My pen flew across the paper, furiously copying the notes off the board before the teacher wiped them off; I wasn't keen on getting a lecture from him about getting the work done during the actual class, not after while students, much like myself, loitered around in the building.
He looked up from where he was sorting papers at his desk and his eyes bored holes into my head. I squeaked and scribbled down the last of it and gathering my books up.
"I swear he's the devil…" I mumbled mentally and shivered.
There was loud chatter in the hallways but I couldn't catch enough of it to figure out what everyone was talking about. I frowned and ambled over to Momoka Kurakano, a beautiful girl in my class who often reminded me of a doll and was a frequent guest of my sister at the Host Club.
We had become quite good friends during my time here since she'd always come up to me and gush about my "brother" Haruhi. I didn't particularly like lying about my sister's gender to her, it left a pit of guilt inside of me, but I didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
"Momoka-chan? What's going on?" I called out to her and her face lit up as I came to a stop beside her.
"Oh that's right, Rei-chama you haven't been here the whole year! For the next two days we have no classes, instead the grounds are being used for each classes own Halloween celebrations!"
I tried not to flinch at the cutesy nickname Momoka had become accustomed to using for me but I was indeed surprised.
"Right, Halloween is next week! I had completely forgotten!"
There had been so much on lately; one of my favourite holidays of the year had completely slipped my mind. No matter what age, I always found great joy in dressing up in terrifying outfits and scaring the socks of Haruhi.
What a horrible child I was, I never found joy in dressing up in perfect princess dresses or fairy wings. I'd much rather put fake blood on and go as a twisted vampire or zombie. I mean Halloween was meant for scaring off demons right?
What use would a princess be against a demon? Her screams would fill the dead of night and the town would be painted chuckled to myself at the thought, my mind flipping through a figurative catalogue of costume choices eagerly as I strolled down the hall.
I sat in a shaded part of the pathway just higher up when the soccer fields. I watched the boys yelling and chasing after the ball and smiled though my mind was still occupied by Halloween ideas.
The seat squeaked and I glanced up at the frowning eyes of Beelzenef, Nekozawa giving a creepy smile behind it.
"How do your demonic spirits do on this wretched day?" His voice asked eerily and I raised my eyebrows at his relatively normal, in his standards, greeting.
"They are rather well in fact, killing off good spirits, the usual." I grinned.
He was silent for a moment and the wind blew my long strands of dark hair around my face as the sport below continued.
"Actually, of course Halloween is coming up and I'm trying to think of an appropriately frightening costume to wear." I explained to him and he nodded upon hearing this what about a habitual subject.
"I thought, clowns are actually pretty creepy and with the right make-up I could pull off a murderous clown corpse." I told him my idea excitedly and his smile, spine-chilling to any normal person, returned.
"Ooh! That sounds like a marvellous idea. Clowns are known to terrify us unconditionally. You shall be extremely terrifying."
I beamed at his praise; it was like getting it from the master of scare tactics.
"May I ask? What is your class doing for their celebrations?"
I frowned for a moment, racking my mind to think of what Momoka had said we had organized for tomorrow night.
"A Halloween Test-of-Courage Tournament, if I remember correctly." I told him and he chuckled to himself.
"Perfect… Well my lady of darkness, I bid you farewell, for now." He drifted off in the other direction and I gave a small wave.
He was such a weird guy, but his presence was oddly calming, especially after all the complications in my life lately it was nice to just be able to talk to someone and have them treat you normally. Romantic feelings always seemed to complicate things in my case.
I looked back down at the sporting field and saw a figure on the opposite side, furthest away from me, staring up at where I was.
I kept a blank expression as Rou watched me. This was probably going to complicate things further, had I unconsciously chosen this place because I came to watch Rou, a dedicated sportsman, play soccer here?
"Best to just leave before he comes to ask questions…" I mumbled to myself and quickly got up heading with my back to him.
"What do you mean, a test of courage tournament?" Tamaki demanded, disbelief etched all over his face.
The twins nodded, on either side of Haruhi and I at the silly King. Tamaki turned his gaping mouth towards me, his arms shakily reaching out for me.
"Rei, please tell me you aren't going to take part in this!" He begged.
I raised my eyebrows him and avoided the incoming hug.
"Come on Tamaki, its just some harmless fun!" Haruhi insisted, her head bobbing up and down happily and I copied her motion eagerly.
"Harmless…. They think it's harmless!" He turned his sudden sobs onto Kyoya and he pushed him back like an indecent bug.
"Well duty calls." He said calmly and his dark eyes flicked to my lively green ones. There was a moment there, between the two of us, I did feel something pulse through me but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
I couldn't exactly say it felt like love, but I knew for sure that I had something brewing anxiously inside of me whenever I looked at Kyoya.
"Bye." I said quietly, more to him than anyone else and he gave a small nod before turning and dragging the vampire-cosplaying Tamaki, tears and all back into the clubroom that had been transformed into a dark lair.
The darkness slithered into the room, strangling the light and leaving us alone with only our fears to stalk us from behind corners. I sat, poised and attentive on the windowsill, gazing out in the misty empty grounds of the Academy. Wind whistled through the halls but other than that nothing stirred.
There was loud breathing and I glanced down at the figure huddled near the stairs, aggressively trying to connect two pieces of his chosen "weapon". I raised my eyebrows but shrugged it off, in my gloved hands- gloves covered in a realistic fake blood, I had a makeshift axe.
