Part 8: Unlikely Saviors
Rin's heart pounded violently in her chest, the clicking sound of Chisa's heels echoing after her like a dog chasing its quarry.
And a quarry was essentially what Rin was, much to her profound disgust. All she'd done up to this point was run away, but what other options did she have? As much as she would have loved to have decked Chisa Katagiri, the problem was that she was on school grounds and couldn't afford to screw up. Kyoya wouldn't be the only one angry if she wound up in an altercation – all Chisa had to say was that a boy at school beat her up, and then Rin would find herself in a whirlwind of problems that she neither wanted nor needed.
In the end, all Rin could do was push the girl aside and flee. Cowardly and certainly not how she would ordinarily handle a situation, but necessary.
Rin openly cursed her ill fortune.
She rounded a corner and skidded, quickly picking herself back up and allowing her eyes to scan what little she could make out in the dim emergency lighting.
'Service stairwell, service stairwell – there's gotta be a service stairwell!' Even Ouran had to have one for its custodial faculty! If she could just find one, she could easy flee to another floor and loose Chisa that way!
The clicking sound became louder.
In evident desperation, Rin began yanking at random door handles, throwing her weight to see if even one of the doors would give in and allow her some kind of refuge from her pursuer.
"Rin-sama~!" Chisa's voice trilled not all that far away.
'Shit!' She had to think of something fast. With absolutely no way of knowing where she was or how she was going to lose Chisa, Rin was rapidly running out of options. Chisa knew the school's layout far better than she did.
'Think! Think! Think!' If not for the severity of the situation, Rin might have laughed at the notion of how much she sounded like Winnie-the-Pooh.
"You shouldn't run away like that, Rin-sama."
Her blood ran cold. Turning slowly, Rin saw that Chisa was standing just several feet away, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
Her hand ran unconsciously to the nearest door handle. To her stunned relief, it twisted.
Chisa continued towards her, hands clasped oh-so-innocently in front of the billowing yellow skirt of the uniform dress.
Rin's eyes darted only briefly to the door she was nearest to. A half-baked idea was forming, but at least it was an idea.
Click. Click. Click.
"You had me worried," the girl continued pleasantly, though her eyes were still livid. "I thought I was going to lose you again."
"Yeah, well… looks like you've got me," Rin said, somewhat breathless from running.
Chisa smiled.
"Good."
Closer and closer she came. Rin's grip on the door handle tightened.
Closer.
Closer.
There!
In the blink of an eye, the door wrenched open. Before Chisa knew, she was grabbed roughly by the wrist and yanked forward before being literally thrown into the custodian's closet and landing with a loud clang into the mops and buckets.
Rin slammed the door shut and pressed herself fully against just as Chisa recovered and began to wail on the door.
"RIN-SAMA! LET ME OUT!"
She looked down at the door handle and then along the door's edges, praying for there to be some kind of lock or deadbolt or something to keep Chisa from getting out.
To her dismay, there was nothing.
"RIN-SAMA!"
Rin whirled around and pressed her back against the wildly thudding door. 'Damn it, damn it, damn it! Where the hell is Nekozawa when you need him? I could really use that disappearing door of his right about now!'
"RIN-SAMA! LET ME OUT NOW!"
"No way in hell!" Rin snapped, throwing all her weight against her door. This was bad; if someone didn't find her soon, Rin was almost positive that Chisa was going to break the door down.
"Of all the times I had to go and act like a wise-ass…" Rin mentally cursed herself. She was really going to have to start listening to Kyoya…
Green-blue eyes darted about wildly, scanning the darkness for something, anything to keep the door shut just long enough for her to make an escape. Fate seemed to have decided not to act in a less antagonistic fashion, because she quickly discovered a fire hose rack not too far from where she stood.
Carefully, Rin reached a hand out to see how far she could reach. Upon seeing that she was still too far, she began to edge closer and closer, fingers wiggling insanely just to brush against the end of the hose.
Somehow, in true Ouran style, a banana peel had landed barely inches from Rin's left foot. Not at all aware of the fact, she took another step forward, reaching outward –
And promptly slipping and falling flat on her face, dragging the hose with her.
The door opening was just the slightest creak caused panic to surge through the dark-haired teen once more, and in an adrenaline-induced frenzy, Rin slammed the door on Chisa once again, this time wrapping the hose firmly around the door handle and tightening it. She then dragged the head of the hose back to the rack, and wrapped it around as firmly as she could.
