Chapter 10:
"So Kyoya…" Tamaki said walking out of the storage area once Host Club was over. Haruhi was right behind him. Tamaki stopped in his tracks when he noticed that Kyoya was not sitting at his normal table, either typing on his laptop or writing in his ledger. Haruhi crashed into Tamaki's back thanks to his sudden stop.
"Why'd you stop?" she asked, looking around and wondering why Tamaki had stopped in mid-walk.
"Where's Kyoya?" he asked, not paying attention to Haruhi and instead turning his focus on the remaining Host Club members.
"He just left," Hunny said as he took a bite of the last remaining piece of cake. "He stayed long enough to make sure all the guests had left then he packed up all his stuff and left without saying a word. Right Takashi?"
Next to Hunny, Mori was nodding in agreement. "Yeah."
"Hmm," Tamaki thought out loud. "I wonder why he'd leave without saying anything to anyone?"
"Perhaps he went to find Aimi." Karou said from the couch where he and Hikaru were sitting. "She was pretty upset when she left. I don't think any girl has ever left the Host Club as upset as she did."
"He's right, boss." Hikaru said chiming in. "We couldn't get Aimi to really talk to us."
"Neither did we," Hunny added.
"She wouldn't say much to me either," Haruhi said as she moved to stand next to Tamaki.
"And I could barely get two words out of her," Tamaki added. "But why did she talk to Kyoya?"
While the Host Club members pondered the idea of why Aimi had talked to Kyoya, Haruhi held her tongue. She knew that Aimi and Kyoya had been friends for a long time. While she hadn't heard the conversation between Kyoya and Aimi, she figured that Aimi must have revealed the reason why she had not seemed like herself the last few days. Perhaps that was why Kyoya had left so quickly once the club hours were done for the day – to go find Aimi and talk to her more.
Hopefully that was the case.
"It's all too much! And what makes it worse is that I really can't tell anyone my feelings and have them understand!"
Aimi's words rang through his head once again as he walked down the empty hallways of Ouran Academy towards the outer courtyard. Why hadn't Aimi come to him sooner if she needed someone to talk to that bad? Hadn't they always been able to talk before? What was different now?
Sighing to himself, Kyoya knew that he could answer his own question about what was different now. A lot was different now.
Now Aimi wasn't on the other side of an ocean.
Now they weren't little kids running around.
Now they were older and things were changing; feelings were changing. Were his feelings so obvious that Hunny-senpai had noticed? Then if Hunny had noticed, obviously Mori did as well. What about the others? Tamaki and the twins probably hadn't noticed since they were always too busy harassing Haruhi to notice much else. That left only Haruhi.
It was hard to tell what Haruhi noticed or didn't notice. She was still naive about many things. And that could be a good thing or could be a bad thing – it all depended on what or who was watching. He knew that Haruhi had a few admirers among those who knew her secret. Yet did she? Whose to say. Yet, when it came to noticing things about Aimi, Haruhi could tell that something was wrong with her cousin. Then there was the fact that Haruhi knew more about the friendship between him and Aimi then the others did.
But all this still begged the idea that Hunny had suggested during lunch – why not simply ask Aimi to the ball?
Yes, perhaps he would. What would life be without a few challenges?
Pushing open the door that led to the courtyard, Kyoya wasn't prepared for what he saw.
Aimi was sitting on one of the benches in the late afternoon sun, while a male student was leering over her – it almost looked like this male student was trying to get a kiss from her. Kyoya clinched his free hand in a fist as he continued to watch the scene unfold in front of him as he stayed in the shadows of the building. Part of him wanted to go over to them, shove the other male out of the way and claim Aimi's lips as his own with a kiss; while the rational side of him wanted to simply wait and see what would happen.
Rational won out as he continued to watch Aimi. While he couldn't hear what they were talking about, he could tell that Aimi did not want to be bothered by this student. After a few more seconds, Aimi moved away from the male student and shook her head no at him. That was when the male student turned and walked away, leaving Aimi sitting alone.
A small smirk made its way across Kyoya's face as he watched Aimi sigh in relief. Waiting a few more seconds before emerging from the shadows, Kyoya silently made his way towards his best friend who was beginning to gather her things to leave.
It was now or never. He had to talk to Aimi.
"You left before I had a chance to respond," Kyoya said as he sat down on the bench next to Aimi.
