Hello everyone. This is indeed a NekozawaXOC one shot, I tried to make Amelia somewhat likeable but I'll leave that up to you to decide. She will most likely never be used again.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club, any of it characters or its story-verse.
Now, please. Enjoy.
It was late February; in fact, just after Chinese New Year that Ouran got its new batch of transfer students. While they were from all over the world most of them were alike. They were all primed and groomed and dripping with wealth; adorned in either a chickadee yellow dress or a periwinkle blazer. They all looked fitting for Ouran academy with their smug sense of superiority. All but one of them anyway, in the far back corner of the group from Europe, consisting of just eight student stood Amelia.
You see Amelia was more of a regular person than the usual Ouran crowd. Some may even mistake her for a commoner until they figured out who she was. Amelia was the heiress to a surprisingly small company for Ouran standards, but they personally catered and tutored the royal house, basically their gophers, which earned them some respect in the Ouran's schools eyes, Amelia would never understand why. But here she was, standing with her group at the entrance ceremonies, sort of. You see, her group was much better fitting for Ouran than Miss Amelia. While she qualified on paper just a passing glance would tell you her personality would clash with the norm at Ouran. This would go to explain why the rest of her group stood a clear three feet away from her.
Standing on her own with her head held high and her posture proper Amelia simply ignored the stares she was getting from her new and old classmates, the first thing you would notice is her peculiar lack of uniform, opting for a simple white blouse and a black calf length skirt. Topping off the outfit was a small green bow around her neck and dainty low heeled black boots. One may wonder how she was able to get away with this. That was simple; she was serving as a scout for the royal family. They wanted to let a young duchess attend at Ouran but they thought it wise to send Amelia to make sure she would be well accepted. While Ouran academy knew about this plan and fully embraced it the rest of the school was in the proverbial dark about it making Amelia seem quite strange. She honestly didn't care, she was having fun and if these people would decide that she was too weird to talk to just by looking at her then good riddance, she didn't want to talk to them either.
Once the ceremonies came to a close and the new students dispersed to find new companions leaving Amelia at a loss. While she was fine with not having anyone who wish to be her friend she suddenly realized that that also meant she was more than likely on her own to find her way around the school. With a sigh Amelia grabbed her school bag and set out early to find her home room. She had been put in the senior class so all she had to do was find a classmate as ask for assistance. Right, like that has ever worked.
Real fear for Amelia set in as the bell rang, she had already asked a handful of students where her homeroom was, most of the answers consisted of 'I don't know''s or 'Go ask someone else, jeez''s not to mention the occasional sneer and she was getting quite tired of it all.
Sitting down on a step after resigning herself to the fact she was indeed late and would rather not show up at all at this point than be tardy. Fiddling with the clasp on her book bag and with a sigh Amelia remarked to herself;
"Should I ever get a plan that works out right the shock of it will most likely kill me."
"Do you really think someone could be shocked to death?" An eerie voice fluttered out from behind the stair case. Amelia being a bit of a horror move junkie and knowing exactly how these things tended to end let out a less than dignified shriek and shot off the step. Amelia was up and spun around faster than you could say 'Ouran academy' while clutching her bag to her chest as extra protection. After a moment Amelia began to slink towards the stairs again only to hear the so far disembodied voice speak again.
"How rude, no answer."
"Who are you?" Amelia was never one to needlessly waste time. "You scared me half to death you know" She added with a smile.
"Only half?" Was the only reply, the voice must have felt that if she didn't answer him he wouldn't answer her. Regardless of the disregard to her question and the vague response Amelia thought it was cute. Chuckling a bit before countering;
"Maybe you're not trying that hard?" Amelia no longer fearing her strange new companion set get book bag down on the steps. Inching forward till she was kneeling on the step trying to peer through the stairs, Amelia sat down once more but kept her gaze fixed on the shadowed strip between steps.
"Do you wish I try harder?" The eerie voice replied, Amelia noted that the voice was particularly young.
Letting out a laugh Amelia gave the shadow a coy smile, she couldn't see him but she assumed he could see her.
"Only if you're up for a challenge, man." Amelia countered feeling quite amused at the current turn of events; maybe meeting this strange person was worth being late and lost, maybe.
"It's Nekozawa" the voice ventured, it almost sounded confused. "And this is Beelzenef" Nekozawa added as an afterthought, thrusting his hand into the light to display.
