A Drizzle of Honey Chapter 4
Author's note:
Just wanted to thank all those who have read and reviewed my story so far. I know I say this every time I post, but I am incredibly grateful for every critique you guys write, both positive and negative. Okay, I don't own Ouran, but I think you know that already.
"Ne, Edie-chan, how do you know Haru-chan?" Honey wondered.
Edie pressed an index finger to her chin and looked up towards Haruhi, "Well, I guess she's kind of my savior, "Edie shrugged.
Just like that, everything in the room when dead still. There were one, two, three beats of silence until, "SHE?!" the Host Club yelled in unison.
Edie pretended to be afraid of the sudden outcry, reaching out to Haruhi as a human shield. Edie made her bottom lip tremble while she gazed up at Haruhi and asked, "Did I say something bad Haru-chan? I'm sorry."
Haruhi thought she spotted a scheming glint in Edie's eye instead of fear, but still tucked the girl into her side with a protective pat on the Edie's ebony locks. Tamaki rushed forward to comfort his tiny princess, "No, no, nothing bad at all. It's just that Haruhi is definitely a boy."
The twins nodded in fervent agreement, taking turns to poke and prod Haruhi, "One hundred percent male," they agreed, "Chocked full of man."
Haruhi batted them away with irritation, "Cut it out guys. Edie already knows that I'm a girl, so leave me alone," she grumbled.
"Oh Haruhi, how could you let your secret spill?" Tamaki wailed.
"Sempai, you're being obnoxious again," Haruhi reprimanded, sending Tamaki spiraling to his corner of despair.
Kyoya straightened his glasses, "While Tamaki was being a tad ridiculous; his question is still valid. How did Miss Hale learn of your gender?"
Haruhi was blushing too hard to speak, but Edie shared none of her bashfulness and didn't particularly like the threatening undertone of Kyoya's question. Edie wanted to shock him.
"Hey, it wasn't Haru-chan's fault! I was running and fell, but Haru-chan's chest caught me. I didn't mean to, but I felt her boobies," Edie sobbed crocodile tears.
Edie was disappointed her unladylike vocabulary failed to even make Kyoya blush. On the other hand, it had made Tamaki and the twins fantasize. In the theater of the boys' minds a possessive Edie was embracing a bashful Haruhi, the smaller lover's long onyx tresses wrapping around the couple, forming a lusty cocoon.
"Not my precious daughter!" Tamaki cried and shoved Edie violently away from Haruhi.
Edie teetered and fell backwards, luckily into the open arms of Honey. "Are you okay Edie-chan?" Honey fretted.
Edie was still floored from Tamaki calling Haruhi his daughter; maybe it was a Japanese thing? She didn't even register Honey's inquiry. With each beat of Edie's silence, flames of fury burned up Honey. He gently passed Edie to Mori, who lifted Edie into his bare chest. Honey spun abruptly to face Tamaki. Honey's ominous aura was powerful enough to make Tamaki release Haruhi, who he had been rocking while sobbing about purity lost forever.
"H-Honey-sempai?" Tamaki stuttered, hands up in surrender.
Honey landed a jumping kick into Tamaki's chest. Tamaki flew backward and crashed into a palm tree, shattering the bark and causing a coconut to drop and land on his foot.
Business being done, Honey turned back to Edie and smiled so bright that pink flowers danced around his golden hair. Edie had never been one for boys fighting for her, but she appreciated the thought and really appreciated the force that Honey could put behind his kick. She cleared her throat and managed to tell Mori to put her down.
No sooner than Edie's toes tapped the floor, Honey cuddled her into a toasty bear hug. Edie's cheeks warmed slightly during the embrace, but she was sure that it was a delayed reaction from being so close to Mori's naked chest.
