Chapter 19 | A Host Club Christmas!

~Third Person POV~

The next morning, Kaoru approached his brother. And he wasn't happy.

"Hikaru?"

"Yes, Kaoru?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

Kaoru glared at his brother. "You know what! I specifically told you NOT to pay someone to scare Arabella! And what did you do? You did it anyway!" he snapped.

Hikaru's eyes widened. "Huh? No I didn't! I did as you said, I obeyed your command and I never paid anyone to go after her, I swear. You can check my wallet if you don't believe me; I have the same amount of money inside it as I did when we first arrived here!"

"Are you sure? You better not be lying to me, Hikaru."

"I swear I'm NOT!" Hikaru said. "Wait a second... Was Arabella actually attacked???"

"Uh, yeah!"

"What? Really? How? By who?"

"By some douchebag that worked for the hotel. He tried to grab her and take her somewhere so he could make off with her... Uck..."

"Really? Wow...! So, did you save her???"

"Well... sort of, I guess... I just told the guy to get lost and don't bother her again."

Hikaru smiled. "This is great! This means Arabella thinks you're her hero...! My plan worked without me even doing it!"

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. The point is you didn't pay anyone to scare her...?"

"No! I didn't! This was just some weird coincidence or something."

Kaoru sighed. "I believe you, Hikaru."

Hikaru smiled. "I'm glad," Then he awkwardly coughed. "Let's talk about something else, now; Christmas is in about a week from now. I wonder what presents I'll get!"

Kaoru smiled. "Oh yeah, me too. I hope mine are good. I've really wanted the new iPhone for awhile now."

"Well, I bet Arabella's present to you is a huge, obvious sign that says 'Kaoru! I love you! Will you marry me?' Ha!" Hikaru said.

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "God, Hikaru, you're so weird..."

Hikaru shrugged. "Weird people are the best people."

~Arabella's POV~

"Come on, Arabella! You can do this!" my teammates said as I went up to the serving line with the ball to serve.

I looked around in the crowd to see if Mom and Daniel were watching.

They were.

And Robert sat right next to my mom, just looking extremely bored to be here.

I searched for any injuries on Mom and Daniel.

Nothing.

He hadn't touched them... yet.

Suddenly, the whistle blew, distracting me from my thoughts.

I held the volleyball in my hands and got into my serving position. Then, I threw the ball up and hit it.

It went soaring over the net on to the opposing team's side.

They returned it.

One of my teammates bumped the ball into the air while another one set it over to me.

When it was right where I wanted it, I jumped up and spiked it over the net.

It landed on the line. The ref. called it "in".

We won the game.

Mom and Daniel, along with the rest of our team's parents applauded our win.

When Mom, Daniel, and Robert approached me, I was nervous. "How did I do?" I asked Mom.

However, before she got to answer, Robert jumped in and answered for her. "You sucked. You were probably the most clumsy and inexperienced player. You're an embarrassment to our family name. I've never seen anyone as slow as you." he spat.

I looked down and felt tears starting to stream down my cheeks.

I saw Mom glare at Robert. "Uh, excuse me, but I happen to think my daughter did a FANTASTIC job." she said, snapping slightly.

My eyes widened. So did Daniel's; this was the first time any of us ever heard Mom stand up to Robert ever since they were married a year ago.

A week after they married, Robert had started coming home drunk and angry, and had started beating my mother. Then, a week after that, he started beating me too.

Luckily, Daniel was never beaten; whenever he did something Robert didn't like, I always protected him and took the fall. I wasn't gonna let my baby brother get beaten.

Never ever, not in a million years.

Robert have Mom a menacing glare in return. Then, he yanked her forward. "Shut up, you slut. You know what happens when you talk back to me. WATCH YOUR DIRTY MOUTH." he snapped.

I wanted to slap the shit outta him, but I was too young, and if I even tried to take him, he'd beat me to death.

I wouldn't stand a chance. Not against someone of Robert's strength and mental instability.

I suddenly felt Daniel squeeze my hand. "I thought you did great, big sister." he whispered.

I smiled weakly down at him. "Thanks, small fry. If you think I did great, then I must've."

Daniel smiled back.

