A Drizzle of Honey Chapter 8
Author's note:
Hello everyone. Yikes, last week was crazy so I could only manage to upload once. Fear not! I will make it up to you by posting thrice this week (sorry three times, I just like the word thrice...). I also put this back at the start because I worried that people wouldn't read it at the end and I want everyone to know how incredibly grateful I am to all my readers and especially my reviewers. Your support and criticisms mean the world to me. Okay I own nothing! Onto to the story.
Mori was gutted. He and Honey kneeled before each other in the Ouran Kendo Gymnasium. They were both clad in kendogi* and hakama*, their bogu* and shinai* laid by their sides. Any outsiders viewing this tense and solemn scene would suspect a battle was about to begin. The truth was much more distressing to Mori. He knew that he had to tell Honey about Edie's undesired confession. He just had no idea to go about wounding one's best friend. A trickle of guilt sweat was accumulating on the back of his neck. Gathering strength from his clenched fists in his lap, Mori opened his mouth to begin the longest sentence he intended to use for the rest of the week.
Honey interrupted before Mori could even utter a single syllable, "I know what happened last night."
Mori's stomach felt like it was trying to digest the world, "You do?" Mori winced.
"Edie told me all about it. You refused her, but I'm guessing you still feel guilty. Am I right?" Honey's eyes searched his friend's face.
Mori lowered his head in shame and to escape his cousin's insightful laser vision. Honey crawled forward on hands and knees like an infant. Mori's chest nearly collapsed with gratitude when Honey curled in his lap. A blonde head rested against his shoulder.
"I would forgive you, but I can't. You didn't do anything wrong. Nobody is to blame. We just walked right into a crappy situation," Honey was shooting comfort into Mori's heart.
Usually Mori preferred to remain passive during his cousin's displays of affection. Today though, he had to weave his fingers through the golden waves of hair. Mori didn't really like people. It wasn't that he was filled with a vehement distaste for humanity, more that nobody mattered as much as one person. He was wholly devoted to Honey. People say it was written in his genes, passed down from centuries of Morinozuka servitude to the Haninozuka empire. That wasn't true. Honey just deserved devotion. He was kind, strong, and a fantastic leader. If Mori loved him any more he would probably be in love with Honey. Now, Mori's favorite person was braving heartbreak and there was little he could do.
"You okay?" the giant asked.
"I will be. Besides, it is never too late for love. I'm hopeful," Honey sighed.
They spent the rest of the lunch period training together, breathing synchronously and trading blows. Hikaru and Kaoru kidnapped Edie to eat with Haruhi today. For now all everything felt almost normal, but both boys knew that come hosting hours, complete chaos was in store.
"For the last time, I am not a member of the Host Club!" this was Edie's thirteenth tantrum of the day.
From the moment she first stepped foot on campus, boys with varying degrees of sleaze had been sidling up to her. For some reason, becoming a host was synonymous for begging to be hit on. Let it be known that it was open season for Edie and every acne-scarred male on the campus got the memo.
The particular youth before Edie was especially obnoxious. If the kid had a theme it would be slimy. He was thin as an arrow, but still managed to ooze wherever he went. The way he glomped onto Edie and refused to be removed matched the description as well.
"That's really funny baby. Look, I'm going to book you for your first appointment everyday until the end of the year. You're exactly my style," he trickled a hand down her hair and aimed for her shoulder.
Edie stepped back before he reached the target, "Go ahead and try! I'm never stepping foot in that club ever again, and do you know why?! Because I am not a member and I would rather press cacti in my eyes then entertain you!"
"Oh yeah! Score! That sweet and spicy act is gonna go over great with your guests. I dig it."
Edie's exasperated hmph could not have been more emphatic. She threw her arms to her side and stomped as far away as her feet could take her. She was going to pick one of the thousands of rooms in this ridiculous excuse for a school and hide out until Honey could take her home. No, even better, she would wait until club was over and then torture the shadow king with hot needles. She almost laughed at the thought, but was still too furious. She pulled open door after door until she finally revealed an empty classroom.
She chose a desk in the rear corner furthest away from the window. Edie wanted to do her homework and nurse her anger. Determined, differential equations were soon removed from her bag. GRRR…most kids didn't learn this stuff until college, but no, her parents put her up in a damned rich school full of frivolous fools. Every number she scrawled was paired with a nasty name for Kyoya. She worked herself into such a huff that Edie tore a whole in the paper with the tip of her pencil.
"GAH!" Edie pushed her chair from the desk and folded her arms in a snit.
Edie never ran from a fight, not once. She faced her enemies and ripped them into shreds when necessary. But were was she now? Alone in a dark classroom, hiding from sexually frustrated schoolboys and the puppet master that seemed to manipulate the entire school. It was enough to make her sick.
