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-Day 2-
Zelda hated gym class. She wasn't good at athletics at all, not like Hizuru. She heard Hizuru talk about being on the track team and the swim team all the time. That was until her asthma picked up and she started having attacks more often. So first she had to quit the swim team which she had really loved. It would be dangerous for her if she had an asthma attack in the pool. Track was something she wasn't as crazy about but she was good at it. Why wouldn't she be? She had really long legs after all. But soon after quitting the swim team she quit track as well. She just didn't see the point anymore. Kendo was the one sport she never gave up on though. Zelda wished she had a sliver of Hizuru's athletic ability or at least her asthma. It was a horrible thing to think but that way she could skip gym and Hizuru could still be on the swim team, so it wouldn't be that bad.
Despite Zelda's hatred of Phys. Ed. there was one part she liked. That part was seeing Kakashi Hatake, one of the gym teachers. Although he wasn't her teacher she still got to see him and he made her heart flutter. He had silver spiked hair and sleepy dark eyes. He was smart, fast, even strong. Was there anything he couldn't do?
Zelda wished she had him for a teacher, then maybe gym wouldn't be so bad. Luckily she had Isai in her gym class which was almost just as good as being able to talk to Kakashi sensei on a regular basis. She had changed into her gym clothes and after being forced to leave her precious hat behind the small brunette dragged herself up the stairs and into the gymnasium. She hated it. It was a shiny noisy room where there was nothing but shoes squeaking and balls bouncing all the time.
"Hey Zelda," Isai greeted her with a smile. Within an instant Zelda's thoughts about how much she hated the class stopped. Isai could make her smile any day, even when she was really upset. She really liked that about him. He had green hair and eyes and was almost always smiling.
"Hi Isai. What do you think we'll be doing today?"
"I'm not sure. The teacher said about us starting something new," Isai said looking around for the teacher. Another thing Zelda hated about gym class: the teacher, Matsuke sensei. She was beautiful and most of the boys in class drooled over her. Her hair was bouncy and golden yellow, along with blue eyes and bright pink lips she was practically a knockout. She looked good even in half of a track suit. Not only was it annoying hearing her fellow classmates trip over themselves trying to get a compliment out to her but she just happened to have the same object of affection as Zelda. That's right. Both the blonde mid-twenties gym teacher and the brunette freshmen had their sights on Kakashi sensei and Matsuke knew it.
Zelda knew it was pointless. How could she compete with a teacher anyway? But it didn't stop her from trying to talk to Kakashi sensei any chance she got. Now though she didn't have the opportunity as Matsuke just walked out of her off with her bouncy golden locks held high in a pretty ponytail and a clipboard in hand. Time for attendance.
Zelda and Isai waved to each other then got in their spots on the gym floor so Matsuke to could see who was present and who was not. It was going to be a long class.

Elsewhere in the building Ari was somehow convinced to come out of her hiding spot in the classroom to join Chaiss in a little corner of the hallway which had a table and chairs. If it had been just Chai there would be no problem with Ari coming out to chat, but to Ari's dismay the two girls were not alone. Next to Chai sat Taidra Iwato, a boy with sun burnt skin, dark green eyes, and a loud voice and personality. And that wasn't all, Chai had just popped up out of her seat to bring over yet another person a young boy Ari had never seen before. He had black peach fuzz hair with a bright purple mowhawk and the strangest eye color, bright orange. Ari had seen a few other people with not so common eye colors at school as well. In fact she spotted one talking to Zelda the other day, what was his name again? Oh right, Kurt Wagner was his name. Knowing that Ari shouldn't have been surprised but she was surprised when the boy pulled a dry erase board out of his messenger bag and wrote something on it. Perhaps Chai was supposed to get it from him for class?
After a few more exchanges Chai convinced the boy to come over and join Ari and Tai. He sat down and didn't utter a word.
"Hey," Tai said casually to him and nodded. The boy returned the nod but still didn't open his mouth at all. He was even quieter than Ari was.
"Honey, this is Honv Nuwan," Chai said seating herself next to Ari again.
"Hi. I'm Ari Harisen. It's nice to meet you." She put on her friendliest smile yet still the boy did not speak. Ari was more than a little unsettled by it even though he attempted to smile a little.
"So Ari, you got a boyfriend? A cute little chicka like you ought to," Tai said grinning ear to ear.
Ari quickly became flustered. "M-me? No way. I've never had a boyfriend."
"Never?!" both Chai and Tai asked in shock.
"No." Ari winced. "Is that bad?"
"No, not at all honey. I'm just a little shocked. You're so pretty I figured you did." Chai smiled. "Don't worry though, I'm single too." Tai opened his mouth with a cocky expression but Chai quickly cut him off. "That knuckle head will try to convince you that he has a girlfriend but he's just as single as the rest of us." Ari giggled a little.
