The Arrangement
Chapter 3: The Back to School Tea Party
The rest of the week and weekend flew by and soon it was time for Takashi to return to Ouran Academy. The boy slowly pulled on his black pants, a white shirt then his blazer and finally his black shoes and tie. Walking out the door he paused only to greet the maid, Akio.
"Have a good day, Mori-sempai."
"Hn."
In what seemed like no time at all he was sitting in his class room listening to Honey talk about his summer.
"-and then me and Usa-chan went to another bakery and this one had chocolate cake with strawberries on it. It was so yummy, you should have come Takashi." He nodded, for once not really paying attention to his cousin. "Ne, ne Takashi did you do anything fun since we last saw each other?" Takashi turned his head toward the smaller boy and said,
"I got engaged." Honey stopped for a moment in shock,
"Wha-?"
"Mother and Father arranged a marriage for me." He had taken pity on the Lolita boy and explained further, something he would only do for his cousin.
"Who are you gonna marry Takashi?"
"Toushi Nakamura." Honey nodded slowly, finally coming over his initial shock.
"Well Takashi, do you like her?" He turned away, his expression blank and his grey eyes shadowed. The teen didn't answer because he didn't quite know the answer to the question. The girl in question was charming and sweet, or as far as he could tell. But he really didn't know anything about her than that she liked his garden. So in a late response he shrugged. But the child-like senior smiled at him,
"Don't worry Takashi, everything will work out." Takashi nodded and they both took their seats for the lesson.
Once again it seems that Toushi was having a rougher go of things. She had woken up far too late and missed breakfast. She barley had time to pull on her uniform; a grey button up short-sleeved shirt with a black tie and slightly darker grey vest. Her skirt was also grey with black crisscross marks and stopped just above the middle of her thighs. She completed the assumable with white and black striped socks that stopped a few inches below her skirt and a pair of grey converse low tops. A bit of an unfortunate thing about attending her school was the odd amount of grey in the uniforms, considering that the school colors were green and yellow.
Just as she was about to walk out the door her mother stopped her,
"Where do you think your going in such a hurry?"
"Umm, school?"
"Not looking like that your not."
"It's the uniform." Her mother shook her head as if trying to explain physics to a four year old.
"That doesn't mean you can't add some color with your accessories." With a distinct feeling that she wouldn't like whatever it was that her mother would have for her she asked what.
"Here you can wear this in your hair it will look adorable." The older woman held up a bright pink headband. With a sigh the younger grabbed it and stuck it on her head,
"There. Can I go now?" Her mother nodded before adding one last comment.
"Oh and sweetheart, I'll be calling your teachers to make sure you wear it all day." Heaving another sigh Toushi walked out the door, wondering how anyone could look that sweet while threatening their daughter. She smirked, her mother wanted her to wear more accessories did she? Well who was she to deny her.
Reaching into a side pocket in her brown leather purse she pulled out a piece of metal. She stuck it through a previously unnoticeable hole in her chin and attached the backing. She stepped into her car,
"Does your mother know about that?" It was the young, carefree driver; Ichigo.
"What my mother doesn't know won't hurt her." He just snorted and began the commute to Toushi's school.
Upon her arival to school she made a mad dash to her classroom, entering just as the bell rang. Toushi threw up her arms and shouted,
"Victory! Toushi: 1, Bell: 0!" Unfortunately her teacher didn't share her enthusiasm.
"Yes, yes congratulations Miss Nakamura. Now would you sit down so we can begin?" Toushi scratched her head and bowed in apology. However as she made her way to the back of the classroom she received a few discreet high-fives, which earned a disapproving cough from the teacher.
Now Madame Athena's Academy wasn't quite the fancy-smancy school that Ouran was but it was just as elite and exclusive. Students were only accepted if the they had an extraordinary talent in the arts (painting, writing, singing, cooking, dancing etc.). In fact such a small amount of students were accepted that each year only had one class.
Also the curriculum was slightly different. In the mornings students attended regular classes but after lunch they went to speacilty classes for what ever talent that earned them a place in the school.
Toushi's morning class flew by quickly and before she knew it she and her friend Sayomi Tokiwa were standing in front of a kitchen set up waiting for their cookies to cool. Well Toushi was but Sayomi was carefully filling little cakes with a strawberry filling.
