The Athletics Scholarship Student

Chapter 7

Return of a Rival


Pandora reached the hospital after Kyoya had her comfortably extract from the amusement park by his people. They brought her to an Ootori hospital where he assured her that because the accident was brought on in one of their parks all her expenses would be taken of.

"Personally by me, even." Kyoya promised as he walked beside her gurney. Pandora was on her way for an X-ray to see what the harsh current had done to her. While the rest of her was mostly put back together after the accident her right leg was still a danger and anything could have shifted if it was still weak and not healed yet.

Pandora nodded, vaguely listening, "M'kay."

Kyoya stopped and watched as they wheeled her into a room and the doors swung closed behind her. He returned to the waiting room where the rest of the club was changed into casual clothing and waiting anxiously for news. Kyoya had called Shiko on his way to the hospital and he was sure she would show up soon.

"How is Pan-chan?" Honey demanded while hugging his pink bunny, Usa-chan, for comfort when he saw Kyoya approaching.

"She's in for an X-ray of her leg now and they're going to fully check her." Kyoya informed them, "There's no possibility of anything going wrong and she'll be out soon enough."

The results on the other hand, could be worse Kyoya found himself thinking. The look on her face hadn't been good when he approached her while the rest of the club was distracted by the police force begging Honey's apology. She had been staring up at the trees with a hopeless expression across her face and her limbs were twitching but it didn't seem like she felt it in the slightest.

When Shiko showed up with her husband in tow, Kyoya rose from his chair to meet them.

Shiko was half hysterical, "Is she okay?"

Hajime had a comforting arm around his wife's shoulders and he was giving Kyoya a critical look. Kyoya lifted a tissue box from a nearby table and offered it to Shiko who took it and sniffled into it.

"She will be in a visitor's room soon. Nothing was too serious." Kyoya explained, "This is just a precaution."

Shiko shook her head, "This is serious to her though."

"Pandora-chan is going to be set back severely from this." agreed Hajime gravely.

Kyoya bowed his head, "Forgive me then, I should have controlled the park better. Any medical expenses are being taken care of by the Ootori group-"

Shiko cut him off, eyes red from the crying she had been doing in the car, "Pandora is never going to recover from her accident, Kyoya-kun. Her body will never be able to handle what it once did and she's destroyed by this. Her mind is thinking to itself, 'I can't move so what use am I?' and this is going to make that so much worse!"

Hajime added, loud enough where the rest of the host club could easily hear, "She's been doing well since you befriended her. She hasn't brooded for hours like she did when she first arrived. But now..."

Shiko turned and grasped her husband's shirt into her dainty hands, "I'm scared she's going to revert back."

Honey vividly recalled Pandora's outbursts at him and he was aware she had been much calmer and accepting recently. She was naturally a hot tempered person and she was generally very brash and blunt regardless of how she was feeling. But he also knew Pandora was a big fat liar who refused to show any weakness.

What was Pandora truly thinking? Honey wondered.

Pandora was moved into a room some time later and Shiko and Hajime were allowed in first. When they exited nearly half an hour later Shiko was crying and Hajime had to be the one to tell them.

"She said she wants everyone to leave her alone." Hajime announced, "And they gave her the results but she wouldn't tell us."

Kyoya slipped away to get the results and Hajime led Shiko to a chair where she melted into it and dragged her husband down into the chair beside her. When Kyoya returned Shiko was drinking a tea Haruhi had retrieved for her and her tears were long gone.

"Kyoya-kun?" Hajime inquired when Kyoya approached. He held a file in one hand and a pokerface was the best way to describe his expression. Kyoya handed the file to Hajime and he skimmed it before sighing in relief.

"You had me worried with that face." Hajime whispered before raising his voice so the host club could here, "Pandora-chan will be fine. Her injuries were jostled around a bit but nothing was rebroken or anything serious. Her pride just took a major hit."

The club cheered and received a few annoyed looks from the other patrons. Hajime took Kyoya aside as Shiko chatted rather cheerfully with the Host Club. She was very pleased to be meeting the rest of her host daughter's friends despite the circumstances.

"What was the face for?" Hajime asked quietly.

Kyoya gestured for Hajime to follow and they stepped outside of the room. Kyoya flipped through the folder to the scan of Pandora's right leg. Hajime sighed when he saw it.

"She'll never recover." Hajime murmured. Pandora's leg was a mess. It had been broken in half in several places when Hajime had seen her original xray and parts of the bone had been smashed into pieces. Surgery after surgery put her back together and there were low chances that she would be able to move around on the leg again like she used to. Pins were now set along her leg in many intervals and her knee was half fake after being blown out the wrong way.

Kyoya shook his head, "She may be able to."

