[Ouran] - Renge White and the Seven Hosts
Title: Renge White and the Seven Hosts
Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Characters: The whole club, Renge, Kasanoda, Tetsuya.
Rating: PG
Words: 3500+
Summary: Snow White Ouran style. Slight Kasanoda/Tetsuya; slighter Kyouya/Renge.
Spoilers: Only if you don't know who the people in the Characters section are.
Notes: Renge-centric fanfic.
I
Once upon a time, in a fairy land far, far away, there was a beautiful, young princess named Renge White. This maiden, though lovely and graceful, was exploited--unfairly, as it happens with most exploitations--by the queen, her Evil Stepmother.
The Queen was jealous of Renge White's incredible gaming skills: the Evil Stepmother used to spend hours and hours trying fruitlessly to get her favorite video game's Super Special Ending, the one Renge White got every single time without breaking a sweat.
Even the AI program the queen had compilated herself, whenever asked who was the best gamer in the world, answered, "You are a great gamer indeed, my queen, but Renge White gets the best scores. Always."
The poor program's sincerity caused it to be nearly deleted more than just a couple of times.
After a few months of enduring this situation, the Evil Stepmother finally stopped denying the truth and did her best to destroy Renge White's deft fingers via making her clean both the kitchen and the stables all by herself. But those measures didn't work at all--quite the contrary: the sweeping made the grip of Renge White's hands firmer and her wrists became even more flexible.
One Saturday night, desperate after losing nine games out of ten in Ultra Turbo Alley Wrestler 2: The Titans' Clash!, the Evil Stepmother decided to do the sensible thing: she hired a group of yakuza to get rid of her stepdaughter once and for all.
When she hung up the phone, she laughed evilly, just like the Evil Stepmothers' Handbook said she should whenever she reached the end or the middle of an evil scheming.
Things would happen like this: one of the yakuza, disguised as a nice, old man was to take Renge out from the castle under the excuse of driving her to a new video game store. But then, when they were in a dark tunnel...
Renge White's destiny would be sealed!
The Evil Stepmother laughed again, despite lacking thunder and lighting in the background, before going to clean up Renge White's records from the memory stick.
----
Renge White was extremely happy; she hadn't heard about that new video game store until she was told about it by this nice, old man--whom she had never seen before, but that wasn't really a problem. There were many people working in the castle and Renge White didn't have the time to know them all.
The nice, old man drove Renge White to the parking lot of the city's newest mall and parked the limousine in the farthest spot, behind a wall of trees and bushes. There, he took off the fake beard, revealing that he was, in actuality, a handsome youth.
A very handsome youth.
"Fair maiden," he began, "listen--"
"Kyaaaa~!!" Renge White exclaimed, her hands clasped in front of her chest and her eyes shining with hope. "Are you the noble prince that's going to take me away from my miserable life and to give me a luxurious one in his magnificent castle?"
"Well, no," he answered, smiling. "My name is Tetsuya and I'm going to take you to my boss--"
"Ah." Renge White sighed in disappointment. "If you have a boss, then you're not a prince. But what about him? He is a prince, right?"
"Um, he's more like a yakuza boss' heir--"
"What are we waiting for, Tetsuya-kun?" Renge White said, her eyes shining once more; if this delicious peace of meat was the servant, the master would have to be a gift from the gods. "Are we going to go on the limo or on foot?"
The young man opened the limousine's door. "On foot, princess," he said. "It's not too far away."
"Well, as long it's for my prince, I will endure anything!"
"My lady, he's not a p--"
"Let's go, Tetsuya-kun!" Renge White, spiritedly, walked away from the limousine toward the nearest bus stop.
"Wait, princess! That's not the way!"
-
Tetsuya lead Renge White through the maze that were the mall's halls until they reached a private table in the back of the food section.
"Here she is, boss," Tetsuya said.
Renge White gulped when she saw the men gathered at the table. None of them looked like her destined prince-gift-from-the-gods at all; they were more like the big, bad ogres that were waiting to eat her.
"Thank you, Tetsuya," said the most mean-looking one, a redhead, smiling as evilly as Renge White had never seen before.
She clung to Tetsuya, who, after all, was more Prince-Charming material than the others put together; perhaps they had stolen him from his royal crib when he was little and he didn't have a clue about that.
Well, he'd have to get a clue about it now if he was going to save her from the ogres and give her a happy ending.
"Princess Renge White," said the evil redhead, "listen carefully, I'm only going to warn you once--"
"Ahh! The ogre wants to eat me! Save me, Tetsuya-kun, save me!" Renge White exclaimed while shaking Tetsuya's arm.
