Chapter 9: Brownie Points

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock, and I turned on to my side, letting it beep away. Eventually, I got annoyed enough at the sound to slam my hand down on the button. I lay in bed a bit before dragging myself out of bed and into the bathroom.

I washed my face and stared at myself in the mirror, taking notice of the dark bags forming under my eyes. I sighed and looked to my left. There was the bag of beauty products my aunt had bought for me on my last birthday. An attempt at making me more feminine, no doubt. I pulled out the concealer and dabbed some under my eyes. I may be a tomboy, but I do have a girly side. I know enough about make-up to use the basics, but if you ever see me with an eyelash curler stand back, things might get out of hand.

After I finished applying the skin-colored liquid, I tossed the tube back in the bag and started brushing my teeth.

I took my time swirling the toothpaste over my pearly whites as I thought over which brownies to make.

'Hmm, Caramel Fudge or Pecan Swirl?' I thought as I spat in the sink and tossed my toothbrush in its holder. 'Pecan is more of a mature flavor, and I'm sure Honey would rather have Caramel.' I nodded at my decision and walked into my closet.

I threw my pajamas onto the floor and got dressed in a T-shirt and shorts.

After I was dressed, I took a quick look in the mirror. My hair was a rat's nest.

I rolled my eyes and began untangling the knots but was getting nowhere fast.

I sighed, then had an idea. I threw my hair up into a ponytail the wrapped it into a small messy bun. I took out my handheld mirror and looked it over.

'Not bad,' I thought, looking at it from different angles, 'but I'll have to think of something for school. Maybe, just fancy it up with a hairclip?' I shook my head.

"Whatever," I said, placing the handheld mirror on the counter and leaving.

I galloped down the stairs and into the kitchen. To my surprise, Georgina wasn't there. I look around then shrugged when she was nowhere to be found.

'Brownies are easier than cakes, so this won't take too long; I shouldn't need her help.' I thought as I preheated the oven to 350°F. Then I got out the fudge and other ingredients. I started on the caramel first then began mixing the ingredients for the brownies.

As I stirred and mixed, I remembered the last time I had made this recipe. It was for Hero's previous birthday party about a month ago. He pretended not to care, but he seemed happy that I was there to celebrate with him. I had missed his last one because I was in America.

Then I remembered that I had promised the triplets that I would make them for their birthday next month.

'Would I get the chance?' I thought as I felt a sharp pain in my heart. I quickly shook the thought out of my head and tried to remain concentrated on what I was doing.

I poured the brownie mix into the pan, then, after they were in the oven, I shuffled upstairs and got dressed for school.

I came back down and could smell the sweet scent of chocolate. Once in the kitchen, I found Georgina and Hinata practically drooling over my brownies.

"Hands off," I said, and they turned towards me with guilty smiles.

"Oh good morning Miss Sohma," Hinata said,

"Yes, good mornin' Missy," Georgina seconded. "Are these for that fella you like?" She teased with a grin.

"No," I said a little irritated as I took the brownies out of the oven, "I don't have a fella. These are just for some friends of mine at school."

"Sure, sure," they said, nodding their heads disbelievingly.

I rolled my eyes and placed the pan on the counter. I spread on a layer of fudge and poured lines of caramel over it, then I put the lid on top and turned to Georgina.

"Make sure that Chris remembers to bring these with him after school and don't eat any of them."

"Of course, Miss," she replied, "Have a good day at school." I smiled and nodded. I skipped out to the car and told Chris about the brownies on the way to school.

He dropped me off at the front gate, and I walked briskly to my first class; I was running a little late.

When I walked into the room, none of the girls stared at me, a few glanced but quickly looked away. I shrugged it off and took my seat, as I did, I glanced over at Misawa. She had a strange expression like pleasure and wasn't looking my way.

'Uh-oh, what's she got up her sleeve now,' I thought, getting out my things, then the teacher called the class to order.

