The Romances of Kyoya Ootori

Part One: The High School Romance

1.1 That awkward moment when you see someone, and you know you've met them before, but you can't remember where.

On a day as beautiful as it was that first of September, Kyoya was tempted to believe that weather suited the whims of the wealthy. Of course, he would never be so naive as to believe such an absurd idea, but it really was an ideal day to begin school. The temperature was perfect; not so hot that it made wearing the school uniform torture yet warm enough to make you forget there was such a thing as cold. The sky was a beautiful blue; rare even outside the main metropolitan of Tokyo, and the clouds in the sky seemed only to be there for decoration.

Kyoya went to school with Tamaki that morning, only on Tamaki's request. The previous night, Tamaki had called, going on about how it was every girl's dream to see two handsome best-friend princes arrive at school to greet the crowd (which even Kyoya could not deny there would be). Somehow, in a year, the Host Club's popularity had become rather explosive.

Kyoya could not honestly say that he enjoyed the attention. Acknowledgement from his peers meant nothing to him compared to that of his father's. Recently, Yoshio was coming to the suspicion that Kyoya was spending too much time fooling around and not enough time working (or focusing on his academics). It might have escaped his father's notice that it was summer, but Kyoya knew better than to question anything that came out of his father's mouth. He didn't have a doubt that even the Yazuka would fear the almighty wrath of Yoshio Ootori.

Anyhow, in order stop Tamaki's pointless yapping, Kyoya had complied with a: "Listen here you fool, I don't give a second damn what you want to do, but if you show up at my doorstep before eight, you won't live long enough to see your beloved fan girls tomorrow" and hung up.

"Ah," said Tamaki, sighing happily as he stretched out comfortably in the back of the limousine. "It feels good to be going back to school. Aren't you excited Kyoya? It's a new year, filled with new possibilities! It's going to be great, I just know it!"

"I doubt that this year is going to be any different from the previous year, or the year preceding that. Don't let your foolish imagination run you wild," said Kyoya dispassionately. The sound of Tamaki's obnoxious optimism had tapped at Kyoya's annoyance. He'd rather hoped that the blonde would let him enjoy one journey to school in peace.

"Kyoya!" whined Tamaki indignantly. "Show some enthusiasm!"

Kyoya did not reply, and Tamaki settled into silence too. They sat in silence, staring out the window listening only to their thoughts.

"I wonder how everyone's doing," Tamaki pondered quietly. "We didn't really keep in touch this summer, did we?" Tamaki's mood suddenly darkened. "Those troublesome twins kept ignoring my phone calls, and my text messages, and my invitations to meet up..." Suddenly, something else came to Tamaki. He perked up, looking over at Kyoya. "Oh by the way Kyoya, did you hear? We have a scholarship student attending the school this year? A commoner! Isn't that interesting?"

"No particularly," replied Kyoya. "A commoner has nothing to offer to any of us, therefore I can't really be bothered to care."

"Kyoya, don't be so harsh," said Tamaki, frowning at him. "Commoners are people too... I wonder what he's like. Really smart obviously, the studious type. Doesn't have a lot of friends... no charisma... really ambitious..."

And you said I was being harsh, thought Kyoya, who closed his eyes and rubbed his temples as Tamaki went on about what the scholarship student might look like. His critique of that was no more kind than his predictions about personality. They hadn't even arrived at school yet and Kyoya was already getting a headache.

"What do you think, Kyoya?" asked Tamaki, taking a break from his speculations as they pulled through the gates of the school.

The campus buildings complemented the beautiful weather, as did the beautifully landscaped gardens of the school. The school could have been on a postcard (Kyoya was sure that it was). Seeing the familiar sights again, Kyoya felt a rush of nostalgia in a good way; though he would never admit that in front of Tamaki.

"Like I said, I don't care." But Tamaki wasn't listening anymore. A hundred metres from the front entrance and the voices of a hundred girls already carried into the limousine. They could see the girls too. They crowded the front entrance making a sea of custard yellow. From a distance, it was as if a hundred giant cupcakes were placed along the front entrance.

