Prologue's End
Dear Sakurako-nee-san,
We have decided to go to the ski trip since Hiro is going to confess there. Hopefully we won't get involved into more complicated and troublesome stuff. Anyway, Kaoru hasn't been coming to the clubroom for the past week. Wonder what happened to him…
Kaoru could hear the echo of his own footstep as he made his way through the hallway. He looked down at his own reflection off the glass walls. Flat hair, dark eye bags. He has been down with a flu since last week, and adding on his troubles, he had insomnia every night.
He continued to walk in silence as he thought of the dreadful week. He couldn't be calm for even a minute since that day. That day where he saw Barako…
"Did something happen to Nadeshiko?"
"I…" Barako croaked slowly, "I don't want her to get hurt again. No matter what…"
Kaoru didn't know what he should say. He couldn't say anything. He looked at the shivering figure in front of him and suddenly remembered how miserable he felt previously. Is Barako experiencing the same thing? What can I do for her?
What would Nadeshiko do?
Kaoru was shocked. Why am I thinking of Nadeshiko again? Kaoru shook his head vigorously when he thought of the previous conversation he had with Haruhi.
"Kaoru," Barako turned up to look at Kaoru as she called him softly, "Would you help me?"
"What? How can I help? I don't even know why she would be hurt." Kaoru panicked as the sudden seriousness found in Barako's words.
"You know it, don't you?" Barako sighed, as she turned to gaze the looming doors of the Egoist Clubroom.
"Hiso…" Kaoru suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart. Heat started to rise in his chest, and he started to have difficulty in breathing.
"… You are jealous, aren't you?" Haruhi's voice echoed in Kaoru's head.
"I need to go," Kaoru rose to his feet and ran back to the classroom as he covered his ears with his hands.
Stop it!
Kaoru stopped just in time before he walk out into the garden. How should he face Barako after that incident? What about Nadeshiko?
Suddenly, Kaoru could feel warmth in his chest, and he started to calm down. He closed his eyes to enjoy the breeze from the garden. He could see Nadeshiko in front, picking roses in the garden. He could hear Nadeshiko's sweet voice calling out to him. She was so close that Kaoru could just reach out to her. Just as he stretched out his hand, Hiro walked out from the shelter. Kaoru saw Nadeshiko turn away from him and running toward Hiro. Nadeshiko gave Hiro a very sweet and gentle smile as she passed him some roses. Why? Kaoru clenched his fist in anger, as he thought of Hiso. Why did Nadeshiko give Hiso the roses instead of me? Why did she smile to Hiso instead of me? Kaoru suddenly could feel the wrath within him. The heat is rising again. It was like some volcano had erupted within him. It was as if some storm is raging within him.
"Erm… you said something about jealously previously right?"
"Yup, what's wrong?" Haruhi looked puzzled.
"So you mean the feeling that I have is jealously?" This was Kaoru's first time experiencing something like this. He suddenly thought of the similar feeling that he had also experienced.
"Wait, so why do I have that feeling whenever I see Hiso with Nadeshiko?" Kaoru scratched his head in confusion. Why do people have this complicated thing called feelings?
"What feeling do you mean?" Haruhi tried to understand.
"Like, there's this heat rising within me. So I feel like I'm angry. But not only that. Argh, this is so hard to explain…"Kaoru pulled his hair in agony.
"… You are jealous, aren't you?" Haruhi smirked.
"WHY?"Kaoru gapped.
"Well, because you have a liking over one of them?" Haruhi analyzed.
"I AM GAY?" Kaoru dropped to his knees in shock.
"Shouldn't normal people think of the other way?" Haruhi smacked her forehead in despair.
"I like Nadeshiko?" Kaoru muttered to himself. He slowly pry open his eyes to face an empty garden with no traces of neither Nadeshiko nor Hiso.
"Kaoru!" Someone smacked Kaoru from the back.
"Wah! Who?" Kaoru spun around to face a person with a bright smile, revealinng two rows of neat and white teeth. That person had spiked black hair, and big dark brown eyes. He looked like a smaller version of Mori-sempai but with longer hair and bigger eyes. Overall, the person looks quite cool.
"Where have you been for the past week?" The person asked as he nudged Kaoru.
"Wait that voice…" Kaoru suddenly realize how familiar the person's voice was.
"HISO?" Kaoru didn't know what to do besides starring at Hiso with his mouth agape.
"How do I look?" Hiso took a turn before giving Kaoru a refreshing smile.
