RAIN (part one)
The rain makes me feel helpless and weak…
And yet, when it's trickling down from the heavens, freeing all things from the dry spells of the sun, I become the person I was meant to be…
I come alive…
"Haruhi! Haaaaaruuuuhiiii!"
"Get away from me!" Fujioka Haruhi cried in a stern voice as a dashing, princely, tall blonde male grabbed her arm.
"But, but, but… You'll only wear it during the club operation today! After that, I'll throw it away myself, promise!" Suou Tamaki, the "King" of Ouran High School's most popular club: the Host Club, protested. He was holding up a cute, black-and-pink bunny suit and was trying to get Haruhi to wear it.
"But why me?" Haruhi complained, restraining Tamaki's forceful hands as they tried to pull her closer to him. "Why can't you have the others wear it? Or you?"
"Because you're the only one here who can convincingly look like a girl!"
"That's because I am a girl!"
At this, Tamaki stopped and stared at Haruhi, the outfit slipping from his hands and dropping on the floor with a swish. Slowly, his cheeks reddened, his face showed a drop of shock and then, he ran out of the room, banging the door shut. Haruhi was left standing in her boys' uniform, staring at the door, her brown, boy-cut hair swaying with the air-conditioning.
"Tamaki's up to his usual game again?"
Haruhi was startled and looked behind her. The "Shadow King" of the Host Club (meaning he's really the one running the club), Ootori Kyouya, was leaning against the wall, taking down notes on the pages of his clipboard. His glasses, as they often did, hid his eyes from view, impressing upon Haruhi that it must be Kyouya's way of remaining detached from the world. I wonder what his eyes look like without the glasses. What would I see?
Haruhi laughed inside her head. The thought itself was too melodramatic for the practical manner of Ootori Kyouya. No, Haruhi thought. It's too poetic for him.It's just me.
"Really?"
Haruhi's eyes widened in shock. "H-how…w-what…you're…"Did he know what I was thinking about?
Kyouya laughed, brushing strands of black hair from his forehead. He tapped his clipboard and turned his back on her.
No, he didn't, Haruhi thought, sighing with relief.
"Haruhi."
"Yes?"
"I'm not poetic at all. So it's really just you." Then, Kyouya stepped out of the room.
Haruhi stood dumbfounded for a few moments before her heart started pounding at a fast rate. He knew.
The Ouran High School Host Club is now open…
She was being designated by three girls this time, and they were asking her all kinds of questions about her family, her living conditions and her over-all life, not knowing that they were flirting with a girl. It could be pretty awkward, but she was used to it and to the ignorance of the rich on matters of common life. Sometimes she even thought it was endearing; their amazement on plain stuff like instant coffee and mass production of clothes, and the way they step out of their boundaries and actually try to get to know her life as a commoner.
Of course she was thinking of the boys. The thought of immersing themselves in the everyday life of a commoner never entered the minds of the other students in Ouran High School. They were too busy training themselves for the time when they would take over their families' businesses. But the boys… they were different. Stupid, idiotic different. Haruhi laughed inside her head. Yes, they were cute and stupid at times.
Except for one…
Haruhi shifted her eyes and looked at the tall, slender, dark-haired figure of Ootori Kyouya, bent over a laptop as usual. He doesn't let himself get designated much; he was far too busy keeping the club running. Haruhi's eyes shifted to the dramatic figure of Suou Tamaki, who was wooing a girl in his arms. The two were very different, and Tamaki never seemed flustered over the club operations, he was carefree and moody. She turned again to Kyouya. Kyouya was organized and practical. He never showed any emotion before…ever. He was like a stone.
Who is he? He was a mystery to her, and she felt drawn to try and solve it. But he, like his eyes, was shielded from view by something like glass, transparent yet forbidding. You think you see him, but underneath that ready smile and confident smirk, he was invisible. Only Tamaki got past that wall of glass and the next ones in line had to wait to be admitted.
Who are you?
