A/N: This is the sequel to my earlier Ouran fic 'The Door Never Opened'. YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST READ THAT FIC BEFORE YOU READ THIS ONE! I'm not plugging it or anything either. It's just that you will not understand this fic at all unless you read 'The Door Never Opened' first. It's not even that long, only 1000 words or so, shouldn't take you more than two, three minutes tops.
So with that said, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of 'Break Down The Door'.
.01 Hikaru
Clack. Clack. Clack. Thump.
Haruhi stopped and looked down. It appeared that she'd stepped on a book, a notebook to be exact.
As she picked it up off the ground, she suddenly recalled a conversation she'd had with her middle school friend, Kasumi, about a manga the girl had been reading called 'Death Note.' Something about a high school student using a magic notebook to kill criminals, she couldn't remember the exact details. Of course, this notebook looked nothing like the one Kasumi described, it was blue and leather bound with gold trim. A long blue thread hung out by the spine, no doubt meant to be used as a book mark. Causally flipping to the first page confirmed that it was indeed a regular school notebook filled with math notes, rather than some sort of supernatural murder weapon.
Haruhi raised her head to look around, seeing if anyone was nearby who might have dropped the book, but the hallway was empty. Another glance at the cover revealed a clue as to the identity of the notebook's owner: the name 'H. HITACHIIN' stitched in gold at the top right hand corner.
'Rich people,' She thought to herself with a sigh. 'Well, I guess I should turn this in, though the name is sort of familiar.'
Indeed it was; unfortunately, Haruhi couldn't recall just where she'd heard it.
'Whoever owns this notebook must be in one of my classes.'
Before she could ponder further, the five minute bell rang, and Haruhi realized she was in danger of being late to class. Deciding she'd bring the notebook to the lost and found later, she quickly stored it in her school bag and ran as fast as she could down the hall.
Most of the info covered in her British Literature class, Haruhi already knew. Their current book, Beowulf, had proven so entertaining that she'd read the whole thing in one night. She sat quietly and read along with the student currently reading aloud; she'd already taken her turn and so had nothing much else to do until the end of class.
As the girl two rows ahead of her finished reading, the Professor motioned for her to sit and looked out at the students.
"Alright, who wants to go next?"
Two hands went in the air, but both were from people who'd gone before and so the Professor ignored them. Haruhi watched with disinterest as he walked down the rows of desks. He stopped before the red-headed twins she sometimes saw around the campus (she STILL didn't know their names).
"Hikaru Hitachiin," the Professor said to the twin on the left. "Would you like to read?"
"I'd love to, Sensei," answered the twin on the right.
The Professor started and turned his attention to the twin on the right, "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were Kaoru."
"Well, as it happens, you're right, I am Kaoru," said the twin on the right as both of them adopted cheeky grins and the rest of the class began to snicker.
The Professor wasn't quite as amused and gave the twins an annoyed look.
"Well…one of you, just read from were Suwada-san left off."
The twin on the left, apparently Hikaru, stood up with his copy of the book, while Haruhi watched him in silence with dawning recognition.
'So he's 'H. Hitachiin' then, I knew I'd heard that name before,' She thought. 'Alright, I'll give the notebook back to him after class.'
When the bell rang fifteen minutes later, Haruhi stood from her seat in the back and walked toward the twins, who were silently conversing. She knew that other girls in her class got anxious approaching them, apparently because of how good looking they were or something. Of course, Haruhi had never been quite like other girls, and so she calmly strode forward, a hand reaching into her bag where the one called Hikaru's notebook lay and-
"Fujioka-san may I see you here for a moment?"
Haruhi stopped and turned to face the Professor. By this time, the twins had gotten up from their desks and were walking out to door. Haruhi sighed inwardly, she'd just have to hope she saw one of them again today or else go with her Lost and Found plan.
In the end, the Professor had only wished to inform her that she'd once again received top scores in the most recent test. Nothing special, this professor and a few others loved to stop her and congratulate her 'wonderful achievements' in her studies. She often wondered if the only reason they were so thrilled was because she was the only 'commoner' in the school, as if not having a gold plated car or a diamond encrusted swimming pool meant she wasn't intelligent.
When he finally let her go, Haruhi once again had to run to reach her next class, which went by uneventfully as did the next two until the school day finally ended. She still hadn't seen either Hikaru or Kaoru Hitachiin around, and had lost all hope by the time the last bell rang. This made it pretty funny when she spotted a mess of orange hair out the corner of her eyes while on her way to the main office.
He was sitting alone by the fountain rummaging through his valise. She couldn't see his eyes underneath his hair, but he was biting down on his lip making it appear like something was bothering him.
'I wonder if he's looking for the notebook.' Haruhi thought as she walked toward him.
He didn't notice anyone approaching until Haruhi stood right in front of him, at which point his hands stopped moving and he looked up at her with an indifferent eye. This turned to surprise when he saw the notebook.
"Can I help you?" He asked after beat.
Haruhi simply held the book out to him, "I found this in the hallway a little while ago, I think it belongs to you."
Hikaru stared into Haruhi's brown eyes and slowly took the book from her waiting hand.
"How do you know it's mine?" He asked casually.
Haruhi raised an eyebrow, "Well you're name on the cover was a hint."
Hikaru kept his eyes on her for another second before turning his attention to the notebook, which he began flipping though at a fast pace. He then took it by the spine and shook it, eliciting a confused reaction from Haruhi.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Checking to make sure you didn't write anything in it or stick a love note inside." He answered evenly without looking up. "I'm really not in the mood to get another one right now, especially not from a guy."
His comment and general tone made Haruhi's confusion turn to annoyance and anger. Who did he think he was? Just because he was a rich boy didn't give him the right to talk down to her!
"Well, with that kind of attitude, I don't see why anyone would give you one."
The redhead froze, and looked up at Haruhi incredulously.
"What did you say?"
"You heard me," the brunette firmly answered. "I can't speak for the people supposedly sending you these love notes, but if you treat them all like this, then you never deserved a single one of them."
Hikaru just stared opened mouthed at her, so she continued.
"I can assure you I didn't write anything in your notebook and I definitely didn't nor would I ever put a love note inside, so don't be so concerned. I'll be going now, have a nice day."
She turned and walked away, not wanting to wait for a response. She walked out off the campus and took a bus to the train station, getting on the 4:20 subway for home and walking the two blocks from the station to her apartment, her anger and the entire conversation slipping out her thoughts into the far reaches of her memory. They were replaced by thoughts of what to make for dinner that night and what topic to write about for her World History paper.
But Hikaru Hitachiin would not forget the encounter anytime soon, nor the fact that he could not recall anyone speaking like that to him since that maid whose name neither he nor his brother could remember.
Review please!