Kyoya paid no mind to his classmate writhing in pain and stalked towards Edie, a purple haze oozing behind him as he went. "Miss Hale," his tone was pleasant enough, yet iciness chilled his demeanor, "I'm sure you have begun to suspect that Haruhi's gender is being concealed for the time being. Should you carelessly expose her secret, Haruhi will be unable to pay back the considerable debt she owes the Host Club. I hope you can keep her secret as her friend, although I have though of other ways for Haruhi to pay back her debt."
Haruhi shivered at the veiled threat and Honey gave Edie a protective squeeze, which she quickly shrugged out of. Edie squared her shoulders and faced down the shadow-king like the brave little solder her father trained her to be.
"I don't know what a host club is, but I do know that black-mailing people is a no-no! I'll keep Haruhi's secret if she wants me to, but you can't keep scaring her!" she said, stamping her yellow flats.
Edie was the picture of a spoiled princess throwing a fit because she had no alternatives. Kyoya smiled archly, "I assure you Miss Hale, the Host Club isn't in the business of scaring girls. On the contrary the Host Club was put together to entertain the beautiful young maidens of Ouran High School."
Tamaki sensed a chance to make a grand speech, so he sprung back to life and struck a grand pose. "Yes, the Ouran Host Club, where the school's handsomest young boys with too much time on their hands…"
Edie tuned out the rest because Honey was pulling her towards a golden table, laden with vibrant sweets.
"So you and Mori-sempai really joined a club to flirt with girls all day?" Edie asked in disappointment.
"No, no, that's not why we're in the Host Club. The Host Club was just the place where I first learned it was okay to be me," Honey hastily corrected.
"What do you mean?"
"When I first started high school I acted serious all the time. I never ate sweets and no one even knew about Usa-chan," Edie spied the pink rabbit in one of the seats around the table, "but then I met Tama-chan and he told me that if I joined the club and acted like the real me, people would like it."
Edie looked around the room to see the twins and Tamaki badgering Haruhi to wear her costume, Kyoya typing away on a laptop, and Mori keeping a watchful eye over Honey. Honey continued, "It sounds weird, but the Host Club taught me how to be me."
Edie began to ponder this as she took a seat and accepted the coconut pudding Honey handed her. She was about to respond when Kyoya looked up from his clacking keys and commanded, "Places!"
Honey winked mischievously at Edie, "Wait here," he said and scurried off towards the other hosts. Apparently Haruhi had won the battle because she was still in her boy's uniform. The hosts settled into the same positions Edie had just walked in on. The room went quiet and then the double doors opened.
"Welcome," sang the hostly chorus.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeek," an onslaught of enthusiastic estrogen poured into the room.
The girls took turns oohing and awing over the hosts and the décor until each host separated to different areas of the room. Edie watched with fascination as the gaggle of females parted into more manageable sub-sections. Tamaki had by far the largest following, but a sizeable hoard was trailing Honey and Mori over to the table where she sat. Among Honey's herd were three of the girls from her class who Edie had asked for directions. Obviously they had been lying when they told her they were too busy to show her the way. Edie felt a twinge of betrayal, but she'd be damned if she showed it to those girls. Instead she hopped down from her golden perch and skipped over to her classmates.
Ayako, Chizuko, and Kimiko were the three co-captains of the Honey fan club, The Honey Bees, and their stomachs dropped collectively when they saw Edie coming towards them. The trio was protective over Honey, but not necessarily evil masterminds. When they had lied to Edie in class, none of them even imagined that Edie could find her own way to the Host Club, yet there she was. What could they do if she told Honey about their lies? Ayako had a penchant for memorizing Honey-isms and she knew for a fact that Honey thought "liars are bad guys." Chizuko began to sweat as the foreigner drew closer and closer. At the same time Kimiko tried her best to look everywhere, but the fast approaching girl.
All three flinched slightly when Edie chirped, "Aya-chan, Chizu-chan, Kimi-chan, you're here too!"
"Y-Yeah Edie-san," stammered Ayako, tucking a short strand of her black bob over one ear.
