Tales of the Stars:

Book 1: Homecoming

Chapter 2

"Wow. That's a lot of….pink." Staria stared at the school from the car window. "I'm starting to feel a little less stupid in this dress. It fits the rest of the school's look so far." The large campus was filled with large column covered buildings, lush gardens and green fields spotted with fountains and ponds. The all in one school housed an entire life span for a student from kindergarten clear through college. The life of the rich.

"Now really, you look beautiful princess. You're just nervous." Tamaki did his best to reassure her. "I'll make sure you feel right at home though. Leave everything to me."

"I'm not so sure that's the best idea." Staria laughed a bit. She was slowly getting use to his personality. Though she was starting to wonder if the whole princess thing was gonna become a regular thing. "Do you always act like this?"

"What do you mean act? These are my natural charms dear lady." He posed as dramatically as the car would allow. Staria just smiled, and tried not to flat out laugh at the strange but amusing boy before her. She settled for shaking her head at his antics while they exited the car.

"Alright if you want to play prince I won't stop you. Just don't get upset if pretend I don't know who you are, when it gets out of hand." Tamaki pouted at the last part, but quickly had his attention diverted.

"Kyoya!" Tamaki waved at his best friend as he ran after him, dragging the smaller new girl behind him. "Kyoya! Wait up!" The raven haired boy finally stopped, knowing that if he didn't the blond would just get louder.

"Good morning Tamaki." Kyoya pushed his glasses up giving Staria a discreet look over. She seemed to be a little shorter than the twins, maybe five foot five give or take an inch. Shoulder length blond-brown hair that probably looked more gold in sunlight. As they got closer he could see her eyes were blue but not quite what shade.

"Kyoya I'd like you to meet Miss Staria Chiba." Tamaki introduced energetically.

"Hi." Staria said somewhat shyly as she pulled her arm away from Tamaki and rubbed her now sore shoulder. "It's nice to meet you."

"Indeed." the boy in glasses smiled, but it felt more professional that genuine. "I'm Kyoya Ohtori, if this fellow here causes you any more aches let me know. My family runs most of the medical facilities around, we can have you referred."

"Um, thanks. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine though." She couldn't help but wonder if all the students would introduce themselves with their family ties. She ignored the little voice in her head that pointed out he was cute and well off. Most of the student body probably was. 'I am so in over my head.' she thought and followed the pair as the headed down the hall.

The two boys showed her around the campus and then they all headed to class. Staria wasn't surprised to see that those two had seats together. They were a bit of an odd match but she could see how it worked. They helped balance each other. Good friends could do that. She, on the other hand, had been placed on the opposite side of the room nowhere near them. The class had welcomed her as expected, but she still didn't think she was going to fit in. Everyone there was being groomed to take over their family empires. She just wanted an escape from her own issues back home. Plus with the way the classes were going she was going to have to work her butt off to keep her grades up. She was smart enough mind you, but she didn't always have the drive.

'What have I gotten myself into?" She thought, as she glanced over towards Tamaki and Kyoya. 'I'm way out of my league here. Maybe I can still transfer to a normal high school somewhere…'

"Tamaki, has Staria told you much about herself yet?" Kyoya asked as he went over the day's guest list one last time. The Host Club was prepping the club room after school, before they opened for the day. There wasn't much to be done, but Kyoya still wanted their little business to run as smoothly as possible.

"A little, she told me about being adopted." The host king was setting out tea cups as the twins arranged the last of the fresh flowers.

"And did she tell you why she was adopted?" Kyoya pried a little with a slight grin. He'd found some interesting facts while looking into their new classmate's past.

"Her family died in an accident. Tragic isn't it." He paused long enough to feel bad again. "Why do you ask?"

"I was doing a little research and found a news paper article. Seems our normal little exchange student isn't necessarily so normal. Before their demise the Chiba family had a lot of stock holdings in several electronic companies as well as botanical research facilities. They had trust funds set up for their children but they don't mature until they turn eighteen. You're little Cinderella has blue blood after all, she just doesn't know it."

