Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club

Author's Note: In response to Just a Stranger's review, I miss Honey and Mori too! I do plan to put them in here, somehow. I have no idea how long this'll be but what would Host Club be without those two? They will appear, I just don't know how soon. Sorry. Also, the first chapter was a lot shorter than I'd wanted it to be. I don't want anything terribly lengthy but I was hoping to get more than five pages for chapter one. It's so hard to write about everyday life and make it interesting, though. Even when you have interesting characters to work with its still so hard! Kudos to those who can pull it off!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club

Chapter Two

It was too early for the antics of the Hosts, but then again, it was always too early to deal with them for Haruhi no matter what time of day it was. She always saw the worst of the bunch first, though. Was it a curse? What could she have done to deserve this?

"Haruhi," the twins greeted, waving from across the classroom when they spotted her. Again she wanted to cringe, wishing to block out their harmonic voices forever and lacking the ability and distance required to do so. "You're late!"

"I am not," she growled, slamming her book bag onto her desk. It was quite the change from the usual gentle touch she had.

"Haruhi? Are you ever in a bad mood!" Kaoru observed, taking it upon himself to point out the obvious. "Sleep on the wrong side of the bed? Get up facing the wrong way?"

"Its 'get up on the wrong side of the bed' and 'sleep facing the wrong way,'" she corrected. She found their experimentation with commoner phrases amusing most of the time. They normally got them wrong though. "And no, I didn't do either."

"Haruhi," Hikaru spoke from her other side. She knew them by their voice now even if they weren't on opposing sides. After all, they only sounded similar, not exactly alike. "We're sorry about yesterday."

A genuine apology maybe? She thought, but it was too good to be true. "What about yesterday?" she asked. They had many things to be sorry for. The sad thing was she knew they weren't.

"We kind of treated Riku badly," Kaoru admitted with a sigh. He looked so forlorn it had to be fake.

"You owe her the apology, not me," she said, falling into her chair. She eyed them suspiciously. What were they trying to do?

"No, we owe you the apology," Hikaru corrected. She obviously didn't see their logic so he explained. "We were mean to her, but that's not unusual. But we caused you grief over it."

"I wasn't really 'grieved' per say," she muttered.

"But you disapproved. And we're sorry," Kaoru continued.

"So you're sorry I disapproved of your actions, not sorry for your actions," Haruhi confirmed. Sighing she covered her eyes with a hand.

"Do you have a headache, Haruhi? Is that why you're in a bad mood?" Hikaru wondered. "We have aspirin if you need it. We could get someone to give you a massage if you want it," Kaoru offered.

"No, that's not necessary," she declined, waving them off with her hand. If only it were that easy to dismiss them, she thought. "There's no relief for this kind of headache."

"What kind of headache is it?" Kaoru asked. "Is it different from normal headaches? Is there a name for it?"

Haruhi lowered her hand, closing it in a loose fist as it came to rest against her chin; she looked thoughtfully at her desk. "Actually, it has two names. They start with 'H' and 'K'—"

"Open your texts to yesterdays lesson," the teacher announced as he entered the room, interrupting Haruhi's diagnosis of her headaches. "We'll pick up where we left off." Hikaru and Kaoru dropped the subject and gave their attention to the lesson for once. After class there was a break which Haruhi wanted use for some brief review before the next class started. She waited until the twins were preoccupied and slipped into the hallway. They'd eventually notice her absence and come looking for her, knowing she wouldn't stray far when class was about to start. But it would get her some peace to study before hand as she had so little time to do so after school.

Haruhi sighed at the sound of the door 'click' when she pulled it shut. She'd successfully 'escaped' the twins! Now all she had to do was successfully skim over her next lesson. She turned to walk away from the door and find a place in the hall to sit in quiet when she bumped into someone, knocking them over in the process, as they were shorter than she was.

"Riku!" Haruhi exclaimed when she got a look at the girl, now sitting on the ground in the middle of her dropped books. "What are you doing here? Don't you have class?"

"I-I-I'm so sorry!" Riku apologized, dropping her gaze to avoid making eye contact. She scrambled to pick up her books. "I shouldn't have been—I mean I wasn't supposed to be here—I should go!"