"Man way to cut me down, Chai." The brown haired boy sounded disappointed but didn't seem too upset about it. Ari sensed that Chai and Tai were close friends.
"Honv you still single too, right?" Chai asked and the boy nodded right away. "Ah it's a shame. He's a really nice guy, but no one wants to give him a chance." She then looked slyly at Tai. "Unlike that idiot who's no good for anyone."
"Says you. I think otherwise. I say I can be good for a looot of women," Tai answered cheekily then winked at Ari. Thankfully Chai smacked him in response.
"Like she'd be interested in a boy like you." Chai let out a short sigh.
"If you stop embarrassing me she might," Tai said with a bit of a pout.
"Anyway," Chai said loudly giving Tai a sharp look. "Aren't you interested in anyone at all, honey?"
"Um, well." Ari pulled her sleeve over her fingers nervously and internally debated on whether she should say or not. She felt like she could trust Chai, but Tai and Honv on the other hand she knew nothing about. What if they told someone?
"C'mon, hon. It's okay." Chai smiled reassuringly and Tai seemed genuinely interested.
"Um, maybe Eito Tashima?' Ari said hesitantly. The three listeners all jumped in surprise.
"Woah, no way!" Chai gasped.
"He's pretty high up on the chain!" Tai commented with a laugh. Honv looked baffled as well.
"Uh, yeah. But I've barely talked to him so it's not anything serious at all!" Ari panicked and said.
"It's okay, honey." Chai smiled confidently at Ari then Ari smiled too. It seemed that when Ari could let herself open up she could actually make friends and she wondered exactly what had held her back before.

"Hey, Hizuru." Two voices perfectly in unison called out to Hizuru.
"Go away," she replied bluntly.
"Honestly is that any way to talk to your fellow club members?" one twin said.
"How rude," the other said nodding in agreement.
"I know you two. You just want to harass me about something." Hizuru didn't even look up at them. She had her nose in a book she needed to read for class.
"Oh no," they said. "We just want to ask you a question."
"What is it?"
"Why don't you dress like a girl?" they asked with sly grins on their faces that matched perfectly.
Hizuru's eyebrow twitched in anger and she was forced to look at the shady twins, Hikaru and Kaoru Hiitachin. They had auburn hair and wore matching clothes most days. Sometimes they would play a game with the guests called the "Which one is Hikaru game" where the girls would guess which twin was Hikaru.
"Because most days I can't. If I dress like a girl then coming to the host club would be kind of pointless. Everyone would know I'm not really a guy."
"So do you ever dress like a girl?" one twin asked.
"Well of course."
"I bet you won't do it tomorrow," the other said slyly.
Hizuru's eyes narrowed. So they were messing with her. "Why should I? I can dress 'like a girl' whenever I want to."
"We know, we just don't think you will."
"We don't think you have the guts."
"Or maybe..." they draped themselves over each other. "You're scared to."
That was the last straw. If they wanted to get Hizuru's goat they got it, horns and all. "Why the hell would I be scared of that?" she asked in an agitated tone.
"Because you never seem to. So obviously it must scare you."
"So we dare you to come to school tomorrow and to dress more feminine."
"Then," they said together mischievously. "You have to still come to the host club and not get noticed, otherwise we win."
"It's on!" Hizuru growled.

Sayomi leaned against the cold metal tables in the science room in an aggravated state. Science was the worst subject for her and the boring teacher, Sen sensei, didn't help. 'Who the hell names their kid Sen anyway?' she thought. What made things worse was that one of her two objects of affection was constantly crushing on the student teacher, Rangiku Matsumoto. It was pretty obvious that he had fallen hard for her and it seemed like nothing she could do would make him look at her like that.
The fact that she was friends with Hisagi Shuuhei softened the blow a little but not enough that Sayomi was content with the situation. She had been crushing on him since high school started, but never had enough courage to tell him despite the fact that Sayomi seemed so confident. Sayomi appeared to be such a free spirit but on the inside existed some turmoil, things that she told no one. She was unhappy most days which is why she did so much to try and change that. Put on a happy face, do crazy things with her friends, get a little buzzed sometimes, she figured those things would make her happy in the long run, only they didn't. Everything was only a temporary high that dissipated mostly when she got home and had nothing to do but be alone in her room.
She liked Akki, she liked Hizuru too even though they bumped heads every once in a while. She even liked Zelda and Ari to an extent, though it bothered her to see how shy they both were. She didn't like how content they seemed with it and couldn't understand how their cowardice didn't eat them up inside, like it did for her.
What she didn't like about Akki was the fact that she preached about family all the time. Sayomi's parents gave her up when she was little, they didn't want her. So she had no family. In her mind family wasn't something you could make (unless you pop out some babies yourself) it was something that was supposed to be there from the start. For her it wasn't and it never sat well for her. So although she cared for her so called "sisters" they weren't family to Sayomi and they never would be. That was why Akki's talks and her "big sister" behavior wore Sayomi down. It was all just lies anyway.