"No-one's going to eat you!" Tetsuya said as soothingly as he could given the circumstances, but she kept on screaming.
"Shut her up!" the redhead roared.
Tetsuya finally found a way to cover her mouth with his free hand without her biting him. The other men--ogres--had grabbed her arms and legs.
Renge White was now completely helpless.
She opened her tearful eyes and locked them in the redhead's figure; he looked furious and scarier than before, if that could ever be possible.
"We're trying to help you!" he said, but his eyebrow twitching, his nasty face, the vein threatening to pop out his forehead, and the way he hit the table with his hand made his words hard to believe. He inhaled and ran a hand through his hair. "The queen wants you dead," he said, and then pointed to Tetsuya. "Yes, I remember that we weren't going to tell her so bluntly, but she just doesn't cooperate!"
"I know, boss," Tetsuya said, sighing.
"Now, back to the queen business. As I said, the Queen wants you dead, princess, and hired us to do it, but we don't like going around killing young girls. That's why we wanted to warn you to go away, as far as you can. We'll give her a pig's heart instead of yours."
Renge blinked.
Tetsuya took his hand off, hesitatingly.
Renge did not screamed.
"Oh," she said, calmly, instead. "You are like the good, yet ugly dwarf who's going to help me find my happiness, right?"
The redhead opened his mouth to answer, but Tetsuya interrupted him.
"Say yes, boss, just say yes!"
Growling under his breath, the redhead nodded.
"It's a relief that you're taking all of this rather well, princess" Tetsuya said.
"It's in the Princesses' Handbook," she said, holding up her index finger. "Now I have to go and find a fairy that'll show me how to bring the queen back to the light side. Tetsuya-kun will be helping me, right?"
"No!" exclaimed the redhead, placing himself between Tetsuya and Renge White, all angry and... possessive.
And then, Tetsuya made the mistake of blushing.
"Kyaaaa~!!"
Renge White's eyes became stars and her heart was beating as fast as a race horse's and her nose bled.
"I can't believe it!" she said a few moments later, when the men managed to make her lay down on a couple of chairs. She had a wet handkerchief on her forehead. "I've met Real Ones!"
The redhead blinked. "Real ones?"
"I think we don't want to know, boss."
"Of course, now that I know, I won't even think to split you apart! Ah! So it's the prince's quest"--she looked at Tetsuya--"to turn the ugly frog"--she looked at the read head--"into another prince so they can live happily ever after! Ah!" she sighed. "I wish I could be here to see it! But I have my own story and my own prince to search for. I hope our stories will entwine again in the future, when our quests are fulfilled! Then we'll have many a magnificent gathering in our castles!"
"Yeah, whatever..." mumbled the redhead.
"I'll go now, then!" Renge White said, raising up from the chairs. "The sooner it's done, the better!"
"You could at least wait until your nosebleed stops," Tetsuya offered.
-
After biding good luck to the couple, Renge White left the mall and went straight to the bus stop, where she took the first bus that came by. It was the first time Renge White ever rode one of those things; it was weird, watching all that people come and go. Some of them smelled foully, but she decided not to complain, because it was part of her quest, wasn't it? She needed to have patience and be kind to all of those who weren't as fortunate as her to have hygiene classes.
The bus finally stopped and Renge White had to get off it and looked around; she was at the city's end.
There were two paths she could take: one led back to the city and the other led to a forest.
Of course, Renge White went to the forest; according to her Handbook, fairies lived in forests and she had to find one of them.
Up she went, then, prancing as she had read princesses in her situation did when confronted with a place--potentially--full of flowers. And she found them, of every shape and color and scent she had ever imagined.
"Too bad I don't know how to make a crown of flowers," she thought, "but I'm sure the fairies will teach me!"
About nearly half an hour afterwards, Renge White found a clear, narrow path that seemed to lead to the forest's heart. She followed it, but walking normally, since the prancing had begun to make her knees hurt.
Not much later, Renge White found a wall and a door. The door had a small window in the middle and a red button--probably the doorbell--next to it.
Renge White looked through the window and saw the most beautiful and exotic garden she had ever seen. And, despite being so young, she had seen her share of beautiful and exotic gardens.
Smiling broadly, she pushed the red button, but, instead of a bell-like sound, the floor beneath her opened and Renge White fell into the darkness of the unknown.
-
"How many times have I told you this is not a proper way to treat costumers?" Renge White heard suddenly, as her eyes were regaining focus.
"We're sorry, Kyouya-senpai," two other voices chorused.
"I apologize, my sweet princess, for the hideous antics of these two hideous dopplegangers," a new, suave voice said. She felt an arm around her waist that helped to stand up. "Are you all right?"
