Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put them in. Everything else belongs to somebody else and that's just the way it's got to be. Thanks for reading and please review because I'd love to hear from you!
Hail To A Prince
There was more hustle and bustle around the elite school Ouran that week as the school prepared to host a conference of student council representatives from all over the district. Why, even the poorest schools would be sending people and it was only right that they do their best to give those poor individuals one brief look into the world of the wealthy. Everyone deserved to at least have a day away from the drudgery they, the lower classes faced every day of their miserable lives. That aside, Ouran had a reputation to uphold and had every intention of exceeding everyone's expectations. The other schools weren't nearly as excited, knowing from past experience that there was nothing the Ouran High School liked better than to show off the advantages they had being obscenely wealthy. But, since they had no choice in the matter, they were all resigned and tried to find positive things in the fact that the food was sure to be excellent and there was always the chance of snaring a wealthy boyfriend or girlfriend to perk the single ones up. The female members of the various student councils were particularly interested in a club they'd heard about that resided within the elite school, a so called host club that was rumored to feature seven of the best looking boys in the whole school. Yes, that was definitely worth going to see, if they were as good looking as all that. But what exactly, they wondered, did this host club do?
"Haruhi!" The Hitachiin twins sang out as they plopped down on either side of her, grinning identical grins as they turned to face her with their usual mischievous expressions. The day was done and it was time to get ready to head out, thank God. Their fangirls could be so annoying sometimes. There was only one girl they liked to be around and she was currently watching them with weary curiosity. Smart girl, their Haruhi.
Sitting on the couch, calmly drinking the rest of her tea, Haruhi didn't have to be a mind reader to know that they were up to something. Experience had taught her a long time ago that no good could come from the particular gleams in their golden eyes. "What?" She asked with a sigh, finishing off her tea quickly. The quicker she finished up, the quicker she could be home and away from the insanity that was the Host Club. Only when you were the Chairman's son could you pull off creating such a club for an elite school like Ouran, Haruhi thought with as she watched Hikaru wearily over the cup's rim.
"Should we meet you in front of your locker tomorrow?" Kaoru asked, innocently, trying to look as angelic as possible which was a stretch when faced with someone who knew him too well. Smiling when she turned to look at him he could tell right away she was as weary as a mouse faced with a half starved cat. They weren't that bad, were they? Okay...yeah...they were, he thought with inner evil glee as he continued to smile at her. "You have that project to hand in and we could help you carry it. That's what friends do after all, right? They help each other?"
"Thank you but no. I have someone to help me already." When they were laying it on that thick something was definitely up.
"You do? Who?" Hikaru demanded to know, angry that someone had beat them to it. Sending a dark look in Tamaki's direction the twins figured they had him to blame for ruining their fun. As usual when it came to Haruhi. "But we're in the same class, we're going there anyway. Why didn't you ask us for help?" He pointed out in a sulky tone, sounding rather like the spoiled brat he was on occasion.
"You don't know him. He asked me to help him get around tomorrow morning and since he's coming early anyway he can help me drop it off before I show him the places he needs to know about. I didn't ask either of you because you always want something in return when you do one of your so called 'favors'." Was her reply, giving Hikaru a pointed look that said pouty wasn't going to get him anywhere. She was tired and her day was far from over.
Eyes narrowing dangerously the twins processed what was important. Some unknown guy, one they'd apparently never met, AND was a friend of Haruhi's was coming to their school tomorrow. "My LORD!" Yelling for Tamaki simultaneously the twins leapt to their feet, catching the attention of all the members of the club who'd been in the process of getting ready to leave for the day. "Haruhi's MALE friend is coming to our school tomorrow! One WE haven't met yet. Did you know that?"
"What?" Blue eyes going wide Tamaki rushed over, his hands latching onto his "daughter's" shoulders as he looked down at her, Haruhi tipping her head back to meet his gaze instinctively as Tamaki went into his drama queen routine. "Haruhi, is this true? How do you know him? Why is he coming? Is he transferring here? Why didn't you tell us! I'm your Daddy, I'm supposed to know these things!"
"Yes it's true, I know him through his brother and he's coming for the school student council seminar thing. You know, where all the student councils from the schools in this district get together to discuss the stuff they do and strengthen relations between them for future school events. Yuki is student council president at his school." Haruhi explained, rolling her eyes at the behavior of the president of their club. Thank God the idiot had never tried to get on to student council at Ouran. She shuddered to think what school life would be like if Tamaki had any say in the daily lives of the student body. It was bad enough being in a club run by him for a couple hours a day. The fact that she knew that the position of student council president would be Tamaki's if he ever wanted it was just another indication to Haruhi that the school she was going to was completely nuts.