"And we're not going to tell her unless she asks." Tamaki said only half listening, completely missing the hints that Staria wasn't an only child . "She said she's not interested in her birth family right now. I think that's a shame but it's her choice."

"Until convinced other wise." Hikaru, the older twin, piped up tired of just listening in.

"Yeah, but that's why the boss doesn't want to tell her." Kaoru continued. "If she only get's interested for the money, she's not really caring about her past. Right?"

"Exactly! Though she doesn't seem like that type to me. I just want her interest to be from the heart, not provoked through material means. So not a word. Got it?" Tamaki confirmed and made his wishes clear.

"Sure boss." Kaoru nodded.

"I guess." Hikaru added. "but that's less fun you know."

"I'm sure you two will find plenty of ways to have fun." Kyoya quipped. "You always do. Are Honey and Mori done with practice yet? It's a bit late even for them."

As if on cue Honey bounded into the room stuffed bunny in tow. "Sorry everybody, things ran a little behind today. But we're here now!"

"No problem. The ladies will be here soon, so let's finish our preparations." Tamaki took command and started shouting out orders to make everything perfect.

After a meeting with her teachers, Staria got to call it a day. Well she would have, except Tamaki insisted she meet him in music room three for a "Host Club welcome", whatever that meant. She didn't even know what a host club was. It took her about half an hour just to find the room. The school was too big, and there were far too many idle students. Didn't they have clubs or sports to participate in?

'I hope I'm not too late. I don't want him to be mad at me and think I skipped out.' Staria though as she reached for the door and slowly opened it. Faint music caught her ears and the smell of cakes and sweets drew her in. A rather extravagant, but still somehow cozy, looking café type atmosphere was set up. Little tables or small groups of couches and chairs were littered with girls. Beautiful flower arrangements were on every table as well as lager vases on the floor here and there. As the door clicked behind her Tamaki appeared in front of her with a rose.

"Welcome to the Ouran High School Host Club Princess. We have a special table all prepared for you. This way." He lead her to little window table where she could see the courtyard below or look into the room and see pretty much everything going on. Tamaki pulled a chair out, and motioned for her to sit.

"Thank you." Staria sat down still a bit confused. "What is all this Tamaki?"

"Why our little club. Ouran's most handsome young men entertaining the wealthiest girls with nothing better to do. What better way to spend our time than making you ladies happy."

"Are you serious?" She snorted. "That's so cheesy."

"Every girl has her ideal companion. We just make it happen. Take a look around won't you. Each of us has our specialties. Kyoya's the 'cool' type, so he does not host often. He mainly manages and checks to make sure the ladies are happy and we don't spend too much time with just one customer." Staria noticed that Kyoya was doing more observing then chatting but girls were still swooning over him as he took down the occasional note.

Tamaki pointed to another corner. "There you have our second year students at work. Mori is our 'strong silent' type and Honey is our 'boy Lolita' type. They play well off each other, with Mori taking care of Honey. The girls love it. Those two are cousins so it's only natural they've grown up together with that kind of friendship any ways."

"That kid's our senior? He looks like he's eight." Staria was baffled by Honey, though had to admit he was kind of adorable. As weird as the whole concept was.

"As I said Lolita type. Girls that have a thing for younger boys flock to Honey."

"So you pretty much feed fan girls here."

"Some yes," Tamaki gave her the benefit of the doubt on her choice of words, "though the Twins carry most of them with their 'brotherly love' play." As if on cue the twins started fawning over one another in front of their group. The girls squealed with excitement at the forbidden scene before them. "They're still in middle school though so we have to work around their schedules a bit."

"You know I'm not even gonna go there. You boys are pretty twisted." Staria turned back to Tamaki, not sure what to make of everything. "So what does that make your role in this little game?"

"Oh you can't tell?" Tamaki moved as he asked so that he was lower than her and did his patented 'look up at her from a lower spot' move as he took her hand. "I'm the princely character of this host club. Or Host King, if you will, my dear princess. I am here to fulfill the dreams of your heart, as they peak through your sparkling beautiful eyes." as he moved in even closer Staria couldn't take it any more and moved her free hand up over her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly. Tamaki stopped as she broke into giggles. Puzzled by her actions a bit. He had a ninety percent success rate with the ladies. This was rare.

