Chapter 4: Sacred Space
A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews and the follows. I hope to keep updating as much as possible. I am also trying to type this chapter on my tablet with my Bluetooth keyboard so I apologize for typos (I proofread I swear but I am not the best. Even my papers in college had multiple issues).
I do not own OHSHC, only my OC(s) and any story lines I make up rather than change or borrow.
"Its been a long time Lei" Kyoya said as he caught her arm. Kyoya had pulled Leiona in close much like he had done so many years ago.
The initial shock of being spun around took her breath away. She was stunned that Kyoya Ootori would even bother to remember her after what should have been such a small blip on his social radar. The closeness frazzled her, but as she regained her composure, she fought back the blush that was trying to spread across her cheeks.
"I have no idea what you are talking about Mr. Ootori" was the only response Leiona could muster in the moment. She tried to pull away from Kyoya, but the struggle only caused him to increase his hold and try to pull her in even closer.
"I think you know exactly what I am talking about. Don't tell me that you forgot about me" he replied shortly. Leiona couldn't tell if he was being sentimental or if he was distressed by her presence. "I want to know what exactly you re doing here. Now." Kyoya had grown irritated. Leiona knew for sure now, she was not welcome a Ouran.
"Honestly I don't think it is any of damn business what I am doing here. And before you open your cocky mouth about how I should have checked to see if you went to school here then save your breath. It wouldn't have mattered. This is the best school in there area, hell all of Japan. If I had to move to this miserable hellhole, I was not going to sacrifice my future just to appease you and this asinine feud our families had. Believe me stroking your enormous ego is not worth it."
Kyoya was startled by the audacity of her comments. Few if any had the nerve to say anything like that to Kyoya, let alone in such a tone. In his shock he loosened his grip enough for Leiona to break away. She immediately ran as fast as she could,, calling her driver as she descended the giant staircase. Within seconds the driver pulled up and Leiona opened the door before the driver even got the opportunity to get out of the car.
"Just drive!" She screamed as she slammed the door behind her. The driver could sense that not all was right and took off so fast that Leiona as almost stuck to her seat. As she got her bearings, she turned to look out the rear window, and saw Kyoya catching his breath after apparently chasing after her. She knew she got away for now, but she also knew that she would have to face him again the next day.
Leiona arrived at school the next day completely exhausted. She slept very little as she was worried about how Kyoya would behave towards her during class.
"I am not sure what I should be more worried about. Him or the fact that I am so tired that I am pretty damn sure that I am wearing 2 different Chucks right now... hell what is going to happen with the Host Club?! Did I seriously just lose the only friends I had because of that jackass?!"
Leiona got a reprieve as Kyoya was strictly business (or school rather) during class. She wasn't sure if he just honestly didn't give a crap, or was making a conscious effort to ignore her. As the day went on, Kyoya made no effort to contact her, good or bad. However everything changed during their English literature class.
As class be the teacher began to calm the class down, as they had this class immediately after lunch, she made an important announcement.
"Class as you most of you are aware of, it is time for group projects!" The class began to groan as a collective group. No one liked group projects because... "I will be assigning your groups to try and make sure that all groups have the best opportunity and the most diversity."
The teacher began to read the list off, pairing some guy with some other guy. Leiona honestly didn't care. "I am going to get with some random asshole that doesn't do anything and I'm going have to do this entire project myself. Fantastic. Well at least I can guarantee myself a good grade" she thought.
"Phillips and..." The teacher started to read off. "Okay let's see what lucky jackass is going have the privilege of getting an easy A" she continued on in her mind.
"Ootori!" …. The teacher just paired her with who?!
"Excuse me!" Leiona said as she raised her hand. "I am sorry I wasn't able to hear you clearly. Who did you say I was with again?"
"I said that you were Mr Ootori. It's a great pairing, and expect and excellent project from the both of you." As the words came out of the teachers mouth Leiona's heart sunk to darkest depths possible. She couldn't believe that out everyone in this class, she got stuck with the one SOB that practically assaulted her yesterday. Leiona stayed in a daze as the teacher finished reading the remainder of the list, pairing Tamaki with some random girl that visited the host club often, while the squeals of Tamaki's jealous regulars rang in the background.
"Now go ahead and move if you need to. This will be the only class time you get to work on this project, so make sure that you and your partner make arrangements to meet outside of school."
Leiona was trying fight back the urge to vomit. " You have to be kidding me?! This is some sick joke right? This has to be a joke. What in the hell did I do to deserve this?". Leiona sighed and laid her head on her desk, debating if taking an F was worth not having to deal with the jerk sitting next to her.
"Ms. Phillips, I am going to need to sit up if have any hope of passing this class. I personally could easily do the project myself, but then again that would defeat the purpose of this assignment, now wouldn't it." Kyoya's currently smug voice broke through Leiona's daze, forcing her to sit up and come face to face with the inevitable... she was paired with the enemy. Something about his words caused something to boil up inside of her. She wanted to lash out for those words, and the way he treated her yesterday, but something on her mind kept her. She knew that she handle this situation as delicately as possible for the time being. After all, she had witnesses right now.
"I am fully aware of your abilities Mr. Oototri," she said making sure to sound as condescending as possible as she said his name, "but do not down mine. English is after all my first language and have several ideas for novels we could select for our project. I plan on doing my fair share of the work."