"Hey Honey, these ladies gave me directions, but I'm a dummy so I got lost anyway," Edie knocked on her skull as if to prove it was hollow.
The trio froze. Kimiko, who was by far the dimmest of the three, began to contradict, "But, Edie-san we didn…"
Chizuko clamped a hand over Kimiko's mouth, "Hah, hah! Edie-san you're not stupid. This school is big. We should have just shown you ourselves," Chizuko said woodenly.
Honey wasn't foolish and suspected there was underlying drama behind the forced friendly exchange. Even so, Edie seemed to want to take care of it, so Honey smiled his boyish host grin. "You ladies are so nice. Edie's gonna have some cake with us, okay?"
"Good idea Honey!" the trio cheered because the cutest boy in the Host Club only had good ideas.
Honey climbed atop Mori's shoulders and allowed the giant to piggyback him to the table. The trio trailed behind with Edie. The co-presidents hissed under their breaths.
"What are you playing at?" Ayako whispered.
"Yeah, why did you lie?" Chizuko added.
Edie shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry I lied. I don't know why you didn't want me here and I don't care. I'm not mad at you. I just want us to be friends and you guys seem to like Honey-sempai a lot, so I lied."
Edie was, of course, still very mad, but it was true that she wanted to make female friends in Japan. Whether or not those friends would be those three remained to be seen, but Edie thought it best not to antagonize anyone just yet.
The Honey Bees stared down at Edie in shock. Not only had she forgiven them, but the little button was actually apologizing as well. Guilt clawed in the pits of their stomachs. Kimiko was the first to break.
"No, we should be sorry. We are sorry," she wept after she snatched Edie off the ground into a hug, rubbing her cheek against Edie's face.
"So, we can be friends?" Edie asked timidly.
Down went Ayako and Chizuko. They sped into the group hug. "So cute," they squealed," We'll be your friends forever."
Honey made Takashi turn around at the sound of Edie's delighted, twinkling laugh. She was incredible. Whatever tension the girls once held had vanished and Edie was being crushed in a loving embrace. But, Honey had already known that Edie was exceptional. Now it was his turn to make Edie see him. Honey tucked his cheek against Takashi's.
"You like her, don't you Mitskuni?" was Takashi's low rumble.
"Yeah, I really do," Honey mumbled.
Takashi nodded solemnly, "I'll help."
Honey squeezed Takashi's neck gently in appreciation. It was Host time.
Once the girl's took their seats, Honey gestured to his lei. "TADAH! I love these Balinese flowers. We had them flown in."
"Wow Honey, you're so cute," cooed the trio dutifully.
Mori approached, holding a pineapple. "Takashi!" Honey climbed up his friend so he could place another set of crimson flowers around Mori's neck, "Now we match!"
The trio applauded Honey and Edie choked slightly on her tea. The feminine flowers should have made Mori ridiculous, but instead the contrast between the fragile petals and his sculpted body made him impossibly more masculine.
Together the trio, Edie, and Honey chatted easily while Mori watched silently beside them. Honey and Edie were making quick work of the desserts before them.
"Wow Edie, who'd have thought there'd be someone who liked sweets as much as Honey?" Chizuko wondered.
Edie licked hazelnut brownie crumbs off her lips, but intentionally left the dot of cream that had miraculously landed on the tip of her nose. A messy kid was a cuter kid.
Honey saw the mess on Edie and squashed her cheeks with both hands to turn her face towards him. With the tip of his index finger he swabbed the cream off her nose and placed it in his mouth with a loud pop. "Yummy!" he exclaimed.
Edie colored with light embarrassment, but the trio awed and quickly smeared bits of cream on their own noses for Honey to clean off, which he did with gusto. Edie finally had to giggle at his silly actions and the girls' intense pleasure at them. Kimiko almost fainted when it was her turn. Mori then grabbed Honey and pulled him aside. The taller man passed something to Honey, that Edie couldn't quite see, but Honey soon bounded back to her side.
