The Alphabet Notebook

By E.M. Megs

Z – Zebra

It takes an incredible amount of skill to blend into a crowd of common people. Especially when you're an heir of the Ohtori Corporation. Yet, I find myself having to do that thanks to a certain blonde idiot, two trouble-making twins, and my two senpais that always seem to tag along with Tamaki's hair-brained schemes.

Haruhi, if she wasn't with me, would have been dragged into it too, no doubt.

Of course... If she wasn't with me then the five of them wouldn't dare be following me anyway.

Haruhi sighed in exasperation as we passed the three lead idiots trying to inconspicuous while looking at the hippos. Their disguises, as normal, were completely ridiculous and not at all indiscreet. "Do they just do this for the fun of trying to embarrass themselves or do they seriously not realize that they're making a nuisance of themselves?" my brunette companion muttered under her breath as we came up to the lion exhibit at the Tokyo Zoo.

Yes. I was at the zoo with Haruhi. We were on a date. The tenth one to be exact. "I think they like embarrassing themselves," I replied harshly, "If they actually had any mind for not doing so, then they'd hire someone that isn't so obvious."

She rolled her eyes in response and tugged on the hand she'd had hold of since six exhibits ago, effectively leading me to look at the lions. Neither of us were particularly affectionate, which was probably why Tamaki insisted on following us when we went out. To 'protect' Haruhi from getting her heart broken. Where he got the idea that I would 'break her heart', is a loss to me. I have no intentions of doing so and have told him several times over the 5-almost-6 months Haruhi and I had been officially together.

I could very clearly hear Hikaru and Kaoru muttering amongst themselves from 10 feet away, leaving no doubt that Haruhi could also hear them. This suspicion was confirmed when she let out a frustrated grunt and glared in the direction of the two. I shifted my hand from hers to the small of her back silently.

Tamaki let out half of a shriek of objection before being feverishly hushed by Hunny and Mori-senpai. I couldn't help the small smirk from coming to my face. "If I can get a reaction like that every time, I might actually start to enjoy them tagging along," I murmured bemusedly.

"Speak for yourself," Haruhi hissed, obviously still frustrated with our friends. My almost-smile fell down a few notches. She was not happy with their presences, therefore I should not suggest that I may be enjoying it. I barely suppressed a sigh as I took her hand and led her carefully toward the next attraction.

Upon seeing black and white stripes, a plan started to form in my head. Zebras, when placed in their natural habitat with their natural predators – lions and cheetahs – would form large groups to effectively confuse the hunter as to which one of them they were actually hunting. Meaning, if the prey – Haruhi and I – could somehow blend into the group – the commoners – then the hunters – the rest of the host club – would lose track of us.

"Follow my lead," I muttered softly to Haruhi just before stepping away from her to talk to a nearby teenage girl. Recently, Tamaki seemed to have gained the common public's attention as some kind of celebrity. I was pining on that fame of his as a distraction for mine and Haruhi's escape. "See that guy over there?" I asked the most-likely-15-year-old, nudging her slightly to urge her to look at where I was pointing in Tamaki's direction. "That's Tamaki Suoh."

"No way!" the girl exclaimed. I simply nodded. She apparently had come with a few friends and scampered away from me to them, blabbering about 'the blonde half-French hottie' being at the zoo at that very moment. I leaned back as Haruhi approached me quizzically as I stood back and watched my plan unfold.

"Watch," I murmured, taking hold of her hand and pulling her gently to my side.

Seconds later, the two of us stood back in amusement as the girl I'd previously spoken to and her female friends let out a hysteric shriek, "IT IS TAMAKI SUOH!" and ran in the direction of the clueless blonde and twins. It took less than a minute for the three of them to be completely submerged in a hoard of fan girls.

And Tamaki, always one for loving attention, soaked it up while I whispered, "He really is an idiot. Come on," in Haruhi's ear. I snuck away with her only a few steps behind me, not stopping until we'd reached the reptile house, which was conveniently empty. Haruhi leaned against a railing and looked at me approvingly.

"That was pretty sly," she commented drily

I shrugged. "Finding new techniques to distract Tamaki and the twins is just normal routine for me." I discreetly placed a hand on the railing she was leaning on on either side of her.

"I'm not complaining," she said quietly, smiling slightly as she gazed at me. "It's quite a bit of a relief actually."

It seemed to me that she was completely oblivious to the fact that I had moved any closer to her, just as she had been blissfully unaware that I was aiming for her attentions before we'd started dating. "I agree. It's a relief," I murmured, face only a few inches from hers; then centimeters. She was quiet, looking in my eyes with those chocolate eyes that seemed to look through practically everything. I watched those eyes flutter shut as I closed the remaining space between my lips and hers.

She smiled as I pulled away. "Only took you ten dates," she mumbled teasingly, positively glowing with contentment. I heard a childlike giggle from somewhere close to the entrance and caught a glimpse of blonde hair out of the corner of my eye. "Your plan didn't account for the seniors did it?"

"Not exactly," I sighed, tucking a strand of stray hair behind her ear. I didn't bother trying to contain the smile I could feel bursting through my normally stoic face. I didn't bother trying to assess the potential problem of our seniors. "I doubt that they'll be a problem though," I added after a moment of forethought, "I think they always knew that we'd end up in a position like this and accepted it from the beginning. They only go along with Tamaki because they think that we're a cute couple." Admittedly, I hated the word cute. But I decided that I could make an exception when I heard her giggle.

"It'd be really nice if they'd keep the others off our tail after they get freed from that hoard of girls," Haruhi replied, just a little louder than she'd previously been speaking in order to get the attention of the two elder hosts.

"You got it, Haru-chan!" Hunny's small voice piped up immediately.

She laughed again as we heard their footsteps retreat. "We'll have to circle back to the safari animals again later," she said softly.

"Hmm?"

"I didn't get to see the zebras and giraffes."

I very nearly chuckled at the irony as I nodded and led her out of the reptile house.

A/N: Woo. Finished. FINISHED FINISHED FINISHED. You've no idea how happy I am to get this done. And the same day that I finished off my IB chem exam too (That thing SUCKED. I needed something to get my spirits up again.)

Hope you enjoy this final installment of The Alphabet Notebook and I hope that you'll turn your attention to my other works. Maybe sometime this summer I'll start up another collection like this. MAYBE. So possibly keep a look out for that.

Kudos for Y go to: Enigmaticrose4 (heard you graduated btw. CONGRATS!), SarahNThatcher, flamingbunnies, Nessie-san, Mrs. Ootori43ver, DM-sama, and Flora-chan. As well as every other person who's ever reviewed over the course of this project of mine.

I'd be extremely happy if this could break 250 reviews. Which is a bit of a stretch considering that would mean getting 25 for this chapter. But, even if it doesn't happen I'll still be happy that it ever broke 200.

Thanks to all and good afternoon!

- E.M. Megs