Chapter 15

It was another beautiful day as the Host Club was held in the gardens because of the lovely weather. I was walking around as I saw Tamaki with a girl sitting on a blanket. She said, "But, we can't do this, Tamaki. There are so many girls who love you and if we get any closer I'm afraid that they're all going to hate me for it."

Tamaki pulled the girl in closer and whispered, "Princess, these beautiful hydrangeas will keep us hidden from the others. You don't need to worry. For this moment, I belong to no one but you, my love. The spirits of the hydrangeas will keep our rendezvous a secret."

Man I'm so used to his ways by now that I can't be bothered anymore.

I left them alone as I saw the twins playing a game with 2 girls. The girls giggled as Kaoru moaned, "No way, I lost again?"

Hikaru smiled, "Now, go easy on him, Princesses. Kaoru is quite the crybaby."

Koaru frowned. "Hikaru! That's not true! I am not a cryba..."

But before Koaru could finish, Hikaru pulled him in close and smirked. "Oh, so you're gonna deny it, huh? What about when the two of us are alone playing punishment games? Tell us what happens then, Kaoru."

Kaoru pretended to be in shock as he stuttered. "But, that's because you..."

Hikaru tickled the bottom of Koaru's chin as the girls squealed. Great it's gonna take me another month to get rid of that thought. I decided to go hang out with Kyoya as he was the most normal. I watched from afar as I saw him talking to a group of girls.

One of them said, "Wow I've never noticed that the courtyard had such a lovely stream."

Kyoya smiled gently "It's called a yarimizu channel. It is said that during the Heian era, people would better experience the seasons by watching the petals or autumn leaves that drifted along the water. I had it specially made for all of you, hoping it would express my desire to spend all four seasons with you. So, then what do you say, ladies? This fall, there's an autumn leave's tea party with a limited number of invitations."

The girls begged to be on the list as I shook my head at him. The girls ran off excited as I walked up to Kyoya. "Always thinking about profit huh?"

He smirked at me and replied, "Well, if I don't then this club would be in ruins...wouldn't you agree?"

I nodded "True...but it seems you can't be romantic without giving away special offers."

He shook his head as I sat down on the grass to look at the stream. "It is a beautiful stream...it's so peaceful."

Kyoya suddenly came up behind me and planted a cherry blossom into my hand and then one in my hair, behind my ear. "Well the river can do nothing compared to your natural glow, princess."

He held my hand and gently put it into the river as we saw the flower float away. I could feel his hot breath on the back of my neck as I smirked. "Oh, so you can be the princely type after all?"

He chuckled and helped me up "I have my charms, it is part of my job, after all." I looked away from him as I blushed. Why am I blushing? This sort of thing usually wouldn't make me blush.

I looked back up to see him smirking at me "Come on, you have a job to do." I nodded and hurriedly ran away from him.

I found Haruhi standing in the gardens and smiling as I went over to her. "Hey, you okay?"

Haruhi nodded. "It's so peaceful. Guess I'm finally getting used to this. Took me long enough. It's been this way since I started school here."

I nodded in agreement when suddenly Tamaki shouted, "Haruhi, duck!" He grabbed her and they fell into a bush. A ball flew pass as Tamaki stood up and shouted "Hikaru! You came this close to snuffing out the light of Haruhi's life." Tamaki ran to the twins as I saw Haruhi crumpled up in the bush.

I shook my head. "So much for it being peaceful."

I helped her up as I heard Hikaru say, "Hey, it's your fault for not catching the ball in the first place, boss."

Koaru added, "Yeah, who knew he'd be so bad at kemari? So much for him being the Genji of Ouran academy."

Tamaki growled. "What?" I have a bad feeling about this... Tamaki placed the ball down and smirked. "You think so? Well, check this out! Starlight Kick!"

He kicked the ball with all his might as Hikaru went wide-eyed "What?"

Kaoru finished "So fast!"