"Come here," Honey gestured for Edie to lean in closer.
She complied hesitantly and he produced a magenta Hibiscus flower which he slid behind her ear. His brown eyes twinkled before he withdrew and said, "Takashi just gave me this flower, but I knew it would look cuter on you. Doesn't Edie look pretty ladies?"
"You're so lucky Edie. You look adorable," Ayako said, slightly jealous, but still enchanted by Edie.
Edie pondered for a moment, then pulled the flower from her hair. "Thanks Honey, but I think Kimi-chan would look better with the flower. Her hair is such a pretty brown and she has all those cool curls."
Edie swept back the aforementioned curls and placed the flower in Kimiko's hair, then tapped the girl on the nose once for each syllable, "Beau-ti-ful."
Kimiko smiled, but looked hopefully towards Honey. She sought Honey's approval more than anything. He tilted his head sideways to study Kimiko. "You're right Edie-chan. Kimi-chan, you're so pretty." Honey gave two thumbs up.
The trio cheered and thanked their lucky stars that Edie had forgiven them. It had been a while since Honey had been this affectionate, but then, Edie and Honey played so well off each other. It was like getting two loli-types for the price of one.
At this point Edie and Honey had polished off most of the food. Although Edie wanted to spend a little more time absorbing Mori's strong and silent energy, she excused herself from the table to explore the man-made wilderness and watch the other hosts. She was used to people fawning over her childish behavior, but Ayako, Chizuko, and Kimiko seemed to be sexually attracted to Honey's babyish antics. It confused Edie. Watching their reactions made Edie wonder what the other hosts did to "entertain" guests.
Haruhi was humbly pouring tea and sharing stories about her family, while dropping subtle compliments for the girls. Where Haruhi was subtle, Tamaki was ostentatious. He was in full prince-mode, dipping his guests and talking about all the gallant undertakings he would do for them. It struck Edie that Tamaki behaved a lot like her brother Anthony. Both were chivalrous to a fault and slightly ridiculous.
Then, a particularly shrill outburst of girly screams drew Edie's attention to the twins. Hikaru, or was it Kaoru, was cupping his brother's chin and gazing lustfully into his eyes. The girls watching sighed about forbidden passionate love, but if Edie ever saw any of her brothers behaving that way, she would beat them over the head.
Kyoya was the only host without a following of estrogen to drool over him, so Edie decided to interrupt his rapid typing into the laptop. She flounced over to Kyoya's side, but said nothing, deciding to just observe him at close proximity. Kyoya didn't even bother to look up from his computer when he said, "Can I help you Miss Hale."
"Nope. You just seem to like observing everyone so much that I wanted to give it a try." She responded sweetly.
Kyoya deigned to look down with amusement to find her round eyes focusing up at him intently under a slightly crumpled brow. After a few seconds, Edie broke the stare and shrugged good-naturedly. "I don't think I see as much as you do," she said, plopping onto a chair directly across from him. Kyoya shut his laptop to see her better.
"So, Kyo-chan, why don't you have any guests? Aren't you lonely?" Edie tested.
"It isn't that I don't have guests. I just take on fewer than the others so that I can organize and manage the comings and goings of the club," he responded calmly.
Edie wanted to see what happened when his buttons were pushed so she got all wide-eyed with admiration. "Wow! Did you put together this entire Balinese jungle?"
Edie watched as Kyoya puffed ever so slightly with pride. "Yes. It was Tamaki's idea, but I admit that much of the execution was left to my hands."
"Gee Kyo-chan. You sure are cool. Everything looks so real."
"Naturally the Host Club prides itself on offering its guests authenticity. Everything from the plants to the animals to the costumes was shipped here from Bali."
Got him! "Hmmmm… that's strange. I could have sworn that the butterfly that landed on me earlier was Marpesia berania. That species is from Brazil, not Bali silly."
