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Japanese Vacation
Chapter 8:
The Fight Between Rivals
Down the hall from the room where Harry and Hermione were talking, Mori and Hunni were nearing it, but something was very different. For once, Mori was not carrying Hunni on his shoulders. Instead, Hunni was perched on the shoulders of none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Ne, ne Malfoy-kun. Haruhi-chan will be veyr happy you decided to come with us!" Hunni's childish voice seemed to echo through the empty halls.
"I never said I was staying," Draco protested, head tilting to look up at the boy that was, surprisingly, older than him. "I just said I'd take you there."
"Aw, but Malfoy-chan, Haruhi-chan says that he thinks it would be nice if you and the others came and visited him at the Host Club," He whined, trying to make his point known.
--
Hermione was the first to leave the room, but it was Harry that noticed the three figures farther down the hall.
"Hermione,"
"Yeah, Harry?"
Instead of answering, Harry just pointed, a smile starting to make it's way onto both of their lips as they watched the approaching trio.
--
"Mitsukuni."
At the sound of his name, Hunni looked up at Mori and followed his gaze to the others. There, from his perch on Draco's shoulders, he waved to them. "Konnichiwa Potter-chan, Granger-chan!"
"Konnichiwa," they replied, smiles growing.
Harry's eyes sparkled brightly behind his glassses, and Draco felt himself growing apprehensive.
"Having fun, Malfoy?" he asked.
"Shut up, Potter."
"Just asking a question, no need to snap," Harry grinned, he was in too good a mood to get angry right now.
Draco just glared.
"How are you Huninozuka-sempai? Morinozuka-Sempai?" Hermione asked, ignoring the two boys.
Hunni smiled. "We're doing great. We found Malfoy-chan walking the halls and he said he'd come with us to Host Club. Wanna come?" His eyes were big as he spoke.
Mori simply stood in his usual stoic stance watching every one converse.
Both Harry and Hermione seemed to freeze before quickly sharing a glance. Snape was still supervisor there.
"I don't know Huninozuka-sempai," Hermione said, turning back to them. "We don't tend to get along with Snape-sensei."
"Aw, but Koumori-sensei(1) is never even out of his office! Please?" Hunni's eyes became very round and very large as tears began to well up.
Once again, both Hermione and Harry froze, looking slightly panicked.
"He's giving you the eyes, isn't he?" Draco asked, unable to see from his position.
Twin nods.
"That's the look that got me into this position." He sighed. "Might as well give in, you're not going to win. He's the ultimate Slytherin."
Harry and Hermione shared another look, and, as one they sighed, defeated. "Fine, we'll come."
Hunni cheered and pointed forward, almost as if ordering Draco to walk forward (much to the amusement of Harry and Hermione.)
"On to the Host Club!! Haruhi-chan will be so happy you all are there."
Draco gave a long suffering sigh, but began walking nonetheless. If anyone had told him that he'd be taking orders from a child-like midget, even a few hours ago, he'd have had them committed to St. Mungo's, yet, here he was, taking orders from Hunni. He tossed a glare at Potter as he passed. It was all his fault he was in this mess. If he hadn't run from that Nekozawa character, then he'd have already been out of the school and safely on his way to the house.
Harry and Hermione just shared a helpless glance, but followed the trio down the hall. Harry made a silent pact to never look Hunni in the eyes again when the shorter teen wanted something from him.
It did not take them long to get to the third music room, and Harry and Hermione made sure they were behind the odd trio before they entered.
Mori reached out and opened the door, of course as if everyone knew it was him, no roses came out, and neither did an overly excited Tamaki. He began to walk in only giving a small wave to the other hosts and to pat Haruhi on the head as she passed.
"Oh, hello Mori-sempai." Haruhi smiled up at the taller host.
Thinking she was going to see Hunni on his shoulders like she always did, she was confused to find that he wasn't there, but, before she could ask, she caught of glimpse of the others and looked at Draco.