Haruhi caught her shoulder as she stood to run away. "Wait, don't go," Haruhi pleaded. She couldn't help but smile when Riku glanced back at her. She found it odd that such a sweet, polite person could have any relation to the twins. How on earth a kind girl was blood related to them was beyond Haruhi's comprehension. Maybe there was something yet undiscovered wrong with her? Haruhi shrugged it off.

"What are you doing here?" Haruhi repeated.

Riku blushed and looked away again. She was also extremely shy, another thing she didn't have in common with her cousins. "I wanted to speak with Hikaru and Kaoru," she confessed.

"It couldn't wait until lunch?" Haruhi found the words already departed from her lips before she had even recalled the previous day. The twins had banned her from eating lunch with them.

Riku shook her head. She didn't appear phased by the reminder. "I wanted to talk to them before class. I have a gap between classes so I thought I might take the opportunity to say 'good morning' since I didn't get a chance to earlier," she explained.

"Why not?" Haruhi asked. "You rode in with them today, right?

"No, they got up and had breakfast earlier than usual today and arranged for a separate car to bring me," she replied. "They didn't want me to have to wait around for them again today. They said I looked bored yesterday…"

Haruhi frowned. They'd fixed the 'problem' of her being present during Hosting hours. Did they really hate her prescience that much? She'd never seen them treat someone so coldly, but then again she hadn't known them very long.

"I should go though," Riku said, curtseying. "They're busy anyway. They wouldn't see me now."

"Riku!" Haruhi called after her. Riku paused and turned, waiting with a quizzical look. "If you would," Haruhi smiled. "I know you'd rather eat lunch with Hikaru and Kaoru, but would you eat lunch with me instead?"

Riku smiled. "I'd like that! And I'll get to see them, too!" she giggled.

Haruhi smiled. "Right then. Come to the high school cafeteria during lunch. I'll be waiting there for you," she informed the girl.

"Thank you, Haruhi-san!" Riku said with a wide grin. Turning to run off she added, waving as she ran off, "I'll be there!"

Haruhi watched her run off down the hallway until she rounded the corner. She smiled. She knew that the brothers would probably only ridicule or scold Riku more at lunch, but for some reason she was just happy to be around them, even if they were unpleasant towards her.

"Haru—HI!" they harmonized.

"We found you," Kaoru said triumphantly. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Where'd you go?"

"We were looking for you," Hikaru complained. "What are you doing? Cutting class?"

Haruhi sighed. Ignoring them, she turned and entered the classroom. Hikaru and Kaoru exchanged a glance, shrugged, and followed after her.

Lunch finally came, but only after several more grueling hours of enduring the Hitachiin's many distractions as they tried to 'chat' with her during class. As the other students headed for the cafeteria Haruhi, to the twins' surprised, stood to do the same.

"Aren't you going to eat in the classroom like you always do?" Hikaru wondered.

"I thought I'd eat in the cafeteria again today," Haruhi replied plainly.

"But we usually have to drag you there before you go. You never go willingly," Kaoru pointed out, falling in step next to his brother as the two of them followed her out of the classroom.

"That's not true, I am today," Haruhi corrected. She quickened her pace to get ahead of them, glancing at her watch. She wanted to get to the cafeteria before Riku so she didn't have to spend time looking for her needlessly.

Once inside the cafeteria, Haruhi sat at a table while the twins got in line to get their lunch trays. Just as she'd opened her lunch to eat the cell phone the twins had loaned out to her started to ring. Pulling it out of her pocket she answered it.

"Hello?"

"Haru-chan, Haru-chan!"

Haruhi eyed the phone as she quickly moved it away from her ear. Honey was on the other end and she could hear his excited exclaims even with the phone held out so far from her ear. "Not so loud, Honey-senpai!" she pleaded, cautiously placing the phone to her ear again. "Why are you calling me during school?"

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized. "I wanted to talk to you! I heard Hika-chan and Kao-chan's cousin was in town. Is she cute? Can you send me a picture?"

"You called about that?" she asked. Cell phone calls cost money. Obviously rich people didn't mind throwing it around over such frivolous things. "How did you hear anyway?"

"Haru-chan, we still keep in touch!" Honey exclaimed. She could picture his distressed face to match his distraught voice. "Hika-chan told me yesterday when I called him. I want to meet her. I bet she's cute! Is she cute? Does she like cake?"