"Is he very nice, Haru chan?" Hunny wanted to know, looking down from his lofty perch on top of Mori's shoulders. This was the first that he'd heard about it too and he was curious about this mysterious friend everyone was getting worked up over.
"I think so." Haruhi answered with a smile, unaware that there was a few members of her club that didn't like the idea of her smiling about another guy at all. In fact, disliked didn't even begin to cover it. "If I get the chance I'll introduce him to you tomorrow, Hunny. He's in his last year at his school too."
"Yay!" Clapping his hands Hunny looked at his fellow club members with a hint of a smirk on his face, hiding it behind his Bun Bun. He could read them so well at the moment and he would imagine that this Yuki san was not in for a warm welcome tomorrow from certain other members of the Host Club. At least not right away.
The next morning Haruhi stood waiting at the front entrance, a large box at her side with her history project in it. She'd been up late the night before finishing it and she was smothering yawns as a result. The spring wind blowing through her short brown hair she looked around for someone who had the same problems when it came to gender as she did. Where as she was easily mistaken for a boy, Yuki was constantly being mistaken for or compared to a girl. It was one of the many things they had in common. Crazy, immature relatives and friends being another.
"Haruhi!"
Hearing her name called in a sing song tone Haruhi's eyes went wide as she saw all six of her fellow club members coming towards her even though it was at least half an hour before the other students would begin to arrive for classes. "What are you guys doing here?" Haruhi demanded to know, her hands going to her hips as she gave them a stern look. They were probably hear to check out Yuki and see what fun they could have playing with him, Haruhi thought to herself. Hikaru better behave himself, she didn't need a repeat of what had happened the last time he'd been introduced to an old friend of hers. Not to mention the fact that Yuki could probably take on Hunny when it came to fighting. Hikaru wouldn't stand a chance. Not that Yuki was the type, but Yuki did have a low tolerance for egotistic idiots. A very low tolerance.
"We wanted to personally welcome your friend to our school. He is here to improve his school's relationship with ours after all. Being the Chairman's son, I thought it was my duty to come and welcome him to Ouran." Was Tamaki's well practiced excuse, one he'd come up with the night before while he and the others had been plotting just what to do about this Yuki person. Haruhi was theirs after all and they didn't like the idea of sharing her with some guy. Especially some guy she was obviously fond of.
Not fooled for a minute she glared at them. "I said I'd introduce you to him later."
"We simply wanted to insure that we did get that chance. I'm sure his schedule will be hectic once he gets to the meetings and group events set up. You did say he was the president after all." Kyoya injected smoothly before Tamaki could reply to that. "And that aside, any friend of yours is a friend of ours. We simply wish to meet him."
"Right..."
"So what does this guy look like?" Hikaru wanted to know, slipping a possessive arm across her shoulder while his twin did the same on her other side.
"Well see for yourself." Haruhi replied, having caught sight of a familiar figure walking towards them in his black and white school uniform, looking every inch the prince his fangirls claimed he was.
All eyes turning they did not like what they were seeing. The man walking towards them was about Kyoya's height, tall and slender with an incredibly beautiful, delicate looking face that was more suited to a girl's than a guy's. His hair was a short, silvery gray and he had huge purple eyes that were as stunning and striking as his shy smile as he lifted a hand to wave a greeting to Haruhi. "Hello, Haruhi." Yuki called over, not overly surprised to see the welcoming party waiting for him. Haruhi had said that her fellow club members were annoyingly possessive of her, especially the twins.
"Yuki." Pulling away from the twins Haruhi met Yuki half way, deliberately pulling him into a quick hug, just to piss the other guys off. Pulling back she smiled up at him. "I see you found the school okay."
"A little too big to miss. I don't think even Haru could miss it if he tried." Yuki agreed with a small laugh, looking over her shoulder to see the other members watching them with various expressions on their faces. Thanks to Haruhi's descriptions he was pretty sure it was Kyoya and Mori that were showing no reaction, Hunny who was all smiles and Tamaki and the twins who looked like Kyo just before he lost it completely. Interesting. "You all must be Haruhi's friends. It's nice to meet you." Giving them a small bow out of respect Yuki smiled at them warmly, hoping to make a good first impression for Haruhi's sake. "I'm Yuki Sohma."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kyoya Ohtori." Taking Yuki's offered hand Kyoya made a quick study of the man who'd apparently managed to make Haruhi his friend, which was never an easy task. Soft but firm grip, steady look in the eye, not easily intimidated, Kyoya noted silently. And the last name Sohma, he knew of more than a few companies headed by someone of that name. If this Yuki was related to them than he would be very well off, though not in their leagues. Rich by Haruhi's standards though.
"I'm Hunny, this is my cousin Mori!" Hunny announced as he bounced over to shake Yuki's hand too. "Welcome to our school!"
