Today would be a perfect day for shopping, Ruka thought.

...if she weren't being dragged around by the Host club.

How did this happen

"Come on Ruru-chan!" Cheered Honey as he pulled her along.

"We're going to shop for commoner's goods! Isn't it exciting?" Asked Tamaki.

Why did this happen

"Hey Ruru-chan!"

Nooooooooo

Ruka turned to the Hitachiins. "What?" She dead panned.

"Let's play a game!"

"Please," she begged. "I don't know which one is Hikaru."

"No, another game," said a twin really really close to her ear.

"A commoners game," said the other, lifting her chin, teasing her.

Ruka blushed and said, "Whatever."

They arrived at the grocery and Kyouya instantly sat down at a table. "Leave me out of it," he said with finality.

Haruhi was about to follow suit until Honey and Mori grabbed her.

"Okay!" Exclaimed Tamaki. "Let's play..."

"The basket race game!" Finished the twins.

Haruhi just sighed. "I'll go shop and you guys play your game."

"But Haruhiii," they all chorused save for Ruka and Mori.

"Just one round!"

"We'll be done in 10 minutes!"

"Pleaaaase?"

"Fine."

And thus the game began.

The twins were piling their basket with random goods. Ruka tagged along and chucked an item in every now and then.

"What's the point of this game?" Ruka asked.

"We're supposed to trade baskets with Tamaki's group-"

"-and race on how fast we return the products."

"Back on their proper shelves of course," they finished together.

Ruka massaged her temples. "Where on earth did you get this idea?"

"Commoners," the twins shrugged.

"By the way," they continued. "You still haven't played our game today."

Ruka picked up a sun hat and placed it on one twin's head. "This one is Hikaru."

"Hey!" The twin protested as he adjusted the hat.

"Why do you say so?"

"Cause his face is more annoying," Ruka said.

At that, the other twin burst out in laughter. "That's hilarious!"

"Shut up, Kaoru!" Hikaru pouted.

Ruka grinned back at them. "NOW let's play!"

"Hurry up!" Hikaru said.

"Where's the spice section?" Asked Kaoru.

"You two are going too fast!" Ruka panted as the trio raced around the grocery. Their basket was just nearing half empty.

"How do you think the group is doing?" The twins asked.

Ruka dialed a number on her phone and relayed, "Haruhi says they're almost done. Honey is going crazy fast."

"What!?" Kaoru panicked.

Hikaru stopped. "How do you have Haruhi's number?"

"Let's go!" Kaoru shouted as he pulled Hikaru along and Hikaru pulled Ruka.

"W-wait!" Ruka pleaded as she tried to keep up with them. She suddenly tripped on herself and face faulted forward.

"Owwwww ow ow oww!"

"You okay?" Asked Kaoru.

"How did you fall?" Asked Hikaru.

"This is your fault!" Ruka said as she rubbed her forehead.

"How is it my fault!?"

"You kept going too fast!"

"That was Kaoru! I'M Hikaru!"

"I don't care! You two are idiots!"

"Hey!" The twins said.

"You're the stupid one if you fell by yourself!"

"This game is stupid. I don't even know why I came along!"

"No one asked you to!"

"You dragged me here!"

"You guys?" Kaoru whispered. "People are staring."

Hikaru and Ruka looked around then back at each other. "This is your fault!" They said together. "My fault? It's yours!" They said again in unison.

"Hey! I'm supposed to be Hikaru's twin!"

Haruhi then came rushing and broke up the fight. "You two calm down! You're acting like children," she reprimanded.

Hikaru crossed his arms. "It wasn't my fault, Haruhi. I wasn't the one who couldn't tell who was who. At least YOU can tell us apart."

"I can tell you two apart!" Ruka retaliated. "The meaner one is Hikaru and that'll always be you!"

At that, the Ijyuin heiress walked out of the grocery.

"Good morning, Ruka-chan," greeted two voices Ruka wished she'd never hear again.

The redhead girl just ignored them.

"You're looking lovely today," went a voice from her left.

"Yes. How are you?" Came the voice to her right.

A vein twitched in Ruka. "If you're just going to be fake about it, I'd rather we never speak again!" Then she stood up and headed out of the cafeteria. Walking out seemed to be becoming her thing now.

"And by the way," she looked back, "THAT one is Hikaru."