Flames smoldered behind her eyes as she stewed. Finally she decided. She was going to face that abominable snowman and put an end to all this. Onward she marched, not losing one inch of her righteous fury. She reached the music room door and kicked it open with a cacophonous bang.
"Ootori, we need to talk!" Edie roared.
A lonely wind rambled through the completely deserted clubroom. Where the heck was everyone? Edie deflated slightly. What a waste.
Suddenly a door at the end of the space creaked open eerily. Out of the black hole the door revealed, a cloaked figure manipulating a cat puppet partially emerged. Edie would have been afraid if she wasn't well aware that she could kick the ass of any average yahoo.
"Sorry, did I disturb you?" Edie was slightly embarrassed of her maverick kick now that some of her bluster was lost.
"The Host Club is celebrating a flower festival in the gardens. You'll find them there," the cloaked figure's voice was low and creepy, but obviously he wasn't so bad a character if he was willing to help.
"Thanks for the tip," Edie started to leave and spoke over her shoulder, "By the way, I like your cat."
"You aren't afraid of Beelzenef?" his shocked tone paused her exit.
"No way. He seems pretty cool. I guess I've always been a bit of a cat person," Edie approached the mysterious puppet-wielder.
"I sense a kindred darkness in you. My name is Umehito Nekozawa, president of the Black Magic Club," he bowed majestically.
Edie wasn't sure about the darkness, but the kindred thing sounded nice. She returned the bow, then gave her patented sunshine smile as she introduced, "I'm Edie Hale, but you can call me Edie."
Unfortunately, she was not aware that Nekozawa was petrified of sunshine. He hissed when her bright, beaming grin struck his face.
"Murder! I was wrong!" he gasped in pain and slammed the creaky door.
"Sorry?"
Edie had been in the school long enough to accept that students were often eccentric and sometimes downright weird. She shrugged off the rejection and made her way outside. Sure enough the Host Club walked among falling pink cherry blossoms. The blooms dusted the hair of both the beautiful boys and the excited guests. For some unknown reason half the club wore traditional clothing while the others were dressed like wait-staff.
Edie scanned the crowd and zeroed in on the target of her rage. Kyoya was peddling glamor shots of hosts to swooning girls about twenty feet in front of her. His crisp waiter outfit highlighted his impossibly long legs and the height they gave him. Edie was going to cut him down to size. She pushed up her sleeves and made her way towards the lizard. However, her slimy admirer from earlier oozed into her path.
"Baby, you're here. I was waiting for you. Shall we kiss under the falling flowers?" His fingers slicked back his long hair from his face as his eyebrows wagged suggestively.
Interrupting a Hale going into battle was a wise decision. A swift kick to the shin was enough to make him see the error of his ways. He doubled over in anguish while she patted his back gently.
"Oops. Sorry about that," she sparkled a smile at him to ensure he wouldn't press charges later.
She continued on her way until she reached Kyoya. "We need to talk," she spat.
Kyoya pushed up his glasses and addressed the girls he had just been pitching to, "Excuse me ladies. It appears our newest host requires my attention."
"It's fine Kyoya-sempai," they said together.
Edie put Kyoya in a subtle wristlock in order to drag him away. Her grip was tight and firm, not enough to break his wrist, but enough that she was sure he was feeling discomfort. They rounded the garden gate before she released him and seized the collar of his black servant vest. She yanked him downward till he was near bent in half and at her eye-level.
"I don't like people who play dirty, Ootori," she growled.
Kyoya smoothly removed her fingers from his clothing and stood grinning and unruffled. "No 'Kyo-chan' today? Oh goodie, I'm glad we're finally getting serious."
"You rat! You lied to the whole school, lied about me, and you aren't even a little ashamed."
"I said you were a host and now everyone believes me. People are already requesting your company and your school pictures are selling like wildfire on the Host Club website. Should I be ashamed of turning a profit? The only one who doesn't believe you're a host is you. Why do you still fight your fate?"
"Have you had a total break from reality? You can't force me to be something I'm not. You can't sell my photos without my permission and you certainly cannot make money off of selling my company."
"And yet I am making buckets of cash off you."
Edie punched him in the gut. She didn't put in her full strength for fear of exploding his liver, but he still contracted his torso and heaved and huffed. It wasn't until his coughing died down that Edie made her point.
"I am no escort and I will not let you pimp me out to every sicko who wants female attention," he was close enough that she barely had to speak above a threatening whisper.
"I will not rescind what I said," Kyoya glowered.
"And I will not be a host, so be prepared to become a known liar."
She turned and walked coolly away. She passed by the gate of the gardens and Hikaru and Kaoru called out to her.
"Edie! We have a present for you. A hosting uniform for your first day!" Kaoru waved a skimpy maid outfit in the air.
