Chapter 6 - Amber eyes

Tohru hummed lightly while making her rounds around the grand hall. Apparently this weekly event was a big hit since she'd never seen so many girls bustle in this room before. Tohru was almost afraid she would not be able to close the doors!

Haru pulled at the fabric of his clothes. "This is quite plain in comparison to your other works, Aya-niisan..."

Ayame brushed off his own sleeves. "But I must say it brings back good memories, Ha-kun." The king turned to give Shigure an impish smile as the other man was straighting his tie. "Wouldn't you say, Gure-san?"

Shigure laughed. "Good memories for us, but I'm not so sure 'Tori-san would agree." Shigure watched as Tohru passed by. "And such a costume it is!"

Haru continued to pull his shirt. "I still say it's less flashy than Ayame's other works..."

"But it looks so cute on Tohru!" Ayame exclaimed as Shigure hummed 'high school girls, high school girls, all for me!'

"Perverts." Yuki muttered in the background.

Ayame had picked out a school theme this week apparently. Everyone was decked out in a stylish high school uniform of red and chocolate browns with a gold embroidered emblem on their breast pocket with the initials Z.H.C. on it. Tohru grinned thinking back onto her old high school days with her best friends, Uo and Hana...

Thinking on her friends she suddenly felt sad. She should have listened to them when they told her that her fiance was bad news. Now she wouldn't be surprised if they did not want to speak with her again. She missed them so much, but still was not ready to face them. If only they'd see her now, living with 7... no 8 (Including the Kyo she was anxious to meet) handsome men, and her being their housekeeper!

"Tooorhuuu!" Momiji called out to her jumping into her arms as always. "You look so cute today! It really suits you well compared to that black smock Aya-chan used to make you wear!" Her outfit was just like the other men except she was decked out in a plaid skirt of red and brown with a more feminine red coat and a fitting white-collared blouse underneath. And just like the other boys, she also had an emblem and red tie around her neck.

Tohru let Momiji down feeling her arms give in to his weight. Sometimes she still couldn't belive he was only two years younger than her! "Thank you very much, Momiji-sama."

The small boy grinned and pointed to the empty table. "Kyo should be here soon so maybe you can go wait over there before all the girls start to swoon him. It would be very hard to even get one word."

"Momiji-sama..." Tohru started off while licking her lips with a question on her mind. The pair watched a few girls pass by while admiring the host's costumes. "...Why is it that you all seem to know so much about Kyo-sama and yet I have never seen him at all?"

The younger boy thought a moment and smiled while stretching his arms up high in the air. "Well, Kyo is the special host, like we said, and he doesn't live in the main house with all of us, nope nope, he lives just outside the main house." He turned to the largest window in the entire room, the one that went all the way from the ceiling down to the floor taking up almost the entire middle of the wall. "Do you see that small house off to the right?"

"Ah... yes, I can see it."

"Well that's where he lives."

"Why does he live all alone like that?"

Momiji shrugged. "Kyo was always the one that liked to be alone. Maybe that's why Aya-chan labled him as the cat since technically the cat is not part of the zodiac." He turned away from the window. "But actually Kyo does visit the main house more than you think he does. He is just kinda like that, sneaky, now that you're here."

Tohru thought a moment. "So is it... like he is avoiding me?"

"I guess we'll find out today." Momiji laughed and hopped away almost reminding her of a rabbit.


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About one hour into the festivities, a bell was heard throughout the room making everyone turn to the bell ringer. Yuki put the bell down and smiled. "Welcome ladies to our weekly event. I hope that you are all enjoing yourselves and if there is anything we can do for you please let us know. I know you all have been waiting for him so without further adieu, I present the Zodiac cat."
Tohru had to cover her ears as the room erupted in squeals and cheers. Such pandemonium in only one second, and this Kyo person wasn't even in the room yet! Behind Tohru was Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame sitting with earmuffs over their ears enjoying their tea as if there was no noise at all.

