SORRY FOR THE WAIT ON THE CHAPTER UPDATE. I JUST FINISHED WRITING 'DEEP WATERS' AND NOW I HAVE MORE TIME TO PUT INTO THIS STORY. :) BUT I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR A JOB SO THAT WILL TAKE UP A BIT OF TIME.

DISCLAIMER: YOU KNOW THE DRILL. :P

!CHAPTER SONG? - Well I was listening to a couple specifically and they helped the words flow a little better.

Imogen Heap- The Walk

Frou Frou- Hear Me Out

Both are really great songs and I highly recomend them.

Avianna's POV:

Rinae arrived at school ten minutes later and Mina arrived five minutes after her. When we met up, I told them about the necklace. They both examined it.

"They did give us gifts. We noticed that each guest got a different gift back when the club was new." Mina explained. "Some recieved chocolates, some recieved a bracelet."

"The guests of Tamaki each recieved seashells that were hand picked off the beach in Hawaii. This is the first time they've ever given a necklace. It might be what they're gonna do for all new guests this year." Rinae said, shrugging.

"The weird thing is that gifts are picked out by the host that the guest first designates. And that necklace looks like something Tamaki would pick out, not Kyoya." Mina observed.

I looked at the gold gem stone. Yeah. It really didn't look like something Kyoya would select. Maybe he never picks out gifts for his guests and just leaves it to Tamaki. But then again, what do I really know about Kyoya? Nothing really. Speak of the devil. The entire club was walking down the main stairs together. Mina and Rinae squealed and I rolled my eyes. It was really pathetic to see every girl in the hallway swoon and scream like a gaggle of fangirls.

Mina and Rinae were quick to run ahead of me and strike up a conversation with Tamaki. Oh well... I was about to walk in the direction of my first hour math class but someone called my name. I turned around, a little suprised to see Haruhi run up to me. "Avianna san. I'm sorry to bother you. You dropped this in the club room."

He handed me the keychain I had hooked to the handle of my school bag before going to school this morning. It was a little plastic orchid that my grandmother had found for me in a novelty shop last year. "Thank you." I smiled before hooking it back to my bag handle.

He bowed. "Your welcome. I suppose I'll see you after school for the club meeting?"

I nodded, still a little suprised by how girlish he looked. "Sure."

He ran back to his friends then, the twins dragging him off right away in what I guessed was the direction of their first class. Mina and Rinae glanced over at me, big smiles on their faces. Rinae motioned for me to approach. Sitting my bag on the side of the steps where nobody would accidently trip over it, I ran over to them. Tamaki Suoh was showing them some sort of pamphlet. On closer inspection, I saw that it was a little guide to all the highlights in Okinawa.

"Avianna! You'll never believe what location the school chose for their beginning of the year trip!" Rinae squealed. "They've chosen Okinawa!"

"Really? When?" Okinawa? I have always wanted to visit there. They've got beautiful beaches. Mina answered my question.

"In three weeks. During the first two weeks of school, they watch over the grades and test scores of each student. A week before the trip is scheduled, they announce the top ten students from every grade and those students get to go on the trip. Wouldn't it be great if we all got to go?"

"And that's not the best part." Rinae told me, her eyes almost as big as her smile. "Since Tamaki is the chairman's son and Kyoya's the class president for our grade, they'll both definately be going on the trip. Oh! I hope the rest of the hosts get to go too. Tamaki senpai? Do you think that everyone from the club will get to go?"

Tamaki sighed and smiled flirtatously like the dan juan he is. "I really do hope so. But if not, I'm more than content with the fact that I'll get to go on this trip with you lovely ladies. That is... if we all make it..."

Rinae and Mina went straight into ultimate fangirl mode. This was my cue to leave. Glancing back at them, I backed down the stairs and grabbed my bag. I was halfway up the stairs that led to my math class when I heard someone else step onto the marble steps. Looking back cautiously, I saw Kyoya following about five feet behind me. I gulped and looked back towards the front, quickening my pace. Running right into my class, I took a seat and kept my eyes locked on the assignment written on the board.