A bit shocked by Kyoya's sudden appearance, Aimi shook away the shocked look on her face before smiling at him. "Does it really matter anyways?" she asked.
Kyoya could tell by the sound of her voice that she was still a little upset by what had taken place during the Host Club. "It matters to me," he truthfully said. "It always has. I know that we haven't had much time to spend together since you started here, but I want to change that."
"Why? You have the Host Club that occupies your free time."
"But I don't all the time. Besides, you can always come during club hours and see me."
"What about the other girls who want to spend time with you?"
"Simply customers. Nothing more."
Aimi looked away from Kyoya before asking her next question. She was scared of what his response was going to be, but she had to know. "What about me? Am I simply a customer?"
Silence.
Tears began to form in the corner of her eyes as she closed them tightly. She couldn't bear to look at Kyoya, knowing that he considered her nothing more than one of the obsessive Host Club customers.
Yet this was the furthest thing from the truth.
Kyoya sat in shock as he tried to figure out a way to respond to her question. He had nothing to respond with that wouldn't give away all of his feelings towards her. Yet perhaps she needed to hear that from him.
Moving closer to her, Kyoya placed his hand underneath Aimi's chin and turned her face to look at him. A few tears managed to escape her eyes as she silently looked at him. With a flick of his thumb, the fallen tears were wiped away as a smile spread on his face. "You are so much more then simply a customer. You always have been and you always will be," he said in a whisper.
He watched as Aimi's eyes grew wider before more tears began to fall from them. Wiping them away as well, Kyoya was not prepared for Aimi to hug him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her for a moment, holding her close to him. But not for long – he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself and Aimi. There were some things that were better left private, even in his world.
"Come on," he suggested a minute or so later. "Let's go find some place to talk in private."
Aimi smiled as she looked up at him. She couldn't agree more with that suggestion.
"Do you think that he finally told Aimi-chan his feelings?" Hunny asked looking up at Mori as they stood at the second story window that looked down onto the courtyard.
"Yeah."
"Hopefully they both are happy. I like Aimi-chan. She is a lot like Haruhi."
At the mention of Haruhi, Mori took a deep breath. Next to him, Hunny suppressed his wide smile as he pressed his face into the top of Usa-chan. Maybe with Kyoya telling Aimi his feelings, perhaps Takashi would finally come to terms with his own.
Kyoya picked up the book that had been dropped on the floor of the library in Aimi's house. It was partially hidden by some throw pillows that had ended up on the floor. He surmised that Duchess had knocked the pillows off since that was where he and Aimi had found the chocolate lab when they had arrived at Aimi's house.
The book that he had picked up was titled A History of Japan. He began to flip through the book noticing that Aimi's handwriting was throughout the book – underlining different passages, notes in the margins and even some in the paragraphs.
"Oh you found my book! I was wondering where it had gone." Aimi said as she walked back into the library. She had gone to change out of her school uniform and into a pair of jeans with a thin green sweater. Duchess, as normal, was right behind her. As Kyoya handed her the book, his hand brushed against hers. Typically a simple brush of hands wouldn't bother Kyoya, but this time it did. It bothered him because he had so many more feelings to tell Aimi, yet he wasn't sure how to go about it. He had never spilled his heart out to anyone before. All of these feelings were foreign to him.
Acting on instinct, Kyoya seized Aimi's hand and pulled her close to him. As soon as Aimi was pulled tightly against him, all rational thinking was gone. Without hesitation, he cupped the side of her face before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers.
"I've wanted to do that for while," he said, pulling away from her as the impromptu kiss ended. Worried that Aimi would be upset with him, he was a bit shocked to see her smiling at him. "What is it?" he asked.
"It's just that since moving back to Japan, I noticed that my feelings towards you had changed," Aimi said as she moved to sit down on the couch. "I just never imagined that yours had as well."
Sitting down next to her, Kyoya reached out and brushed a loose strain of hair out of her face. "While I can't justify my previous actions for not revealing you my feelings to you sooner, but perhaps this will help – will you do me the honor of attending the Ouran Masquerade Ball with me next week?"
"In what capacity?" she asked with a hopeful tone in her voice.
"As both my date and hopefully girlfriend."
"What about the other girls who come to Host Club, hoping to nab the elusive Kyoya Ootori?" Aimi asked with a bit of a smirk on her face.
