Chapter III

"What do you think of Japan?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, just…thinking of sending you there for a year."

"That's a really bad joke, Dad."

"I feel as though…you need to go," Kaori's father said it in a very cautious tone. He knew she didn't like the idea.

Two weeks had past since Kaori's first day at Ouran.

She lived alone in an apartment that her Uncle generously purchased for her during her stay in Japan. Kaori felt guilty for mentioning how she wasn't comfortable living in a mansion. Granted, she appreciated his efforts to make her feel at home although it was unnecessary to go as far as to buying an expensive condo.

Unfortunately, Kaori couldn't help but to fall in love with the condo. She couldn't say no, and thanked her Uncle a countless number of times. It was furnished in a way she just couldn't resist. It was simple and clean, mostly black and white, with a few touches of colour here and there, complete with a nice large screen TV and a view overlooking Bunkyo.

She got up at 6:30 AM and made a cup of green tea. She wasn't a morning person, but she coped with it better when she was alone. Kaori had a habit of overworking herself in order to sleep soundly at night. She was often tired during the day, but always had a hard time falling asleep unless she was completely exhausted.

Kaori took the subways in the morning, and walked the rest of the way to Ouran. She found the number of limousines parked at the school ridiculous. She wondered how anyone could possibly differentiate one from the other.

Homeroom was the same as any other day. Students chattered among themselves, the teacher was busy planning out their lessons… Kaori sat in class and pondered over how her day will be. She thought about her homework. She finished a few essays for next week, and she already previewed the chapters ahead for the rest of her subjects. Working ahead was always something she did.

Work, then play.

The words of her father rang through her head. She inwardly thanked her father for forcing her to develop good work ethic. Her father was the only one she had. He was often busy, but made time for his daughter. She respected him, she loved him, and he was everything to her. Then he suddenly ushered her to a country halfway across the world.

She wasn't angry, unhappy yes, but more perplexed. Her father often had his own reasons and she didn't question them. It was another puzzle to solve, and a puzzle that will keep her thinking for quite a while.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a blonde boy who stood by her desk with a big grin on his face. Kaori wondered if he ever got tired of smiling.

"Princess! Why haven't you come our wonderful Host Club yet?" he exclaimed. Tamaki was determined to try again. After all, if Kaori stopped by the club, it would mean more time between her and Kyouya. Tamaki believed that this girl had something different. Something he couldn't explain. He took it upon himself to play matchmaker.

Kaori however, wasn't pleased with Tamaki's interruption. Stay polite, Kaori.

"I'm sorry, it seems that I've been busy with work lately… I'm afraid I don't have any time for your club," Kaori explained slowly and gave a small smile. It was quite the opposite, actually. Homework wasn't a problem. She found Tamaki to be…too flamboyant to her liking. She didn't like the attention he carried with him, and attracting any attention to her wouldn't have been very enjoyable for Kaori.

"Ah, well don't be sorry, my lady! Please stop by when you do have the time. The third music room will always be there!" he smiled and pranced off to another group of ladies while quietly scheming to somehow get Kaori to stop by the club.

Kaori sighed out of relief. She looked around. No one glaring at her. No screeching girls. That was a good sign. She turned back to her desk only to find Kyouya Ootori standing in front of her.

She was startled.

"Can I uhm, can I help you with anything…?"

"Ahh, Nakamoto-san. It seems as though you haven't joined any extracurricular activities yet,"

"That is correct," Kaori was aware of the guidelines. She read the student manual ten times over. Breaking school rules weren't her thing, but since she had the permission to do so…

"It is a requirement for any Ouran student to join a club or activity, Nakamoto-san. As the class president, it is my responsibility to keep my class in check. I advise you to think of one you would like to join,"

"Thank you for informing me, Ootori-san. However, it seems as though you are unaware of the fact that it is not required for me," it wasn't…necessarily true. She fervently refused to join any extracurriculars when discussing her terms with the headmaster. She was determined to fall into the background, as though she didn't exist. The deal was for her to tutor students instead. She agreed, only because she figured there wouldn't be anyone to tutor. It was after all, an academy with high standards.

