Porcelain - Prologue
Disclaimer - I don't own Ouran HighSchool Host Club or any characters, however the Kouki's and any original elements belong to myself.
Sato Kouki strode down the corridor, furiously, with clenched fists and a precarious scowl on his face. The leathery, tanned skin on his cheeks bunched up, forming lines of wrinkles beside his mouth. He was so angry, his face was turning purple and his eyes were bloodshot.
On his way to his destination – his son's bedroom – he passes two maids. Once they saw him they avoided his gaze and quickly scurried past him, but stayed out in the hallway hoping to hear whatever Sato had to say to his son. They both flinched as the door slammed open and closed, and Sato's booming voice filled the house.
If Sato wasn't angry enough, the sight of his son lying back on his bed talking on the phone so casually threw him over the edge. He strode over to the boy and yanked the device from his hand, scratching his ear in the process.
"Agh! Hey, I was – " Sato didn't want to hear what his son had to say.
For a moment Sato wondered what exactly he was going to do with the phone. He had two options: the balcony, or the bathroom.
Ren crawled off of the bed and rushed after his father who quietly (and angrily) made his way to the adjoining bathroom. Just as he got to the door he heard the toilet flush and it had become very clear what Sato had just done.
Sato barged past Ren, who stood looking forlorn at having his phone flushed.
"I've had it up to here with you!"
Ren slowly turned to face his father.
"For once, I'd like to come home and hear something other than 'Ren got into another fight' or 'We need to talk about Ren'. Is that too much to ask?" Ren stayed silent.
"I don't know what to do with you, Ren. You never think about anyone but yourself,"
Ren irately tensed his jaw, "I never think about others? How about you? The only time you want anything to do with me is when I'm not –"
"I don't want to hear it."
Of course he doesn't, Ren thought sourly and sat down on the end of the bed.
"I'm not here to argue. I'm here to tell you that I've reached the end of my tether. That boy you hit – Saki Obito - his father was a good friend of mine, and we've been allies for a long time. Until now, that is,"
Sato paused, giving his son the chance to intervene. Ren was silent.
"You're running me, Ren. I've asked you again and again to tolerate people. You can't go running around hitting whoever you like, especially not important people. You never think about your actions, and the repercussions."
Now, Ren was incredulous. He rose from the bed and stood at full height in front of his father.
"You barley know the whole story and you come in here pointing the finger at me. I always think about my actions. It's hardly my fault my efforts go unappreciated,"
"Unappreciated? So this is what you want – attention!" Sato crossed his arms.
"Saki Obito is the scum of the earth! He thinks that just because his daddy has a nice car and a big house he can go around lifting the skirt of any –"
"So you we're fighting over a girl? I thought you were –"
"I am. Obito's behaviour is no excuse. He should know it's immoral. She didn't like him and he had no intention of stopping, so I stepped in and made him."
Both Kouki's were silent. Sato would never admit it, but Ren intimidated him – sometimes he would say frightened him. Ren had inherited his father's dark hair, and his mother's even-darker eyes. Combined with his mother's creamy, European skin and had a naturally lithe figure that would make most girls jealous. Ren was almost an entire head above his father and he looked down on him constantly, much to Sato's dislike.
Over the years, Sato had been fairly lenient and accepting of his son. He didn't care that Ren wore his hair across his eyes; he didn't care that Ren wasn't a natural businessman or that on his seventeenth birthday he decided to buy himself a rather large tattoo –without Sato's permission. N evertheless, when it came to Ren interfering with Sato's alliances and business deals, he promptly 'laid down the law'.
Unfortunately, Ren had also inherited his mother's spiky temper and strong thirst for social justice. He wasn't one for keeping his opinion to himself – if something upset him, he let it show.
"I understand you were trying to help this girl, and in any other situation you would have been doing the right thing," Sato took a deep breath, his expression softening considerably in dejection to the blow he was about to deliver, "You've cost me an alliance with the Obito's, along with damaging this family's overall reputation. The press have been all over the company questioning whether it's wise to ally with a company when I have such a volatile son. People are saying I have no control over you, and that I'm not setting enough of an example for you."