"You'll get used to it." Haru chuckled seeing Tohru's eyes swirling as girls pushed past her.

"Ahh..."

Suddenly the vivid orange hair startled Tohru as her eyes stopped swirling and she blinked those beautiful sapphire eyes at the man before her. He was also decked out in the costume Ayame had provided, though he had a bit of a rough look to him. His shirt tail was not tucked in all the way, three of his shirt buttons were undone and the tie hung loosely around his neck. The way he stood it looked as if he was not exactly interested in all the girls staring and gasping at the man before them. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets and his eyes were closed as if thinking really hard about something else. Suddenly he looked up and Tohru felt him take her breath away. He was staring right at her with the most peculiar shade of amber eyes she'd ever seen.

She could see how all the girls in the room could go crazy about this man.

Kyo stared at her for a moment longer before a slight moue reached his lips and Tohru could feel her cheeks redden as she looked away. 'What was that?' She had to wonder as she escaped into the kitchen to busy herself with snacks and tea.

From outside the kitchen she could hear his voice greeting all the girl's fawning over him. "Hello..." Another round of squeals went around the room and Tohru laughed quietly. These girls really were simple minded weren't they? It was like they had a fan club or something. But that voice sounded so farmiliar, like she heard it before. It had to be him then!

Tohru emerged from the kitchen and suddenly remembered she wanted to thank Kyo. She stomped her foot lightly becuase she'd forgotten her mission. Why was it when he looked at her her heart just raced like the Indy 500 and her mind just went completely blank? Momiji did say she should have waited by Kyo's table. Oh well, maybe she would get a chance later on. Tohru put an apron on and balanced two trays on either hand before walking out of the kitchen. She walked over to Ritsu's table, which was the closest one to her at the moment, to see that only a few girls were at his table.

The man smiled shyly to Tohru. "Hello, Tohru-san."

She made a slight wave while placing down a plate of freshly cut fruit from the market. "Ah, hello, Ritsu-sama."

"Ritsu-sama," one of the girls asked, her eyes on Tohru, "who is this girl?"

Ritsu's face suddenly looked of total abhor. He slammed both of his hands on his head screaming, "I am SO SORRY! I have yet to introduce the one person who is not a Sohma living in this HOUSE! I am SORRY! I wish to jump out the WINDOW and let the glass stab me a million times over!"

Tohru's entire face widened as she tried to calm the man down. After a moment Ritsu bit his finger as one of the customers rubbed his hand gently. "I'm sorry for my outburst. Let me try again." He extended a hand towards Tohru with his eyes shut tightly. "This is a very special guest in our house. She is our temporary housekeeper, Tohru Honda."

The girls eyed her suspiciously and Tohru understood why Ayame didn't want her to live with the men in the first place. She decided to play along as a strict employee infront of the customers. She'd hate to make them lose business over her.

"It is nice to meet you." Tohru said with a deep bow. She turned to Ritsu. "Ritsu-sama, please call if there is anything I can get your clients."

Ritsu made a nod, fluttering his rather long eye lashes at the girls. "I'd hate to bother you, Tohru-san. Even if it was just a small favor for these wonderful girls before me..."

"No, no it isn't any trouble at all!" She put a fist to her chest. "It is my duty to do anything I can for the hosts!"

Ritsu threw his hands up into the air once again losing control of his emotions. "Oh, no I've made Tohru-san go through so much trouble for ME! I'm SO SORRY! I cannot believe I am even able to speak out to her like this. Oh, God, please strike me down with a lightning bolt for my disgraceful actions!" He yelled out while gripping at his head.

"Ritsu-sama!" The girls swooned while hugging him. "Oh no, Ritsu-sama, you did nothing wrong! If it was someone, God should strike us with a lightning bolt for not seeing how distressed you were! Please spare Ritsu-sama and strike us!"

"No! Spare them and strike me!"

"No, us! We admire Ritsu-sama too much for him to die!"

