Kohaku's alarm went off early the next day and she jumped out of her bed to begin preparing for the day. Despite it being the weekend, she would have little time to herself. Her morning would be filled with studying and chores then in the afternoon she had to go to Club K early and practice before her performance tonight. She had pushed all thoughts of the Host Club out of her mind as she walked back from the supermarket, shopping bags in hand when she bumped into a familiar face.
"Ah! I'm sorry! Oh, Nakamura – Senpai!"
Kohaku looked up to see Haruhi holding out a hand to her. Haruhi… in a dress. Eh?
"Fujioka - San… are you a girl?" Kohaku asked, staring at Haruhi.
Haruhi blinked before glancing at her clothes and realizing that her 'secret' had been discovered.
"Heh, yeah. It's the only way I could pay back the money I owe the Host Club. If I can get a certain number of requests then they will clear my debt."
Kohaku accepted Haruhi's hand and picked herself up from the ground before realizing that one of the bags of shopping had burst.
"Oh damn it! There's no space in the other bags." She muttered to herself.
"Do you want any help?" Haruhi asked, seeing the older girl's predicament.
"Ah, please. My apartment is just down here."
With Haruhi's help, Kohaku finally made it home and had put away the shopping.
"Would you like something to drink, Fujioka – San?" Kohaku offered.
"We have water, lemonade, coke and green tea."
After making green tea for herself and Haruhi, Kohaku led Haruhi into the small living room.
"Are you moving Nakamura – Senpai?" Haruhi asked as she took in the several boxes that laid scattered in the otherwise neat room.
"No, I was picking out my outfit for tonight. Amber always dresses up for her acoustic performances."
Haruhi studied her Senpai in front of her before stating; "You really like performing at that club."
Kohaku nodded with a small smile on her face; "When I'm on stage as Amber, it's a great feeling. Especially when I know that they have come to see me sing."
"Why do you perform as Amber, Nakamura – Senpai? Why don't you sing as yourself?" Haruhi asked, curious.
"Aside from the fact that if anyone found out I would be forced to either quit school or quit my job, when I'm Amber I'm more confident. I can sing and talk to people normally, I'm not worried about what people think about me or worried about people finding out and laughing at me."
Haruhi watched her Senpai carefully, noticing how she was more confident than she had been with the rest of the club and how when she spoke of her job; she spoke of it with love in her voice.
"I think that you shouldn't hide behind Amber, Senpai. If you can play piano and violin for others as yourself then you should be able to sing, right? You and Amber are the same person so you just need to use that confidence all the time."
Kohaku smiled at Haruhi; "I know Fujioka – San but it's much easier said than done."
Haruhi smiled and finished her tea; "Most things are but Senpai, does it bother you that much if the Host Club turns up at your performance tonight?"
Taking Haruhi's cup, she walked into the kitchen while thinking.
"I would be embarrassed I guess, I mean you all know me as Nakamura Kohaku, the quiet musician who freaks out when people get close to her. I'm completely different on stage; I'm Amber the singer who always dances just out of reach of the crowd and adding the fact that Ootori – San would probably get more blackmail footage of me performing. I guess those are my reasons for not wanting the Host club to come although I can't exactly stop them and they would probably turn up just to annoy me."
"They aren't that bad, well sometimes they are but they aren't mean. They play jokes sometimes but they would never try to publicly shame you and Kyoya – Senpai is only doing things that would help the Host Club." Haruhi tried to explain.
"That includes blackmailing me even when I pay off my debt, he could hold that footage over my head until I finish Ouran."
"He isn't that cold hearted Nakamura – Senpai, I will make sure that he doesn't."
Kohaku turned to see Haruhi looking serious as she stood there and something clicked in her mind.
"They plan to come tonight don't they?"
Haruhi grimaced and nodded not meeting Kohaku's eyes, while she only shook her head.
"I should have known. Well, sorry to seem rude Fujioka – San but I have to leave for my job soon..." Kohaku trailed off.
"Oh right! Thank you for the tea Nakamura – Senpai and good luck tonight!"
As Kohaku shut the door behind Haruhi, she sighed. Haruhi seemed nice enough, despite being friends with the Host Club and at least there was another girl in the club.
Oh who was she kidding, even if she liked Haruhi, that didn't mean she would automatically like the rest of the Host Club.
As Kohaku entered Club K, she weaved through the tables and chairs that had been arranged for her performance until she found her boss talking to a familiar redhead.
"Ryuu! What are you doing here?"
Both Lace and Ryuu turned to see a confused Kohaku staring at the redhead.
"I'm able to sing with you tonight, Kohaku – Chan! I thought Lace told you?" Ryuu grinned at Kohaku as realization dawned on her face.
"That's great! That means we can sing that song! Lace where's your keyboard? We need to practice."
"Same place it always is, girl, under the stage next to the spare speakers." Lace laughed as she quickly placed her bag on a table and went to pull out the keyboard.
"Come on Ryuu, if we're going to perform this song tonight then I want it to be perfect!"
Ryuu laughed and sat on the stage while Kohaku plugged in the keyboard and fixed the settings.
"Even if we didn't practice now, we'd still be perfect Kohaku – Chan. How many times have we sung this song?"
Kohaku glared jokingly at Ryuu; "Then a few more times won't hurt so shut up and sing."
After several run-throughs of the song, Lace shouted Kohaku over and handed her a glass of water.
"So are those boys that were here on Thursday coming?" She asked while glancing discreetly at Kohaku.
Choking slightly on her mouthful of water, Kohaku coughed before looking at Ryuu and Lace who were both staring at her.
"Why do you ask that, Lace?" Kohaku knew exactly why she was asking her that and the fact that Ryuu didn't seem so surprised at the mention of 'those boys' indicated that Lace had been talking about it before she arrived.
