Full Summary: Some girls grow tired watching their sibling on the banks of a river. However, some girls are too busy working to merely grow tired watching. When Yumi Taka was accepted to Ouran Academy, she thought she had found her jar of Orange Marmalade. However, when she discovers Haruhi's "little secret", her whole life goes awry. After a chase bullying incident, she finds her jar of marmalade to be frightfully empty. Not wanting to drop the jar, she descends into the adventures of the Host Club and Wonderland. Can they help her find her way home? Will she even want to go home afterwards? Most importantly, can they help her find herself? And just maybe, on the way back, she can fill her jar with just a little bit of Honey.

Meeting Alice

Chapter One

Yumi Taka was hard at work in one of Ouran Academy's many greenhouses. Technically, students at Ouran Academy weren't supposed to have part time jobs. Yumi was a special case, as she was employee to Ouran before she was a student. It was the only way a "commoner" like Yumi could ever even hope to afford the school.

Yumi was certain that she was getting a ridiculously good deal. Although a lot of workers at Ouran took advantage of thee employee discount and had their kids enrolled at Ouran, they were all in D rank classes. Yumi was in B rank, though she didn't feel like she earned it. She had gotten second place in the competition for the academic scholarship, which was just another way of saying she had lost. Still, she had been moved from D to B, so all the studying she had done hadn't been a complete wash.

"Taka!"

Yumi jerked, nearly cutting off a flower bud instead of just pruning it.

"Yes, Gādenā-san?" Yumi yelled back as she set down her tools.

The head gardener, and the woman addressing Yumi, was Watanabe Hana, an elderly woman whose hearing was beginning to go. Yumi had to talk very loudly to be heard, even when she was standing close.

The elderly gardener bustled her way over to Yumi, scowling as usual. Hana wasn't very cheerful woman about anything outside of Ouran's gardens. Yumi assumed this meant whatever problem Hana had it didn't involved Yumi or her work.

"That Host Club needs a delivery," the gardener grumbled, proving Yumi half-right, though she was aware how much the half that she was wrong mattered.

"Host Club?" Yumi asked.

Yumi had heard about it, of course. It was impossible to be a student at Ouran and not hear about the notorious Host Club whether from its official fan-club or from the boys complaining bitterly about 'impossible standards'. That said, Yumi couldn't say she knew much about the club or what it did, outside of freaking out the school body to the afore mentioned different extremes.

"A club filled with flamboyant, silly men and ridiculous girls," Hana groused not one to soften her opinion. "Whenever I send their deliveries my girls never come back on time! And when they do, they've usually given that club a huge discount. Even when I send men they get side-tracked!" Hana threw her wrinkling arms in the air, "I'd send Katsuo-san, but he's too old to be pushing around such a heavy cart."

Hana gave Yumi a sidelong look. Yumi decidedly did not the twist this conversation was taking.

"But you, Taka-san. You're responsible. You're hardly one of those silly, frivolous, little girls who frequent that club..."

Usually Yumi would have enjoyed winning compliments from the hard, but fair, Hana. However, in this case, Yumi found herself more wary than flattered.

"I need you to take the delivery up to the Host Club, Taka-san. They're in Music Room 3. Here's the receipt." Hana pressed a piece of thin paper into Yumi's hands.

Yumi had been about to protest but when she cast her eyes down at the recepit and the listed price, she felt like she had been sucker punched.

"Why do they need this many tropical plants?! There are trees on this list, Gādenā-san!"

This school was filled with rich bastards if they could afford this, she thought as she scanned the list.

Hana sighed deeply, "Like I said, they're silly."

Yumi stared at Hana. She could only wonder how much the old woman had seen in her life that an order like this only inspired exasperation.

"Don't worry Gādenā-san, I will bring you your money promptly!" Yumi accepted her mission with gusto, pushing aside her previous wariness. She didn't know what sort of people the Host Club were, but she was sure she had handled worse. If Hana had faith in her, how hard could it really be?

Yumi regretted agreeing to the task almost immediately. The cart was heavy, though she had been spared having to load the thing. Not only did Yumi have to put her back into each push just to get the cart rolling, but she couldn't see over the top of it. It was a cold comfort that Yumi's height, for once, wasn't the cause of the problem. The mini palm trees were hard for anyone to see over.

The Host Club had ordered more than what Yumi was bringing. Hana had sent others with the bulk of it, however she was sending Yumi with the last of it and the most important part, the receipt, so she could collect the payment. That role that was apparently the hardest.

After taking the service elevator and driving down the mostly deserted hallways, Yumi reached the doors of Music Room 3.

"Woah! This place is huge," Yumi gasped as she wheeled her cart in. She wasn't sure why a music room needed to be this large, but it was impressive.

"The delivery is here! Jun-chan is here!" A childish voice shouted with cheer.