"Alright. Partner up," Sen sensei said from the front of the room. Today they were performing a lab experiment and Sayomi had no friends in sight, except for Hisagi who quickly went over to Kira Izuru and some other guy Sayomi didn't recognize. She got up with her papers and went to stand at an empty lab table. Surely there were other people in the class that needed partners so someone else was bound to come over.
After a minute or two of students talking amongst themselves and getting prepared Sayomi looked up to see two young girls standing at her table. One had short black hair that covered the left side of her face and the other had long wavy blue hair.
"Can we join you?" the black haired one asked.
"Sure," Sayomi replied with a nod.
"Good. We might not have had much choice otherwise. It seems like everyone else is paired up," the blue haired girl said glancing around the room. She was dressed darkly with green and yellow accents and what looked like a black cape around her shoulders. The other girl was dressed in black punk clothes with red accents. Although they were both mostly in black the two girls couldn't look more different if they tried.
"I'm Miyu Hoshiko," the dark haired girl said after a while.
"My name is Setsuko Kagome, it's nice to meet you." The comment hung in the air as a question meaning Setsuko was asking for their new partner's name.
"Sayomi Kitakuro," she replied with a slight smile and nod. "It's nice to meet you guys too."

"Hey!" Akki jumped in surprise when Izumi popped up next to her. The young woman had previously been digging in her bag looking for her keys. They were leaving the college and luckily Izumi had caught Akki before she got outside.
"Geez, Izumi-chan don't scare me like that!" Akki said with her hand over her heart.
The red haired woman giggled mysteriously. "I'm sorry Akki-chan. Are we still on for Friday?"
"Of course. Pizza and movies sounds great. I could use it after how nerve racking this week started out." She smiled. "I'm sure the girls would be happy to see you too."
"All those crazy girls." Izumi shook her head a little. "How are they doing?"
"Fine for the most part."
"For the most part?" Izumi looked a bit concerned.
"It's just..." Akki frowned. "Sayomi said something troubling yesterday and she's barely at home anymore. I wonder if I'm not doing enough to make her happy."
"Well what did she say?"
"Zelda complained about Hizuru teasing her at school, so I started scolding Hizuru and saying that as a family we shouldn't do that to each other. Sayomi laughed and said 'the whole we're a family talk is getting old.' I don't think she believes it." Akki looked down in disappointment. "Maybe I should let her move out if she really wants to."
"I wouldn't say that." Akki looked at Izumi with a glimmer of hope. "You know what it's like growing up in an orphanage. I think she is just handling it differently. She might be a little bitter about being abandoned where as you are not. So maybe family just isn't something she believes in."
"Maybe," Akki sighed. "Is there anything you think I can do?"
"Just don't push her. It might make things worse." Izumi smiled reassuringly but Akki still didn't look sure. It wasn't easy for her to take. She had adopted Sayomi two years ago and still she didn't believe they were family to her. "Oh, look who it is." Akki glanced up to see Hakkai sitting in his jeep with Gojyo. It seemed like they were waiting on someone. "Let's go talk to them," Izumi said grabbing Akki's hand and walking over.
"No, let's not!" Akki desperately tried to break free of Izumi's grasp. After a while Izumi stopped.
"Why not?"
"I'm nervous. I don't want to," Akki whined.
"Oh please, Akki-chan. You talked to him in class."
"I know, but I had to. He sat next to me." Akki blushed and glanced at the jeep. "Do we have to?" Just then Hakkai noticed their presence and turned to see Akki and Izumi. He smiled happily and waved.
"We've been caught. We might as well now," Izumi hummed. Akki groaned but followed Izumi over to the jeep. Izumi giggled. "Hey guys," Izumi said as soon as they got close to the jeep. Akki greeted the guys as well, albeit a little shyly.
"Hey you two. What's up?" Gojyo smirked with a cigarette in this mouth. Akki didn't realize he smoked, not that it was a big deal.
"We were just about to head home." Izumi pushed one of her braids out off her shoulder and smiled casually. Izumi was beautiful with red hair similar to Gojyo's only Izumi had streaks of raspberry red as well. She had several piercings on each ear as well.
"I would offer you a ride but as soon as Sanzo and Goku get here all my seats will be taken up." Hakkai chuckled a little, but seemed sincere.
"Goku?" Akki blinked.
"He's another of our friends. In fact he share's an apartment with Sanzo."
"Ah, that's okay. We're used to the walk home," Akki replied with a smile.
Izumi draped an arm over Akki and said, "We're tough girls. We can make it." Her dark lips twisted into a smile. Gojyo smirked at that.
"I like tough girls."
