Chapter 2

I heard the chimes of the clock, telling us it was 3pm. I looked at Haruhi and she looked at me. We quickly packed up our stuff and ran out of the library to music room 3.

"We'll never hear the end of it if we show up late." Haruhi pointed out to me.

We finally stopped outside the room and opened the door.

"Welcome" was heard from the boys and when I looked around...the whole place was decked out like a tropical paradise. The twins said to us

"You finally made it, Haruhi and Maria. You're so late."

Totally ignoring what they said Haruhi looked in her mini calender and asked "I could be wrong, but my calendar says it's still early spring."

She was right of course, the flowers had barely begun to bloom. But of course Tamaki had to argue

"Huddling under a kotatsu table, fearing the cold is nonsense. And besides the heating system we have is the best."

Well that's a waste of electricity. I thought. But it did feel rather nice...unfortunatly I had to go with their theme and dress up in a Hawaii costume. I was going to object but Kyoya said

"Do you have a problem with the way we run our club, Haruhi and Maria? Be careful what you say. You owe us 8 million yen, remember?"

How could I forget. We had to share that between us. Tamaki happily added

"Gentlemen...and lady. Don't bundle up in bulky clothing. It may be a chilly early spring out there in the real world, but here at the club we want to surprise our chilly little kittens with a warm tropical paradise. Oh yes. We've turned this place into nirvana, a balmy tropical island of everlasting summer."

Haruhi mumbled "That's funny 'cause I feel a massive chill right now."

I chuckled and got changed into a Hula skirt and a coconut bra. The girls arrived not long after and some of them came up to me.

"Wow Maria you look amazing."

"Yeah I wish I would look good in that."

I decided to have a go at this 'hosting' thing and replied "I highly doubt that ladies, I bet you would look good in anything."

They all squealed and hugged me tight...almost to the point where I couldn't breath. They finally let go and went off to their hosts. Haruhi came up to me and smirked

"that was pretty good Maria, careful or you might take my job."

I laughed and went off to tidy up, I served tea and gathered up empty cups. I saw Tamaki put on his act to his guests

"What heartlessness. Even with my lustrous skin shining like brilliant ivory, exposed by my Balinese king outfit, I'm no more than a slave before my goddess. I kneel before you and swear my loyalty."

"Tamaki."

"Lucky."

"Oh wow." They all pratically drooled over him, Oh good greif I just gathered up their cups and was about to walk away when I heard Tamaki say

"Oh yes. I almost forgot to mention to you, ladies. Next week, the Ouran host club is sponsoring a party." I walked towards to twins and a girl asked them

"What kind of party is it going to be? Is it going to be formal?"

Hikaru nodded "Yes, in fact we've rented the school's largest hall."

Kaoru responded "It's a perfect place for dancing."

Hikaru then pulled his brother close to him and said

"But I really wanted to spend some alone time with you, Kaoru."

Kaoru pretended to blush and replied "Don't be upset, Hikaru. I know exactly how you feel."

The girls squealed as I went over to a tiki bar. I said to myself

"The guests seem to be even more worked up than they usually are?"

Kyoya, who was also at the bar, said "Showing some skin proves popular with the ladies."

I looked at him and asked "So are you the one who came up with this tropical paradise idea?"

Kyoya smirked "I have no decision-making authority. All the club's policies have been laid out by the club's king, Tamaki. But I guess there's no harm in admitting to casually slipping a Bali photo book onto his desk."

So he's the brains behind all of this. I looked over at Haruhi as a girl asked her

"Um Haruhi? Aren't you going to wear a tropical outfit like the other boys?"

Another girl nodded "I'd like to see that."

Haruhi stuttered "Oh well, no, I... I just don't think it's appropriate to wear anything but early spring attire in early spring, you know?"

Tamaki then ran over and said "But we have one ready for you, Haruhi. I think you'll like it. You and I are a pair."

Haruhi quickly replied "no thanks" which made Tamaki go into his little emo coner.

A girl said to Haruhi "Wow Haruhi, you're really faithful to the different seasons, aren't you?"

"I think that's great. I hope we're lucky enough that cherry blossoms are in full bloom on the night of the party."

"The two of us dancing among the cherry blossoms. It's so dreamy." The three girls all sighed at the thought as Haruhi said

"You really think so? You know, ladies. I think it's so cute when you dream like that."

All the girls sighed dreamily at her she is really a natural I thought. Just then a girl came over and said

"Excuse me. I hate to disturb, but I think it's time for the hosts to switch clients."

Haruhi looked up at her and replied "Oh, I'm sorry. You must be my next appointment, Miss..."