He called over a doctor who began to explain to Hajime what had been explained to him. In short Pandora's case wasn't as hopeless as it looked. With more surgery and a lot more healing she would be able to move around again. Without the cane, at the very least. It would be strongly advised she not go back into heavy fighting but she could potentially still do light sparring and kickboxing as long as she learned to pace herself. Potentially, being the key word.

Broken bones weren't as bad as they looked, the doctor explained. Bones healed surprisingly well and while Pandora was certainly fragile they would be able to reinforce her bones with a puddy that hardened to plaster after it was injected into her bone. It would essentially fix her up to as good as new although her knee was something else entirely.

"What about her arms? Her left hand can't grip a pencil and her right gets shaky after awhile." Hajime interrogated, "Her left leg isn't perfect either. It was broken in the initial accident as well."

"Pandora-san has a lot of problems but they can all be mended to a point. It's..." the doctor gave Kyoya a cautious look, "Costly."

Hajime scowled, "Her family can pay. They have all her money that she won."

Kyoya sensed there were some hard feelings here and he stepped back out. When Hajime returned he collected Shiko, no doubt to tell her about what he just heard, and the two left the room.

"Can we try and visit Pandora?" Tamaki begged, "Think of how lonely she is!"

Kyoya gave him an annoyed look when a few patrons glared at his volume, "You can try if you keep your voice down and do not disturb the other visitors."

Tamaki looked around and did manage to look sheepish. He announced they would stop at the gift shop for flowers first and dragged Haruhi with him towards the gift shop. The twins followed after him with the sole purpose of giving him hell regarding him dragging Haruhi with him.

Honey and Mori remained with Kyoya, the former looking up at Kyoya with big eyes, "Is Pan-chan upset?"

Kyoya nodded and Honey pouted. He pushed off the chair and headed towards the doors that led towards the patients room. He looked over his shoulder when Mori went to follow, "I'm going to give Pan-chan Usa-chan to stay with her while she's here so she feels better!"

Mori stayed behind and watched as the doors swallowed his cousin up. Kyoya sat down and pulled out his little black book. Honey made his way to Pandora's room and let himself in without knocking.

Her room was a single with a comfortable couch under the window and many machines that weren't hooked up. Pandora herself was staring at the TV with a bitter glare. Her lips were drawn into a scowl and when she saw Honey it only worsened.

"Go away." she snarled, "I'm not in the mood for you!"

She had the blanket tucked up to her neck and it looked like she wasn't planning on moving at all. It was kind of awkward to see Pandora as just an angry head without the rest of her.

Honey ignored her and pulled himself up on the bed next to her to sit down. Pandora growled but he ignored her and looked up at the TV.

No wonder she was so angry, the championship match she should had participated in was being replayed. Honey turned it off and Pandora looked away from him.

"Just leave me alone. I don't want anything to do with any of you anymore."

Honey frowned, "It wasn't anyone's fault-"

"No that's not it." Pandora interupted him, "I just don't want anything to do with you guys anymore."

"We're your friends, Pan-chan. You're stuck with us now." Honey retorted childishly, "You can't make us go away now."

Pandora snorted and turned her head to glare at the TV screen. It was off but Honey was sure she was still thinking about the match someone had left on for her.

The door opened again and the rest of the club poured in cheerfully. Pandora gave Honey what he would call her murder eyes because they seemed to darken and resembled a stormy day's clouds.

And yet she kept up a good act and the twins and Tamaki didn't seem to notice the forced neutral expression or the bitterness her eyes contained. Haruhi clearly noticed but knew not to say anything, Kyoya and Mori both noticed but visibly didn't react.

They left after putting a bouquet of flowers which represented good health and friendship on her table and a small teddy bear Haruhi had promised, "Was my idea." Because certainly Tamaki would have wanted to get a teddy bear about the size of Pandora.

After they were all finally gone, Pandora removed her arms from below the blankets. Scars settled across each arm whether from surgery or the accident. Pandora looked at her bare left arm and her eyes watered as she remembered the bone sticking out in two places after the accident.

No one, she promised, would see her weakness like this. No one would see the scars that littered her body and showcased what she had been through. No one was allowed to read her like this.

Pandora went home two days later after Hajime and Shiko explained all that the doctor had explained to Hajime. She didn't let the flicker of hope in her chest stay.

"We need to talk to your parents about this." Hajime explained, "They need to finance it."

Pandora immediately scowled, "They won't."

"It's rightfully your money." Shiko pointed out.

"Yeah but its theirs until I'm eighteen. And there won't be any left by then." Pandora huffed. She slid off the couch and pushed herself up with her crutches. She was supposed to be on these for a week to let her leg settle again. More down time, just like with the accident.