Though not "Jun-chan", Yumi could guess who "Jun-chan" was. Sato Junko, who was working her way through college - not Ouran's college - by working in the gardening department. Yumi hadn't spoken to her much since Junko worked odd hours to fit her schedule and Yumi tended to avoid people in general. Before Yumi's mind could drift towards what she knew about Junko, there was a blur of yellow flying directly at her.

Had Yumi been Junko, in the yellow blur's defense, she would have been almost a foot taller, and probably expecting the blur. Yumi was, however, Yumi, so she was shorter, lighter, and completely unprepared. The human shaped blur crashed into Yumi. They both let out grunts of surprise and fell to the tiled floor. Yumi tumbled onto her back. She had rough housed enough with the boys in her old neighborhood to know how to fall properly. Even with the blur's weight on top of her, Yumi knew to curl her head in to protect it from the hard floor and to slap the ground as she fell. The fall was still painful, but at least she hadn't hurt herself severely.

After gathering herself, Yumi realized that there were warm, watery, brown eyes inches away from her face that stared down at her in growing shock and panic. Perhaps Yumi was a little more jostled then she was willing to admit, since the first thought that registered in her mind was how pretty those eyes were.

Then the blonde blur was scrambling off of her. "Ah! I'm so sorry! I thought you were Jun-chan!"

Yumi shook her head freeing herself from the haze the fall and the blonde blur had put her in. The blond blur was, actually, an incredibly short blonde boy who looked like he belonged in middle-school not high-school, though his uniform argued differently.

"It's fine; I'm fine." Yumi tried to reassure him after dazedly watching the boy panic for a few seconds. Her delayed response and slightly unfocused eyes probably didn't help her attempts to reassure him.

The boy offered his hand and when Yumi took it, she was easily pulled her to her feet. He lifted her so easily Yumi almost lost her footing again. Though Yumi was light, the boy was also surprisingly strong.

"Hani-senpai! You must be careful with princesses!"

Suddenly Yumi found herself pulled away from the short blonde into the arms of another blonde, this time considerably taller and with a distinct, exotic look.

"My lady, are you hurt?" He asked her huskily, staring down into her eyes.

Yumi stared at him in confusion rather than infatuation, which seemed to spark some confusion in his strange eyes.

"I've never seen eyes like that." She noted sounding more curious then lovestruck.

"Are you intoxicated by my beauty?" The boy attempted to recover the mood that Yumi was rapidly, and unwittingly, crushing.

Yumi arched an eyebrow. Whatever stupid, girly stupor that had fallen over her by the, admittedly, very handsome boys, shattered with those corny words. So this is what had the other assistants failing in their duty.

Yumi's first thought was that they must be trying to charm her out of paying full price for their flowers. She was affronted by the notion that these boys, who spent more money in day then Yumi was likely to see in a month, were trying to get a cheapened price for their ridiculous and unnecessary flowers. Her mind stalled on that assumption and Yumi couldn't move past it.

"No." She said simply and coldly.

The boy let her go, obviously crushed, and threw himself into a dark corner of the room. Yumi's over active imagination pictured it to be much darker than it actually was.

"Huh. That was easy." Yumi wasn't sure if she was more surprised by his sudden mood shift or how easily he had given up.

She held up the receipt. "Alright, who's in charge? I have a delivery!"

A crowd of very attractive boys had gathered around the petite teen. There were twin boys who were giving her an amused look. Yumi detected a gleam in their eyes that she distinctly did not like. There was a tall, very well built man who was comforting the boy who was a little shorter than Yumi (which made Yumi very happy since no one was ever shorter than her). Out of the crowd, it was a boy with glasses who approached her. Yumi knew how people with power walked, she could tell he was the leader immediately.

"Ah, Taka Yumi, I was wondering when Watanabe would send you."

Yumi was surprised that he both knew both her name and that Watanabe would be sending her. She refrained from reacting because she could tell he wanted her to be surprised and to give him a chance to show off. Perhaps if Yumi were in a better mood she would have humored him, but she had been called away from her very quiet and calming duty of pruning in the greenhouse. Yumi didn't get greenhouse duty often, and it was much better than working under the hot afternoon sun, and she was missing it because of these fools.

"Watanabe-san was concerned about all the... mistakes... in payment that were being made." Yumi was smiling politely, but her eyes were honed in on "Four Eyes" - as she had unkindly dubbed him. She wanted to be very clear that she would not be toyed with like the others.

"She was very wise in sending you, Taka-san."

Yumi's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe we've met." Her response was automatic, but she had given the boy what he wanted.

"I am Ootori Kyoya."

Clearly Yumi was supposed to react to this, but the boy was overestimating how much she knew about rich families. Yumi blinked twice.