"So your parents engaged you to some guy that you've never even met?" Toushi nodded,
"Yup." Sayomi shook her head.
"What time period do they think this is anyway?"
"Well actually arranged marriages are quite common for members of the upper classes. You know for business and bloodline purposes." Sayomi stared at the other girl for a moment, eyebrow raised.
"If you were anyone else that would have come across as completely stuck up." Toushi just stuck out her tongue and started spreading white frosting on the now cooled sugar cookies. When she finished she handed it to Sayomi who had finish filling her cakes and she began to decorate it with a small squeezable tube of dark blue frosting.
"I'll never get how you can do that." Said Toushi who was eyeing the complicated criss-cross pattern her friend was effortlessly painting on to the little cookie. She just smirked and started on the next one.
"It's called having talent, and don't try to change the subject. Tell me about this Takashi dude, is he hot?" Toushi blushed and spent the rest of the class trying to ignore the gentle teasing of her friend
It was after school and Toushi and Sayomi were sitting in a small bakery where Sayomi worked, doing their homework. Sayomi had picked up on the subject of 'Taka-dude' as she had taken to calling her best friends fiance.
"So what school does he go to anyway?"
"Ouran Academy, and why do you care so much?"
"Because when you two get hitched, he'll be my brother. Ouran's that rich kid school with the dorky girls uniforms right?"
"How the hell does that make him your brother? And we might not get married. Oh and yeah it is."
"Well cause you and me are like sisters, so we'd be in-laws. Hey, isn't Ouran right near here?"
"I'm sure that's not how it works. Yeah I think it is" Sayomi grinned and grabbed her friend, ending their odd muliti-topic conversation and dragging her out the door.
"Wha-? Sayomi where are we going? Sayomi?!"
"We're going to visit your boy-toy!" The taller girl continued to drag her despite the protests.
They slowed to a stop in front of the large campus know as Ouran.
"Sayomi what do you think your doing? If I show up here he'll think I'm stalking him!"
"Your his fiance, you have every right to visit him. Besides if it embarrasses you that much just tell it was my idea." She said rolling her eyes, ignoring her friends mumbles that it was her idea.
"How do we even know if he's here right now?" Sayomi scratched her chin and said,
"Hmmm, oh I know lets ask that guy over there." She was evidently pleased with her solution judging by the grin she sported, but Toushi was a little uneasy, the guy looked kinda scary and he was covered dirt stains.
"Hey you! Yeah you, with the messed up face!" the boy turned around quickly and shouted,
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"Dude calm down I was kidding." He relaxed a bit,
"What do you want." but apparently his manners hadn't improved. Sayomi smiled,
"We're looking for Takashi Morinozuka, do you know him?" The boy looked a bit confused before a look of comprehension dawned his face.
"Oh your looking for Mori-sempai? He's in the 3rd music room, I'll show you the way." Sayomi's ever present grin grew as they entered the building.
The trio stopped in front of a pair of fancy doors at the end of a hallway.
"Well here it is." Sayomi grinned, again.
"Hey thanks a million, uhh sorry but what's your name?" he looked a bit surprised,
"Oh it's Kasanoda."
"Well thanks Kasa-dude." Kasanoda snorted in amusement, Toushi's automatic manners sprung up in time,
"Oh yes, thank you very much Kasanoda-san."
"Well have fun in there." as he walked away Sayomi reached to open the door but before she did, she turn to the other girl.
"Hey why don't you give him some of the cookies we made? Toushi blushed.
"Oh I don't think-"
"Come on, what man could deny home-cooked sweets from his girl?" She sighed,
"Fine. Just open the damn door already!" She did, and then immediately slammed it shut. Then she opened it again, and once again slammed it. This process might have continued for some time had Toushi not gotten annoyed and opened the door herself.
Inside were groups of lavish couches, chairs and tables. Students were sitting around drinking tea. She noted that the majority of them were girls, they all appeared to have been enjoying themselves before Sayomi's door slamming interrupted the conversations. Many of them were staring curiously at the the two new arrivals.
This was all she had time to notice before an extremely hansome blond her age was standing in front of them.
"Welcome, my Princesses. How might the host club help you today?" Toushi who had been standing in front of him was shocked stupid. However it seemed that Sayomi had finally recovered.