"But you're not –"
"I know, Ren. That's why I've come to a decision."
Sato moved across the room and sat, patting the bed next to him, inviting Ren to join him.
Sato grasped his son's had. Things had been hard since his wife's death. She was always good with Ren – he smiled so much more when she was alive; since then, Ren had lashed out and gone against his father's every word. Sato sometimes wondered if Ren was somehow trying to punish him for his mother's death, or he was simply punishing himself – protecting every female he come across because he couldn't protect his mother.
"I've decided to give this one more try. I'm sending you to a nice school in Bunyoko. They've got a good reputation."
Bunyoko?
"Isn't that in Tokyo? That's all the way across the world," Ren started.
"I know, son. Like I said, I don't know what else to do with you. I really don't..." Sato lowered his head and Ren couldn't help but feel ashamed.
He really had meant well by trying to stand up to Obito, but he had no idea that Obito would run crying to his daddy, or that Mr. Obito would stop working with his father.
"You have three years left of school. That's not very long. As soon as you finish school you can come home, I just need time to get my affairs in order. You can call me any time, and I'll always visit you when I can."
Ren looked into his father's eyes and frowned, "You're not coming with me? You're sending me away?"
Sato couldn't look at Ren. His cheeks were a flaming pink, embarrassed at himself for taking the easy way out and simply removing Ren from the scene rather than trying to explain things to make Ren understand. But there were things he couldn't explain to Ren – the importance of his contacts and the underlying, instability of his companies and how arduous getting new clients had been lately.
"This isn't permanent, Ren. I'm just trying to make it work, for me and for you. If you continue like you have I'll have no choice but to..."
Sato paused.
"But to what?" Ren asked quietly.
"Let you go."
Let him go?
Now Sato looked Ren sternly in the eye and rose up, "I can't have an heir who's determined to run me into the ground. I'm sorry, Ren."
He leaned forward to ruffle Ren's hair, touch his face, but his son turned away. He swallowed harshly and turned away.
At the door, he stopped once more, "You might want to start packing now. I'll send a maid in to help you, but your flight is tomorrow night."
Sato wanted to apologise to his dejected son and tell him how much he loved him, but he didn't. Instead, he pulled something flat and square out of his pocket – Ren's phone.
"Next time, I won't be so kind." He threw the phone on the bed and wished Ren would look at him.
"Sleep well."
Ren did anything but. He felt so angry and sick – with himself and his own father's cowardice at simply sending him away and removing him from the equation, like a spare part.
Hundreds of cruel, hurtful thoughts feel about his head at a thousand miles an hour. He sloppily threw a folded a white shirt into his suitcase. He kicked a stray tennis shoe at his door and let the tears roll down his cheeks.
Later, his father knocked on the door and asked if he needed help packing. About an hour after that, he brought a tray of Ren's favourite food - pasta and beef dumplings – into his room.
Sato could see his son's red eyes and cheeks but didn't say anything.
Around nine PM a maid knocked on his door with clean bed sheets and towels. He politely let her in and helped her change the sheets, much to her refusal. Then he slipped her a handful of change just as she went out the door – something he'd been doing since he was a child.
He knew what they were getting paid and knew the extra change could go a long way.
He walked about his room whilst brushing his teeth, not wanting to look at his own reflection.
Crawling in to bed, he spotted the phone on his bedside table and felt culpable and uncomfortable. He laid awake for a long time thinking about what his father had said.
I can't deal with you anymore.
He had been selfish. He was so determined to do good that he forgot about the bad that comes with it. He wished now that he could have apologise, but he was so determined to make his father understand how immoral his partners were. Of course, most business men don't care. Why should they? Its no business of their what their partners do behind closed doors. If one man teaches his son that its okay to use women as playthings, then what's another to step in and try to change that? He'd been so stupid. Always trying to be the hero, Ren.
No more thinking. He told himself. Rolling over, he closed his eyes.
Okay, that was the start. Sorry its a little vague - its important to build up a little background to a story, don't you agree? Review and let me know what you think. Also f&f if you want to continue reading. Thank you :)