"Gojyo, how many times do I have to turn you down?" Izumi said, her tone teasing. Gojyo had been hitting on Izumi since yesterday. From what Hakkai told Akki it was very common for Gojyo, yet he never looked twice at Akki. The copper haired girl was caught somewhere in between relief and insult. She guessed it didn't matter too much though. She had no romantic interest in Gojyo.
"Man I just can't get a break, huh?" The red haired man chuckled.
"Akki, why the long face?" Hakkai asked looking concerned. Akki had strayed back to thinking about Sayomi again while Izumi had turned down Gojyo, probably a bad idea.
"She's probably thinking about her girls again," Izumi said with a sigh. Oh no. Akki knew where she was going with this. She was going to tell them about Akki's "children."
"Girls?" Both Gojyo and Hakkai looked curious.
"Izumi-chan--no!" Akki started saying but Izumi spoke too quickly.
"Akki has kids. Didn't she tell you?" Izumi giggled as Akki's face dropped.
"Say what?" Gojyo asked in slight surprise looking at Akki.
"Well, they are yet they're not. I-I adopted them, you see. But they're all teenagers, so it's not like I really even have to take care of them. The youngest is sixteen, so they're practically all adults," Akki rushed to explain.
"Damn, I never would have thought that." Gojyo looked slightly impressed. Izumi glanced at Akki with a sort of 'see? It's okay' look. Akki gave her a look right back that said they would be talking about this later.
"I think that's really sweet," Hakkai said with a smile. The young woman couldn't help but blush.
"I finally found him," came a new voice and the girls turned to see Sanzo with a young boy about eighteen. He had rich brown hair and golden eyes. He must be Goku, Akki thought.
"I guess we'll be going then," Hakkai said as Sanzo and Goku got into the jeep.
"We'll see you ladies tomorrow." Gojyo winked.
"Bye." Hakkai waved then started up the jeep and pulled away.
After they were out of sight Izumi said, "See? Now was that so bad?"
"You're totally paying for pizza on Friday," Akki laughed.

[Notes: This is an alternate universe story where characters of mine that wouldn't typically be in the same universe are. This a "crack" story meaning that some things will be off the wall and that's how it is supposed to be. So please don't question it too much and just enjoy.
This story will include characters from: The Tales of Team Flare (a.k.a. a Naruto fanfiction), Ouran High School Host Club, Bleach, Saiyuki, and an original story by me called the Meek and the Monster. Some last names have been changed but most characters are the same. Next I'll break down what characters are from what story.
Zelda Mistoffelees= Team Flare
Hizuru Ochi= Ouran
Sayomi Kitakuro = Bleach
Ari Harisen = The Meek and the Monster
Akki Suwa = Saiyuki
This work includes a lot of fan made characters as well as original ones. Please keep that in mind and enjoy. smile ]
-Day 1-
In a small house somewhere in the world there lived five sisters aged twenty-one, seventeen, sixteen, and two that were eighteen. You may assume because of the children being so close in age that their mother was a very strong woman. But the truth is that these girls aren't really sisters at all. In fact they are all adopted and have no parents. The oldest sister, Akki Suwa, grew up as an orphan in the system and decided when she was old enough she would pull some girls out as well. Well as the young woman tends to often do, she bit off a little more than she could chew. She started with Ari Harisen who was now eighteen, then adopted Zelda Mistoffelees (sixteen) and Hizuru Ochi (seventeen) at about the same time and she stopped with Sayomi Kitakuro (eighteen). Everything had been fine when Akki was eighteen and even though her house was almost bursting at the seams the girls were all happy. But when Akki had lost her dream job things became difficult.
After a year or so Akki got another job that paid well but she longed to go to college. For a while it was a hidden dream until she confided in a friend of hers named Izumi and Ari. Ari offered to get a job and help out since she was almost done with school and after a while Sayomi also got a job. When Akki felt the family had saved up enough she told Ari and Sayomi they didn't have to help out anymore. Sayomi leaped at the offer and stopped helping pay the family bills, but Ari never stopped her contributions which was a relief to Akki since college classes were more costly than she had anticipated.
Today the girls are all getting ready for school, Akki for college and the younger girls for high school. Ari and Sayomi were seniors and close to graduation, Hizuru was a sophomore, and Zelda a freshman.
"Hey guys? Come down for breakfast now or you're gonna be late!" Akki called up the stairs.
Sayomi trotted down the stairs and stopped at the kitchen table for only a moment before popping out the front door saying, "None for me. See ya!"
Akki shook her head. That girl was far too independent she liked but she seemed to have a good enough head on her shoulder. So she didn't worry much. Ari shuffled down the stairs with the quiet-as-a-ninja Zelda following soon after. "Where's Hizuru?"
"Still sleeping probably," Zelda said with a nod.
"Hizuru! Get. UP!" Akki hollered and a thud was heard on the floor. Soon the red head was dragging herself down the stairs groggily.
