"Soooo…remind me again why this was on our list of things to do today?" Renji raised a brow, Ryuuji nodding in agreement as they stared at Ryoka.
The mismatched triplet snorted, not looking away from his binoculars as the three of them perched in a rather large tree outside Music Room #3. Ryuuji had made himself completely at home and was currently bobbing his head along to the beat of his music, large headphones making Renji wonder how on earth he could hear anything other than the sound of his music.
The tallest triplet, on the other hand, was also quite comfortable, and the fact that Elizabeth was wrapped around his neck as she usually was only seemed to ensure that fact came across clearly.
"Because I have a feeling I know exactly who that girl was looking for today, and I want to see if my hunch is right." Ryoka replied quietly as he suddenly gagged to one side. "Okay, definitely did not need to see that from blondie, but okay. I can bleach my eyeballs later."
"Anything else going on?" Ryuuji asked curiously, snatching the binoculars from his brother and looking through them. A moment later, a very cat-like smirk appeared on his features, and the other two triplets shared a look. Apparently, someone had caught the attention of their much more relaxed brother. And whoever it was was now going to suffer much affection being showered down upon them until they either managed to kill him or accepted his affection for what it was and got on with life.
"So…who's the one who caught your eye this time, dearest brother?" Ryoka asked slyly, slinging an arm around Ryuuji's shoulders. "You can tell us, you know."
Ryuuji gave Ryoka a deadpan look and handed back the binoculars before adjusting his glasses and leaning back against the branch he was using as a support. Another smirk graced his angular features at Ryoka's disappointed groan, and he stuck out his tongue playfully.
"If I told you then it wouldn't be a secret now, would it?" he asked innocently, though his body language conveyed everything but. "Go back to stalking the four eyed asshole, Ryoka."
"NO! DON'T TOUCH ME! YOU'RE PHONY!"
As one, all three triplets heads moved in unison to stare at the large windows that graced them with the rather marvelous view of Tamaki getting slapped by a girl.
Unfortunately, after the initial barrage of words, the trio couldn't hear the rest of the rant directed towards the Suoh, but Ryoka was certainly amused with the events. Grinning widely, he had the binoculars back in place and was watching the events unfold with great joy.
Mind, it wasn't until the unknown girl jumped on Suoh's downed body and launched herself at Kyoya that Ryoka allowed himself a dark chuckle.
"So I was right about her after all…" he chuckled, earning a strange look from Renji and Elizabeth, while Ryuuji cackled to himself and clung to the branch for dear life so he didn't plummet back to the ground. It seemed that there was something that both Renji and Ryuuji were missing here, but they didn't quite know what it was. After all, Ryoka was the one who randomly grabbed them and nearly hauled them up the tree on his own.
"Renge there is an Otaku." Ryoka chuckled darkly. "I figured that out today in our History class when she was babbling on about some character or another that she was going to meet and marry. Me, being me, managed to put two and two together and realized that she had to mean one of the students who went here. Of those students, however, the only ones who had any potential of being the center of her affection narrowed down the list to the male populace who occupy that room."
"Wow…you really did your research this time…" Renji and Ryuuji chorused, looking mildly disturbed by the fact that Ryoka, who was usually the laziest one, actually did something productive for once.
-;-
There was a comfortable silence that stretched over the huge home that the triplets had to themselves that night. Renji was up in his room doing homework, with Elizabeth curled neatly on one corner of his desk, while Ryuuji was downstairs in the basement games-room with Ryoka, blasting music and battling it out on Mario Kart.
They were the only ones in the house, which was perfectly fine with them; they'd managed to get on just fine without servants or anyone else, really. The funds sent every month from their parents from somewhere in the world was plenty enough to provide them with everything they needed to get by, so there wasn't really any actual reason to work. But nonetheless, Ryuuji was working at an old record shop and Renji was working at the pet shop a couple streets over. Ryoka was still out of work, but he was looking around for something that he could do to pass the time.
Renji yawned, leaning back in his chair and stretching languidly before sitting straight again and stroking the top of Elizabeth's smooth head affectionately, which earned him several little hearts as they popped up around her head.