Unable not to smile at someone who so closely resembled his cousin Momiji Yuki wondered what Tohru would say later when he told her he'd met someone exactly like Momiji, right down to hair color and love of rabbits if the stuffed animal was anything to go by. "It's nice to meet you, Hunny san, Mori san."
"And this is Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru." Haruhi added, pointing to each of them in turn. Her gaze, when she looked at the trio, warned that they could expect untold horrors if they were rude or offended Yuki in any way.
Coming over Kaoru shook Yuki's hand as well, unlike Kyoya being obvious with his study. "So you're the school president at your school? Where do you attend?" They'd need that information to look him up online and find out just who they were dealing with.
"YUN YUN!"
Everyone watching the beautiful face visibly pale and wince they all turned to see a young, dark haired girl running over towards them, her school uniform navy blue with white lining. "You're here already! What a coincidence. Kimi didn't think she'd see you until lunch time! Are these your friends?" She added, openly gushing over the incredibly good looking men with her president.
Schooling his features Yuki sighed as he made the introductions. "Kimi, these are friends of my friend Haruhi." He informed his fellow council member, motioning to Haruhi with a wave of his hand. "And this is one of my secretaries, Kimi Toudou. She's a second year at our school." Everyone greeting everyone else Yuki waited until everyone had said hello before he asked his question. "Kimi, what are you doing here so early anyway? You're usually late."
"Oh! Kimi wanted to see the school and so I came early so that I could look around before the events start." Kimi explained, beaming at her president as usual. Yuki couldn't recall ever seeing the girl do anything else for that matter. It was like she was on a happy, gushing inducing drug twenty four seven.
"Ah." Was all Yuki could think to say.
"I hate to interrupt but we need to get going and drop my project off if we're going to have time for that tour, Yuki." Haruhi put in before Kimi could say anything else. She'd heard plenty about the girl from Yuki and knew she was as much a troublemaker as Tamaki was. In other words not quite on the twin's level but bad enough.
"Oh, Kimi doesn't want to keep you then! I'll go and wait for the others to get here." Kimi announced with a sunny smile in the direction of the Host Club members. "Could one of you show Kimi how to get to the main parlor, please?" Twirling a lock of hair around her finger she sent them her most coy, adorable look that was nearly a hundred percent fool proof when it came to the male species.
"We'd be happy to escort you there, Miss Kimi." Kaoru piped up, seeing this bubbly girl as a prime information source to be tapped. After all, who knew their boss's secrets better than the secretary? She looked simple enough, especially for someone with their charms and looks. They'd have this pretty boy's life story by the time they walked through those parlor doors.
Eyes narrowing slightly Haruhi knew the twins had to be up to something to actually up and volunteer to do something like this. The question was, what?
"Well then I'll see you later, Kimi. Keep an eye on the others if you could as well." Yuki asked, trying not to imagine all the trouble his fellow council members could cause at this get together. His other secretary could drone on for hours about the horrors of being in their student council, his treasurer could get quite violent at times and his vice president was a lazy bum who constantly spoke before he'd bothered to think things through. Yes, there was a lot of things that could go wrong today and that wasn't even factoring in Haruhi's friends. Those twins had grins that reminded him of his cousin Shigure way too much.
"Okay!" Arm and arm with the twins Kimi sent him a beaming smile over her shoulder before turning back to ask the twins all about themselves. She'd never dated twins before.
Watching them go Haruhi sighed before turning back to see Hunny asking Yuki about how exactly he had met her.
"Well her father enjoys shopping my brother's boutique." Yuki was explaining with a small smile on his face. He'd bonded with Haruhi over the insanity that was the blood relative closest to them. It was one of those cases where DNA had seriously gone in two very different directions. Polar opposites in fact. Yes, it was safe to say there was no question which parent Haruhi took after. "They're..very similar in personalities."
"Is your brother a cross dresser too?" Tamaki wanted to know, forgetting for the moment that he was supposed to be giving this man the cold shoulder.
"Ayame? In a matter of speaking." Yuki answered, wincing slightly. "He's not gay or bi though if that's what you mean. His girlfriend works at the store with him as his assistant. Mine's...an interesting individual too."
"That's one way to put it." Haruhi muttered under her breath. "She's as bad as the twins when it comes to trying to dress me up like a doll."
"I think Machi is still having nightmares." Yes, taking any friend of his, especially female friends into his brother's shop tended to end badly. Unless they liked being treated like human dolls, which was none of them. It was one of the reasons why Yuki had never taken his friends Hana or Uo to the store. They'd kill his brother for trying. Or in Hana's case, give him a nice dose of poisonous waves.
"Yeah, I'm surprised she's still speaking to you." Was Haruhi's opinion on that matter. She'd met Machi after all. "Now lets go. I'm sure we all have a lot to do today."
"Indeed we do." Kyoya agreed with a small smile. "Indeed we do."