Haruhi chuckled, wondering subconsciously if Honey would ever mature. "I don't know, I haven't talked to her much," she replied. "They keep away from her a lot."

"Is that Honey!?" a girl squealed. Haruhi was surprised as one of the female students exclaimed, having heard Honey in passing. That was just how loud he talked.

"It is!" another girl, who was with the first one, said. Haruhi recognized them as Honey's old fans. "Oh, let me talk to him!"

Haruhi had to stand up to fend them off. "Uh, I have to go now, Honey-sempai," she said, doing her best to hold two fan girls back with the only free arm she had. "I'll talk to you later."

The girls 'awed' their disappointment when Haruhi pushed the 'end call' button, but they were quick to forgive her before they walked away. Haruhi sat back down with a sigh of relief.

"Was that Honey?" Hikaru asked, sitting down beside her. He'd returned from the lunch line.

"What did he want?" Kaoru asked sitting on her other side.

She noticed the exact same foods on their trays, as always. Her lunch was humbled next to theirs, but she was content with it. "Uh, nothing really," she lied, deciding not to bring Riku up—yet.

Hikaru shrugged. He took some of his salad on his fork and offered it to her. "Want a bite?" he asked.

Haruhi pushed his hand back. "No thank you," she declined, sweat dropping at how quickly they forgot one topic and moved to the next.

"Are you sure?" Kaoru asked, poking a bite of something different from his tray in her face.

"No, no I'm fine," she chuckled. She caught the smell of it as he waved it under her nose. It was soup; a spoonful of piping hot, steaming, delicious smelling soup. "It does smell good though—"

"Just one bite! If you like it you can have it," Kaoru said. He eyed it with indifference. "It's the third week we've had it anyway. I'm bored of it."

"Well, ok, but just one bite," Haruhi told herself. She opened her mouth for Kaoru to feed her. Before he even got it close enough for her to smell it again someone smacked the spoon—wonderful soup and all—from his hand.

"No indirect kisses!" Tamaki growled, standing over them. Kyoya hovered behind him carrying his tray, impatiently waiting for Tamaki to pick a table to sit at.

"Milord, I hadn't eaten off that spoon yet," Kaoru pointed out. Haruhi sat staring after the spoon with despair. How could he waste it like that?

"Then no couple-like feeding! And besides, your not worthy enough to eat after Haruhi!" Tamaki demanded. He leaned down over Haruhi's chair. "Haruhi, don't be lured in by their devilish charm. They're snakes, lying in wait for such a sweet, innocent like yourself to come along so they can prey upon you."

Hikaru grinned mischievously as he caught his brother's eye. Kaoru grinned too as an unheard message passed between them. Gently he took hold of Haruhi's jaw and turned her head towards him. Glancing up at Tamaki he licked the spoon, scooped up some of his soup with it, gently squeezed Haruhi's mouth open and popped the spoon in.

He slowly pulled it out so Haruhi had a chance to get every drop of soup. "Well?" he asked with a seductive smile. "Is it good?"

Haruhi licked her lips and swallowed. Her eyes sparkled as she savored the taste that still remained on her tongue. Raising her lightly fisted hand to her mouth her eyes watered. "Its delicious!" she gasped.

Hikaru offered to feed her another spoonful. "Then have another bite!"

"Hikaru!" Tamaki shouted, enraged. He snatched the spoon from the Hitachiin's hand and swung it at him, flinging soup all over the floor. "I demand that you stop that! Haruhi isn't your plaything! You shouldn't tease her like that. Her palate is very delicate. She's not used to such rich foods. If you give them to her so carelessly, you'll upset her taste buds."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hikaru asked with a nonchalant shrug. "She likes it, milord, why not let her have it?"

Tamaki paused and stared at him in wonder. "Ah, Haruhi!" he said. Setting his tray down next to her he shoved Kaoru aside so he could kneel next to her chair. Taking a spoonful from his soup he offered it to her in the same manner Hikaru had. "Here, you can have mine! Go on, open up for Daddy!"

"No thanks," Haruhi said flatly, shoving his hand away and turning back to the bland food contents of her lunch box. "I don't want it anymore."