Class went by smoothly, in fact, too smoothly. Not just Misawa, but all the girls left me alone. When the girl on my left dropped her eraser, I picked it up to hand it back, but she just ignored me, so I place the eraser on the edge of her desk.

When the lunch bell rang, I had thoroughly become bothered.

'Okay, that's it,' I thought, tapping Shiori Maeda's shoulder, the girl who sat in front of me.

She has short orange hair, freckles, and a sweet voice. Maeda is the overly kind and helpful type, so what happened next confused me. She turned around and froze.

"Yes?" she asked, nervously with a half-smile. I was about to ask her what was going on when I heard a cough on my right. Maeda quickly turned back around. I looked to my right at Misawa, who sat looking at a magazine with her lips tilted into a slight grin. This irritated me a bit so I scowled at her then left the classroom.

I stopped at my locker and was heading to my lunch spot when-

"Psst!" I turned towards the noise to see Maeda waving me over to her. She was hiding around the corner.

"Yes?" I asked, then she bowed very low.

"I'm sorry, Sohma-san," she said rushed, "I wanted to tell you sooner, but you were late, and Misawa was already there and-"

"Whoa, slow down," I said; she stood up straight and stopped to take a breath.

"What are you talking about?"

"This was in every girl's locker this morning," she said, reaching in her pocket and pulling out a slip of paper. I took it from her, unfolded it, and read what was written.

Any girl who talks to Sohma will be ignored or worse.

"I see," I said, refolding it and shoving it in my pocket. I looked back up at her. She seemed uneasy.

"Thanks for telling me. You'd better shove off before someone sees you talking to me," I said kindly; she grinned apologetically but glad.

"Thank you," she said, bowing and rushing off to the lunchroom.

I continued my walk as I thought over ways of dealing with my bully situation.

'Normally, I would have just gotten her back by roughing her up, but here, in this prissy-pants school, I'd probably send her to the ICU just for giving her a fist across her left cheek. Ugh, rich kids suck, can't like 'em enough to be friends, but can't hate them enough to hurt 'em; lest ye want to end up in prison.' No solutions came to mind, at least, nothing legal.

I walked into the garden area and took a seat under my tree.

I sat there, nibbling on my lunch for a few minutes when, suddenly, I saw a large shadow out of the corner of my eye as somebody took a seat next to me.

"Oh my gosh!" I jumped, choking on the bite of the sandwich in my mouth.

"Sorry," Mori said as I coughed and swallowed.

"No, it's alright, you just startled me," I said, taking a drink from my water bottle then turning to him. He was watching me. I smiled.

"Afternoon, Mori," I said, trying to be sociable; he nodded in response. I smiled wryly and continued eating my lunch. Then a thought crossed my mind, and I looked around, searching for a missing short blonde. "Ne," I said, turning towards him, "Where's Honey today, I thought you two were best pals?"

"I told him to have lunch without me today," he answered.

"What for?" I asked, confused.

"I didn't tell him anything you told me yesterday. I didn't think that you wanted me to."

"Oh, well," I said, looking down at my food, "yeah."

It was silent for a bit as I finished the sandwich in my hands.

"So," he said when I was done eating and I looked back up at him. He appeared to be watching me intently, waiting.

"Why do you think your mother hates you?" He asked, continuing our conversation from yesterday.

"Still stuck on that one," I sighed, taking a swig from my water bottle.

"You said we could talk about it," he said, sounding a little confused.

"I said maybe," I replied with a sharp undertone leaking into my voice that I hadn't intended to be there. He was quiet for a bit.

"You don't want to talk about it?" He guessed.

"Not really," I answered, trying to sound indifferent but failing.

"Then," he continued, and I glanced his way, "You don't want to talk about it with me." I noticed his features move slightly to something softer, almost like disappointment.

'Hmm, an odd expression. Had I hurt his feelings?' I wondered, turning towards him slightly, 'Well... now that I'm really looking at him, I guess it's not that he's totally expressionless, it's that his expressions are so subtle that you often miss them. I'll just have to pay close attention to his face while we're speaking from now on.'