"We're here to see Takashi Morinozuka. Is he here?" the boy smiled at them,
"Ah fans of Mori-sempai are you? Mori-sempai, some guests for you." By this time all the boys had gathered around them.
There was a black haired boy with glasses, a pair of smirking twins, a small boy that looked like a girl and another blond that looked like a little kid. The last boy was the tallest, he had messy black hair and blank grey eyes, he looked surprised.
The first boy had continued speaking,
"Well sempai, it looks like these two ladies seek your company. Oh and look here they're from a different school. It seems like the word of our magnificent club have spread." He pointed to the tall boy, "Now ladies this is Mori-sempai he-" the rest of his words were cut off by Sayomi.
"Hey Taka-bro, what's up m'name's Sayomi Tokiwa, I'm your new sister." Following this there was silence and sensing she had confused, Sayomi explained, grabbing Toushi and pointing at her with a grin,
"You know, I'm your sister-in-law." He nodded,
"Aa." she grinned, her point made and pushed Toushi at Takashi. The other girl smiled at her betrothed who returned it gently and extended his hand, once again.
"Miss Toushi, it's nice to see you again." placing her hand in his she replied,
"And you, Takashi-san." This seemed to bring everyone out of their stupor, particulary the loud blonde.
"What is this mommy?! Who are these girls and why does Mori know them?!" He shouted this hanging off the neck of the boy with glasses. "Why is he keeping secrets from daddy!!!?" The other boy seemed quite unaffected by this display and simply adjusted his glasses,
"I think that perhaps Mori-sempai would like to explain?" Takashi looked like he wasn't quite sure what to say, but the littlest member didn't have the same problem.
"That's Toushi Nakamura, Takashi's fiance." he turned to the two girls, "My name is Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but you can call me Honey!" he giggled and smiled brightly at them. Sayomi bent down and placed a hand on his head, ruffling his hair.
"Aww, what a little cutie. Do you want some strawberry sweet cakes?" Honey looked positively overjoyed at the mere thought.
"Yes please, Sayo-chan." The first blond took this opportunity to interrupt the rather smooth subject change by Honey and Sayomi.
"What?! A fiance? Mori-sempai when did this happen and why didn't anyone tell me?" This last part was directed at the other club members, the twins shrugged in unison, Glasses boy adjusted his glasses and the feminine one sighed,
"Calm down sempai it's not like we knew either." Turning to the girls she-I mean he said,
"Would ladies like some tea?"
"Oh yes please." was Toushi's ever polite reply. And,
"Yeah sure, it'll go great with the sweet cakes." Was Sayomi's who grinned down at Honey, who beamed back. The one with glasses began talking.
"Oh excuse me I haven't introduced myself, I am Kyoya Ootori. This is Tamaki Suoh." he gestured at the loud blond. "And as fascinating as it will be to stand around and talk with you we do have guests so, gentleman if you could," He ushered them back the their positions and Honey grabbed the girl's hands and dragged them over to a table where the he-she served them tea.
"Your so lucky that me and Takashi don't have any more guests, so we get to spend the afternoon together!" Sayomi reached into her large yellow bag and brought out a small box and opened to reveal the little pastries she had made earlier. Honey squirmed in delight as he was handed one and bit into it,
"It's so yummy Sayo-chan!" she smiled,
"Glad you like it, I made the recipe myself." she turned to her friend, "Don't you have something for Taka-bro?" Glaring at her so called friend Toushi pulled out her own box and handed it to Takashi. He took one of the cookies and bit it, after he swallowed he nodded,
"It's good." Sayomi and Honey were ignoring the quiet couple in favor of a discussion about sweets. Toushi, with a small blush tried to make conversation with the stoic boy.
"So, Takashi-san how have you been?"
"Okay, you?" she shrugged,
"Alright I guess." They fell silent again. Takashi sensed that he should do something.
"Uhh, you look very nice today." She looked up shocked at him, then seeing the faint blush on his own cheeks she smiled,
"Oh thank you, I-" at this moment she had reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair she felt the small hoop in her ear. She gave a little gasp as she remembered another piercing, feeling her chin and finding to her dismay that it was in fact still there.
"Oh no I forgot about it completely!" Just as she frantically tried to remove it, Takshi placed his hand own her own, lowering it to the table.