The ball flew straight past them and into the air. The twins waved at it and said together "Take care of yourself! Bye."

I watched the ball as I saw it crash through a window. Everyone looked at it as I said, "Who wants to bet that the ball hit someone?" We all looked at each other as we ran to where the ball went.

We arrived to see a room full of newspapers and a student clutching his head. I ran over to him, "Oh God, are you ok?" He looked up at me and saw the others behind me

"Oh no it's fine." The two boys beside him looked after him as Tamaki bowed his head.

"Really, we're terribly sorry about that."

I stood with Haruhi as the president of the club said, "Don't worry. It's no big deal. Could've happened to anyone, right? Just a ball flying through a window and hitting me upside the head."

Tamaki still hung his head and spoke, "Please accept our apology."

The president chuckled and said, "Well, this works out perfectly. I was just thinking about approaching the Host Club about a cover story. I don't suppose you'd be interested."

Haruhi looked at them questionably and stated "I didn't know we had a newspaper club."

The twins came over to us as Hikaru began, "It's more gossip rag than newspaper."

Kaoru continued, "Yeah, like a trashy tabloid. It's filled with stories about scandalous love affairs, family power struggles, and junk like that."

Hikaru shrugged. "It's just a lame gossip rag that specializes in stirring up scandal."

The twins both shrugged and said in unison, "And everyone knows it's all lies, so nobody reads it anymore."

The president frowned at the comments and stated, "You know, I guess we have kind of lost sight of the truth because we've been so worried about drawing in more readers. It's a shame we're just now realizing our error. Now that the paper is at risk. We finally realize what we should have been reporting to the students of Ouran."

He stood up from his chair and bowed his head along with the other two boys, "Help us, please. For our last paper of this semester, we'd like to do an up-close special edition revealing the charms of Ouran's host club members. I'm begging you. Without your help, our club will close."

Tamaki smiled and said, "You can count on us. On behalf of the host club, I..."

But before he could finish Kyoya pushed him out of the way and finished, "We'll have to decline."

Tamaki started shouting, "But Kyoya, he got hurt because of me! What's the big deal?"

Kyoya ignored him and stated to the president, "Sorry, we have a policy prohibiting us from sharing any personal information with anyone other than our guests. But we'd be more than happy to pay any medical expenses related to your injury."

Koaru frowned. "And another thing. What makes you think we'd want to help you spread more rumors and gossip? We've got a reputation to uphold. And you'd just ruin it."

Hikaru added, "Besides, you guys cause a lot of trouble for other people. And who'd want to get mixed up with that?"

Haruhi whispered to me, "It's scary how much they don't realize about themselves."

I nodded. "Way too scary."

The president sat back down defeated and sighed, "I understand. Well, I guess you really can't erase the sins of the past, can you? People won't even give you the opportunity to try and redeem yourself. Aah! My head is killing me."

The two boys next to him cried, "President!"

He sat back up and stated "I'm okay. Don't worry, you two. Oh no, I'm getting dizzy again."

"President!"

"No wait. I'm fine... aah!"

"President!"

He hung his head and cried, "I guess all we can do at this point is disband with grace."

Geez what a drama queen.

Tamaki shouted, "No, you don't have to! You can always make a fresh start. We'll help. We will rally the power of our Host Club, and we can re-establish the newspaper club together!"

Suddenly the twins began the drag me and Haruhi away as they both said, "Well, count us out."

Hikaru began, "You're way too trusting, boss. We can't just go along with everything you do forever."

Koaru finished, "Yeah, we've had enough."

Kyoya started walking away with Hunny and Mori as he stated, "We're leaving too, Tamaki. We're holding an evaluation meeting, mostly about you."

Tamaki then spoke, "Hold it!" We all stopped as he continued, "How can you be so heartless? These men are about to lose their club. Don't you feel sorry for them? Their family is breaking up! As your president, I demand you help them! And that is a direct order!"