"Are you for real? Tamamki that's so corny. They really buy this crap?" Staria calmed down and made sure to keep her voice low so only Tamaki would hear it. She thought it was silly but she wasn't about to ruin the other girls' good time. "I mean it's cute, but it's right out of romance novel."

"Well. Alright. I see you're more on the cynical side of romance, but that's fine. You can't win them all." Tamaki stood up to go.

"I'm not cynical. I enjoy a sappy romance as much as the next girl. I just don't like these kind of games that will lead to built up expectations and disappointment. There's enough heart ache in the world without adding play romance games to it." She stood up as well. "I'll be in the courtyard when you're ready to go home. Have fun with your princesses."

As she made her way to the door Kyoya stopped her. "Has our little game offended you Miss Chiba?"

"I wouldn't call it being offended, but I'm not a fan. It's not nice to toy with people's hearts." She explained her view to him in a low tone.

"The girls know there's no promises in this game. Most of them aren't serious at all. True a few truly do love the host they choose, but they also know nothing will come of it. In our world it's rare to get to choose your partner. Our families do the matching to better business ties and grow exponentially larger. You may find it hard to believe but many of our clients are already engaged. This is just a way for them to enjoy themselves without scandal." Staria kept quiet, feeling like she'd just been scolded like a child who was peeking in on grown up affairs. She didn't like being spoken down to. The look in Kyoya's judgmental gray eyes added to that feeling. She wanted to run away fatser, but needed to get in the last word.

"Rich people aren't the only ones forced to grow up fast. Good bye Kyoya." She left feeling worse than before.

"You bombed didn't you boss." Kaoru picked as they started cleaning up from the day's session.

"She didn't even want to meet any of us." Honey pouted. He had wanted to have cake with Tamaki's new house mate. She was cute.

"I'm sorry everyone, I don't think she's ready to make friends yet." Tamaki said a bit dejectedly.

"No you probably just freaked her out." Hikaru poked at him.

"Not true, well not entirely." Kyoya explained. "Staria sees our little club as a cruel game. Toying with young girls' hearts."

"Well we kinda are." The twins said bluntly as one.

"That's not what this club is about!" Tamaki scolded them. "You understand don't you Kyoya?"

"Yes and I explained it to her before she left. Her reaction was still a bit harsh." he added as he worked on the day's paper work. "She's probably never had a relationship and is jealous." He paused. "Or she's been hurt and still hasn't gotten over it."

"You should go easy on her." Mori said in one of his moments of insight.

"Takashi's right, Tama-chan." Honey agreed with his cousin. "She just moved, is in a new country, and hasn't had time to make friends yet. I'd say that's a lot. Take her some cake! Cake makes everything better." The small blond grinned at his idea.

"I'll take some home with us." Tamaki looked down at the courtyard, through the large window, as he spoke. "I mean it couldn't hurt."

Staria was getting bored. It had been almost an hour since she left the music room, and she was too flustered to even draw in the sketch book she had brought out with her. She hated that she was getting worked up over something so trivial, but in her heart it wasn't trivial at all.

She knew too well the pains of loving someone you could never have. She couldn't imagine someone putting themselves in that position on purpose. Ouran was feeling even more like a bad fit. 'I really need an outlet if I'm gonna stay here.' she thought looking up at the trees. She decided she'd need to go exploring on her own later to try and find a safe haven away from the rich life style that was going to eat her soul.

The sound of foot steps brought her out of her thoughts. Tamaki was walking towards her, holding his school bag behind his shoulder. She decided in that moment to let everything drop for now. It would make things easier.

"Done for the day?" she asked with a smile that to her surprise wasn't forced.

"Yeah the others said they'd clean up so I didn't keep you waiting. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Let's just chuck it up different world views for now. I said some mean things and I'm sorry too. Can we just call it a day and go home?"

"As you wish." He smiled and picked up her bag. "Our car should be waiting."