"I'm..." Renge White opened her eyes and found herself face to face with the most handsome man she had ever seen. "OFCOURSEI'MALLRIGHT!" she tried to say, but she couldn't, because, at the side of the blue-eyed, blond man who held her, there was the most incredible, dark, tall, and handsome gift-from-the-gods she had ever dreamt of.
Thus, she wasn't all right anymore; she felt as if life could never be wrong again.
----
II
The place where Renge White had--never more accurately--landed was not a fairy's castle but a Host Club. Yet, it was pretty much like a castle and its inhabitants, while not fairies, were--had to be--princes.
There were seven of them, each one really attractive in his own unique way.
But Renge White's eyes--heart, soul, and everything else--belonged only to Ootori Kyouya, the dark, tall, and handsome gift-from-the-gods, who was right in front of her, just a table away. He was smiling at her as he wrote something in a notebook.
"Your mother wanted to kill you, Renge-chan?" Hunny asked; he was the smallest of the hosts, a cute little blond who held a stuffed bunny against his chest. His eyes were filled with tears and sympathy.
"She's my stepmother," she replied. "And it's fine, it's on the Handbook."
"Still, it must've been terrible to go through that," Haruhi said. Haruhi was the most plain-looking of the hosts, but he also seemed to be very down-to-earth and handy; he had brought her tea and cookies.
"My princess! My heart bleeds profusely because of your misery!" claimed Tamaki, the tall blond who had helped her first.
"Ours too, ours too!" Hikaru and Kaoru, the twins who tricked the door, said, both of them holding handkerchiefs to their faces.
In the back, Mori, the tallest of them all, grunted something.
"Bleeding or not bleeding," Kyouya said matter-of-fact-ly, "we cannot keep her around if she doesn't have the money to pay for food and room."
"But, Kyou-chan!" Hunny said.
Mori grunted again.
"We can't just throw her back to the forest, Kyouya-senpai," Haruhi said. "Her stepmother could find her."
"We can't be that cruel!" Tamaki said while the twins nodded.
Kyouya stared at the other hosts.
Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru jumped to hide behind Haruhi. Hunny sighed and Mori grunted.
"We can't afford a runaway princess," Kyouya said, again writing in his notebook.
"We could if we stop cosplaying so often," Haruhi said.
Kyouya adopted a pensive look. "Could be... but," he flipped a few pages, "no, we'd lose customers."
"Mom, please! Let's keep her!" Tamaki pleaded from behind Haruhi.
"I said no, dad, and that's final. She can't pay and we can't afford it."
Renge White stood up. "I'll work!" she said. Everybody turned to look at her. "I'll work," she repeated; if this was a test, she was going to pass it flawlessly. "I'll earn my stay here!"
Kyouya walked up to her and held her hands.
Thisisit!Heisgoingtopropose! she thought while melting on the inside.
But no, it seemed that the test wasn't over yet, because he said, "Your hands aren't as spotless as I'd thought they'd be. Maybe you do know how to work."
"Yes! I do know how to!" Renge White mumbled, finally grateful for the time spent in the kitchen and the stables.
"Fine, she'll earn her food. Now there's the matter of the housing," Kyouya said.
"She can share my room," Haruhi said.
"No, she can't!" Tamaki said, rushing to cover Haruhi's mouth, along with the twins and Mori.
"Half the attic is empty, Kyou-chan," Hunny said.
"And we have a spare bed," Hikaru said.
"But there are only two beds in your bedroom," Haruhi said.
"As Hikaru stated, we have a spare bed," Kaoru said.
This is how Renge White was allowed to stay in the Host Club, in the half-empty attic, in a spare bed, working for her everyday bread.
But the gorgeous company made it worthy.
-
Renge White aimed all of her efforts to win Kyouya's heart. He gave her task after task, each harder than the one before, apparently trying to make sure she was the right woman for him. Therefore, Renge White did her best in everything, and every time he nodded at her, she thought he saw a brighter-and-brighter spark in his eyes.
Also, as part of the deal, and because he liked to watch it, Renge was allowed to play on-line in a Multi Player Game in Hunny's laptop two hours right before bedtime.
That proved to be a mistake.
-----
A terrible mistake it was indeed, because the Evil Stepmother played on-line too, and once, when she was trying new servers, she found an incredible gamer who achieved the guild's highest record in less than a week.
When she analyzed this player's patterns with her AI program, she found out that it could only be one person: Renge White.
Immediately, the Evil Stepmother ordered a DNA test of the heart the yakuza had given to her; it turned out it was a pig's and not Renge White's.