Kyoya and the twins simply turned to him and shouted, "We're not going to do it!"

Tamaki screamed as we made our way back to the club.

Everyone got changed out of their cosplay as we sat ourselves down...well everyone except for Tamaki who was playing with his ball in the emo corner. Hikaru shook his head, "Well, he's obviously upset with us."

Koaru continued, "Yeah, he hasn't even changed clothes."

Kyoya rubbed his temples. "I hate it when he ignores us when we're right in front of him. He's such a child."

Hunny, who was stuffing his face with cake, stated "Nah, Tama-chans's just a lonely guy, you know."

Tamaki...lonely? As we spoke of him Tamaki pouted, "A club is like a family. Their family is about to be broken up. I feel sorry for them."

Me and Haruhi looked at each other and Haruhi sighed, "I hate to give in, but would it really be that bad to help them out with their newspaper?"

Kyoya and the twins stared at Haruhi as Hikaru gasped, "What?"

Kaoru spoke up for his brother, "Hey, since when are you taking his side?"

"Since never. Just listen, okay? I know any moment now he's gonna look over here with those puppy-dog eyes he uses when he wants something and none of us will be able to say no, and so he'll win."

Hikaru and Kaoru looked at Haruhi is disbelief and raised their eyebrows. "Let me guess, you're speaking from experience, aren't you?"

Haruhi laughed nervously but continued, "Besides, maybe I'm wrong, but isn't this the kind of thing you guys usually go for?"

The twins both shrugged. "Well no. This seems like more trouble than it's worth."

Haruhi turned to Hunny, "What about you, Hunny senpai?"

Hunny spoke with his mouth full, "Count me out. I have this cake to eat. And Takashi sticks with me, right?"

"Hm," was all Mori said. That's the most I've heard him speak in a while... We then heard Tamaki grumbling as he looked at us with the eyes. Those are the eyes. Puppy-dog eyes.

Haruhi and the twins seemed to be taken down by the eyes and then Kyoya shifted his glasses "There will be some conditions."

Tamaki barked "Woof!" What the hell?

Kyoya continued, "The outline for their article will be submitted by us. Interviews are strictly prohibited. And it is vital that our clients' identities be kept confidential."

Tamaki sat like a dog and barked "Woof, woof!"

I question his sanity... Kyoya closed his black book and asked, "Do we agree?"

Hikaru began, "Well, if you think it's cool, Kyoya-senpai," "then we do too." Koaru finished.

Hunny smiled gleefully "I'll do it since Kyo-chan says it's okay."

Mori grunted "Hm." For those who don't speak Mori let me translate...that means he'll do it.

Haruhi looked at Kyoya and whispered in my ear, "That's the shadow-king for you."

I nodded, "He possess powers that no one else can handle."

Then Kyoya turned to me and asked, "Maria, will you come with me to tell the president the conditions?"

I nodded and followed him to the newspaper club. When we arrived Kyoya had taken a first aid kit with him as he told the president the conditions of covering the host club. The president smiled. "Of course. If you'll allow us to cover you, we promise to observe your conditions."

Kyoya smiled. "Well then, you may start tomorrow."

The president nodded,"Excellent."

Kyoya continued to smile, although it looked forced, as I asked, "So, how is that bump on your forehead feeling?"

The president touched his bump and smiled. "Oh, that. It's no big deal. I hardly feel it any more. I owe a lot to this bump, because without it we'd never have come together for this article."

Kyoya nodded. "That's true, but we're still very sorry it happened. I've brought you a little something as an apology of sorts. This is a first-aid kit, made by my family's company."

Kyoya slid the first aid kit to the president and the president smiled, "Thank you. I appreciate it."

Kyoya nodded. "No problem. Please excuse us."

As we started to leave the president called out to Kyoya. "Oh, it just dawned on me. You family runs the Otori group, right? They manufacture medical equipment, don't they?"

