A/N: I'm back! I apologize for the delay in this chapter. A lot of ups and downs have happened with this story. I want to thank everyone who's been involved with it, as well as to the fans who wrote me and asked me to continue with it. I love this story and I'm so glad to be back to writing it. Without further ado, Chapter 9! Reviews are welcome! P.S. Majoy spoiler alert in the disclaimer. Feel free to skip it.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB NOR DO I OWN THE HITACHIIN TWINS. If I did, OHSHC would never be over and the story would continue on in Boston -_-"
It was seven thirty as Whitney slid the final bobby pin into her hair, pulling it back into a sleek side-bun
"Perfect" she said, smiling at her reflection.
A car horn beeped outside, and the girl walked briskly across her driveway to the waiting limo, gracefully sliding into the backseat. She was careful not to ruin the dress the Hitachiins had so lovingly created.. She greeted the two boys as she settled into the car.
"Good evening, boys," she greeted them quietly. She still could not believe she was going to this dance. She had been practicing, but she was still worried about making mistakes.
"Good evening, Whitney," they replied together.
As the car started towards Ouran Academy, Whitney couldn't help but notice how handsome the twins looked. They were wearing matching white tuxedos, the coattails of which were fairly long and formal looking. Their outfits were completed by, and red ties that matched the hue of her dress.
"Whit-chan, it's impolite to stare like that," Kaoru whispered into her ear, the unexpected comment causing her to jump a mile in the air from the unexpected comment and hit her head on the roof of the car.
"Ow…I'm sorry, you two," she mumbled, blushing and rubbing her head. "It's just…you both look very handsome tonight. I didn't mean to stare."
The twins chuckled lightly.
"It's ok, Whit-chan. We're used to it," Hikaru laughed, brushing it off.
"Besides, it wasn't like we didn't stare at you, too,"Kaoru continued.
"You look very pretty tonight," they finished in unison.
The limo slowly rolled to a stop in front of the school, the door was opened for them and the three friends climbed out. As they entered the building, each of the brothers took hold of one of the elder female's arms, linking them with one of their own.
"Ready, Whit-chan?" Kaoru asked her politely.
She nodded.
"Good. Let's go, then," Hikaru grinned widely and they all walked toward the grand ballroom of Ouran Academy together.
The ballroom glittered as they came through the doors. There was a small chamber orchestra playing in the corner, filling the hall with soft music. As they walked up the stairs towards the other hosts, Whitney looked down, privately comparing the dance floor to a kaleidoscope. The girls waltzing around the floor were wearing dresses of many different colors, skirts gracefully spinning around, almost looking like they were part of the decoration.
"Ah, Whitney, Hikaru, Kaoru. You finally made it," Kyouya greeted them, writing something into his little black book. He looked very polished, wearing a dark tuxedo that perfectly fit his personality. It was almost seemed a little darker than a typical tux would be.
"I wonder what he's writing about," Whitney thought, watching him quietly.
"Yay! Whit-chan is here. And she looks so cute!" Hani exclaimed, jumping around the room. Whitney laughed.
"And so do you, Hani-senpai." she smiled at the small senior. He was wearing a white tuxedo was white with a red harlequin print vest underneath. All in all, he reminded her a little of the a human version of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.
"Thank you!" he said, beaming up at her, then before turning to flash a thumbs up at the twins. "Good job, you two."
They nodded in acknowledgment as Mori appeared silently behind Hani, wearing a matching tuxedo that seemed a little out of place on the taller boy.
"Whitney!" came an exclamation behind them. She was suddenly found herself being hugged by her blonde classmate. He was wearing a white tuxedo with a pink vest underneath., which The outfit looked a little flamboyant, but that was just his overall usual style.
"Tamaki, you're squishing me," she breathed out, pushing him off her gently.
"Whitney, you look adorable. Haruhi! Why won't you let Daddy dress you like this? You would look so cute!" he cried as he continued in his daydreams of Haruhi having a more feminine fashion sense.
"I have no interest in dressing like that, senpai. Besides, it would confuse everyone if I was suddenly a girl," Haruhi stated matter-of-factly, walking over to where the rest of the hosts were. She was wearing a brown suit, that which looked nice, but looked like it might have seen better days. There were matching patches on the elbows of the jacket and she wore a green vest underneath.
"Haruhi! That is not the suit Daddy gave you!" Tamaki bemoaned, upset that she would wear something so common looking.
"There was no need for that fancy tuxedo. Besides, Kyouya would've charged me for it," she said, grimacing at the thought of spilling something and owing the Shadow King more money.
The clock struck eight o'clock and Kyouya motioned for them to line up on the staircase, Tamaki in the middle with Kyouya, Haruhi, Hani and Mori on his left and Whitney, Kaoru and Hikaru on his right.
"Good evening, ladies. The Ouran Host Club welcomes you!" Tamaki greeted their guests as they applauded.
"Tonight, we are here for your entertainment. So we hope that you enjoy yourselves," Kyouya finished, signaling for the orchestra to begin the music again, as the hosts broke away to join the young ladies in attendance.
