Chapter 12

"Someone's bound to hear my cries'.

After dinner, Gin lays down on her bed. She closes her eyes and when she opens them she shrieks, looking at the wall above her head, there's a big spider staring at her. She turns quickly with a shriek and falls off her bed. Dresses quickly into some blue faded shorts and a black tank top, she decides to go look for someone, if she goes to the twins, they'll make fun of her. Honey's probably afraid of spiders himself. Mori would be nice, he wouldn't say much and she always feels a little uncomfortable around him.

She opens the door a little and peeks around the door to look into the dark hallway 'Hello? Somebody there?' She looks around the hall and then at the room closest by. Kyoya's room. She feels her stomach turn, like it's telling her not to go in, do not enter is almost written on the door as she hears thunder cracking far away. She lowers the doorknob and opens the door.

'Kyoya? Are you in here? I have a problem… there's this huge spider on my wall-' She turns on the lights to get to see him and her eyes open wide when she looks at a shocked Kyoya and Haruhi, lying on the bed. Haruhi pinned down by him, Kyoya without a shirt or glasses, his hair is damp and back relaxed.

'Oh my god' She feels her eyes turn bigger –like they're going to pop out of her head-, she feels her heart skip a beat in an painful and uncomfortable manner, like something breaks. She suddenly feels like puking her guts out, tears sting in her eyes and she steps back 'I'm… s-sorry… I'll go… looking for Mori… or Tamaki… or something' She steps back and when she has closed the door she starts running.

Running. Not back to the creepy spider. Not to the twins. Not to Honey or Mori. Not to Tamaki. But into the backyard. She runs over to the stones right down the stairs to the beach. She hits the wall next to her when her feet are on the last step and growls, wiping the tears off her face and then running back up the stairs, back into the mansion. It's stupid to run away like that, she had always ran away from those kind of things. Embarrassment was something she was trying to run away from, by ignoring it. But this… this was nothing for her to be embarrassed about, they should be.

She just runs around the corner when she bumps into someone, she's about to glare but when her eyes meet the grey ones of Kyoya she just blushes a deep red color and looks away 'I'm sorry… for earlier' she takes his hand which is outstretched for her and stands back up.

'Gin, what you saw wasn't what you think. I was just trying to teach her a lesson…'.

'Oh my god… I don't want to know your intensions' she waves with her hands 'You know, it's completely normal... in some way… but the fact Haruhi mostly dresses as a boy and I know the two of you are so-' She stops talking when Kyoya lays his hand on her mouth.

'Look, we weren't having sex'.

'You were half naked!' she states, pointing at him accusingly.

'Gin. There's no real explanation. But let's say I wanted to prove Tamaki's point to Haruhi earlier today'.

'By having sex with her?' Gin raises an eyebrow, unconvinced.

'No, by pretending to be the bad guy. Like you said Gin, it's not a very good feeling to play the bad guy while you're actually doing right. I know what you meant'.

'I know you know. Because we're in the same boat, you pretend to be the bad guy all the time. And I'm not the only one who knows that. What I just don't understand… never could've imagined… is the scene…' She shudders 'You know, just… forget it alright? I won't say a word as you just tell me one thing…'.

'And that is?' Kyoya looks at her coldly.

'Do you like Haruhi? As a girl thing, I mean'.

'No'.

Gin smiles and sighs in relieve 'Phew, what a relieve…'.

'And why is that?'.

Gin feels her cheeks grow red again 'B-because it would be so wrong… I know you guys and it's just wrong to picture something like you and Haruhi in a relationship' She lies. She doesn't know why she's relieved, but Kyoya mustn't think the wrong thing about her. She's not like that, she's not in love with her friend, the last time that happened she almost lost one. So she was convinced she wouldn't let herself fall for a friend again.

'Sure' he answers with a slight smirk, also unconvinced.

'No, I'm serious, it's just wrong alright?' Gin shudders fake, watching him from the corner of her eyes.

'Whatever you say Gin'.

'You don't believe me. You're such an ass sometimes' she sticks out her tongue.