Back then, she didn't ask for the test because the thing looked like it had come from a human body and the guy who delivered was a very mean-looking, red-headed boy; who would dare to doubt those creepy eyes whose owner had a package oozing blood?
Yet, it was obvious that they were worthy of doubt.
The Evil Stepmother called to the yakuza group's headquarters to ask for a refund, but they had changed their number. And she had no other way to contact them.
"What to do now?" she wondered after a long while of pulling her hair. Soon, the answer came to her as naturally as breathing. "The Handbook!" she exclaimed and went for it.
-----
"Your bed is ready, Kyouya-ojisama," Renge White said, bravely refraining to add that there was something missing in that bed, and that was her in lingerie.
"Thank you, Renge," Kyouya said, actually glancing at her.
"You're welcome," she said, melting inside.
"Renge-chan!" Hunny said, "Are you baking cakes with Haru-chan this evening?"
"Yup," Renge said. "Haruhi-kun's going to teach me a new recipe."
"Yay! What is it going to be? I hope it's apple cake! Apple cake! Apple cake!" Hunny said while jumping up and down.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know any recipe for apple cake, Hunny-senpai," Haruhi said. "I do for apple pie, though."
"Apple pie'd be great too, Haru-chan!" Hunny cling to Haruhi's back, where Mori picked him up.
"There are no more apples in the cupboard," Mori said.
"But I bought several pounds two days ago!" exclaimed Renge White.
"We used those for still-life decoration," Kaoru said while Hikaru presented a lamp made from apple slices.
Haruhi sighed. "That's not--"
"Don't worry, Haruhi!" Tamaki said passing flamboyantly an arm over Haruhi's shoulders. "There's enough money in my wallet to buy an entire apple orchard. Here, take it, take it!"
"Thank you, Tamaki-senpai," Haruhi said. "I'm going to buy some, then."
"Ah! Haruhi-kun! I'll go!" Renge White said. "That's if no-one"--she looked at Kyouya--"wants me to do other things instead."
Kyouya didn't reply, Tamaki was swooning over Haruhi, Hikaru and Kaoru were wondering where to put their masterpiece, Hunny wanted his pie, and Mori mumbled, "I don't."
That's how Renge White found herself in her way to the supermarket. She didn't stop to ask why there was a supermarket in the forest, so we won't do it either.
She was about to enter the building, but a hand that came out of nowhere covered her mouth. She felt a sting in her neck and, then, it was only darkness.
-----
Worried because there had been over and hour and Renge hadn't come back, Haruhi recruited Tamaki's and the twins' help to go find her. Hunny and Mori went too to help if they could and Kyouya followed them because, "I need a new pen."
When they reached the place, they found military-like cars all over the place. Hunny used his influences to get the sergeant to tell them what had happened.
Some customers of the supermarket had found the body of a young girl behind the trash cans.
"Renge!" Haruhi, the twins, and Hunny exclaimed.
"We forgot everything about her stepmother!" Tamaki yelled.
"You forgot," Kyouya said."This is the private police of the Ootori family; I made them watch over Renge whenever she left the club."
The sergeant gave to Kyouya a folder.
Kyouya read the papers inside the folder. "Renge's in the hospital. The assailant is currently in custody; she didn't have the time to gave Renge all the poison. She'll be fine as soon as she's given the antidote, and my people is currently working on it."
Haruhi smiled. "All this time I'd thought you didn't care about Renge, Kyouya-senpai."
"And I don't," Kyouya said. "Renge's stepmother was an important competitor of Ootori's Industries; it was a good movement to get rid of her legally."
"More like mere luck," Haruhi sighed.
"Haru-chan! Haru-chan! Let's bake the apple pie and take it to the hospital!" Hunny said.
"That's a great idea, Hunny-senpai," Tamaki said and headed back to the club.
"We still need to buy the apples," Haruhi said.
"Oh, yes."
With this, the hosts stepped into the supermarket to buy apples for the pie and Kyouya's new pen.
-----
Epilogue
"Seriously, Tetsuya, what did she mean with 'real ones'?" asked a certain red-headed yakuza.
"I'm not sure, boss," Tetsuya answered, "but I think she meant we're in a relationship."
"Well, we are, aren't we?"
"Yeah, but she meant..." Tatsuya moved his hands in a significant way.
"...oh, that... Wait! What?" The redhead jumped. "We're not-- I mean, we--"
"So you don't find me attractive, eh, boss?"
"Ah? Well, you... uh..."
"Because I think you're cute."
"Um... do you?" the redhead managed after a while. "Ah... You're cute too, Tetsuya."
"Thank you, boss."