She fell to her knees, panting heavily.
"Well…" she wheezed; "that could have gone better…"
The doorknob rattled, and to Rin's horror, the head of the hose began to slip.
Not wasting another minute, she scrambled to her now aching feet and darted back in the direction the elegant staircase. She wasn't great with the school's layout, but at least it was a reference point. Reference points were always a good thing.
The loud sound of something snapping from behind and a loud slamming noise prompted Rin to look back over her shoulder before she reached the stairs. She was too preoccupied in wonder whether Chisa had gotten out to notice that not only had she made it to the staircase, but that she was also no longer alone.
With a loud and unified cry of shock, cursing, and pain, Rin found herself falling down an in a tangle of arms and legs. She landed ungracefully onto something warm and struggling; there was something on top of her as well, but she was in too much of a panic to register anything clearly. All she knew was that there were two of them, whatever they were, and that was enough to make her struggle a bit.
Her elbow came in contact with something firm, prompting a loud and winded grunt from behind her.
"What the heck!" one voice protested wildly, coming from the same direction as the grunt. "Watch where you're going!"
"What the – Rin‽" said another, this one laced with shock and, oddly, relief. It came from just in front of her.
Rin stopped struggling long enough to stare at the two ginger-haired teens she was entangled with.
As luck would have it, she'd collided with Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. Hikaru was the one she'd somehow managed to land atop of, practically draped across his lap as he lay splayed over the lower steps of the sweeping staircase. Kaoru had wound up falling on top of her, and his face was currently peering up at her from just above her heaving chest. Hikaru appeared to be looking at her sideways from his position.
The latter twin smirked. "You know, we've really got to quit meeting like this."
Rin sent him a pointed glare before Kaoru scrambled up from their awkward position, giving her a hand to help her up as well.
"Where have you been anyway?" the younger twin demanded, face lined with evident concern. "We've looking everywhere for you!"
"Hey, it isn't my fault! I've trying to run away from –"
"Rin-sama~!"
"Shit!" Rin backed up abruptly and smacked right into Hikaru, who wound up on his rear again.
"Who's that?" he demanded, head snapping in the direction of the voice.
"Chisa Katagiri, AKA the Ultimate Rin Tamashīzaki Psycho Fangirl," Rin said, fully prepared to bolt at the sight of her brunette stalker.
Kaoru frowned. "Princess Katagiri? The one who's always requesting you? That doesn't sound like her…"
"Believe me, Kaoru, it's Chisa."
"Rin-sama~!" the voice whined; only the whine came out laced with evident irritation. "Come back this instant!"
"Like hell I will!" Rin muttered under her breath.
"Wait a minute, isn't she the one that tried following you home that one time?" Hikaru's jaw tensed. "The one Cyclops dragged back to the academy and Kyoya-sempai placed under surveillance?"
"Yeah, that's the one!"
"RIN-SAMA!"
"She sounds angry," Kaoru said, eyes widening at the thought of their bubbly client suddenly turning sadistic.
"She's angry?" Rin finally exploded. "How do you think I feel being stalked by her‽"
One elegant, pale hand clamped firmly over her mouth and an arm wrapped firmly around her shoulders. Rin twisted around to find Hikaru looking down at her harshly.
"Would you shut up?" he hissed. "If you don't want her to find you, then keep quiet!"
She would have dearly loved to have bitten his hand off at that point, but the sound of rapidly clicking heels suddenly became loud and clear – and heading in their direction.
"Too late," Kaoru grumbled, glaring in the direction of the clicking. He looked over to his twin and their companion. "Follow me. We'll have to lose her on the next floor."
Rin was suddenly yanked up the elegant flight of stairs, both of her hands captured in either of the Hitachiin brothers' and running as fast as she could in order to keep up with them. She didn't even bother to look over her shoulder to know that Chisa would follow.
"Now what?" she wheezed once they made it to the fourth floor. Looking around, all she could see were the long shadows cast by even more of the emergency lights.
"There's an unused set of classrooms several hallways down and to the left," Kaoru whispered, yanking her along.
"And across from there are a hallways of maintenance rooms," Hikaru added in the same low tone.
"And… how… does that… help me?" Rin panted; her legs burned and there was a stitch in her side. She could hardly breathe at this rate. She swallowed hard. "Are we gonna lock her in a janitor's closet? I've already tried that and it didn't work!"
