Kyouya groaned, pulling himself from his sleep as his phone blared. Cracking his eyes open, he faintly registered that the time was 11:30 in the morning before putting his phone to his ear and blearily muttering, "Ootori."

"Huh. You guys were right, he's not awake."

"Miss Masachika. I don't know who you're talking to right now, but I'm sure that they did not tell you of my wrath when I'm woken up too early in the morning. If they did, then you are an incredibly moronic person and you should develop the skills to listen to another person's warnings. If you call me again after I hang up on you, I will not hesitate to murder you. Good bye."

Sure enough, as soon as Kyouya hung up, his phone rang again.

"Why the hell would you call again?"

"Cause that's the funniest shit I've ever heard in my life. Do it again, do it again!" Kuri cheered childishly. Kyouya growled threateningly and she snorted. "Don't you care where I am right now?"

A small part of Kyouya's mind insisted that it was very important to know where she was. "Tell me," he said, his words slurred by sleep.

"In the middle of a shopping center in Boston. It's very nice."

Kyouya snapped awake, fumbling for his glasses. "I told you that I'd come with you," he said shortly into the phone as he got out of bed.

"But you didn't show up and I was bored, so I went by myself. And guess who I met?"

"Hey Kyouya."

"What's up?"

Kyouya swore under his breath as he heard the Hitachiins' voices through the phone. "I'll be there," he muttered before hanging up again.


"Dude. Ootori is really unfriendly. Like, really. How did you guys even make friends with him?"

"Tamaki," the twins answered, shrugging.

"How did you guys make friends with Suoh, for that matter?"

"How did you?" Kaoru asked, grinning.

"Um, my family was working with his, so we ended up meeting. Like, I was dropped off at his house in France to strengthen relationships between our families."

"Still, I'm confused how you actually became his friend." Hikaru put an arm around Kuri's shoulder. "He's Tamaki."

"Uh... So we hated each other at first, and then he was carrying around Kuma-chan, and then there was the mushroom incident, and then he played with me when I was sick, and then there was an instant connection!" She stopped walking and struck a dramatic pose, then laughed harshly. "And then we were friends forever. And then I didn't see him again."

"Wow. If it wasn't for Haruhi, I'd say you two were star-crossed."

"Huh. That's funny. Don't even say that." She snorted. "Haruhi sounds much better for him than I'd ever be. And we are not pursuing that line of conversation, thank you very much boys, have a nice day."

"Whoa. Okay, okay!" Hikaru and Kaoru immediately backed away, holding their hands up in some pretense of innocence. "We weren't trying to pry. Goodness."

"Goodness? Who says 'goodness'?"

"We do!" Hikaru protested indignantly.

Kuri scoffed. "Is that some kinda 'rich boy' thing?"

"We resent that," They said flatly in unison.

"Aren't you a 'rich kid' too?" Kaoru pointed out.

Kuri held out a hand and shook it a little. "…ish."

"Ish?"

"I'm sort of a rich kid. Ish."

"How can you be sort of a rich kid?"

"Um… well… You have rich parents. Right? And then you don't have rich parents. So you have both experiences, right? And I'm not making sense."

"Yeah, I agree on that last one," Hikaru said bluntly. "So where do you wanna go?"

"Um… hey, look! Shoe store!" Kuri pointed to the building. "Let's go, I need a good pair of sexy boots."

"Sexy boots?" Kaoru asked, chuckling.

"Uh, duh. I need to mess with Kyouya more. Let's see if he likes long legs."

"You are one cool chick," the two said in unison.

She grinned mischievously. "I try my best, boys. Now, c'mon." She stepped in through the revolving door and the twins followed her.

A teenage boy with an overabundance of freckles approached them. With a cough, he started the typical greeting that salespeople always gave customers. "Hi, welcome to our store, can I help-"

"Boots. I need boots. To be specific, a pair of black knee high motorcycle boots. They can be men's or women's. In a size 7 ½. 6 if you only have men's."

The boy stared at Kuri. The twins leaned over her shoulder and snapped in his face.

"Hey, we need 'em pronto. Aka, fast."

"Ri-ight…" the salesman rushed off, to return with a huge box, handing it to Kuri. She immediately shrugged off her jeans, much to the shock of the three boys standing beside her.

"Kuri-!" Kaoru yelped, covering his eyes with his hand as his twin did the same.

"Calm yourself, I'm wearing gym shorts underneath. How else am I going to know how the boots look on my legs?" Kuri sat on the floor, pulling on the huge boots. "And anyhow, all three of you are teenage guys. You're telling me you've never thought about seeing a girl's legs?"

"Yeah, but- thinking and seeing are two different things!" Hikaru spluttered.

