Standard Disclaimer:

I don't own Ouran High School Host Club, the characters, etc. I do own and created my OCs and this story.

Author's note:

This is the first story I have posted here. Hope you enjoy, it's the spawn of boredom, Ouran, and a very bumpy plane ride home. I plan to regularly update this story, maybe every two weeks or so. I am a full-time student and my life can become very hectic so there may be the occasional late update. Ultimately I take my duties as a student far more seriously then my ones as a hobby writer.

Reviews and messages are always appreciated. They are like chocolate in word form. Mmmm reviews. I promise to take the time to read and respond to each of them. Now that we are done with the blah blah blah part, on with the story!

Gentle Reminders

Chapter One

Pink Slip Confetti

The Plane took off without a hitch they were now at cruising altitude. Shiori pressed a button before taking a deep breath and relaxing deeper into her seat. She was in a good mood; her boss Kyouya Ootori had been unusually kind to her today. Who was she to complain?

A brisk knock sounded on the door. It opened to reveal the flight attendant Haru. He stood there in all his uniformed glory. Clad in pinstripe black pants with matching vest, she knew he took the time to press his white shirt business shirt; the garment was without a crease. His black leather shoes gleamed brightly as he walked into the room; he had definitely waxed them today. Who was she kidding he waxed them everyday; he liked shinny things. To top it off he wore a soft yellow tie that matched his blonde spiked hair and ridiculous hat that hid his lovely hair. Her outfit was much the same only with a skirt and pumps. She hated the hat she hardly wore it and preferred to show off her brown wavy hair.

"To what do I owe the pleasure Haru?" She asked, not bothering to look at him.

"Nothing I got bored out there. Figured you could use some company darling. Poor wittle Shiori all alone in here." He leaned over to hug her. His arms were wrapped awkwardly around her neck. Shiori smiled at the contact. Haru was one of her best friends; the two had known each other since high school. They were pleasantly surprised when they found work together.

"I'm fine you drama queen, make me some coffee if you want to be useful." Haru rolled his eyes at her insult. He walked out of the room only to return moments later with a can of Pepsi.

"I don't feel like making coffee this will have to hold you over." He tossed the can over to her. She caught it with ease and put it to the side. Shiori would wait a few minutes before opening it. Last time Haru though it would be fun to shake the can before giving it to her. She took in the sad expression on Haru's face when she didn't open the can immediately, he had definitely shaked the can.

"Thanks, so how goes the redecorating?" She asked. Haru had recently bought himself a new apartment. He would have fits of joy at the mention of interior anything. It was not uncommon to see him flipping through pages of the latest modern house magazine.

"Oh my god! I bought this lovely purple couch." He searched the room for something before continuing.

"I don't see the shade in here, the second I find it I'll point it out to you. It's so big and it's so comfy. If I could marry that couch I would." Shiori chuckled at his description of the chair. Haru frequently said he would marry things, be they inanimate objects or the latest rock star. Occasionally he would say he wanted to marry their boss Ootori-sama. Personally she would rather see him settle down with a nice purple couch instead of her boss.

"I can't wait to see it. Can you believe how well today's flight is going? Not only weather wise but Ootori-bastard has been unusually pleasant today. Did you drug him? If that's the reason for his good mood I highly recommend you do it more often." Shiori reached down and opened the can of Pepsi. Wasting no time she chugged the drink, not caring if the carbonated bubbles burned her throat.

"Oh, that reminds me." Haru snapped his fingers before reaching into his vest pocket.

"Ootori-sama wanted me to give this to you at the end of the last flight. Sorry it's late I didn't remember it until now." He said as he handed Shiori the white envelope he retrieved from his vest. She wasted no time in tearing it open and retrieving the pink paper she found inside. She casually threw the envelope to the side and focused on its contents instead.

Delicate fingers held a pink piece of paper up to her face. Her hazel eyes danced across the page as she read each word. When she got the last line her face suddenly scrunched up in confusion; eyebrows raised mouth slightly open. Gripping the paper a little more tightly she re-read the sheet. As she read her eyebrows lowered her mouth closed tightly. The message no longer left her confused it left her furious, her face now the picture of rage. Fingers clenched into a fist, crumpling the pink slip of paper that only seconds ago they were carefully holding.

"Ootori-bastard thinks he can fire me!" She spat out. The anger causing her voice to quake spooking the flight attendant. It was not uncommon for Shiori to call her boss Ootori-bastard, normally Haru would scold her but for once he agreed with the statement. That bastard thought he could fire her? He opened his mouth to offer her comforting words but she interrupted him before a single thing could be said.

"Wait it gets better! There's no cause for this dismissal, look! Right here reason for dismissal, its blank! Ootori-bastard left it blank!" The brunette un-crumpled the paper and was violently pointing to and poking the offensive blank area on the form. The last poke sent her finger through the pink paper. The flight attendant winced at the sound of paper ripping, she was angry. It could only be dangerous when she was angry.