"But there's hope, Pandora-chan!" Shiko cried. Pandora looked over her shoulder in time for Shiko to barrel into her and wrap her arms around the girl.

Pandora refused to let her heart agree. It wanted to, she wanted to believe. But there was no way she would ever be back to where she wanted to be. The doctor had said so himself. No fighting like she did. Light sparring and kickboxing classes with pacing, and that was only a possibility. It wasn't guranteed she would ever be able to do anything she loved ever again.

Besides, even with that possibility, Pandora wasn't someone who paced herself. She worked herself beyond her limit. Muhammed Ali once said "I don't count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. That is when I start counting, because then it really counts. That's what makes you a champion." and Pandora had lived by that quote.

What good was she if she couldn't push herself anymore?

"I'm going to bed."

Hajime frowned, "We haven't had dinner yet."

Pandora ignored him, saying again, "I'm going to bed."

She went to her room and closed the door. She lowered herself into her bed and found herself eyeing the plaques that decorated her wall. She won many fights but now she would never win another fight ever again.

"Layla Pierce." Pandora whispered, remembering the fight she had been watching in the hospital, "Our war ended prematurely and despite winning every battle, I've lost."

But the war hadn't ended.

.

A week later, a girl who stood at the monstrous height of 5'11 in American terms, was unimpressed by the shade of pink that the school before her was. Her skin was dark and her hair a chocolate brown that was pulled into a long ponytail. It was tight to her head in well-kept cornrows and she flipped them over her shoulder when she walked towards the school building after tossing her car keys to the valet.

She met with the headmaster and went over her final transfer details before joining Class 2-A. She bowed to the class upon arrival and with perfect Japanese introduced herself, "My name is Pierce Layla. A pleasure to meet you."

Kyoya's glasses flashed as he looked at the fit young woman and realized that there was going be a problem regarding a small and typically angry girl. Layla took a seat in the front of class and when lunch came around, Tamaki instantly waltzed up to her.

"My darling princess!" he began and Layla looked quite taken aback, "My name is Suoh Tamaki and I would like to welcome you to Ouran! I also invite you to come visit our club, the Ouran High School Host Club after school!"

Layla looked at all the other starstruck girls, muttering, "Princess? Is that what he called me?"

"Princess?" Tamaki repeated again, biting his lip when Layla hardly acknowledged him. Then suddenly she was standing with a burning in her eyes. There was a deep contrast with this girl against Pandora. While Pandora's eyes were a raging storm, hers were a burning fire.

Layla's hazel eyes seemed to have drawn out the yellows and red-browns in her anger, "Are you talking down to me?"

"No, of course not prince-"

Layla cut him off, bringing her head closer and sneering, "I will not tolerate any man talking down to me like that."

Kyoya started to approach while Tamaki laughed and tried to diffuse the situation, "My, you're a lot like Pandora-"

"Pandora Jones?" barked Layla immediately, "You know her?"

Tamaki blinked and Kyoya reached them, answering, "She's a part of our club, Pirusu-san."

"Pierce." Layla huffed, "Not whatever you said."

"Pierce-san." Kyoya annunciated carefully but quickly and quite fluently for his second attempt.

Layla accepted it, "Now, Host Club you said? And Pandora will be there? Alright, I'll come. Now scram."

Layla left the room with an American lunchbox dangling from her fingers. Tamaki threw Kyoya a worried look, "Won't she be mad? She hasn't been in a good mood since the hospital."

"Her spirits will be relatively lifted today because she's back on her cane." Kyoya replied, pushing up his glasses, "Hopefully they don't try and brawl."

Tamaki looked bewildered and Kyoya, as a way of explanation, demurred, "That was Pierce Lera, the new kickboxing World Champion. She and Pandora were going to fight for that title. They are rivals, after all."

At the club later, Pandora ignored the looks Tamaki kept giving her. The rest of the club clearly noticed and the twins were pestering him about it. Even Haruhi was curious but she left it well alone.

Hosting hour began and Pandora was doing laps around the room with her cane. She was clearly in an awful mood and Honey's constant pestering her to try some cake wasn't helping in the slightest.

"Try some, Pan-chan!" Honey insisted, offering up a slice of strawberry shortcake. The disgruntled girl in question looked at the cake like it offended her.

"No." Pandora immediately denied, stalking away at full speed.

A new voice, deep and sultry caught her attention though, "Yeah, Pandora. Try some. It's not like you need to watch your diet anymore."

Pandora immediately recognized the voice. She would never forget it and despite the different language she knew exactly who it was.

"Layla." Pandora greeted, turning on her heel slowly and facing the much taller girl who leaned against the door, "What are you doing here?"