Amelia jumped at the sudden hand and hand puppet in her face but didn't scream this time so she felt that it didn't count at her being scared. After realizing there was a cat hand puppet named Beelzenef in her face she decided to play along. Grasping the hand puppets little hand and giving it a light shake she introduced herself.
"Hello Beelzenef, my name is Amelia."
There was a long pause; Amelia began to suspect she had somehow upset her new companion. Then he spoke again;
"You're not from Ouran? Are you? "
"No" Amelia's response wasn't snide nor confused simply stating a fact.
"I assumed so" Nekozawa replied, he seemed much more at ease, but at little saddened. Once Amelia knew what he was like she would run, every girl but Kanazuki, Kuretake and his sister did, and of course he was wrong.
"Why don't you come where I can see you?" Amelia asked softly, sensing the lull in conversation.
"NO!" Nekozawa snapped back making Amelia jump. She was clearly mildly distressed; if she could see him she would know he was too.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Amelia stammered she really wasn't excepting to be yelled at like that. Partly turning away from the gap in the steps Amelia let her hands fall to her lap as she stared at them.
"No" Nekozawa repeated, much softer this time"I should apologize; I wasn't yelling at you…I just can't go out in the awful light."
Raising her head to look back into the gap; staring intently as if she could see through the shroud of darkness she asked:
"Why not, ?"
"I-I-I Just- I just can't. I've always been that way" Nekozawa replied, obviously not enjoying this topic of conversation all that much.
With that Amelia stood, as Nekozawa was sure to leave. But to his surprise she didn't, she did step off the steps but left her bag. Coming to the side of the stairs, to see where one could hide under them, there were bits of dust but nothing major stood Amelia, just off the edge of darkness.
Amelia stood with her back straight and her face forward; she could now make out the outline of Nekozawa. Holding out her hand she asked;
"May I come in to see you then?"
There was a moment of quite, tense for Amelia and Nekozawa was simply shocked into silence. Eventually Nekozawa murmured his reply;
"Sure…Miss Amelia" Softly grasping her hand afraid that she would come to her senses and run away Nekozawa slowly pulled Amelia into the shadows. Once fully covered by shadows Amelia stood ramrod straight, never letting go of Nekozawa's hand and staring straight ahead; waiting for her sight to adjust. After a moment or two Amelia's sight changed and she was able to make out Nekozawa's features.
"Why, hello Nekozawa" Amelia said softly, no need to raise her voice any higher that it was since they were nearly touching. Giving a smile Amelia noted that they were still holding hands.
Giving a slight smile back admittedly a creepy looking one, but Amelia didn't really seem to mind since she stayed put. After a few more moments of silence Amelia asked;
"Why are you hiding under the stairs?"
"I'm not hiding; not really, I'm lying in wait to scare somebody" Nekozawa countered defensively.
With a grin Amelia asked; "Like me?"
It was now Nekozawa's turn to grin. Pulling his creepiest voice he whispered in her ear;
"Just. Like. You."
With that Amelia burst out giggling, leaving Nekozawa at a loss. After a few seconds of giggling later Amelia began to calm down and began to apologize, noting the confused look on Nekozawa's face that Amelia would only describe as adorable.
"Sorry, Sorry. I didn't mean to laugh, it's just, well. That reminded me so much of a childhood ghost story, I couldn't help myself." Amelia finished with a sheepish look.
"Oh…You are not laughing AT me…" Nekozawa still seemed at a loss at what to say on that, but Amelia was content that he wasn't mad at her.
They simply stood there more or less just staring at each other. Before either could think up something else to say a shrill bell to indicate the change is class pierced the air jolting Amelia out of her thoughts and into Nekozawa's arms.
Just as sudden as it started the ringing stopped and Amelia noticed where she was, letting out a low awkward laugh Amelia went to step away only to notice she couldn't. Nekozawa had one arm slung across her lower back securing her to him. Nekozawa noticed that he was still holding her, even though he would argue it was so she wouldn't fall or knock him over. Abruptly letting go of Amelia and coughing lightly into his hand, Nekozawa tried not to notice that her Shampoo smelled of orchids.
"Are you okay?" Amelia inquired innocently; she was completely confused at Nekozawa's actions.