"Not today guys," Edie waved a edgy goodbye.
"What's up with her?" Hikaru asked his brother.
Kaoru shook his head, "Should we go after her?"
Tamaki overheard and placed a hand on each of the twins' shoulders. "Let me go," he offered then ran off to follow Edie.
His long strides allowed him to catch up to her quickly. He darted around her and began to walk backwards in front of her. "What's up, beloved daughter of mine?"
Edie tried her best not to roll her eyes. "No offense Tama-chan, but I really don't want to talk from anyone from the host club right now."
"Ah, I see," Tamaki rubbed his chin knowingly continuing his backwards stride, "You are upset about Kyoya's announcement."
"He is so, so… insufferable," Edie stopped her marching forward when Tamaki almost tripped over a garden hedge.
"Wow big words," he teased.
Tamaki gestured towards a bench and they sat next to each other, studying a fountain depicting a urinating boy. "Shut up," Edie said gently.
"I have a feeling no one has asked this, but why are you so against being a host?" Tamaki studied her face, but Edie continued to stare at the water feature.
"This school is ridiculous. The exuberance of the architecture," she gestured towards the fountain, "the difficulty of the curriculum, and above all the shallow student body are just unbelievable and not in a good way."
"That doesn't answer my question," Tamaki observed.
"It sort of does. The only reason why you or anyone in this school wants me to be a host is because of the way I look. I'm small and cute. Not proud of it, I just am. I'm nothing more than a sideshow for this school that is obsessed with keeping up appearances," Edie looked down at her lap and kicked up some of the loose gravel under the bench.
"That's not true," Tamaki said.
Edie finally looked at him. "It is though! Everyone is putting up a façade here, even me. They just look at the surface level. I have fought my entire life to get people to see that I am more than what I look like. It is the toughest battle I've ever fought, so I'm not about to join a club that will undermine me."
Tamaki saw the hurt in her eyes. He understood better than most what it meant to fight expectations. Being the bastard child of the Suoh family ensured that. He made the Host Club to escape from that struggle. Edie was searching his face for understanding, but Tamaki was a master host, so his face betrayed none of his feelings. She sighed dejectedly and slumped backwards against the bench.
"I never wanted you to be a host because you were cute. There are plenty of cute girls in this school and none of them were asked to join. I didn't want you because you were small either, you are, but that doesn't matter," Edie rolled her eyes while he continued, "I wanted you to be a host because you're smart. People are drawn to you and you know how to handle it. Edie, you can make people happy, boys and girls. That's all that hosting is."
"Maybe you want that, but the rest of the school won't see it like that. They'll see me as just another cute toy of the Host Club to coo and coddle," Edie blushed slightly at his compliments.
"They don't have to. Being a host means you can be anyone you want. If you don't want to be a toy then become the kind of host that no one would toy with. You're clever you can figure it out."
Tamaki's earnest gaze was a little overwhelming for Edie, so she looked at the fountain once more while she gathered her thoughts. "You're not nearly as clueless as you pretend to be," she finally said.
"Clueless? My dear Edie, Daddy has no idea what you could be talking about," Tamaki winked.
She couldn't help, but to giggle as she nudged him with her shoulder. "I think Haruhi would like this side of you, Tama-chan. The intelligent and capable Host Club president. I'll be rooting for you guys."
Edie had noticed Tamaki's adoration for the cross-dressing girl since almost the first day she met the host club. It was Tamaki's turn to blush.
"You should join the Host Club," a mumble was all he could manage with his current level of embarrassment.
Edie pondered some more in the comfortable silence that followed. Joining the Host Club would mean she could spend more time with Honey, Hikaru, and Kaoru. She would love that, but it also meant she would see Mori more often. After the ball, she expected that seeing him again in class today would be more painful, yet it felt more like awkward than anguish. She could deal with awkward. It would probably fade with time. Maybe she could even get used to the fawning guests. At least they would come with cake.
Perhaps becoming a host might even be fun if it weren't for one very important thing. She would have to let Kyoya win. Apologizing for brash behavior was one thing, but this time she had the moral high ground. She wasn't about to let that go to waste.
She was pulled from her pondering when Tamaki rose to his feet and brushed his hair back from his face. "Well, duty calls," His violet eyes sparkled from the sun beams reflecting off the water.
"Back to your sea of adoring fans, you must go," Edie rose two.
"Think about what I said," Tamaki ruffled Edie's hair and eased his way back to the cherry tree garden.
She watched his retreating form be eclipsed by pink petals. It was true, he did give her a lot to think about.
Glossary:
Kendogi: This is the gi that covers the upper body of kendoka (people who practice kendo)
Hakama: The loose pleated pants worn by kendoka
Bogu: The armor used in kendo
Shinai: The sword used in kendo