"Oh, Malfoy-ku-" She stopped, seeing Hunni leaping off of Draco's shoudler and into Haruhi's arms. Haruni only caught the older teen and swung around, so as not to fall over.
Draco stumbled slightly at the sudden shifting, and vanishing, weight on his shoulders.
"Ne, ne Haruhi-chan, look who I got to come visit us!" Hunni waved his arms around and grabbed onto Draco's wrist pulling him to a table. "Come on Malfoy-chan, have some cake!" He sat down in a chair and handed Draco a plate.
Many of the girls there in the club stared at him in wonder.
"My, he's so beautiful!" a few girls whispered to eachother.
--
Haruhi then turned to Hermione and Harry, holding in a laugh. "Come on in, tea? Cake? Sandwiches?"
"Tea is fine," Harry said, silently laughing at Draco. Hermione nodded her agreement as they stepped farther into the room.
Haruhi nodded and began to walk to the storage room to retrieve more tea and cups.
--
Draco was completely out of his depth when it came to Hunni, so he just let the smaller teen lead him to a table and quietly accepted the cake that was handed to him. He was undisturbed for all of 10 seconds.
"Are you a new host?" one of the girls asked, bashfully blushing as she spoke to Draco.
Draco blinked up at the questioner, surprise flickering through his silver/grey eyes.
"Um, no," he said with a slight shake of his head. "I was just conviced into coming to meet with friends." There, that was a very polite way to say that he was conned into coming. His father would be proud . . . well, no he wouldn't as these were muggles, but still, he was proud of himself.
The girls expressions seemed to fade a bit. "Oh, you should be! You look so much like one," one said.
Many of the girls had come and surrounded Draco, wanting a closer look at him.
Hunni did not even spare a glance at the younger teen as he ate his cake.
Draco, having had several opportunities to play host at his parents' parties, knew that it would be immensely rude to just up and leave, especially when they all seemed so interested in him, so he gave them a soft smile; the one he usually reserved for the potential spouses his mother introduced him to.
"I am honored that you would think so," he said gently, in an attempt to make them go away, "but, as I said before, I am merely visiting."
--
Soon, some of the girls began to notice Harry as he came farther into the room. A few gasped, and another walked right up to him.
"Ano . . . you must be one of the foreigners, right?" Her face was a deep pink as a blush spread over her cheeks.
Harry blinked at the blushing girl. "Yeah," he said, unconsciously raised a hand to push back the hair that fell into his eyes, unknowingly revealing his scar.
--
When Haruhi returned to see that Harry was preoccupied with talking to a girl, she just shook her head with a smile and set about pouring a few cups of tea.
--
The girl saw his scar and gasped slowly in awe. "Oh, wow, I've never seen a scar like that. It's like lightning." Her eyes grew large as she continued to stare at Harry.
The other girls that were surrounding Draco all turned their heads, some looking nonchalantly, and some with great interest, but, after a few minutes, Draco found himself shorted several girls. Something he was very happy about.
About five of the girls had found the black haired teen much more interesting than the blond.
Harry had enough time to move his hand from the back of his head to his scar, before he found himself surrounded by several girls, each of them seeming to want to get closer than the others. His hand fell from his forehead as he hurried to take a step back, hoping to put some space between himself and the girls. Sure, the students at Hogwarts were known for their staring, but none of them had been this blatant about it (and Hogwarts was not known for its subtlety when it came to staring). Harry really wasn't sure what to do in a situation like this.
"Such deep gorgeous eyes!"
"And that scar!"
"His hair is so soft looking!"
The girls continued to ooh and aw at the site of him, while others continued to do the same with Draco. For once, both boys had something in common, they were extremely uncomfortable.