Naturally it wasn't real, it was a blow up rubber one, but I had been one of the few people that has insisted on dressing up for the occasion, and in this corpse clown get up it wouldn't matter if my axe was rubber or not, I'd still make people piss their pants.
"What are you doing Hayata?" I hissed at him and he look up, a childish grin on his lips and a glint in his eye.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, I've got it all covered!"
I shook my head in disbelief; Shito Hayata, he was a member of the soccer team and a good friend of Rou's- we talked often in class since he sat beside me and I suppose you could say we were quite good friends now.
He went back to fumbling with his toy and I slumped, dozing off a little and looking around with a glazed look.
There was a loud bang and I shot up like a rocket, looking around quickly.
I was alone. I could here distant footsteps and grimaced, Hayata would have shot off for the chance at a glorious attack at the first moment possible, not caring about leaving me behind.
"Oh well, here I go."
I got to my feet and began a run down the hall, heading down towards a special section of the gardens behind the main courtyard that had been closed of and designed specifically for today. The things rich people could do still managed to surprise despite all the people I knew.
I pushed open the door and felt the cool night air hit me, the moon beaming eerily down onto me from high above, leaving a milky glow on the dark and silent garden.
I looked around, my eyes adjusting to the darkness. It appears that it was the giant maze that the Host Club had gone into when the Newspaper Club had meddled around with us a while back.
"But…" I whispered as I started to walk through. "It feels completely different now."
The night left a chilling edge to the perfectly shaped hedges, fog thick through the air and like a dead cool hand caressing at my throat. I shivered once and gripped my toy axe tighter. Why was a getting so worked up? It wasn't scary in the slightest! Just an empty maze. At night. Under the full moon.
"Nothing to get freaked out over…" I whispered to myself in a shaky voice but it wasn't convincing at all.
There was a rustle in the leaves to my left and I picked up my pace, moving swiftly through the maze, my eyes darting around desperately. Where was the exit? I kept coming to dead ends and I felt my heart beating wildly in my chest, my breaths short and distressed.
There was the sound of feet on grass behind me and I felt an icy hand touch my back, exposed by my costume.
I shrieked in shock and twirled around, whacking whatever it was madly with my axe then letting it go and tearing off in the other direction, even more frantic than earlier.
"Ok keep calm Rei, there's nothing to be scared of. Just some creepy sadist who's come to kill you when you're alone and easy prey. No need to worry!" My thoughts pushed my heart into overtime and I felt a sob catch itself in my throat. I turned another corner and stared wide-eyed at the dead end.
I heard the soft crunching of grass as the person following me got closer and I backed myself up against the hedge, small pointy branches biting into my bare back, but that was the least of my worries.
The figure shrouded in darkness turned the corner and took menacing steps towards me. I felt hot tears escape and run down my face and I whimpered small apologies to myself.
"I'm sorry Kyoya, I'm sorry Rou, I'm so sorry for the way I've been lately. Please, please I don't want to die yet."
The hand reached out and there was a dark chuckle and the shadowy face leaned forward until it was centimeters away from mine. Terrified I stared into warm blue eyes and felt everything go back.
"Is she going to be ok? She looks pretty pale." I heard a voice, faraway ask, concerned and I followed it, feeling myself get closer to the surface.
My eyes flickered open and I stared up at the thing I last saw before I passed out. Those clear blue eyes, now accompanied by light blonde hair, almost silver in the moonlight.
I frowned slightly. "Nekozawa…senpai?"
He gave me a rueful smile and I sat up from where I my head had been leaning on his lap, taking in my surroundings. We were where our class should have met up after the tournament finished, in the main courtyard, sitting on a small patch of grass.
I could see my sister and the twins' anxious expressions in the crowd and I gave them a small half-hearted wave.
"Rei…" Nekozawa said quietly as I noticed his usual black robe draped over me.
"Perhaps he feels he doesn't need it in this moonlight…" I wondered.
"I am sorry terribly sorry for what happened in there, I had thought about scaring your class with my club and got Tamaki and the rest of the Host Club involved but it seems I truly did terrify you, I can't explain how sorry I am."
He had the most shot down expression on his face and I touched his hand gently and gave him a kind smile.
"I really did think I was going to die, but its ok. I'm fine now, it's not your fault, and I forgive you."
A tall figure pushed though the small crowd of students and Kyoya bent down beside me, handing me a cool wet towel to put on my forehead.
"Are you alright?" He asked quietly and I nodded.
I didn't really want to tell him of all people how petrified I had been but I thought back to the things I had said, how I had apologized. There were serious things I had selfishly left undone between us, and fixing them was the only way I could really begin to heal. I had been a fool to think that ignoring him would make any difference.
"I'm sorry." I told him softly and his eyes shot up in surprise. "For everything I did and said."
He was still for a moment but he got to his feet and gave me a small smile.
"Thank you."
I watched him walk away and suddenly I felt much better than I had felt in months, my heart whirred in my chest and I gave Kyoya retreating figure another glance. Perhaps, just perhaps, things could actually work out if anything were to develop from now on…
MAKE SURE TO REVIEW.
Well there you have it! Its taken me awhile but i got this chapter together! Woot!
Kind of dark huh? Meh, well i like a little emoness here and there. *dances*