'Oh, is that so?' he looks amused. Kyoya looks amused! She almost cheers or laughs at him in his face. But she doesn't, she can only feel a little bit satisfied.

'Yes, so… I still have to ask…can you please come to my room to get a blood sucking vampire spider off my wall? It's scary'.

'So you didn't joke when you said you were scared of spiders'.

'No, of course not. As much as I beat the toughest guys and yell at you, I still am I girl, and I don't like big, hairy, long legged creatures with more than twelve eyes. Wait a second…' she looks at him bewildered 'When did I tell you I was afraid of spiders?'.

He smirks 'I just knew'.

'Yeah, yeah. Just get it out of my room already'.

'I'll see what I can do'. With that the pair walks back towards Gin's room, where the spider still hangs above her bed on the wall.

XxX

On the way back from Okinawa to her house, Gin had been exhausted. Much had happened, but she felt more at ease. More peaceful and happy. She had friends, real friends. But then again, what is a real friend? She still couldn't trust reality. It still felt like a dream, a long endless dream.

She never felt like things were true, like things were what they are. Was somebody just playing with her? She smiles by the idea, in that case someone liked some drama, but she shouldn't care for that right now. Her life is all good now. At this moment at least.

She looks outside and sees the clouds. They're on the plane again. She's in the same seat, opposite of Kyoya. The boy is working on his computer like he's still keeping the world under his control, sometimes she really thinks he's planning something to take over the world, or maybe has already done that. 'Kyoya?'.

'Yes, Gin' he answers without looking up from the silver monster.

'Will I ever get you to lay down Bob for a while?' she muses, laying with her elbows down on the table to place her head on top of her hands.

'No'.

'I'm not going to stop trying though' she smirks 'And I always do what I say. I promised Haruhi to make your ice box melt'.

'Excuse me?' he raises his eyebrow and looks at her, finally stopping with typing.

'Oh my god! We're still alive! The world hasn't exploded yet!' She grins as he just shakes his head and closes Bob with a sigh. Gin stands up and turns around to everyone who's looking rather freaked out by her sudden outburst 'Joy! We're still alive! The world isn't going to break in two and fall down the universe!' she laughs.

'Alright, alright. Gin, please calm down. You're making a fool out of yourself and me'. The girl doesn't listen, of course 'I'm going to make you sit down'.

'Well do it then' She grins mischievously and her eyes stand defiantly. Kyoya smirks and looks at the others who've returned to their own stuff, the twins are busy with Haruhi and Tamaki, Honey and Mori are eating pie. Save. He grabs her arm and pulls her over the table to him, she shrieks as he tickles her in her side, she laughs out loud. Nobody but her father could ever make her laugh while tickling her, now someone else seems to have that power over her. She tries to slap his hands way and get away from him but his firm grip tells her he isn't planning on letting go.

'S-stop… K-k-Kyoya! Can't… c-c-can't b-b-brea-the!' she kicks the chair while struggling and laughs until a single tear drops down her cheek. Kyoya let go of her and she falls onto the table exhausted.

'Fine… Fine' She chuckles and let herself sink down in her chair, ignoring the stares from the other hosts they get again 'You're really evil…' she chuckles.

'Look at yourself' he replies, she smirks and kicks playfully against the side of his leg 'Oh, shut up'.

Gin sits comfortably back in her chair and looks outside, waiting for something. The clouds, her friends, everything she values most. Her grandparents are loved by her, of course, but still… their bond isn't much more than familial ties. It has always been nothing but people she knows, a bond by blood, but they were always gone… there's not real feeling of family.

She looks from Tamaki back to Kyoya, yes, the only two people who would ever understand. Kyoya could read her like an open book, Tamaki had forced it out of her by playing under the right circumstances. When she's emotionally unstable, and when there's pressure on her. Tamaki kicked it out of her, and she for once in the time she knows him, she actually respects and admires the bouncy and dramatic Frenchman.

