Ouran Host - College, 1

"Ouran Host - College, 1"

orig. 4/10/2013

Elly x Mori

"Save Me" scenario(s) PG

Non-Canon Anime/Manga: Ouran Host Club

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It was one of her days off from class and she was busy working, cleaning off tables and waiting on folks from time to time. Elly came from an affluentual family that could afford to put her through school and pay for her housing, but she had decided to try and pay her own way for her room at least. The sushi place wasn't a demanding job, really, and she was glad to have work where she could practice her language skills once in awhile.

The doors opened, flooding the entrance with golden sunlight and the equally bright chatter of young people.

A large group of friends were coming into the restaurant. Elly glanced quickly up, her eyes widening. She recognized them from her class - especially the extremely tall young man with the younger looking boy on his shoulders.

"May I take this group?" she politely asked her boss in Japanese. He glanced down at her and nodded with a smile. It was good they had someone that could speak fluent English and was fairly decent at Japanese as well. His own grip on the English language was coming along better now that she was helping him and he couldn't deny her a table when she requested. She rarely asked him for anything at all, even days off.

Everything went fairly smooth except that she was certain the handsome guy didn't know who she was. She grimaced to herself as they were leaving. They'd all been wonderful to her, some even flirting, which shocked her so badly she'd almost dropped a cup.

All but the tall guy who sat next to the little boy. He simply ate. Once she'd caught him wiping the little one's face when he'd gotten ice cream all over it. Smart, handsome and gentle? That was too much!

She knew she wasn't a prize. Though she was young her hair had silver streaks in it already and she considered herself too fat. Her judgement of herself came from the women around her and the fact that she'd never had a man ask her out. At age eighteen she still hadn't been out with a boy and she thought this proof she was defective in some way. In fact she (usually) didn't really notice guys anymore. It seemed a waste.

But ever since this one had been introduced in class she hadn't been able to take her mind off of him. She'd thought Japanese men were short but this guy towered above all his classmates. His hair was short and such a dark, rich black that it seemed almost blue - with no gray, she added bitterly to herself. His voice when he spoke was smooth and low, yet he spoke so rarely that she only heard him say anything in class. More than a little depressed, she sighed and turned away from them. It must be nice to have so many friends. And one of them a gorgeous guy like that.

She was paying so little attention that she didn't even notice a small book had fallen out of her pocket as she walked towards the kitchens.

"Come on, Takashi!" The small boy was waving a pink bunny plush around in the air like a weapon. The others were filing out, chatting along the way. The dark-haired young man ignored his thrilled cousin as he glanced down and saw the book she dropped.

He silently picked it up, noting what was written on the inside flap.

Contrary to Elly's belief, he'd known who she was. He tucked the book in his pocket to return to her later as he didn't see where she had gone. Later some would point out that he could have easily have given it to the owner or left it on the table.

But he didn't.

Takashi Morinozuka was conflicted.

He wanted to give the book back to its owner right away but class wasn't scheduled for another few days. They had a small recess period in which some folks were off to visit parents and relatives. Since his family lived in Japan, however, he had all this time to himself.

He thought the girl would need her book back before then. So he showed it to his cousin, the blond-haired boy he was so protective of. Interestingly enough, the "little boy" everyone called Honey was actually eighteen. He still looked like a kid though, especially since he acted and dressed the part. His diminutive stature was enough, especially when coupled with his gigantic cousin.

"Mitsukuni."

Honey tilted his head inquisitively and grasped the pages, reading the address. "Isn't this the girl in our language class? The one from the sushi place last night?"

He nodded.

"Okay. Then let's go!" He exclaimed dramatically, pointing in the direction of the apartments that were listed. They were close by the campus so it didn't take long. The tall, dark-haired man had long legs that closed distances quickly when he wanted. In only a little while they were standing before a neat-looking apartment that had the curtains tightly drawn, unlike many of the rest. There were pretty shells lining the outside of the house, some appeared to be damp as if coming straight from the ocean that was only a car drive away.

Honey squirmed around until Takashi set him gently down. He bent to look more closely at the shells while the blonde-haired boy danced around the area looking for a way in or some open windows. As he was admiring them a footstep sounded and he turned to find the girl that had served them last night.

"Hey," Honey exploded out happily from the bushes on the side of the house, twigs in his blond hair and leaves raining around him. "It's you! Hi!" He waved exuberantly.

"Hi. I, uh, know you from class. Honey, right? And Mori."

"Found this." Takashi brought the book out from under his arm and handed it to her. Her eyes went wide.

"Oh, thank goodness. I thought I'd never see it again!" She touched him lightly on the arm. "Thank you. I can't afford to lose my notes and get an even worse grade in class." She made a little face when she said that.

"You're really good in class." Honey tilted his head at her in his cutest manner, eyes wide. She still didn't take the bait; amazed, he watched as she continued to treat him in the same calm manner she did at the restaurant.

"Thank you. I need those skills if I'm going to transfer to Japan." She absently began picking up some of the shells from the ledge and checking underneath before depositing them in her bag along with the book.

Takashi peered closely and saw she had a necklace made of different shells today around her pale neck. He said nothing but Honey spoke up as he normally did.

"Do you like sea shells? You had some pretty ones last night and those are real neat, too. "

Elly nodded. "Yep. This is what I'm good at - anything that lives under the water. I'm done taking classes for awhile... well, except that one." Her sweatshirt hood suddenly bulged and a pair of furry, long ears crept up behind her head. She appeared not to notice but Honey did.

"Is that a bunny behind you?!"