His facial expression shifted to confusion and I realized that my eyebrows were press together in concentration. I softened my expression.

"It's not that I don't want to talk about it with you," I said, getting my mind back on track with our conversation. "It's just that I don't really like talking about at all. Yesterday, I only told you because you were getting on my nerves... It's not exactly something easy to talk about." My voice had gotten quieter, and I'm sure there was a slight frown setting into my lips.

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it." He said, staring into the gardens. "But," he paused as his eyes turned back to mine. They glinted with something more meaningful in them. "I thought you seemed to be under a lot of... stress." I raised one eyebrow and listened intently to him.

"When Honey feels stressed, he always talks to me about it. He says it makes him feel better. I thought that, if you talked about it to me, you might feel better." He finished.

Then the snickers began; I burst out laughing, my one hand holding my middle and the other over my mouth; I couldn't breathe.

'Such a simple notion! I thought he seemed like more of the silent one in deep thought. This was the most I had ever heard him talk and he is comparing me to the happy little elf-child know as Honey.'

Mori watched me, eyes wide, surprised by my reaction.

"I'm sorry," I managed, "but that caught me a bit off guard." I finished my laughing and sighed. "Do you really think that I'm anything like Honey?" I asked a few laughs escaping under my breath. He didn't respond to that.

After a bit of silence, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in and out. "You know," I finally said mostly mumbling to myself, "I've already told you about some of what's bothering me, why not fill in some more gaps." I leaned back, took in a deep breath, and held it.

I listened to hear his deep breathing beside me as I prepared myself to retell the tragic story of my past.

'Here goes nothing,' I thought, releasing the breath.

"I killed my brother," I said, listening for a change in his breathing; none was present. I opened my eyes and looked at him. He had the same expressionless look on his face. "You don't believe me," I said plainly with a slight, sarcastic grin.

Still no response.

"Well, I did, and that's the biggest reason behind why my mother hates me," I said, taking another bite of sandwich.

He was silent for a minute.

"How?" he finally asked.

"Fire." I stated, and I saw his eyebrows twitch up a bit. 'Yes, he does have reactions just very subtle ones, but I don't know if I'll be able to watch his face the entire time.' I thought, looking away from him.

"When I was little, I had an older brother, Yoshiro. I've mentioned him before. He was tall, had long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a loud personality." I smirked. "A week after my tenth birthday, there was a fire in our apartment complex," I said simply, trying to keep from getting too emotional. "When my brother arrived on scene, I was standing out front with my mother and younger siblings. The firemen hadn't arrived yet... I was crying uncontrollably."

I paused to take a breath.

"You see, my brother was trying to get this job at this shop." I said, switching the discussion, I saw his face shift slightly to confusion. "I promise this has to do with the story," I added with half a smile.

"Well, this shop didn't hire anyone under the age of fourteen. My brother's birthday was on the 10th of January, so he finally got the job he wanted so badly. The reason he wanted a job was because he wanted to buy me the perfect birthday gift. My birthday is February 28. The job was only part-time, and it was minimum wage, so he worked his butt off for the next month. He even took up odd jobs for the others in our neighborhood just to make a few extra bucks.

"Eventually, he got enough money to buy it, an American Girl doll." I paused as I fiddled with my feet. "It wasn't that I had asked for one, my brother just wanted to get me something nice for my tenth birthday. I didn't really care that it was some big expensive thing, I liked it because my brother bought it for me. . . And that's why I was crying. I had carelessly lost something he worked so very hard to get for me." I stopped talking to do a quick emotion check.

'You can do this. You've told others before. Don't cry!' I told myself.

"When my brother saw me crying, he asked me if I was hurt. I was babbling about the doll, and that's when it happened. He told that he'd go get it and ran into the flames." I shook my head. "If I had known what he meant, I would have stopped him. As it was, I stood there like an idiot, not realizing what had happened until several minutes had passed." I stopped talking and took this time to let him process.

"So," I said, finishing, "That's the big reason why my mother hates me. She blames me for killing her beloved son."

