1.2 That awkward moment when you think you're complementing a girl, but you end up making her cry.
Generally, in the remaining five minutes of class, students at Ouran took it in their liberty to use the time chatting with other students, sitting (or standing) around with their group of friends, gossiping or using some other way to waste their time. Kyoya took full advantage of this time to finish what little work he could, and he was normally so productive that five minutes afforded him enough time to finish his homework in at least one of his subjects. Although he sat at his desk with his books open that afternoon, Kyoya did nothing except for sit idly, lost in his own thoughts.
It didn't escape Kyoya's notice that it might have been the least productive first day of school he ever had. Of course, the morning went perfectly fine. Kyoya got to class (albeit late, though he'd been excused because Tamaki had charmed both their ways out of trouble), took notes, answered questions, and did as he was told, even taking initiative to help his classmates as a good class representative ought to. Kyoya, unlike everyone else in his classes, had not been obsessing over the identity of the twins' foreign escort. Sure, he had been curious, but not enough to bother himself about it. He knew that he would eventually find out anyways. It was only after lunch that Kyoya could focus on nothing except trying to figure out exactly where he had seen Hayashi Rio before. By the end of the day, Kyoya was sure that he had seen her before, and still not sure where. It was annoying him that he couldn't get his head around it.
"Kyoya," said Tamaki. It was only when Tamaki said his name that Kyoya had tuned back into his surroundings. He found that the blonde was staring intently at him, his face barely inches away from Kyoya's. Kyoya drew back in surprise and Tamaki laughed lightly. He was leaning on Kyoya's desk casually yet somehow it seemed to Kyoya like Tamaki was posing for a photograph. "What's wrong with you today? Don't tell me you too have fallen in love with Hayashi-hime at first sight?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Kyoya countered quickly, annoyed that Tamaki was so quick to assume but more annoyed that he knew exactly what was on Kyoya's mind.
Tamaki took this in stride. Obviously Kyoya's coolness towards the matter had been more like his usual self, and Tamaki snickered not unlike the twins would usually have done. "That's too bad," said Tamaki with a smile. "You would have made a nice couple. Maybe you would even be another Romeo and Juliet...how romantic."
"Who would want to be Romeo and Juliet?" asked Kyoya sceptically. "Of all couples in literature, they spent three days together and then they both died."
"Ah, but was the love not sweet while it lasted?" asked Tamaki, wiggling his eyebrow and grinning like the fool he was.
"I would rather a relationship that could last," replied Kyoya.
"A relationship with Rio-chan, perhaps?" Tamaki teased. Kyoya had the distinct feeling that Tamaki enjoyed teasing him for the sole purpose of seeing him annoyed. Tamaki was always telling him that he should be himself more. Frankly Kyoya did not like having Tamaki dictate his behaviour, and thus did nothing of the sort. Kyoya was confident that he had a good sense of self, regardless of how he may act around relevant company or what Tamaki might think. Even though Kyoya would have liked not to give Tamaki the satisfaction of seeing him annoyed, it worked.
"Shut up, you fool," said Kyoya, glaring at him with the demon eyes only an AB blood type could muster. Tamaki immediately blanched, withdrawing so that he was out of Kyoya's arms reach.
"S-s-sorry."
Between last period and club activity time, all students (in the high school division) had a free study period. This period allowed students to have time to finish their homework assignments in school, thus giving them leisure time to do as they wanted outside of school. However, like in the last five minutes of class, there was seldom a student who actually used this time wisely. Though most students went to the reading rooms, most of them just gossiped or spent time with the friends they didn't have in their usual classes. Even Kyoya did not use this time for homework. Free period was the time when Host Club members usually oversaw the set up of the third music room. This way, when club activities began at the end of the school day, the parlour would be set up and ready to receive guests.
Because he was the classroom representative, Kyoya also had to oversee classroom cleanup for the first day of school. Tamaki had not waited up, so he could see to it that the music room would be presentable for its first day in the new semester. Thus when Kyoya headed up to the third music room that day, he was a little bit late, and alone.
For a time when none of the students had class, the halls of the school were rather empty. When Kyoya walked through the magnificent halls of Ouran, his leather shoes echoed as they tapped against the marble floors. Kyoya had to admit that rather than a school, Ouran really did resemble more of a palace. He knew that when the building had been constructed, the architecture was loosely inspired by the French palace of Versailles. Even though appearances were superficial, it was nice. After all, who wouldn't choose to attend school in a palace over a concrete building? The school was built to impress the wealthy.
As he was going up the stairs leading to the third floor, Kyoya happened to look into one of the wings of the building. Standing in the hallway just outside the door to one of the rooms, was Rio. From afar, he could see how tall and slender she really was. Kyoya wondered if there was a guy who was confessing his feelings to her on the other side of the door. He wouldn't have been surprised; no one had really made their admiration of Rio a secret. Ouran boys generally didn't hesitate to let a girl know he liked her. After all, what girl wouldn't want to date a boy from Ouran?
Realizing that it was none of his business, Kyoya was about to continue up the stairs when he realized where he was, where Rio was and he had an epiphany. The west wing of the school was set aside for the arts programs. The fourth floor was for dramatic arts, the third floor for music, the first floor for visual arts, and the second floor for dance. On the other side of the door where Rio stood was a dance studio, and the clues of the day tied together.
It was a summer night, nearly four years ago, when Kyoya had very reluctantly donned his best suit and met his family on the landing of their home to go watch the performance. Fuyumi had laughed at the sour look on his face. "Cheer up Kyo-chi, you know it's some people's dream to be able to watch such a wonderful performance," she'd told him. Kyoya had scowled at this.
"Don't call me that!" The thirteen year old replied. "I have better things to do than to watch a ballet. Anyways how do you know it's so wonderful nee-san? It's not like you've seen it before."
"I just know it will be," said Fuyumi still smiling. "It's Bolshoi Ballet. The dancers are from the world's most prestigious ballet school, and they're going to be showing their most talented group tonight. It's Romeo and Juliet, didn't you learn that in school last term? You should enjoy tonight."
"I didn't enjoy learning about it," said Kyoya flatly. "And I won't enjoy watching it."
"Kyoya," his eldest brother had said sternly. "Regardless of whether or not you're going to enjoy it, just remember that when you are out in public, you represent not only yourself, but this family. So stop sulking and act mature."
"Ichiro-kun," his brother's girlfriend chided him softly. "Don't be so harsh on Kyoya, he's just a child."
Of course, the thirteen year old Kyoya could not stand being called a child and immediately cleaned up his act. Though he did not walk into Outo Theatre expecting much, the performance went above and beyond Kyoya's presumptuous expectations. Despite the fact that he'd thought Romeo and Juliet was the most stupid story Shakespeare ever had the mind to write, when it had been interpreted into dance, the execution and presentation was beautiful. The music was so well orchestrated, the set so beautifully arranged, and the dancers so graceful. It was watching that performance that led Kyoya to have a greater appreciation of ballet. He realized that the magic of ballet was that it could reach out to people, regardless of who they were, what age they were, or what language they spoke.
The girl who danced the part of Juliet looked so young she couldn't have been older than Kyoya. She was so talented and so passionate that Kyoya could understand why she was one of Bolshoi's best. When she danced, it was as if she was floating, or walking on water. She really did embody the charm that the young Juliet was meant to have.
Kyoya was sucked into the performance; this was much more interesting than reading the lines in his English literature class. By the end of the performance, everyone around him was in tears. The performance received a standing ovation, and when the young Juliet came out to take her bow hand in hand with Romeo, Kyoya had somehow caught her eye.
He remembered now. Although in the years that had passed, Rio had obviously grown, there was no doubt in Kyoya's mind that it was her. In hindsight, Kyoya thought that Rio might have been his first crush. He had certainly never had interest in a girl before her, and he had been a bit upset when his father refused to allow him to go backstage to congratulate her. So before he even knew what he was doing, Kyoya went down the hallways towards Rio instead of going up the stairs. That would be his biggest regret of the day.
She heard him walking down the hall and recognized him. "Kyoya-senpai, it's nice to see you again." When she greeted him, gave a little bow as general protocol.
"It's a pleasure to see you as well, Hayashi-san," he said, smiling at her. He truly did admire this girl. True talent was not something that favoured the wealthy. When he got to where she was, Kyoya could see that the ballet studio was empty, the light coming in through the large windows fell onto the wooden floorboards and the dust particles in the air were visible in that light. He wondered why she was simply standing outside the room, rather than practicing inside it.
"It's a beautiful room," Rio said, seeing what Kyoya was looking at. She smiled sadly. "It's a shame that no one's making use of it."
"You could, if you like," he said. Rio looked up at him, slightly surprised. Her eyes opened wide at the idea.
"Oh no," she said quietly. To Kyoya's slight surprise, her eyes began to tear up. "I couldn't..."
She had turned her gaze to the floor, her shoulders shaking slightly, her hands clutching a fold of her dress, wringing the fabric. Was she crying? Kyoya had not expected this at all. He was sure that someone who had attended the world's most prestigious ballet school in the world, would have more confidence in her abilities.
"Of course you can," he said softly. "You are an amazing dancer, and it's certainly not against the rules for students to use any of these facilities."
She looked at him again, and to Kyoya's horror, tears were steadily streaming down her face and falling onto the floor. In all his nearly seventeen years of life, Kyoya was sure that he had never made a girl cry before. Of course, there was a first for everything, but one hardly woke up in the morning resolving that this would be the day he made a girl cry. He hoped this would never happen again, Kyoya felt guilty, and uncomfortable; almost as if he'd shamed his family name by being so tactless.
"You came to Tokyo once, to perform, I was there," said Kyoya quickly, trying to reassure her that he was not a creep, and that he could make a valid testament to her abilities. "...I didn't get to tell you at the time, but you were spectacular. I'm sure you still are..."
"T-thank you," she said through her tears, but her crying did not subside. Although she had thanked him, Rio stood there, crying harder than ever, to the point where she was practically sobbing.
Naturally, this freaked Kyoya out a little. Usually, when one gets comforted, they don't keep crying (or cry even harder for that matter). What was wrong with this girl that she didn't know how to take a compliment? Kyoya stood there, watching her cry, not wanting to touch her or anything because they were practically strangers and he was quickly fearing that whatever he did would only make her even more distraught. Not only that, but Kyoya was getting the hunch that she would not get better regardless of what he said. Thus, he didn't want to say anything else to her either. He didn't want to just leave her there either, so he stood, not knowing what to do.
"...What's wrong?" he finally had the courage to ask.
Rio shook her head, not looking at him. Over her laboured breathing and her quiet sobs, Kyoya heard footsteps. Looking up hopefully, he saw that it was Hikaru who was in close vicinity. Kyoya had never been happier to see the mischievous twin. Hikaru had heard her sobs, or perhaps he, like Kyoya had simply been drawn to look that way, but he saw them and hurried down the hallway. Kyoya felt like he was being rescued out of a burning house. Relief washed over him as Hikaru hurried over. It was obvious by the expression on his face that he was alarmed, and concerned. He looked to Rio, then to Kyoya who stood by.
"What's wrong?" he asked Kyoya. "What did you say to her?"
Kyoya shrugged, feeling slightly intimidated by the fierceness in Hikaru's voice when he asked. It was the first time he'd ever seen one of the twins give off that feeling. He felt guilty too, because Rio had obviously not been crying before Kyoya had come to see her. "I- I don't know."
Hikaru shook his head at Kyoya, and turned to Rio. To Kyoya's surprise, Hikaru didn't even hesitate when he put his arms around Rio and held he in a tight embrace. Suddenly, Kyoya felt like an awkward third wheel, witnessing a rather uncomfortable public display of affection. Rio didn't draw back from Hikaru, and instead cried into his chest while he held her. Was there something going on between them? For a moment Kyoya thought... but it wasn't as if Hikaru had shown Rio anything but disinterest and annoyance unless he absolutely had to do something for her.
"It's okay," said Hikaru, sounding kind but slightly annoyed at the same time. "I'm here. You can stop crying now you fool, you're scaring Kyoya-senpai. If you keep at it, he's going to think you hate him. Anyways, it's your fault. Kaoru and I told you not to come here, didn't we? Why did you come? You knew that it was going to make you like this."
Kyoya was slightly surprised at Hikaru's words. Did he really think that he could calm a hysterical girl by telling her it was her fault in the first place? Kyoya was sure that Hikaru was only going to make it worse, which showed how much he knew about Rio. To Kyoya's slight shock, Rio's sobs subsided into sniffs, though when she looked up at Hikaru, tears were still falling. Her face was stained with tears and her eyes had gotten bloodshot and puffy. It was a distinctly unattractive look. That the front of her hair was all damp and dishevelled in no way helped the fact. Hikaru leaned down and wiped her tears for her.
"Rio, that's enough. Look, you ruined my uniform too," Hikaru said, as if reprimanding a child. Sure enough, his uniform was damp with her tears. Rio looked stricken. He sighed "Don't worry; I'm not mad at you. But you need to stop crying, okay?"
"S-sorry," Rio mumbled, her voice cracking.
"Good girl," said Hikaru. When had Hikaru ever been that responsible and mature? And since when was it Hikaru who could deal with a girl and not Kyoya? This was a strange, and slightly disconcerting turn of events. Kyoya suddenly had a paranoid fear that he was losing his charisma, which he immediately put down because it reminded him too much of Tamaki. "Now come on. We're going to go get you cleaned up. Then I'll take you to the music room and you can wait for me and Kaoru there until our club activities are done, okay? Kyoya-senpai, that's alright, right?"
"Of course," said Kyoya, who would rather have lied to his father than refuse any request that would remotely make it up to Rio.
"Thank you Kyoya-senpai," said Hikaru, who looked expectantly at Rio.
"Thank you," said Rio, not looking at Kyoya.
"It's no problem at all," said Kyoya, putting his host demeanor on. What was the point in fretting over this anyways? Obviously Hikaru had it under control.
Hikaru took Rio's hand so that they could leave together. He looked to Kyoya and he half expected Hikaru to say 'I'll deal with you later'. Instead, Hikaru gave a bow and tugged Rio's arm so that she did so too. "Sorry for this Kyoya-senpai."
"I'm sorry," said Rio, blushing.
"Oh no," said Kyoya, smiling to the two of them. "Don't be."
"We'll see you later, Kyoya-senpai," said Hikaru as he took Rio down the hallway. Even when they'd left the corridor Kyoya could hear Hikaru talking to Rio, still obviously annoyed at her erratic behaviour. Although he certainly wasn't affectionate towards her, it was surprising that Hikaru acted so naturally close to Rio. He had to admit, he was impressed by Hikaru's very mature actions that day. Kyoya certainly did not see that coming from someone who took pleasure in seeing Tamaki sulk. As Kyoya finally made his way upstairs, he remembered Kaoru's words at lunchtime: 'Don't talk about her past... She's really sensitive to that.' Had he listened to what Kaoru was saying, this entire situation could have been averted. Kyoya could have kicked himself for being so stupid.
A/N: Hooray! It's Thursday, and as promised: chapter two! Actually...I wouldn't say these are long enough to be chapters (looking at it relatively to real novels -coughHarryPottercough-), so maybe, installment #2? Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this as regularly updated as I plan to, which I don't see why not, as it's summer and I don't have any other commitments.
So did you enjoy?
I don't really like it when original characters are always so mysterious. I guess it adds draw to the story, but I don't like it so blatantly obvious. This may sound rather hypocritical to you, having read my story so far, but the point is; I will be clearing up all the mystery surrounding Rio (and her past) A.S.A.P. I think the canon characters might have been a little out of character this chapter. What do you think? But if you're going to say you think they are, please tell me how you think they should act. It's always good to have more than one perspective. Also, I would love to hear how you think I could improve Rio's character. Because I like hearing other people's ideas.
Remember, Monday and Thursday. Please look forward to it :) and please make my day, by leaving a review. :D Thanks.
Also, a shout out to Draycos and TheRejectedAngel for leaving me my very first reviews! I am so hugely thankful. I don't know why, but reviews mean a lot to me. Thank you for reading :) We'll meet again on Monday.