"Well, if that's the case…" the Ootori walked away with a slight bow.

Kaori had an odd lingering feeling. The conversation felt staged. Kyouya Ootori bothered her to no end. It wasn't so much due to her hatred of his ego, but rather the curiosity that revolved around her.

Kyouya was stumped.

Kyouya couldn't find anything on Kaori. Her cousin, however, Kyouya had plenty of information. None of which helped him in any way. Michi seemed to be the complete opposite of Kaori. She was a social butterfly with many friends. Michi often visited the Host Club and designated Tamaki. She was carefree and took up ballet as a hobby.

Kaori…she was quiet. She often looked like she was daydreaming, but never seemed to miss a beat during class. No one seemed to remember that she existed. She didn't seem to mind that. She was exempted from wearing the uniform, and even extracurriculars.

What possible connection could she have to the Headmaster to be able to do so? After all, the Nakamoto Corporation wasn't even that affluent, and the Headmaster had no obligation to accommodate her needs.

Even after two weeks, Kyouya found nothing. It was then he felt frustration. A different type of frustration, the type where it was petty but it bothered him to no end.

During lunch, Kaori often visited the courtyard and admired spots of the school. Ouran was massive. She felt as though she could explore the entire school and never get tired of it because it had so many crooks and secret places. She made a note to bring her camera one day.

Photography was a hobby of Kaori's. It was ironic, seeing as Kaori hated having her photo taken, but loved taking photos of things.

Kaori ate lunch as she sat down on a bench outside in the courtyard. The weather was getting cooler, and fall was nearing. She loved fall, it was her favourite season. She smiled to herself and enjoyed the rest of her lunch while listening to her iPod. It was moments like these that made her happy. She sang quietly to herself. It was the littlest things. The warm sun, cool temperature, the wonderful view, great music…it was perfect.

As Kyouya walked down the halls, he noticed a figure in the courtyard. It was her. Kyouya felt the urge to go towards her. It was like the time at that party. It was an inexplicable connection between him and her. He stopped before he reached the outside of the courtyard. He wondered what possible benefit it would bring if he went to talk to her.

There wasn't, but he walked towards her anyway. His mind wasn't listening to his thoughts. It was as though something just shut off, and his rationing skills jumped out the window.

"I want a library…full of our stories, a ship to keep all our memories afloat…"

A soft voice sang as he got closer and closer. It was very faint. He was nearly a meter behind her until he realized she was singing.

She hummed some parts, and stayed silent for some. It was very sporadic. Her voice was sweet, and shy.

Kyouya cleared his throat.

Kaori jumped up from her bench and nearly fell over. It was embarrassing on so many levels. She was clumsy like that. She hated it.

"Holy shit, that scared me…" She turned around and her hand quickly reached up to her mouth. She had a habit of swearing, and she the only way of hiding it was not speaking, or…not speaking often at least. Quickly gaining back her senses, she noticed the Ootori smirking at her.

The smirk bothered her.

"What are you doing here?" she switched back to Japanese. It took her a minute to piece the sentence together. She had a habit of forgetting that Japanese was to be spoken. Her first language was English and she learned Japanese as she went along. It was ironic, seeing as she was half-Japanese herself and had to learn the language.

The Ootori was silent for a while. To be honest, he didn't exactly know why he was there.

"Still wondering who I am, perhaps?"

Right, that was the reason. Kyouya stayed silent, he stared into those orbs. They never broke eye contact. It was a staring contest and they both didn't even notice they were competing.

Kaori expected him to coax information out of her cousin, Michi. Perhaps he hadn't thought of that yet. Michi was the heiress to the Nakamoto Corporation, and had the slightest connection to the Ootoris. She was useless to the Ootori. If the heiress was useless, then the cousin of the heiress would be a speck of dust. She was back to square one.