XxX

It had been a week since Okinawa, and a cultural exposition is held by the school. It appears that many clubs from other schools are coming to Ouran to show off their skills, like drama clubs, music clubs, poetry clubs and such things Gin was never really good at. Singing? Tortured cat. Music instrument? She starts stressing out when she needs to move her hands so fast. Drama? Never really liked it. Poetry? She can rime! But not much more than that…

The last class of the day she has, is P.E. As Gin runs over the field and jumps, she turns in her jump and pushes her chest and butt up to get over the bar. High jumping. Some girls gasp as she pushes herself up till her limits and some guys blush a little bit, when she lands on the thick mat, she looks at the height and wipes the sweat off her forehead.

'That was amazing Gin!' Says a girl of her class –Mary?- handing her an Ouran towel and another girl –Yuki?- handing her a bottle of water.

'Thanks' Gin stands up from the thick mat and looks at the bar. PE class had been changed to the last two hours before the afternoon classes because of the cultural festival. PE was very important because some people at Ouran were too heavy, and keeping the body fit was something important in the chairman's eyes. Gin never liked PE all that much, her endurance wasn't very good and she had always sucked at ball sports with exception of Tennis, Badminton and Hockey. And it wasn't as if she was exceptionally good at them. She at least knew how to do it.

But the high jump was something she had been good at since she was young, just like skiing, swimming, roller skating, climbing ropes, material arts, tree trails (As much of a sport it is…), and… climbing rocks. Yes that would be it. But it aren't things she had ever done as a real sport, it were things she had done a few times before and was naturally good at. She still wants to go skydiving, kiting and diving.

'Hey Kyoya, do you know if Ouran has a rink?' She looks at the male standing with Tamaki and with a few other boys from class.

'Yes, Ouran has a small rink a little bit further than the Middle School building, right next to the swimming pools. Why?' he pushes up his glasses.

She shrugs 'Oh, I might go ice skating today. I don't like the heat all that much, so I figured if Ouran has a rink I could go there to… you know, cool off' She smiles mischievously and waves before walking off, she stops and turns, remembering something 'Oh, I've told my driver to bring the Dutch tea –you asked for yesterday- to the club room, I won't be joining the club today though'.

'That's alright, you may do as you please' answers Tamaki with a gentle smile.

'Right, thanks' Gin gives them a small smile and walks towards the girls' dressing room to take a quick shower and dress in more comfortable clothes. She would skip lunch today like she planned that morning, she took pancakes with chocolate with her for lunch, she was planning to: or go swimming or go skating if Ouran actually does have rink.

Nobody would be there right now though, she guesses. The rink is only used by a few students who're skating for their sport or club, but with the art festival now, there's no one expected to be there.

When she runs past the middle school building towards the swimming pool, she sees indeed another grand building, it's colored pink like the rest of the school and has a special stage inside around the ice rink like a real one only smaller.

Gin smiles, the ice is smooth, as expected, it's Ouran ice after all. She puts on the white figure skates and skates a bit over the ice a bit, like in the winter back at home. Sometimes there would be ice on the pond and she and her friends would go skating together. Fun it was, even though Teresa was a very bad skater, they had fun.

She sighs at the sound of emptiness, every move she makes is like a giant from a story book's move. So she skates back and puts on some music from her IPod, reminding her a little bit more of home.

XxX

At the end of the afternoon, she walks over to the Host Club, just to check on them. Seeing all the boys with the smug smiles on their faces (Twins + Tamaki) and Kyoya typing away on his laptop like crazy makes her feel very uncomfortable.

'Alright, spit it out. Tell Auntie Gin what she missed the last couple of hours. What are you up to?' She lays her bag down on a chair and walks over to the center of the room. Where they're all sitting on some couches or on chairs. Nobody replies, she shrugs.

She walks over to Kyoya and takes a cookie from the plate one the table in front of him 'Hey, are you done with the painting yet? I want to see it before we present it to High School Gallery tomorrow, for the cultural festival, remember tomorrow?' she pokes in the side of his head, for which he glares at her.

'It's almost done, I'm finishing it tonight' He answers, looking back at the screen again.

'Great! Can you send me a picture of it tomorrow?'.

'No'.

'Why not?' she frowns, again the gut feeling… she's not gonna like this.

'Because I want to see the look on your face when you see the painting tomorrow at the ceremony' he answers almost too casually.

