Only on the Outside

Down the road, down, down I went. My auburn hair swished and swayed to the beat of the car radio, thumping out tunes from the 80s. My breath hitched and caught with every bump we hit, I think it would happen with anybody if their fifteen-year-old brother is driving an age-old Jeep on country road.

"Hey, bro. Can you slow down?" I yelled over the wind.

He didn't hear me.

"Hey!" I grabbed his ear to yank it close to mine, bad move.

The car followed the movement of his head, swaying back and forth as I yanked on his ear. He screamed, and I followed suit with a cry of my own. The car eventually slowed down, due to the foot being taken off of the acceleration for once.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" he yelled, his blonde hair shagging down to his eyes. I sighed. I had a sheepdog for a brother.

"Well slow down next time, you idiot!" I yelled back, trying to get in his face. Okay, so he had me a little with the height department, so I wasn't as intimidating as I thought.

Me, 4'3.

Him, 6'7.

Not fair, right? I grabbed a lock of his hair and yanked him down to my level, eying him with my brown orbs.

This is our kind of sibling rivalry.

OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO

Luke and I greeted our parents simultaneously, mono-toned and ready for food.

"Hey Mama, hey Dad," we said. No answer was what we got. We tried again, but all we gained were guilty eyes from Mama and Dad. Well, not so much Dad. He just sat there like the rock he was.

"Sweet, we got spaghetti t'night," Luke, ah Luke, the ever-so-observant one…

"Sadie, Luke," Mama started out, real slow like the molasses we put…somewhere…in the pantry.

"Yeah?" I said; the polite one at the table.

"You're going to Japan."

…

…

…

WHAT!

"W-waaaaat?" I spit out. Luke only spit out his meal, not words. With not even a distasteful glance at my brother, my parents sighed like their very breaths carried away their life as they knew it. Well, it carried away MY life as I knew it, thank you very much.

You know that saying, dropped a bomb? Well, Mama and Dad didn't just bomb us, they freakin' exploded us with a nuclear cloud!

"Please, Sadie, don't make this harder than it already is," Why is it "Please Sadie," and not "Please Luke,"? Why am I always the one getting blamed for it? Okay, I admit, I was, maybe, a little, tiny, FREAKIN' ATOM SIZED bit of a trouble maker… but that wasn't a good reason!

"You two can't find a good education here, Ouran has all you'll need," Ouran? As in Ouran Academy? The too-rich-to-look-down-on-us-students Ouran Academy? What the Hell?

"Mama! That school is like, rich!" Thank you for the obvious, Luke, "It costs a lot too!" Hence your previously used term rich.

Dad just kept nodding like some old sage in the background, adding grunts here and there. He opened his mouth to speak, and I got a creepy feeling that he knew something he shouldn't. Oh no, he didn't figure…

"You speak Japanese, don't you Sadie?"

Yep, yep he did. Stupid dads. I took Japanese classes online, just so I could say I knew it. I mean, why not?

"All you have to do is explain things to Luke and you're all set, you both are on scholarships, don't worry,"

Dad, that gives me an even bigger reason to worry.

"We don't have a choice, do we?" Luke and I said together. Mama and Dad nodded. I gulped and reached for Luke's hand, and he squeezed it back. Looks like Japan was going to be our new home, not Texas anymore.

OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO

Well, Luke barfed about one gazillion times on the plane, charming right?

"Dammit Sadie, I can't feel my legs," he mumbled. I gave him a sharp kick to the shins.

"Can you feel them now?" I asked. He glared at me sheepdog-style.

"You're waaaay to short to be scary, you know that, right?" Luke, don't go there…

I led the hopeless-looking Luke out of the airport, and almost felt a twinge of sympathy for him. I guess I would have to teach him Japanese soon.

Our parents told us the directions to our apartment, since it wasn't far from the airport. As I replayed the map in my head, every once in a while I had to snicker at Luke's attempt to curse in Japanese. He couldn't say "Shit" apart from "Knit". Stupid brothers.

I ran up the steps (Luke couldn't handle the elevator buttons) tugging my sheepdog along, until we arrived at our room, or our suite, take a pick. Mama and Dad really went all out, giving us an extra big one at that.

Luke and I set our bags down, and I only started on the zipper when Luke called me from behind.

"Hey Sadie?" He asked. I turned to see him on his bed, all the clothes already unpacked and organized. Sometimes, I swear he's a girl…

"Yeah?"

"Are Mama and Dad getting' rid of us?" I sighed, looking into his puppy/sheepdog face, was he really older than me?

"No Luke, no they're not."

OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO

Okay, I remember reluctantly agreeing to study in Japan. I remember saying that I'll do my best, yadda yadda yadda.

I don't remember saying I'll wear a yellow mushroom of doom.

The doom mushroom was in front of me, its' puffy sleeves and yellow frill infecting all my bed space.

"Hey Sadie you know where my uniform i- GAK!" Luke jumped back a couple paces after seeing the thing on my bed.

"Wh-wh-what is that?" he whispered.

"I don't know." I grabbed a stick (don't ask where from) and started poking it, but nearly broke my twig when I saw the tag on it.

Ouran Academy Female Uniform.

That's it. My fears were confirmed, and I gradually dropped my only weapon against the doom-'shroom.

"Sadie? What's wrong?" Luke asked. I sighed.

"That thing is my uniform, Luke."

He was silent a moment, but then started laughing. AT ME!

"R-really?" he choked out, "Man I feel bad for y-you!" He chuckled some more. I threw a pillow at him.

"If you really felt bad then you wouldn't be laughing dumbass!" I yelled, and stalked off. Grabbing my clothes out of my drawer, I quickly slipped on some jeans and a T-shirt in the bathroom. Luke's jaw dropped when he saw me.

"S-Sadie? You're not supposed to do that!" he yelled, and I shrugged.

"It'll just give me time to think of how I can get out of it. For now I'll just say I lost the uniform." With that I grabbed my bag and newly uniformed brother, and headed out the door for the school.

OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO

I knew that Ouran Academy was a prestigious school for the super-rich and beautiful, and most of the kids that went had waaaay too much time on their hands. What I didn't know was this:

"WHY ARE WE ATTENDING KEN'S DREAM HOUSE?" I yelled. Luke tried to shush me with his hand, but I probably looked to furious for him to approach me. Wise Luke, very wise indeed.

"S-Sadie-" I started speaking in Japanese out of frustration.

"Luke! Look at this! What the hell is this place? It's, it's, it's…"

"Pink?" A voice came out from behind me. I spun around, grateful that someone understood my pain.

"Yes, thank you mysterious person whom I do not know at all!" I yelled, and the mysterious girl chuckled. I smiled; she was the kind of person to immediately like. Only, at first, she looked like a he. My orbs grew wide as I looked up to her, and she rose an eyebrow, questioning me.

"We have cross-dressers here? Awesome!" I yelled.

Her eyes grew wide like mine, and she shushed me.

"I won't ask how you know, but please keep quiet,"

I nodded, though I didn't understand. Poor Luke, he didn't understand what she was saying, but this time I decided not to help him out on the case.

"I don't understand, but I'll keep your secret," I said, "What's your name?" She/he cleared her throat.

"Haruhi."

"Mine's Sadie, and the sheepdog is my big bro Luke."

She nodded and looked at her watch, paling when she did so.

"Crap, they're gonna have my head for this!" she yelled, and sped off with a short goodbye. I grabbed Luke's hand and ran after her to class, just entering the classroom by the bell.

"Incredible timing," the teacher said, astonished. I gave a weak, tired smile and walked to the front of the room.

"Everybody, I am Sadie Howles, and this is my brother Luke. I like pizza, and if any of you mess with us I'll whoop your ass!" I yelled, a bright smile on my face. I was surprised that the teacher wasn't appalled at the cussing, but I liked her because of that. Maybe my height wasn't intimidating enough?

Luke smiled nervously, not knowing what I was saying.

The teacher pointed to Luke and mine's seats, in the far back. There I saw Haruhi, and I was relieved when she smiled at me, and amused when a vein popped on her forehead thanks to the two boys sitting next to her. The two boys were identical twins, with no personal bubble space whatsoever. Strangely enough though, I found myself blushing at the sight. Luke however, was turning green, not red. Hehee, Christmas colors.

"Hi Sadie," Haruhi greeted, smiling. I smiled back, avoiding the twins next to her. This was going to be a long class…

OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO

"Sadie, can you wait for me?" Luke said as he walked to the bathroom. We were finally done with our classes, and he had been holding it in since he couldn't read the signs.

"Yes Luke, even I posses the magical talent of standing around until someone gets back. I can wait." I retorted. He rolled his eyes and walked off.

Apparently, I don't posses that magical ability I was talking about. Leave it to me to get distracted by the pretty wall color in the halls, and somehow wind up getting lost in the labyrinth of marble.

"An abandoned music room?" I inquired. The giant door was in front of me, in all its mahogany glory. I got the weirdest vibe off that door, like it was evil or something. I shrugged it off, and turned the handle.

That door really was evil.

