Finally uploaded! I haven't got the chance to work on this forever. I haven't been able to concentrate on my school work because of it! (addiction much?) But it's finally up and I couldn't be more relieved. I actually have a basis on where I'm going to be going with this (thank you missmimsy42) for once, so I can reasonably estimate about a 15-20 chapter story. Yeah, that sounds good. Well, enjoy and review!
Ps. All locations and cars and whatnot that are not from the story are actual places. and cars. The cars from this story are on a list of top cars for 2011. It won't let me give you the link, so message me if you want to know the site I got that from.
Haruhi's POV
I walked into host club that day, surprised to see Kyoya out and about. With other people there. So, everybody obviously knew now. Kyoya looked up when the door opened and smiled at me. The words Kyoya and smile NEVER belong in the same sentence unless there's a 'never in hell' somewhere in there. I was officially freaked. He realized his mistake and quickly righting, looking at me now with cool indifference. Oh yeah, much better. I thought, as the customers looked on curiously. Now they're going to think there's something going on between us. Just perfect.
"Might I speak with you a moment, Haruhi?" Kyoya asked, not bothering to mention what about.
"Uh, yeah, sure." I said, following him as he walked away. I shook my head as I walked behind him, trying to clear it. Maybe he would finally tell me what it was I had supposedly forgotten, although I doubted it. Not with all these people around. An image flashed into my head. A hand, flying towards my face. A scream in the background, a male voice. What the hell? I thought. Where did that come from?After thinking for a minute, I decided it must just be from a dream I had, although I knew that couldn't be it.
We were in a secluded area, away from the tables occupied by guests. Kyoya spoke, his voice soft and quiet.
"We're saying it was an assassin, sent to kill my father. It happens to the owners of prominent businesses often. The story is I caught him outside on the grounds and he shot me in the arm. I fell and was knocked unconscious. Fortunately, the assassin did not get to my father. He ran, afraid that there would be others. Unfortunately, his gun was one specially created for assassins as to make virtually no noise and I wasn't found until morning. By then, infection had set in and it was too save the arm." I was tempted to roll my eyes, but I suppressed the urge. After all, it was supposed to be a serious story.
"Wow, Kyoya. You're lucky to even be alive. Shouldn't you have bled to death?"
"Well, if it wasn't for my moth—" Kyoya stopped short. For a second, before he had composed himself, I saw a flicker of regret on his face, as though he shouldn't have said anything.
"Your mother? What does she have to do with this?" I asked, serious. Did his mother know about something and did nothing to stop it? Could she have caused him to lose his arm herself?
"Never mind." Kyoya said, walking away. I stood and watched him leave, very confused. His mother? I pondered over this slip of the tongue. Was his mother abusing him? A rich woman who had everything she could ever ask for, abusing her child? That couldn't be it. I quickly dismissed the thought. He's lashing out. I realized. He must blame her for not doing anything to stop whatever happened. They talked about that in Health in my middle school, about how people lash out on their loved ones when something is wrong because they don't know how to deal with what's going on in their lives. I felt bad for him. I wondered if I was like that right after my mom died. I was only a little kid, but still. I wonder if I blamed Dad for Mom's death somewhere in my heart.
"Haruhi, what are you doing? You're just standing in a corner, spacing out." Hikaru said, walking up to me. "You have customers, you know. You can't just stand here." He said.
"I have customers? I didn't even know. Thanks!" I called over my shoulder before running off. I sat down at a table where a few girls were chatting with no host in sight, figuring they must be the customers.
"Hi, ladies. Were you waiting long?" I asked them.
"No, not at all." A red-headed girl responded, blushing. I could never figure that out. All I did was ask a simple question, and they acted like I had said something overly romantic.
"Is it true?" A shorter girl with long brown hair asked. "Did Kyoya really… you know… get hurt because of an assassin?" She asked, leaning in and lowering her voice.
"Yeah, it is." I answered. Knowing that I was lying to them didn't exactly make me feel good, but it was the story Kyoya wanted to use, so I suppose I just had to go along with it. "I'm still surprised for a second every time I see his arm." I sighed, thinking about Kyoya's text. When would he explain things? Would he even tell us what happened to him at all? I just wanted to know what happened to him so I could make sure it didn't happen again. Where did that thought come from? I thought to myself suddenly. It sounded like I was dating him or something. I don't think about Kyoya like that… do I? I looked over at Kyoya, talking to his customers.
