Claraowl: Hello, y'all! XD I am here to humbly present to you the sixth and FINAL chapter of PCLttU! Please save all fangirling, sobs, or sighs of relief for your review (that I beg you to leave for me). ^^ I own nothing of this except my very, very poor plot and some delicious chocolate. *smirks*
Thank you to everyone who has left reviews, threatened me with prickly fruit to get my lazy writing fingers in gear, offered ideas, and given me encouragement. *beams* You guys are the best!
"You have got to be kidding me," Haruhi stated in flat disbelief, staring at the other members of the host club about a week and a half after the sleepover incident.
"Oh, but we aren't, Haruhi," Kyoya smiled, a rather ominous aura surrounding him. "We decided to do this event due to popular demand; the ladies requested unanimously that you be the one to wear this outfit." He adjusted his glasses. "It does make sense, after all - you are the only girl in the club."
Haruhi protested, "They don't know that. Wouldn't the risk of my secret being discovered outweigh the benefits of accepting their request?"
"Normally, yes," Kyoya replied coolly, "but in this case we can merely say that you're wearing padding in that particular area." When Haruhi opened her mouth to protest again, Kyoya added, "We'll also double the amount of debt removed today if you wear the costume without any more complaints."
"Fine," Haruhi huffed, taking her costume and heading to the changing room.
While Tamaki was busy complaining that "Mommy" was being mean to "his little girl," Kaoru and Hikaru were silently stewing. They were happy to see her in the outfit, yes; however, they did not want to share the sight with anyone else. It was in this half-seething, half-excited mood that the opening of the club hours found them.
Naturally, the response of the ladies to the accepted cosplay request was overwhelming; Haruhi wondered, in some small portion of her mind, if she was going to go deaf from all the squealing. She sighed, supposing that this was to be expected - after all (at least according to Renge), cross-dressing was extremely popular when done by young men. What they would say if they figured out I'm not actually cross-dressing today? she wondered, gazing around at the various squealing guests and ignoring her one squealing sempai.
"You make a wonderful Jasmine, Haruhi!" Momoka squealed enthusiastically. "Your outfit is from when Jafar was in power, right?"
"Yes, it is," Haruhi smiled. "In my opinion, it's one of the best scenes in the movie."
Kazue giggled, "You look even better in cross-dress than in your regular clothes!"
"Thanks, I think," Haruhi smiled, leaning forward to get some coffee for her customers.
"Haruhi," Momoka giggled, "if you don't mind my asking… what went into your costume?"
"I'm not entirely sure, to tell you the truth," Haruhi shrugged, flashing them her signature smile as she poured the coffee.. "I'm not terribly involved in costume assembly; I usually just play along with the rest of the hosts. As far as I can tell, it's just an ordinary costume."
"What about on top?" Renge asked, having heard the conversation as she was walking past and deciding that she needed to participate.
"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked, tilting her head to the side.
"You know," Renge grinned, moving her rib cage from side to side, "on top."
Haruhi blinked blankly at Renge for a moment before comprehending what she was talking about and blushing very lightly. "Just what you'd normally find in a costume," she shrugged. "Nothing terribly unusual."
"Really?" Renge asked, blushing slightly, "Then how are you holding it up?"
Before Haruhi could figure out a safe answer to her question, Hikaru and Kaoru - dressed identically as the Genie - swooped over and burst into song. Their rendition of "Friend Like Me" went on for quite a while and successfully distracted the ladies.
After they had ended with a rather long note and the subsequent clapping had died down, Haruhi smiled and said, "That was rather impressive, but shouldn't you be singing that to Aladdin?" She pointed calmly across the room to Tamaki, who was clad in Aladdin's 'street rat' costume. Mori, as Abu, and Hunny, as the flying carpet, were entertaining with him. Haruhi blushed lightly, her eyes flickering to the top of Mori's head before she turned back to the ladies she was entertaining. "Where were we?"
"We were talking about all the lovely costumes," Momoka smiled. "We're so glad that you accepted our request to pay Jasmine."
Haruhi smiled, yearning to say that it hadn't been her decision at all.
"Jasmine," a voice called from halfway across the room, effectively halting their conversation, "come to your master."