Kyoya stopped and slightly turned around. "We mostly deal with hospital management."

I turned back to the president who was still smiling as he said, "I am so glad that we'll been working together. My father is a president as well, of the Komatsuzawa publishing firm."

Kyoya stated as he fully turned himself around, "Yes, I am well aware of that. So, being president of the newspaper club is your way of preparing to take over the family company?"

The president smiled fainted a little as he said, "Well, yes, to an extent. But I have this younger brother. He is a bright young man, and my father is very proud of him, you see. So now my father's decided to turn future management of the company over to my younger brother."

Suddenly he lost his smile and his voice became sinister, dark and he bit the nail of his thumb as he continued, "Thereby passing over me, the eldest son, first-born. However, if I'm able to finish my third year at Ouran academy as the president of a successful newspaper club, I think he may reconsider my candidacy as his successor. Do you understand? I cannot allow this club to fall apart, no matter what."

Kyoya quickly said, "Please excuse us."

Then he started to leave and I quickly followed suit. I shut the doors behind me and started walking down the corridors with Kyoya. I couldn't help but feel uneasy. I stopped as I spoke up, "Kyoya?"

He stopped in front of me and looked at me, "Yes?"

I continued, "I can't help but feel like the president is planning something. I mean he just seemed to be putting on the whole nice guy act."

Kyoya smirked at me. "You are a very perceptive girl...that's why I brought you with me."

I tilted my head, "You brought me with you on purpose?"

He nodded. "I know you're not as naive as Tamaki and Haruhi to realize that he is up to something." I would have stuck up for Haruhi but he was right...Haruhi was too naive to realize he was up to something.

The next day Tamaki had dragged the club outside to play the new games he discovered from Haruhi. Tamaki had his eyes closed and turned around to see if anyone was moving before we could reach him.

Tamaki shouted, "The Daruma doll fell over! The Daruma doll fell over! The Daruma doll fell over! The Daruma doll fell over! The Daruma doll fell over! The Daruma doll fell over! I saw you move, Hikaru and Kaoru..."

He wiggled his fingers at the frozen twins as they complained, "What? Now way!" While the others were playing me and Kyoya simply watched from the sidelines and I saw the newspaper club looking at us oddly.

"Hey Kyoya they're here."

He looked up and nodded, "So it seems."

The president mumbled something to himself and Tamaki gleamed at him, "You know, I can't blame you for being shocked. I was unfamiliar with it myself. But it's a commoners' game. They have a wide variety. And none of them requires spending any money. All you need is a few friends to play with."

The president held his head in frustration ."And what does this have to do with our coverage of the host club?"

Tamaki shouted, "You need to learn friendliness. If you want to clear the negative reputation of the newspaper club and attempt to capture the hearts of your readers, you must try to be more down to earth. I can just imagine the headlines now. The handsome boys of the host club enjoy commoners' games. With pictures of us frolicking in the scenery of early summer, it will be the perfect face lift for your front page and it gives you the chance to show that a certain commoner's happier now reliving his childhood here with us!"

I walked over to Haruhi while he was ranting and then he looked straight at us, Haruhi moaned, "Great, he's looking at me. I should probably start acting like I'm happy to be here."

I patted her back, "There, there Haruhi."

All she could do was sigh. "Why can't this just be over?" Suddenly a voice appeared behind us "You're Fujioka and Maria, right? You wouldn't mind if I asked you a few questions, would you?"

I nodded to the president. "Um, Sure."

He began, "So, why did you two join the host club?"

Haruhi stated, "Well, um, honestly we joined because we were forced to."

I shrugged, "It's a long story."

The president continued, "You are both honor students on a scholarship, correct?"

We both nodded. "Yeah, we are."

The president suddenly grew dark and twisted our words. "So in other words, the fact that you're a member of this club is just another example of how the Suou family loves to flaunt their power."

Haruhi asked, "Say what?"

