Chapter 2 - Honda-Hime

"Wake up, young lady..."

The girl's eyes rolled behind her eyelids.

"Young laaady, wake uuuup..." The voice cooed gently.

Who was that? Were they talking to her? She shifted in the warm bed trying to shake off the noise.

"YOUNG LADY, WAKE UP!"

"AYAA!" The girl burst forward screaming to find a bizarre man with flowing silver hair and golden yellow eyes standing in front of her.

"Oh good! You're awake." He grinned while clapping his hands. The girl flipped her head side to side and around the room she was currently in. She touched her chest and quickly looked down to see she was wearing different clothes from the night before. She touched her hair and it was free of curls and that veil previously over her head.

"What? What is... where am I?" She panicked while scrambling out of the giant bed she'd been sleeping in. She looked down at her ankle to see it was iced and bandaged. Where was she? Wasn't she at her wed...?

The girl gasped and covered her mouth, the events of the former day hitting her like a ton of bricks. She wobbled and the man was instantly there to catch her.

"My dear, sweet, girl!" The man exclaimed seeing all the color drain from her face. "Sit down; it might be better for you." The older man slowly led her back to the bed where the brunette sunk down into the mattress. He stepped away from her and took in her appearance. The girl looked simply scared.

Suddenly he gave her a short bow while touching his chest with his right hand crossed over. "Let me help you recollect your memories. For starters my name is Ayame Sohma."

The aghast girl began bowing furiously. "Ah, I'm Tohru Honda! It is nice to meet you Ayame-san!" She sat up and felt the room spin.

The man clicked his tongue and held her by the shoulders. "Don't do that, it'll just give you a headache."

"I think I already have one." She admitted quietly.

The man laughed while placing both hands on his hips. "I know the remedy for that!" He trotted to the door and pushed in a small cart with a silver platter of assorted breakfast foods. There were danishes, bagels, cereal, omelet with cheese, pancakes, waffles, fruit, toast, baked salmon, and an assortment of drinks. She looked back to the man holding a bottle of Advil. "And after you eat maybe two of these will help as well."

Tohru didn't know what to do. She started laughing, making Ayame give her a strange look. "Oh, this is one crazy dream!" She slid off the bed despite Ayame's requests for her to sit back down. "I mean, one moment I'm running out of my own wedding and the next thing I'm in some strange mansion-like room with a man with hair longer than my own, serving me a huge beautiful breakfast!" Tohru continued to laugh insanely and Ayame didn't know what to do and simply began chuckling with her.

Suddenly the girl slapped herself hard enough to make her fall over.

"Princess Honda!" Ayame yelled out running to her side.

"Ow... that hurt." Tohru muttered. She was hoping this was all a dream. But then again, in a dream she would never act this way.

Ayame's eyes narrowed as he picked her up over his shoulder and placed her back on the bedside. "You idiot girl, of course that would hurt! Don't hit yourself!" He reprimanded. Tohru held her cheek and suddenly felt very sad. Yesterday was not a dream. She really had run out of her wedding when she saw her lover with another woman. Tears welt up in her eyes realizing she'd only woken up into a nightmare.

Ayame's eyes widened. "I am sorry, I did not mean to yell at you like that but it was for your own good, Honda-hime! Please don't cry!"

She shook her head. "No, it's not that! I just..." Suddenly the door opened up and both Ayame and Tohru turned their attention to a white haired boy.

Tohru was stunned at how handsome this boy was. Actually Ayame was not bad looking either! Was this new boy related to Ayame? She turned away as the boy's eyes looked right back at own blue eyes.

"What is it, Hatsuharu-kun?" Ayame asked.

"Shigure asked me to check on you. He said something... about your womanizing," Haru spoke slowly, still eyeing the girl that looked away from him.

Ayame stood up in outrage while Tohru's eyes fell upon the platter of food. Her stomach reminded her she had not eaten in almost a day. "Well I never!" Ayame yelled. "As the king, I Ayame, would never seduce this poor girl! Look at her pathetic being! She looks homeless! Can't you see how distressed she is?"

"Oh this is delicious!" Both males turned to the girl chowing down on the omelet.

Haru leaned on the door frame. "She looks hungry."

"I haven't eaten since lunch time yesterday!" She smiled. Inside she was still crying and quite sad but she couldn't focus on the bad things in life... at least right now. She didn't know about these strangers, why she was here, or anything at the moment, but she would rather try to make them happy rather than feel pity for her unfortunate situation. "Thank you, I am unworthy to even eat this food!"

Ayame snapped his head back to Haru already closing the door saying, "Distressed my @$$."

"No wait!" The door shut.

Tohru finished up eating and took the Advil that Ayame provided. She opened one eye as she drank her tea. Could she really trust this man? The white-haired boy said he was a womanizer... she was sitting on a bed with a thin silky pajama shirt on, who knew if he would try and take her. She glanced down at her shirt noticing how expensive the clothing must be. Actually, her eyes traced the comforter, the drapes, and the furniture: the entire room was quite lavish.

"Are you done?" Ayame asked after a moment.

She nodded her head mutely. "I'll clean it up."

"Nonsense!" The man got up waving around his hand. Tohru leaned away from the man. He really changed moods quickly. "A young lady guest will never carry a single dish around this abode! Do not lift one pinky, Princess Honda, for we have people do this kind of menial work!" The man clapped his hands and suddenly two butlers swept away the dishes and cart. Ayame folded his arms and grinned to Tohru. "Now we will have you change."

Tohru glanced down at her attire and back up to Ayame bushing furiously. The man blinked wondering what she was thinking about now.

