"Just a Theory"

An Ouran High School Host Club Story

Aspendragon

Original story & characters © Bisco Hatori

~ Chapter One ~

~ The Student Janitor ~

With a swifter in one hand and pushing a floor polisher with the other, I made my way down the north corridor, perfectly aware one of the music rooms were in the daily usage of the school's unique Host Club. Yet it was late (nearly six thirty) and most of the student body was already gone (save for the Black Magic Club, Nekozawa-san left the school after dusk.) Surely if the school was devoid of carefree, bored students the Host Club would have dispersed by now.

Even if they hadn't left yet, I would just have to ask them to leave, it would be awkward to clean with them around – or anyone in general.

Approaching the third music room I grasped the handle and went to open the door.

It was locked.

A good sign the room was empty and with that thought in mind, I placed the swifter down then unlatched the jingling key ring from my belt and skimmed through the silver and gold keys. Each one had it's own ornate design and on my first day I would have been at a loss if not for the numbers put on each for my own convenience.

Finding the most oriental key of them all, I unlocked the door with it then stepped inside with the key ring back on my belt and swifter in hand.

The Host Club was a group of handsome individuals, from what I've been told, that helped the carefree student body (more so the female population) pass through their free time by entertaining them. I've never been given a full description of what the hosts honestly did, but I did know the girls of the school always talked about them and for the most part, the boys were very envious.

I've also never met them, eye to eye, or spoken to any of them for that matter.

Until now.

Inside were eight students, all lazing about on couches that formed a circle so as that they could face one another. I was instantly given the impression I had just interrupted a meeting of sorts, considering one boy (I'm pretty sure he was the Ootori guy in my Physics class) in glasses had stopped typing on a sleek, black laptop sitting on his lap.

The Hitachiin twins (there were no other twins in the entire school surprisingly) had their backs to me, so when I entered they had to turn their heads – in unison – and gave me a baffled expression.

"Nani?" they spoke, again, in unison. I tried not to feel a little unnerved…

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought the room was empty." I spoke, the reply was almost automatic, this wouldn't be the first time I walked in on a student gathering. I remembered the first time I walked in on the Newspaper Club, unfortunately for them, that was the first time I had to operate a "high-quality" vacuum cleaner. Those papers were suctioned faster than the Roadrunner could outrun Wiley the Coyote.

"Don't worry, we were just finishing up~" a tall blonde exclaimed in a princely manner, his violet eyes gazing up at me like I was an angel of sorts.

In a janitor jumpsuit.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, I tugged at the brim of my green hat in hopes of concealing my dark brown hair that had been pulled back in a messy braid. Earlier, as a part of my routine, I had removed my glasses and placed contacts in my eyes. It was a part of my disguise – how many students who worked as janitors in their own school wanted to be recognized as such?

"You look familiar," the blonde continued, his eyes shifting from dreamy to curious within half-seconds. My brain sent up a red flag, it also reminded me this was Tamaki Suoh – he was in my Advanced Statistics class!

"I don't recognize her," Ootori-san claimed bluntly, I couldn't help, but feel a little offended. The smaller of the two blondes present (I couldn't recall his name although he looked familiar), the one holding a large stuffed bunny and munching on some strawberry cake, looked up at me and his eyes instantly glazed over.

Crap, I remember now.

Five days ago right after school ended

I had just changed into my janitor's outfit when I heard a small crash down the hall, being the nice person I am (and because I'm going to have to clean up whatever broke) I grabbed a broom and dustpan (somehow these weren't a "high-quality, self-efficient" broom and dustpan) and began making my way down the hall.

I stopped short when I saw it was a young blonde boy (at the time I thought he was an elementary student) and an older, taller boy with dark hair was beside him. The blonde's eyes were shadowed and the taller boy stared down at the mess that consisted of a shattered plate and a ruined slice of carrot cake.

"Is everything all right? No one got hurt?" I asked as I walked up to them, I don't know how I didn't notice it before, but the blonde was cradling a stuffed bunny. I also realized he bore an Ouran High School coat of arms on his uniform, I frowned slightly, but quickly shrugged it off.

"The cake…" the blonde muttered under his breath, I bent down and began sweeping it up.

"It's no big deal, why don't you get another piece of cake from the kitchen?" I asked after I swept the last crumb up, the blonde snuggled further into his bunny.

"It was the last slice of Usa-chan's favorite cake…" he replied, his eyes sad and shining from underneath his bangs, I mentally sighed then gave a smile.

"Well, what's your favorite? I'll go and get some and you and Usa-chan can share until you can get carrot cake later some other day, kay?" I'm normally polite by nature (plus I want to keep this job) and this kid was adorable, so what the heck right?

The effect was almost instant, the blonde gazed up at me quickly after I had said it and gave a big, happy smile.

"Strawberry!" I faintly recall the older boy smiling slightly in my direction after I had returned with the slice of strawberry cake, the former completely forgotten by boy and his bunny.