Finally we're making some progress, both of them thought and went back to talking about the weather.
Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Characters: The whole club, Renge, Kasanoda, Tetsuya.
Rating: PG
Words: 3500+
Summary: Snow White Ouran style. Slight Kasanoda/Tetsuya; slighter Kyouya/Renge.
Spoilers: Only if you don't know who the people in the Characters section are.
Notes: Renge-centric fanfic.
I
Once upon a time, in a fairy land far, far away, there was a beautiful, young princess named Renge White. This maiden, though lovely and graceful, was exploited--unfairly, as it happens with most exploitations--by the queen, her Evil Stepmother.
The Queen was jealous of Renge White's incredible gaming skills: the Evil Stepmother used to spend hours and hours trying fruitlessly to get her favorite video game's Super Special Ending, the one Renge White got every single time without breaking a sweat.
Even the AI program the queen had compilated herself, whenever asked who was the best gamer in the world, answered, "You are a great gamer indeed, my queen, but Renge White gets the best scores. Always."
The poor program's sincerity caused it to be nearly deleted more than just a couple of times.
After a few months of enduring this situation, the Evil Stepmother finally stopped denying the truth and did her best to destroy Renge White's deft fingers via making her clean both the kitchen and the stables all by herself. But those measures didn't work at all--quite the contrary: the sweeping made the grip of Renge White's hands firmer and her wrists became even more flexible.
One Saturday night, desperate after losing nine games out of ten in Ultra Turbo Alley Wrestler 2: The Titans' Clash!, the Evil Stepmother decided to do the sensible thing: she hired a group of yakuza to get rid of her stepdaughter once and for all.
When she hung up the phone, she laughed evilly, just like the Evil Stepmothers' Handbook said she should whenever she reached the end or the middle of an evil scheming.
Things would happen like this: one of the yakuza, disguised as a nice, old man was to take Renge out from the castle under the excuse of driving her to a new video game store. But then, when they were in a dark tunnel...
Renge White's destiny would be sealed!
The Evil Stepmother laughed again, despite lacking thunder and lighting in the background, before going to clean up Renge White's records from the memory stick.
----
Renge White was extremely happy; she hadn't heard about that new video game store until she was told about it by this nice, old man--whom she had never seen before, but that wasn't really a problem. There were many people working in the castle and Renge White didn't have the time to know them all.
The nice, old man drove Renge White to the parking lot of the city's newest mall and parked the limousine in the farthest spot, behind a wall of trees and bushes. There, he took off the fake beard, revealing that he was, in actuality, a handsome youth.
A very handsome youth.
"Fair maiden," he began, "listen--"
"Kyaaaa~!!" Renge White exclaimed, her hands clasped in front of her chest and her eyes shining with hope. "Are you the noble prince that's going to take me away from my miserable life and to give me a luxurious one in his magnificent castle?"
"Well, no," he answered, smiling. "My name is Tetsuya and I'm going to take you to my boss--"
"Ah." Renge White sighed in disappointment. "If you have a boss, then you're not a prince. But what about him? He is a prince, right?"
"Um, he's more like a yakuza boss' heir--"
"What are we waiting for, Tetsuya-kun?" Renge White said, her eyes shining once more; if this delicious peace of meat was the servant, the master would have to be a gift from the gods. "Are we going to go on the limo or on foot?"
The young man opened the limousine's door. "On foot, princess," he said. "It's not too far away."
"Well, as long it's for my prince, I will endure anything!"
"My lady, he's not a p--"
"Let's go, Tetsuya-kun!" Renge White, spiritedly, walked away from the limousine toward the nearest bus stop.
"Wait, princess! That's not the way!"
-
Tetsuya lead Renge White through the maze that were the mall's halls until they reached a private table in the back of the food section.
"Here she is, boss," Tetsuya said.
Renge White gulped when she saw the men gathered at the table. None of them looked like her destined prince-gift-from-the-gods at all; they were more like the big, bad ogres that were waiting to eat her.
"Thank you, Tetsuya," said the most mean-looking one, a redhead, smiling as evilly as Renge White had never seen before.
She clung to Tetsuya, who, after all, was more Prince-Charming material than the others put together; perhaps they had stolen him from his royal crib when he was little and he didn't have a clue about that.
Well, he'd have to get a clue about it now if he was going to save her from the ogres and give her a happy ending.
"Princess Renge White," said the evil redhead, "listen carefully, I'm only going to warn you once--"
"Ahh! The ogre wants to eat me! Save me, Tetsuya-kun, save me!" Renge White exclaimed while shaking Tetsuya's arm.
"No-one's going to eat you!" Tetsuya said as soothingly as he could given the circumstances, but she kept on screaming.