Kyoya walked into the classroom next. He took his seat at the desk to the left of mine and pulled a book out of his bag. He had just opened it up to the page he left off at when the bell rang. The teacher was out of her seat right away, telling us all about the scheduled trip. I reluctantly looked away from the dark haired host, knowing I'd end up not listening to anything the teacher said if my eyes remained on him.

To my dismay, we were being paired off into groups of two to work on a worksheet packet that would take up the whole hour. At least it was selective. But who did I know in this class other than Kyoya? I'd probably earn quite a few enemies if I tried to work with him. I located a few of Kyoya's guests sitting in this class. Then who? "Want to be my partner?" I jumped and looked in the direction of who spoke. Oh yeah.

"Hey Hiro. Sure." We pulled our desks together and took one of the packets that the teacher was passing around the class. I glanced over at Kyoya again. He wasn't working with anyone. Counting, I noticed that there was an odd number of students. That's kind of sad. It wasn't really fair that he didn't have a partner.

Hiro must've noticed my staring cause he explained it for me. "I've been in the same class as him since freshman year. He never works with a partner and the teachers never push it. He's a loner." He whispered.

I looked back at Hiro. "It makes you wonder why he joined the host club if he's a loner." I said idly.

"There must be something in it for him. Tamaki's his best friend so he might be doing it as a friendly gesture." He said quietly before shrugging. We did several of the problems before we spoke again. "Maybe..." Hiro mumbled. "He's doing it because Tamaki is the chairman's son and he wants to be some sort of teacher's pet to the school."

I grimmaced. That's a little mean to assume. I mean, yeah, Kyoya's a bit of an ice king. Or best friend of a 'king' but I can't see him as the type to do something so superficial. Kyoya was the first to finish his packet, even without a partner. When he turned it in, he sat back at his desk and went right back to reading his book. The same book he read yesterday. He could speak and read English. I wonder if everyone else here can to.

I turned to Hiro again. "Can you speak English?" I asked.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Nah. Not at all. Why?"

I shrugged. "I've just met people here who can."

"Well I really should learn English. My father's been encouraging it. I've asked around, trying to find someone who could speak it so they could teach me but nobody can. The school really should offer an English program."

I thought about offering but I wasn't a very good teacher and I wasn't sure how much patience I would have with teaching someone a different language. I eyed Kyoya. "Kyoya can speak English."

Hiro eyed the before mentioned boy and frowned. "Ah, no that's alright. He kind of weirds me out. I'll just ask my father to hire a tudor."

That was the last thing we said on the matter. Ten minutes later, the packet was done and we went on to talk about the upcoming trip. At the end of class, when everyone was getting their stuff together and turning in the packets, I could've sworn I saw Kyoya looking right in my direction. By the time I turned to check, his eyes were already trained on his book.

Before I could hide the fact that I had been looking at him, the blonde chick who spent yesterday glaring at me walked right between our desks, blocking my view of him. "Kyoya! How are you?"

I tuned them out then. They can talk about whatever they want? What business is it of mine? I can't wait till this class is over... As hard as I tried not to listen, the second he responded to her question, my attention was caught. "I'm well Megumi san. I was just talking with your father the other day and he tells me he's offering funding for the upcoming trip."

She giggled. "Yes. I'll be definately going on the trip. We should see about sitting together on the plane."

I wanted to hear his response, for whatever reason, but the sound of the bell drowned him out. I wasn't even sure if he properly said goodbye to her. Just like yesterday, he was up and out of the class before I could even get my bearings. I spent the rest of the day thinking on what his response would be. Did he like her? Why did it matter to me? It shouldn't. Didn't. Doesn't! Grrr...

School eventually ended and I was on my way to the club room with Mina and Rinae. Rinae came up the idea of going shopping at the Masami Plaza tomorrow to which I was greatful. Shopping with people my age sounded a lot more enticing then shopping on my own with a middle aged dude in a tux watching my every move. No offense to Mr. Kobayashi. Since tomorrow was sunday, we could be out and about all day.

