"So Haruhi, I never asked; what's up with the outfit change? I mean, I can understand why you wouldn't want to wear the girls' uniform, it's horrible; but why did you suddenly start dressing like a gentleman?" Haruhi and I were walking down the hall carrying decorations for the ball; this week had flown by and with it came a lot of change.
"Well, it's kind of hard to explain." Haruhi grimaced as she shifted the load she was carrying, "You see, the guys mistook me for a guy when we first met, and apparently they decided that I had the potential to be a host. You know them, they saw an opportunity and they took it." I had warmed up to Haruhi a lot since we spent a good amount of our time together. I hadn't been this close to another person in years, so this was a really good feeling
"I bet their faces were priceless when they found out that you were a girl!" I chuckled at the thought of Tamaki's face at that assuredly horrifying realization. Haruhi smiled when she heard my chuckle and looked at me.
"I'm sure you can imagine it. They all found out at different times, and of course Tamaki only found out when he walked in on me dressing. The look on his face was comical, he turned bright red and had a hard time talking to me for a bit after that." I laughed again and we continued down the hall for a while in silence, then Haruhi spoke right before we got to the ballroom, "You know Risa-san, I've noticed that you've opened up a lot this last week, it's nice to see you smile." I blushed as we walked through the doors.
Haruhi's POV
It really has been good to see Risa-san smile more; when I first met her, she looked scared of just about everything. It's been really slow, but I think she is starting to feel safe around us, which is a real accomplishment.
As soon as the Host's heard about Risa-san's haphephobia, they immediately started working towards helping her overcome that. They would find reasons to touch her when they were around her, (Not like that, get your mind out of the gutter!) and that seems to have really helped. At first her face would pale and she would start shaking if someone touched her for more than a second, but now she just looked really uncomfortable and if they kept it up then she would start to pale. I decided not to join in with this, but Tamaki, the twins, and Honey were all really enjoying the challenge.
My only question is how did she get this fear? After I heard she had it, I did some research and found that people usually get haphephobia after a traumatic experience, or repeated traumatic experiences. I also found that there are varying degrees of it and, from what I saw, she had a severe case. Questions floated around in my mind, and I knew that I wasn't the only one who was wondering; knowing Kyoya he was probably just as, if not more, curious than I was.
As walked over to the decoration coordinator, (Kyoya) to find out what he wanted us to do with the boxes, we were intercepted by a pair of twins. The smirks on their faces could only mean one thing: trouble.
Risa's POV
I both loved and hated the host's mission to try and get me over my fear of touch. I could feel the fear slowly fading, but it would still take more than a week to get rid of over a year of horrible experiences. That being said, when I felt an arm slide around my shoulders and another slip around my waist, I immediately tried to get the ginger twins off me to no avail.
"Risa, we're bored." I'm pretty sure that was Hikaru.
"So, we were wondering if we could," Kauro added his portion
"Come over to your house sometime?" They said this together, which freaked me out a bit, if I'm being honest.
"No." I glared at them as I finally managed to escape their embrace.
"Oh, come on. Please?" they tried to pull off a puppy dog face, but to me it looked more like a devious smirk that was only slightly different from their usual look.
"I said no you two, that is not going to change just because you tried to look cute."
Hikaru scoffed, "Ouch, I could almost feel the venom coming off that one, Risa. Do you really think so little of us?"
"Yeah, we just want to see what your home looks like, and maybe even get a tour." Kaoru mimicked his brothers sarcastically putting face, then they turned to each other and grinned, looking back at me.
"We would especially love it if you showed us your bedroom." (Is it just me, or do you think that how they speak together is kind of creepy...)
It was my turn to scoff, "Oh right, I should totally trust you when you go around making comments like that! Wow, what a fool I was for ever doubting your intentions. How about you two go back to work so we can get done sometime soon, I want to go home sometime before Christmas."
The twins looked at me shocked for a moment, 'I guess I never talk to people like that, no wonder they're shocked. I had forgotten that I could be this sarcastic.' Sadly, their shock wore off quickly and they went back to their act.
"Risa hates us, oh Hikaru, how can I go on?" Kaoru put a hand to his forehead and pretended to faint while Hikaru grabbed his brother and held him up, cupping is check and looking deeply into his brother's eyes.
"Kaoru, you can't give up on me, I won't let you! As long as I am with you we can make it through anything." They slowly continued to get closer and I felt the extreme temptation to push their heads together to see what they would do if they actually kissed.
Haruhi chose then to speak up, "Please guys, save it for when there are customers, I really don't feel like throwing up right now." The twins looked disgruntled, but walked away to do whatever they were doing before they came to pester me. I turned around to smile at Haruhi; if I'm being honest, I had completely forgotten that she was there. Oops.
