Chapter Two

Haruhi woke up the next morning with a feeling. There were no words to describe this feeling. It wasn't worry, or excitement, or a sense of calm. It was…. Well, it was something. Something was going to happen today, Haruhi could just feel it. "Oh, that's right!" Haruhi clapped her hands together. "There's a sale at the grocery store today! And with my coupons that expire tomorrow, I'll save a ton! I'll keep those and the grocery money in my wallet today and go after school."

Donning her uniform, Haruhi stepped out and locked the apartment behind her with a sigh. The walk took a good thirty minutes, but this was likely the only quiet time that she would get. The Host Club took up all her free time at school, and her was his own bundle of eccentricity. So Haruhi savored her time of quiet.

Thirty minutes later, she entered Ouran grounds. And immediately felt daggers being glared at her again. Looking around for the cause, Haruhi once again saw Ayanokouji smiling pleasantly at her. Shrugging it off, she continued on to her classes with Hikaru and Kaoru.

After her last class, Haruhi went to collect her things from her locker. "I'll go to the grocery store right after club activities." Haruhi muttered to herself. "I can't forget the coupons and my food money for the week, so I'll go ahead and grab them now.

But when Haruhi got to her locker, it was empty. No bag, no notebooks, and no wallet. Running through the halls, Haruhi searched all of her classrooms, but her belongings remained missing. As she ran to the last class, she passed a window overlooking the sprawling courtyard of the academy. From the corner of her eye, Haruhi noticed something floating in the fountain. Stopping, she stepped closer to the window, and saw that it was her missing stuff. Who would do that? Haruhi wondered as she ran the opposite way towards the entrance. As the thought passed through her mind, she passed Ayanokouji, who was smiling smugly.

"It appears someone has tossed your belongings in the fountain." Ayanokouji said. "As you collect your things, you should have some time to contemplate your life. You're lucky that Tamaki-sama has made you lot a lot nicer. During your contemplation you should consider how to fix the faults in your upbringing as well?"

Wading through the fountain, Haruhi certainly did contemplate. She contemplated how Ayanokouji-san was the most likely suspect for who threw her things into the fountain. After an hour of searching, she had found everything except her wallet. That was the most important of her items, so Haruhi continued to search.

"Hello peasant!" Tamaki yelled, startling Haruhi. "What a nice hobby you have, skipping club activities and playing in the water." Tamaki noticed Haruhi's wet belongings sitting outside of the fountain. "Why are your things wet?"

Haruhi shrugged without turning around. It was no use accusing anyone, especially Tamaki's best customer, without any evidence. Even with evidence, those rich bastards were likely to stick together. "I accidentally dropped my stuff in the fountain. I can't find my wallet though, and I have this week's food money in there so I really need to find it."

Splashing noises were made after that, making Haruhi look over and see that Tamaki had joined her in the fountain, searching for her money. "Its ok sempai, you don't have to do that! You'll get wet too!"

Tamaki chuckled. "People already say that I'm dripping with charm, so what difference are water droplets?" Tamaki jumped up in excitement. "Haruhi! I found it!"

Haruhi smiled. Maybe they weren't all bastards.

At this point it was too late to rejoin club activities, so Haruhi went home. The next day, however, she made sure to be on time for club activities. Her first customer, surprisingly, was Ayanokouji.

"Ayanokouji-san, what a pleasure to see you." Haruhi lied. "But I'm surprised that you picked me, when Tamaki-sempai is here today."

Ayanokouji set down her tea and stared calculatingly at Haruhi. "I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about you Fujioka-san. I wanted to see why customers are beginning to flock to you, and why you draw Tamaki-sama's attention."

Haruhi sighed, already tired from the conversation. "Are you jealous?"

Ayanokouji's face went red with embarrassment and anger. She grabbed Haruhi's jacket and pulled her over the table, making it so that Haruhi ended up landing on top of Ayanokouji, who was screaming for help. "Someone! Haruhi suddenly attacked me! Help! Take this commoner away, he's not fit to be around those like us!"

Everyone was watching, especially all of the other hosts who rushed over. Their faces were hard, and suddenly Haruhi felt her heart constrict at the sight. Without realizing it, Haruhi had come to think of herself as one of them, when that was obviously not true from the way they looked at her with such disdain. With a snap from Tamaki, the twins walked over with two pitchers of water. Closing her eyes, Haruhi prepared for the onslaught of water. But when the splash sounded, she was barely wet, not nearly what she should be from two full pitchers of water. Opening her eyes, she say Ayanokouji dripping wet.

"As if we'd believe that, baka." Hikaru and Kaoru said at the same time.

"Indeed." Kyoya concurred. "And we also know that it was you who threw Haruhi's belongings into the fountain."

"What evidence do you have? The word of this commoner?!" Ayanokouji spat.

Kyoya pushed his glasses back into place, hostility flaring in his eyes. "We have an eyewitness, me, who saw your confrontation with Haruhi two days ago as well as Kaoru and Hikaru seeing you grab Haruhi's belongings during class. If Haruhi's word is not good enough, though it is, is ours good enough for you?"

Haruhi blushed. Everyone was standing up for her. Kyoya was always serious, but this anger on her behalf was attractive. For the twins and Tamaki as well, who rarely showed a serious side at all. Suddenly Haruhi felt very female around the four of them, making this embarrassing display even worse.

Tamaki helped Ayanokouji up. "We know who Haruhi is princess, and he is not someone who would dare do such a thing. It is you, princess, who are not fit to be around people like us. Please leave!"

Ayanokouji ran away in tears, while Hikaru and Kaoru laughed. "Yeah, I don't think Ayanokouji is Haruhi's type." All of the hosts, except for Tamaki, who still thought Haruhi was a boy, laughed. As Haruhi changed into dry clothes, however, Tamaki found out the hard way that Haruhi was really a girl.