After being a guest for the club once, I got the basic jist of signing myself up for time with a host. First come, first serve. You want to get a specific host? Fight for your spot. It didn't really matter who to me but I kept hearing talk of people earning the name host hopper for choosing a different host everyday and I really didn't need that kind of attention so I better sign up for Kyoya. Pushing my way through the crowd at the door, I stood near the front of the line with Mina and Rinae. I took a deep breath. Alright. Here we go.

The doors of Music Room 3 swung open and we all rushed up to the sign up table. To my amazment, I was the first to get my hands on the board. Signing inside the box labeled 'Kyoya', I passed the clipboard to Mina and dug my way out of the crowd. Unfortunately, by the time I made it to Kyoya's table, the blonde girl named Megumi was already sitting in one of the chairs. Oh great... she's in my group. I went to sit in the remaining chair but another girl walked past me and took it.

My eyes scanned the nearby tables for a spare chair but couldn't find one anywhere. Megumi gave me an icy smile. Cold as it was, it was no match for Kyoya's 'I hate the world' smile that he'd been using everytime he was forced to be polite. I smiled back dryly. Kyoya didn't even notice the exchange. His eyes were on the papers in his hands. He wrote something on one of them and sat them aside before looking up at the girls around his table. His eyes landed on me and he gave me a confused look as if to say 'why the heck are you just standing there?'. Looking at the floor, I turned around and walked right out of the club room.

I couldn't say if I was happy or unhappy that no one followed me from the room. I settled for happy. I hated negative attention. Pitying or otherwise. I walked quickly down the stairs and directly out the back door near the cafeteria. I took a deep breath. The garden... A large fountain was directly across from the door, a massive maze to the right of it. The green maze stretched on for about an acre or more, little specs of red and white on it. I smiled. Roses. I love roses.

Running ahead, I walked through the green arched entrance. Large bushes towered on each side of me. Ivy like leaves had been wrapped around each bush, red and white roses blooming on them. Some type of cross breed plant. It didn't take long at all to get completely lost. With as much money as this school has, you'd think they could afford to put some signs in the maze so people could find their way back out. The path twisted this way and that, leading me in I don't even know which direction. Giving up on trying to find my way out, I turned around and tried to retrace my steps.

I must've made a wrong turn because I walked right into a big clearing filled with wildflowers. Against the far side of the clearing was a little white gazebo with red and white roses wrapped all around it. Well I did need a break after walking for so long. I've probably been lost in here for at least half an hour. I could rest here and read a book. Walking over to the gazebo, I took a seat and dug the book we were reading in Literature class out of my bag. I was halfway through chapter three when I began to nod off. Setting the book aside, I crossed my arms on the table and laid my head on them. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

"Well there you have it. What do you think? Would you like to go to a school like that?"

A nine year old me sat on my father's lap while he surfed the web. He went to the website of a very pretty looking school. Ouran Academy. "It's really pretty."

He laughed. "It really was. Looking past all the wealth, the school was beautiful. Everything about it was so put together, one never wanted to leave. I enjoyed my time there very much. If you were to go to school there now, you'd go to their elementary school. Let me show you a picture."

He clicked something and a picture of a bunch of kids either my age or around that ran around a playground. In the background was the back of a big building. My eyes scanned the crowd of students that looked Japanese, just like me. I looked away from the picture and stared up at my dad. "Can I go there?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You want to go there? It's all the way in Tokyo, Japan."

Looking back at the computer, I looked at the photo again. "Yes. Let's move there."

He chuckled. "We don't have the money to move all the way there. Besides... it's not as nice as you think..."

Reaching up, I clicked the mouse and the picture changed to the next one in the gallery. It was a picture of a classroom of students. Sitting at the front of the class, the focus of the photo, was a little dark haired boy in glasses. His features were positioned so perfectly, I found him very attractive, even as a child. "He's a pretty boy."

Dad laughed loudly. "If they're a boy, you don't say pretty, you say handsome."