"Thanks for the save Haruhi, I didn't think they would ever leave! Should we figure out where we can put this stuff down? My arms are starting to hurt."
She grinned at me, "It's not a problem, I always enjoy taking those two down a peg or two; and I agree, let's go." Feeling happier than I had in a long time, we continued helping set up for the ball.
***
I looked at myself in the mirror and tried to see what other people see when they looked at me. I was an average height; my shoulder length hair was a common shade of brown that wouldn't stand out in any crowd. I was skinny, so that was good, but the constant bruising had left some parts of my skin permanently blotchy. One of the things that I liked about myself was my eyes; they were a unique brown that started really light on the outside and faded to a almost black brown by the pupils. If you looked really close, you could see small flecks of gold floating in them, which I loved. I sighed as I continued to scrutinize myself.
'I know that people say not to believe all the bad things they hear, especially when it comes to looks, but maybe Father is right. Not entirely, I can't believe what he says if I want to keep my sanity, but maybe I do need to change something. Maybe I'll ask one of the twins, they know what they're talking about when it comes to fashion.' I shook my head, "What am I doing, these thoughts are pointless, just move on and get ready already!'
I looked at the dress I was wearing, and made a face at myself. It was really daring for me, but the twins insisted I wear this, and when my Father heard he reminded me that I am to do whatever I can to please them. Yeah, I am really pleased about this situation... not.
This is the dress she wore.
***
The ball was just what I had feared it would be, noisy and crowded. The twins had cornered me after I had gotten there, rushing me to a separate room so they could do makeup and "fix" my hair. I think that they just wanted an excuse to get away from Tamaki, who was going crazy with excitement. Do I blame them for wanting to get away? Not at all.
We were standing on the staircase so we could begin the ball. Tamaki started, "It is so good to see you here tonight, my little lambs. The Ouran host club would like to bid you welcome."
Kyoya Continued with the introduction, "As always, ladies, the host club members are here for your entertainment. So we invite you to dance to your heart's content. Based on her dancing skills, one lucky young lady will be chosen as tonight's queen. The queen's reward will be a passionate kiss on the cheek from our king." I scoffed at how fake this whole thing was, but went along with it and smiled when Kyoya glared at me.
In his usual overdramatic fashion, Tamaki finished off the introduction with a wink, "Good luck to you, my darlings." After an ear-piercing round of squeals from the girls, the ball got started.
"Haruhi, Risa, show some enthusiasm." The twins walked up to us and frowned and we just glared at them. "Well, excuse me, you guys. Sorry. I'm not used to this sort of thing. I've only ever gone to the festivals held in my neighborhood park." Haruhi snapped and I shook my head.
"I can't say I've ever been to one of those, but I still find this whole thing to be ridiculous and extremely conceited. I am only here because Kyoya made me, so if you'll excuse me, I am going to play for the rest of the evening." I walked away as I heard Kyoya say something about the spread for tonight.
I normally would have been all over that, but right now I had another large bruise on my stomach from earlier today. Surprisingly, things like that take away your appetite very efficiently.
I sat at the piano and began playing a waltz, most of the songs I would be playing tonight were fairly simple, but I was still able to get lost in the music and before I knew it, someone clearing their throat pulled me back into the ballroom.
Kyoya stood behind me, "Risa, you've been playing for nearly 40 minutes, take a break." I nodded and stood up stretching. As I went to pass Kyoya I tripped, (If you haven't gathered by now, grace is not one thing I was blessed with.) and he caught me, which would have been fine if he hadn't have held me right on one of my more painful bruises.
I hissed out a breath, trying not to cry out in pain, and Kyoya looked at me in concern. "Are you okay? What happened?" As he brought me back to standing, I shook my head and laughed dismissively.
"Oh, it's nothing! I was setting up yesterday and fell into some of the boxes; I guess I'm still a little sore from that." I tried to smile to back my story up, but it came out as more of a grimace instead. Kyoya looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he smiled and shook his head.
"So, you're clumsy as well? I just keep learning more about you, don't I Risa?" I laughed and began to walk away when he said one last thing, "You know you can come to us for anything, right? I would hate to lose a skilled pianist like you, so please remember that you don't have to go through things alone." I simply nodded and continued walking.
I slipped outside and leaned against the railing, "I can go to them with anything? huh, what an odd concept." I murmured as I enjoyed the cool breeze. 'The question now becomes can I trust them? I want to, but I guess we'll see.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N Phew, I did it! 2078 words, and my fingers are still attached to my hands! Do you like how Risa's character is evolving? I know that she was a lot more sarcastic vocal than she has been before, but I figured that that was okay, seeing as how it's been a week since the Hosts started trying to get her trust. I'm sorry if the twincest part sucked, I don't really like their act, but that is a major part of their characters, so I figured it needed to be in here somewhere.
~klypso01