"Don't worry about the details," the twins said in unison. The turned back and flashed her identical, mischievous smiles. "Just leave everything to us."
For a moment, Rin felt just the tiniest bit of security. It was odd, but somehow, despite her disdain for the redheaded pair, she sensed she could trust them just this once.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
…
She felt her hope drain all too quickly when she found herself standing alone in a dimly lit hallway.
"Hikaru! Kaoru!" she hissed angrily, thoroughly ready to pummel the two the moment she laid eyes on them. All it had taken was for her to stumble and the two were suddenly gone like a faint memory.
Rin wanted to clobber those twins. How they could possibly play a trick on her now of all times was inconceivable – no, unbelievable! How was this helping her‽
She didn't get a chance to figure out the answer, because the now all-too-familiar sound of clicking heels began to draw near.
"Oh, not this again," she moaned under her breath.
"Rin-sama~!"
Rin didn't even budge. She was too tired at this point. If Chisa wanted act all scary and psychotic, fine. Rin was at the end of her rope with this insanity; she was just going to have to deal with the girl like any other jerk she came across and leave it at that.
She took a couple of weary steps forward and began to roll up her sleeves. She didn't get very far when a pair of slender arms wrapped themselves firmly around her waist and yanked her back against something warm and firm.
"What the –!"
"Shh!" Kaoru's grinning face leaned in over her shoulder. "Don't make a sound."
"What's going on?" she demanded in a whisper. The younger twin simply smirked and continued to pull her in a particularly dark corner.
From their position, Rin could see Chisa's approaching figure drawing nearer. She cringed a little, seeing the messy state of the girl's hair and the snags in the uniform's fabric. She almost felt bad for throwing her in that closet. Almost.
Chisa looked down several halls and opened a few doors, all the while wearing a look of frustration. Rin felt herself involuntarily tense, thinking that there was no way that she and Kaoru would go unnoticed. To her relief, Chisa stepped over the threshold of one of the classrooms, something having caught her eye.
Hikaru then darted out from his own darkened hiding place and promptly slammed the door shut.
"Got her!" he yelled.
Kaoru released his grip and Rin and dashed over to his brother, leaving the raven-haired teen in a dazed shock. The two then slammed, strangely enough, a suit of armor and several sandbags against the door, effectively cutting off Chisa's chances of escape.
Rin found herself gawking at the pair incredulously as they hi-fived each other. "What the… where the heck did you people get all that stuff‽"
"This is Ouran," the replied casually. "We can get virtually anything around here."
"Yeah, except you medication for your psychotically deranged students," Rin grumbled under her breath. She sighed heavily and slid down against the wall, exhausted.
"Here."
She looked up and found her slippers being held out to her. Kaoru was just beyond them.
Without a word, she took the footwear and slipped them on, wincing a little at stinging pain now going through the soles of her feet as she stood up.
Rin briefly locked eyes with the two but then quickly averted her gaze, completely embarrassed from the whole ordeal.
"Look, uh…" she swallowed, not at all used to being in this position. "Thanks. For helping me."
"Hey, don't worry about it," Kaoru said, flashing her a cheerful grin.
"Yeah." Hikaru playfully messed up her hair. "It's not like we were going to let anyone touch you anyway."
"And why's that?" Rin demanded, eyeing the two suspiciously.
The two smiled like a pair of Cheshire cats and leaned against her on either side, successfully making her the filling of a Hikaru-Rin-and-Kaoru sandwich.
"Because we don't like sharing our toys."
A loud, united oomph resounded throughout the shadowy halls as the twins fell to their knees clutching their stomachs.
Rin simply folded her arms and gave them both an exasperated, disapproving (yet nevertheless somewhat amused) look.
"You two never learn, do you?"
…
In the darkness of the currently empty music room, a cell phone lit up and sprang up with a sharp ringtone. A slender hand reached out and promptly flipped the communication device open.
"Everything's going according to plan!" a chirpy voice on the other end reported happily. "This was the most perfect opportunity!"
"I'm glad to hear it," the young man said, smirking at little at the laptop he had in front of him. "Keep up the good work."
"You've got it!"
The call ended quickly. The cell phone was set aside.
Outside, the typhoon picked up in intensity, causing the windows to rattle from the wind.
A/N: Chisa's role was really creepy! But she's currently taken care of, and now the twins are back – yay! But the night isn't over yet~!