The girl smiled "My name is Kaneko, Kaneko Kasugazaki. You're even cuter than I expected. I've decided. From now on, you're going to be my new favorite host, Haruhi."

Oh well that didn't take long.

About an hour later all the girls had left and we turned the room back to normal. Tamaki however was eating some ramen in his emo coner. Hikaru simpily said

"Hey boss, why don't you stop eating that commoner's ramen and come over here to help us with the party planning?"

Kaoru added "Does it really bother you that princess Kasuga has taken a liking to Haruhi?"

Kyoya, from his laptop, said "He shouldn't be surprised. She's had the illness for a while now, hasn't she?"

Me and Haruhi looked at each other and asked "What illness?"

Hikaru said to us "She's got the host hopping disease."

Kaoru popped up from behind him and also said "AKA never-the-same-boy-twice disease."

Oh she's one of THOSE... I thought to myself.

Kyoya added "Usually, our customers choose a favorite host and see them regularly. However, princess Kaneko tends to change her favorites on a regular basis."

Hunny then jumped up from...somewhere and said "That's right. Because before she chose you Haru-chan, she was with Tama-chan."

Haruhi raised her eyebrows and asked "Oh, so he's upset because I took her from him?"

Tamaki then finally came out from the emo corner and yelled "Shut up! I couldn't care less."

He growled and pointed at Haruhi "I'm running out of patience. Haruhi, it's time you started dressing like a girl. I don't understand how you could be so popular with the ladies, when you yourself are a lady. No one in the entire school knows the truth except for those of us here."

Hikaru and Kaoru popped up next to him and said "Yeah, she opted out of taking gym classes."

"And the attendance numbers are all mixed together so no one can tell."

Tamaki ran off and came back with a chest and rummeged through it "That's enough, Haruhi. Now you listen to Daddy."

He got out a gigantic photo of Haruhi when she was in middle school and had long hair.

"Daddy wants you to go back to the way you were."

Haruhi yelled "Don't go blowing up my photos without asking me first!"

I just don't get it...is Tamaki refering to himself as our dad? I then saw everyone looking at the photo and Tamaki was on the floor crying.

Hikaru asked "The more I look at this picture, the more amazed I am. How could this possibly become that?"

Everyone looked at us as I started "The day before school started, one of the kids in our neighborhood got some gum in her hair."

Haruhi continued "It's so really pain to get gum out of long hair. So I decided to cut it all off. I didn't care if I look like a dude, you know."

I personally thought it suited her but Tamaki had other ideas.

He cried "Girls should never refer to themselves as a dude. Momma, Haruhi's using those dirty boy words again."

He started crying again as Kaoru asked

"I'm sorry, but who is momma?"

Kyoya calmy replied "Based on club position, I assume it's me."

Pfft I'm not suprised, those two are just like a married couple.

Haruhi looked at Tamaki and said "Look, I don't see what you're crying about. Working as a host, I can pay back more of my debt. It'll never happen if I'm just an errand boy."

I glared at Haruhi..as that is my job "gee thanks Haruhi that makes me feel so much better."

Haruhi gasped and said "sorry, I didn't mean it like that." I was about to respond when Hikaru asked

"Hate to change the subject, but do you two have formal dancing experience? You'll need it at the party."

Me and Haruhi looked at them a little frightened as Haruhi said "Hh no. But the party doesn't have anything to do with our quotas, right? I'm not interested in going to events, so if I could be excused..."

Tamaki then popped up behind her looking rather scary looking. He said to her "Definitely not. A refined gentleman must know how to dance. If you want to live the life of a host that badly, you're going to have to show us how far you're willing to go, Haruhi. I order you to master dancing the waltz in one week and you will demonstrate it for us at the party. Or I'll tell the entire school that you're a girl and knock you back down to an errand boy."

He then looked at me and said "the same goes to you Maria, you must master the waltz in one week as well or I'll raise your debt to us."

What?! Well it didn't really matter as I kinda knew how to waltz from the dance classes I used to go to. But I will need to practise. But it was kinda late so I walked Haruhi home and then went to mine.

The next day was just another normal day. I was working at the host club and I noticed Haruhi trying to learn the waltz with princess Kaneko.

"Quick, quick, slow. Quick, quick, slow. Good work, Haruhi. Now on the 'slow', you should bring your feet together. Remember. The gentleman always leads. And make sure to look at the lady you're dancing with."

She was a really nice girl. Haruhi looked at her and said "Got it."

Just then they both fell and Haruhi was ontop of Kaneko. "I'm so sorry, Miss Kasugazaki."