He and my mom were the only things keeping me sane. Other than them, my life fucking sucked.

And I had come to terms with that.

Robert suddenly shoved Mom forward. "Hurry it up. Let's get off of this dumb beach."

So, we did; we did as he said.

Because he was the boss.

And we always did what he told us to do, because we knew what would happen if we didn't.

For as long as my mother was married to Robert, my family lived in constant fear.

I woke up in cold sweat, breathing rapidly.

Haruhi and I were in the hotel spa again, getting massages.

I guess I must've fell asleep while the masseuse was massaging me.

Haruhi turned her head towards mine. "Arabella, are you okay? You gasped and were breathing rapidly..." she said.

I slowly nodded. "I-I'm fine." I said.

Haruhi nodded and turned back around.

Why do I have these memory dreams all of a sudden? I stopped having them after the... incident... after all the grilling sessions with both my therapist and psychiatrist, who both helped me drown these horrible memories out of my head.

Well, apparently you can't stop nightmares completely...

I spent the rest of the spa visit thinking. Eventually, the masseuse was finished with Haruhi and me and we left.

"Every time we go back there for another massage, I think that it can't get any better, and I'm wrong every time..." Haruhi said with a satisfying sigh.

She's right though, the massages there are great every time.

"Yeah." I mumbled in agreement.

Haruhi faced me. "Hey, Arabella, are you sure you're alright? You seem... distracted... What's on your mind?"

"N-Nothing... It's fine, nothing's on my mind... I'm just tired, really," I said, trying to sound convincing. Then, I immediately changed the subject. "I'm gonna miss all this when we all go back home... However, I can't wait to see what I got for Christmas!"

Haruhi smiled. "Yeah, me too."

Thank God she didn't switch back to the previous topic.

Haruhi suddenly chuckled. "Ya' know, I heard that Hikaru was secretly planning to stash mistletoe everywhere right before we all open our presents on Christmas morning so you and Kaoru would eventually end up underneath one of them and... you know..."

I blushed bright red. "Is he now...? Well, thanks for the heads up. We'll keep an eye out."

Haruhi smiled. "You can try, but Hikaru always finds a way."

Let's hope he doesn't in this case...

--a week later, Christmas Day--

I was sound asleep when I suddenly felt something thrown against my face.

I reluctantly opened my eyes to see Daniel. "Get up already, will ya'?! It's Christmas! I want my presents! Get up!!!" he shouted as he hit me with a pillow.

Suddenly, someone pounced on me. "Yeah! Get up, Ara-chan! It's Christmas!"

It was Honey.

I groaned and pushed him off me. "Honey... what are you doing up this early in the morning...? You hate waking up early..." I grumbled.

"I know! But Christmas is the only day of the year I wake up early! The presents are worth it!" Honey said cheerfully.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I looked and saw our hotel room door was wide open and Haruhi's bed was being raided as well.

Hikaru and Kaoru were yanking Haruhi out of bed. "Come on, Haruhi! It's Christmas! That means present time!" they both said.

Haruhi groaned. "No offense, but piss off, Hikaru and Kaoru." she grumbled.

Hikaru and Kaoru gasped. "Haruhi! Language, much?!"

Suddenly, I saw Kyoya trail into our room. "Come on, all of you. Everyone else is already in Honey and Mori's hotel room. Plus, Haruhi, I heard that breakfast included fancy tuna." he said.

Haruhi shot up out of her bed. "Ya' know what? I'm suddenly not tired anymore. Let's go." she said.

We all followed Haruhi out, who was obviously hellbent on getting her fancy tuna.

Honey skipped after us. "It's Christmas, it's Christmas~!" he sang along the way.

"Man, I hope Mom got me that paintball gun I've been asking for...! Do you guys know how many pranks that thing could be useful for??? As well as sneak attacks???" Daniel said.

Putting a weapon into my brother's hands? It seems like a safety hazard to EVERYONE.

Soon, we all made it to Honey and Mori's hotel room where everyone else was, along with a Christmas tree with several presents sitting under it.

I also immediately noticed that there was several mistletoe all around the room.

Hikaru clearly came prepared.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes before we all sat down around the tree.

"Firstly, let me say merry Christmas everyone!" Kenji shouted out.