"Shut her up!" the redhead roared.
Tetsuya finally found a way to cover her mouth with his free hand without her biting him. The other men--ogres--had grabbed her arms and legs.
Renge White was now completely helpless.
She opened her tearful eyes and locked them in the redhead's figure; he looked furious and scarier than before, if that could ever be possible.
"We're trying to help you!" he said, but his eyebrow twitching, his nasty face, the vein threatening to pop out his forehead, and the way he hit the table with his hand made his words hard to believe. He inhaled and ran a hand through his hair. "The queen wants you dead," he said, and then pointed to Tetsuya. "Yes, I remember that we weren't going to tell her so bluntly, but she just doesn't cooperate!"
"I know, boss," Tetsuya said, sighing.
"Now, back to the queen business. As I said, the Queen wants you dead, princess, and hired us to do it, but we don't like going around killing young girls. That's why we wanted to warn you to go away, as far as you can. We'll give her a pig's heart instead of yours."
Renge blinked.
Tetsuya took his hand off, hesitatingly.
Renge did not screamed.
"Oh," she said, calmly, instead. "You are like the good, yet ugly dwarf who's going to help me find my happiness, right?"
The redhead opened his mouth to answer, but Tetsuya interrupted him.
"Say yes, boss, just say yes!"
Growling under his breath, the redhead nodded.
"It's a relief that you're taking all of this rather well, princess" Tetsuya said.
"It's in the Princesses' Handbook," she said, holding up her index finger. "Now I have to go and find a fairy that'll show me how to bring the queen back to the light side. Tetsuya-kun will be helping me, right?"
"No!" exclaimed the redhead, placing himself between Tetsuya and Renge White, all angry and... possessive.
And then, Tetsuya made the mistake of blushing.
"Kyaaaa~!!"
Renge White's eyes became stars and her heart was beating as fast as a race horse's and her nose bled.
"I can't believe it!" she said a few moments later, when the men managed to make her lay down on a couple of chairs. She had a wet handkerchief on her forehead. "I've met Real Ones!"
The redhead blinked. "Real ones?"
"I think we don't want to know, boss."
"Of course, now that I know, I won't even think to split you apart! Ah! So it's the prince's quest"--she looked at Tetsuya--"to turn the ugly frog"--she looked at the read head--"into another prince so they can live happily ever after! Ah!" she sighed. "I wish I could be here to see it! But I have my own story and my own prince to search for. I hope our stories will entwine again in the future, when our quests are fulfilled! Then we'll have many a magnificent gathering in our castles!"
"Yeah, whatever..." mumbled the redhead.
"I'll go now, then!" Renge White said, raising up from the chairs. "The sooner it's done, the better!"
"You could at least wait until your nosebleed stops," Tetsuya offered.
-
After biding good luck to the couple, Renge White left the mall and went straight to the bus stop, where she took the first bus that came by. It was the first time Renge White ever rode one of those things; it was weird, watching all that people come and go. Some of them smelled foully, but she decided not to complain, because it was part of her quest, wasn't it? She needed to have patience and be kind to all of those who weren't as fortunate as her to have hygiene classes.
The bus finally stopped and Renge White had to get off it and looked around; she was at the city's end.
There were two paths she could take: one led back to the city and the other led to a forest.
Of course, Renge White went to the forest; according to her Handbook, fairies lived in forests and she had to find one of them.
Up she went, then, prancing as she had read princesses in her situation did when confronted with a place--potentially--full of flowers. And she found them, of every shape and color and scent she had ever imagined.
"Too bad I don't know how to make a crown of flowers," she thought, "but I'm sure the fairies will teach me!"
About nearly half an hour afterwards, Renge White found a clear, narrow path that seemed to lead to the forest's heart. She followed it, but walking normally, since the prancing had begun to make her knees hurt.
Not much later, Renge White found a wall and a door. The door had a small window in the middle and a red button--probably the doorbell--next to it.
Renge White looked through the window and saw the most beautiful and exotic garden she had ever seen. And, despite being so young, she had seen her share of beautiful and exotic gardens.
Smiling broadly, she pushed the red button, but, instead of a bell-like sound, the floor beneath her opened and Renge White fell into the darkness of the unknown.
-
"How many times have I told you this is not a proper way to treat costumers?" Renge White heard suddenly, as her eyes were regaining focus.
"We're sorry, Kyouya-senpai," two other voices chorused.
"I apologize, my sweet princess, for the hideous antics of these two hideous dopplegangers," a new, suave voice said. She felt an arm around her waist that helped to stand up. "Are you all right?"
