The Moth Among Butterflies
Chapter One: Path To Darkness
The noise was so deafening, it was almost silent. Students clad in blue and yellow shuffled like bees, hopping from table to table to get good gossip. As usual, the libraries in Ouran were filled with the rich and beautiful—bubbleheads with big eyes and bright smiles who flaunted their daddies' money.
In the phalanx of equally gorgeous Ouran students, one particular female stood out. She sat quietly in a corner, rain blue eyes glued to a book whose pages were yellow and crumbling. Her nimble fingers quickly turned page after page and her concentration never faltered. It was as if the boisterous students were nothing in her world.
"You promised me, Kira-chan! We're over!" From the corner of her eye, she saw an average-looking male's face bubble with anger.
Hotaru Shimicho's gaze then shifted to watch the scene that was unfolding before her. Break-ups often happened in the library nowadays, where everyone could see the couple argue. Library break-ups were a good way to make other students jealous or happy or relieved or even entertained…Or in Hotaru's case, bored.
"Sato-kun! Wh—Why are you doing this to me!?" A shrieking female cried out, fat tears falling from her depthless sepia eyes.
"Kira-chan, I saw you with Suou! I thought you promised to be faithful!" The equally angry male retorted, the frustration very visible on his baby face. "We're over!" He stormed out of the library quickly, but it was obvious to all that he, too, was crying.
"Waaaaah! Sato-kuuuuun!"
With a roll of her blue-grey eyes, Hotaru resumed attending to her crumbling book. The girl – Kira – went to the Host Club and flirted with the leader. The boy became jealous and dumped her. Typical.
The Host Club members were, of course, the gods among the rest of the student body. Ladies bowed down to them and men were envious of their remarkable talents of flirtation and seduction. Hotaru fell under the category of 'those who don't care.' After all, she'd rather spend her time enduring her reading in this hell of a library than spend her time with a bunch of egoistic – but good-looking (even she had to admit that) – men who took her money for a chance for her to talk with them. Please. Hotaru was beyond that.
"What is this commotion all about? It could be heard from the Third Music Room…" The room then grew silent, as if the Devil himself froze (this) hell. The voice was coldly sharp, like a shark biting into its prey. Hotaru needed not to look at the voice's owner. She already knew who it was that spoke—Kyouya Ootori, the great Shadow King of Ouran.
"Kyouya, don't scare them." Tamaki Suou told him in a softer, friendlier voice. He then held the sobbing, broken-hearted lady in his arms and muttered, "C'est la vie, my darling Kira-chan. Your dear Sato-kun doesn't know what he's missing."
Kira blushed and like wax exposed to a blowtorch, she melted in his arms, "T-Thank you, Suou-kun. Thank you…"
"No problem, my sweet. Let us now go back to the Third Music Room." Tamaki enveloped her and was walking towards the door when his eyes fell on the moth among butterflies sitting away from the flame.
"My dear, what have we got here!" He exclaimed, almost dropping Kira. "My fair maiden," Tamaki went closer to the reading Hotaru, with no reluctance in his movements, "did a gentleman break your heart, as well? Perhaps you can accompany us to a land where all your dreams can come true."
"…Were you talking to me?" Came her curt reply. There was an icy edge to her voice, and Tamaki instantly recoiled.
"…Kyouya, she scares me. You go talk to her." He whispered to his bespectacled friend, big amethyst eyes glazed with unshed tears.
"Shimicho-san." Kyouya briefly acknowledged her presence as he walked with Tamaki to the door. Before they left, he quickly shot her a look that said, 'if you don't go visit the Host Club now, you'll rue the day you were born.'
Unthreatened, she made her way to the huge mahogany door of Library Number Two and followed, in silence, the two club members.
"Welcome!" The saccharine smell of rose petals made Hotaru nauseous.
"What did the wind bring today? A lost moth running towards the light?" Tamaki's mood changed from a frightened little boy to his usual flirty self.
When Hotaru did not reply and simply stared at him with no interest, Hani came to Tamaki's rescue. "Do you want to eat cake with me and Takashi?" He asked her; his big chocolate brown eyes twinkling with child-like ignorance.
"…No."
"…Well, my dear maiden, would you care to tell us your name? A rose as sweet as yourself should have an equally beautiful name." Tamaki said; desperate to break the awkward silence that started to form.
"Hotaru Shimicho, from 1-B." She told the Hosts; her ash-colored hair concealing most of her face.
They all nodded in reply, eagerness to know the distant girl on their faces. Kyouya, though, nodded more slowly, as if he knew more about her than the rest of them.
"So, Shimicho-san…" Haruhi began, "which Host would you like to designate?"
"Oh, I'm not here to designate any…" Her voice faded as she received another glare from the Shadow King. She swallowed, thinking deeply why she was threatened. Hotaru Shimicho was a person who was her own, but she knew she had to follow the light. Instead, she dove and took the plunge, "Ootori-senpai."
She knew from Kyouya's glares that she was supposed to designate either Tamaki or Haruhi. The designation was supposed to serve as an apology of sorts for Tamaki, whose feelings she had 'hurt' in the library. But instead of following the light like a good little moth, she took the path to darkness.