"…what do you want from me?"

"Who are you?" Kyouya countered.

"This seems quite déjà vu-like, don't you think so? Ootori-san, I don't know what interests you so much about me, but I for one am not interested in you," Kaori tried to be polite. After all, her father didn't teach her to handle things rudely. She was straight forward.

He was aware that there would be no merit in speaking with such a girl. A commoner girl at that. She seemed…similar to Haruhi, but different. Her bluntness surprised him just as much as Haruhi's had. He was lost in her eyes.

His rationing skills went out the window. He stripped off his mask and there came pure honesty.

"That moment at the gathering that one night, you…" he trailed off as though his mind had no words to describe this odd connection towards her. He couldn't even piece his sentences properly. The look on his face showed his puzzlement. It was new to Kaori, it was new to Kyouya himself.

Kaori nearly forgot about the party. She wasn't sure what to say. She didn't feel the same way towards the Ootori. She was rather confused as to why the Ootori still acted this way. Trailing off his sentences never happened during class. The boy seemed to be lost, it felt weird to Kaori seeing him like this when he had such a professional demeanour during class. It wasn't like him.

But after all, he was human. Humans make mistakes. Perhaps Kyouya was making a mistake right now, and was fully aware of it but for some reason, it didn't feel like a mistake at all.

Kaori broke off the eye contact. Kaori was just as lost as the raven haired boy who towered over her. She was reluctant to have any form of relationship with anyone in this school. Friends, acquaintances…nothing.

From afar, the two just looked as though they stood facing each other with nothing to say. Both stayed silent. It was awkward...

Kyouya stood, waiting for her to speak as though he expected something. Something useful, at least.

Kaori's phone vibrated. Hurriedly, Kaori pulled it out of her pocket and answered. She inwardly thanked her cousin as she checked the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Speak in Japanese, Vee. You should get rid of that habit of yours, you know. At least when you're in Japan,"

"Can't help it," she answered back in English, again.

"Come to the third music room today. I need to introduce you to my friends, they're nice, I swear. Please, Vee? You're the only one I'm close to. I haven't seen you in years, and you won't even live with us,"

"I'm glad to hear that you still care, but not today, alright? I'll meet up with you on the weekend sometime,"

Kyouya deduced that it was probably her cousin. She looked away from Kyouya, almost embarrassed to face him while speaking on the phone. The way she spoke... it was different. She was usually quite defensive, pushing others away. She put up a mask too. She wasn't much different from Kyouya.

Kaori put her phone away.

"Why do you do that?" Kyouya asked.

"Do what?"

"Push people away," he answered.

"You do it too," Kaori retorted.

"I don't push them away; they voluntarily stay away from me. Ootoris have quite a bit of power, if you haven't noticed,"

"Ha, well in that case people voluntarily stay away from me. After all, I am only a mere commoner. It's just you. You and your ridiculous curiosity,"

"Then satisfy my curiosity," Kyouya did not expect that to come out of his mouth.

Kaori looked at him and shook her head. She would've thought someone like an Ootori would know better than to associate himself with someone like her.

"Why should I? My life and my interests bring no merit to you, or anyone. Your time is wasted on me. I'm nothing. Nothing of any use to you,"

She just didn't want to open up to anyone. She wasn't going to plan on opening up to him, and neither was he. She wanted this conversation to end.

"Class is starting soon, see you in class," Kaori walked away, leaving Kyouya behind.

No merit. It was true. She brought no merit. No benefit, nothing. Kyouya sat in class and turned his head to see what his classmate was doing.

She looked the same each day. Taking notes, and paying attention. She seldom answered questions, she only answered when called upon. But otherwise, she was a model student like Kyouya himself. The only difference was that she was of no class.

What attracted him towards her, he had no idea. It wasn't romantic, it wasn't romantic at all. He thought.