'Fine' she snaps 'I hope it's good. Because I can't have a bad mark on my end list'.

'Gin, I never fail, so don't worry'.

'Yeah right… 'She sighs and takes another cookie before grabbing her bag again 'Whatever you're guys up to, if it has anything to do with me I'm going to kill you'.

'It's not about you Gin' chorus the twins bored.

'It better not be' She closes the doors of the club room behind her and narrows her eyes, going back home. Whatever Kyoya's up to, or the other hosts. Her gut tells her she's really not going to like it.

XxX

The next day, three shows before the big show of the Zuka Club, which is planned as last event of that afternoon, there's the Ouran art gallery before the big show if this Zuka Club though. Gin has heard a lot about it and everyone she asked about it (All girls from lobelia) seemed to be more drastic and scary fans than the Ouran Host Club has.

The art Gallery is held in front of the whole school, plus teacher, other schools and the chairman, watching the paintings of the first years. Gin looks at Kyoya next to her, they're both wearing their school uniform like every other school day. She's wearing her pants again, they're much more comfortable, it's still early June and not too warm, so not hot enough for the skirt anyway.

She laughs softly to herself when a painting is very ugly or weird, but not hard enough for anyone else to hear, Kyoya probably noticed though but he notices everything. Deep inside of her she's feeling weird about not knowing what Kyoya had done. She fell asleep when he was starting to make a sketch and had done the real painting later, and she felt a little bad about making him do everything because she doesn't have any artistic talent.

Then it's the second years turn. Class 2A is last, as always the classes go from E to A. It's from bad to best. Probably has something to do with "Best for Last", Ouran seems to live by this.

At last, it's their turn. 'This painting is a project of Gerrylin Crow and Kyoya Ootori. Please, step on stage' Says the Art director, looking at them with a smile. They walk up the stage and over to the painting with a red cloth still covering it.

'I call this painting' Says Kyoya into the microphone 'Winged creatures at sunset'. Gin looks at him with a raised eyebrow, it's a weird name for a tree, why would he call it that? But when the Vice-Art director pulls the cloth Gin gasps air in shock, covering her mouth while looking at a painting of herself lying in the grass, the light of the sunset makes it look like she's glowing and there's a beautiful butterfly on her forehead, her hair is spread around her face like gold and the white of her skin looks like the softest silk. Her lips are pink and full and her eyelashes frame her eyes beautifully. Her face looks peaceful and angelic and she feels her face become very red when there's a long silence.

'Oh my god…' Is all she can bring out, the painting is beautiful, and she looks like an angel asleep. It's absolutely a master piece and she's the muse. There's loud clapping when the painting is projected on the big screen for everyone here to see. Loud clapping. She never felt this embarrassed in her life, of course it was a shock, she didn't expect him to draw her while she was asleep! He was drawing the view she had chosen for god's sake! She had seen him finish the sketch herself! But when did he sketch her like that?

'I'd like to say a few words' Says the art director. There's silence again 'Kyoya is one of my most gifted art students, his painting have always been remarkably beautiful, but-' she holds up her hand 'The painting we see today, is absolutely his best piece. The use of colors make our dearest Gerrylin look like an angel, which is why I assume he called it "Winged creatures at sunset" the butterfly makes it look very peaceful and makes you forget of every bad thing in this world. It's truly the work of a master. That's why we've given this painting the Golden Pallet!'.

There's clapping again and Gin let the words work in on her, she looks at the painting, her face, her beauty… it's true what the art director said, this is a masterpiece, and the masterpiece had her face! Which makes it not a master piece. She's not that beautiful.

She looks at the golden plate placed in the corner of the painting. The simple brown frame around it makes it look even more beautiful and authentic.

'And we'd like to give away the Golden Brush to Kyoya Ootori!'.

Gin looks at Kyoya being handed a golden award with a golden brush.

'And then the Golden Crown for most beautiful model goes to Gerrylin Crow!'.