Then, Haruhi realized that Kyouya's fingers had stopped moving. They were hanging still over the keyboard of his laptop and she found his eyes looking straight into hers with a piercing intensity, as if, like before, he knew everything she was thinking about him.
Cheeks red, Haruhi turned her attention to the three girls chatting endlessly about what they admired about her while sipping tea.
Haruhi slung her bag across her torso and sighed, remembering the incident with Kyouya. It was embarrassing that he caught her staring at him. I wonder what he thinks about that… she thought. She was last to leave, declining Hikaru's and Tamaki's offers to take her home. She didn't want to see Kyouya again, so she avoided him for the rest of the day, hiding herself among the customers and making excuses so that she could stay and wait for him to leave before she did. At one point, he had tried to talk to her but she walked away, pretending she had not seen him. She thought everything had gone smoothly, but her uneasiness was far too obvious to Kyouya. Unknown to her, he was watching her the whole time.
She walked out of the Music Room and proceeded down the wide hallway, the elaborate, red-carpeted stairs and finally, the front garden leading to the large gates of Ouran High School. To her surprise, a shiny, black, stretch limousine was parked just outside the front doors. I wonder whose is that, she thought. Someone's leaving school late, too.
"Fujioka-sama."
She stopped dead in her tracks. Fujioka-sama?
The driver of the limousine had called out to her and was now bowing down, gesturing for her to enter the limousine. Haruhi wasn't used to being treated that way and was in too much of a shock to process the bizarre scene occurring before her.
"M-me?" she asked.
"Yes," the driver said. "Please get in, Fujioka-sama."
"But…I—wait, is this some kind of joke?" Haruhi asked, her bewilderment at being called Fujioka-sama getting the better of her. "Who sent you?"
"Ootori Kyouya-sama."
Kyouya! She almost screamed. She was breathing heavily now, panicking. She had tried to avoid him all day, and now, here was his reply. A blunt message: You can't ignore me for long.
"I'm sorry," Haruhi said, feeling the burn of hot tears gathering behind her eyes. "I can't get in. I will walk home from here."
The driver straightened and looked at her with distressed eyes. "But it looks like it's going to rain," he said, pointing to the dark clouds forming rapidly in the sky. "And I was firmly instructed to take you home safely, Fujioka-sama."
"I'm sorry, really," Haruhi insisted, already walking past the limousine. "I'll account for you; I'll tell Kyouya-senpai that I refused to come with you. I'm sorry. Goodbye."
"But, Fujioka-sama—"
"And stop calling me that!"
Haruhi broke into a run, as fast as she could, not wanting to hear the driver's answer. She didn't stop, not until Ouran High School was hidden from her view. And then she halted beside a lamppost, her knees trembling, her hands groping the lamppost for support, her eyes glued to the pavement; she was crying.
Stupid! She cried to herself.Why are you crying? There's no reason to…
But she couldn't hold back her tears. Kyouya had deliberately tried to hurt her, to laugh at her. As she started to cry, lighting struck across the sky, thunder rolled in the distance and the rain, as if getting their cue from her tears, poured freely from the sky.
I hate you, Kyouya! Making fun of me like that! Just because I stared at you?
Wet and cold, Haruhi crouched closer to the lamppost, crying and wailing, not caring if anyone was looking at her. After a while, she slowly stood up, inching forward though her eyes and ears were impaired by the rush of rain. And then she saw it.
A shadow was moving closer toward her. It was tall, dark and slender and a glinting light was coming from its head where the eyes should be.
Glasses.
Haruhi took a step back, realizing who it was. "Go away!" she cried, almost inaudibly, the sound of the rain was too strong.
He stepped into the light.
Kyouya.
He stopped. She stopped. Kyouya lifted his hand and took off his glasses, waving away his wet hair, baring his eyes for her to see, to look into.
"What are you doing?" Haruhi asked, knowing well what he wanted. She looked into his uncovered eyes, the first one to have ever done so and it seemed like an eternity, looking into someone's eyes and finally knowing who they are.
"So this is you?" she asked.
In one quick motion, Kyouya, ignoring her words, grabbed Haruhi and forced his lips onto hers.