I nearly choked on the rose petals that flew my way. Once in the clearing, I spotted seven boys, along with Haruhi in the center. Was she part of a harem or something?

"Welcome," they all said. By now, I was thoroughly creeped out.

"My, it looks like we have a new princess here," A very tall blonde came up to me, and kneeled down with his hand outstretched. "Welcome to our heaven, little princess," Even when boys flirted with me I was called little!

"I-I-" I stuttered, the blonde didn't even give me time to respond.

"What is your type, little maiden? The mischievous type, the strong and silent type, the natural type-" I cut him off this time.

"I like the get-out-of-my-space-type, thank you very much," I said to his too-close figure. He backed away into a corner, and started to grow mushrooms through the marble. Okay, I admit, that was pretty cool.

"Whoa, how do you do that?" I asked, amazed. He looked up at me, confused by my question.

"How do I do what?"

"You must have a really green thumb; those mushrooms are growing in the marble!"

I think my comment made it even worse. He sunk even further into the gloom, whimpering about "tininess is indeed an evil source," and stuff like that. Sheesh, this guy was an emotional waterfall.

"That was a good one," two voices said from behind me. I turned to see the twins on each other's shoulders smirking down. I blushed in remembering them in class. The "personal bubble" twins. They stared down at me with their amber eyes, making me blush even more.

"I-If you don't mind, I'll be going now," I said, and tried to make my way to the door.

Key word: tried.

"Hi!" I only had time to breathe before a fast blonde head came towards me, barreling down with inhuman speed. The hair glomped me, and I found myself staring into wide, eager brown eyes.

"I'm Mistkuni! What's your name?" he almost screamed. Seriously, a megaphone would quiet this boy.

"S-Sadie," I replied, still dizzy from the glomp of doom.

"I made a new friend! Sa-chan!"

Once I regained my balance and sense of direction, I giggled, this kid was seriously cute. Only one thing: He was taller than me.

Where as I stood at 4'3, he still was taller than that. A grade-schooler outgrew me! Not fair…

"And how old are you, sweetie?" I asked. He's probably seven, I thought to myself.

"Seventeen!" He laughed. I face-faulted. Seventeen? I didn't even have time for it to sink in before he glomped me again.

"Sa-chan! Sa-chan! I'm gonna play with Sa-chan!" He sang. I tried to struggle from his grasp. The guy was like superglue!

"Who said I was playing with anybody?" I yelled. The boy stopped, and looked down. Without tilting his head, he looked up at me with those brown orbs. Oh no… cuteness overload…

"You don't like me?" He whimpered. Gulping, I averted my gaze over to the vase on the table.

"I-I guess you're alright," I muttered. Can't a Texas girl get a break?

The boy brightened up like a light switch, and continued hugging me. I could barely keep in mind than he was seventeen, not seven.

"What the HELL are you doing on my sister?" Great, Luke found me.

"Luke!" I yelled, and took advantage of the shocked glomper to run over to him. He grabbed my arm and put me behind him, like he was shielding me. He took the "Big-brother" thing waaaay to far.

The blonde glomping machine had tears in his eyes, and looked at Luke like a kicked puppy.

"But I was just playing with her, Lu-chan," he whimpered. This kid is seventeen; this kid is seventeen… oh forget it. Luke visibly softened at the kid's face, shoulders slumped and a twitch of a smile. Ok, that's more creepy than softening. Just, just, picture it…

"Oh, well that's okay then, I guess. He's just a kid, right Sadie?" Luke asked. I nodded way too quickly. He's just a kid, just a kid.

I smiled nervously at the awkward silence. Somebody talk, please.

"Sa-chan, wanna play with me?" the kid asked. Let's see. What are my choices? Either refuse and face both guilt from Senor-Seventeen and confusion from Luke, or accept and keep the whole thing on the down low.

I went with the latter.

"Sure!" I yelled and ran off. I sat at a red-velvet couch, poised as I could be. Which, isn't really much. Mistkuni came back with a dozen plates of cake in his hands, and even more balanced on his head. You know, a great mind once quoted in a situation like this:

"Woah,"

I clapped at the sight of him doing his little circus act. He giggled and set the plates down one by one, swinging a little stuffed bunny onto his shoulder.

"Um, Mistkuni?" I asked, sweatdropping. He looked up at me.

"Yes Sa-chan?"

Oh, don't act cute and do that… seventeen, seventeen…

"What are you going to do with all that cake?" I asked. He looked from me, to the cake, to me again.

"I'm gonna eat it,"

I face faulted again. All of it? I laughed nervously.

