Taruhi stepped onto Ouran's school campus with Haruhi, she scanned the crowds of students quickly as they walked along but as soon as she spotted him she began running. She skidded to a stop next to Kyouya and hugged his right arm with both of hers. "Onii-chan, good morning!" She grinned up at him.
"Good morning, Taruhi," Kyouya smiled down at her as he continued to walk through the school campus. She let go of his arm and walked next to him.
"What do you think of my uniform?" She asked. "I wanted to thank you for getting me one."
He smiled. He had to admit that she did look cute in that yellow dress, all the other older girls simply looked odd in his opinion. He had never been a fan of the girls uniform for Ouran's high school, yellow was not a colour for everyone and it was a very childish design. "You look very nice. Are you looking forward to your first day?"
"Mhm, I could barley sleep or sit still or stand still or anything," she said quickly. "But there was something that's been on my mind."
"And what's that?"
"Well, if I become top of the class like I was before – not that I'm saying I will because I'm finally in the class I'm supposed to be and it probably won't be easy like it used to be – won't it look bad for Onii-chan who's supposed to have perfect grades?"
"Oh, you think I'm that easy to take down, do you?" He smiled in amusement.
"Maybe I do," she replied smugly.
"I won't be taken down easily, you know. But you will have to realise that you are an exception, a wild card in the pack. People might not think that you don't count in the same way as you're so young – although my Father certainly won't see it that way – or they'll ignore your presence for their own peace of mind, it is rather frustrating to some to have a prodigy in their sights. But I think of it as another enjoyable challenge."
"So...you think I'll be bullied here, too, if I frustrate people by being me?"
Kyouya paused mid-step for a beat before he recovered and looked down at her. She had a sad and concerned look on her face, but the little crinkle in her brow was rather endearing. He hadn't considered she might have been bullied. But it was rather obvious now it had been pointed out to him. Others didn't like those who were better than them, he was sure that was a feeling felt quite strongly among commoners, and Taruhi was a smug girl, too, that couldn't have helped her.
"I won't allow that to happen," he said firmly. "But Ouran doesn't have much of a problem with bullying. Usually the bullying is confined to the boardrooms and stock markets, people use their parents to get back at one another."
"Oh. That actually seems rather obvious," she smiled. "So, your Father is super strict, hm? Seeing as he won't want you to be beaten by a thirteen year old prodigy. I thought as much, you strike me as the kind of person who's only supposed to achieve the best. And being the third son you probably have a lot of pressure on your shoulders, right? He's seen everything your brother's have to offer so if you want a prominent place in the family you have to work even harder to beat them."
"That is true, Taruhi." Kyouya was impressed by Taruhi's foresight it was something she shared with her sister, "However the fact that I was the one who brought the Chairman's attention to you has already got back to my Father. He's pleased I brought an asset to the school that will improve its image thus making the Chairman happy and bringing the Ootori's to the Chairman's attention. My Father plans to meet you at some point."
Taruhi was the one to hesitate in her steps as her recalled Kyouya's words upon their first meeting. "I don't like to see talent go to waste." So getting her into Ouran wasn't entirely for her sake like she thought...
Aother thought came to mind, one pertaining to her previous point of just a few moments ago. Kyouya had to bring something very important to the table to impress his Father as he'd already seen everything typically expected of his sons such as perfect grades and excellent social standing in the school. She was so stupid. That was probably the only reason Kyouya was interested in her and giving her this job. Would he spend his time taking credit for what errands she run for him, too? Should she even bother to work hard if she was going to end up be exploited? If Kyouya was disppointed in her work he wouldn't let her go any further than this trial but then he'd probably be able to tell.
Taruhi quickly kept the conversation flowing.
"I guess if Haruhi had done it, it would have looked both good and bad for her considering she's the eldest and yet I'm smarter, but she's not the kind of person to get held up on something like that. She helps people without there being something in it for her."
Kyouya glanced at Taruhi out of the corner of his eye, wondering if that was supposed to be a jab at him. Had she caught on that quickly? He wouldn't be surprised and it would certainly help their relationship run smoother if she simply understood who he was. Not that he'd let her get out that easily if she didn't agree.
"Then there's the school, they really should have done their research better into Haruhi's family," Taruhi said, "I bet the Chairman is totally kicking himself for that."
Kyouya nodded, "Indeed. In short, the publicity the school will gain from you continuing to succeed and move onto higher education will be very good and by proxy good for me because I was the one who 'discovered' you," he stressed that point again, hoping to drive it home already.
"Hey, I'm not stupid, I could have figured out how it would help the school, that's obvious and you didn't discover me, I made myself known!"
"I do background searches on all club members and clients, I would have found you eventually."
Taruhi kind of liked the idea of that, being found by Kyouya and pulled into an amazing new world. That would have been rather romantic. But she would have been unprepared and overwhelmed and she didn't like those feelings.
She pouted at his comments none the less, he was so smug. He pinched her cheek gently and she looked up at him. He smiled and cupped the side of her face as he leant down to look into her eyes.
"Taruhi, if you stay by my side we'll both go far."
But you'll go further.
Taruhi smiled, "I know, I trust Onii-chan completely."
He smiled and stepped back. "We have to go to the Principal's office first and go through all the formalities there, then I'll show you around."
"Okay, Onii-chan," she grinned up at him. She let out a soft sigh as she walked with Kyouya through the campus, her day way going to be tiring, she could tell. But right now she focused on trying to remember her way around at the very least.
"S-she has an IQ of 180?!" Ayame exclaimed.
"Mm, yes, she's the younger sister of our scholarship student Fujioka," Kyouya said as he was showing Taruhi a map of the school campus, he tapped the building where their first lesson would be and Taruhi nodded.
"I...see." Ayame turned away, "This means I'll drop even further down the rankings," she whispered to herself.
"Onii-chan says that because I'm a prodigy it probably won't count in some people's eyes," Taruhi said.
"Maybe not to you!" Ayame exclaimed. "Just because I'm older doesn't give me an excuse."
"Well, I could always tutor you," Taruhi grinned.
"I would rather die!"
Kyouya chuckled in amusement, but only internally, she would say something overly dramatic like that. "Be nice, Ayame, Taruhi is new here and you are our Class Vice President, try to set an example."
"I'm perfectly sure she'll be fine with you watching over her, 'Onii-chan'," she retorted with her head held high. "I'll allow you to show her around school." She walked away quickly to her first class.
Kyouya was glad to once again be left alone.
"By the way, Taruhi, while I remember, did you complete the tasks I sent to you?" Kyouya asked.
Taruhi bobbed her head in acknowledgement as she looked at her map. "I already put everything in your bag. Be careful, there's some very sensitive information in there. You wouldn't want to get into trouble."
"I see. That sounds promising."
"I'm positive you'll be impressed."
"We'll see."
Hellooo!
If you haven't read the manga you won't have a good understanding of who Ayame is. For those of you who've watched the Anime she's the straight haired girl that Tamaki compliments when he meets Kyouya for the first time in the Principal's office, she goes bright red in the face and almost passes out when he mentions her lovely straight hair.
I like her character, and as she's so obsessed with her grades - as we learn in the manga - she'd definitely have something to say about Taruhi appearing at the school. I might slip her into future chapters. If you'd like to know more about her character you can ask in a review and I'll reply.
Thanks for reading!