"I'm..." Renge White opened her eyes and found herself face to face with the most handsome man she had ever seen. "OFCOURSEI'MALLRIGHT!" she tried to say, but she couldn't, because, at the side of the blue-eyed, blond man who held her, there was the most incredible, dark, tall, and handsome gift-from-the-gods she had ever dreamt of.
Thus, she wasn't all right anymore; she felt as if life could never be wrong again.
----
II
The place where Renge White had--never more accurately--landed was not a fairy's castle but a Host Club. Yet, it was pretty much like a castle and its inhabitants, while not fairies, were--had to be--princes.
There were seven of them, each one really attractive in his own unique way.
But Renge White's eyes--heart, soul, and everything else--belonged only to Ootori Kyouya, the dark, tall, and handsome gift-from-the-gods, who was right in front of her, just a table away. He was smiling at her as he wrote something in a notebook.
"Your mother wanted to kill you, Renge-chan?" Hunny asked; he was the smallest of the hosts, a cute little blond who held a stuffed bunny against his chest. His eyes were filled with tears and sympathy.
"She's my stepmother," she replied. "And it's fine, it's on the Handbook."
"Still, it must've been terrible to go through that," Haruhi said. Haruhi was the most plain-looking of the hosts, but he also seemed to be very down-to-earth and handy; he had brought her tea and cookies.
"My princess! My heart bleeds profusely because of your misery!" claimed Tamaki, the tall blond who had helped her first.
"Ours too, ours too!" Hikaru and Kaoru, the twins who tricked the door, said, both of them holding handkerchiefs to their faces.
In the back, Mori, the tallest of them all, grunted something.
"Bleeding or not bleeding," Kyouya said matter-of-fact-ly, "we cannot keep her around if she doesn't have the money to pay for food and room."
"But, Kyou-chan!" Hunny said.
Mori grunted again.
"We can't just throw her back to the forest, Kyouya-senpai," Haruhi said. "Her stepmother could find her."
"We can't be that cruel!" Tamaki said while the twins nodded.
Kyouya stared at the other hosts.
Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru jumped to hide behind Haruhi. Hunny sighed and Mori grunted.
"We can't afford a runaway princess," Kyouya said, again writing in his notebook.
"We could if we stop cosplaying so often," Haruhi said.
Kyouya adopted a pensive look. "Could be... but," he flipped a few pages, "no, we'd lose customers."
"Mom, please! Let's keep her!" Tamaki pleaded from behind Haruhi.
"I said no, dad, and that's final. She can't pay and we can't afford it."
Renge White stood up. "I'll work!" she said. Everybody turned to look at her. "I'll work," she repeated; if this was a test, she was going to pass it flawlessly. "I'll earn my stay here!"
Kyouya walked up to her and held her hands.
Thisisit!Heisgoingtopropose! she thought while melting on the inside.
But no, it seemed that the test wasn't over yet, because he said, "Your hands aren't as spotless as I'd thought they'd be. Maybe you do know how to work."
"Yes! I do know how to!" Renge White mumbled, finally grateful for the time spent in the kitchen and the stables.
"Fine, she'll earn her food. Now there's the matter of the housing," Kyouya said.
"She can share my room," Haruhi said.
"No, she can't!" Tamaki said, rushing to cover Haruhi's mouth, along with the twins and Mori.
"Half the attic is empty, Kyou-chan," Hunny said.
"And we have a spare bed," Hikaru said.
"But there are only two beds in your bedroom," Haruhi said.
"As Hikaru stated, we have a spare bed," Kaoru said.
This is how Renge White was allowed to stay in the Host Club, in the half-empty attic, in a spare bed, working for her everyday bread.
But the gorgeous company made it worthy.
-
Renge White aimed all of her efforts to win Kyouya's heart. He gave her task after task, each harder than the one before, apparently trying to make sure she was the right woman for him. Therefore, Renge White did her best in everything, and every time he nodded at her, she thought he saw a brighter-and-brighter spark in his eyes.
Also, as part of the deal, and because he liked to watch it, Renge was allowed to play on-line in a Multi Player Game in Hunny's laptop two hours right before bedtime.
That proved to be a mistake.
-----
A terrible mistake it was indeed, because the Evil Stepmother played on-line too, and once, when she was trying new servers, she found an incredible gamer who achieved the guild's highest record in less than a week.
When she analyzed this player's patterns with her AI program, she found out that it could only be one person: Renge White.
Immediately, the Evil Stepmother ordered a DNA test of the heart the yakuza had given to her; it turned out it was a pig's and not Renge White's.
