Across Enemy lines
Chapter 1: Yellow.
"Yellow?!"
The shout echoed through the halls of the large, newly built mansion, and down in the kitchens a few maids rolled their eyes. Apparently, the master's kid, who they already knew was no angel, was on the rampage.
Upstairs, Charles King was battling to calm down his 16-year-old daughter.
"Katherine sweetheart, I'm sorry, but it isn't my choice. That's the uniform for girls at Ouran, after all" he gushed, speaking soothingly in their native tongue, English.
"But it's so…Yellow." She complained, glowering at the big, puffy dress that hung on the door of her wardrobe. "I mean come on. I'm meant to be here to lend you a hand with the fashion business now it's taking off! There is no way someone with a future in fashion should have to wear that."
Charles was silent for a moment as he shared in Katherine's horror at the uniform. If he was honest, it really was terrible. But, as usual, the kindly middle-aged man had a plan.
"How about this." He said slowly, taking a small pride in how quickly Katherine brightened up. He never got tired of seeing how much she trusted him. "...You wear it at your first day tomorrow. We simply don't have time to arrange anything else this evening, I'm afraid. But tonight, you can sketch up a few designs. I'll make sure that we have a replacement made up as soon as possible, and speak to Suoh-san about the possibility of one of your designs being used more widely throughout the school. I'm sure there will be plenty of girls who'd love to update their uniform."
Katherine smiled happily at her dad and nodded. He always knew what to do. And this would bring the company even more publicity than it had already been getting lately.
"That's perfect." She said, nodding again. In truth, she'd have preferred to put off her enrolment to the school until she had a new uniform, but that couldn't be helped. And one day couldn't hurt.
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The next morning, Katherine King woke up in a marginally better mood. A better mood that evaporated instantly when she saw the dress looming across at her from it's hanger. With a groan, she rolled out of bed and landed heavily on the polished wooden floor. This was going to be a long day.
After showering and changing into what she now referred to only as "the yellow monstrosity", Katherine wandered downstairs. Still bleary-eyed and wet-haired, she blundered into a kitchen and asked the cook, in English, to get her a bagel and a cup of tea. The bewildered woman just stared blankly at her, not having a clue what she was being asked for, and earned herself a little scream of frustration as Katherine spun on her heel and ran back to her bedroom. By the time her door was slammed shut behind her, Katherine had come up with a plan.
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"Oh darn." Katherine said falsely, as her cup of tea splashed down into her lap, staining and saturating the yellow monstrosity completely. "It's ruined." She explained in Japanese to the nearest maid. "I'll have to go and change into my own clothes… what a shame."
And then, she was gone.
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It didn't take long after the yellow monstrosity's destruction for Katherine to change into a pair of white, skinny-fit jeans, a simple white tank-top, and for her own amusement, a thick over-sized yellow knitted cardigan. "To pay homage to the fallen monstrosity" she explained to her father, as she slipped into the back seat of the car beside him.
He'd made special arrangements for a car to take him to work at the same time as taking her to school, so that he could help her get some last minute practise speaking Japanese. It wasn't that she struggled; she had been learning the language since she was 9, but her dad knew her well enough to identify her bad mood as nerves.
"…and try to stay out of the Hitachiin's hair, they won't be happy about the new competition their mother has been facing lately…"
Katherine yawned. This was ridiculous. She knew all of this stuff already, why did she need the lecture again now?
"…oh! I almost forgot. That school has some strange habits. There's their 'host club', for one thing. I want you to give anyone involved in that an extremely wide berth. Ok?"
"Host Club?" she sat a little straighter in her seat, suddenly interested in what her dad had to say. What was a host club? Why hadn't it been mentioned on the school site?
As usual with these things, the moment things got interesting; it was time to get out. The car pulled to a stop outside the administration office and Charles gave his daughter a peck on the cheek.
"Have a good day, Rin Honey." He said with a smile as she got out, before slamming the door and making a quick getaway.
"But what about the Host…? …Crap." Muttering darkly under her breath, Rin turned and trudged toward the main building. She'd been right when she woke up. This was going to be one Hell of a long day.
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A/N: Okay, I know this was a crappy intro, but I promise this will get much better. Heh. Chapter 2 is almost done, so I should be able to update in the next couple of days. But I'd like at least one review first....please? just a couple of words to let me know this isn't a total waste of my time?
Love and Cubbles,
Cya-chan X