"Wow…"
"I'm now all prepared for tomorrow!" Hiso smiled in satisfication, leaving Kaoru still shock over the unbelievable makeover.
-Host Club At Work-
"How's Kaoru now?" Tamaki asked.
"He's fine already. He came to school today," Hikaru took a sip of tea.
"Hmm that's good," Tamaki stirred his tea gently, "Anyway, tomorrow is that day, right?"
"Yup!" Hikaru grinned happily at the thought of his confession, licking the teaspoon dry.
"AH! Why don't we seniors tag along?" Tamaki smiled proudly at his brilliant idea.
Hikaru dropped his teaspoon in shock.
"NO, YOU CAN'T!" Hikaru shouted.
"I'm in love with Haruhi," Hikaru muttered as he looked down at his feet. He knew that if Tamaki went to the ski trip, he would definitely have no chance of winning or even confessing.
*"So I'm really sorry, but… I don't want you to follow us on our ski trip, Highness."
Hikaru didn't dare to look up at Tamaki's face. Hikaru clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. He can't afford Highness going to the ski trip.
"I don't want you to come along…!" Hikaru ran out of the clubroom, catching a glimpse of Tamaki's shocked face.
"So you have to confess tomorrow, okay?" Nadeshiko clapped her hands before continuing, "Let's start practicing!"
"O… okayy…" Hiro stuttered as he thought of Kana.
"Help me take a look over them," Barako smacked Kaoru by the back and walked out of the clubroom.
"…" Kaoru let out a sign of relief as Barako exited the room. He really didn't know how to talk to Barako after that day. He looked at Hiso and Nadeshiko. They are totally ignoring him. Morelike, Kaoru no longer have any presence in the clubroom. How close have they gotten just by the one week I was gone, Kaoru wondered as he could feel the 'jealousy' rising within him.
"I like you, Kana!" Hiro shouted as he bowed and passed the bouquet of flowers to Nadeshiko. Kaoru looked up just in time to see Nadeshiko blush, and her face twitched when Hiro said Kana.
"How did I do?" Hiro looked into Nadeshiko's eyes hopefully.
"Good enough," Nadeshiko's voice trembled as she tried to hide her blushing red face behind the flowers.
"Wha…" A volcano erupted within Kaoru. He couldn't stand it anymore. Kaoru rose to his feet and grabbed Nadeshiko by her wrist before pulling her out of the clubroom.
"Hiro, don't follow us," Kaoru said before he slammed the doors behind him.
"He said my name correctly…" Hiro stood rooted to the ground, looking at the closed doors of the Egoist Clubroom.
"Yo," Barako waved at Hikaru.
"What are you doing here?" Hikaru grumbled as he threw another pebble into the pond.
Barako walked across the bridge and sat on the step, settling comfortably beside Hikaru.
"Nothing much,"
Hikaru continued to throw pebbles into the pond. The two of them sat beside the pond in silence.
"Don't you have anything to say to me?" Barako asked as she also picked up a pebble and threw it into the pond.
"Why should I?" Hikaru mumbled. He didn't know why one of the sisters was sitting next to him right now. He really dislikes them. But he don't know why he kept on replying Barako.
True enough, Hikaru did have something to say to Barako. He wanted to ask about too many things. Where is Haruhi? Are you close with her? Why is she always going to your clubroom? Why does Kaoru like the Egoist Club? What exactly happened last week? What were you and Kaoru talking about?
Hikaru shut his eyes tightly in frustration. Stupid! Don't you dare go with the flow! Hikaru's lips trembled as questions threatened to come out of his mouth.
NO WAY I'M GOING TO ASK HER ANYTHING! Hikaru pouted as he forced himself to think about other things.
Don't think of the sisters. Think of something else. Something… Ah! Tomorrow's ski trip!
Hikaru smiled at the thought of his confession. But his smile faded as soon as he thought of Highness…
Hikaru felt so uncomfortable. He could feel something stuck in his throat. Why did I do that? Hikaru felt sad and guilty at the same time. He didn't know what to do. He really wanted to let out everyone. He really wanted someone to console him. Someone that he can consult…
Hikaru turned around to see Barako fiddling with her fingers and bit his lips.
"You know, tomorrow I… I am going to…" Hikaru stuttered.
"Confess?" Barako asked.
"How did you…?" Hikaru fell backwards in shock.
"What? You mean your friend?" Barako pretended to have not caught on and tried to act like she don't know anything.