But the president continued anyway and he bent down to whisper, "Now if you would, please tell me all about Tamaki's dark side. If you can help me out here, I just might be able to set you free."

I couldn't help but look at him suspiciously as Haruhi shrugged, "Sorry, but as far as I can tell, he doesn't have a dark side."

The president growled. "That can't be right? You expect me to believe that a group of high schoolers actually enjoys playing these childish games?"

I quickly defended, "I don't think it's that weird."

He sighed, "You've gotta be kidding me."

Suddenly the twins pulled me and Haruhi away from him and shouted, "Now come and get us!"

I got out of the twins grasp as Tamaki growled, "Hey wait! That's not where you're supposed to cut, you know! Next we're playing can-keri. And you're it, okay, Kyoya?"

Kyoya sighed, "If I must."

Tamaki placed the can down onto the ground and shouted, "Starlight Kick!"

Why am I getting a strange sense of deja vu? Tamaki kicked the can violently as it barely missed the president. He shifted his glasses, "If you honestly think I'm going to fall for the same trick again, you've got another thing..."

SMACK!

"President!" The can then hit the president on the head which caused his followers to cry his name.

I laughed as Tamaki dragged Haruhi with him into the maze and I leaned against the tree, not bothered about playing. Kyoya knelt down to the can and started counting "One... two... three... four... five..."

I looked over to the president who looked majorly pissed off. He muttered something, which I didn't hear, and stormed off. Kyoya stood up saying "Six..." and smirked at the president.

He turned to me and held his hand out "Come with me, you'll find out the truth behind his intentions." I hesitated a little before taking his hand and running up to the newspaper club. I can't believe we're holding hands. How embarrassing!

We arrived and hid behind some of the newspapers. The twins were already there waiting for him to arrive. Suddenly we heard his voice in the hallway, "Who needs evidences? All I have to do is expose him. Everyone will see it. If I set my mind to it, I can imagine any number of articles that would cause a commotion among the idiots at this academy. I'm going to expose Tamaki for the twit he is."

So that's it...he wanted to make Tamaki sound like a bad guy and get everyone to hate him. The door slammed open as Kaoru smirked. "So we were right all along."

The president growled. "You, too." Hikaru continued, "Well, I guess it was pretty obvious."

"The boss is the only one who hasn't caught on yet. He can be really dense when it pertains to anything about himself," Kaoru stated.

Hikaru nodded "I should warn you. If you threat him, there will be consequences."

Kaoru finished with a smirk. "Are you ready to have the Hitachiins and every other club members' family as your enemy?"

The president growled at the twins. "I knew it. You're nothing but his lackeys. Tamaki's holding his parents' power over all of you."

Suddenly Hunny and Mori appeared from behind the door and Hunny stated, "That's not true. We don't hang out with Tama-chan because of his parents. We love him. We all like being around him and that's why we choose to be here."

Kyoya and I stepped out from behind the newspapers as Kyoya began, "He may be a hopeless idiot, but even so..." I looked around at everyone who wore smiles on their faces, like they were remembering a nice memory.

I spoke up, "Look, I don't know why you have this grudge against Tamaki. But I highly doubt that he has done anything to harm you. He is the last person that would ever do that."

The president growled at me and Hikaru began, "Well?"

"What will you do?" Koaru finished.

Hunny politely begged, "Please leave Tama-chan alone, okay?"

The president's eyes grew dark as he spat, "I'll get you all. It's not just about him anymore. I'll write an article that'll ruin all of you!"

He then pointed at me. "You are the first on my list. I already have dirty information about you!"

I looked at him confused. "What are you talking about?"

He laughed darkly and said in an equally dark tone, "You know exactly what I'm talking about...you whore child."

I glared at him "What did you just call me?"

He continued, "You're not fully Japanese now are you? Your father was British and your mother was Japanese. Your mother slept with your father just to get some money out of him, didn't she? You were nothing but an accident."