But it was something that he couldn't explain. It wasn't really physical attraction, she looked quite plain from afar. He never experienced romance before anyway. It was useless; he was going to be in an arranged marriage eventually. He will marry for power, for the company, love was out of the question.

No one made Kyouya confused like that. He didn't even know if he liked her. He just wanted to know about her.

During Host Club hours, Tamaki decided to bring up Kaori while talking to Kyouya.

"What do you think of Kaori?"

"She's a commoner, nothing more, nothing less," Kyouya answered…a little too quickly. Kyouya didn't really know what he thought of her. It was the first thing that came up in his mind.

The Twins overheard.

"Who is this…Kaori," twin one started.

"We speak about, Tono?" the second twin finished.

"Is she another toy we can play with? Does our Shadow King have feelings…towards a commoner?" the twins mocked.

Haruhi made her way towards the gang with desserts for Honey.

"She's a scholarship student like my daughter!" Tamaki mentioned as Haruhi walked by.

"Is she the one that doesn't wear a uniform? I see her walking to school sometimes…" Haruhi said as she tried to picture the girl's face.

"I believe it's time for the club to open. I suggest everyone return to their designated positions before I add more debt to Haruhi and cancel the cosplaying plans for next week," the Shadow King said, and he was not amused by the topic.

Michi sat in the music room with her friends and mingled among themselves with the hosts. She took a piece of cake and mindlessly took bites out of it, with Kaori at the back of her mind. Kaori and Michi spent summers together as kids, but as they grew older, visits became less frequent and they drifted apart. Michi hoped that Kaori wasn't distant because she felt inferior, or if she started disliking her for any reason. Nonetheless, Michi respected Kaori and her boundaries. She wanted to spend her days with Kaori again, like kids with no worries. She sighed to herself.

In front of her stood the Shadow King smiling that host smile of his.

"Anything bothering you, Nakamoto-san?" he noticed her zoning out.

"Ah, nothing in particular, Ootori-san. Thank you for your concern," she smiled.

"It isn't because of your cousin, is it?" Kyouya raised an eyebrow, and smirked. He noticed her eyes widening. He was right on the spot.

"Please, do tell what's bothering you, after all the Host Club is about making you ladies happy," Kyouya hoped for the best. Perhaps her cousin would be willing to spill all the details.

"Ahh, well…it isn't a big issue at all. Please, continue on working, Ootori-san," Michi wasn't sure if it was a good idea to spill the beans on her cousin. After all, she went through the trouble of making herself virtually unknown. Even as her cousin she didn't know why, but regardless, the Ootori probably had no use to any information regarding her cousin.

Michi stopped for a moment. She wondered how the Ootori could've possibly known about her cousin. The Ootori always had a way of things, it was quite creepy.

"But I insist, please, put your mind at ease and let us know what is on your mind," Kyouya tried again.

At that moment, Michi's phone went off.

"Excuse me, Ootori-san," she smiled and took her phone away to outside of the music room. Stealthily, Kyouya followed her out.

"Oh…really? My phone wasn't on then, but alright, I'll give him a call back…mhmm… thanks Vee,"

Michi ended the call only to find the Shadow King standing behind her, giving her a glance that made her shiver. She felt compelled to tell him about the phone call.

"That was…that was my cousin, she…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say. The call itself wasn't that important.

"I believe her name is Kaori…?"

"Ah, well, she goes by her Japanese name here, but she goes by Vivienne…" Michi forgot. She always forgot. She wasn't supposed to say anything. "Never mind, I'm afraid it's time for me to leave, Ootori-san", she bowed and scurried away.

It wasn't as much as information as Kyouya wanted. But it was enough.

Vivian, Vivianne, Vivienne…three ways of spelling that name. Perhaps Googling would work.

A/N: I sort-of have this planned out. I hope this wasn't a drag to read or anything. Reviews would be appreciated.