"Ohh, ya… You see, my friend is going to confess to a person tomorrow." Hikaru quickly replied, and let out a sigh of relief. He found it more comfortable to explain his situation to Barako in this way. Barako won't even notice that the 'friend' is actually himself.
"Well, actually another friend likes the girl," Hikaru continued as he fiddled with his fingers. He told explained the whole situation to Barako in a third person's view. He heaved a sign of relieve when Barako nodded to show that she understood whatever Hikaru had blurted out.
"Well, that's all," Hikaru threw a pebble into the pond.
"So, your friend doesn't want to confess anymore?" Barako tilted her head sideways.
"NO! It's just that I'm very guilty of saying such harsh things to Highness. But… but it's not exactly my fault, right?" Hikaru looked at Barako with uncertain eyes. Hikaru no longer care about anything else. He just needed someone to tell him that everything he did was fine. He just needed someone to convince himself that he did not hurt Highness with his words. He didn't want to admit it. He really didn't like the feeling of guilt. Hikaru was so caught up that he didn't even realize that he stopped talking as the third person.
Barako sighed as she patted his back, "Well, what do you wish it to be?"
"I… I don't know… I don't want to hurt Highness…" Hikaru felt so bad. He felt like his whole heart is being torn apart as he remembered Highness's face.
"Because he is important, right?"
Hikaru looked into Barako's eyes. He didn't know what he should reply nor say to her. It was as if she could understand him just by looking at him.
"From what I can see, you want to protect things around you, but at the same time you are afraid of getting hurt. You might not be able to see it right now, but deep down you already have the answer inside…" Barako just stood up and walked away.
"I still don't get it…" Hikaru gripped his hair tightly in frustration.
"Do you know what you are doing right now?" Kaoru yelled at Nadeshiko in anger. He was pissed. Really pissed.
"What's your problem?" Nadeshiko broke free from Kaoru's grip, and massaged her wrist.
"Are you dumb or what?"
"Stop yelling at me!" Nadeshiko didn't know what was happening. What's Kaoru's problem? He just suddenly pulled her out of the clubroom and started yelling at her.
Nadeshiko sighed and started to walk away, "Forget it, I need to get back to Hiro,"
Kaoru quickly took grip of Nadeshiko's wrist again, and took a deep breath before continuing, "Answer my question. Do you know what you are doing now?"
Nadeshiko was getting impatient. Hiro was waiting for her in the clubroom. She needed to get back to him quickly.
"Why don't you tell me?" Nadeshiko glared at Kaoru.
Kaoru let go of Nadeshiko's wrist. He put his hands on Nadeshiko's shoulders gently and looked into her eyes, "You like Hiro, right?"
Nadeshiko's eyes widened in shock, "How did you…"
"Isn't it very obvious?" Kaoru sighed again, "Stop it already. It'll be less painful this way. Don't hurt yourself anymore than this."
"I…" Nadeshiko tried to deny but words choked up in her throat. Nothing came out. She thought no one knew. She thought that she had concealed it well. She didn't want anyone to know. Nadeshiko cleared her throat and pretended to be perfectly fine.
"Nadeshiko…" Kaoru put one of his hands on her back. It was like a switch. Suddenly Nadeshiko could feel all the tears streaming out. All the tears that she had been holding back for so long, so long. She could no longer contain herself. She didn't want to.
"It hurts… so much…" Nadeshiko wailed as Kaoru pulled her into his arms.
Dear Mum in heaven…
**In the spirit of 'experiencing all that life has to offer', here I am in the snow-covered mountains… This is supposed to be my classmate Kurakano's family's private ski resort… but it's not quite what I thought a ski resort would be like…
All I can think of right now is how I can't wait to go home…
And so, the ski trip starts…
*Disclaimer: Ouran belongs to BISCO Hatori
Author's Note:
I just realized that this chapter doesn't exactly contains the ski trip. Its actually the next chapter! :xx
Anyway, I'm so proud that this chapter is very long! ^^
Oh, and please do refer to chapter 60 of Ouran when reading the next chapter, bcos I'm too last to also type out what happened in the manga. I'll just mention I about the series of events briefly.
(I think I'm gonna die typing out the next chpt x.x And, I had to reread the series for thousands of times to write this fic x.x Luckily, I brought the whole manga series for reference :p)
For the *, I didn't type out the whole thing. Its from the manga. It's in chapter 59 btw!
For the **, its just part of chapter 60.
Anyways, story thus so far:
Everyone is hurt because of different reasons. Is it going to continue, or will things get better? What will be Hiro's fate during the ski trip? What will happen to Nadeshiko?
Next week: Confession