"I should probably go make sure that those idiot brothers of mine actually manage not to kill each other this time, shouldn't I?" he asked vaguely, half to himself. "What do you think, Elizabeth?"
The python raised her head and nodded once.
"Alright then. You'd better stay here though. I don't want a repeat of last time happening ever again." The blond cooed, lifting the snake into the air and gently taking her over to her tank and placing her back inside. "Don't worry, I'll be back in a few minutes."
The python settled down happily, hearts still bouncing around her head as she watched her master leave the room and close the door quietly behind him.
Oh, how she loved her master…
-;-
"I thought about it a lot last night, and maybe having a lady manager isn't such a bad idea." Tamaki said to the Host Club grouped around him on their various chairs and couches.
"And why do you say that?" Hikaru and Kaoru deadpanned.
"Well, it's fairly obvious, isn't it? Renge just transferred into the same class as Haruhi. So if Haruhi has a girlfriend around, it could bring out the female within her. Renge's girlish air of tenderness might be able to stimulate Haruhi's own sense of femininity."
"Good grief." Haruhi grumbled, intruding on Tamaki's own personal theatre in his mind that was broadcasting out behind him for everyone to see.
"Now is our chance to help Haruhi get in touch with her feminine side!" Tamaki declared, standing tall and attempting to pose in what could possibly be something out of a superhero movie. "This is an important project, men!"
The twins crossed their arms and looked vaguely unconcerned about the Host Club King's proclamation. After all, they had plenty of those before, and look where that usually took them.
"She doesn't have any friends in class right now except for these two shady twins. That's no good for her."
Tamaki pointed accusingly at the pair of twins, whose eyes widened. This was certainly a new development in what they had been expecting, for once.
"Like you have room to talk." They made an identical face and tilted their heads to the same side at the same time. In the background, the door opened, revealing Renge.
"Hey everyone!" she piped up cheerfully. "You'll be happy to know that your new manager Renge, has baked all of you some cookies!"
"Oh! Isn't she ladylike! I'm so moved by your generosity!" Tamaki flailed, sure to look like some kind of prince in his imagination but in reality looking quite ridiculous.
"I didn't bake these cookies for you, you phony prince." She growled, narrowing her eyes in Tamaki's direction. Actually, it was a little scary to see the transition between the mildly cute girl and the slightly demonic one that replaced her.
"I'm sorry I burnt them a little bit." Renge apologized sheepishly as she offered the cookies to Kyoya, little bright pink hearts floating around her head. "I did the best I could. And I already know what you're going to say."
The girl dissolved into some kind of inner dialogue and swooned, squealing, "Oh, you're always so sweet to me, Kyoya~!"
Honey mumbled something around the cookie that he was now munching on, to which Mori descended upon him and confiscated the questionable substance in case it turned out that it actually wasn't edible and had the chance of poisoning his charge.
At hearing that, however, Renge suddenly whirled, hair resembling snakes as she pursued Honey and Mori, the smaller blond crying out for Mori to save him from the scary lady while Mori simply sighed at the not all unusual behavior.
While everyone was distracted, Haruhi took the opportunity to take one of the cookies and try it, murmuring under her breath, "You know, they're not that bad, actually. They've got good flavor."
The twins, standing right behind her, looked to Tamaki huddled in the corner before a lightbulb lit up between the two of them. Leaning in close, they took the liberty to carefully take a bite of the cookie while it was still between the girl's teeth and clean the crumbs off her cheek by carefully licking them. This, of course, immediately attracted Tamaki's attention, and he straightened like a dog on a scent.
"DID YOU SEE WHAT HE JUST DID HE TOOK A BITE OUT OF THE COOKIE WHILE IT WAS IN HER MOUTH-" Tamaki wailed, pointing and wailing dramatically, while Kyoya remained to the side and taking notes.
All in all, it was a fairly normal day in the Host Club.
Mind, they didn't usually have someone not in the Club observing them, either. Renge was off to one side, haven given up on chasing Honey and Mori around in favor of studying the group closely, one hand resting on her chin as her narrowed eyes took in every little detail.