"GAH!" She exclaimed in frustration before she ripped the paper in half. She continued to rip and crumble the offensive pink slip until she had very literally beaten it to a pulp. Now she sat there panting, her face red from exertion and anger. There were no more sounds of ripping and crumbling paper. The dull roar of the plane's engine was the only thing that shattered the silence between them. Haru sat staring with wide eyes at his friend, she was crazy with rage there was no doubt about it. He cleared his throat carefully before he spoke.

"Uh, listen he's been firing a lot of his staff lately. You're not the only one. Its not like you can't easily get another job Shiori." Haru said, trying to calm the situation down.

"That's not the point Haru! He can't go around firing people for no reason! Who were the others he fired, name them." He flinched when she said his name feeling like she was scolding on him. It appeared his previous statement did little to calm the enraged women down. If anything it made the situation worse.

"Umm, he's fired at least twenty maids, I can't name them all but I know Chiyo, Ayame, Kumiko, Sayuri and Yuri were all given the boot. He canned the head chef Riko. Those are the only ones I know personally there are a ton of others. Actually now that I think about it that is a lot of people to be fired at the same time." Haru replied using his fingers to count the people he named. Ootori-sama was known for laying off people for even the slightest annoyance. Though this was a more people then he normally fired in a week, far above the average.

"Ootori-bastard! Haru, those were all women! Not a single male was fired. Can you believe Otori-bastard that sexist pig! I'm talking to him right now and then I'm calling my lawyer." Once again his words enraged the women further. She unfastened her seat belt in jerky movements her gracefulness disappeared as anger consumed her. She motioned to stand when Haru placed his hand on her shoulder urging her to sit back down. She slowly sat back down but left her belt unfastened. Shiori eyed her friend warily.

"You know that's not true, if he was really that sexist he wouldn't have hired girls in the first place. I mean he still has a shit load of girls working for him. Sure he's a major jackass but he's not prejudice. I mean he hired me even knowing I'm gay. Besides that's not the reason he fired you, trust me I know." He defended his boss and attempted to placate his friend. In all honesty he liked Otori-sama, he was a good employer and pleasure to work for. Though Ootori-sama's good looks might have made Haru a bit biased.

"Haru, did you just say you know why he fired me?" Shiori said calmly. Her eyes gleamed violently. His eyes widened as he realized he said something that wasn't supposed to be uttered. Moments like this made him wish life came with a rewind button.

"No!" He exclaimed quickly, too quickly to be innocent.

"Well then what the hell did you mean when you said you knew! Tell me right now or I'm marching back there and extract the information from Ootori-bastard myself!" Shiori practically screamed at him.

"Listen Shiori, You didn't hear this from me. I was talking to his body guard Katashi the other day." He blushed a little at the thought of the very attractive bodyguard. Katashi and him did more then talk. They were in the middle of a little affair at the moment. He risked a look at Shiori and saw her eye twitch in annoyance. His happy thoughts vanished. This was not the time to fantasize.

"Apparently, Ootori-sama came home from a reunion dinner with some people and the next day he started to fire people. He looked through pictures of his staff that night found all the brunette females and wrote out their pink slips. Katashi said they remind him of some chick he was in love with. He's crazy Shiori, get another job you're better off without him" Haru explained. He looked towards the woman hoping to see her calmed by the explanation only to find her face even more twisted and her form shaking in anger. Her face was turning into a stunning shade of purple in her angry state. Haru dared not mention his love of that particular shade of purple; that was the exact shade of his new comfortable couch he mentioned earlier.

"That's it! I'm talking to Ootori-bastard right now!" She got up from her seat and marched past the confused flight attendant ignoring his panicked expression. As she left she slammed the door, the sound echoed through the small room. Barely a second passed before the door opened again and Shiori put her head back in.

"Haru, look after the plane while I'm gone." Not waiting for him to reply she slammed the door again. Marching off to find the Otori-bastard that fired her.

"For the love of god, who's going to fly the plane! I can't fly this thing woman!" He looked at the empty pilot seat she had occupied before she stormed out of the cockpit. He willed his eyes to look at the dashboard hoping to see a read light signaling that the autopilot was activated. He saw the light flash and let out the breath he had been holding. At least she had managed to flick on the autopilot before she left, maybe they would survive this flight yet.

"Apparently he had a good reason for giving it to her at the end of the flight." Haru mumbled to himself as he slid into the pilot's seat careful not to disturb any buttons or switches. He tipped his hat over his face as he reached his hands behind his head. This would be the only relaxing moment on this flight; he could sense drama brewing, well more drama brewing. His thoughts drifting to Katashi and all the naughty things they could do together. A lecherous smile slowly found its way to his face.