Layla pushed off the wall and approached Pandora. She circled her and snickered, "It's pathetic to see you like this. Crippled and useless."

Pandora immediately barked back, "I can still take you of all people!"

At this point the entire club was staring with all the guests. No one dared interupt the two due to the brewing tension in the air. Layla chuckled and stepped forward, bending her knees and leaning forward so she was close to Pandora's face.

"A cripple couldn't possibly take the new World Champion on."

Pandora swung her cane while balancing on her left and Layla easily blocked it, taunting, "You can't even hurt me with a weapon anymore! Weakling!"

"Call me weak one more time." Pandora growled.

"Weak midget." Layla sneered while releasing the cane. Pandora set it on the ground and put her weight back on it.

Snarling, Pandora hissed, "If it weren't for my accident..."

"Boo hoo. You got hit by a car. The way I heard it, you got off easy. What about your poor little boy toy? What was his name...?" Layla trailed, watching as Pandora's eyes got darker and darker and her face went through several different expressions.

Layla snapped her fingers, "Thomas, wasn't it?"

Haruhi recognized that name. Pandora had brought it up before but had killed the conversation before any more was said.

"Do not bring up Thomas." Pandora said, her voice low.

Layla smiled, "He was put in a coma, wasn't he? Then when he woke up... he couldn't remember you."

Pandora stiffened. Tamaki had both his hands over his mouth and the twins were starting to look uncomfortable. At first they had been amused by the fight but now it was clearly very personal.

"What, you don't want to remember? How you almost killed your only friend-" Layla dodged as Pandora threw herself at the taller girl. Pandora crashed to the floor and logrolled away in case Layla tried to stomp on her. Pandora grabbed the nearby chair that held one of their clients and pulled herself up.

Layla laughed, "You're pathetic! You can't even get up! Oh how the mighty have fallen!"

"I'll fucking kill you-!" Pandora roared, trying to run forwards but as soon as her weight was on her right leg a strangled noise came from her throat and she collapsed to that side.

"Enough." Mori was beside her in an instant and he scooped her up. He looked down at Layla and the tall girl felt her heart do a swoop.

He was taller than her, she realized. He was taller than her by a lot. Layla's heart skipped a beat or two.

Then Layla looked down when a small voice announced, "Picking on my friend is a big no-no!"

Layla cracked a smile when she saw a boy who looked like he belonged in elementary school, "You got a kid defending you now? How funny. At least he's your size, midget."

Kyoya seemed to materialize beside Mori and Honey and he bowed to Layla, "I'm afraid I must ask you to leave, Pierce-san."

"Oh? Am I disrupting your little social hour?" Layla looked around with an amused expression. All the girls were staring and Layla briefly realized that she probably hadn't given them the best impression of her. Her heart dropped when she realized she gave the tall, handsome man the same impression. She felt a twinge of jealously when she realized he was still holding Pandora.

"Let me go! I'm going to rip off her legs and beat her with them!" Pandora was struggling viciously but the tall man wouldn't let her go and her struggles were like nothing to him.

Kyoya took her attention back when he nodded, "You are, in fact. You are welcome to return if you change your attitude towards our beloved friend and club member."

Pandora froze, mouthing the words 'beloved friend' as if she had never heard them before.

Layla's mouth dropped and she eyed each club member who was giving her similar looks of disapproval. Her heart nearly broke when she realized the tall man was giving the same look as the rest of them.

Huffing, Layla turned on her heel and stormed out the door while snarling about rich people being snooty and pretentious. Pandora was gently let to the floor and handed her cane. She immediately fled the room full speed.

When she got home, Pandora snarled at the pictures on her wall that accompanied the plaques. One picture was a well timed photo of Pandora catching a bending Layla square in the jaw with a roundhouse kick. Layla had immediately been knocked out by the kick.

Pandora threw her cane and fell onto her bed. Tears collected in her eyes and Shiko stood outside the door with a worried frown as Pandora screamed, "I hate my life!"


AN:

Hello! Sorry I left it on such a cliffhanger. I have chapters for this written ahead but they're on my personal laptop, not my school one and I usually don't have my personal laptop turned on to avoid distraction from schoolwork.

I honestly love writing Pandora. The hardest parts of this story is how I try to keep the episodes similar, but spiced up with Pandora's charm with little differences. I don't want the episodes that I put in to feel like Pandora is merely just there, I want her to be a part of it. That's the hardest part.

Thanks to the following for reviewing (:

SwedishFanFictionLover (Your review really inspired me!)
BlackDove WhiteDove
fanfictionnatic
SpringBorn
HeartlessVampireGirl
Airedhiella
Persephone Fey Rose