Chapter Eleven
Head In The Clouds
I woke up with a start, Yuri banging on my door. I sat up groggily as he barged in, ripping the quilt off me.
"Rise and shine!" I glared at him groggily.
"Hey, ugly, a little privacy?" I groaned, pulling the duvet back and curling up. My freshly washed clothes hit me in the face. I pushed them aside, trying to wake up. I'd stayed in bed most of Sunday, ignoring my constantly buzzing phone and the niggling that perhaps I should finish my homework. It was still really dark outside and so not time for Yuri to pull the whole 'Stop feeling sorry for yourself' crap. My brain still foggy, I pushed my rat's-nest bedhead out of my eyes and yawned.
"What's the rush, Quasimodo?" Yuri looked at me, totally not getting my joke. I didn't actually know if Quasimodo was a thing in Japan. I made a sleepy mental note to check on that.
"It's Monday, silly. Time to get up." I looked at the black sky doubtfully.
"It's, like, midnight," I protested. He glanced at the window and grinned.
"It's almost half six. Those would be what you call thunderclouds," he said, throwing some socks at me. I inched closer to the window. He was right – what I had initially mistaken for darkness was a roiling, churning mass of angry purples and deep greys, sitting heavily above the city and threatening to dump its immense load over us. It looked ready to burst already.
"So what's bit you, Your Cheerfulness?" I said grumpily, sliding out of bed into the cold air. I sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled my uniform towards me. I did not like mornings. I never had done. Yuri shrugged.
"Nothing." I was immediately interesting by his denial. I surveyed him with narrowed eyes.
"It's Sayuri, isn't it? She finally agreed to a date?" I guessed, correctly. I saw the redness even underneath his swollen face. He threw my schoolbag at me to stop me making another comment. Chuckling to myself, I obeyed my embarrassed friend and began to get dressed. I was already running late. I wondered if Sayuri had seen his face. Considering what I knew about her – quiet, sweet, and worrying – she was probably attracted by his brokenness or something. I grinned, wondering if Yuri realised what a great opportunity Jai had accidentally given him. There was nothing quite like someone looking after you to get to know them better.
"So I take it you won't be coming home early tonight, huh?" I called to the other room.
"You are not allowed an opinion on this matter, Miss Five-In-The-Morning!" I snorted, fishing out my jacket from the end of my bed. He had a point. Neither of us stated the obvious – be careful. It had got to the slightly depressing point where we didn't need to tell each other.
"I'm sorry I'm late," I said as I slipped into the music room. Kyoya looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. I looked around, shrugging off my soaked jacket.
"Oooooooooor not. Where is everyone?" I asked, hanging it on the back of my usual chair by the door and shaking out my hair. It hung in wet strands around my face, dripping rainwater onto the floor. I twisted it to get rid of any excess and rolled my eyes at the torrent that hit the floor. My hair could retain water like a sponge crossed with a TARDIS.
"I imagine Tamaki is collecting Haruhi. The others may be stuck in traffic," he said, not taking his eyes off his screen.
"Cool," I said, wandering over to the windows to watch the storm above and forcing my fingers through my matted hair. Lightning flashed along the sky, lighting up the entire school like something out of a horror movie. I counted silently, waiting for the thunder to roll in. It was getting closer.
"It should not surprise me that you like storms," Kyoya commented. I glanced back at him, surprised he'd actually noticed anything outside of his laptop.
"How'd you figure that one?" I asked, moving back towards the table.
"You still walked here, with that hanging overhead. And you're in a surprisingly good mood considering you've been ignoring everyone since Saturday afternoon." I winced.
"I've not been ignoring anyone…"
"Kaoru is under the impression he did something wrong, I believe." He paused his typing. "Do you have an explanation for that?" I sank down into a chair with a sigh. I didn't really have an explanation. If Kaoru hadn't shared it, then I sure as hell wasn't going to. Maybe he was embarrassed. Hell, maybe he was ashamed. I wrung out my blazer as Kyoya laced his fingers.
"Katya, I did not hire you to make my life difficult." I stared at him.
"I'm making your life difficult?!" I said in disbelief. He narrowed his eyes but at that moment the door swung open. Tamaki had his arm around Haruhi in a surprisingly obvious display of affection between them. It took me a moment to notice the enormous headphones she had on and her eyes squeezed tightly shut. He manoeuvred her into a chair and looked at Kyoya.
"The others are not here yet?"
"Mori and Honey-senpai are almost here. The twins shall apparently be a little longer." Tamaki nodded as I sidled closer to Haruhi. She seemed completely closed off in her own world. Frowning at her for a minute, I fished a notebook out of my bag and scribbled on the first page. Pushing it across the table, I tapped her on the hand. She opened her eyes a little and stared at the note. Shivering she took up the pen.
I don't like thunder. Oh. I looked at her and then back at the note. She was afraid of storms and really badly from how far she was retreating into her blazer – correction, Tamaki's blazer. Her blazer was draped neatly over the back of her chair. I gave her hand a quick squeeze, getting a half smile. I wondered if she was listening to anything or they were literally just to block noise. She seemed distinctly terrified.
"I have already thought of this," I heard Kyoya say. "If this storm doesn't let up, I shall cancel Haruhi's customers for today. It would probably be best if she went home sick."
