PHEW. I am not very good with setting description, it took me so long to do this. Oh well, it was fun!
AWWWWW POOR KAT! I gave her a part she wan't so good... she pouted SO KAWAIIIIIII sorry Imouto {;
We don't own Ouran... too bad.
The soft pat of Haruhi's shoes echoed throughout the empty hallway leading from her bedroom to the main stairway. Arte and Atsuko had been in a rush that morning, excited about a tour that Kotoko was planning on taking the guests on, and so they were a bit more gentle in waking her up, too rushed to do it properly. Not that Haruhi was going to bring this to their attention.
Stepping off the stairs and into the main lobby, Haruhi was overcome by the sweet scent of chocolate chip pancakes and sausages wafting in from the kitchen. Taking the hallway to the right of the stairway, Haruhi entered the vast dining room, complete with with complete with an unnecessarily large dining table, adorned with a lace tablecloth. Haruhi groaned inwardly, knowing that she would have to be exceedingly careful to not get any stains on it. I miss the filthy life of a commoner already.
"HARUHI!" shrieked Tamaki, leaping up from his place on the right of the table, surrounded on all sides by the other hosts and Kasanoda. Kyoya instantly reached up, yanking him back down into his seat by the collar. Tamaki let out a choked, gurgling noise as he continued to try to pry himself free from Kyoya's grasp, though no one seem to noticed, as all eyes were fixed on Haruhi expectantly. Even Artemis and Atsuko, who were sitting in seats opposite the boys, looked up at her with curious gazes. Haruhi sighed, sitting to Atsuko's left. "Alright, I'm guessing you all have questions."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Honey asked, looking up at Haruhi with a hurt expression. "It's not nice to hide things from your friends, y'know."
"I didn't know, or else I would have," Haruhi replied reassuringly, suddenly feeling guilty. She would have to learn to harden herself up more, it wouldn't do to be manipulated so easily.
"Oh, sure. Then what's with the whole leaving-us-behind-to-die-of-worry thing?" Hikaru snapped before turning away from her, glaring into the distance.
"Yeah, that was really cruel." Kaoru agreed, turning in the opposite direction, brows furrowing as he frowned deeply.
"Look, I just wanted to test the waters. I knew if I told you, you would follow me. Granted, the plan to keep it a secret backfired, but…" Haruhi trailed off, realizing no one was convinced. "I just wanted to spend some time with my mom, alright?" she muttered, shifting in her chair slightly.
There was an uneasy silence, before Kyoya spoke up. He looked like he was in pain, as if his over-the-phone defeat was still troubling him, but his voice remained even. "Your mother explained everything to us after you left. Your reaction was...understandable. I'm sure we all would have acted just as irrationally if one of our dead relatives were to pop up on our doorstep." Kasanoda shuddered slightly at the mention of Kotoko.
"Your mother seems just as protective as your father," Kasanoda noted quietly, "though she is far more skilled at convincing others to leave you be." He shuddered again, grimacing slightly.
Haruhi smiled lightly, feeling pride for her mother, before turning to Atsuko and Artemis. "Where did you two disappear to yesterday after I left to escort Nekozawa, anyways?" she asked. That whole day was very odd, especially after she left Nekozawa at the infirmirary. When she had returned, the hosts were being escorted away by guards, their faces paler than usual, and her ladies-in-waiting were no where to be found. Her grandmother, however, had apparently been waiting for her, and sat her down so they could talk while having tea. She remembered how nice it was, sitting on a couch with the light of the setting sun giving the world an orange tinge. Her grandmother's white hair looked as if it were covered in twinkling embers, and her eyes twinkled gleefully. She spoke softly, voice cracking every now and then, like the pops of an open fire place. Haruhi couldn't help but feel at ease next to such a graceful person. She had spent the afternoon with her grandmother, and the rest was spent trying to find the two girls, but they seemed to have disappeared until morning.
"You're grandmother sent us off to buy a whole bunch of things for this mornings breakfast which, by the way, you missed, sleeping beauty," Artemis noted, reaching over to prod Haruhi's arm with her spoon.
"Yeah, it was a huge pain! She made us get a lot of weird things too, like apple jam. I didn't even know that was a thing!" Atsuko piped up. She sounded annoyed, but also a bit wondrous, as if she still couldn't get over the revelation that apples could, in fact, be turned into jam. "She also-"
"Good morning, dear!" Kotoko cooed as she entered the room, arms spread wide as she enveloped her daughter in a tight hug. "How'd you sleep?'
The boys cowered away from her slightly, focusing intently on the crumb-filled plates in front of them. "Fine, thank you." Haruhi replied giving a small hug back.
"Oh, I see you were late to breakfast. I could have the cooks make you something or-"
"It's fine," Haruhi said hurriedly, "I'm still full from dinner. It's alright."
Kotoko smiled softly before turning to face everyone equally, hands clasped together. "Alright, who's ready to explore the city?"
Haruhi drank in Sconosciuto eagerly, relishing the old fashioned buildings with red roofs and a variety of lightly-colored walls. Haruhi personally liked the ivory and tan ones better, since they gave off a more simple, classical feel to them. The shutters on most of the buildings were flung wide open, filling the streets with a soft chatter from inside the old stores and homes. The cobbled streets were filled with pedestrians, and were lined with black, metal fences, baskets of flowers hanging off of the bars. Tamaki hovered protectively near Haruhi, their shoulders brushing lightly. He learned to keep as large a distance as he possibly could manage in his state of excitement after the first couple of times he was smacked by either Kyoya, Haruhi, or Artemis.
"Oh, look over there!" Artemis cried excitedly, pointing to one of the few builidngs with blue painted walls as well a dark blue roof. "That place has the best tea in the world! And their pastries aren't half bad either." She looked over at Haruhi with pleading eyes, tugging at her sleeve slightly.
Haruhi sighed, but allowed herself to be dragged away, giving a small wave to the bodyguards that kept a watch from the distance. One of them broke away from the group of three, leaving the front of the store where Kotoko had entered.
Behind the building, a small, wooden fence blocked off a deep forest, its trees growing close together, pressing and pushing against one another in a slow battle for more sunlight. Haruhi paused, knowing that a smaller village sat just opposite the woods. Kotoko wanted her daughter to experience the city life, but Haruhi couldn't help but feel a bit curious about what the rest of the country's life was like. Motioning for Atsuko and Artemis to cover for her, Haruhi grabbed Mori, Honey, and Kyoya, dragging them towards the broken down fence while Atsuko race over to distract the bodyguard, bombarding him with questions about the scent of a cheap perfume, spraying it wildly in the air.
"What are you doing?" Kyoya snapped, glancing back nervously at the store that Kotoko had entered.
"Learning more about the country, of course." Haruhi responded calmly, quickly hopping over the fence before bolting towards the forest. "I'd like to get to know a bit more about it and the people's views on my family."