Whitney made her way down the stairs, careful to not to trip on her skirt, and walked onto the dance floor. She watched the hosts waltzing with their customers, the smile on each girl's face growing wide as she was twirled around the floor by her favorite host. Occasionally, a boy who had attended would shyly approach her and ask her to dance. So far, she'd escaped unscathed, making no social faux-pas nor falling on her face. At the moment, she was standing against a wall, people watching. The orchestra was beginning one of her favorite pieces.
"May I have this dance, Whit-chan?" she heard to her right, as she swiveled her head to face Kaoru, whose hand was extended towards her.
She smiled at him.
"Of course, Kaoru-kun. I would love that," she replied, taking his hand.
Just as her hand made contact with his, a blonde girl walked in between the two of them, knocking them apart.
"Oh, excuse me. I'm so clumsy. I hope I didn't hurt you," she apologized in a tone that suggested it wasn't entirely an accident.
"Good evening, Yuuki," both the host and hostess said politely.
"Great. She's going to ruin everything," Whitney thought, feelings of jealousy rising within her and stirring her subconscious.
"I'm beginning to hate this girl. She's giving me a workout," her inner-self agreed.
"And now she's making my mind go crazy again. Fantastic," Whitney muttered sarcastically.
"What was that, Whitney?" Yuuki asked in a snide tone.
"Way to say it aloud, genius."
"Oh, um…nothing, Yuuki. Just that this piece is beautiful," Whitney responded, trying to recover from her blunder.
"That it is. In fact, I was going to ask Hitachiin-kun to dance with me. If that's okay with you, of course," the girl asked her, her voice dripping with false innocence.
"Well, actually, Yuuki-chan, I was asking Whitney if she-" Kaoru began.
"-thought it was a good idea to ask you to dance," Whitney said, bowing out of her way.
"Whitney-chan…" Kaoru began to protest.
"Kaoru-kun, Yuuki-hime wants to dance with you. It is our job as hosts to make every girl happy," she said quietly in an almost melancholic tone.
"Every girl, that is, except me."
Yuuki smiled and grabbed Kaoru's hand.
"Shall we then, Hitachiin-kun?" she asked, beaming in her victory.
Kaoru gave one last look at Whitney who was smiling, hoping she looked encouraging instead of disappointed, and slowly took Yuuki's hand.
As they walked away, Yuuki turned around to face Whitney.
'I win' she mouthed.
Whitney watched as they walked away, filled with sadness, but knowing she did the right thing.
"Whit-chan, will you dance with me?" Hani asked in his cute way, looking up at her with his large, brown eyes
She smiled, unable to stay upset when the pygmy-sized senior was around.
"Sure, Hani-senpai." she said, taking his tiny hand in hers and letting him lead her across the dance floor.
"I saw that, Whit-chan. I'm sorry she upset you like that," Hani said, trying to comfort her.
The taller girl smiled at her friend.
"Thank you, Hani-senpai, but I'll be alright."
The two continued to waltz around the dance floor gracefully, talking about nothing and everything.
"Whit-chan, I have to tell you something," Hani finally stated.
"Okay, senpai." Whitney responded, allowing him to lead her off the floor and onto the balcony attached to the school's ballroom. When they were finally somewhere quiet, the tiny blonde began his speech.
"I wanted to say that I'm glad that you and Kao-chan have become such good friends. I've known Hika-chan and Kao-chan since they were in pre-school and they've never really reached out to others until they started as hosts. And even then, it was hard for them to come out of their shells. I've wanted to see them happy for a long time," he started, looking thoughtful and concerned.
She waited for the smaller boy to continue.
"But the twins are very possessive of their friends. They mean well, but it isn't very hard to hurt their feelings and make them go back to blocking everyone out. So please be careful with Kao-chan, ok?" he finished, patting her hand and smiling cutely.
Whitney was quiet for a minute before nodding at him.
"You're a good friend, senpai, for looking out for them like that,." she said, returning his smile as they went back to the dance.
As they re-entered the building, they saw an upset looking Kaoru and a ticked looking Yuuki heading off the floor. A short conversation followed and they witnessed Yuuki slap the redheaded host before she stormed off. Whitney and Hani exchanged looks of shock and then hurried over towards Kaoru.
"Kao-chan, are you alright?" Hani asked him.
Kaoru nodded.
"What happened, Kaoru-kun?" Whitney asked, looking in horror at the bright red handprint splayed across his cheek. There was a short pause before he responded.
"She asked me to be her boyfriend. I told her no and then she told me I was making a big mistake,." he whispered softly, laughing at the end. "She couldn't even tell whether she was dancing with me or Hikaru."
"Let's go get you some ice for that." Whitney said, taking his hand and walking towards the kitchen.
The two friends made their way into the large dining area of the school, running into Hikaru, who was eating a banana.
"Hikaru! You're supposed to be in there entertaining the guests!" Kaoru scolded his brother.
