice lying. This will be the difference between being a good lawyer and being the best lawyer. Understand?"

With these words in mind Haruhi straightened her back, put a small smile on her face, and followed Chiye into the bar.

The five girls grabbed a booth near the dance floor, a place where they could see and be seen. Haruhi wanted to hunch her shoulders and hide, but a knowing look from Masaye stopped her.

A waiter appeared and they all ordered drinks with side dishes of fruit and some other things that Haruhi didn't know the names.

After about an hour enough alcohol had disappeared that they were all a bit past tipsy, which lead to a discussion of curse words in each of the languages.

Mei was very loudly teaching Alianore some Japanese curse words when a slightly familiar pair of red heads looked over from the booth next to them.

"My, my, Kaoru, one of the ladies over here has QUITE a dirty mouth."

As soon as Haruhi heard the name 'Kaoru' she remembered the incident at the grocery store. What in the world were a pair of rich Japanese boys doing in Paris? That question made her laugh. A better question would be, 'Why was a poor Japanese girl doing in one of the most exclusive bars in Paris?'

Her laughter made the twins turn to look at her, ignoring Mei's very red face.

"Oh, hello beautiful lady, is something amusing? Perhaps your friend's dirty mouth?" Hikaru asked.

Haruhi raised one elegantly plucked eyebrow (thanks to Mei) and said, "No, rather, I thought you to be amusing. After all, how often do we see a pair of walking, talking balls of slime? By the way, where are your partners in crime? Still in Japan?"

The twins frowned in confusion as the Koenig Twins' eyes grew wide in recognition before narrowing in amusement. Haruhi had told them once about that grocery store experience. They were intelligent enough to put two and two together.

Kaoru opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by someone clearing his throat. She looked over to see the rest of the boys from the grocery store standing nearby.

"We partners in crime are standing right here, miss," said the dark haired one with glasses. "May I ask how you knew there were more of us?"

After the way he had smiled at her before Haruhi felt a twinge of disappointment at the fact that there was no recognition in his eyes. Well, she did have messy short hair last time, glasses, and common clothes on – while this time she had long straight hair and was was dressed to the nines. It wasn't surprising that none of these boys recognized her. After all, people saw what they expected to see.

"No, you may not," Haruhi stated simply.

Glasses Boy eyes flashed in anger at being defied and he opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the tall blonde boy.

"Alianore?! Is that you?" He spoke in French, so Haruhi wasn't entirely sure that she heard him right, despite the language exchange she'd been doing with Alianore. Though, it wasn't hard to get the gist of what he meant.

Alianore's own gasp of, "Rene?! Rene de Grantaine?!" was confirmation enough for Haruhi. Apparently these two knew each other.

But they didn't know each other very well, because as soon as Rene said, "Oui," Alianore picked up her glass, and threw the contents in his face.

Then, as he was still sputtering, and trying to wipe Sex on the Beach out of his eyes she stood, grabbed her clutch, and said in English, "Girls, I think it's time to find a new bar. One inhabited by actual gentlemen and not cretins masquerading as gentlemen."

The four of them grabbed their own clutches and stood up from the tables as Kaoru asked Rene, "Jeez, Tamaki, what did you say to her?"

"Yeah," put in Hikaru, "Who knew you were such a clumsy fool in your native tongue?"

From their snickers Haruhi guessed that they knew Rene had said nothing wrong – which made their teasing just a bit on the cruel side for her taste. From the way he was currently hiding in a corner of the bar and sobbing she could tell that he was very upset.

As Haruhi reached the door to the bar she realized Glasses Boy was watching her with curiosity, not moving to help his friend at all. There was no grin on his face this time, clearly realizing that he'd been outmaneuvered; even if it was by random circumstances. Haruhi raised an eyebrow at him questionably and gave him a small smile before following Mei through the doorway.

Haruhi wondered if he recognized her now.

Author's Note: There we go. More awesome Host Club interactions. Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday, I was out of town for the weekend.

Enjoy!