"Yeah," she smiled as she took a key out and opened her door. "Come on in. It's his feeding time anyway and I see you might like to help. See, he's a bad eater and he gets sick if he eats too fast. Someone left him at the local shelter because they couldn't be bothered with supervising his meals. It's no big deal, really, you just have to make sure you give him only a little at a time."

"What's his name?" Honey had given his stuffed rabbit to his cousin for safekeeping as Elly placed her furry pal down on the ground. He was large for a rabbit, a rich chocolate color with a patch over one eye that was white. It made him look like he was wearing a tiny monocle.

"I usually call him Ari."

"That's a funny name."

"It's short for Aristotle," she explained.

"Aristotle?" The big guy looked mildly surprised. The two followed her into the kitchen, no longer surprised at the lack of sunlight in the small room. There were fish tanks lining shelves along one side - many, with lots of colorful species in them. The kitchen was different, though. With the curtains open, sunlight flooded the small room, making it warm and inviting.

"Yeah," she grinned shyly as she turned to get a box of pellet food from the shelf. "I was always interested in the study of law but I'm not very good at it. I'm a marine biologist, not great at law stuff like most of the courses you're taking."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, I'm not stalking you or anything, really." She bowed her head, mortified.

Honey giggled. Ari had been sniffing at his face with those long whiskers he had and they tickled.

"Maybe Honey would like to feed you, Ari," she said to cover her confusion. The boy immediately exploded in a frenzy of delight, squealing like mad. He shimmied down his cousin's body like a pole and stood there hopping on one leg and then the other.

"Could I really, Elly-chan?! I really will make sure he doesn't eat too fast like you said! I promise! He's soooo cute!" His eyes sparkled. She nodded, and he took the bowl and rushed off into the wire cage where the fresh food was already set out. Ari hopped after him as fast as he could, nose twitching.

Takashi watched her silently as she dusted off her pants and stood upright again. She calmly replaced the food box and closed the shelf.

"He really loves bunnies, doesn't he?" She nodded when he raised his head in affirmation. "He can stop by at Ari's feeding time whenever he likes. I can see he's doing a very good job out there making sure he doesn't get an upset stomach."

The tall young man glanced off in their direction. "He'd like that."

"So would I." She paused as a door slammed in the back of the apartment. "Oh, great... my room mate's back."  She winced as a female voice immediately started screeching.

"It smells like animals in here! That stupid rabbit was inside the house again, wasn't it! I told you I won't allow it anym-" the speaker cut off as she spotted Takashi standing next to the other woman. She was a tall, brown-haired young girl with flashing amber eyes. They focused on him in an instant, then widened in incredulity.

A moment later she fixed Elly with a cunning look and spoke in honeyed tones quite different from how she'd been screaming before.

"Oh, I see a guest arrived for me while I was out." Elly sighed miserably as she was shoved out of the way. "And you kept him entertained. How wonderful." The next glance had daggers in it.

Takashi raised an eyebrow. He stared directly at the girl for a long moment without speaking; long enough for her to fumble and grow nervous. Then he turned his back on her.

"See you in class," was all he said before he walked out.

The door closed behind him and he heard the screeching begin anew as he picked Honey up.

"He's not in any of my classes!"

But he was in Elly's...

"Good morning, class," the teacher told them all in Japanese the next morning. Everyone answered back dutifully.

Takashi glanced over at his cousin and saw he was pointing at Elly, who sat in the back of the room. There was an empty seat next to them and he was trying to get her to sit there. The big guy smiled and it was that more than anything that prompted her to quietly move her books over beside him.

Something like that didn't go unnoticed, of course. Most of the girls were clustered around Tamaki and the twins, a few around Kyoya. Takashi had several admirers, but most were distant-viewers, like Elly had been. With the arrival of what they saw as a threat, however, they grew bold.

They were chatting about how one should address one another - the different add-ons and polite or friendly substitutions that were used in Japanese society. For instance, Takashi was not called that by his classmates. No, they used part of what was thought of as his last name in America to refer to him - "Mori". Only close, personal friends or family called him Takashi; at the moment, the only one here to do so was Honey.

"So what would you call someone older than you?" One piped up with a dangerous glitter in her eyes.

"Or someone who looks older than you," another said in an acid tone, staring right at Elly. Most of the exchange students didn't notice but the girl in their group did. She frowned.

"Haruhi," Tamaki whispered as she made the face. "They're going after her."

"I know," she snapped back. "But why?"

"Really, love?" He rolled his eyes and pointed with one long finger. "That's why."

The subject of their discussion was just realizing what they were doing. Elly's chin had come up though her eyes were flat and tired, weary of going through this again and again. Takashi had noticed, too. He turned his dark-eyed gaze on the one clamoring the loudest and frowned. The young man could intimidate the strongest guy in school with a similar gaze. She cut off what she had been about to say with a startled gulp.

Elly struggled to catch up to him in the hallway after class. "Thanks," she told him quietly.

He shrugged. Honey stepped in front of her with a pout on his face, however. "Why did they do that?" He asked angrily. "That was mean."

"Yeah, well. I've got all this gray in my hair already. They tease me about it."

"That was not teasing," Takashi said.

Honey glanced up at him. "No," he agreed. "They were out to get you! I think they were jealous 'cause we're friends now."

"F - friends?" Elly's dark eyes grew very wide and she stopped in her tracks.

"Yeah!" The seemingly young boy slung an arm around her and laughed happily.

How do you tell someone that you've never had friends before?

She rubbed at her cheeks in embarrassment, smiling a little nonetheless. She'd ducked her head so she didn't notice Takashi had a faint smile on his face, too.

PART 2 >>