Chapter 3 - Welcome to the Zodiac Host Club!

"AYAA!" Tohru screamed, ripping her hand away from Ayame. "W-w-what is this place!" She yelped.

"A Host Club, my dear girl!" Ayame watched her with the same confused look. He sighed and shook his head side to side with his hands up in defeat. "The Zodiac Host Club: a group of men with different personalities, each entertaining women only to see their happiness and token of a smile. No love, no everlasting promises, just good times for the ladies out there by us Sohmas, gifted with amazing beauty.

"This is a haven for rich women, like yourself, to be entertained by men. We hold parties and all sorts of fun activities for a small charge of course." Ayame laughed while putting two fingers to his forehead. "You have formally met the king (AKA 'President') of this Host Club."

"K-king!" Tohru asked taking a step back from the posing Ayame. "You are the king?" She threw her hands up. "This... this is insane! I thank you for everything you've done but m-maybe I should leave now."

She spun around only to be face to face with that white-haired boy. "Leaving so soon?"

"Eh?"

Ayame put a hand on her shoulder and used his other hand to usher her towards the group of men. "Why don't you have a taste of what we offer?"

"I- I-" Tohru stuttered trying to get herself together. To say the least she was perplexed by these men. Entertain women? A 'taste' of what they had to offer? This was all just too much!

Ayame clearned his throat, "First there is..."

"I can't have sex with random men, I'm n-not like that!" She finally burst out. The entire room hushed, even the crickets didn't make a peep. Tohru mentally smacked herself. She really had to think before she spoke out so bluntly. Things were just flying out of her mouth these days. Suddenly they exploded with laughter.

Ayame flicked his hair over his shoulder. "Honda-hime, don't be so naive! This is a Host Club, not some alleyway whore house! We entertain women, not sleep with them! Flowers, chocolate, promises we don't intend to keep..." The king inspected his nails. "A real get-away from reality if I do say so myself!"

Tohru just couldn't believe her ears... nor could she believe her eyes!

Ayame got a shine in his eyes as Tohru's eyes only began to swirl. "So as I was saying, what say you have a taste for what we offer?" He pushed Tohru forward.

"Hiro, the Wild Child type?" A teenage boy with a smug face turned to her.

"Hatori, the Cool type?" A man looking to be around Ayame's age merely grunted and blinked his eyes.

"Momiji, the Lolita type?" A boy looking to be around the 'wild child's' age smiled up at her while pulling a lollypop out of his mouth.

"Yuki, the Prince type?" A boy around her age turned around and gave her a charming smile.

"Hatsuharu, the Wild Card type?" The boy from before with peculiar white and black hair stared at her with a devilish smirk.

"Shigure, the Joker type?" Another man about Ayame's age looked over a book with a certain gleam in his eyes.

"Ritsu, the Feminine type?" A shy woma-- er, man glanced up at her with his hands tightly clasped.

"Or," Ayame tilted her face slightly towards him, "someone more like me?"

Tohru's head was spinning now. All these men couldn't possibly want to entertain women for a living! Could they? She backed up while making incoherent noises.

"Please, I really should be going. Thank you for the offer but..."

"You don't want to play with us?" She turned to see the blonde 'lolita' teen look up at her with child like eyes.

"No, no it's just that I'm not into this kind of thing-- but I respect what you do, really I do! I should just be on my way, I do not wish to cause you any more trouble than I already have! I am so unworthy to have been so drunk that you were forced to take care of me!" She apologized while inching toward the door. "So if you will excuse me..."

The man around Ayame's age spoke out, nearly scaring Tohru from his rather deep voice. All she'd heard thus far were not nearly as low and baritone as this man's voice. "Let her leave, Ayame. We do not force women to stay." He said.

Ayame blew a raspberry at the other man. "But she's so cute, I want her to at least enjoy herself, Hatori."

"Let her leave."

Ayame let his shoulders sag with a rather depressed look to his face. "Okay okay, you may leave, Honda-hime."

She bowed politely. "I really appreciate everything you've done..."

"We'll appreciate it more when you pay up." Hiro instantly responded sounding non-to-friendly.

"Pay... up?" She'd completely forgot about expenses!

Ayame raised an eyebrow. "We do not serve our guests for free, how else would we be able to make parties and all that fun stuff? Not to mention food, electricity, and so on." The man waved a hand at her, laughing freely. "But it isn't anything you cannot handle is it, Honda-hime?"

Tohru felt a rock drop in her stomach. She hated to ask but knew it would happen sooner or later. She only hoped they took I.O.U.'s. "Erm... how much... do I owe... you...?"

"300 dollars."

Okay she hoped they took extended I.O.U.'s.

"AYAA! I don't have that much money! I'm not rich at all in fact!"

Ayame gave her a perplexed look. "300 isn't that bad. You should have at least 300 dollars somewhere."

"I do, but...!" No, she'd never ask HIM for that money. And she'd spent any money on her at all on drinking the night before! She didn't have her purse with her identification, her debt or credit cards, she was practically a no one right now! These men could kill her and throw her body into a lake and no one would know who she was! Tohru sighed at the mental image and put a hand to her pocket fishing out the money she had.

"Will you accept a five for now?"

Ayame took the bill from her and then stared back at Tohru, shock written all over his face. "...Honda-kun... you cannot be serious."