"She can't go home alone!" Tamaki protested.
"Would you have us run the Host Club without you?" The answer was obviously a torn 'no', as the blond King looked towards his girlfriend in concern. At this point, the door opened again.
"Look who we found!" Honey beamed from Mori's shoulders. The twins rolled their eyes, taking their seats after each tapping Haruhi on the shoulder. This was obviously a familiar occurrence. I wondered how she managed school with such an overpowering fear on days like this.
"Sorry we're late, m'lord," Hikaru said. "Someone wouldn't get out of bed this morning." He poked his brother, who stuck his tongue at him. Kaoru caught my eye and there was half a second of tension. Then I smiled and he visibly relaxed. I let out the breath I hadn't realised I was holding, relieved. It seemed like nothing was wrong at all. Except, of course, Haruhi, for whom everything was wrong.
I read through the meeting to which I could contribute nothing, sliding one of my other books under Haruhi's nose. She took it, seemingly grateful to take her mind off things. We sat in what seemed like companionable silence as the boys debated the pros and cons of the decided-on themes for the next week. I had no doubt that this was all just for show and that Tamaki and Kyoya had final say over what got done. Eventually, they decided to go with some historical theme that Tamaki had suggested with his usual elaborate enthusiasm.
"So that brings us to tomorrow evening's usual meeting," Kyoya said, glancing down at his schedule. "I believe it is our lord's turn to host."
"What about you, Kyoya?" Hikaru said with an evil smile.
"Yeah, shouldn't it be your turn?" Kaoru added, leaning over his brother. The shadow king didn't deign to look at them.
"Tamaki?" The blond leader paused thinking for a moment.
"I think my grandmother is having some visitors," he said slowly.
"Then I take it you would rather we didn't?" Kyoya said, marking it on his file. "Honey-senpai?"
"We're hosting the entrants for the city judo championships!" He said with excitement, around a mouthful of the cake I hadn't seen appear.
"There are many," Mori added.
"Loads of them!" Honey waved his arms in the air.
"I guess it's us again," Hikaru sighed. Kaoru cocked his head as Honey said something to him.
"Yeah, what about Katya's?"
"No!" There was a moment of silence. I sat back down slowly as the boys looked between me and Kyoya, eyes wide and sudden suspicion evident. He coughed, regaining his composure.
"By which I mean, the Hayashi household will be busy tomorrow evening," he backtracked. I stared down at my book, hoping the burning of my ears wasn't visible to anyone else at the table. I hadn't thought about this and my reaction had been less than satisfactory. Then again, even Mr Conniving Ootori had slipped up on that one. I guess we really hadn't expected anyone to ask. I hadn't even considered it; I hadn't realised I was already one of the group.
But I couldn't be. I couldn't be one of them, couldn't pretend I lived in that big house on the hill with a loving family and money that knew no bounds. I didn't understand how this was happening. I was sure, I was so sure, that I was just that little bit too off for these guys. And yet…
"Uh… okay," Hikaru said slowly. "I guess we can put up with you losers again."
"Who are you calling losers?!" Tamaki demanded and just like that, the tension evaporated. I sighed, closing my book. I really needed to get on top of all of these damn secrets or I was going to trip over one of them. I packed up as the twins started to wind Tamaki into a steaming rage, glancing out the window. Though rain hammered at the glass, the clouds had lightened to a more usual and much quieter grey. I lifted one of Haruhi's headphones.
"Hey. The storm's over," I said with a grin. She looked at me, then at the window and her entire body seemed to slump in her chair, her face a picture of abstract relief. I decided not to make a smart comment and accepted the book back. She gestured to the others.
"Anything interesting happen?" I glanced at Kyoya, who was resolutely staring at his screen again.
"Nope," I lied. "Not a thing." She shrugged, putting on her blazer and going to save Tamaki from exploding at his tormenters – apparently, by throwing his blazer at his face. I smirked and turned towards the door.
"Hey, Katya, wait up a second." My brain squealed to a halt and I looked up at Kaoru with a not-very-convincing smile.
"What's up?" The twins fell into step with me, Hikaru's arm lying casually across his brother's shoulder.
"Did you get the invitation we sent you?" Kaoru asked.
"Yeah, he was all upset that you haven't RSVP'd yet," Hikaru mocked, poking him. Kaoru shrugged him off with a half-embarrassed grin. I looked between them.
"Invitation?" They exchanged a look.
"Weird. We sent them out last week," Hikaru mused.
"What is it for, exactly?"
"For the party, of course!" They exclaimed. I looked blank and they sighed. I obviously hadn't been paying much attention.
"Our parents are having a big party next weekend," Kaoru said.
"We didn't fancy hanging out with a load of boring fashion designers and brand owners all evening so we invited a few more interesting people," Hikaru added, making a face. I thought hard.
"No, I don't remember getting…" I trailed off as I realised that I wouldn't have got it at all because they wouldn't have sent it to the apartment – they'd have sent it to the Hayashi mansion, the place where I never was and was rarely in contact with. Anger bubbling within me, I forced a smile.
"I'll reply as soon as I get it," I assured them.
"Wait, is that a yes or no?" Kaoru asked. I just winked at them and walked away, the grin sliding off my face.
I had some family to go and see.