Kyouya looked out of the plane's window taking in the clouds and the blue sky. Truthfully he had not been expecting such a relaxing flight home. At the end of the last flight he had handed his pilot their pink slip. Well more like handed it to the flight attendant to give to her.

He had never interacted with the woman much; he rarely interacted with his staff and avoided it wherever possible. Actually that's not true, he had formed a sort of friendship with his bodyguard Katashi that was the only staff member he frequently talked to. Even though he and his pilot, Shiori, never talked much he still knew quite a bit about her. For example the girl was dangerous and unpredictable when angry, which is why he requested her pink slip be delivered when they were safely on the ground. He did not trust her to fly his private plane when she was in a frenzied angry state. He knew she liked the color blue, Italian food and had a cat named Puddin (the weirdest name he had ever heard). He also knew that she frequently called him Otori-bastard behind his back. He didn't mind that overly much as he himself called her Pilot-bitch in his head on occasion. Kyouya risked a smirk at that thought. The most painful thing he knew about her was she looked like Haruhi.

He honestly did not want to fire her; she was the best pilot he had ever had. He may be able to say disapproving things about her personality but he could say nothing negative about how she performed her job. Physically she just reminded him too much of Haruhi. Who had only just announced her engagement to Tamaki, years before Haruhi had promised she would not choose between the two (himself, and Tamaki) and he was fine with that arrangement. Recently he went out to dinner with them and he received an invitation to their wedding. How nice of them to invite him to watch the love of his life get married to his best friend. He could not help but feel anger and heart break. Kyouya the ice king was still human after all. He needed to get rid of anything and everything that reminded him of her. Shiori was one of those things.

Knowing enough about Shiori he expected her to be at least a bit upset with him. He received a surprise when she was nothing but courteous so far on this flight. Not a word was said about her dismissal. He had obviously under-estimated her ability to control her temper.

Before he could think of anything else he heard the cockpit door slam once then twice and angry footsteps make their way towards him. He sighed, pushed his glasses up and tore his gaze away from the window. His relaxation was ruined and he realized he had not under-estimated his pilot's ability to control her temper but over-estimated it. He looked over to watch said angry person make their way towards him. Her normal neutral expression was masked by anger. Her graceful silent steps were replaced by loud stomps. Was her face purple?

"What in the name of hell is this!" She questioned not bothering to censor her language in front of her boss. He looked to see her holding up pieces of ripped up pink paper to his face. Her loud voice had woken up his bodyguard Katashi who was sitting across from Kyouya, the man was startled and reached for his gun. Kyouya threw him a look and Katashi gave him a sheepish expression before sliding his gun back into his holster. Nice to know his bodyguard was so alert. Kyouya looked back at Shiori, knowing full well she wasn't here to show him the remains of her pink slip.

"You left the cockpit, stopped flying the plane to get me to help you identify pink paper? I suggest you go back to your post ma'am" He couldn't help but play with her a little bit adding the ma'am part just to enrage her a little more. The plane was on autopilot, he hoped. He had time. He was amused to see her throw the remains of her pink slip in the air; it showered down just like confetti. How festive.

"Listen here Ootori-basta… I mean Ootori-sama you have no right fire me. You even left the reason for dismissal blank." She caught herself; embarrassed that she almost called him Ootori-bastard to his face hoping he didn't notice what she was about to call him. Kyouya had raised an eyebrow, challenging her to say it; call him the nickname. That would have given him a good enough reason to fire her.

"I can understand how you would be upset about this. It's a two weeks notice so you will have time to find a new job. Besides you will be given a nice severance pay and compensation. I am willing to negotiate money if that's what you are worried about. I will also personally write you a letter of recommendation for your future employment if needed." Kyouya replied smoothly, seemingly unconcerned about this whole situation. Money would solve the problem; she would get a little more then originally planned and walk away. Kyouya looked up at her plastering a fake smile on his face as he waited for her reply.

"That wasn't what I asked Ootori-sama. The original question was why are you firing me. You better believe there will be a hefty severance pay if I leave! Now answer the damn question." Not what he had been expecting at all. He was sure she would demand some outrageous amount of cash. He was not at all willing to talk about Haruhi, the only reason for her dismissal. What did she mean if she left? She would be leaving.

"Please do not allow anger to cloud your judgment Shiori. I have given you a very kind opportunity to negotiate your severance pay. Do not take advantage of this generosity, this is your last chance to name your price." He displayed a calm face, but he was tired of this argument. He leaned towards his briefcase and pulled out his checkbook. His elegant fingers held a pen waiting for her to name her price.

"I'm not leaving that easily Ootori, I won't let you fire me just because I remind you of some chick." Kyouya's eyes darkened.