--
Draco glanced over long enough to see that he looked quite lost with his collection of females. Someone would probably help him, as teh hosts actually liked Potter. However, if he wanted rescuing, he'd have to up the act and make one of the hosts want to take away his popularity. He stifled a sigh and pushed up his subtle charm. He wasn't seen as the Slytherin Prince for nothing. Though, looking at the girls, he wasn't sure he was up to acting as long as it would take. Honestly, he'd only been with them for two minutes, at most, and already they were reminding him of Pansy. Much prettier versons, admittedly, but still copies.
--
Hermione took one look at the girls mobbing Harry and made her way over to where Haruhi was setting out the tea. There was no way she was going to try and navigate that. Harry was on his own on this one.
--
Over from one table twin stares caught the scene that was their poor 'Harry-neko' being tormented. They both stood and Kaoru rushed forward. "Harry-neko!" He wrapped an arm around his shoulders in an almost protective manner.
"Please hime's we have much to do. If you are not with your hosts we ask that you do not mob our visitors." Hikaru bowed to the ladies and lead Harry and Kaoru away to the couch where Hermione was.
--
Haruhi glanced up when she approached, then looked over to where the boys were being mobbed.
"Please excuse me, Granger-chan." She smiled and stood to help Draco, as the twins were already with Harry. "Ladies, please, Malfoy-kun is not used to such attention. Please return to your hosts." she was kind to the ladies, even if she'd rather they hadn't mobbed Draco. As the girls dispersted, disappointedly, she looked at Draco. "Would you like to sit down and have some tea."
Draco was sure that he visibly relaxed when the girls were forced to leave, and he returned Haruhi's smile most gratefully. "I would like that, yes." Then, the cake Hunni had gave him still in hand, he stood.
--
Harry was never so glad to see twins as he was just then. He decided then and there that he would forgive them anything they did for the next two days as it was probably better than dealing with these girls. Harry let himself sink back into Kaoru's arms and then be led away, eyes still rather wide from shock.
"Thanks a lot, Hermione," Harry grumbled, tossing a half-hearted glare at her.
Hermione blinked up at him innocently. "I will help you with facing evil sensei, Dementors, and scarily cloaked males, but you will not get me anywhere near those females."
Harry's cheeks tinged with pink. And there goes any hope that they might have forgotten about it.
"That is not my fault!"
Kaoru petted Harry's hair a bit. "Oh, don't worry about it. They do that to all the guys they think are gorgeous, or cute for that matter." He then handed a cup of tea to Harry. "Here, just drink that, you'll feel much better." His expression was soft as he smiled down at the black haired boy.
Harry flinched a bit when Kaoru started petting his hair, but he surpressed it fairly quickly, turning to give him an incredulous stare. "You're insane." he said, matter of factly, taking the cup. "They were interested in my scar, nothing else."
Kaoru raised an eyebrow and stopped petting Harry's hair. "How am I insane?"
Hikaru nodded and sat down opposite Hermione, pouring himself some tea. "Yeah, those girls can be pretty scary sometimes," he said, in answer her statement
"I'm just glad that we don't have any girls like that at Hogwarts. It's bad enough without," she shuddered. "fan girls."
--
Haruhi lead Draco over to them and sat, handing him a cup of tea. "There."
"Thank you," Draco said as he sat, eyeing the twins warily. They seemed to be distracted with Potter and Granger at the moment, so he figured he was safe for the moment.
Haruhi nodded, pouring a cup for herself and settled in the couch next to Draco, yawning a bit. "If only Kyouya-sempai would lift this debt already." She laughed at rubbed her eyes.
Draco raised an eyebrow at Haruhi. Debt? He had a debt? It was something to think about.
Hikaru laughed a bit."Ne, Haruhi-chan, do you not like us anymore since we've been playing with Harry-neko."
Harry's eye twitched at the nickname, but, true to his word, he said nothing about it.
Haruhi shook her head, looking at Harry. "I'm sorry you have to deal with them." She laughed a bit and took a sip of her tea.
Harry shrugged tiredly at Haruhi, intentionally ignoring Kaoru's question. "They're better than those girls," Harry answered. "There's only two of them."