"Uh… Haruhi?" the brown-haired girl said, bringing me back to the real world. "Are you okay?" She asked, looking worried. All of the girls looked worried. Oops.
"Oh… sorry, ladies. I'm okay." I tried to smile, but failed.
"Wow. You're really upset about this, aren't you?" A blond haired girl I hadn't noticed earlier said.
"Well, yeah. I suppose I am. But I'm just glad he wasn't killed. I would hate to lose him." I smiled at them and tried to ignore the inevitable squealing that came with doing anything when you were a Host. Tamaki bent down and whispered in my ear from behind me.
"I'll drive you home after club. We should talk." He said before standing and walking away. I understood immediately. He wanted to know what I "knew" about Kyoya.
The girls had stopped their giggling and squealing and stared at me, wonder in their eyes.
"What was that about, Haruhi?" One of the girls asked. I could only imagine what must be going through their heads about some love affair that must be going on between us. All because he said something to me so that no one else could hear. God, high school girls could be annoying. Well, the ones who actually attended school as a girl, at least.
"Oh, there were just a few changes made to the after club schedules today. Tamaki-sempai was just letting me know." I tried to brush his words as if they meant nothing, but was scared they could see through me. I was relieved when they sat back in their chairs, disappointed.
"Oh, okay." The red-head said. "So, tell us more about Kyoya's… accident. Has he changed at all because of it?" I thought about that. Had he changed? I thought back to this morning. He smiled when I came in the door, a genuine smile. And that text: whenever I'm not to busy doing something else. Yes, he had changed. It wasn't a huge change, but a change nonetheless.
"Well, I guess he has a bit. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't change a little bit after facing something like that." I said honestly, not giving away any details, but they weren't satisfied with just that.
"Like how? Will he still be in the running to succeed his father?" The brown-haired one asked, an eager expression on her face. I suddenly felt angry, as though it were a personal insult. I couldn't explain why I felt like that, I just did.
"It's his arm he lost, not his brain." I said, a little too coldly. I regretted it almost immediately and tried to make up for it. "I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, ladies. I'm a little stressed-out right now." The surprise of my last comment was immediately replaced by sympathy. It was amazing how easily these girls could be swayed.
"No, I'm sorry for asking such a rude question." The brown-haired one (oh, right! Her family name was Suzumi.) said, blushing. "It was a heartless thing for me to ask. I don't know what came over me."
"No, it's okay, really." I said, trying to comfort her. Shit. I thought to myself. Tamaki will kill me if he finds out a customer was upset over something I thought she shouldn't have said. The blond-girl's phone went off and she opened it.
"We have to go." She said to me, obviously disappointed. "Come on, guys. The car is here."
"Okay. I hope to see you again soon ladies." I smiled at Suzumi. "Suzumi-san." She blushed and muttered her goodbyes, scurrying away after her friends. I looked around. Most of the other customers were leaving now too. After all his customers had left, Tamaki quickly apologized for having to leave so soon and hurried out the door, dragging me behind him.
We walked in silence until we reached the parking lot, which was a good 10 minutes away from the music wing. I could see that Tamaki must have planned this, because there was already a car waiting for him, a 2011 Nissan GT-R. My jaw dropped open at the sight of it.
"Sempai, do you know what the MSRP for one of these is?" I asked incrediously, still not believing that, even with all of his money, he would have a car like this.
"6,416,794 yen.* Why?" He asked, as though this was supposed to be a perfectly normal price to pay for a car.
"You actually paid that for a car?" I asked.
"Of course. How much do commoners pay for cars?" He asked, the real reason he wanted to talk to me forgotten.
"Well, there's a Honda Fit for 1,152,672 yen**…" I said thoughtfully. Tamaki looked horrified at the thought of paying that for a car, but quickly got over it, re focusing his attention.
"Never mind. Get in." He said, and I could have sworn I heard him say, "I will not have my little girl driving around in anything under 4 million yen." Under his breath. I almost laughed, but decided it would probably be better that he didn't know I had heard him and climbed in.
"Now, I want to talk to you about Kyoya."
*84,060 US dollars.
**15,100 US dollars.