"I'm awake," she mumbled at the kitchen table. "I need coffee." She planted her head on the cool wood and seemed to fall asleep again.
Ari and Zelda had seen her dose off after getting dressed but didn't bother to wake her up again. The girl was deadly when roused.
"I forget, do you work today Ari?" Akki asked as she pushed an egg around in a frying pan.
The pale girl's soft voiced squeaked, "Yes. I start at four today."
"Okay I'll still be in class, so can you start dinner before you leave?"
"Of course." Ari wrapped her thin hands around a cup of orange juice as Akki placed the sunny-side up egg in front of her. Zelda never ate breakfast unless she was really hungry due to having a sensitive stomach and Hizuru, well Hizuru slept through breakfast nearly every morning.
The quiet brunette, Zelda, pulled her cat eared beanie over her head snugly as Hizuru sat up and seemed to be fully awake.
"Mornings are evil," she groaned and grabbed her olive drawstring backpack off of the chair next to her and swung it over her back.
"Maybe if you weren't up all night watching anime you wouldn't be tired every day," Zelda said cheekily.
"Well it's not like I could play video games all night like you since we only have one game system. But it's okay, I forgive you, sis." Hizuru's response was infinitely more cheeky than Zelda's. Most of the time that's how it went. Hizuru was the cheeky, sarcastic one and Zelda only came up with something once in a great while to counter her older sibling. "We'd better get going then," Hizuru said walking behind Zelda and slowly pulling the beanie off of her head.
"Hey! Stop it!" Zelda yelled desperately trying to pull it back down.
"I'm just playing with you, Zel," Hizuru said and pushed the hat back down. Zelda blinked and adjusted her beloved hat then wondered what was up with Hizuru. Somehow she didn't seem to be acting normally.
A horn was heard out front and Ari quickly swallowed what was left of her juice and her egg then waved goodbye to Akki who soon after headed up to the now empty bathroom to style her hair before heading to her own class.

At school the girls dispersed as they usually did. Each one had her own set of friends and felt no need to hang around each other. Ari went straight to her first class and barried herself in a book as she waited for the bell. Zelda weaved through the other students trying to be noticed as little as possible. She wasn't very out going and only felt confident when her friends were around. Hizuru however was bursting with confidence. She strolled down the hallway and said hello to people she knew from class. She didn't have many people she would consider friends at this point, but she knew people and people knew her. So that was enough for now.
Sayomi hadn't arrived at school yet as usual. Instead of going to school with her sisters, Sayomi often got a ride from her friends Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa. They were a very unlikely trio and more often than not Sayomi just hung out with them because they weren't exactly model students.
At first glance it would seem like Hizuru would be the trouble child for Akki, but in fact Sayomi was much worse. Sayomi went out late with her friends, got drunk, and other such things; not on a regular basis but enough that it interfered with her school work. Recently Sayomi had even acquired a tattoo that no one but her and her friends knew about. Still Sayomi was good at heart though she is a little wild and known for attention seeking. The girl with dark brown pigtails couldn't wait to be finished with school. She liked Akki and appreciated everything she had done for her, but living under the roof of such a clumsy woman got quite exhausting for the rebellious teen. Sayomi was convinced she could do fine by herself in the real world, but Akki insisted that Sayomi stay in the house at least until she graduated high school. The wild teen agreed figuring she owed the young woman that much at least.

Two years ago Zelda had dated a boy named Shin Katsuo. However he was also dating Manami Kenta at the time. Manami went after Zelda and called her all sorts of things. Thankfully Zelda was protected by her friends Hina, Isai, "Flare," and Hizuru. Little did they know that Manami and Shin had plotted everything from the beginning in an attempt to further estrange Zelda from the rest of the student body.
This year however Hina, Isai, and Flare only had a few classes with their friend. In fact lunch was just about the only time they saw each other through out the day and she feared she would have to branch out and make some other friends to help her through the day. But this was all easier said than done.
Zelda was a very nervous girl, similar to Ari in a way, and she clumsily made her way through the halls still trying to not be seen. Unfortunately as the quiet girl spun around in fear of bumping into someone she didn't like she accidentally walked into someone and her books fell from her hands. She knelt down automatically to pick them up and soon saw a familiar head of blue hair assiting her.
"Hallo Katze-chan," he said cheerfully.
"Oh, Kurt. Thank God it's you." Zelda sighed in relief as she took her books from him. "I was so scared it might be Shin-san."
"Is he still bothering you?" Kurt's brow furrowed a bit.
Zelda stammered a bit before saying, "Not always, just sometimes. So I'm trying to avoid him." She lowered her eyes in embarrassment.
"If he confronts you again, you just come looking for me, okay? I'll settle things with him." The boy with golden eyes nodded confidently.
"Thank you, Kurt." Zelda smiled brightly. She was glad that Kurt had offered to help her out; it meant a lot.