Kaneko smiled and pulled Haruhi close "It's okay, Haruhi."

I rolled my eyes as Haruhi helped her up. Just then a girl came up to me and asked

"are you going to go to the party Maria?"

I looked at her and smiled "yes I am, but unfortunatly I need to try and remind myself how to waltz."

The girl then offered "if you want I can help you."

Oh wow the people at this school are nicer than I thought. "Wow really? Thank you very much."

For the next half an hour the kind girl reminded me how to waltz, and I got the hang of it quickly. I thanked her and went over to Haruhi, who was talking to a boy with Kyoya about tea cups. Weird conversation but ok... I noticed Princess Kaneko and the guy kept on looking at each other. Something was obviously going on between them. The boy then left and Haruhi said to Kaneko

"I get the feeling you and that guy are kinda close."

Kaneko jumped up startled and panicked "Don't be ridiculous. We hardly know each other. What makes you say that, Haruhi? Now, if you would please, excuse me. Take care."

She ran out of the room and shut the door behind her. Me and Haruhi looked at each other as Hunny jumped onto Haruhi's shoulders

"Haru-chan! Guess what? They do know each other. Suzushima is Kasuga-chan's fiance."

Oh so Suzushima must be that boy with the tea cups. And that must be why they acted all weird with each other. Tamaki looked at Kyoya and said

"Kyoya, how long have you known about this?"

Kyoya looked at Tamaki and replied "About the two of them being engaged? Well, as you know, I conduct general researches on all of our customers. The two of them were childhood friends. It seems their engagement was arranged by their parents. I didn't think the information would benefit us. So I disregarded it."

I got a bit curious and asked Kyoya "so what's this guy like?"

Kyoya looked into his black book and said "Toru Suzushima. Outstanding grades, fair social status. He's ordinary looking. But he's reliable. If I had to fault him for anything..."

Hikaru then interupted "He doesn't have much presence."

Kaoru then continued "And he's faint-hearted."

Kyoya then finished "So, in other words, he's boring."

I nudged Haruhi and whispered "I had no idea they were so merciless toward other guys."

She nodded in agreement as Hunny, who was now on Mori's shoulders, asked

"Suzushima is a good boy, right?"

Mori finally spoke but only said "Yeah."

Well at least I now know he can talk. Tamaki then shouted

"All right, everyone. We'll have to work on our strategy."

Everyone then asked "which one?"

Tamaki simply stated "Men, it is our responsibility as members of the elite Ouran host club to make every girl happy."

A week passed and it was the day of the party. I had found my dark blue dress then went down to my knees and put it on. I wore my silver heels with it and put on some makeup...it was a special occasion after all. Haruhi came to the door of my house and was wearing a suit...because all the girls thought she was a guy. I shouted bye to my mum and we started walking to the school. We finally arrived and found the guys in the hall getting ready for the party. Tamaki looked at Haruhi and squealed

"Oh you look so cute!"

He hugged her tight as she tried to get out of his grasp. I laughed as I noticed the others staring at me. I asked them

"is something wrong?" They shook out of their trance as Hunny said

"you look so pretty Mari-chan."

Mori just said "yeah."

The twins put their arms around me and said "that dress suits you...ever thought about being a model?"

I shook my head "oh no, I would hate to walk up and down a runway...I would get dizzy."

They laughed as I say Kyoya smiling at me "you look nice Maria."

Did he just compliment me? Kyoya bowed and carried on with the tables. Everyone helped out until the room and shining like a star. All the girls came in while the boys...and Haruhi stood on the stairs. I just stood next to Haruhi. Tamaki then said to the girls

"It is so good to see you here tonight, my little lambs. The Ouran host club would like to bid you welcome."

All the lights then turned on an music filled the hall. All the girls clapped as Kyoya spoke

"As always, ladies, the host club members are here for your entertainment. So we invite you to dance to your heart's content. Based on dancing skills, one lucky young lady will be chosen as tonight's queen. The queen's reward will be a passionate kiss on the cheek from our king."

Tamaki grinned and winked "Good luck to you, my darlings."

All of the girls swooned and screamed as he said that. Me and Haruhi just looked emotionless as Hikaru and Kaoru said

"Haruhi, Maria, show some enthusiasm."

Haruhi then stated "Well, excuse me, you guys. Sorry. I'm not used to this sort of thing. I've only ever gone to the festivals held in my neighborhood park."

I nodded "same goes to me as well. I've never been to a formal party before."

Kyoya then spoke to us "I don't know if you can really consider that a party or not. Well, since you're already here, you might as well get yourself something to eat. We've got a quite spread."