Apparently his introduction spurred more introductions that seemed to be strangely rehearsed.

"He's Kaoru," A red head said, suddenly in front of her eyes.

"And he's Hikaru," an identical face said, much too close for Yumi's comfort.

"And we're the Hiitachi twins." They said together as they threw their arms around each other's shoulders in way that was far too intimate for brothers.

Yumi stumbled back in surprise, bumping into her cart.

"Please respect my personal space," she half-snapped at the twins, barely managing to rein in her sharp tone. Her hand shot out, catching hold of the handle of her cart to keep it from going anywhere. There would be no disasters on her watch.

They straightened and grinned at her reaction in a way that Yumi did not like.

"I'm Haninozuka Mitsukuni! And I'm very sorry for knocking you over. This is Morinozuka Takashi, but everyone calls us 'Hani' and 'Mori'!"

Yumi found that it was hard not to be charmed by Mitsukuni. He seemed to sparkle as he spoke and Yumi's over active imagination imagined a floral background behind him. She didn't have a sassy response for him. Instead she had a rather stupid response that would have made her sound like one of the ridiculous girls who chose to come to this club - so she checked it and kept quiet.

"You're a little young to be a gardener, aren't you?" He asked, tilting his head.

Yumi's cheeks flushed up with embarrassment at his observation. He noticed and seemed more confused by her distress.

"Taka-san is working for Ouran Academy in exchange for her education here," Kyoya said, scribbling something into a black notebook.

Yumi was becoming more and more uneasy at Kyoya's knowledge of her. She wasn't important enough to warrant anyone's attention and she took a lot of steps to ensure that she never caught the wrong person's attention. Apparently she had still managed to.

"Oh, so she's a commoner like Haruhi?" Mitsukuni asked. "Does that mean she's a hero too?"

Yumi ignored the commoner remark, that she was used to, and the hero remark was too silly to spend any thought on. However, the name Mitsukuni mentioned stood out to her.

"Haruhi?" Yumi mused aloud. She had definitely heard that name before. For a second she mused on where she heard the name. Then it came to her, "Oh! that's the girl who won the scholarship." Yumi sighed at the painful memory.

She didn't notice how everyone in the room seemed to freeze.

"I tried to win it," she explained, "but oh well, good for her. I already had this job lined up, so its probably more fair that I lost. That way both of us get to go."

That said, Yumi was a little envious that Haruhi got to go to the school and didn't have to work on the side like she did.

After her musing, Yumi was back to business. The Host Club was surprisingly good at being distracting. Yumi closed the few paces that were between her and Kyoya and handed him the receipt. He mutely handed her a check with a generous tip. Yumi was so wrapped up in the size of the tip that she didn't notice the wooden way Kyoya was moving or how you could see the gears of his mind turning simply by looking at him.

She just grinned to herself and headed out the door.

Hana would be happy with her and Yumi could put the extra money away for a rainy day. Being a delivery girl to the Host Club wasn't that bad after all. Yumi walked away completely unaware of the storm about to break behind her. As soon as the door was shut and her footsteps faded down the hallway, the Host Club exploded.

"Kyo-chan! How does Yu-chan know about Haru-chan!" Mitsukuni cried in distress the second Yumi's footsteps faded down the hallway.

"Who exactly is that girl?!" The twins shouted, concerned.

Kyoya stepped in smoothly, "Taka Yumi, class 2-B. She participated in the scholarship contest with Haruhi and a few others over the summer."

"If she was already in with a job, why would she try to get a scholarship?" Hikaru asked displeased and taking it out on Yumi.

"Taka-san works long hours in the gardening department both before and after school and on Saturday. I'm sure she was looking for a way to get her education for free so that she could work less or keep the money she made." Kyoya informed them. "Her grades weren't half bad, considering her lesser education prior to Ouran, but Haruhi blew all the contestants out of the water."

Tamaki, always the dramatic one, jumped in, "What if she resents Haruhi for stealing away her scholarship?! She could oust her secret!"

Mitsukuni frowned, "She didn't seem resentful of Haru-chan... she even said it was good that she won, so that they could both come."

Takashi nodded, backing up Mitsukuni silently.

Kyoya shut his book shut with a snap, "Taka-san might not want to sabotage Haruhi but she is unaware that Haruhi is pretending to be a boy. If one of our guests mentions Haruhi to Taka-san, Taka-san might let it slip not knowing better."

"I'm sure if we just ask Yu-chan she'll be happy to keep it a secret!" Mitsukuni announced optimistically.

Kyoya pursed his lips, clearly not liking the idea of being in the debt of someone else.

"Yes, we'll talk to her." He said simply, not exactly saying that they would simply "ask" Yumi to keep it a secret for them.

A/N: Please favorite and review!~

last edited: 10/20/15