"Oh hey cutie, what cha up to?" came a familiar voice soon after. A tall redheaded girl popped up from behind Kurt then walked over to stand next to Zelda. "You talking to my sister, huh?"
"Oh... hi, Hizuru," Kurt's voice was tinted with embarrassment. "Yeah, we were talking a little."
Hizuru faked shock and gasped. "Don't tell me you guys are secretly dating! Oh no. Kurty that would hurt my feelings. I think I'm feeling faint." The confident girl put the back of her hand against her forehead and began acting like a southern belle in a bad movie.
"Hizuru knock it off. Don't you know when to stop teasing people?" Zelda asked with more than a hint of annoyance.
"Nope. I don't understand words in that sort of context, but as long as you two tell me when something starts happening I'll leave you be for now." Hizuru pinched Kurt's cheek lightly. "See you later, cutie Kurt."
Hizuru was known to be the teasing one in the family. She often teased Ari about being a book worm, Sayomi about being spoiled, Akki about being clumsy, and Zelda about her shyness, her video games, her cat beanie, her pretty much anything. So one might assume that Hizuru was just teasing Zelda like always and flirting with Kurt. It was true that Hizuru thought the blue haired boy was attractive but the crush wasn't much to sneeze at. More than anything she was trying to make Zelda jealous hoping that one of them would make a move on the other in an attempt to keep Hizuru from teasing them further. But the plan didn't seem to be working out so well. 'If only Zelda had more confidence,' Hizuru thought.
Hizuru would probably never admit it, but she did have a stronger crush on someone else. She almost hated that she was crushing on such a snotty guy, but it was a feeling and Hizuru is not good at fighting feelings. She assumed from the start that the feeling wasn't mutual and she wasn't about to make a move. After all it would be more than a little pointless in her mind. The boy was one of the most popular guys in school not to mention handsome, rich, and intelligent. She doubted she would even be a blip on the radar for him. Still being around him was enough for now and she got to hang out with him nearly every day during club activities. Hizuru was in the same club as him, a highly popular club called a host club.
The club was made up of some of the most handsome and wealthy boys in school. However there was two girls in the club. Hizuru wasn't quite sure how Haruhi Fujioka got involved with the club, but Hizuru was recruited when they came to see Takashi Morinozuka at kendo practice. They saw Hizuru in the same club and certain members picked up on Hizuru's true gender right away. They then confronted Hizuru in private and asked if she would participate in their club as a boy so Haruhi wouldn't be alone. Hizuru wasn't so sure at first but when the vice president said that because of the school being so big no one would really notice she agreed. At first it was strange, but slowly the red head was becoming used to it.

At the local college in town Akki nervously walked into the large classroom for her first class. Technically she was supposed to start yesterday but due to some scheduling conflicts she missed the first day. Akki wasn't as nearly as shy as Ari or Zelda but being in a new place did make her nerves dance. She decided to sit in the front row in one of the middle seats. A few others were in the class but no one seemed to be sitting in the front so Akki felt more confident sitting there. Besides this way she wouldn't be able to tell if people were looking at her or not.
The girl with copper hair sifted through her bag and got out a pencil, eraser, notebook, and other such supplies so she would be prepared for when the teacher came. She jumped when she heard someone slide into the seat one down from hers.
"Hello," the young man said with a smile. He wore glasses and had dark brown hair. His eyes were deep green and he was dressed nicely. He looked far more mature than anyone else she had seen so far.
"Hi."
"I don't think I remember seeing you in class yesterday. Were you here?"
"Oh, uh, no. I missed it because of getting my schedule adjusted."
With a small chuckle he replied, "I see. I'll lend you my notes from yesterday in that case."
"Oh thank you," Akki began saying but was soon cut off by a tall young man with long red hair that was half pulled back into a high ponytail.
"Sitting in front again, Hakkai? What a teacher's pet," the man teased and sat in the row behind him with a crooked grin.
"You can ignore him," Hakkai said with a smile. "My name is Cho Hakkai, who are you?"
"I'm Suwa Akki," the young woman replied with a nod.
"Oh look, it's ol' droopy eyes," Gojyo jested with a laugh as a slender man with blonde hair and purple eyes entered the room and began walking up the stairs.
"Shut up, you damn cockroach," the man said angrily as he seated himself in the third row somewhere behind Akki.
"The grumpy blonde is Genjyo Sanzo and the red head is Sha Gojyo. We're sort of friends," Hakkai explained to Akki.
"No we're not," Sanzo mumbled.
"The stupid baldy over there is too proud to admit he has friends," Gojyo said with a laugh.
"Shut up!" He whacked Gojyo on the head with a folder and the two began arguing.