"Doesn't it warm your heart Kyoya?" asked Tamaki, smiling contentedly at his best friend. "It really does feel good."

"Admiration only warms the heart of the pretentious," Kyoya was saying. But once again, the blonde ignored his words as he was already exiting the limo. Kyoya's words were drowned by the ear piercing squeals and screams of the mass of girls. Kyoya felt a fit nauseous, and his headache wasn't going away. None the less, Kyoya put on his game face for decorum and exited after Tamaki, who was waiting for him.

Because there were so many girls, and so much pandemonium, and Tamaki just had to greet every girl present in a romantic fashion, it took much longer than it should have to reach just the front doors of the school. Tamaki had gone so far as to have a rose prepared for every girl. Although it was a bit of a mystery when he'd done that as there certainly had not been a hundred roses inside their limousine. By the time they did reach the doors, it was eight-thirty had long gone and school had already begun. This obviously led to Kyoya feeling very annoyed. He did not like to be tardy, regardless of the reason.

It only further added to his annoyance when just as he was about to walk into the school, another wave of screams pierced his already damaged eardrums. Both he and Tamaki turned around to see who it was.

"Oh?" said Tamaki as Hikaru Hitachiin stepped out of their limousine. Kyoya barely heard any of what Tamaki said over the renewed squeals and cries of joy. "What time is it? Why are they this late?" Following Hikaru was the younger twin, Kaoru. Although they were both out of the limousine, they didn't walk towards the school or the anticipating crowd. In fact, they didn't even acknowledge that there was a crowd. Instead, Hikaru held the door open and Kaoru held his hand out. "What-" started Tamaki, as a hand took Kaoru's and a third person, a girl clad in custard yellow Ouran uniform stepped out of the limousine. Tamaki's surprise was echoed by the group of girls. Their squeals quickly turned in gasps and whispers of surprise and confusion. Kyoya watched as each twin took her by a hand and they were about to walk into school only to find the crowd of people staring at them.

So they were late on purpose, so as not to draw attention to her...

For a moment, the trio stood with a look of surprise on each of their faces. The girl was inarguably beautiful and at first, it was hard to place what exactly she was. Then it occurred to Kyoya that she must have been of half-Asian, half-foreign descent. He really did wonder who she was. How many hafu children came from wealthy families anyways? Of course, it had completely escaped Kyoya's notice that there was one standing right next to him. As he thought about it, the twins exchanged a look with each other, before turning back to the crowd of confused and bewildered admirers.

"Oh," they said in unison, looking from the girls to the one between them. "You must be wondering...who this is? ...Everybody, this is our cousin, Hayashi Rio. She just moved here from Russia, so please be kind to her!"

In an instant, the confusion turned in to admiration and adoration.

"Oh, so she's their cousin!"

"She's so pretty, and they seem so close!"

"Ah, I'm so envious!"

"Hikaru and Kaoru-sama are so sweet, taking care of their gaijin relative like that!"

Though none of the girls were paying attention, Kyoya could tell by the slight look of surprise on the girl's face that the twins had lied about who she was.

"Kyoya, did you know?" asked Tamaki, slightly surprised.

"No," Kyoya answered truthfully. As he replied, he scrutinized Rio, who was being held by the twins. The trio was walking like they were attending a red carpet event, only Rio looked terrible uncomfortable. He noticed that although she stood upright, back as straight as a board, her lower body didn't carry the same sort of grace. As she walked, her steps were uneven, as if she were struggling to do so. Somehow, she reminded him of an injured bird. "I didn't..."

Because of the varying circumstances of children of the wealthy, every year, Ouran had a handful of students transferring in and out from (and to) different countries all around the world. Thus the regular students of Ouran were quite used to new faces, and transfer students were nothing too special. This was why it was rather unusual that most of the student population of Ouran were whispering about a transfer. Yet, by lunch period rumours about Hayashi Rio had spread like wildfire. People were talking more about Rio than they were the commoner scholarship student, who happened to be the first scholarship student Ouran ever played host to.