Back to the Present

"Tsuyu-chan!"the blonde cried before he launched up at me, the cake he had been chewing before had mysteriously vanished into his mouth and with Usa-chan in tow, he embraced me like I had rescued him from a building on fire.

"Hello Haninozuka-san," I greeted back, but far more calmly than how the blonde had addressed me, he gave me a half-hearted glare after I managed to set him back on his feet.

"Tsuyu-chaaaan," he whined, I sighed.

"Okay, Hunny-sempai," I corrected myself, I didn't think I would be on friendly terms with him already. Although when we introduced ourselves the day we met, he did say to call him "Hunny."

"Hello Mori-san," I greeted the tall, dark-haired youth, remembering his preferred nickname. He gave a small nod in return, Tamaki snapped his fingers loudly.

"I know who you are – Tsuyu-chan!" he cried, I gave him a blank look.

"Of course you would know now," I replied evenly, Tamaki stood up with pride.

"You're that girl in my Stats class!" he announced, I sweat-dropped.

Great, now I'm going to be known as "Tsuyu-chan of Tamaki Suoh's Stats class," what a title, I thought numbly as Hunny tugged at my hand.

"You should visit the Host Club now! That way we can eat strawberry cake together!" I gave him a small smile again, my heart melting – and to think I don't want kids.

"Depends on how big the discount is," I said jokingly, I felt a pair of glasses glance at me then glance back at the screen of his laptop. "Anyway, I have to clean, when do you think you'll be done or would you mind if I started dusting?"

Tamaki went to open his mouth, but a shorter boy with brown hair a shade lighter than mine spoke up.

"Soon would be nice, I have to study and do homework." He claimed, Tamaki wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Oh Haruhi-chan~ You really need to get your nose out of those books every once in a while! Life's too short – too wonderful and great – to be smoldered by boring scholars!" Tamaki cried, I felt an eyebrow twitch. I had to study and do homework too, so it would nice if they hurried up!

"Renge, what was that last suggestion?" Ootori-san questioned the long-haired girl to his left, Tamaki to his right on the nearby sofa. I could only assume they were talking about cosplay or themes, it's impossible to go through a day in this school and not understand that part of the club's activities. Leaving the floor polisher where it was I decided to start dusting with or without their consent.

The girl rambled on about South America and a country called Venezuela and numerous other Hispanic cultures, claiming the club should do something based on those societies.

"Seeing the twins in matching sombreros would be eye-catching and perhaps we could have Hunny ride a dockey and have Mori as its' guide! We could have a la fiesta, or so they say…or what about Alaska! Igloos could be a nice touch!" The girl, Renge went on and on, sometimes I noticed the boy's fingers stopped typing when Renge spouted something over the top and continued when something made more sense.

All the while Hunny accompanied me through the room, it didn't seem like the meeting was drawing to a close like Tamaki had claimed.

"So you're a student here too? You're really hard-working and nice! Usa-chan likes you! What's your favorite flavor? Mine's strawberry!" Hunny chatted, I had to get on my tip-toes to reach the top of the window.

"Hm, I like cherry, strawberry's in second," I replied, my brows were furrowed in concentration as I continued trying to reach the edge of the window, contemplating whether I should stand on a chair surrounded by rich students.

"Do you like cleaning Tsuyu-chan?" Hunny continued.

"Sort of, I'm not a big fan of cleaning up vomit though," I replied, Hunny made a face. A minute and several questions later when I was about to give up and fetch a chair, someone gently took the swifter's handle from me and reached up and easily swiped away the small amount of dust accumulating on the highest part of the window.

It was Mori-sempai and I smiled brightly when he continued to dust the rest of the window.

"Usa-chan and I want to clean too " exclaimed Hunny.

"Hey, what's this Tsuyu-chan?" one of the twins spoke up in reference to the floor polisher, I turned around to find that they had both moved from the couch to gawk over the machine.

"What does it do?" the other questioned.

"It polishes the floor, but I'm not going to do that till I move the furniture – wait! Be careful!" One of the twins pushed one of the buttons and because it was cordless (go figure) and the button that had been pushed just so happened to be the 'Power' button, the polisher turned on with a soft roar. With the handles grasped by the Hitachiins, they began slowly pushing it without my consent, the two stared at it in wonder as the floor emerged from underneath it clean and silky smooth.

"Hold on – the furniture -" I glanced up and found Tamaki already moving the couches with the unwanted help of Haruhi.

"Kyouya – get up and help! Don't make Haruhi do a grown man's work! What if he breaks his spine and ends up in the hospital! Gasp! That can paralyze him and he wouldn't graduate from high school! he would live in a hovel all his life!" Tamaki exclaimed, his face clearly changing from eagerness to horror as fast as his earlier shift in moods had.

"Shut up Tamaki-sempai! My spine is NOT going to break! These things aren't that heavy!" Haruhi snapped.