"LUKEWARM! EXCEPT FOR KYOYA ALL OF YOUR CHARACTERS ARE LUKE-WARM!" the girl finally bellowed after Honey attempted to offer her a mug of milk in a pink mug with a bunny head on it. "Each of you needs to have some sort of dark side, you understand? Girls are more vulnerable to handsome young men who are trouble! If you keep carrying on like this, it's only a matter of time before the girls get tired of you and stop coming altogether! Are you trying to ruin my precious Kyoya's business!? As your manager, it's my duty to change your character backgrounds. Let's start with you."
At finding himself under the violent girl's scrutiny, Honey wailed, cringing into Mori's side even further, as if melding himself into the other male would somehow save him from the verbal lashing he was about to get.
"If you're as cute inside and out then you're no different than a baby! Therefore, from now on you're the baby-faced thug! And Mori-sempai, you're his childhood friend; the flunkie! The twins'll be basketball players enslaved in their own world. Haruhi, you're an honors student who is constantly being bullied. And as for you, Tamaki…"
Renge now turned to the Host Club King and leveled a stare at him. "You're the school idol who's admired for your good looks but you actually have an inferiority complex you're hiding from the world; the Lonely Prince."
Tamaki was hit by verbal lightning, and he gasped in horror.
"Ah. And Kyoya, you're perfect just the way you are now. So I want you to stay as kind and affectionate as ever. Kay?" Renge cooed, raising her hands to her cheeks to cover up her blush.
"Why thank you. I'm honored." Kyoya smiled, placing a hand on his chest and bowing slightly. In the background, Tamaki was stumbling around and looking like he was about to keel over and die. However, a spotlight lit up with gold sparkles flashed down on him from above, and then the attention was back on him.
Hikaru and Kaoru sighed, looking at one another and wondering how the hell their sempai thought that this was a good idea.
-;-
Ryuuji was rudely awoken from his nap a couple of days later when there was a roar from somewhere nearby, plus the fact that there was water being dumped on him from above. Flinching, the long haired male looked over the branch he was laying on, only to realize that he couldn't see a damn thing do to the water droplets on his glasses. Growling lowly to himself, he wiped them off on his shirt and continued to look over what was going on, only to sweat drop as he noted that it was just the camera crew that had been wandering the various places on campus, following the Host Club around like their lives depended on it. Although, given that he'd seen how the girl could get in passing yesterday, he wasn't surprised that this was their usual behavior around her.
A smirk suddenly came to his features as he got an idea of what else he could do to irritate the blond girl who seemed to think that she could take over the Academy without anyone's approval but her own. Yawning, he allowed himself to slip out of the tree and right in front of Haruhi, effectively blocking Renge's view of the crossdressing female.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, INTERRUPTING MY SCRIPT! YOU- YOU- oh."
Ryuuji turned to face the girl head on, and as she got a good look of his face, all of her irritation just seemed to leak out of her and turn into a slightly love-stricken expression.
"I was sleeping in this tree, but it seems that you've interrupted my nap." He scowled, shoving his hands into his pockets in an uncharacteristic manner. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to relocate myself to a better location that won't be disturbed by the likes of you."
Everyone else, at this point in time, was wondering just why Renge wasn't totally losing it over the fact that someone other than Kyoya had gotten in the way of the scene and hadn't been ripped to shreds. Not to mention that it also happened to be one of the triplets that Kyoya was determined to recruit to the Host Club.
Said male, at this point in time, was carefully observing Renge's reaction to the Kizuko triplet and jotting down notes in his infamous black notebook, expression, as per usual, unreadable. He was also wondering why the blond wasn't completely freaking out, but, being Kyoya Ootori, he had already come to his own conclusions.
He also didn't miss the fact that the triplet only relocated to a space around the corner of the building, either.
-;-
Once Renge had managed to get her head back in the game, she focused solely on the movie, drawing Haruhi over to one side and gesturing to two tall and gangly looking boys and launching into a long and drawn out monologue that gradually drew everyone's attention to them. Including one Ryuuji Kizuko.
"Wait a minute- Renge-" Haruhi stuttered, trying to ease the girl out of the now very awkward situation that she found herself in. Renge had managed to completely and utterly insult anyone standing in a ten foot radius of her, and was now beginning to drag the two 'punks' over to where she wanted them.
"Hey! You think you can push me around?" one of the students demanded, wrenching himself free from Renge's grip. "You don't even know me!"