Before Tamaki had a chance to be mortified over her rejection, Riku stepped up on the other side of the table. "Excuse me," she said shyly. Giggling she added with a smile, "I found you."

Haruhi smiled, standing to greet her. "Ah, Riku," she beamed. "Come sit down."

"Ai, Riku-chan!" Hikaru and Kaoru complained, leaning across the table. They poked her forehead with a finger. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't we tell you we couldn't have lunch with you today?" Hikaru inquired.

"No, you told her yesterday that you couldn't have lunch with her," Haruhi corrected. She came around the table and pulled out a chair for Riku. "Why don't you sit here next to me?" Reaching across the table she slid her lunch box to the opposite side. "Away from them."

Tamaki slid into the chair Haruhi had previously occupied. The three of them starred dumbfounded as Haruhi engaged in conversation with Riku. Kyoya took the empty seat next to Kaoru and began to eat. "If the three of you don't finish your lunches you'll be late to class," he stated coolly between bites.

Hikaru and Kaoru glared over at him agitatedly. Turning identical condescending looks on their cousin, they picked up their trays and walked off. "We'll eat elsewhere," they spat as theu stalked off.

"Did I do something wrong again?" Riku wondered pitifully.

Haruhi smiled warmly at her. "Don't mind them," she said. "If they don't want to eat with us, that's their loss. We can have a nice lunch together without them."

Riku gazed up at her a moment before she returned the smile with one of her own. "Sure!" she said with a chuckle.

"Here, we can share my lunch," Haruhi offered, scooting the lunch box towards Riku.

Riku's eyes lit up. "Really? That's awfully nice of you. Are you sure?" she wondered, peering at the contents curiously.

Haruhi nodded. "Of course, I don't mind," she laughed. "I won't eat it all myself anyway."

"Ok then," Riku said, helping herself to a bite. "It looks delicious!"

Haruhi's smile faded as she watched the girl eat. She saw nothing selfish or spoiled about her. There was the possibility that she was pulling the wool over her eyes, but from the sweet child that sat next to her, Haruhi couldn't see how that was true. The more she got to know Riku to less of a family connection she saw with the twins. Sighing, she glanced around to locate them, who had moved to the furthest table away. They were surrounded by their fans and playing up their hosting rolls to the fullest. Disgusted, Haruhi turned her attention back to Riku. She'd have to see and hear enough of that later.

She hadn't meant it coldly but they had taken it personally. Hikaru and Kaoru were mostly angry with their cousin for distracting Haruhi's attention from them. Tamaki was still sulking because part of the precious little time he had to spend with Haruhi during the day had been taken from him—not to mention her blatant rejection when he offered to feed her his soup.

Thus the hosts' were quiet until their customers arrived. Once the majority of their designators had filed through the door they had forgotten the earlier offense and resumed their normal behavior. Again Haruhi found herself in wonder over just how short their attention spans and memories were at times.

Haruhi had seen Riku to the limousine that was to take her back to the Hitachiin mansion only minutes ago and was now busy with a few of her customers, the rest yet to arrive. The twins seemed thrilled that Riku had gone home.

"Haruhi-kun!" one of her customer's half whined, half cooed as she scooted closer to her on the couch and affectionately placed her hand on the host's shoulder. "You seem so absent minded today. What's wrong?"

"Ah, sorry, sorry," Haruhi replied, leaning forward to set her empty teacup on the coffee table. "I'm just tired, I guess. Would you like more tea?" She stood, gathering up the girls' cups and placing them on a silver tray. "I'll be right back!" she promised as she briefly left them.

On her way across the room to fetch some more tea for her customers, she passed where the twins were and overheard their conversation.

"You're cousin was so cute!" one of their regulars said. "Where is she? I was hoping to see her again today."

"She had to go home," Hikaru replied, leaning heavily on Kaoru's shoulder. "I'm afraid she wasn't feeling well, so she couldn't stay as late today."

"Ah, and we miss her prescience so," Kaoru sighed dramatically, wrapping his arm around his brother's shoulders. "Even if we were busy with you ladies, just having her hear was such a joy."

"Oh no! I hope she feels better," one of the girls said.