Haruhi stood up and excused herself from her guests, walking over to where Kyoya sat upon a long sofa, sultan-style. "You are far from being my master, Jafar."
"Jafar-sama," Kyoya corrected, smirking icily. "Kneel next to me, or I shall have to force you to do so."
Haruhi simply glared at him, and continued to do so until he raised his scepter; she then knelt jerkily, as if being forced to do so.
"I desire some grapes," Kyoya smirked again. He paused slightly, to ensure that the entirety of the guests' attention was on the scene, and then continued, "Kindly take some from that bowl and feed them to me." His smirk grew slightly wider as Haruhi glowered at him and the squeals of the onlookers grew to a new pitch.
Haruhi, glowering at Kyoya, slowly got up fetched the grapes; as she did so, a smirk of her own slowly grew upon her face. She walked back towards him, almost slinking, a cluster of grapes held in one hand. Kneeling down next to him again, she swayed herself slightly from side to side.
Kyoya raised his eyebrows slightly as he gulped imperceptibly, Haruhi's breath now skating over his neck.
Haruhi smirked, leaning over Kyoya to feed him a grape, and said in a low voice that nonetheless carried through the entire room, "Is that a lamp in your pocket, Jafar-sama, or are you just happy to see me?"
Three seconds of stunned silence followed this not-so-innocent question - mainly consisting of nearly everyone in music room three wondering if they had heard Haruhi properly - before the squeals, shrieks, and general mayhem burst forth. Tamaki, naturally, had a rather amusing conniption that concluded with him growing mushrooms in a corner. Kyoya, however, said nothing, and merely chewed his grapes, blushing rather lightly.
During the chaos, Hikaru and Kaoru walked over to Haruhi, took her hands in theirs, and led her off to a couch on the far side of the room. Hikaru was snickering to the point of being rendered incapable of speech, so Kaoru asked, "Did you ask the Demon Lord what we believe you asked him?"
Haruhi smiled innocently before replying, "Well, I couldn't just go along with being Jasmine without getting some form of revenge, could I?"
Hikaru had to grip Kaoru's shoulder in order to remain standing, due to the intensity of his laughter. Kaoru snickered appreciatively and pulled something out of his pocket, casting her an inquiring look.
Haruhi raised her eyebrows. "What? Did you truly expect the corrupted me to let this slide?"
"Nope," Kaoru grinned. "Good work." He held out a square of bitter-dark chocolate, allowing it to touch her lips.
She smiled back at him before poking her tongue out of her mouth and licking the edge of the square.
Hikaru regained control of himself and pulled out his own square of sweet-dark chocolate, putting it next to Kaoru's square.
Haruhi laughed lightly as she flicked her tongue back and forth a few times, before she took a bite out of each of the squares. She chewed the chocolate and then returned to her guests, who were still in the throes of moe.
Hikaru and Kaoru watched her go; when she disappeared into the swarm of fangirls, they looked down at the bits of chocolate left in their hands. A puzzled expression flitted over each of their faces as they shifted the remnants of the squares so that the pointed edges connected. The two of them blushed and grinned when they saw that - either by happy accident or careful design - the bites Haruhi had taken out of the squares, when put together, formed a heart. The two of them stood in that position, essentially rooted to the spot, for the rest of the club time. It was only when the guests had left and the chocolate had begun to melt that they moved and ate their chocolate, blushing happily.
Tamaki, suspicious of their stillness and silence, walked over to them. "What's up with the two of you?"
Hikaru and Kaoru glanced at Tamaki and then met each other's eyes. Identical evil grins spread across their faces. "Do you want to play a game with us, milord?"
Tamaki, slightly startled, asked, "What type of game?"
"A game," Hikaru grinned, "to see if you know Haruhi as well as we do!"
"Of course I know her as well as you two do! I'm her father, after all," Tamaki laughed.
"Oh, really?" Hikaru sneered. "Do you, now?"
"I guess that he doesn't want a chance to see the pictures, Hikaru," Kaoru sighed. "His loss… had he won the game, he could've seen Haruhi in another princess outfit!"
Tamaki's jaw dropped. "Wait, what?" he shrieked, eyes bugging. "I'll play, I'll play!"
"Don't do it, sempai," Haruhi warned from within the changing room. "It's a trap."