"As I explained earlier, they are simply customers. You are the only one I want to spend time with. You are the only one that matters to me. You always have been."
Blushing, Aimi looked away from Kyoya. Was this really happening or was she dreaming? This couldn't be real. Could it?
As she was looking away from Kyoya, she felt him take a hold of her hand that was closest to him. He squeezed it reassuringly as he waited for Aimi to say something – anything – to him. Maybe he needed to tell her something else – something that would make her realize just how serious he was about dating her. "You've told me in the past that you often feel that you are facing the world alone since your parents passed away. But Aimi, you don't have to face the world alone. I am asking for a chance to show you that."
Aimi turned her head back to look at him, smiling as tears were building up in the corners of her eyes. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Kyoya's. Moving his hands to the side of her face, he held Aimi's lips against his as he deepened their second kiss. Much to his surprise, Aimi returned his kiss as her hands gripped his upper arms. Breaking the kiss, neither of them said anything as Kyoya pressed his forehead against Aimi's as they looked into each other's eyes.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Understanding what she meant, Kyoya smiled as he ran a finger down her cheek. "Always," he answered.
Most teenage boys would be ecstatic that the girl of their dreams had agreed to date them. And while Kyoya was beyond happy that Aimi had not only agreed to attend the ball with him but also become his girlfriend, there were those that did not need to know his personal business.
Namely Tamaki Suoh, Kaoru Hitachiin and Hikaru Hitachiin. They would either make a big deal out of it or claim that by Kyoya dating Aimi, he was breaking up the "family" of the Host Club – this would be Tamaki's reaction more so then the twins.
Thankfully, Aimi understood this and they had agreed to keep their burgeoning relationship to themselves for as long as they could. Maybe it would be only until the Masquerade Ball. Maybe it would be longer than that. But for right now, things would be kept between him and Aimi.
That had been why Kyoya had put up a façade that hopefully no one would question. While on the outside, Kyoya Ootori looked and acted like his normal, everyday self – who was dead set on taking the family business for his own – he was actually feeling completely different on the inside. He had never been happier in his life then he was since he had first kissed Aimi the night before.
He couldn't wait to see her at lunch. Part of him still couldn't believe that her feelings towards him were the same. His thoughts drifted back to the previous night when she had admitted to him that she had wanted to kiss him for a while. Hopefully Tamaki wouldn't interrupt their lunch with an idiotic idea for the Host Club, since Aimi wouldn't be able to attend Host Club that afternoon because of physical therapy. So this would be the only time that he would see her for today.
Walking into the outer courtyard, Kyoya quickly spotted Aimi sitting on the same bench that she had been sitting on the afternoon before. And like the afternoon before, the same male student was leering over Aimi. Yet unlike the previous afternoon, Kyoya wasn't going to wait in the shadows. He moved closer to Aimi and the young man. Once he had moved closer, he could tell who the young man was.
Seiji Cho from class 3-B.
And also the son of the proxy who was currently running the part of Daishiro Global that Aimi was set to inherit.
Thankfully Aimi noticed Kyoya walking towards her and Seiji. "That is a nice offer, Seiji," Kyoya heard Aimi say. "But I've already been asked to the ball."
"By who?" he practically demanded.
"None of your concern," she said. "Now please leave me alone."
Seiji glared at her before turning and storming off in the opposite direction. Aimi sighed in relief as Kyoya sat down next to her.
"What was that all about?" he asked as he picked up her hand and squeezed her.
"Seiji Cho. He thinks that because his father works for Daishiro Global, he should be the one to take me to the ball. This is the second time he has asked me. I've turned him down twice."
"When did he first ask you?"
"Yesterday before you found me in the courtyard."
"Why did you turn him down the first time?"
A slight blush crept up on Aimi's cheeks. "I had been secretly wishing that you would ask me."
Kyoya couldn't help but smile at Aimi. And while he was happy to be spending an uninterrupted lunch with Aimi, a nagging feeling had settled in the pit of Kyoya's stomach. Something about Seiji Cho and his actions did not seem right.
Perhaps he needed to look deeper into this particular student.
AN: YAYA! Happiness and rainbows! One couple is together! So what other couples will emerge? Who knows? If you want to guess, leave a review (please) with your guess and I'll let you know if you get it right or not!
I hope all my readers in the USA have a wonderful Thanksgiving incase I don't post again before then!