Kyoya clenched his fists and a light flashed dangerously on the lens of his glasses. He was furious when the insect broker had brought in the crate of those blasted orange butterflies, but Tamaki must have butterflies! So that's what it looks like when a snowman loses his cool. Edie crowed to herself.
"Yes, well there was a mix up at the butterfly pavilion and there was no time to remedy it. I apologize if my mistake shattered the illusion for you." Kyoya said.
"Ruined it? Not at all, the butterfly was my favorite part. You did really well today," Edie batted her eyelashes.
Kyoya eyed her more intently, but seemed to accept the compliment because his next words were better controlled. "May I say you are quite fascinating? You know so much about insect origins and from what I saw over there," he gestured to Honey's table, "you are quite adept at handling people."
Edie feigned innocence, "Handling? I was just making friends. I do like insects though. Oooh, can you add that to my file? Pretty please?"
Kyoya smirked as Edie got up to leave, "It would be my pleasure Miss Hale."
Edie returned to Honey's hosting area. For the next hour Honey presented a string of his fawning fans, one after another. It seemed an endless parade of adoration, each more ga-ga for Honey than the last. Most greeted Edie warmly, but others were decidedly wary. Edie had to admit that it was impressive just how many girls expressed undying love for Honey.
Even so, when Kyoya finally closed the doors on the last guest, Edie was relieved. How did the rest of them manage to entertain that many people every day after school? Edie offered to help, but Honey and Mori insisted on cleaning their section alone, telling her to go explore. A quick glance around the room revealed to Edie that once again, Tamaki was pouting. He was slurping ramen noodles off at a side table and bitter gloom hazed around his head. From what Edie could gather, one of Tamaki's guests had jumped ship and requested Haruhi. Haruhi attempted to make amends. "Sorry sempai, I didn't know she was a host-hopper."
The twins advanced upon Haruhi with a crafty sparkle in their eyes. "You know, the boss would cheer right up if you just called him Daddy," Hikaru suggested.
"I already have one father and I don't need another," Haruhi grumbled.
"What is that about? Do Japanese boys like being called 'Daddy' or something?" Edie wondered.
Hikaru and Kaoru had a telepathic conversation and decided that the foreigner already looked like a doll, so she might as well be their new toy. Hikaru grinned wolfishly, "That's right Edie-sempai. When Japanese girls like a guy friend and really respect him. They call him Daddy."
Edie pondered this. It was sort of strange, but who was she to question a foreign custom.
"I can't believe Tamaki-sempai is this upset just because I stole Miss Kasaguzaki," Haruhi said.
"Shut up!" Tamaki snapped, "It's time for you to go back to being a girl! How can you be so popular with the ladies when you yourself are one? Now listen to Daddy! Daddy wants his little girl to look like this again," Tamaki whined after whipping out a large portrait of Haruhi with long hair.
"Don't go blowing up my photos without asking!" Haruhi blustered.
Edie tiptoed towards the photo for closer inspection. "Haru-chan, you look really pretty with long hair."
"Yes my princess. That's it! Princess Edie, turn my daughter back into a girl please," Tamaki begged, his eyes watery with tears of gratitude.
"Look, before school started, some gum got stuck in my hair, so I cut it off. I didn't and still don't care if I look like a dude," Haruhi slumped in exasperation.
"Dude?! A lady should never refer to herself as dude. Mommy, Haruhi is using dirty words again!" Tamaki wailed while collapsing to a weepy mess on the floor.
"Who is Mommy?" Kaoru wondered.
"I suppose based on club position, that would be me," Kyoya admitted begrudgingly.
Edie giggled, drawing Honey and Mori back to the group, "Yeah Kyo-chan! You seem totally maternal," Edie praised in her most sincere voice.