"Okay. He's a handsome boy." I stared at the picture. The boy had a book in his hands. He looked almost startled, as if he wasn't aware until the last minute that he was having his picture taken.

Before I could ask him who the boy was, he closed the browser and carried me into the kitchen for a snack.

My eyes opened slowly, bringing me back to reality. I didn't lift my head up from my hands at first. My mind went back through the dream. The little boy in the glasses was... "Did you sleep well?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin then. My head shot up, my heart pounding. I placed a hand over my heart. "You scared me! What are you doing here?"

Kyoya Ootori sat across from me, a book in his hands. He had several papers on the table in front of him along with his laptop. He closed the book and sat it aside. He propped his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. "I was working on my reading asignment as I usually do. This gazebo is my private working space. I started using it when I first started going to school here. So imagine how suprised I was to find you sitting in my seat."

The hauty tone in his voice earned a glare from me. "This isn't yours. It belongs to every student. Anyone can sit here." Crossing my arms, I leaned back in my seat. I wasn't about to get up and leave. He'd think he won.

He opened his eyes a little wider, his brows raising. "I suppose you're right. But don't you think you should be getting home Miss. Yukimura?"

My eyes widened and I grabbed my bag and dug my phone out of it. 4:56. I needed to be home at 5:15. I shook my head and returned my phone and my book back to my bag. "Not yet."

I leaned back against the wrap around bench. When it finally dawned on him that I wasn't going anywhere, he leaned back and opened his laptop. Whatever he was doing, it required a lot of typing. My eyes scanned the clearing, trying to think of something to say to break the awkward silence. When I couldn't come up with anything, I just settled for staring at the logo on the back of his laptop. It was a very expensive looking laptop. "What on earth are you typing anyway?" I said before I could think.

The way his sharp eyes darted up and bore into mine made me wish I hadn't spoke. They weren't hostile, just very fierce, like whatever he was typing had him in a very determined mood. He didn't even respond. He just looked back down and went right back to typing ridiculously fast. Well that's rude. Standing up, I walked around the table and sat beside him. I could tell by the way his shoulders tensed that he noticed.

I leaned over in his direction, just enough to see the screen. He was writing some sort of schedule. After a moment's observation, I saw that he was fixing up a list of themes for each meeting the club will have this month. He was doing a lot of editing and he kept going back and forth between this document and another document that had the club's budget written on it. He saved both documents and closed out of them before shutting the computer screen. He looked over at me, obvious frustration in his eyes.

"I apologize Miss. Yukimura but I have no time for conversation." He said formally, just barely hiding the agitation in his voice.

"Fine." I guess this is his spot and he doesn't have to pay any attention to me. Standing up, I grabbed my bag and practically stormed off. I was just around the corner of the arch that led to the maze when I stopped. What am I doing? I'm acting like a little kid. If I'm going to continue to show up for club meetings to keep Mina and Rinae happy then I'd rather not be on bad terms with my selected host.

It'd just be so much easier if he wasn't so hostile. What is it that's making him be so rude to me anyway? He's at least partway polite with all the other guests. Swallowing my pride, I rounded the corner to the clearing and walked right up to him. By the time I stopped a few feet from the gazebo, he was already looking up at me with slight curiosity. I bowed for a second like all the other people here do to show respect. "I'm sorry."

When I stood back upright, he had turned his legs so that he was completely facing me. He bowed his head. "I apologize too. I've been disagreeable. What my father says shouldn't affect my manners."

I stared at him blankly. "Huh?"

He seemed almost suprised. "You don't know? I figured you would. Nevermind then. I'll see you monday in class." He turned away and went right to work on picking all his papers up. When he had them all together, I walked right past me and walked through the arch. Knowing I'd get lost without his help, I ran after him.

"Wait!" I called. He didn't stop but he slowed down enough that I could match my strides with his. "What don't I know?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Usually similar companies don't have any sort of contact with one another, even the family of the company owners."

I thought his response through but still couldn't make any sense of it. "Could you explain that a little more?"