"I was hungry!" Hikaru defended himself, mouth full as he finished his fruit and tossed the peel on the floor. Whitney noticed an arrow flashing at the peel for a second, but the twins were too busy semi-arguing to see it.
"You couldn't find something to eat on that entire table of food to eat?" Kaoru asked, incredulous.
"There weren't bananas out there!" Hikaru replied.
"Whatever, Hikaru." Kaoru said, rolling his eyes at his twin in a playful fashion.
Hikaru moved to leave the kitchen, before he noticed his twin's cheek.
"Kaoru! What happened to you?" he asked, pushing Whitney as Hikaru left the kitchen. out of the way to inspect the wound. "Who did this to you?"
"Hikaru, I'm fine! Honestly. One of the girls couldn't tell us apart, asked me out and I said no. That's all."
Hikaru was too busy overreacting to hear what Kaoru was saying. He ran around, yelling about finding which guest it was and banning her from the club, and trying to find a band-aid.
"Hikaru, none of those things are important right now," Kaoru said, trying to calm his twin down. He grabbed Hikaru by the arm and pulled him aside.
"Can you get out of here? Whitney's got it," Kaoru pleaded with his twin.
Hikaru smirked a little, but composed himself to whisper back, "Whatever you say, Kaoru. I'll let you have alone time with your plaything." He winked at his twin as he walked out of the kitchen.
Just then, Whitney brought over an ice pack, gently touching it to Kaoru's face.
"Here. This should help." She gently pressed it into his cheek.
Kaoru blushed lightly, but not enough that Whitney noticed.
"Thanks, Whit-chan," he said, taking the ice pack from her and holding it against his sore face.
"No problem," she replied.
They sat like that for a few minutes while the sting wore off from the handprint before deciding that they should head back. They helped each other up and held hands as they walked back.
"Ah!" Whitney exclaimed as she slipped on the banana peel Hikaru had so carelessly thrown on the ground. Kaoru spun around and caught her, getting knocked to the floor in the process.
Whitney opened her eyes, knowing the impact was over and blushed immediately after she had. The way she had fallen had her on top of Kaoru, their lips firmly touching. She got off of him as quick as possible and helped him up.
"Kaoru-kun, I…I…" she couldn't even finish the sentence.
Kaoru's face flushed and he averted his eyes.
"It's ok…it was an accident,." he said, rubbing his hand against his neck.
"Um…we…should get back to the party…" Whitney stammered.
"Yeah…right,." he agreed and brushed himself off.
They started down the hall towards the party, walking faster than normal.
"Wow…that was awkward. We just kissed." she thought, gently touching her fingertips to her mouth. She was overcome with a strange, tingly feeling.
"Love," her inner-self explained.
"Is it?" she whispered to herself, a little skeptical of her judgment for having jumped to that emotion. Was she really in love with the mischievous redhead?
As they re-emerged in the ballroom, Tamaki got on the microphone.
"Ladies and gentleman, this is the last waltz of the night. I sincerely hope that you had a wonderful time with us!" he said formally.
A slow waltz began and Kaoru turned to Whitney.
"You know, I never got my dance with you. Shall we?" he asked her.
She smiled sweetly.
"Of course, Kaoru-kun," she answered as he led her to the middle of the dance floor. He pulled her close to him, putting her into waltzing position, as they began to spin around the room.
As the pair began to dance, the others around them stopped to watch, their movements strangely graceful. The guests began to murmur as they watched them.
"Whit-chan, you're a wonderful dancer," Kaoru commended her, quietly. "You've gotten so much better."
The girl bowed her head, hoping he wouldn't see the blush creeping across her face.
"Thank you, Kaoru-kun. You are a wonderful dancer, as well."
He pulled her a little closer, forcing her to look up at him. He grinned down at her warmly.
"I thought I taught you not to look at your feet."
She giggled slightly.
"Gomenasai, Kaoru-kun."
They continued their dance, becoming wrapped up in it and each other, not noticing the growing group of onlookers. It was like they were caught in a trance. The only thing that mattered was each other, not that they knew the other was thinking the same thing.
The song finally ended and they stopped, the spell being broken by applause as they finally noticed they were the only ones still on the floors. They both blushed, but walked off the floor and watched the guests exit the ballroom.
Haruhi volunteered to clean up after the party, so the twins and Whitney were "helping" her, playing games of garbage basketball and running mop races, generally making more of a mess for the poor brunette girl left in their wake. After saying goodbye to Haruhi, they all slid into the limo, the twins sitting on opposite sides of the long, black car.
The ride home was quiet, an unknown tension building between Hikaru and the other two hosts in the car.
They pulled up to her house, the car slowing to a halt. She hugged each boy and then slid out of the vehicle.
"Goodnight, Hikaru. Goodnight, Kaoru-kun," She said, smiling at them.
"Goodnight, Whitney," they replied.
She trudged sleepily up the stairs to her room and changed into pajamas, flopping onto her bed.
"Best night ever," she thought as she drifted off to sleep.