"Don't. I like it." Her blush grew,
"Thank you Takashi-san." He just smiled.
The four of them sat there for quite awhile, Sayomi and Honey chatting animatedly and Toushi and Takashi speaking occasionally, their hands still intertwined on the tabletop. Once all the guests had left the other hosts gathered around them curiously.
"Oh I get it, so these girls pay to sit around and watch you eat cake?" Honey was explaining the host club to Sayomi who thought the whole thing was rather silly.
"Yup!" she snorted,
"What a weird club." This appeared to strike a chord in the club's president.
"Oh course it may not make sense to you, who have never had so much free time that you couldn't fill it. But to us beautiful people with far to much time on our hands, this club makes perfect sense." he stood there for a moment as if waiting for her to burst into applause. She just looked at him,
"You're really fucking annoying." immediatly after this Tamaki moved into a corner and started mumbling to himself. Sayomi stared at him, "Kinda high strung, isn't he?" the twins took this moment to interject themselves into the flow of conversation,
"Don't mind him, the boss spend most of his time in corners." this was one twin, the other started to speak,
"But I'm not sure anyone has been so rude about it. Except maybe Haruhi." They glance at the girly-boy, and the first spoke again,
"Yeah but Haruhi always apologizes afterwards."
"True." Sayomi laughed,
"You two are funny. Got names or do I have to just call you the twins?" The first one leaned forward,
"I'm Hikaru." Then the other one,
"I'm Kaoru." Then they spoke in unison,
"And we're the Hiitachin brothers!" The girls smiled. Kyoya had decided he would like to reopen the topic of their marriage once again.
"Now Miss Nakamura, Mori-sempai. Am I correct in assuming that you are in an arranged marriage?" Toushi was surprised,
"Yes, how did you know Kyoya-san?" He smirked,
"Well it's quite obvious, you two don't know each other and since my last background check didn't show any mention of you, I can assume that this is fairly recent." He looked like he would have continued had Sayomi not interrupted,
"You do background checks on your friends? Dude you are like five kinds of creepy." Kyoya adjusted his glasses,
"Perhaps." Glancing at the clock, Toushi stood up,
"It's getting late Sayomi, we have to go." Sayomi grabbed on to Honey and pretended to cry.
"But Toushi I don't wanna! I like Honey, he appreciates my amazing cooking skills!" Honey grabbed on to Sayomi as well,
"Yeah Tou-chan, me and Sayo-chan are best friends! You can't separate us now! Waaaaah!!" Toushi stared desperately at Takashi for help. He nodded, getting the message,
"Mitsukuni, we also have to go." For a moment the little lolita boy looked like he would protest but decided against it, beacuse the author just wants to finish this damn chapter all ready. He turned towards his new found friend wiping his watery eyes.
"Bye-bye Sayo-chan. I'll miss you." she nodded then handed the rest of the sweet cakes to him,
"I'll make you some more treats tomorrow. And you can come vist me at my bakery anytime and I'll make you something extra special." They grinned, then she turned to the rest of them to say goodbye.
"Later Creeper, Thing 1, Thing 2, Haru-chan." then she turned to her self-proclaimed brother, "Catch ya on the flip side Taka-bro." Toushi also said her goodbyes, though a little more polite.
"Goodbye everyone, it was nice to meet you all." Facing her fiance she blushed as she tip-toed to kiss his cheek. "Good-bye Takashi-san."
"Bye." The host club waved the two girls out the door.
A/n: Oh. My. God. You would not believe what I went through to get you the chapter, so i really hope you enjoy it.
First my computer died so I had to type the second half of this on my phone and when i tried to email it to myself it failed and deleted the first part of what I had stored there so I had to rewrite it from memory then before I could re-save it I accidentally turned off my phone, but luckily my brother fixed the desktop so i just rewrote it (for the second time) there but before I could save it the computer frozen and I had to restart it AGAIN! Finally I got to type it all out, which took 4 hours in my freezing cold basement, did it mention that I spent and hour before that waiting for the bus because I had to stay after school for a make-up course. Oh and it's winter and we just had a fcking blizzard.
Sigh.
But it all worth it if I get some good reviews and people like my story. Right?
Lots-of-Love, The Captain