"So do we," Hikaru said. They gently leaned their heads together so their foreheads met. "She's so sweet, it pains me to see her ill," he added. "I can't wait to get home and check on her. Oh, Hikaru, what if she's deathly ill?"

"Kaoru! You mustn't think so negatively," Hikaru said, embracing his brother in such a way that it was improper. "But I'm worried about Riku, too. If she gets that sick than I shall sit by her side and personally nurse her back to health."

"Hikaru, I'll be by her side, too," Kaoru said, placing his hand on his brother's face.

The girls squealed, screaming, "That's so sweet!", but Haruhi's stomach was turning. Not only did she find their usual 'brotherly love' disgusting as always, for many reasons, but their fake concern for their cousin was absolutely repulsive. Not only had they lied about why Riku had gone home, but they were making their customers think they actually liked her, and using this ploy to earn points with the girls. Haruhi clenched the tray she held until her knuckles turned white, continuing past the group quickly before she was tempted any further to call the twins down for their lies.

She sucked in a deep breath, holding it a while before she released it in attempt to calm herself. Still angry with the twins she refilled the teacups and returned to her customers.

After hosting hours were over she was busy cleaning up when the twins approached her. "Haruhi, tomorrow starts the weekend," Hikaru reminded.

"I know that," Haruhi replied shortly, turning her gaze away from him. Their previous lies were still fresh in her mind, and her anger over the matter was simmering on the backburner of her mind.

"We're going to the movies tomorrow. Want to come with us?" Kaoru suggested.

Haruhi met his gaze with hers sharply, biting back a hateful remark. Closing her eyes she said calmly as she continued cleaning the teacups her customers had used, "No, I don't. I have a lot of homework to do over the weekend."

"Can't you take a few hours off from that?" Hikaru asked with annoyance. "All you do is study. When do you have fun?"

"I have fun," Haruhi told him flatly. She thought for a moment, and smirked as an idea came to her. "As a matter of fact, I'm already going to have some fun tomorrow."
"Eh? You are?" Kaoru anxiously questioned. Haruhi nodded. "With who?" the two demanded.

Haruhi glanced at the two of them before she replied. "Riku."

"Eh? Riku?" Hikaru spat. "Ne, Haruhi," they whined. "What are you doing going out with Riku?"

"Having fun," Haruhi retorted matter of fact. "I'm taking her to the movies. Tomorrow morning."

"What fun is that?" Kaoru scoffed. "You're limited to what you can watch when you go to the movies with a child."

"So? What's your point?" Haruhi inquired with a furrowed brow. "Unlike the two of you, I'm not letting Riku come with me to the movies, I'm taking Riku to the movies."

The twins exchanged a confused glance, shrugging at one another when they received no answer from the other. "What's the difference?" they wondered together.

Haruhi sighed, turning her back on them in frustration. "I'm taking her to the movies and I'm going to let her chose the movie! I haven't picked the movie I want to see and asked her if she wanted to go with me!" she explained. Glancing over her shoulder she added in a harsh tone, "No doubt that's what you two had done when you asked me to go with you."

"That's not necessarily true!" Hikaru argued. He glanced at his brother for support.

"We wanted to see that new thriller movie," Kaoru shrugged. "But I guess we could have let Haruhi pick the movie."

Shaking her head Haruhi went to put away the teacups. "You'll never change," she said remorsefully. "You'll always be selfish." Ignoring them she walked away. Once the teacups were safely put away she retrieved her bag from the back room and left. As she walked home she found her pace quickening. After all, she had to get home and call Riku before the twins got home. Otherwise, they'd find out she'd lied about already having plans with their cousin.

She found the phonebook first thing when she got home. Flipping through she wondered if the Hitachiin's number was private when she was unable to find it listed. Deducing that it must have something to do with their mother's fame, she tossed the phone book aside in frustration. Digging the cell phone out of her book bag she dialed one of the numbers stored in its memory, determined to arrange an outing with Riku for tomorrow morning. She anxiously waited for the person on the other end to pick up. Finally, the phone she'd dialed was answered.

"Hello?"

"Kyoya-sempai?" she said eagerly, happy that she hadn't gotten his voice mail. "Sorry to bother you. I need a favor. Do you have the Hikaru and Kaoru's home phone number?"