Author's note: First off, I believe that this is where some sort of disclaimer goes...but you already know that.
Secondly, before you see that it's written in 1st person, please understand that this is not a self-insertion story where I get the host of my dreams. Yes, there will be original characters paired with more original characters and host members alike. When I was writing, 1st person just seemed to fit better. As I get more written, however, I am becoming more displeased with how it is sounding. The POV will most likely change in the near future.
This is the only anime I watch, and it only because a series of strange events much like the ones leading to Haruhi's first kiss. With that in mind, I would love some input on anything that needs changing.
"Please, please, please Amaya?"
I let out an audible sigh and turned away. For all its artificial appeal, there was a certain natural beauty here, too. A gentle breeze blown over the walls surrounding the campus tousled the glassy surface of the pond. A bird hidden by the thickening canopy of leaves above us let out a single sweet note. The idyllic scene could have made me forget the matter at hand in a heartbeat, if only Naoki would stop pestering me.
I swung my head back around, keeping my eyes focused on the ground. "Why can't you just go by yourself?"
"I don't want to go without you…."
"But I don't want to go at all," I sighed again.
"Not even to meet Tamaki?"
The school year had barely started, but already the halls were full of tales of the Host Club that had filled my cousin's head until it was all she could think of. She told me that she wanted to see what all the fuss was about, which was only a sugarcoated way of trying to cover up what I already knew. She was terribly boy crazy and would love nothing more than to spend as much time as she could in the company of handsome boys whose job it was to fawn over her. She didn't care whether I felt lonely, she just didn't want other people to think that she was desperate for company.
I looked at her, and as soon as I met her eyes, she pulled the pouting face that she always used on me and somehow managed to make her eyes fill up with water.
I shifted on the cold bench, rearranging my skirts. Naoki was still watching me with the puppy eyes that never failed.
I muttered low enough that I could barely hear myself, but it was loud enough for Naoki. She leaped off the bench and let out a tiny squeal.
"We'll go tomorrow!" she said, grabbing my hands and pulling me to my feet. "And I want Tamaki!"
Ouran High School. My aunt and uncle had assured me that I would be much happier there, which was just a nice way of saying that it was too much of a hassle to keep me in my normal high school. I had been allowed to finish middle school, but this year I had been whisked away from the people and the life that I had come to know to live in an alien society. Damn rich bastards.
My aunt and uncle Tochikura had always been fond of me. They bestowed lavish gifts and attentions on me, more so, in fact, than they ever gave to my parents. My dad had once tried to explain to me that it was because he didn't like charity, but at that age I neither knew what he was talking about nor cared. I had pretty dresses and toys. Their intentions were innocent, but I had realized over the years that all they wanted was a reliable playmate for Naoki.
She was a month older than I was, but she was dependent on me and treated me as if I were her older sister. As clingy as Naoki tended to be, it became tiresome after a very short while, but I tolerated it. Here, no one knew me. No one knew my name. No one offered to sit with me at lunch. No one invited me to their private summer home in Paris. Overall, I didn't mind. If pretending princesses were the only escape from loneliness, I would take the solitude, but sometimes just knowing that I had someone, an acquaintance, a family member to turn to in case I felt like talking…
The problem was that, if I went to Naoki, I would be talked at more than I ever opened my mouth. She had her own circle of friends, but I was the only one who sincerely listened to her, and, being like her parents, she constantly tried to get me involved in social schemes, which in this case led to the Host Club.
I collapsed onto my bed later that night, an unintelligible groan escaping me.
I wanna go home.