Back then, she didn't ask for the test because the thing looked like it had come from a human body and the guy who delivered was a very mean-looking, red-headed boy; who would dare to doubt those creepy eyes whose owner had a package oozing blood?
Yet, it was obvious that they were worthy of doubt.
The Evil Stepmother called to the yakuza group's headquarters to ask for a refund, but they had changed their number. And she had no other way to contact them.
"What to do now?" she wondered after a long while of pulling her hair. Soon, the answer came to her as naturally as breathing. "The Handbook!" she exclaimed and went for it.
-----
"Your bed is ready, Kyouya-ojisama," Renge White said, bravely refraining to add that there was something missing in that bed, and that was her in lingerie.
"Thank you, Renge," Kyouya said, actually glancing at her.
"You're welcome," she said, melting inside.
"Renge-chan!" Hunny said, "Are you baking cakes with Haru-chan this evening?"
"Yup," Renge said. "Haruhi-kun's going to teach me a new recipe."
"Yay! What is it going to be? I hope it's apple cake! Apple cake! Apple cake!" Hunny said while jumping up and down.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know any recipe for apple cake, Hunny-senpai," Haruhi said. "I do for apple pie, though."
"Apple pie'd be great too, Haru-chan!" Hunny cling to Haruhi's back, where Mori picked him up.
"There are no more apples in the cupboard," Mori said.
"But I bought several pounds two days ago!" exclaimed Renge White.
"We used those for still-life decoration," Kaoru said while Hikaru presented a lamp made from apple slices.
Haruhi sighed. "That's not--"
"Don't worry, Haruhi!" Tamaki said passing flamboyantly an arm over Haruhi's shoulders. "There's enough money in my wallet to buy an entire apple orchard. Here, take it, take it!"
"Thank you, Tamaki-senpai," Haruhi said. "I'm going to buy some, then."
"Ah! Haruhi-kun! I'll go!" Renge White said. "That's if no-one"--she looked at Kyouya--"wants me to do other things instead."
Kyouya didn't reply, Tamaki was swooning over Haruhi, Hikaru and Kaoru were wondering where to put their masterpiece, Hunny wanted his pie, and Mori mumbled, "I don't."
That's how Renge White found herself in her way to the supermarket. She didn't stop to ask why there was a supermarket in the forest, so we won't do it either.
She was about to enter the building, but a hand that came out of nowhere covered her mouth. She felt a sting in her neck and, then, it was only darkness.
-----
Worried because there had been over and hour and Renge hadn't come back, Haruhi recruited Tamaki's and the twins' help to go find her. Hunny and Mori went too to help if they could and Kyouya followed them because, "I need a new pen."
When they reached the place, they found military-like cars all over the place. Hunny used his influences to get the sergeant to tell them what had happened.
Some customers of the supermarket had found the body of a young girl behind the trash cans.
"Renge!" Haruhi, the twins, and Hunny exclaimed.
"We forgot everything about her stepmother!" Tamaki yelled.
"You forgot," Kyouya said."This is the private police of the Ootori family; I made them watch over Renge whenever she left the club."
The sergeant gave to Kyouya a folder.
Kyouya read the papers inside the folder. "Renge's in the hospital. The assailant is currently in custody; she didn't have the time to gave Renge all the poison. She'll be fine as soon as she's given the antidote, and my people is currently working on it."
Haruhi smiled. "All this time I'd thought you didn't care about Renge, Kyouya-senpai."
"And I don't," Kyouya said. "Renge's stepmother was an important competitor of Ootori's Industries; it was a good movement to get rid of her legally."
"More like mere luck," Haruhi sighed.
"Haru-chan! Haru-chan! Let's bake the apple pie and take it to the hospital!" Hunny said.
"That's a great idea, Hunny-senpai," Tamaki said and headed back to the club.
"We still need to buy the apples," Haruhi said.
"Oh, yes."
With this, the hosts stepped into the supermarket to buy apples for the pie and Kyouya's new pen.
-----
Epilogue
"Seriously, Tetsuya, what did she mean with 'real ones'?" asked a certain red-headed yakuza.
"I'm not sure, boss," Tetsuya answered, "but I think she meant we're in a relationship."
"Well, we are, aren't we?"
"Yeah, but she meant..." Tatsuya moved his hands in a significant way.
"...oh, that... Wait! What?" The redhead jumped. "We're not-- I mean, we--"
"So you don't find me attractive, eh, boss?"
"Ah? Well, you... uh..."
"Because I think you're cute."
"Um... do you?" the redhead managed after a while. "Ah... You're cute too, Tetsuya."
"Thank you, boss."
Finally we're making some progress, both of them thought and went back to talking about the weather.