With that said, the boy shoved Renge away from him, sending her flying into the wall and several props leaning against said wall.
"Watch out!" Haruhi called, launching herself in between the wall and Renge and preparing to collide with the solid structure. However, what neither girl expected was a gentle bump against the wall instead. Prying open their eyes, they were mildly startled to note that Ryuuji had appeared just in time from above on the windowsill and prevented either of them from hurting themselves.
"You know, Renge, he's right. You really shouldn't judge people you don't know." Ryuuji ground out as he massaged his now bruised stomach and ribs.
"If you judge someone just by appearances, you're stereotyping them and not even trying to get to know the person they truly are." Haruhi finished, sliding down the wall and holding her hand to her face.
"Haruhi, are you alright? What happened-" Tamaki yelled, running around the corner. At seeing Haruhi's tearstained face, however, his jaw clenched with rage.
Before he could lunge at the other student, an arm was extended to prevent him from doing so, and as he growled, trying to shove past, he was met with a pair of startlingly calm green eyes.
"You shouldn't assume something that you don't know the whole story to, Suoh." Ryuuji warned gently. "These guys were provoked by Renge because she was doing the same thing that you are right now- assuming. You can't just assume that you know someone because of their reputation or what they look like. If you do that then you're no better than the rest of the people who do it. Just make sure you remember that in the future."
With that said, the shorter male yawned and stretched, moving over towards the two taller males and pushing past them with a polite nod, shoving his hands into his pockets as he went.
"Let's get out of here!" the pair of males chorused before taking off comically, arms waving wildly above their heads.
Tamaki rushed over to Haruhi to make sure that she was alright, but she was looking down at her finger, which currently contained one of the contacts that she now wore in the place of the bulky glasses that she had originally worn at the beginning of the year.
"My contact fell out." She explained, rubbing at her watering eye.
The moment was ruined moments later by Renge, who was back to being her usual self, and continued into her usual monologue that everyone tuned out anyway, because really, she was a bit annoying. But before any more calls could be made on what to do next, Kyoya himself stepped in, smashing the camera with a decent sized rock and meeting Renge's shocked expression with a blank one of his own.
"But…why?" she asked, looking as though the world was crashing down around her.
"I think you've caused enough trouble around here, Renge." Kyoya said evenly. "You managed to drag in others into your ideas, and that simply won't be allowed around here. You almost caused much more violence than was necessary while you were at it as well. Please stop being such a pest."
Renge dissolved into hysterics after that point, and considering that there was nothing else to be done about the girl's ruined dreams of who she expected Kyoya to be, she simply had to get over the fact that she was getting taught a valuable lesson for the future and move on with her life.
But of course, not every day ended like that one.
-;-
"I'm getting a little annoyed that every single time I take a nap lately I get dragged into all of these really weird events." Ryuuji complained as he splayed himself out on the couch, an icepack pressed against a particularly nasty bruise from Haruhi's elbow on his ribs. "I mean, come on! All I want is a bit of peace and quiet, maybe a half hour of sleep- am I really asking for so much?" the long haired triplet lamented.
Ryoka snorted, glancing up from his newest book, before shaking his head and continuing from where he'd left off. He knew that Ryuuji was just venting, as he was wont to do whenever he became irritated with something or other that happened to him without his approval. Renji nodded with a smirk, petting Elizabeth's head as the python spread herself out on his lap like some kind of dog, tongue nearly lolling out of her mouth as Renji hit a particularly itchy spot.
"Well, maybe you should actually go to class then, if you're having so much trouble dealing with the interference from the other students." Renji drawled.
"Where's the fun in that? You already bring Elizabeth to class with you- there's not a lot more that we can do to the staff before they all resign due to insanity. Unless, of course, you're approving me to go wild and have an all out prank war."
"And if I am?"
"It changes my outlook on school, that's for certain. There's so many more possibilities here…there's the vaulted ceilings, for one. Makes it so much easier to conceal your pranks and yourself should the need ever come about. And then-" Ryuuji continued, getting himself immersed in his prank planning. Renji and Ryoka shared a look before identical smirks crossed their features.
Ouran Academy had no idea what had just been unleashed upon them.