We all smiled. "Merry Christmas!" we said back.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, merry Christmas, happy new year, peace and good will, blah, blah, blah... Now, where's my paintball gun???" Daniel said.

Mom glared at him. "Daniel Hashimoto, mind your manners!" she said.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Sorry..." he mumbled.

Kenji folded his hands and smiled. "Before we open presents, I just want to thank you all for coming with my nephew and me to Africa on such short notice, and also for canceling your previous plans for the holiday season just to come with us. That was very kind of all of you, and Tamaki and I thank you." he said.

Mom smiled. "Of course, Kenji. We're glad you invited us. Thank you." she said.

"Yeah, this has been awesome." Hikaru and Kaoru said.

"So much fun! Right, Takashi?" Honey said.

Mori nodded. "Yeah."

"I do agree it's been a rather enjoyable experience. Thank you, Mr. Suoh." Kyoya said.

"Agreed. This whole trip has been amazing." Haruhi said. I nodded in agreement.

Kenji smiled. "Of course. Tamaki and I couldn't be happier that you're all here."

Tamaki smiled. "Yes! I'm so glad all my friends are able to share Christmas with me! Especially my little girls!" he said cheerfully.

Kenji clapped his hands together. "Okay, on to presents!"

Daniel immediately smiled at this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

About twenty minutes later, we had gone through and gave out all the presents. And, yes, Daniel did end up with a paintball gun in his arms, which he fell in love with as soon as he got it.

I got Daniel a shirt that said I'm born awesome. I also got him some paintballs for his gun, since I already knew Mom was getting him the paintball gun in the first place.

I got Tamaki a coffee mug that said Best King in the world, which he thoroughly enjoyed getting.

I got Kyoya a new calculator and notepad.

I got both Haruhi and myself friendship bracelets that symbolized our friendship.

I got Honey a stuffed bunny, so now Usa-chan has a friend.

I managed to scrape together just enough money to get Mori a new kendo sword.

I got Mom a large box of her favorite chocolates and a pair of holiday socks.

I got both Hikaru and Kaoru matching sweaters with the letter of their first name on them. It took all my allowance and chore money just to get the first letters of their names engraved into each one. But, it was worth it.

Kaoru looked down at his sweater with the letter K engraved into it. He smiled at me. "Thanks, Arabella. I love it!"

Hikaru looked at his sweater with the letter H engraved in it. "Yeah, he loves it alright, but not as much as he loves you."

That comment, of course, made Kaoru and me blush about fifty shades of red.

Hikaru watched us with an amused grin. "Oh, I love mine too, by the way. Thanks, Arabella." he said casually, as if the previous thing he said was never said.

The present I got Kenji, since I didn't know him very well, was a holiday sweater and some winter boots. He said he loved them.

After everyone got their presents, Mom and Kenji called room service to bring our breakfast we ordered up here while my friends, Daniel, and I admired all our new presents.

One of the presents I got was a scrapbook from Kyoya and Tamaki, with all the pictures of our misadventures in it.

Another present I got was a necklace from Hikaru and Kaoru, though Hikaru said that it was Kaoru's idea and he put more effort into it than Hikaru himself did.

Kaoru just blushed when Hikaru said this. "Hikaru! You put just as much effort into it as I did...!"

Hikaru shook his head. "You keep tellin' yourself that, whatever lets you sleep at night."

Kaoru and I just simply rolled our eyes.

As for Hikaru's mistletoe, two people did end up under it...

But it wasn't Kaoru and me.

It was Mom and Kenji.

Nevertheless, Hikaru smirked and said, "Well, go on you two, kiss! It's mistletoe, it's the rules."

Mom chuckled and Kenji just scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yes, Uncle Kenji, it's a Christmas tradition, after all!" Tamaki said.

After a minute of pressuring, Mom and Kenji finally gave in and gave each other a brief peck.

Other than that, no one else ended up under the dreaded mistletoe. Not even Kaoru and me.

Thank God!

Basically, my Christmas with my family and the Host Club went rather well. In fact, it's the first Christmas we had since Mom was still married to Robert the douchebag.

And, it was probably the best Christmas I've ever had since my father died.

I couldn't ask for better friends.