We sat there silently for several minutes, neither speaking, neither moving, aside from breathing. I listened to the sound of the wind through the leaves of the tree. His deep breathing even and constant; until he took in a breath to speak.

"It's not your fault." He stated calmly and confident, sure of this statment.

"Yes, it is," I replied just as sure. His eyebrows creased together slightly.

"You blame yourself."

"Yes."

"You shouldn't."

"Why not? It's true. If I had been so upset over that stupid doll, my brother would still be alive." I said with a cynical smile.

"You don't know that," he replied. I wanted to retort but didn't, knowing he'd never see my side of this. I remained silent for a bit when I remembered something, and it made me smirk.

"You know," I said, staring up into the tree, the sunlight making strange shadow patterns through the leaves. "Haruhi said the same thing." I looked back at him. "She told me not to blame myself." A gust of wind blew through my hair as we stared into each other's eyes.

Suddenly the end of lunch bell rang, and we both looked at the clock tower.

"Lunch is over already," I mumbled as I began to pack up my things. Mori didn't move right away. He only sat there staring at the clock. Once I was all packed up, I stood and turned to tell him goodbye when I realized that Mori hadn't gotten a chance to eat.

"I'm sorry," I said, and he looked up at me curiously and a bit confused. "Because of my babbling, you didn't get to eat your lunch." He looked at his lunch box by his side, untouched.

"It's alright," he said, standing. We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before I got the courage to say something.

"Well," I said, turning to leave, "I guess I'll see you later." He nodded, and I began to walk away.

When I was about five yards away, he called to me. "Ayami," he said my name, and I turned to look at him. He stood still under the tree his lunch in hand. Calm, serious, and confident.

"I don't think it's your fault," he said coolly; I blinked at him taken slightly aback as he stepped towards me, "and," he paused, stopping about a yard away, while studying my face, "I don't think you brother would blame you either."

I froze, looking up at him in surprise.

"I think," he said, reaching his hand up slowly, "That he just wanted you to be happy." He touched my cheek softly, and when he took his hand back, a tear rested on his finger.

'Damn it,' I thought, wiping them away, 'When did I start crying! I thought I told you not to cry.'

Mori reached in his pocket and pulled out a navy blue handkerchief and handed it to me. I was irritated, so I didn't take it at first, but I eventually gave in. I wiped my tears and realized that some of the concealer had wiped off too. I blushed and bit my lip.

"Sorry," I mumbled, very embarrassed.

"Keep it," he said, ruffling his hand through my hair once before turning to leave. "I'll see you at the club." He said, and I nodded.

We parted ways, and each headed off to our own classes. I took a quick stop in the girl's restroom to wash off my face.

During class, I thought over my new friend.

'Mori is a pretty interesting and complex guy. He's always so quiet and his deep voice so calming. I guess he's not so bad, he and Honey have their good points, but the rest of the club members, excluding Haruhi, are too weird, especially my half-brother. He's the strangest of them all,' I thought as I mindlessly watched the teacher write something on the chalkboard. 'What's his story? What series of events lead to the chaotic mess that was Tamaki? I wonder...'

Classes went by without any problems, although I think Misawa was a little upset that her scheme hadn't phased me at all.

When the last bell rang, I skipped out to where my car waited for me and threw my bag in the back seat, switching it out for my brownies. Come to find out that Georgina had already cut them apart and placed them on a fancy tray for me. I rolled my eyes but took the platter of baked goods from Chris and told him to wait for me while I went in to deliver them. Chris then reminded me of another etiquette lesson I had in an hour, so I wouldn't be able to stay for long.

I hurried back to the clubroom fast as I could, I wanted to get there before the club opened, better not risk upsetting Misawa more. I arrived a few minutes before opening time and opened the door slowly.

This time a burst of fruit-scented air, bananas, coconut, pineapple, melon, and citrus, hit me and I froze solid at what laid before me.