Gin swallows as there's cheering, she feels someone lay crown on her head a golden band around her shoulder with "Golden Crown" on it and a bouquet of pink, red and white flowers. She frowns her eyes a little bit at the feeling of being chosen for something like Miss Japan, it's all a little bit too much for the Golden Crown, but then again, this is Ouran Academy for the rich.

When they walk off stage and the next candidates are asked to come on stage she gives Kyoya a glare 'That wasn't the landscape we chose! How could you paint me and show it to all those people without my permission?' she feels her voice waver, her heart beating so loud it's making her almost deaf.

'Gin-Chan! You were so beautiful in the painting! And the crown looks so cute on you!' Cheers Honey as the other hosts who come to give them their congrats.

'Yes, you looked like an angel, glowing as a thousand diamonds in the sunlight!' Says Tamaki over dramatically with starry eyes. But she ignores them, pointing accusingly at Kyoya.

'I can't believe you did that! Geez, I thought I could trust you! Do you know how embarrassed I was up there? I must've looked so stupid! Damn! You're such an ass!' She throws the bouquet away, to be caught by Haruhi and walks away angrily tugging on the band around her shoulder.

'You didn't tell her about what you were painting?' asks Tamaki a little surprised.

'No' Kyoya answers casually 'She fell asleep while I was sketching the scenery she chose, but I still needed payback for what she did at the water park. So now we're even'.

'It was payback?' ask the twins, tilting their heads a little.

'Yes, and she shouldn't have been that angry with me. She hadn't done a thing herself, and dared to question my abilities. Plus, she called me ugly words a couple of times. Gin doesn't like all the attention and this was my payback for her, even though she should have thanked me and be happy' Kyoya states.

Haruhi looks at him blankly, unfazed by his hard and still so casual mouthed words 'I know this wasn't payback, you actually regret painting her, don't you?' she asks.

Kyoya looks at her 'And why would you think that? What would I gain from just painting her for no reason?'.

'You wanted to make her feel better about herself. Every one of us knows she's not feeling as good as she's pretending to feel. She's still in pain and confused about herself. She's dieting to become less heavy while she doesn't look all that bad, and she doesn't want to dress in anything else than pants and such because she doesn't like her own figure, she doesn't see the beauty others –we- see. And you wanted her to see that, but you hadn't seen this coming, because she thinks you are making fun of her'.

Kyoya looks at her like the other hosts. Staring. 'I'm going to look where she went. She was pretty angry…' Haruhi says with a deep sigh.

'She's probably at the ice rink. She went there yesterday too' Answers Kyoya while pushing up his glasses.

'Then I'll go looking for her there first' Haruhi says and walks away from them into the same direction Gin went.

XxX

'Stupid… jerk… bastard…' She stands up and skates backwards a bit.

'Gin, are you alright?' Asks Haruhi's voice from the doorway, the sound of a door closing, footsteps.

'No, I'm not. He made me look like a total idiot. I acted like a total idiot. First I stare at my own face for an hour like I'm a cuttlefish and then I get the golden crown because I'm the best model. I mean, it was all about my face and I feel so embarrassed… Why would he do it? Why would he paint me when I fell asleep in his backyard? I don't understand… why is he doing this?' tears sting in her eyes but she refuses to let them fall, just because of her pride.

'To make you feel better about yourself. You never look really happy, and you care too much about your looks, you say everything like you're not good at it, you brush away complements without any hesitations, you don't believe in yourself or others. You don't trust in yourself or trust others. Even though we're your friends' Haruhi leans on the banister of the ice rink.

'Nobody ever said anything like that… I was never called beautiful… I was called evil. I never had any boy interested in me with exception of some dude who doesn't know he's gay yet. And I didn't understand why everyone else did get a boyfriend… but I didn't'.

'So, you thought it was about your looks' guesses the brunette.

'Yeah, that and my attitude. No boy has ever looked at me twice, and if they did they looked at my chest. It's so annoying every year again at valentine's day, I had the big awareness of me being single. Nobody ever said I was beautiful or funny, not in the way I want, they never say something like "Oh my god, you look so beautiful". You know how I felt? Probably not, because all the boys swoon over you without you even noticing…' Gin hits a crack in the ice with her blade and falls forwards on the ice, cursing.