"Well then, I guess we will need to find a time and place to meet. It will need to be some time after the Host Club adjourns for the day, as you and I will both be busy handling our duties with the club."
"Wait..." Leiona was confused at Kyoya's words. She lowered her voice to a whisper, enough that only Kyoya was able to hear. "You made it very clear how you felt about me yesterday, and you still having me do things for your club? Are you insane or are you honestly that delusional?"
"I am very well aware of what happened." Kyoya said as he pushed his glasses with his pointer finger. "However, my personal feelings should affect my work. We already made an agreement for you to work for the club in exchange for your silence regarding Haruhi, among other things" he smirked at the thought of her asking the silly question about his type and causing her to blush yesterday.
"Well then, no hard feelings?" Leiona asked. She honestly wasn't sure how to respond. It was first thing to fly out of her mouth.
"I hold nothing against you personally. Our issues were a long time ago, and I am not 7 years old anymore." Leiona let out a small sigh, which unfortunately Kyoya caught. "However this does not mean that we are friends or anything. We are partners, in school and in business so to speak."
Leiona debated whether she should be grateful that Kyoya wasn't about ready to send his police force after her, or offended that he refuse to think of her beyond something for his own personal gain. "Wait why do I even care what he thinks? He is a self absorbed jackass". After Leiona managed to get her thoughts under control she responded as politely as possible " Agreed. Now what novels have you considered doing our project on, we have over 100 to choose from."
"It doesn't matter to me, I own almost all of them" he replied. "Snob" Leiona couldn't help but think. Kyoya continued to say "How about one we both have read already, that should narrow down the list some." Kyoya smirked thinking that her could trip Leiona. But he was wrong...
"Actually I have read almost all of these books". Kyoya raise an eyebrow to this, thinking the girl sitting across from him was just making this up to try and impress him. "No honestly I have. I have a lot of free time, and I love to read. I spend a lot of time alone, so I read classic lit primarily".
"Well then, let's just pick the most appealing. How about Jane Eyre?"
Leiona rolled her eyes "No. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, but everyone does it, or at least back in the states they do. How about Slaughterhouse Five?"
"Too intense for this kind of classroom. I'm surprised it is even in the list."
"Well we are both batting 0-1. How about Pride and Prejudice?"
"I like the sound of that. Now how about meeting? We can't exactly stay at school all night, and I wouldn't advise my home right now. No offense intended"
"None taken. I don't think I would be welcome there. You can come over to my place."
"Are you sure that it will not be a problem with your..."
"It won't be a problem. Here is my address"
Leiona wrote down her address and gave it to Kyoya. They made arrangements to see each other later in the evening after Host Club dismissed for the day as the bell rang for classes to change.
Leiona arrived home completely exhausted from club. The hosts (aka Tamaki) chose to cosplay as characters from Fullmetal Alchemist, and of course Tamaki went Edward (despite being 2 feet too tall of the role) and he forced Haruhi into a blonde wig to be Winry. Leiona and Kyoya talked little during the club meeting as she primarily spent the entire day taking pictures and updating the clubs social media accounts and website as Kyoya worked on the club budgets and sales records. All she wanted to do was sleep, but she knew she had to get ready, after all Kyoya was coming over that night to work on the project.
Leiona stepped out the limo with help from the driver as they pulled up to the Phillips home. Like most of everyone else at Ouran, her home was not small. However it was not a mansion like everyone else had. After all her parents were quirky and a little dysfunctional, and they ran everything like that, including their home. The Phillips parents struggled to find the right home for months and then out of nowhere they spotted it: an old Western style boarding house! The house was a fusion of a complex of flats and boarding units. Leiona's parents spent a fortune renovating the place as it had been abandoned for some time, likely because it was not a popular style for housing in their area. After the renovation were complete there were common living and dining areas as well as a giant kitchen and game rooms, but there was also multiple suites. Leiona had her own kitchenette, her own small living room with TV, bedroom, bathroom, and small library! When her parents renovated the building, they even included her own entrance from the outside so Leiona wouldn't disturb anyone as she loved taking late night strolls to clear her mind.
While Leiona loved the privacy living in the suite gave her, it also came with a cost. The main reason she lived like this was because she almost never saw her parents. She saw the maid that came in once a week to collect laundry and tidy up more than she saw her parents. However having the small unit to herself gave her a small peace of mind that she wasn't all alone in some giant house, just alone in a little apartment.
Leiona collapsed on the couch, trying to force herself to change out the poor excuse for a uniform, but she dozed off instead. An hour and half later she got a page from her intercom with a member of the security team informing her she had a visitor coming in through the main door. She politely asked the guard to send them to her private entrance as she ran back to her bedroom to shed off the hideous dress and change into some real clothes. As Kyoya was shown around the back and up the stairs to her door, she grabbed a pair of dark skinny jeans and black Rise Against T-Shirt to put underneath her pink sweater. She was pulling her sweater over her shoulders as the bell rang. She sighed thinking "Do I REALLY have to do this? I want to punch him in the face!". After talking herself into behaving like an adult, she answered the door to the one person she wished didn't have to cross the threshold into her sacred space.
A/N: Thanks all for the read. I ended up giving up trying to use the bluetooth keyboard in the first section of the chapter. It was super slow and made my already horrible typing worse! I hope to have another chapter up in a couple days so stay tuned!
Please, please, please review! Thanks to all that have reviewed and fav'ed already. I appreciate it!