Tohru backed away from the group now all on their knees pleading to the heavens. Sometimes she just didn't understand their relationship...

She turned away and set down new napkins for a group of ladies sitting at the coffee table, her thoughts still runing around the idea of finally meeting Kyo. She stole a glance at his table, seeing a swarm of girl's hovering over the zodiac cat. She sighed, 'wonder what he's like.'

She walked over towards Hiro now completely void of any guests. He sat tall with one leg crossed over his knee and his arm over the back of the couch. His attention turned to the housekeeper. "What is it?"

"Well, you looked so bored, Hiro-sama."

"And you care because?"

Tohru only offered a small smile. "Well with all the commotion around I thought I'd just see how you were doing. Is there anything I can get you?"

"No. I'm fine thank you. What, you don't think we were all fine before you came? I can get things I need by myself thank you." He responded sharply.

Tohru sat next to the younger boy. "No, that's not it. I only want you to be happy... but you're always so angry." She stared at the ceiling. "And you know, you're so young, why decide to join a host club?"

"That's none of your buisness." He quickly replied.

"Or is there something you hope to gain from being a host?"

Suddenly Hiro's mouth snapped shut and he stared at Tohru as if considering her for a moment. He spit to the idea and turned away. "No."

Tohru sat there for a moment. He was still a young teenager, maybe about fifteen or sixteen. What buisness did he have wanting to be a host club member? Maybe as a summer job? But there were plently of other things for a boy his age to do besides flirting with women!

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" He asked finally, her presence grinding on his conscience. "Or are you going to just space out?"

"Ah, um, okay then..." Tohru got up and quickly walked towards Shigure also void of customers. It felt strange that she could talk to the Sohmas during business hours. She just didn't have anything to do since most of the day's quota were around Kyo.

Shigure waved her over with a friendly smile. "Tohru-kun!"

"Ah, it is a surprise to see you do not have any customers right now, Shigure-sama." Tohru said while holding the silver tray against her chest.

The older man sighed and put his feet up on the lounge chair working up a dramatic pose. "As soon as Kyo enters the room all the pretty girls go fluttering away. They leave me cold and yearning for attention." He whinned while putting a hand over his head. "Oh woe is me." He opened one eye in Tohru's direction. "Actually, shouldn't you be over by his table as well? I remember distinctly that you wanted to thank him."

Tohru waved her hands infront of her. "Oh, no he looks too busy right now, I'd hate to impose on his time with his customers. Maybe later! You know, when it's around closing time." She said. She patted Shigure's head making sure he wasn't sick for real. "Is there anything I can get you right now? You do look a tad bit pale. Maybe some tea? What can I get you?"

At her slightest touch Shigure pulled her wrist down and had Tohru sitting in his lap, straddling him by the waist as the tray she'd been holding clattered to the ground. His expression darkened slightly.

"You can get me a little kiss..." he said in a husky voice. She only stared at him wide eyed. Tohru was not all that afraid since there were a ton of other people in the room, but more confused if anything. Her eyes widened as she felt herself pin Shigure down beneath her. Her heart raced old feelings welting up in her chest. She had not been in such a position since...

"What are you doing to her!" Suddenly Tohru felt herself tumble backwards as Shigure's body was slipped out from under her. She buckled her knees together while pushing down her skirt, that was riding up. 'Why did Shigure do that? He, he wouldn't do something like that.' She wondered. She looked up with wild eyes when her heart skipped a beat.

The orange-top held Shigure by the collar. She couldn't believe her eyes as Kyo's face looked of pure murderous rage while Shigure's face remained blank with only a goofy grin on his face. She could feel the heat in Kyo's amber eyes as he gave a rather frightening glare at the older man. Why had Kyo come? Wasn't he in the mist of all those girls? And why did Shigure suddenly grab her?

She glanced back and fourth between the two men wondering what on earth was going on.

"What," Kyo asked again in a lower voice, "were you doing to her?"

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