He stopped suddenly and turned partway to me, his expression impatient. "My father is Yoshio Ootori. We own Tokyo's largest medical company. Your half brother owns the second largest. His company has been doing well and my father sees him as a rival. I would have thought that Mr. Yukimura would've told you to stay away from me."

"That makes no sense." I told him. What did it matter if I talked to Mr. Ootori's son? Is that why he's been so hostile?

He smiled a little but it was laced with bitterness. "Don't worry yourself Miss. Yukimura. Allow me to escort you out of the maze."

That was the last we spoke on the matter. I was glad that he offered because it took us only five minutes to find our way out instead of the thirty it took me to get lost and find the clearing. He walked me right up to the gate where a limo was waiting. He bowed in my direction and gave a quick goodbye before heading towards the limo. He was almost ot it when I spoke, once again, without thinking.

"Masami Plaza!" I yelled.

He paused at the door and looked over his shoulder. "Beg your pardon?"

I blushed. "Tomorrow at ten in the morning. I'm going to the Masami Plaza with Mina and Rinae for the day to shop, eat lunch and maybe catch a movie. Do you want to meet us there?"

He looked suprised to say the least. He took a moment to respond. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe I'll bring Tamaki. Mina and Rinae are guests of his."

I smiled. "Thank you."

His answering smile was small and fleeting. He got in the limo and was gone right away. When the vehicle was nothing more than a dot in the distance, I turned on my heel and headed for Mark's house. I was right on time. Mark was just exiting his study when I walked through the front door.

"There you are. How was the club meeting?" He asked as he walked right past me. He stopped at the arch that led into the dining room and asked the cook what was for dinner.

"Good." I lied. "I've made plans for tomorrow. Shopping with Mina and Rinae." And possibly Kyoya. Probably not. I really couldn't imagine him wanting to show up and run around with a trio of girls. If he did show up, it would be with either just Tamaki or the entire host club. And possibly a few guests.

"That's good. Go ahead and take a seat at the table. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

As we took our seats, I mulled over a question in my head. The food was just being placed on the table when I had the courage to ask. "Are we enemies with the Ootori family?"

He looked a little startled. "Why do you ask?"

"I go to class with Kyoya Ootori and he told me that his father owns Tokyo's largest medical company and you own the second. Because of that, our families are rivals. Right?"

He took a bite of his food, his expression thoughtful. "Well I don't think I'd say rivals. I've been looking into it and my plan is to create a partnership with the Ootori Medical Company. The meeting I went to yesterday evening was actually a dinner party that I knew he'd be at. I'm hoping to tie our companies together by the end of the year."

"Oh." I wonder if Kyoya knows this.

"But don't tell his son. I want this all to play out smoothly." He told me, using his chopsticks to point.

"I won't."

We ate in silence for several minutes before he spoke again. "Are you friends with Kyoya Ootori?"

I tried not to grimmace. I doubt I'd ever be able to call that boy my 'friend' even if I spent the rest of the semester trying. "Something like that."

"Alright. That's good. Maybe if you and him become close friends, he'll introduce you to his father. It would give me the opportunity to propose dinner with his family."

I sighed. Was he really gonna make me be buddy buddy with this kid just so he could gain a partnership? He'd probably try. At the rate I'm going, he'd most likely succeed. I don't know why but part of me wants to be friends with Kyoya. He may be rude but at least he doesn't put on a cheesy act like the rest of the hosts. Well except Haruhi. I don't think he does either.

After dinner, I went right up to my room to finish up my homework. After that, I sent a long text message to my mom, telling her how 'awesome' the school was and how much I missed her. She sent back an even longer message that all centered around her wishing I'd come home. I don't want to make her sad but... this is something I have to do for dad. And for me...

I spent a few hours listening to the radio (Japanese music really was good if you find the right songs) before taking a shower, getting dressed and crawling into bed. Walking all over that maze earlier really wore me out.

I was halfway asleep when my cellphone rang. Sighing, I reached over and grabbed it, clicking the 'accept call' button. Putting it to my ear, I yawned. "Hello?"

"Avianna!"