Sayomi finally made it to class and seated herself at her desk in the back. Ari could tell by her footsteps and turned to glance at the girl who sat there without a care in the world. Ari and Sayomi didn't have the greatest relationship, not at all like Zelda and Hizuru. Sayomi was confident to a fault, carefree, and had no problems with stepping on a few toes to get what she wanted. Ari was nothing like that. Instead the quiet, pale girl was completely un-confident, a worry wart, and almost always went the extra mile to make someone happy. In fact in their three bedroom house Ari opted to sleep in the laundry room rather than the room she and Sayomi were supposed to share. Akki offered to let Ari stay in her room with her but Ari insisted that she couldn't and that both Akki and Sayomi needed their space. So she slept on the cot next to the washer and dryer. There was a bed for her still in Sayomi's room in case they were being checked up on by the authorities. It would look bad for Ari to be sleeping in the laundry room plus there was no room for it there. So Akki just said that it was just for them to pull out when guests stayed the night.
Ari didn't have lots of things and she shared Akki's closet due to them being nearly the same size in everything. So all of Akki's belongings were stored either in bins that went under her cot or the small dresser in the hall. Her books she stored lovingly in a special decorated bin that no one was allowed to touch without permission. She was determined enough to put her foot down on that note and everyone else in the house respected it. Sayomi had no real interest in Ari's type of books anyway.
Ari was a romantic to the core and her special bin was full of books pertaining to love along with some romance manga. Ari loved the genre so much and longed for a relationship like that of her own. But somewhere inside she knew it wasn't possible if she couldn't come out of her shell.
In fact, Ari had a crush on someone as well, one Eito Tashima. *(Last name subject to change.)* He was a senior like her and both handsome and wealthy enough to be in the host club (which Ari knew next to nothing about). That is, if he desired to interact with people; he didn't. He was cold and secluded himself often. In fact he barely talked to anyone at all. He lived on his own and no one really knew anything about him other than that. Still there was quite a few girls tripping over themselves in order to get close to him. Especially Iali Aohasi.
She was golden blonde, had a smile that made men weak in the knees, with pure blue eyes which reflected like sapphires, and a cute little figure that put most models to shame. If only her personality matched her appearance; Iali was hardly the nicest girl in school.
Luckily for Ari Eito didn't care for Iali at all, then again he didn't care for Ari either. He didn't care for anyone. Secretly Ari believed someone could change that, that somewhere inside there must be some warmth that kept him from going completely numb in his frigid world. Some tiny fire inside that with the right spark could lighten his world and make him smile. Ari in no way believed that she could do this herself, but she wanted desperately to try. She longed to be the heroine that she saw the potential for in everyone else, except for her. She wanted to save someone and make their world better, perhaps then she could find herself. As she lifted her head out of her book to glance out the window she heard someone say sweetly,
"Hey honey." She turned with surprise to see the girl sitting next to her smiling warmly at her. They had talked a few times and she seemed nice. "I was wondering if you were ever gonna pull yourself out of that book. You alright?"
"Oh yeah. Just thinking," the pale girl replied quietly. The girl next to her was pretty with brown skin and coffee brown hair in dred locks that were held high with the help of a burgundy bandana and hair tie. Two teal dreads to match her dark sea green eyes sandwiched a dark blonde one along the right side of her head. She had a very womanly form compared to Ari's scrawny one and her personality was very kind and warm, like the hot tea her name would make you think of.
"You always seem to be thinkin' or readin'. Don't you ever do nothin' else?" The girl, Chaiss Lorim, laughed. She had an accent that Ari couldn't quite place.
"Not really. I like quiet." She nodded.
"I can tell because you talk so little." The girls laughed. "Oh but I guess we'll have to talk more after class. Here comes the teach."

"Well, I've tried all of the guys here and so far none of them have been to my taste. So my next choice is you. I always did like red heads," an alto voice said which made Hizuru look up from her sketchbook.
"You must be my next appointment then. You are?"
"Murasaki."
"Murasaki." Hizuru nodded and looked at the girl with orange hair that hung in two low ponytails. "I'm Kyo Ochi."
The girl sat on the small couch across from Hizuru and crossed her legs causing her skirt to rise higher than it already was. If Hizuru had really been a guy or interested in girls this probably would have made her blush and she figured Murasaki would notice if she did or didn't. So Hizuru made her glance a little more obvious and Murasaki's rose tinted lips stretched into a smirk. "So tell me about yourself Kyo-kun. What grade are you in?"
"I'm a sophomore," the red head answered simply. She was still trying to read Murasaki and so far couldn't get much.
"Oh so that's why we haven't met before." She giggled. "Then again this school is so big it's hard to say we would even if we were in the same grade." She paused for a moment to shift one of her pigtails. "I'm a freshmen. What are your hobbies?"
"Well I'm in kendo club now and I used to be in swim club and track, that was back in middle school. When I got to high school I decided to drop them because of my athsma. It always hindered me anyway. I also draw a bit, but I wouldn't really call it a hobby, more like doodling when I'm bored."
"Ah, I see. So that's how you know Mori-senpai?"