"I ask because in all of the months that you have worked here, no one you know personally has come to see you. These boys were a first," Lace huffed.
"I think so... I said they didn't have to because it would be boring for them but they will probably turn up."
Lace grinned and clapped her hands in joy; "Great! How many of them are coming? I can reserve them a table right at the front!"
"Ah, no you don't have to do that. If they come and there is only standing room or seats at the back then that's their fault."
'Let's hope that's what actually happens.' Kohaku thought to herself.
"Anyway, I should go and get ready. You open in an hour and I need to warm up," Kohaku turned to leave, missing the smirk on Lace's face.
Kyoya led the group into the crowded club, it seemed even busier than the last time they had been here and the club had been split into two sections, a seated section which seemed to be full and a standing section which was almost completely packed.
"I think they are all here to see Ku – Chan," Honey said, holding on to Mori while they made their through the crowd.
"She certainly is popular," Kyoya added,
"Ah there you boys are! Over here! HEY! The group of handsome guys!" A voice shouted causing the entire club to look in the direction of the owner, Lace, as she pointed to the Host Club.
"Come over here!" She urged.
Following her voice the group were led to the seating area were an empty table, close to the stage was waiting for them.
"I made sure that Amber's friends had a table close to the stage. Really, this is the first time that girl has had friends come and see her perform. Anyway, I'm Lace her boss, it's nice to finally meet you all although I haven't heard much about you. Oh well! Amber doesn't really talk about much outside of her performances, I shouldn't be surprised. Although I am surprised that she knows a group of such handsome boys..." Lace rambled on, completely ignoring the stares the twins were giving her and only stopped when Haruhi interrupted her.
"Ah, excuse me Lace – San, could you give these to Amber for us?"
Haruhi had taken the initiative to buy a small bouquet of flowers for Kohaku, hoping that she wouldn't be nervous or too mad that the Host Club turned up.
"Sure thing doll and it's just Lace, anyway I hope you guys enjoy the show," Lace winked at the group before disappearing.
Amber fixed her hair and adjusted her dress as she stood in front of the mirror, the red and black cotton dress fell to her knees in ruffles as the front of the dress was laced up to cinch in the waist. As she adjusted the buckle for her shoes, the door opened behind her as Lace walked in holding a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemum.
"Are you almost ready?" Lace asked, eyeing the clock.
"Yeah, just need to put my contacts in and I'm ready to go. What's with the flowers?" Amber asked, curious.
"Oh these? These are for you, your friend asked me to give them to you but if you want I can put them in water until you finish."
"What friend?"
"I didn't catch her name; she was with that group of boys who were there on Thursday."
Amber didn't know whether to smile or be angry. It was a nice thought Haruhi had, bringing her the flowers but on the other hand, it meant that the Host Club were here and that made her nervous.
"I'll just go and put these in water for you, you're on in five minutes though so move your ass girly!" Lace left the room, leaving Amber alone with her thoughts.
Nervousness and panic swept over Amber like a wave, they would see her perform and know that she wasn't just 'Amber'. They knew 'Kohaku' and would most likely think that she was weird; she was so quiet, so different in school.
'Calm down Amber, just breath.' She told herself as she took steady breaths.
'They are here to see Amber, not Kohaku. Put in the contacts and become Amber, perform as Amber and you won't notice them. They will be just another group here to have fun, to see me. You can do this!' She mentally encouraged herself.
Opening her contact case, she slipped the small contacts into her eyes and blinked.
'See you later Kohaku.' She thought as she left the room.
The club was loud, music was playing quietly as people chatted, waiting for the main attraction to arrive.
"Hey Haruhi, why did you buy her flowers anyway?" Hikaru asked as he leaned back in his chair.
"I feel bad that we're bothering her when she didn't want us to come and it's for good luck," Haruhi explained simply.
"But what if she doesn't like them Haru – Chan?" Honey asked.
"She will, when I was having tea with her I noticed that she had a vase of them in the living room that had begun to wilt," Haruhi said with a smile.
"What?" Tamaki exclaimed, "When did you have tea with her and why didn't I know about it?"
Haruhi blankly stared at the overreacting Senpai before answering; "I had tea with her today and you didn't know because it was none of your business, Senpai."
Tamaki blinked at Haruhi before tears began to stream down his face in a comical fashion.
"HARUHIIIII! Why are you so mean to daddy?" He wailed but of course, his 'daughter' ignored him, used to his antics by now.
"Is it safe to say that she knows that you are a girl?" Kyoya asked.
"Yeah, I was wearing a dress when she bumped into me but it's no big deal. She's part of the Host Club now, she would've found out sooner or later," Haruhi merely shrugged while Tamaki fumed.
"She saw you in a dress? I bet you looked so cute! I am so jealous of Nakamura – san! Oh how I long for the day that Haruhi wears dresses for daddy!"
"You aren't my dad you idiot! And don't cultivate mushrooms under the table!" Haruhi shouted, irritated by the behaviour of her Senpai.
"Tch, this boring. Why did we have to come as well Tono?" Hikaru asked, eyeing the club with distaste.
"We all came to support our newest club member! We must hold her to our bosom and encourage her talents to blossom like a delicate flower!" Tamaki exclaimed, miraculously recovered from his depressed state.
The house lights dimmed as a purple haired figure walked onto the stage.
A/N: I don't know why, but I really like the interaction between Kohaku and Haruhi here. Maybe because it actually shows that Kohaku isn't timid, quiet and shy around everyone. Either way, woo it's November! The year is almost finished, holy crap! 2011 has passed so quickly, it's unbelievable.
Anyway, thank you to Itsgoose2u for reviewing once again! And thank you to those who have added this story to your alerts/favorites!