"C-Can I eat some too?" At least take some of it, it looked really good…

Mistkuni laughed and handed me a plate. I took it and placed my fork into it. The minute I took a bite, however, I think I might have fainted from happiness. It was so delicious, I can't describe how it was.

"Mistkuni! This is amazing!" I said, and he laughed some more. We continued like that for quite a while afterwards.

OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO

"Ready to go?" Luke asked, as I was laying on the couch with cake. Mistkuni was already asleep, curled into a little ball looking as cute as ever.

"Yeah," I answered. I got my gab and started to leave, but a hand on my wrist stopped me.

"Where are you going Sa-chan?" Mistkuni asked in his I'm-not-completely-awake-yet voice. I smiled.
"I've gotta go home now, Mistkuni," I said in a grandmotherly-voice. You just can't help it with this kid.

Luke joined in and smiled at him too. "We've got to go, but we'll come back, 'k?" He winked. Mistkuni smiled and said okay as well.

Wait, Mistkuni just spoke in English.

Apparently Luke didn't realize it, because he was still talking with Mistkuni. Talking. In English.

Oh well, no complaints here.

I stared around the room, and my eyes landed on a pretty vase in the center of the room. Its' designs were of Chinese origins, with sakura flowers dancing their petals across the glass. Chinese and Japanese, that was cool.

"Pretty vase…" I said, and began to walk towards it. My hands casually brushed around the rim, but then I leaned a little too far in and lost my balance.

"Gak!" I yelled as I fell. I landed on the vase stand, but the vase itself didn't have such a good fate.

Glass shattered on the floor as I stared wide-eyed along with the rest of the club (Excluding the newly dubbed Stalker-san,(You know who…))

"You did it now," The twins said. I glared at them in a way that said "You're not helping,". They simply shrugged and whispered something into the tall blonde's ear.

"Boys! I think we have a problem here," he said, suddenly all business-like, "Sadie, was it? I'm sorry but you'll have to pay us back for that vase, it was to be featured in an upcoming auction," Was this guy serious? I wasn't rich; there was no way I could pay him back!

"I'll do it," Luke's voice caught me off guard.

"Just let me work for you, we don't have the money to pay you off," he continued, and I let my jaw drop open. What was he saying?

"Luke what are you saying?" I repeated my thoughts. He simply shrugged and smiled at me.

"I'm not gonna let my little sister take the plunge." Those words almost made me want to cry.

And then I just realized something.

EVERYBODY was speaking English!

"Wait, wait, wait, why are you speaking English?" I asked. Stalker-san spoke for once,

"In order to maintain the highest profit and entertain more costumers, The Host Club is required to take multi-lingual courses. That also includes English." Scratch stalker. This guy seemed downright cold!

"O-Oh," was all I could manage out. "W-well then I'll work too!" Luke looked at me with shock.

"What?"

"The debt will get paid off faster if we both work, right?" Stalker-san's glasses flashed and he smirked.

"Yes, I do believe so."

"Great!" I smiled and jumped around, my cowboy hat falling off in the process. Luke flashed his sheepdog grin and picked me up, twirling me around and laughing all the same.

He set me down and we both thanked Stalker-san, who told us to be there the next day. But before we left, the tall blonde whirled around dramatically and called out,

"Wait! It is improper for a gentleman to forget his name!"

Yeah, and it's also improper to indebt people for a clumsy mistake.

"I am the king, Tamaki. These fine men are Hikaru, Kaoru, Mori, Hunny, Haruhi, and Kyoya." He pointed to each and all of the Host club members, and I made a mental note to ask why Mistkuni was called 'Hunny' later.

"Well then, I'm Luke and the midget is Sadie," Luke said with a smile. I felt a vein pop at "midget", but I shrugged it off.

Little did I know it was going to be a very, very long week for us.

OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO

I sighed, what had I gotten myself into? Poor Luke was running around like the sheepdog he is, carrying trays and whatnot while I slaved away in the kitchen. Okay, bit of an exaggeration. I actually really liked cooking, but anything will get old if seven hot guys are threatening you with a private police force.

I put the last decorations on the vanilla cake and set it on a tray to be sliced. Once I had cut all of it I placed the slices on the tray, sprinkling them with little gold flakes (They were REAL gold…) and spraying whip cream.

Mistkuni bounded in almost as if on cue once I finished. His big brown eyes widened at the sight, and I couldn't help but giggle at him. He was so freakin' CUTE!

"Do you want a piece Honey?" I asked, using his nickname. He looked at me funny.

"Why did you call me that Sa-chan?" he tilted his head in a way that he just HAD to know was adorable and irresistible. I gulped, feeling outwitted by the cuteness.