"By the way... um... the clothes I was wearing... and these clothes..." Tohru spoke out in broken sentences. Ayame blinked and suddenly got her message.

"Princess! What a dreadful thought! Of course we will provide you with a different set of clothing! Those rags you had before have been cremated. An appalling mess those so called 'clothes' were." Ayame trailed off into a tangent about how the clothes one wears presented their inner soul. Tohru shook her head clutching her pajamas tightly. Ayame was not getting her point.

"No, I was wondering who dressed and cleaned me!" She burst out. The room filled with silence and Tohru felt her cheeks only redden further. "Ah, excuse me for bursting out like that, I--"

"Ah, have no fear; we had our female tailor to do that! No, no, no," Ayame said while taking her hand, "the men of this house would never do something so impure as to undress a beautiful flower like you."

Tohru blushed and took her hand back, feeling her engagement band on her finger. She looked down at it for the moment thinking back onto her past. She stared up at Ayame, he now, also looking down at her ring.

"Ah, so um, Ayame-san!" Tohru quickly said placing her hands under the comforter to hid her ring from his view. "If you've burned my clothes, what is it that I should wear?"

"I thought you would never ask! Mine-chan!" Ayame clapped his hands. Tohru wondered if his hands were like those 'clap on clap off' lamps. Things just... happened instantly when he clapped.

As expected another person popped into the room. A female that looked to be around Ayame's age bustled in with a bundle of clothing and a pair of shoes. "Hello! My name is Mine Kuramae. I took the opportunity to take your measurements while you were passed out drunk, knowing that Ayame here had burned your clothes. I was not so sure how you'd like this style but it is so rare that we ever have a female guest actually stay here! The girls usually just come and go but oop here you are! And clothing-less! I was going for picnic meets bookworm but I don't know if you wear glasses so I thought, 'screw the glasses!' and...!"

"Mine-chan!" The woman stopped rambling and looked up to the silver haired man. "Please let Honda-hime change in peace."

"Of course!" Mine gave Tohru the clothes and left with a friendly wave.

Ayame patted Tohru's hand and left without another word. She stared down at her clothes. Passed out drunk?

Another gasp.

Suddenly her memory filled in a little more. She'd run out of her wedding and didn't know where she was. She remembered walking around and tripping. Then she'd found a bar where a man kept giving her shots as she downed them all the while crying. She'd stumbled around in the dark and...

That’s it. That's all she'd remembered.

Then how was it that she'd come here? She let the questions rattle around in her brain as she dressed in a pair of fitting jeans and a flowery top with a pair of wedges on her feet. She'd never really cared for high shoes but thought it was nice of them to provide clothes for her. She barely even knew these people!

And furthermore, Ayame had referred to himself as a king! And he kept calling her 'Honda-hime'. Since when did she become a princess? 'Princess Honda', how strange that sounded! And Mine talked of girls coming and going but never staying the night. The place she landed at couldn't have been a brothel of any kind if the women never stayed. She looked herself in the mirror not really caring what she looked like for the moment just making sure she looked presentable. She ran her hands through her already pre-combed hair (what HAD they done to her while she was passed out?) and reached for the door knob when another thought hit her.

What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't go back to her fiance, not right now anyway. Her mother and father passed away when she was still a young teenager, there was no family to go to, and her friends... her friends would probably hate her for not believing them when they said he was a bad choice. She didn't know where to go now. Maybe she could find an inn and figure out what to do until she could face her problem. She went to the bedside where Ayame had placed her few belongings. Really she didn't have anything on her beside her clothes and money.

Money! She started down at the five dollar bill. So she really had gone drinking apparently. She rubbed her head. Things just were not going her way. But she couldn't give up! Never! Tohru made a determined face while marching over to the door and opening it. Ayame was there as she expected. She decided she could trust Ayame.

"Tohru-hime, you look marvelous!"

"I thought it was going to be 'picnic meets bookworm'." She laughed nervously.

"Ah, well that plan failed since Minda-chan could not decide on a pattern and instead made a more... simple outfit."

'I'm glad!' Tohru sighed mentally.

Ayame begin walking away from her, his hair shifting side to side. "Ayame-san, wait!" She ran over to him and started walking along his rater long stride. "Um... Ayame-san, why it is that you call me, 'Honda-hime'? And what exactly was Mine-san talking about with girls coming and going? And where on earth am I? Apparently I was drunk and I apologize for having anyone see me in such a manner. Honestly I do not care for alcohol!"

"Slow down, Tohru-hime!" Ayame laughed as they came to a pair of double doors. They stopped before it and he turned to look down at the younger woman. "It would be hard to explain but maybe if you saw it, you'd better understand it."

"Eh?"

Suddenly Ayame pushed open the doors with both hands to see a huge refined ballroom with a group of handsome young men standing in the middle, now staring up at Ayame and Tohru. The room was just as lavish as the room she'd stayed in but this room was bright and breathtaking. She felt as if she'd fallen into a Victorian age! She blushed crimson when the entire group of men smiled toward her.

"Welcome to the Zodiac Host Club." They all chanted simultaneously. Tohru's eyes widened and she looked up at Ayame giving her a grin. She had to be dreaming. What on earth was happening to her! She raked her brain for a recap of what just happened to her within the past 24 hours: Ran out of her wedding, got drunk, woke up in a lavish room, got a personal tailor to make her fine clothing, and now she'd come to a mansion full of handsome looking men! This had to be a dream!

Ayame bent down to kiss Tohru's hand lightly bringing her back to her current situation. "Welcome to our Host Club," he looked up from an angle making Tohru blush further, "Tohru-hime."

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment