Chapter Two
Sophomore In Debt!
After running for seemed like forever before a good enough place to hide provided itself, Kyo had finally come to a stop somewhere behind another building near the South Building, and here both he and Haruhi stood in bent over positions trying to regain their lost breath and using the wall as support. Both were clutching at their chests, eyes wide, and sweat having formed on their brows and temples. "I think...that was the first time...in a long time...I've ever..had to run like that!" Kyo stuttered while desperately trying to catch his breath.
"There is no way...in hell...that someone should be able to run...like that!" Haruhi stated in a stuttered manner.
Kyo's purple-eyed gaze shot over to the Freshman with an irritated glare. "This was your fault to begin with!" He hissed, metaphorical cat ears and tail appearing to further the gesture of the Sophomore's irritation with the younger class man.
Haruhi's face faulted into a down casted look of depressed embarrassment. "I'm sorry." He muttered quietly. "It's just that, I didn't expect you to pick that out so quickly and start talking. I mean, not that I care or anything personally, it's just a bit complicated right now."
The Sophomore's steam lost its pressure and rising temperature as quickly as it had built, and a rather passive look crossed his face as he stared at Haruhi for a moment and then looked back over his shoulder at the direction they had come from. "I guess I was the one at fault then, wasn't I?" Kyo questioned aloud while then looking up at the cloudless sky with puzzled look. This caused Haruhi to glance up quickly and stare at him with a wide gaze that Kyo met with a friendly smile appearing on his face. "Neh?" he asked, head tilting slightly.
Haruhi grinned and chuckled quietly for a brief second. "Kyo-san's a good person." Haruhi stated while still maintaining that grin. "But still, I do apologize for over reacting like that and tackling you." A sheepish laugh followed the end of the sentence as Haruhi scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, well, you are a lot stronger than you look kiddo." Kyo stated with an even stare while he shoved his hands into the pockets of his uniform slacks. "However, you still haven't answered my question, Haruhi-kun." he pointed out.
"Oh, right. Well, to be honest, it's a long story." Haruhi replied while sighing heavily at the same time. "Is your explanation simple?"
Kyo went quiet and blinked stupidly a few times out of total shock to the imposed question that had been turned around on him. "When did you figure it out?" he asked while laughing in a stunned manner.
"Probably about the same time as you." Haruhi stated while tapping the tip of his chin.
"Yes, well, the truth is about this uniform," Kyo paused a moment as he tried to pick out the right structure for the answer. "I sort of slipped and fell into the pond outside the South Building on my way in." He admitted with a childish innocence radiating in display to the simple explanation he offered. "A Senior saw me fall and offered me his extra uniform on the spot since it's my first day and I only had the one I was wearing."
Haruhi nodded in complete understanding to this. "I know what you mean." Looking up at the second year, eyes laughing while a still look remained upon the face. "Skirts are a bothersome article of clothing."
A burst of laughter erupted from the before hand blinking child-like Kyo, who after a moment settled down, gave Haruhi a wry smile. "Well, now that we've established the fact that we were both correct in deducing that the other is indeed a girl," Kyo grinned broadly. "How's about we go get something to eat? I'm starved after that run."
The rumbling sound of two stomachs growled between the two girls, and both held suppressed but hungry looks on their faces. Both exhaled heavily in response their whining stomachs, however, Haruhi happened to look down at her watch as something buzzed annoyingly at the back of her mind, and nearly choked on a sudden intake of air. Dammit! I completely forgot about them! I'm never going to hear the end it from those two devils if I don't hurry up and get there! "Uh, um, Kyo-san, I'll have to take you up on the offer another time. I just realized that I'm late for a previous engagement." She admitted hurriedly while waving at Kyo at the same time. "I'll see ya around!" Haruhi called out while turning on her heel and taking off.
"Hey, wait a minute! Haruhi-kun!" Kyo called after the younger girl, but found it to be useless as she had already zipped far far ahead all in a matter of a few seconds. And people say I'm inhuman. She thought quietly to herself while her right brow twitched in a jerking convulsion. Although...Her face pulled itself into a passive and studious look suddenly as she continued to further think to herself, I wonder where she had to run off to so suddenly like that? Come to think of it...she never did tell me why she's dressed in the boy's uniform. Sighing, Kyo ran a hand through short and long hair while shrugging to herself and started walking off in the direction that Haruhi had disappeared into. Curiosity was a life long habit of hers'.
Twenty minutes of walking, and following the scurried trail that Haruhi had left behind apparently, and Kyo found herself standing outside the large oval arched white double doors to the gardens on the left side of the South Building she had looked into from high above on the roof. Kyo stared up at the large doors with blank look on her face and blinked a few times just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Nope. Kyo's blank face became an even stare that was almost a grimace. Her brow raised for a moment as she stared down at the golden colored elegant door handles that stuck out at her in smooth curves. This is just one of the reasons why I don't like this place. Kyo muttered in thought as she reached out and grasped a hold of the door handle.
Turning it, Kyo heard the distinctive click of the lock releasing and pushed on the door just enough for it to slip a crack open. Through the crack a red rose petal slipped through and landed on the tip of her nose, causing the Sophomore to look down at the tiny piece of flower with a perplexed look on her face. "A rose petal?" The door wobbled once under her hand, the small tremor causing the Sophomore to loose her balance and push the door further open.
"Welcome!"
Stumbling in, Kyo caught herself with the door handle as a support and then looked up from a bent over position and held shocked look on her face with her mouth slightly a gap at the sight before her. Seven boys stood before her just a ways, all dressed in rather flashy looking tuxedos and bowing just at the waist with an arm crossed over their chest to accompany the gentlemanly bow they were giving. Kyo continued to stare at them in complete silence, a silence that now was passing between her and the boy group at that moment in an awkward manner. However, it was the twins standing on outside of the group on Kyo's left that lost interest first and pointed something rather obvious out, and out loud at that.
"Ah man, it's just some dude." One of the ginger haired twins stated while pointing at the still stumbled entry.
"Geez." The other muttered under his breath while crossing his arms over his chest and looking off elsewhere.
Some...dude...? Kyo's eyes had grimaced into an irritated glare at the two twins, and the rest of the group at that matter as they too seemed to be thinking along the same lines as them. What the hell is this place? And what's with the rose petals?! Kyo's purple-eyed gaze followed a trailing dance of red rose petals that were now blowing by in the space that separated her from them. Confused slightly by this, Kyo looked back to the group of boys standing before her and cocked her head to the side suddenly as her eye landed upon a very familiar face she had been introduced to about an hour ago. "Oh, Haruhi-kun." Kyo pointed at the spoken of first year student.
"Eh-he, hello Uchiwa-senpai." Haruhi greeted with a nervous laughter coming out at the same time. "It's nice to see you again."
Kyo set her hands on her hips and gave the underclassman a rather unamused look. "Again with the "Senpai" thing." She muttered under her breath while also shaking her cinnamon colored head. However, something intrigued her at that moment and the gaze of the Sophomore trailed over to the tall blonde boy of the group who looked as frustrated as anything and looking between her and Haruhi wordlessly. Studying him for a moment, Kyo looked to Haruhi and pointed at the blonde at the same time with a bland look on her face. "I take it this is the long story you were telling me about earlier?"
Haruhi nodded while a smile that looked like a cross between nervous and on the verge of panic appeared on her face. "Indeed it would be."
Having now had enough of not knowing what was going on in his midst, the tall blonde finally exploded in his frustration, face hinting at a furious blush that threatened to give him away for a jealous man. "Haruhi-kun, who is this guy?! And how do you know him?!" he blurted out in a mass chaos of horribly strung words, an even further giveaway of his flustered state, and so added by the mad flailing about of his arms as he pointed at the unknown guy in the garden.
"Uchiwa Kyo. Second year, or Sophomore as some would put it. Age – 16. Height is 5'8". Born June twenty-fifth. A Cancer. Favorite food is sushi, shiro miso, and angel food cake with strawberries and cream. Favorite color is amethyst." The tall speckled boy read off a book tablet he was now currently holding in his hands while at the same time adjusting his glasses.
While he read off the information he apparently had on her, Kyo's face had gone completely blank aside from the fact that her brow twitched in an irritated fashion from having her personal information read aloud like that in some sort of statistic. "You have got to be kidding me." Kyo muttered while looking off to the side.
"Uh, Kyoya-senpai...how did you get that much information on Kyo-san so quickly?" Haruhi asked nervously while looking up at the asked of boy, and at the same time eyeing the rather irritated looking second year student now burning a hole in the fence hedge with her stare. Why do I have this bad feeling that something very horrible is about to happen today all of a sudden? Haruhi gulped at her own thoughts.
Kyoya, the speckled tall boy, glanced down at Haruhi with slightly raised brows. "Transfer students interest me a bit." he stated nonchalantly while shrugging. "That and when it's the only child of a rather wealthy and well known family in Japan, it interests me even more. A chance to collect new data. Although, something does puzzle me at the moment about Uchiwa-san." Kyoya murmured and tapped the tip of his chin for a moment, which caused Haruhi to give him a rather confused look.
"Hey, hey, Paper fan-senpai! Are you into other guys or something?" the twins asked in unison while now popping up on either side of the older student they were now finding rather interesting in such a clearly frazzled state. "Neh, Paper fan-senpai?"
"Stop calling me that!" Kyo snapped in a rather irritated manner. "My name is not "Paper fan-senpai"! It's Uchiwa Kyo!" The cat ears (metaphorically) were now overly apparent as she hissed at them.
The twins snickered while disappearing from their places at either side of Kyo and reappeared in front of her with smirks plastering their faces. "Paper fan-senpai isn't being nice Hikaru." The twin with his hair parted from the left stated while crossing his arms over his chest.
"No, she's not, Kaoru." The twin with his parted from the right replied and copied his brother's of crossing his arms over his chest.
Kyo growled in her throat at them, the proverbial hackles on the back of her neck rising while the same could be said about the "tail" now accompanying her "ears". With teeth clenched and eyes set to a blazing glare, Kyo was ready to bite the twin brothers for their continuous misuse of her family's name. "I'm going to strangle the two of you." She hissed through her clenched teeth.
While Kyo set her glare on the twins, Haruhi held a rather thoughtful look on her face at that moment and glanced between Kaoru and Hikaru for a moment before she felt a tug on her arm. Looking down to her side where she was being tugged, Haruhi raised a brow in response to the beaming smile on the short blonde boy's face that stared up at her with brown eyes. "Hunny-senpai?"
"Neh, neh, Haru-chan, is Kyon-chan a friend of yours?" Hunny asked with a rather innocent confusion taking hold of his expression.
"Well, actually, we both ran into each other outside the South Building for the first time ever." Haruhi replied while smiling down at him. Hunny smiled back and laughed while running over to where Kyo was standing on complete edge now as the twins continued to misuse her name. There's that feeling again. Haruhi swallowed hard as had a horrible feeling shadowed over her at that moment, but couldn't quite place it still.
"Paper fan-senpai, Paper fan-senpai!" The twins spoke in a sing-song voice as they teased the older student, swaying side to side as they did so in further mockery and to push further buttons.
A rather dark shadow grew over the upper half of Kyo's face finally and her right hand clenched into a fist that she pulled back and got ready to throw at them. "You irritating brats!" She shouted while throwing her punch forward towards the two boys, an entirely irritated look consuming her face at that moment, and somehow struck a deep chord in the twins who gaged at the ferocious sight before them. "Take - !"
"Kyon-chan!" Hunny's cheerful voice broke the immediate danger and distracted Kyo, who instead of following through with her punch looked over at the short blonde who was currently in the middle of jumping on her. "Kyon-chan!!" Small arms slipped around Kyo's neck, and Hunny was automatically cuddling up against the cinnamon haired Sophomore who was struck speechless.
Seeing as how they were safe from being hit with possibly one of the harshest blows they would ever experience in life, the twins slipped off elsewhere as they noticed Kyo's sudden imbalance and was now teetering backwards with Hunny still firmly wrapped about her neck and nuzzling up under her chin. Haruhi's bad feeling now swallowed her completely as she watched Kyo and Hunny start falling backwards, backwards towards an outdoor piece of sculpture art that looked...EXPENSIVE!!! Haruhi panicked started to run forward towards them, hand outstretched as if to try and grab a hold of Kyo's arm, hand, sleeve, anything really to keep her from falling all the way, and a horribly pale look on her face and dropped jaw.
Dammit! Kyo shouted her thoughts within her mind as she felt herself go completely backwards, with the laughing Hunny still hanging about her neck. In the last second, somehow, in some way, Kyo managed to steady herself out of both fear for not just her safety but also the boy around her neck. However, even though she had caught herself and avoided falling on top of the sculpture art that looked like a life sized female figure, Kyo's sudden sigh of relief was cut short as her hand managed to just brush the piece. "No...way!" She muttered in a terrified manner while looking back over her shoulder at the sculpture that was now hitting the ground and shattering into a million pieces.
Everyone stared at the shattered sculpture in silence, both Haruhi and Kyo had completely paled faces with dropped jaws, Kyoya with raised brows, the incredibly tall boy (Mori) with a blank expression from his new place beside Kyo, Hunny still hanging on to Kyo from around the neck smiling massively and blissfully unaware of the whole situation at the moment, the twins both had exaggerated grins on their faces, and the tall blonde having the same look on his face as Kyoya. A rather solid amount of dead silence passed for a lengthy amount of time.
Kyo suddenly slumped down into a sitting position on her knees and just stared at the shattered sculpture piece, Hunny still hanging off her neck and rubbing his cheek against hers. "No way, there's no way." Kyo muttered quietly under her breath. "I saved myself from falling on it, and in the process just barely touched the stupid thing...how? Why?!" Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.
"Ooooo, that was a rather expensive and irreplaceable one of a kind at that." Hikaru stated with a Cheshire grin on his face.
"And it was going to be auctioned off at a banquet for nearly eighty-eight thousand yen." Kaoru added in with the same grin that his brother had.
An even paler look of horror painted its way over not only Kyo's face, but also Haruhi's face as it reminded her of her own predicament on a higher level. That's eight higher than that vase I broke earlier this year! At least, at least Kyo-senpai is the type of person who can pay it back...I think...
"EIGHTY-EIGHT MILLION YEN?! MOM AND DAD ARE GOING TO KILL ME!!" Kyo cried while grasping at her hair with a deeply horrified look upon her face and tears threatening to spill over from her eyes.
Hunny looked up at the horribly freaked Sophomore with big dewy eyes that threatened to spill tears as well. "Kyon-chan is going to cry." He sniffed, and yet still clung to her in the same position.
Kyoya adjusted his glasses while looking through his personal files that were in hand. "I don't see how it would be a problem for you to pay us back for the broken sculpture, plus interest of course." he stated while apparently stopping on a particular file he had found. "Your family is one of the richest families in Japan, with investments in hot spring spas and resorts, while also owning a few of the biggest in the country." He pointed out while reading off the information he had, and earned a rather nasty glare from Kyo at the same time.
"You don't get it." Kyo snarled before falling into a sulking mood. "My parents are strict when it comes to money problems. They won't help me out with replacing that statue. And I don't have that kind of money to spend!" she stated while suddenly grabbing hold of Hunny and bursting into frustrated tears. "Why me God?! Why always me?!" she wailed, while Hunny burst into tears right along with her and blubbered out consoling words the best he could while the others stared in shocked silence for a moment.
Haruhi looked over at the tall blonde beside her, who was bitting into the corner of a handkerchief and had tears collecting at the outside corners of his eyes. "Um, Tamaki-senpai, can't you guys figure out a different form of payment that Kyo-san can do? Like the one you guys used on me?"
The tall blonde named Tamaki, glanced down at Haruhi, startled out of his teary-eyed stupor induced by the rather tear jerking scene playing out before him. "Uh, form of payment?" he repeated in question form, tapping his chin thoughtfully before then lighting up at what Haruhi had suggested. "Ah! I know!" he stated aloud and then before anyone could blink, he was before the wailing Kyo on bended knee with hands set upon the shoulders. "Don't fret Uchiwa-san! You don't have to worry about paying us back through financial means, especially with your rather appealing looks, it shouldn't be a problem." he stated with a grin.
Kyo's wailing was cut short (Hunny continued on though, still muttering incomprehensible assurances), and suddenly that purple gaze narrowed rather accusingly upon the tall blonde. "I'm not going to be your personal slave or anything, hentai." She stated bluntly with a rather icy chill to her tone that caused Tamaki to remove his hands from her shoulders and jerk back in a defensive manner.
"Why do I always get that?!" He cried, tears forming in his eyes as he was somehow deeply hurt by this accusation. "All I'm trying to do is help you out like Haruhi-kun suggested."
Sighing heavily, Haruhi approached Kyo and crouched down wrapping her arms around her knees and gave her an assuring smile. "Kyo-san, Tamaki-senpai isn't being sneaky or fiendishly devious with you, although he does tend to seem that way for some reason." She stated while setting a hand atop of Hunny's golden head which ceased his crying.
"That's right! I'm just trying to help a fellow out!" Tamaki stated while popping up from behind Haruhi and pointing at Kyo, and immediately received the same cat-like feral glare from the cinnamon haired Sophomore. Pulling back and cowering behind Haruhi, peeking over her shoulder. "Like Haruhi-kun said, that is."
Kyoya folded his arms over his chest as if deep in thought for a moment, and then after studying Kyo for a moment, couldn't help but laugh lightly at the ironic hilarity of a similar situation playing out before him that had happened not too long ago with Haruhi. Running a hand through his hair, Kyoya sighed before speaking up finally. "I think what Tamaki is suggesting is we should sign Uchiwa-san up as a host like we did with Haruhi-kun." he pointed out, more to Kyo than anyone else. "Although, this is going to be rather difficult to do, but I think we'll be able to manage just as we did Haruhi-kun."
"Kyoya..." Haruhi looked up at the speckled second year who had a rather suspicious grin on his face at that moment. "You know...don't you?" she asked, rather slowly as if she were almost afraid of the answer.
This however, gave Tamaki the wrong impression and the blonde once again went into a panicked mode while creating various interpretations of the question that Haruhi had imposed. While Tamaki pouted in depression, the others perked up a bit at what was said and received questioning looks from both Haruhi and Kyo at the same time, to which they all nodded in response to. Kyo looked over at Haruhi with a sour look on her face. "They all know, eh?"
"Yep, they seem to have an eye for picking these things out, while on the other hand..." Haruhi trailed off while looking over at the still moping Tamaki who was now drawing doodles in the grass. "Tamaki-senpai isn't as quick for some reason or other."
Kyo eyed him with a raised brow and an impassive look on her face at the sulking blonde. "No kidding. Although..." she looked back over at the one named Kyoya with a puzzled look on her face. "What do you mean by making me a host?"
Author's Announcement
SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT!
The name/word Uchiwa translates into "paper fan". In ancient Japan, uchiwa were used in court ceremonies to denote nobility, as souvenirs, and to protect soldiers from arrows. More importantly, such fans can be used to fan flames, making the flame hotter – and thus a pun on the fact that Kyo's temper is easily inflamed when the twins push her buttons and aggravate her to no end. And also, the reason as to why Hikaru and Kaoru call Kyo "Paper fan-senpai" in tease to the translation of her surname.
Translation focus on the word of the day! Hentai - Basically, it means 'pervert' or 'perverted'.