My eyes became clouded with tears but they never fell out. My fists clenched tightly and I screamed at him, "YOU BASTARD! How dare you say such awful things about my mother you arrogant prick!" I went to punch him but the twins quickly held me back. "Let me go! Get off me now! Let go!"

I struggled violently as Kyoya calmly said to him, "Go ahead. Be my guest. Although, what do you think we should do about this little disk? You see, it's been here since yesterday and it recorded everything."

I stopped struggling a bit at that and smirked. One of the boys said, "President."
"Just give up already." the other begged.

The president fell to his knees whimpering as Kyoya stood above him stating, "Let me explain it to you in terms you can understand. You would do well to remember that the Otori group and the Hitachiin family alone own enough stock to remove your father from his position as president of the Komatsuzawa publishing firm. However, we would never do something like that. We are not like you. What we strive for is fundamentally different."

Then, unexpectedly, Kyoya bent down, grabbing the collar of the president's shirt and added, "And if you ever insult or insinuate anything about an innocent, young woman again, you will personally have the Host Club and specifically myself at your doorstep to make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?"

The president didn't dare look him in the eye and nodded. Kyoya stood up and made his way out as Mori and Hunny followed. The twins lead me out still holding onto me in case I decided to attack him again.

The twins let me go after the door closed as I fell to the floor hugging my knees. Hunny looked at me, "Are you okay, Maria?"

The twins looked at me sadly, "Yeah, what he said was totally uncalled for."

I nodded, "I'm fine...considering that part of it was true. I really am half British."

The others stared at her for a bit before Kyoya knelt down to her "It doesn't matter. We do not think of you as a whore child."

I smiled as he helped me stand up. On our way back the twins teased, "Hey Kyoya, that was a pretty brave thing you said about Maria."

Hunny smiled, "I've never seen you so angry before."

Kyoya blushed slightly, "W-well, I was only defending her against his words. It is the gentlemanly thing to do."

I hugged him. "Well, I'm glad you did, thank you so much." I felt him tense slightly and I let go to look for Haruhi and Tamaki.

We found them soon enough in the maze and Kyoya stated "I found you."

Tamaki and Haruhi sat up and barked "Woof!"

It looks like Tamaki's puppy dog ways are contagious...

We started making our way back through the maze as Tamaki asked "Where's the newspaper club?"

Since we didn't want Tamaki to know the truth the twins said in unison "They had to cancel. Something came up."

Hikaru continued "They said they're going to focus on writing respectable articles."

Kaoru finished "So maybe they'll get by without having to shut down."

Tamaki sighed in relief and smiled slightly "Oh really? That's good news."

Hunny smiled and said "Let's hurry back to the club room and eat some cake!"

Mori nodded "Yeah."

Tamaki smiled brightly and raised his arms in the air "That does sound good. Cake, cake!"

Me and Haruhi were walking with Kyoya as Haruhi asked "Kyoya senpai, I was wondering. Is the Suou family really that big a deal around here?"

Kyoya calmly stated "Well, the foundation of their business lies in corporate finance. But they do have some extensive real estate as well. You've heard of the Roy Grand Hotel and the Outo Theatre. They also have a hand in other things, like school management, for example."

I looked at him as I was a bit impressed and asked "I didn't know that. Which school?"

Haruhi and I kept walking as Kyoya stopped. We turned to him as he stated "Why, Ouran academy. You've been here long enough that you should at least know what the chairman of the school board's name is."

He walked past us and stated "You know, if you think about it, you're able to attend school here because of financial aid you received from Tamaki's family. You should be grateful to them."

Me and Haruhi looked at each other in realization as Tamaki called out "Haruhi! Hurry it up, or we're going to leave you! I would hate for you to end up lost again."

Kyoya was right...it was because of Tamaki's family that we were able to come here. He really is a nice guy.

A/N: I would just like to thank a good friend of mine for helping me with this chapter. You know who you are :D Anyway I hope you like it and please review!