Kyoya and Tamaki, who hadn't even had the chance to be formally introduced to her were even being grilled about her. Countless curious male students had ear of this hafu arrival at their school and were running as wild as Tamaki in their imaginations about this new girl being their one true love. If Kyoya had to bear witness to another guy confessing to him about how marrying a hafu would be perfect because she was the best of both worlds (domestic but exotic in looks), he was sure that his normally calm demeanour wouldn't last. It really did seem like Hayashi Rio had become the legendary ideal girl of every guy in the school.

As Kyoya and Tamaki sat down with Hani and Mori-senpai for lunch, the doors of the cafeteria opened and in walked Rio, escorted by Hikaru and Kaoru and followed by a hoard of students. They looked rather idyllic and picturesque until the sound factored in. It was as if there was suddenly a celebrity at the school. It was so loud that the scene was creating a ruckus in the cafeteria. As soon as they walked in, Hikaru and Kaoru stopped in their tracks.

"This is our cafeteria," they said together. "You can get your lunch over there," they gestured over to the food serving area. "We'll see you later." With that, the twins unceremoniously left a startled looking Rio to fend for herself. They walked over to the Host Club's table to a rather shocked looking Tamaki. Meanwhile, the crowd of students had more or less completely engulfed Rio and their questions were indistinguishable over one another.

"You two," said Tamaki, obviously annoyed. "Have you learned nothing in your time as hosts?"

"What's he going on about?" asked Kaoru, looking over to his brother who gave a noncommittal shrug.

"Leaving a vulnerable girl like that...to fend for herself while the people around her insensitively act like...imagine her fear! ...it's your job as hosts to be the heroic princes and rescue her..." Tamaki was thoroughly explaining his indignation while none of the hosts listened. They sat at the table, ignoring him and eating their lunches. "...to be alone, in a foreign country...I know how it feels..."

"Hika-chan, Kao-chan," said Hani-senpai, cutting over what was now Tamaki's dramatic monologue about his lonely life in Japan. "Tell us about Rio-chan. Even in our homeroom, people were talking about her, right Takashi?"

Mori-senpai nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Yes, Hayashi-san is indeed the topic of the day," said Kyoya, looking over to the crowd, from which Rio had yet to surface. The mass of people had made its way into the food area. "Tamaki and I are curious about her as well."

Tamaki stopped his overdramatic ranting. "Ah, that's right. Tell us about her."

The twins looked at each other and shrugged. "What's there to say? You already know her name. She's just like any other transfer student..."

"Start by telling us how you know her," suggested Kyoya shrewdly. The twins looked to him in surprise, then to each other.

"Kyoya-senpai really does know everything, doesn't he?" asked Kaoru.

"Even when we lie, it doesn't get past him," Hikaru agreed.

"Rio-chan," they said together. "Is not really our cousin."

"You see, Rio is actually the daughter of our mother's close friends," said Hikaru. "But Kyouya-senpai and Tono saw how those girls reacted when they saw us getting out of the car with her. If we had said she wasn't related to us, those girls were going to rip her to shreds."

"So to save her from being bullied the entire time she's here, we just said that she's our cousin," said Kaoru.

"If you care about her, then why did you leave her to that crowd?" muttered Tamaki under his breath.

"They've been bothering us all day, it's so annoying," replied the twins rather indifferently.

"Anyways, we didn't lie when we said she transferred here from Russia," said Kaoru. "...Something happened at her old school, and Rio couldn't go back, so her parents convinced her to move to Japan and attend school here."

"Our mother is Rio's godmother," said Hikaru. "And since we're the same age, and Rio's parents don't live in Japan anymore, she's staying with us. She's been living in our house since August." When Hikaru said that, he sounded obviously annoyed. Kaoru had the same sort of expression on his face, and they looked to each other, as if silently agreeing that this had been a terrible recent development in their lives.

"What happened at her old school?" asked Tamaki, gazing over at Rio, who was now distinguishable among the slightly dispersed crowd.

"None of your business," the twins said together, shooting Tamaki down. Tamaki perked up again when the sound of a group of guys endlessly interrogating Rio drifted to his ears.