'But why your looks? Why not… show off your talents?'.

'Because, I'm not smart like you, I hate sports, and nobody ever trusts my baking because I once made cookies with spicy stuff in it for April the first… So I couldn't. Everybody had their opinions of me with just one look… And the one time I fell in love, the boy came to knew about my crush on him, he ignored me, he stayed away from me, like I was some kind of a deadly pest. When I arrived, he would walk away without any reason, he didn't look me in the eye like he used to do… it was depressing and I felt bad'.

'I can imagine… Kyoya was just trying to make you see your beauty in his painting'.

'And how do I know the painting was truth based? Maybe I had a pimple on my forehead at the time and he didn't paint it, or maybe my lips aren't as formed as he made it look like-'.

'But Gin' Haruhi cuts in 'It was reality based' Haruhi smiles gently 'You always look that angelic in the sunset. I saw it at the beach in Okinawa too'.

'Thanks Haruhi…' She whispers and stands up from the ice again.

XxX

Haruhi had left at the end of the day, Gin would go on with skating for a little bit longer. But when she wandered through the halls afterwards, with her music on. She opens the doors of the Host Club to show her face once again. She was tired of all the people asking her questions, she had answered all the same questions twenty thousand times already. She was tired of all the congrats she got, and tired of the many people in the school who all looked at her as if trying to see the beauty from the painting.

As she opens the door with a deep sigh, she opens her eyes tiredly and freezes in her steps. Haruhi is sitting on the couch drinking tea with the twins. Kyoya is sitting behind his laptop, Honey is twirling around the room, Tamaki is saying something about is teddy bear pen and Mori is watching over Honey.

But the thing that made her froze in place was the fact all the boys, with exception of Mori were dressed as medieval princesses in big dresses and long hair. Mori was dressed as… who knows what, some prince with feathers? And the rest of the guys even wear make-up. Including Kyoya.

'Oh… my…god…' She whispers softly so they don't hear and takes out her IPod, she grins mischievously and snaps some pictures before they get to know about her arrival in the Club room.

She puts her IPod back and opens the door some more, when she's greeted by Honey-senpai in some cute but just wrong way, she starts chuckling, she looks at Kyoya who looks up at her surprised, make-up on his face. That does it. She starts laughing hysterically, she falls on her knees and tears start forming in her eyes.

'Oh my god, oh my god!'. The laughing is worse than when Kyoya tickled her, or when Tamaki was pranked by the twins with a bucket of water, green gel, feathers and pink powder. When she's finally done her stomach hurts, she grabs the table Kyoya's sitting at and peeks over it at Kyoya, she smirks and chuckles again 'So this is what you were up to? You're even wearing make-up' she pokes in his cheek.

'Gin, I would like you to give me your IPod' Says Kyoya calmly, Gin looks at him 'Why? Afraid I have some great black mail material?' She turns it off, knowing that if they start it again, they'll need a code first.

'Gin…' warns Kyoya sternly.

'Dude! You made a portrait of me with a butterfly in my forehead! Now let me have a background picture on my IPod that's worth laughing at every time I get into my menu' she dances the IPod in front of his face, like taunting him.

'Dude?' asks Kyoya with a raised eyebrow, looking past the IPod at her blue eyes sparkling back at him.

'Yeah, I called you dude. Live with it' she answers and puts the IPod in her pocket again.

'Give me the IPod. Auntie'.

'No, Mommy' she teases with the nickname and grins at him mischievously 'Never will I let you lay your hands on this mechanical world wonder. I will not ever let you touch this, and I will protect it with my own dear life if I have to' she says in a heroic way and smirks at the shadow king before saying: 'It's payback time!'.

TBC

A/N: You guys are so lucky! Because in the first place I would update tomorrow since my parents were gone for the week-end and I had to crash by my grandparents. But I managed to update!

Anyway, LOOOOVVVEEE the reviews! Really very much! And I would also like to thank the people who put it as Favorite or Alert, never have I had a story with this much Alerts!

So don't stop but give me MORE love! (I'm greedy and I know it XD!).

Greets. Startime101