"Mmm, ah, yes. I'm fine." Nekozawa mumbled out. Deciding to change the subject he felt he should ask the question that had been on his mind since he saw her. "Why are you here?"
"Oh, I'm an exchange student" Amelia beamed, she was quite proud of her mission, even if Nekozawa didn't know she was on one. Nekozawa could tell that from her accent and the fact that she wasn't an Ouran student, he nodded to indicate he got that but it wasn't what he meant. "Oh, you mean HERE as in the stairs?"
"Yes"
"Oh…I'm sort of lost…"
"I see…"
Nekozawa wasn't surprised, since most students who had been at Ouran years got lost from time to time, he would know he was usually the one who found them. So having a student who had been here only a day or so being lost was no surprise.
"Would you like me to show you to your classroom?" Nekozawa offered cordially, he would claim to only be doing it to be nice since Amelia was new, but he really did want to spend more time with her.
"Oh, if you'd be so kind. This school is a bloody maze. How do you know your way?" Amelia babbled out in her rush of happiness at her new savior.
"Yes, it a big school, but I've been here since preschool." Replied Nekozawa with an air of nonchalance giving Amelia the feeling that he had gotten lost, many times. Choosing to ignore that feeling and the urge to call him on it Amelia asked;
"So, Mr. Nekozawa, what class are you in?"
"Class D, senior year."
"This is fantastic! We have homeroom together then?" Amelia looked ready to hug him she was so happy she was no longer alone.
"If you're in Class D, then yes." Nekozawa countered annoyingly, with a stupid grin planted on his face. Pulling her hand from Nekozawa's grip Amelia smacked him in the arm lightly and asked;
"Of course I am, silly. But we really should be going now, shouldn't we?"
"If you want to be on time, we should have left almost a minute ago." Nekozawa replied, saying it as if it were the weather, sending Amelia into a slight panic.
"WHAT?! Oh, no this is BAD! I can't be late! Ugh, dear god I'm off to a brilliant start now aren't' I?"
Nekozawa simply stood there staring at Amelia, somewhat confused on how a refined young woman turned into a babbling basket-case over being late for class. He waited for a few moments simply letting her babble on before simply to take her hand again and begin walking.
After a squawk of surprise and a murmured apology Amelia began to talk to him again;
"So, why aren't you in class?"
"Well, I had a free period last class and I'm late for this one." Nekozawa replied calmly, he wasn't upset in any way that he was late; in fact it seemed as if for him it was normal.
"Oh, I'm sorry, if you're late and going to get in trouble you should just go to class, don't worry I'll find my way." Amelia replied just as calmly which was a surprise for Nekozawa before adding with a touch of doubt. "Eventually"
Completely ignoring her offer Nekozawa plowed straight into his question;
"What class do you have anyway?"
"Oh, let me see, there was the ceremonies and then homeroom for debriefing, which I never got to then it was…Literature studies." Amelia said in an oddly far away and quite voice as if she was going through an imaginary list in her head, which she most likely was.
"This makes things easier for me then, we have the same class" Nekozawa seemed pleased by this. Since Amelia didn't seem to mind being around him this may mean he would have a companion that was in his class, something that had never happened before.
They spent the next few minutes exchanging class schedules; they had all but two classes together.
Then, the moment of truth, they stood outside the classroom door, Amelia wondering if he was going to come in with her and Nekozawa wondering if Amelia would be embarrassed to walk in with him. After a few seconds of polite do-si-do-ing Amelia just huffed, which was quite un-ladylike but she could care less at this point. She linked her arms with Nekozawa, which was quite hard through the robe but she managed and pried open the door to slip inside dragging Nekozawa with her.
Their new situation certainly had a whole new level of awkward, far more than Nekozawa was used to though Amelia didn't seem to mind as much.
"Morning Professor. Forgive and I for being tardy, you see I had gotten lost and he realized this and was kind enough to lead me to class. Thank goodness we have the same class, no?" Amelia babbled out seemingly without a care in the world.
All the teacher could bare to do was stare at Amelia and the poor Nekozawa.
Taking silence as a sign to just sit down so the class could forget the incident and get back to work Amelia wormed her way to the back of the class Nekozawa in tow and sat down at a desk in the darker corner of the room.
Once seated Amelia shot Nekozawa a happy grin that gave him the feeling the day was far from over.
And for once, he didn't mind so much.
Well, there you have it folks. What do you think?
R&R