"What debt?" Hermione asked, suddenly.
Haruhi just waved her hand. "Oh, when I first found this place I was looking for a nice place to study. I was bombarded with questions and I accidentally knocked over a valuable vase. It was worth eight millon yen." she sighed.
"Eight million?" Hermion asked, eyebrow raised. "Who in their right mind leaves out a vase worth eight million?" she might not be an expert about Japanese money, but eight million was a lot, no matter how you looked at it.
Harry blinked at Haruhi. He couldn't even imagin breaking something that cost that much . . . heck, he couldn't even imagine owning anything that cost that much. Of course, with his account, he probably could, but that was beside the point.
Draco merely made a noise at the back of his throat as he lifted his cup again. "I can't imagine doing something like that," he said finally. "Father would not have been pleased."
"Like your father's ever pleased, Malfoy."
Draco raised an eyebrow at him. "I can think of a few things that would please him, Potter."
Harry glared back. Draco just smirked.
Suddenly, Harry's eyes got an odd glint in them, and Draco couldn't help but feel apprehensive.
"And just what would your father say if he knew exactly what you were doing?" Harry tsked, shaking his head sadly. "I can imagine he wouldn't be too happy with you, would he?"
Draco paled. "No, I can't imagine he would be too happy. However, there is no way around it. He will know this."
Harry shrugged. "Your father doesn't seem the forgiving type."
"You do not know my father, Potter."
"No?" Harry asked, leaning forward. "I reckon I know him better than you do. After all, I was there when he showed up, crawling and groveling."
Draco glared, his grip tightening on his cup. "Malfoy's bow to no one," he growled.
Harry shrugged. "I know what I saw, and he was quite pathetic."
It was then that Draco launched himself at Harry, tackling him from the couch as they traded blows, rolling across the ground.
Many of the girls screamed while Kaoru dove to pull Harry away from the angry blond and Kaoru jumped clearly over Hermione grabbing the back of Draco's jacket and pretty much throwing him into the air to land very ungracefully on the ground, then turned to stand in front of Harry in case the blond chose to attack again.
Haruhi jumped up and went to help Draco. "Malfoy-kun are you ok?" She turned to Harry with a stern look in her eyes. "I don't care if you are arch rivals or not. You never insult someone's family." Her eyes burned as she locked gazes with the British teen. "Never!"
"Haruhi don't snap at Harry!" Kaoru shot back with an equally sharp look. "Malfoy-baka shouldn't have attacked him!"
"Everyone please calm down!" Tamaki came sprinting forward.
Draco rose to his feet eyes blazing as he stared at Potter, one of his eyes quickly darkening from a blow Potter had gotten in. The other teen however looked much worse, as he was actually bleeding, both from his lip and nose. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.
Harry quickly wiped the blood from his face, wincing slightly when the pain flared.
"Those weren't really insults," Hermione said softly. "Harry was just pointing out facts. It could have been done differently, and at a different time, but still just facts."
"It's alright," Draco said, sneer firmly in place. "Potter's just jealous. After all, I actually have both of parents. And neither of mine are Mudbloods"
Harry tried to lunge at Draco again, snarling as he did so, but Kaoru held onto him tightly.
Haruhi's face became slightly paler as she turned an expressionless gaze to the blond. Then with out a word she turned and quickly walked to the changing rooms. She was tired of dealing with moody boys.
Hermione had paled; this was not good. Her eyes quickly found Harry, being held in place by one of the twins. He was pale, except for some of the blood that still seeped from his lip and nose.
Kaoru held Harry in place not wanting to let him attack the other boy. "Yeah Granger-chan it could have been said differently." He squeezed Harry's shoulder trying to let him know that the two where both on his side in the matter. "Still doesn't give a right to attack someone."