"Everyone else calls you that," I mumbled, looking down. He smiled brightly instead,

"I want you to call me Mistkuni!" He yelled, and I had to agree to those big brown eyes. This kid is older than me, this kid is older than me, I had to repeat that in my head to keep from hugging him. I watched as he nonchalantly blew his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes.

I walked back to the pantry for some more ingredients, and frowned when I realized that there were no more left. The Host Club had me making cakes out the dozen every second. Oh well, big break for me.

"Sadie?" I turned to see Luke, and had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. There he was, shaggy hair tousled and lipstick marks all over his face. He was panting, and had the MOST desperate-for-help look I have ever seen.

"Y-yes, Luke?" I was in a giggling fit now. He glared through his hair.

"Don't think this is funny, brat," he started, and I giggled more. My big brother wasn't scary AT ALL. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't be as threatening as he wanted to be, whether he was facing a pro or a crow.

"But I do think it's funny," I continued, and he scoffed in irritation.

"Look, can you do something about all those maniacs out there?"

"The girls or the boys?" I asked.

"BOTH" He yelled, and I silently agreed with him. As I flipped my hair out of my face, Luke did the same thing, with just a little flip and sigh.

"So can you help me out? Pleeeeease Sadie?" His country accent and adorable puppy eyes (clouded as they were) worked. To a certain effect, though.

"No."

"What?"

Luke, you're such an IDIOT!

"It's hard enough making the cakes you know, besides, you got dozens of little girly friends calling your name 'Lu-kun,'" I smirked. He spluttered.

"But you don't know what it's like! Girls are just randomly flirting in Japanese and I don't know crap what they're saying!" His wild arm motions made me laugh. He was such a kid sometimes…

"Lu-kun?" One of the girls called. Luke paled. I giggled.

"Lu-kun, where are you?" she called in Japanese. Luke looked towards me.

"Dear GOD what IS she SAYING?" I had tears in my eyes from keeping in laughter, but I used my awesome acting skills to make it look like crying.

"Sadie? What's wrong?"

"Luke, she-she's saying…"

"Yeah, what's she saying?"

I could barely hold it in at this point, but still kept going.

"She's saying- she can't hold it in any longer,"

"Hold what in?" Poor, poor Luke…

"She says it wasn't yours, Luke. It wasn't yours," Poor, poor, poor Lu-kun. Happy, happy, happy me.

"What the hell?" He blushed bright red. I burst.

"No Lu-Luke, y-you idiot! You're not some stud muffin, you know," I laughed extremely hard. He looked even angrier now. Oh well, the "sheepdog fury" never works. He blew his hair out of his eyes and glared once more.

Luke stomped out to his little spot on the couch and put his hands over the family jewels when the girls attacked him again. I laughed even harder. My little joke… hehee.

"Sa-chan?" Mistkuni's voice came from behind me. I turned and saw his face covered with cake frosting and him holding one of my frosting bags. I didn't know whether to laugh or just stare. Finally, I chose laugh.

"M-Mistkuni! Why d-did you do that?" I giggled. He smiled nervously, and put the frosting down.

"You aren't mad at me, Sa-chan?" He looked up with hopeful eyes. How could ANYONE have the HEART to be mad at that?

"Just don't do it again, 'k?"

He nodded and ran off to the other girls. Such a cute kid. Hehe.

OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO

I walked down the halls of the school, looking for my bag that I left in class. Leave it to me to actually get excited to bake a cake and leave all my homework and other things that even remotely help getting into college in the other room.

"Where is it? Where are you, little bag, come out come out wherever you are…" I'm talking. To my bag.

Great.

"Sadie?"

I stopped at the sound of someone calling my name. Strange, he sounded familiar…

"Sadie?" I turned around to meet a boy with black hair and blue eyes. Now he really seemed familiar, but for some reason I didn't want to remember him.

He had dark hair with aquamarine eyes, pale skin and stood at about five feet, but kinda petite for a guy. He dressed in all black, and part of his hair covered his left eye. He dressed in an awesomely emo kind of way, you know? But, I still didn't know him.

"Sadie? Is that you?" His eye was wide open as he bent over to look at me. I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm Sadie," I said, "But who are y-" I was cut off, not even getting a chance to finish. The boy hugged me with the dreaded glomp of doom. I thought only Mistkuni knew that, guess not.

The boy almost squealed as he hugged me, laughing his head off.

"My Sadie," he said, "My little sadistic Sadie,"

Author's note: I won't update 'till that Review button is pushed! Beware! Beware the button!

Beware it!