"Yeah. I met him when I joined the club. We didn't really talk much until the hosts asked me to join their club. So I did. What about you, Murasaki-chan?"
She giggled a little. "I'm into sewing and mechanics. My dad is a mechanic so I grew up around cars and stuff. My mom is a stay at home mom and she taught me how to sew. So I learned from her. Now I make my own clothes."
Hizuru blinked in fascination. "Wow, that's amazing. You really make your own clothing?"
"Sure do," Murasaki replied with a wink. "I made this skirt myself." She lifted one of the folds that had previously been resting on top of her leg then let it fall. Hizuru had thought it looked professional.
"Wow. It looks like something you'd get from the store. That's incredible." Hizuru smiled at her and mischievous look crossed the face of the girl opposite her.
"I'm glad you like it. Maybe you'd want one?"
Hizuru's brain stalled for a moment. "What? Why would I want one? I'm not the skirt kind of guy." She laughed trying to make it sound genuine.
Murasaki rose up with a laugh then rested her arms on her lap. "Now Kyo-kun be real. You're cute but even I can tell." She lowered her voice. "That you're not a boy."
Hizuru's eyebrows jumped in surprise and her mouth hung open a little before whispering, "How did you guess?"
She giggled mischievously like a fox, "You faked it very well but when you noticed my skirt you didn't blush at all. There's not many guys who wouldn't blush at someone like me." She rested her delicate chin in the palm of one hand. "Now if you had been like Kyouya Ootori over there, stoic and serious as the plague I'd of believed it. But you are far too genuine to not blush when attracted." A light flickered in her red eyes and her smile was as if she had just passed a pop quiz with flying colors.
Hizuru laughed and rubbed the back of her neck slightly ruffling the choppy pieces of hair that rested against it. "I guess you got me. You're not the first but that was probably faster then anyone else. Could I ask a favor, Murasaki-chan?" Her hum said yes. "Don't tell anyone?"
"Of course not, Kyo-kun. I wouldn't dream of it," she replied with a laugh. "I plan on visiting you more often. I like you." The girl winked again and Hizuru couldn't help but smile wryly. Hizuru then scribbled something down on her sketchpad and handed it to Murasaki. It read 'My name is Hizuru, but please keep calling me Kyo. Thanks.' Murasaki nodded then put the note in her pocket with a smile.

Finally the day was coming so a close and everyone in Akki's family was gathered around the table. Ari sat next to Zelda at one end, Hizuru next to Sayomi at the other, and Akki at the head of the table. Akki took a sip of her tea and asked with a warm smile, "So how did everyone's day go?"
"Hizuru was harassing me at school again," Zelda said sounding a little bitter about it. Akki shot Hizuru a 'you did what' look, but the red head remained composed cooly.
"It was just a little. It's how I say I love you after all." Hizuru shrugged.
Akki sighed. "Hizuru I know it is, but we shouldn't be teasing each other and making each other upset. We're a family." Sayomi couldn't quite hold back a snorting laugh. "What?"
"Nothing, it's just the whole 'we're a family talk' is kind of getting old," Sayomi said with an arched eyebrow.
"Are we not a family?" Akki asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, sure." Sayomi's tone told everyone that she didn't really believe it but she played it off well.
Akki hung her head in defeat and let out a disgruntled sigh. "I think of us a family and I don't want to see us butting heads."
Zelda felt more than a twinge of regret and pouted slightly. Sure she didn't like being belittled by Hizuru but it didn't bother her that much and now Sayomi couldn't keep her true feelings from spewing out which upset Akki. "It's not that big of a deal," she said trying to ease the tension. "I'm not that bothered by it."
Akki smiled and looked relieved. "I'm glad." She then glanced at Ari who was staring off into space as she held her glass full of juice. "What about you Ari?"
"Huh?" She blinked then suddenly seemed to pick up on the conversation. "Oh mine was good." She didn't have to hear what was said. Akki always asked them how they were. "I talked to Chai again today." She figured it would be enough for Akki to pick up on and start a decent conversation about.
"That's great! It seems like you two are becoming friends." Akki seemed thrilled at the thought.
"Yeah. How about you Akki? How was your first day at college?"
"Good. It took a little getting used to. Especially since it had been so long since I've been in a class room. But this nice guy in my first class lent me his notes. Actually I have three classes with him."
Hizuru picked up on Akki's gleeful tone and smirked. "Oh really? Is he cute?"
Akki bit her lip and answered automatically "Yeah, he has these, ...I mean." She shook her head. "I-I guess. Izumi-chan and I have a class together too." Nervously the oldest girl pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and Hizuru grinned triumphantly. Zelda and Ari exchanged a knowing glance. Although they had never seen Akki smitten before they could tell that this was obviously it. Even Sayomi smiled at the prospect. She hadn't told anyone yet but she had a crush on someone as well.