Me and Haruhi looked at each other and said together

"A spread? With fancy tuna?"

All the boys gasped and said "fan-cy tuna?"

Tamaki jumped down from above us and shouted to Kyoya

"Get some fancy tuna here right now."

Kyoya was already on the phone and spoke "Add some deluxe sushi."

To top it off Hikaru and Kaoru were nuzzling against me and Haruhi...Damn these filthy rich jerks. But we eventually got out of their grasp as girls requested to dance with them. All the boys went down and danced rather beautifully with the girls. Me and Haruhi decided to joke around and dance with each other. It looked kinda werid as I'm taller than her but we laughed. We stopped dancing as Haruhi went to stand by a pillar. Hunny came up to me and asked

"Mari-chan, do you wanna dance with me?"

I smiled "of course I will."

He smiled as I spun him around, he was small enough to be lifted up like a little kid. Hunny dragged me over to Mori and said

"Takashi, why don't you dance with Mari-chan?"

Mori simply bowed and held out his hand. I accepted and danced with him for a little while...until we sawe Haruhi and Kaneko walking to the dance floor. Kyoya, Hikaru and Kaoru had already left and Hunny said

"Kasuga-chan is here."

Tamaki told the boys "All right, men. Then let us commence with our operation."

Mori and Hunny both said "Roger" and grabbed Haruhi away from Kaneko.

Of course I knew what the plan was...we were gonna try and get Kaneko and Suzushima closer with each other. Tamaki went to follow the other and I did to, when we got there Haruhi had long hair and was wearing a pink dress. I could tell she hated it and she started walking like a robot.

"My face feels heavy, and it's hard to walk in these shoes."

That's my Haruhi for you...we all wished her luck as Tamaki cried

"I can't believe. She is so pretty!"

We all went back to the hall as the boys went to dance with girls while Tamaki got Kaneko and took her somewhere. As the night continued I danced with the twins for god knows how long. When I got away Kyoya bowed to me and asked

"I believe it's my turn."

I smiled and took his hand, I had to admit he was very graceful. He smiled at me the entire time which made me blush a little but thankfully he didn't notice. Just then the spotlights came on outside and we knew what was going on. Everyone walked outside and Tamaki announced

"Ladies and gentlemen. It is now time for us to begin the final dance of this evening festivities. The last waltz of the night has been chosen by the host club for this couple."

Suzushima bowed to Kaneko and asked "Princess Kasuga, may I have this dance?"

She hesitated a bit at first but then agreed and they danced like a loved up couple. I saw Haruhi dressed as a boy again and stood beside her. Tamaki swung his arms open and me and Haruhi ducked to avoid being smacked in the face.

"May this awkward couple be for ever blessed!" Hikaru and Kaoru stood beside Tamaki and Hikaru began

"And now we'll announce the queen of the ball."

Kaoru finished "Congratulations, Princess Kaneko Kasugazaki."

Everyone clapped as Hikaru continued "And for her reward, a kiss on the cheek from the king..."

Tamaki grinned "You ready?"

But then Kaoru added "Haruhi Fujioka will stand in for Tamaki."

Me, Tamaki and Haruhi looked at them shocked. But they said in union

"Kyoya did say that a little accident towards the end of night might make even more thrilling for everyone."

Trust Kyoya to say something like that.

Haruhi moaned "There is no way I can kiss her."

Kyoya then bribed Haruhi by saying "If you do it, we'll cut your debt by one-third."

Our eyes widened as I said "it's just on the cheek, besides you debt will be cut." Haruhi sighed and walked down to steps to Kaneko.

Just then Hunny said "Hey, you don't think this is Haru-chan's first kiss, do you?"

I realised and added "oh yeah it is..." Tamaki panicked and said

"What? Wait, Haruhi!" He slipped on a banana peel and pushed Haruhi into Kaneko...which made then kiss on the lips! All of the girls squealed as I just facepalmed. I bet Haruhi wasn't expecting that.

When the night ended Kyoya offered to take us home in his limo. We thanked him and got in with all of the others. Tamaki was still in shock and the twins were teasing him about it. I just looked at Haruhi and said

"well that was unexpected wasn't it?"

She laughed "I never would have thought that I would end up giving my first kiss to another girl. But it was such an amazing night. So I guess it's just as well."

A/N: Hooray for not having a social life! Because of this I have another chapter for you all :P To be honest I can't wait to start working on the next chapter...because it's the one where all the boys are topless *giggles* Anyway thank you for your reviews they are greatly appreciated :)