Renge had stopped talking on and on about different countries and outfits long enough to be motivated (by everyone else) to remove all vases and small decorations from the room, then she vanished sitting upon a randomly placed pedestal that spiraled dramatically into the floor. Hunny had been placed on Mori's shoulders and was helping dusting while the twins managed to get excited enough to help move couches with Tamaki and Haruhi (under my orders to remove furniture before they polish the floor.)

Kyouya had shut his laptop and stood up moments before the twins could pick it up and twist it to force him up. With depressed faces, they stuck their tongue out at him before carrying the couch toward a faraway wall.

"You seem to have a definite hold over us Honiwa-san," Kyouya spoke as he approached me, I was confused.

"What did I do? I came in here to clean, but I somehow got…er…" I was looking for the right word, "…most of you all to do it for me."

Kyouya gave a smile, he seemed kind enough even though he had been the one that had lightly offended me before.

"Don't worry, they're not as capable of the job as you are." He said, "you should consider chasing us out of the room now before there is collateral damage."

"Collateral damage? Why would-" Crash! Snap! ROOOAAARRRR! Within the first ten minutes they had begun cleaning (perfectly fine they were mind you) there was a small domino effect that led to Kyouya's prediction. I didn't comprehend it at first, but this is how I reasoned it through and figured it out.

Hunny had somehow thrown the swifter through the window when he misjudged his strength to knock loose an inconveniently placed smudge along the sill, this startled the twins into snapping on 'Maximum Power' on the polisher. This button forced the machine to clear the room and smash into the couch that Tamaki and Haruhi had been placing against the wall adjacent to Mori and Hunny.

The power of the polisher combined with the supreme momentum it had gathered in such a short distance sent the couch airborne and through the window it was about to be placed beside - clear out of Haruhi and Tamaki's hands.

The polisher didn't stop there, it leaped out after the couch.

"You see," Kyouya began, adjusting his glasses in the process seconds after a strange silence pursued (the roar of the polisher could still be heard several feet down whizzing through the courtyard, sputtering polish over the bright green grass.)

"None of us – excluding Haruhi – have ever done much housework in our lives, it's best in all of our interests to avoid such duties and leave them to the experts." I wasn't sure if he was mocking me or not with the use of 'experts' in that explanation. A scream was heard from down below as the polisher chased after him, Tamaki and Haruhi nervously peeked out the window. The Hitachiins, who had remained immobile where the polisher had left them, blinked and looked at one another with identical looks of surprise. Mori looked bored as he stared at the new hole in the once glorious window of their music room, Hunny briefly wondered if this was a good time for more sweets.

As the minutes ticked by, the more and more my skin began to boil and a mixture of worry and ire escalated within me.

My days at Ouran are over! I thought purposely as I gave a sigh of defeat, trying to relieve the new waves of emotion that were rolling over me like tsunamis. I could always try to convince the superintendent and headmaster it wasn't my fault, but I wasn't wanted here to begin with.

There goes all my hopes of a good career, I thought sadly as the polisher crashed into a wall of the school's. A stream of rising, black smoke rose just outside of the window it had smashed through.

"I'll cover for you," Kyouya claimed, the whole group along with myself gave him a surprised look, but his smile suddenly seemed a little darker, he was extremely handsome and I might have been blushing from the attention if not for the circumstances, but a chill just went down my spine.

"For what price?" I asked cautiously, already knowing the catch was going to be a bad one.

"Requesting a host everyday till graduation, that should cover half the amount it will take to repair the room." Kyouya claimed, he revealed a clipboard out of nowhere and a pen clicked from somewhere behind it, his eyes were glossed over by his spectacles.

"Oh, you will probably have to replace the polisher as well, I'll have to make up another way for you to pay us back for that too." Now at this point in time my mind was spiraling down in a deep, dark hole. I wasn't entirely sure of what was going on and was pretty certain the others were confused too, my jaw had dropped without my knowing.

"W-What? You're going to pay the expanses?" I managed to choke out, Kyouya gave me a look of sheer, arrogant confidence.

"Unless you have the whole amount on you right now?" I paled at his words, he continued to grin.

"Requesting begins as soon as we rent out another room then, it's two thousand yen a visit." He claimed, I planned on living the rest of my life in debt from there on out.

The day seemed to begin with promise too.

A/N: Hello all, this fanfiction is purely for fun reasons! I had put some heart symbols in here to accompany some of Hunny's dialogue, but it didn't stick through the transfer into the document manager TT

I love Kyouya severely, so this will definitely be for Kyouya fans! There will be no character bashing and I'm hoping my character will develop a friendship of sorts with most the characters of Ouran High School Host Club. I'm also going to include the Zuka Club, Ranka, everyone! I'm hoping the readers will enjoy it as much as I do since this is also practice on fluff and romance on my part ^^

Please review and tell me what you think - I enjoy constructive criticism and encouragement! If at any time Tsuyu seems to be turning into a sue, please tell me! I'm hoping the originality of her being a student janitor will deter her from becoming one - also, she's a little cheeky, but she might make friends more so with Renge and Ranka than with Haruhi for many reasons! Wait until later additions to find out why!