Kuri shrugged, getting to her feet and turning in front of the mirror. "Whatever you say. These boots are gorgeous. And they add on, like, 3 inches."

"What do you mean?"

"Height. Height's important. I'm way shorter than Ootori. It drives me crazy. I'll get these, thanks."

"Dude… you have a cool accent. Where're you from?" the boy asked, taking the boots from Kuri as she hopped out of them.

"Latvia. Where's the counter?"

"Dude. Cool. It's right over here." He headed towards the counter, slipping behind to enter information into the cash register.

"You're not from Latvia, are you?" the twins asked, lapsing into Japanese.

"Hell no. England. Can't help it if he's an idiot." Kuri shrugged.

"That'll be 328 dollars."

"Awesome. Here you go." Kuri passed him a credit card and he swiped it, albeit slightly confused.

"So, you're rich, huh?"

"No, my brothers are."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Kaoru asked. Kuri gave him a look.

"No. It's very different." The boy finally handed over the boots and she took them happily. "Thanks. Have a nice day or whatever."

As they exited the shop, Kaoru spoke again. "You're really weird, you know that?"

"Yeah, I do. I get that a lot, actually. Let's go this way, there's a park over there." Kuri began leading them down the sidewalk.

"That isn't surprising. I mean, the fact that you get that a lot," Hikaru pointed out.

"I dunno. It's better than 'you're a bad influence' or 'you're a troublemaker'. Actually, no. I think I like being called a troublemaker." She grinned mischievously.

"What- you like getting into trouble?"

"Yeah. Running from bobbies is the best." At their blank looks, she added on, "police. Bobbies are policemen. Why don't you know that?"

"English is hard enough without all the slang words."

"Excuses, excuses. Anyway, I like the adrenaline rush of getting in trouble. If I'm good at anything at all, it's running away. School- eh. Doesn't quite cut it. Detention is boring as hell."

"So you'd rather get arrested than get detention?"

"No. I'd rather be threatened with being arrested than threatened with getting detention. Very different." She turned to duck under an arbor, the twins following her into the small park. Kuri immediately climbed up onto one of the stone walls that bordered a flower garden, setting her purchase beside her. "I'd give it about one more minute, by the way."

"Give what about one more minute?" Kaoru asked.

"You'll see. Hmm…. Fifty seconds, now."

"You're not making sense again."

"I will be making sense if you'd just wait. Impatient." She stood on her tiptoes, trying to see the road from where the three of them were.

". . . How much time left now?"

"Honestly, you two. You're such brats. Are we there yet, are we there yet?" She checked her watch. "About thirty seconds. Give or take a few."

"How much do we have to pay you to get you to tell us?"

Kuri gave them a level glare. "Have you ever heard of delayed gratification?" They shrugged, and she sighed. "If I gave you a car, and said – if you wait for a year without driving it, I'd get you a- I dunno, tickets to all the best design conventions as well…"

"We'd drive the car anyway," Hikaru cut over her.

"We can always get tickets anyway. We're Hitachiins."

"Why am I not surprised?" She finished dryly. "Rich kids usually suck at delayed gratification. Five seconds, by the way."

"Suppose we can't bribe her now," the twins agreed.

"Hello, Miss Masachika."

"And there he is, gentleman and gentleman!" Kuri put on her best announcer's voice and gestured dramatically to the person who had just approached them. "Kyouya Ootori!"

"Very amusing, Miss Masachika."

"Kuri, thanks. Or do I have to punch you to make it clear?" She hopped off the high wall, grinning cheekily. "Are you angry? It's just that I had a feminine urge to shop and I couldn't resist myself. And I didn't want to wake you up. That'd be rude."

"And she's the epitome of polite." Kaoru smirked.

You know that, right, Kyouya?" Hikaru asked innocently.

"Did you have to meet them?" Kyouya asked Kuri, ignoring the twins.

"Oi. You don't have control over my life. I can meet whomever I'd like."

There was a silence, then Hikaru asked, astonished—

"Kuri. Did you just say… whomever?"

"Oh, piss off!" she snapped, trying to hide her amusement. "Just because I'm me doesn't mean I can't have good grammar."

"There." Kaoru grinned. "That's the good ol' Kuri we know and love. Keep on being angry. If you actually got polite, I don't think any of us would know what to do."

"Right. I value your advice, boys," she replied dryly. "C'mon, Ootori. I bought what I want. Let's head back." She picked up her box and headed towards the arbor.

"What did she buy?" Kyouya quietly asked the twins. They grinned wickedly.

"That's for us to know -"

"- and you to find out."

A/N: Yes, there are 328 dollar boots out there. And they're gorgeous. Sorry for the late update. I'm trying to actually plan this story as I go along. Let's see how this works out...!

Till next time, her Majesty, the Queen, Violet ^_^