"Rio-chan, Rio-chan, come play with us after school."

"You're so pretty. Why did you move here from Russia?"

"What school did you go to before Ouran? Did you have lots of friends there? Did you have a boyfriend there?"

"What kind of things do you like? My family has connections, I can take you anywhere you want to play."

Looking over, it was evident that Rio was uncomfortable. Tamaki stood up, as if about to take some sort of actions, but the twins beat him to it. "By the way," said Kaoru pausing for a moment. Hikaru was already walking towards Rio and the crowd of guys surrounding her. "Don't talk about her past in front of her, she's really sensitive to that." Kaoru followed his brother. From where he was sitting, Kyoya could hear the twins telling people off as one took Rio's lunch tray, and the other marched her over to the Host Club table rather more forcefully than necessary. "And if you bother us again today, we won't tolerate it!" They called as they sat down again.

"Rio-chan, these are our friends from school," said Kaoru. "This is Tamaki-senpai, Kyouya-senpai, Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai." He introduced each of them to Rio.

"Princess, it's a pleasure to finally meet you!" exclaimed Tamaki practically bursting with enthusiasm. From seemingly nowhere, he conjured up a rose. "For you, my darling. It seems that everyone has been talking about you today, but your beauty far outshines what words can describe. I'm Tamaki Suoh, the leader and king of the host club. Please, call me Tamaki, or...would you be willing to call me lover?"

Rio laughed, raising her eyebrows at him incredulously. When Tamaki looked a bit hurt by her laughter, Rio stifled her amused giggles and gave him a warm smile. "It's nice to meet you, Tamaki-senpai," she said, so thrown off by such a 'warm' (for lack of a better word) welcome that she had forgotten to take the flower that Tamaki had offered her.

Her Japanese was really good, Kyoya observed. From her dialect, it would have been hard to distinguish that she was a foreigner. In fact, she could have sounded as if she was raised in Tokyo. He hadn't gotten a good look at her appearance that morning, but now that Kyoya could see her up close, he could understand why so many guys had become so suddenly infatuated with her. Though she had the typical Japanese phenotype; dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin, there was something about her features that were different and somewhat foreign. The most obvious thing, she was at least half a head taller than most of the girls at the school. The differences however, didn't detract from her beauty at all. In fact, Kyoya was sure that many girls would have marked Rio's appearance as how they would ideally like to look.

She greeted everyone else at the table too, leaving Tamaki feeling very obviously dejected that she hadn't fallen head over heels for her like most girls would have. When she looked to Kyoya, their eyes met, and a feeling of nostalgia and vague recognition came to him. "It's very nice to meet you, Kyoya-senpai," she said politely. In that moment, Kyoya felt like he had seen her before. It was strange because obviously, Rio didn't remember him. Even so, he was sure that he had seen her before. Where did he know her from? The feeling was bothering Kyoya. After a moment that was long enough to make him seem a bit slow, Kyoya realized that Rio, and the rest table were all staring at him. He'd almost forgotten that he had yet to reply.

"Ah, nice to meet you," Kyoya said with a smile that could have charmed Tamaki's grandmother.

A/N: Yay! First chapter!

For some reason, I think that Kyoya more than any other Ouran character tends to get paired with a lot of different people. I am also guilty of this. And actually, I ended up thinking of a number of different characters (all girls, and original characters) to have Kyoya be with romantically. You know when you think about it, and write about it, and plan it, and then you get attached to it? Well I pretty much got attached to all of these characters. So I wrote this fanfic, which will encompass all of the romantic relationships Kyoya finds himself in from his first girlfriend until he's married. This is going to be a long fanfic.

Also, I'll have you know that one of my secret ambitions is to write a fanfic that gets more than 1000 reviews. So leave me a review please. Tell me what you think of my characters, how you think I did portraying the canon characters, suggestions for things that you'd like to see happen in the future. I will respond to the best of my abilities!

One last thing. My goal as of right now is to update this story twice a week, on Monday and Thursday, so those are the days that you can check back for a new chapter. Thank you so much for reading, please look forward to the next chapter!