The clubroom had been completely transformed into a tropical paradise, Palm trees, and even sand decorated the room. I looked around the room in awe I had never seen anything like this.

"Ah! There's our special guest!" I heard Tamaki say. I turned towards him only to see all the hosts in spectacular costumes.

The twins were dressed in matching striped shirts and baggy pants, one in red and the other in blue.

Kyoya was wearing a large black, gold-trimmed overcoat over a dark purple frilly shirt, buccaneer boots, and a black tricorn with a skull and cross-bones on it.

Honey was wearing a silly-looking rainbow macaw parrot costume, and he sat on Mori's shoulder, who was wearing a navy blue and white ensemble, similar to Kyoya, and a hat with a large feather.

Then came Tamaki, he wore a red and gold overcoat, that hung over his shoulders, and hand on matching boots and a white frilly shirt. His hat was large and matched his jacket.

All of them had fake swords or guns and fake braids and or beads in their hair; Haruhi had yet to get into costume.

My jaw dropped in amazement as Tamaki waltzed to my side.

"Come, my darling!" He said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, "Welcome to my tropical paradise, princess. I'm the Pirate King, and the only treasure I want to steal," he paused using his hand to lift my chin, so we were face to face, "is your heart."

I awoke from my shocked state and shoved the tray of brownies into his chest. He took them, and I turned around, covering my mouth, trying to keep the laughter in.

"See," Tamaki exclaimed, "she so happy she's speechless!"

A snicker.

"I don't think so, boss," one of the twins said.

Another snicker.

I glanced over my shoulder at the host members once more and couldn't hold it in any longer.

"BWAHAHA!" I burst out in a thundering laugh. "You look ridiculous!"

"Told ya," the other twin finished.

I was laughing so hard that my stomach hurt and laughed myself to tears.

"Oh my gosh," I said, in English, with a sigh, "so was not expecting that." I straightened myself up and looked back. Another laughter speel was threatening to come out, but I coughed it away.

"Now I know you really are crazy, Senpai," I said, smiling at Tamaki. I'm not sure why, but he looked moved, and sparkles appeared in his eyes. "Haruhi," I asked curiously, "Where's your costume?"

"She won't put it on!" Tamaki complained, pointing at her. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"It's your fault," she answered directing it at me. I raised one eyebrow, confused until the twins pulled out a mannequin wearing a mermaid princess costume.

"AHH!" I exclaimed angrily. "How is she supposed to wear that without raising suspicions?!" I asked, pointing at the sea-shell bra; the twins shrugged.

"We thought it wouldn't look right without them," the one in red said. "Right?" the one in blue finished. I shook my head with a groan.

'These guys are a hopeless cause,' I thought as I forcefully took the platter back from Tamaki.

"Anyway, here," I said, handing them to Haruhi. "I brought the brownies. Caramel fudge." Honey began bouncing with joy. "But I can't stay to enjoy them."

"Eh!" Honey exclaimed, and he stopped jumping, then came to my side, "why not?"

"I have another lesson in less than an hour, and I've got some homework to finish up," I explained, leaning down to his height, "but next time I make them, I promise we'll enjoy them together, okay?"

He looked sad still but nodded. I smiled softly at him.

"Okay then," I said with a sigh, "Enjoy your brownies pirate lords." I turned to leave, glancing at Mori, who seemed to be the same as ever. "King," I said with a sarcastic salute as I passed by Tamaki. "Have fun plundering the townsfolk," I called with a half-snicker as I opened the door.

To my surprise, several girls were standing outside the door, and their facial expressions all changed when it was I, not a host, who opened the door. "Excuse me," I said, slipping past them.

Just as I cleared the small group, someone grabbed my arm. I turned back only to come eye to eye with a very angry Misawa. I yanked free.

"Excuse me," I said again this time with a challenging tone. She became livid, gritting her teeth as I turned around and walked away, attitude in my step.

Oooooo Aya's sassy! In your face Misawa, CAN'T TOUCH THIS!

~Thank you for reading, and please review!

~MiraCarpathia