Harry was trying, almost desperately to suppress his rage. He was shaking from the effort, he knew. It wasn't that Malfoy had said his parents were dead, they were, him saying it wasn't going to change that, but Malfoy had called his mother a mudblood, and had managed to insult Hermione in the same breath. He was sure that, if Kaoru hadn't been holding him, he'd attack the blond, perhaps with something a bit more forceful than a fist.
Tamaki was in the back flailing his arms. "Please stop! Haruhi-chan! Don't be upset!" He quickly ran to the dressing room door, which, he found, Haruhi had locked.
Hikaru looked quickly to Harry, He lost his parents? What is a Mudblood? Does he mean a peasant? Well who cares about that Haruhi…. His thoughts stopped at that. Haruhi had lost her mother. And here this guy was bragging because he had both of his. He stepped forward and raised his hand.
"You really are a fool, hurting the one person here who seemed to actually like you." Hikaru gave the other a dark look.
"Hikaru! No! Don't hit him. That's only stooping to his level. He's not worth it!" Kaoru never moved from Harry's side as he yelled at his brother.
Hikaru stopped and looked back at Harry and his twin. "Heh, they're right you're not worth my time or energy."
Draco eyed the twin coldly, though he did feel bad about angering Haruhi, he wasn't going to show it. He was his father's son, and this was not time for regrets. He sneered at Potter once more before turning on his heel and heading for the door.
Before Draco could reach the door how ever Tamaki reached him and grabbed his wrist. "You are not leaving until you apologize to everyone you have hurt. Haruhi-chan, Potter-san…" He looked around the room. "You also have to apologize to everyone here for making such a commotion. This is a place to relax and live your fantasies, you have disturbed that peace." His face was serious and his eyes dark.
Mori walked over and stood next to Tamaki with Hunni on his tail.
"Malfoy-chan! Why'd you do that!? Why would you attack someone?!" He had tears in his eyes as he spoke.
Draco's cool eyes moved from Tamaki, to the hand on his wrist, and finally to the nearly crying teen. Normally, he was sure that it would affect him (earlier that day was a prime example), but right now, he was in full 'Ice Prince' mode, and very little affected him at the moment.
"My actions and reasons are my own, and I will not apologize for something that I am not sorry for."
A dark aura seemed to seep into the room. "Tamaki, release him." Kyouya stood behind the shorter boy with a dark look in his eyes, that is if you could see past his shining glasses.
When Tamaki released Draco's arm he knew what was going to happen next. And it came just as he thought it would. Kyouya brought his hand sharply over Draco's right cheek with a reverberating 'crack'.
"You are here by banned from ever entering this room, as well as you will not speak to Fujioka Haruhi-chan unless she speaks to you first, or unless I say other wise." He then grabbed Draco by the collar of his shirt and forcefully pulled him out into the hall until he could slam the door shut behind him.
Draco was no stranger to pain, but he had never been hit by someone so close to his age before. No one dared to do that, not with who his father was. Draco was so surprised by it that he gave no resistance as he was dragged from the room.
Mori picked up Hunni who was then crying a bit from the shock of what had happened.
--
Haruhi stayed where she was, even though she heard every word, "So that's what Malfoy-ku-" She stopped herself. "Malfoy-san is really like." She shook her head and sighed.
--
Kaoru looked over the wounds on Harry's face. "Yikes, they look deep. Hikaru get the-."
Hikaru was already holding out a first aid kit.
"Thank you, Hikaru-chan." Kaoru smiled a small bit and dabbed a cloth to Harry's lips. "Are you ok?"
Harry turned his head away from Kaoru, lifting a hand to push him away. "I'm fine. It's just a scratch. No big deal." His eyes found Hermione. "You okay, 'Mione?"
Hermione nodded, still rather pale. It wasn't often Malfoy called anyone a mudblood, but when he did it always shocked her, and made her realize just how many didn't want people like her around. "I'm fine, Harry, but that cut does look rather deep."
"It's not that bad," he said. And, in truth, it wasn't. Not compared to some of the other injuries he gotten over the years. This one wasn't even close to lifethreatening.