The 'hime' horrific was replaced in her name by 'kun'. Guess she wasn't a princess anymore.

She was in deep shoot.

"I'LL PAY IT ALL BACK, I PROMISE!" She screamed. "I've run away from my wedding and I'm not from this city, I have no where to go, I have no family, my friends might disown me, I was drunk, probably blew any money I had away and, and..." Tohru shook her head. "I will work to pay off my debt, just don't kill me and throw my body into a lake! I don't have any kind of identification with me at the moment!"

The feminine man put a hand to his mouth. "The girl's gone mad."

"Told you we should have thrown her back onto the streets." Hiro muttered.

Tohru suddenly sank to her knees on the floor dejectedly. To top it all off, now she had a $295 debt over her head. This day could not get any worse. She suddenly felt her face flush and she tried to back down the tears.

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see that 'prince type' boy rub her back soothingly. He gave her a slight smile before turning to look up at Ayame.

"Do not worry, we will not kill you and throw your corpse into a lake." He muttered to her as an afterthought. "Brother," he spoke out so the room could hear him, "we cannot throw this woman out onto the streets."

"But she has to pay her debt!" Ayame stated matter-of-factly. "How else will she if she doesn't go out there and get a job? Even if she's not from here she has to pay it back! We are not a charity mind you, Yuki."

Yuki thought a moment and turned back to Torhu, who stared out at the parquet flooring with a blank look. So that was what happened to her.

The other night when he saw her frail being, he immediately wondered where she was from. Not every girl came walking through that door in a soiled, white dress, which now he presumed to be a wedding dress since Tohru said she'd run out of her wedding. She'd been drunk and depressed and didn't remember a thing. He could not imagine throwing this girl out with nowhere to go and feeling unstable at the moment about everything around her.

"Why don't we... let her work here?"

Ayame immediately spit to that idea. "Really, Yuki, do you think it would be good business to have a woman living in our home? The customers will see her and they might not take well to that! And also, this is strictly a bachelor's pad, women are only here as guests, customers, and only temporary visitors! The atmosphere for a delicate woman, like Honda-kun here, is not appropriate. Dispite how adorable Honda-kun is, she cannot..."

"Please," Yuki interrupted. Ayame looked down to his brother, now with an almost pleading look. "She has nowhere to go."

The room fell silent again and Ayame stared down at the top of Tohru's head. To his surprise she got down lower, placing her head almost to the floor in humility. "Please... Ayame-san..." she spoke obviously trying not to burst out in tears again.

It broke his heart.

"She stays!" He exclaimed happily, grabbing the girl and hugging her. "You may stay and work here!"

Yuki got off the floor. "He makes up his mind quickly..." he muttered.

"Easily moved is more like it." Shigure laughed off to the side.

Ayame suddenly got a glowing in his eyes. "On one condition, Tohru-kun! You must work as the Host Club slave!"

Everyone turned at that. "Slave!" They all repeated.

"You must be at our beck and call! When Hatori needs a new cup of tea, you get it! When there's a piece of lint on Haru's coat, you pull it off!" He exclaimed while pointing a finger at Tohru. "And then slowly we will release you from your debt!"

Hatori narrowed his eyes on Ayame. "Don't you think that's a little extreme?"

"Actually..." everyone turned to Tohru who's face was covered by her bangs. Suddenly she lifted her head to reveal an earnest smile of delight. "That sounds like a lot of fun!"

"Whaaa?" Hiro asked.

Tohru giggled noting everyone's reaction. "I'd like to see... what exactly a Zodiac Host Club does."

"She can't be serious." Hatori muttered.

Momiji looked almost at the brink of tears. "Ayame said she'd be the slave! That doens't sound like fun at all!"

Tohru continued to smile dispite her anxious worries within her as the group chatted amongst themselves.

"Oh, you know what?" Tohru stepped toward Ayame and slipped off her engagement ring. She stared at the rock but shook her head and placed it in his palm. "I... I hope that maybe if I give you this it would help my debt to you... a little bit. I don't know how much it costs but I hope it will help..."

Ayame stared down at the ring she'd given him. "I could not..."

"No! I mean..." Tohru lowered her voice and tried to give him the nicest smile she could amalgamate. "No... I want you to have it... it is not important to me right now, and I am really embarassed that I had no money and also that I'd shown up on your door step uninvited. Please keep it."

She walked away before Ayame could protest as the older man only glanced down at the ring. It was an expensive ring made by only one of the top jewlers around. It was more than enough to pay off her debt. Whatever happened to Tohru must have been rough. Enough to try and throw her engagement ring away to a silly host club. He stared at her back as she went around trying to introduce herself properly and he turned back to the studded ring. He put it in his pocket and walked away going unnoticed by the rest of the members.

Yuki smiled in Tohru's direction hoping that staying with the club in this house would get Tohru back on her feet. Silently he turned his attention to the second story where he saw the 'other' member of the club. Yuki nodded to the other boy as the shadow walked away. The zodiac cat was the 'special' member of their host club. He was only to participate in the activities once a week to keep business 'fresh' as Ayame would say. It was a rarity that he would actually even think about taking in a girl he did not know. But the activities of their special member would wait for another time. For now Yuki looked away and turned his attention to Tohru. He wondered what kind of life would come into this house now that there would be a female residing within it's walls.

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