Kyoya flashed his glasses at Edie again, but she chose to ignore his murderous aura. Haruhi finally took pity on Tamaki. "It will make it easier for me to repay my debt if I stay a boy. That's the only reason I'm like this, okay sempai?"
"Hate to interrupt, but do you have formal dance experience, Haruhi? You'll need it for the party," Kaoru interjected.
"Party?" Edie whispered to Honey.
"The Host Club is sponsoring a ball. I was going to invite you later," Honey whispered back.
"No, I don't. But the party doesn't have anything to do with my quota, right?" Haruhi sweated nervously.
Tamaki's brain sparked with an idea. "Nonsense, a gentleman must excel at formal dance. Haruhi, I order you to master the waltz in a week. If you fail to demonstrate it at the dance next week, I will expose to everyone that you are a girl!" Tamaki declared.
"Poor Haru-chan," Edie sympathized while Honey and Mori nodded in agreement.
"Speaking of the ball, it will be the perfect opportunity to unveil our newest host," Kyoya said.
All eyes darted to Kyoya. Closing his laptop and tucking it under one arm, Kyoya continued, "Miss Hale shall become our first openly female host. I've been looking for a way to gain revenue from the male student body, but it appears that Edie will be popular with the female clientele as well."
Edie stayed silent as the entire room erupted with exuberant agreement. Tamaki was sure that Edie's feminine air would rub off on Haruhi, the twins were ecstatic to have closer proximity to their newest bauble, and Haruhi was relieved there would finally be another voice of reason in the club. Honey simply wanted to spend as much time as possible with Edie, and Mori simply wanted whatever would make Honey happy. The rabble continued as Edie formed her own opinions on the subject.
"No," Edie finally said.
For the second time in one day, Edie Hale had managed to stun the rambunctious host club into silence. Kyoya stepped forward to stand toe-to-toe with Edie. "I'm sorry Miss Hale. What did you say?" Kyoya was unaccustomed to rejection from anyone, but his father.
"I said no," Edie chirped brightly, "I don't want to be a host. Having to perform everyday? Bleh."
Tamaki outstretched his arms and said, "No Edie, you would just have to be yourself at the Host Club. People like you for who you truly…"
Kyoya silenced Tamaki's heart-felt appeal. He didn't have any dirt on Edie yet, but that didn't mean that he couldn't intimidate her. Kyoya loomed over Edie's diminutive form, pushing the deadly purple haze around them both. "Perhaps you don't understand Miss Hale. I am the youngest son of the Ootori family. My father practically owns the Japanese medical field and commands his own private police force. Needless to say, but if you want to set up a chain of gyms here in Japan, you would do well not to upset my family."
Honey didn't like watching Edie get picked on, even if it was his friend doing the picking, so he began to step forward, only to be held back by Mori's hand on his shoulder. The air around Edie had changed from bubbles to acid. She didn't know how Kyoya had found out why her parents sent her to Japan, and she didn't care. Honey's parents were supposed to be the only ones who knew. Edie broke down into a fit of laughter. It wasn't her usual twinkling chatter, but throatier, edgier.
Edie wiped a tear from her eye. "Wait, teehee, you mean to tell me that if I don't become a host you'll tell your daddy on me?" Kyoya drew back slightly as Edie laughed even harder, "Oh Kyo-chan, you are too funny."
Edie suddenly sobered and spoke softly like a volcano about to erupt, "Between you and me, I'm pretty sure my daddy can crush yours any day of the week."
Edie smiled brightly as if her mask covering her lethal interior had never slipped. She jumped into the air and lightly tapped Kyoya's nose, "Boop!" she sang cheerfully.
She landed gracefully, and then breezed past a stunned and slightly terrified host club.
"I'll be waiting in the car Honey-sempai. It was super to meet you all. See you guys tomorrow okay?" Edie waved as the double doors shut behind her.
The first words belonged to the twins, spoken in unison on an exhale, "My hero."
Edie Hale had just "booped" the shadow king and she had survived.