Kaoru pulled his hand back and stood up, handing Hermione the cloth before going and packing up his things. "Come on Hikaru-chan… I think our limo is here…"
Hermione took the cloth with a small smile, though she knew Harry would not let her help him clean up. He was a very self-reliant person. Just about the only person who ever got him to let someone else take care of him was Madam Pomfrey, and that was only because she was very scary when she wanted to be.
Hikaru only nodded and patted Harry softly on the head. "See you two tomorrow. Ja(2), Harry-neko."
Harry pulled his gaze away from where Kyouya had pulled Malfoy out and nodded once. "Ja," Harry replied absently, sending them a small smile.
Tamaki calmed down and walked over to Harry, "Is there anything you need for you cuts?" He winced as he heard another door slam signaling that Kyouya had retreated into a separate room. He sighed for a moment.
"No," Harry said with a slight shake of his head. "I'm fine. Thanks. Sorry for the commotion."
--
Meanwhile, Hunni ran to the dressing room door and banged on it. "Haruhi-chan please come out! Malfoy-chan is gone."
The door opened slightly, "Yeah I know, I was just changing out of my school clothes. Looks like dad slipped this in there again." She stepped out in a long light yellow dress, not like the others. Luckily after the fight all of the customers had left for the night.
Hunni smiled a bit. "Aw Haru-chan looks so cute!"
A light blush dusted over Haruhi's cheeks as she walked over to Hermione and Harry. "Are you two ok?"
Harry and Hermione blinked at Haruhi a moment, confusion shining in their eyes.
"Nani?" Harry asked, eyes on her dress.
Hermione however brightened significantly. "Oh, thank Merlin!" she exclaimed. "I was beginning to think that I was going insane."
"Wait . . . you're a girl?" Harry asked, things suddenly falling into place as they both spaced on her question.
Haruhi laughed. "Oh oops, I forgot about that. Yes I am a girl, but you can't tell anyone outside of the host club that. Ok?" She winked jokingly at the two.
Hermione and Harry shared a look, smiles stretching their lips.
"Secrets are what we do," Harry said without thinking.
"What he means," Hermione said, "is that we won't tell anyone. Your secret's safe with us." She glanced back at Harry, lip still bleeding. "That cut is very deep Harry."
Harry shrugged. "Not like a split lip can kill me." Unlike other things.
"Still, you should put this on it. It'll at least absorb the blood."
"'Mione—"
"Can you imagine what Snape would do if you came back with blood on the uniform?"
Harry grabbed the cloth and began gently dabbing his lip.
Haruhi smiled watching the two. "Well I think I should be getting home. Dad will get worried if I'm not home on time. I'll see you two tomorrow in class alright?" Oh yeah, I have to sit next to Malfoy-san tomorrow…things should be interesting. She sighed for a moment before standing up and grabbing her book bag. "Ja." She waved and walked out the main doors and began to walk home.
Hunni yawned as he and Mori waved good bye as well.
Meanwhile Tamaki was trying to coax a very temperamental Kyouya out of the side room he had locked himself in.
--
(1)Koumori-sensei: Hunni is calling Snape a 'Bat teacher'
(2)Ja: an informal way of saying goodbye.
Allanasha Ke Kiri: Wow, okay, now I am really glad that I stopped the previous chapter where I had. (sigh of relief) Do any of you know just how difficult it is to change a roleplay into a story that can actually make sense if you're just reading it straight through? It's a lot of work, let me tell you. Also, for those of you who are angry with what we did here (or, more accurately, had Malfoy do), let us remind you that this is only the 8th chapter, and that people don't just change over night. It's going to take just a little while for that to happen. . . .
Aku-Hitokiri-Kitsune: ARG!! Ok so, so far no one has entered anything in the drawing competion… does no one read my Author notes?? (sniff) that sucks. Well I still say send me them of ( ramnakua. ) or PM a link to them for us. Now Go! VOTE AND REVIEW!!