"Nonsense!" Tamaki exclaimed, brandishing his arms. "I am prepared - Haruhi, come ask questions!"
"Fine," Haruhi groaned, emerging from the changing room, "but Hikaru and Kaoru have to play separately - no teamwork."
Hikaru and Kaoru shrugged, seeing no reason to argue; after all, they had both been present for the interrogation. Tamaki nodded enthusiastically.
"Write down your answers on a sheet of paper, so no one can quibble over who said what first," Haruhi instructed. She paused, allowing them to gather the necessary materials. "Ready? There will be three questions."
The three hosts before her nodded happily; the other three members of the club lent an ear to the proceedings.
"Question one - why do I find it interesting that Mori-sempai is playing Abu?" Haruhi asked, smiling slightly.
Tamaki gaped at her for a moment, before writing something down; both Hikaru and Kaoru glanced at Mori before writing their answers.
"Question two," Haruhi announced, casting her eyes upward as she thought, "what are my two favorite animals?"
Tamaki grinned as he scribbled something that looked suspiciously like 'tanuki' upon his paper; Hikaru did the same, and added another one; Kaoru, smiling slightly, calmly wrote out his answer.
"Question three," Haruhi smiled, looking at the three of them, "what is one thing that I find myself completely helpless against when offered?"
The three answers were written down quickly upon the paper; Haruhi then collected the sheets and picked up a pen. "I'll let you know your scores in a few minutes," she informed them, walking over to a table, their intense stares following her,
Haruhi smiled slightly as she read their answers, making marks here and there; silently, she chided herself for tilting her questions. When was done, she stood up and walked over to the three of them. She quietly handed them their papers.
Waves crashed over Tamaki's mind. He hadn't gotten a single one correct.
Hikaru shrugged; he had gotten one and a half of them correct, as he'd only known one of the animals. He glanced over at his twin, and felt his jaw drop when he saw the results.
Kaoru had gotten all three questions correct: for the first one, he had put that she often dreamt of Mori-sempai wearing a hat, and Abu's costume had a hat; for the second, he had put the owl and the dragon as her favorite animals; for the third, he had put chocolate - exceptionally dark chocolate.
Haruhi shrugged at the three of them before turning to leave; she was stopped by Kaoru, who had put a hand on her arm. Standing up, he whispered an inquiry into her ear; Haruhi smiled mysteriously before going over to ask Kyoya about her debt level. Fortunately for her, the chaos caused by her line had brought in enough business to compensate for his slight irritation at her, so she was not penalized for her revenge.
"Don't feel bad, milord," Hikaru snickered. "It's not your fault that you weren't at the interrogation -"
"- or there to hear her talk in her sleep," Kaoru completed, grinning widely.
"T-talk in her sleep?" Tamaki squeaked. "Y-You - you three -"
"Yup, all three of us fit on the bed," Hikaru beamed.
"Best night I've had in a long time," Kaoru added.
Tamaki's eyes bugged out. "MOMMY! Hikaru and Kaoru slept with their sister! They spoiled - deflowered - ruined - they - do something!"
Kyoya wisely ignored this outburst; Hunny happily ate cake; Mori-sempai was, at the moment, learning why Haruhi found it interesting that he was playing Abu - and, upon discovering that he had appeared in her dreams, found himself feeling rather flattered. Naturally, no emotion was displayed upon his face. Tamaki let out a soft sort of moan as he retreated, muttering, to his corner; he then proceeded to grow enough mushrooms to feed Italy for a month. Hikaru and Kaoru raised their eyebrows at each other, realizing what Haruhi had done with the questions.
Haruhi gave a small laugh as the twins caught up to her in the hallway outside the music room. "Figured it out, have you?"
The twins grinned at her and, leaning down, each gave her a kiss on the cheek. Haruhi smiled at them, blushing lightly, as she returned the favor. She then walked away, leaving two shocked Hitachiins standing in the hallway, chocolate lip prints on their cheeks.
THE END!
I hope you liked it, and found it a satisfactory wrap-up to this story. :D
I hope that everyone had as much fun reading this as I did writing it! XD
Kindly drop a review in the lovely little review box, even if it is just to yell at me for a poor wrap-up or for the fact that it's over (or is that too hopeful of me…?).