"How does she do that?" Hikaru said when Ruka left.

"I don't know..." Kaoru trailed off.

"Ruka-san," came a voice.

Ruka resisted the urge to groan. "Yes, Haruhi?"

"I think you should give those two a break," the cross dressing girl said.

Ruka could roll her eyes. "They're the ones always causing trouble. Did you see what they did to me last Saturday? It was so embarrassing!"

"You added to it by shouting, Ruka-san," Haruhi said calmly.

The Ijyuin heiress let it out and groaned, "They still haven't apologized."

"Neither have you."

"Who's side are you on!?"

"There are no sides. I just don't want them whining about it anymore. Hikaru's been sulking."

Ruka felt better hearing them suffer about it. "They deserve it then," she sniffed.

"That's not very fair."

"Life isn't fair."

Haruhi sighed. "Ruka-san, I noticed you can tell the twins apart when you're aggravated."

The redhead was surprised to hear this. "Really now? How odd."

"It's usually because you're frustrated at Hikaru..."

"Well, I didn't really notice." Ruka said, slightly irritated at the commoner's insight. "This was nice, Haruhi but I must go. Goodbye."

And with that, she once again walked away.

Ruka plopped down on her bed. She ditched the Host Club today for obvious reasons. The redhead left the dozens of shopping bags on the floor, not a single one opened.

"Ruru-neechan?" A small boy opened the door and peeked in. "Are you okay?" He asked innocently.

"Go away, Mamoru. Neechan is tired."

"Wow Ruru-neechan... This is a lot more than usual."

"Yeah well, it's my birthday."

"No it's not. That's still in three months!"

"Shut up. I can buy whatever I want."

"What's wrong, neechan?"

"None of your business. Hey! Don't tug on my skirt! It'll stretch!"

"I know you're sad when you buy a lot. You spend money, a lotta money, but you never waste too much. Neechan cares about the family business too. I know you do."

Ruka looked at her little brother and felt pained at his bright blue stare. Since when did the little monster become so insightful? Since when did she become so transparent?

"You wanna know why I'm sad?" Ruka said a bit pumped up. She suddenly stood.

"Yeah! Who made you sad?" Mamoru asked, eager to find out.

"Who? AHAHAHA First, there's this Frenchman who's so stupid! Oh, princess! Your hair is so soft like the clouds and marshmallows of my love!"

"Hey! I'm not a princess!" Mamoru laughed.

"Then, there's this megane! 'I'm Ootori Kyouya. My favorite pastime is reading the situation and then threatening you with all my resources!' Smirk smirk. Kukuku~"

"Then we have this really clueless one! 'I don't see what the problem is. I just say whatever and it's totally offensive but with no ill intention. I always get away with it cause I'm the cute one!'"

"And then there are these doppelgängers!" She stood by her closet mirror. "'Oh Hikaru! I may be the nicer twin but I don't care about anyone aside from my brother. Listen to my husky husky voice and let me manipulate you!'"

"'But Kaoru!'"And she groped her reflection. "'I'm totally annoying and I can't always be with you! But I can get away with anything cause I'm so darn cute.'"

And then there's Mori! "'Ah. I'm a tall statue and primary mode of transportation of Honey.'"

"Who's Honey?" Asked her little brother.

"Who's Honey? Who's Honey?!" She repeated ominously. "Well since you asked."

Mamoru wavered and Ruka glomped him. They both rolled on the floor and laughed.

"They sound like fun!" Cheered Mamoru.

"Hmmm, yeah. I guess they're not too bad." And with that, Ruka felt lighter and closed her eyes.

From the door still ajar, the Host Club walked away.

"We should leave her alone," announced Kyouya as they headed towards the main hall of the Ijyuin residence. They thanked the maids who let them in and they meet Tamaki and Haruhi on the way out of the house.

"Where are you going? Ruka's room is that way!" Tamaki said.

"She seems to be preoccupied," said Kaoru.

"We'll apologize next time," said Honey, a bit down.

"Though the two of you took your time getting here," noticed Hikaru with half-lidded eyes.

Tamaki blushed and made a scene on how they didn't do anything while Haruhi said, "I left something at the club room. What happened to Ruka-san? I thought we were going to say sorry."

The rest of the hosts look at each other and said all together, "Nothing."