Kyandi: Hello there, everyone! Miss me?

Naniko: More like they miss me.

Kyandi: Can't it be both of us?

Naniko: Do I look like the type of girl that shares the spotlight?

Kyandi: You will with me.

Naniko: Uh-huh. Sure. Shall we move on?

Kyandi: Yes! Everyone enjoy and review!

Naniko: Kyandi-sama does not own Ouran High School Host Club. Jeez...that's still a mouth full.

Chapter 21 Silent Treatment

The next morning Kyoya half expected Naniko to blow up in his face the moment she saw him. He had been waiting for the confrontation all day and when she finally walked into the club room twenty minutes late, he called her out on being tardy to club activities.

"You are late." he told her as she walked across the room to the dressing rooms to change into her costume for the day.

He expected her to snap at him, to give him a dark glare, something. Anything. But instead she walked right past him as if she hadn't seen or heard him. He turned and repeated it, but still she acted as if she had heard nothing at all. When the others greeted her, she smiled at them, but she paid Kyoya not a lick of attention. Even when the others brought him up, Naniko acted as if she had heard nothing about him. She was pretending as if he didn't exist.

"You should get changed. You have customers waiting." Kyoya told her, just to test his theory.

Naniko turned to the twins who were calling her to show her the outfit they had for her to wear, completely ignoring the fact that Kyoya had just told her the same thing.

Was she...she was giving him the silent treatment?

Naniko took the dress bag from the twins, heading into the dressing room. Their theme for the day was Egyptian. Naniko came out in an Egyptian queen outfit that exposed her toned stomach, the skirt riding low on her hips and a slit riding up her thigh almost to her hip and the top show casing her curves. Gold and jeweled necklaces graced her neck, matching bracelets and anklets around her wrist and ankles, and a belt just as flashing hanging around her waist.

Seeing her in the outfit that left little to the imagination, Kyoya's mind flashed back to when he had been able to touch that body freely. Kyoya gave himself a mental shake. He really didn't need to think about that. Naniko didn't, as always, seem to mind the fact that the twins had picked an outfit that barely covered her. She went about her club duties, completely and utterly ignoring Kyoya. He knew it shouldn't have annoyed him. It was actually a childish thing to do, giving someone the silent treatment, but it really was pissing him off.

No matter the conversation and no matter what he said to her, she acted like he simply didn't exist.

Besides that, she carried on as usual. Teasing Tamaki and Haruhi alike, kidding around with the twins, having tea and cake with Hunny and Mori, and flirting with the ladies. Even when Haruhi flat out asked Naniko if she was pretending Kyoya didn't exist, Naniko replied with, "Huh? Oh, sorry! Did you say something? I must have been daydreaming.".

Kyoya snapped a pencil then.

It was bad enough when she purpose went after his throat. He could deal with that. He was a business person after all. He could handle her coming at him with fangs and claws bared, could match her wit for wit, but this? He couldn't stand the fact that she acted like he wasn't there. He would prefer she yelled, smarted off, that she constantly had to butt in and give him hell. But ignoring him? He didn't like it. Not one bit.

And thus went the next few days. By the end of the week Kyoya was close to throwing down his notebook and claiming that enough was enough. He didn't know why it bothered him so much. For once she wasn't messing with him. It had been his most peaceful week since she had arrived at the school, yet to have her walk past him and never even act like he was there...I made him want to shake her.

So needless to say, his mood for the next few days wasn't the best. The other members of their club avoided him and his black mood, though Naniko pretended not to notice. In truth...she was dying of laughter on the inside. To think the cool and collective, always in charge Kyoya became so annoyed and displeased just because she was acting like he didn't exist. It gave her a sense of victory to see his mood go so completely black over this. He deserved it, the bastard. Knowing that she got to him even a fraction of the amount he had gotten to her, made her feel slightly better.

Come the next week, he was livid. She could tell the moment she entered the room. And finally he snapped. When she entered the club room that coming Monday, Kyoya seized her by the arm, yanking her to a halt and spinning her around to face him. His expression was just as dark as his mood was. Naniko carefully blanked her expression like she had seen Ryotarou do in one of his meetings he had made her attend.

"This is rather childish, don't you think? Pretending I don't exist...it's immature." he told her.

Naniko refused to say a word. If anything, her expression grew cold as her eyes narrowed. Kyoya was shocked to say the least. She didn't snap at him, didn't say anything really. She just calmly removed her arm from his hold, turned on her heel, and walked away as if he had never stopped her. She instantly fell into flirting with her guest, making girls blush easily with a well placed comment and smile.

"Do you think something happened between them?" Tamaki asked as he, Haruhi, the twins, Hunny, and Mori watched Naniko and Kyoya from a distance.

"Looks like it." the twins coursed.

They watched as Kyoya grit his teeth and turned to walk away in the opposite direction of Naniko. Naniko didn't even seem to notice or care for that matter. The air between the two was dark and cold and was enough to make the rest of the club members uncomfortable.

"Any idea what we do?" Hikaru asked.

"Haruhi? You know Naniko best." Tamaki said, turning to Haruhi.

"Naniko's stubborn. If she wants to drag this, whatever it is, out, then she will. She hasn't liked Kyoya-sempai from day one. Unless he makes an effort to be nice, she's not going to stop this." Haruhi replied, walking away to join Naniko.

Kyoya?

Be nice?

To Naniko!?

They had a better chance of hell freezing over...twice.

That being said, they had to fix this soon before the customers started to pick up on the icy atmosphere between the two. Naniko was favored by the girls because of her light, airy, and protective nature. If the girl saw her being icy with Kyoya, they wouldn't want the two to fight and things could get really complicated. They were going to have to come up with some kind of idea as to how they were going to fix this. And quick.

-0-0-0-0-

"Hey Haruhi!"

Haruhi looked up as Naniko came toward her, a smile on her face. As usual, she met Haruhi outside the school gates before school. Haruhi greeted Naniko as usual, noting that Naniko had been in a better mood as of late. She had a sneaky feeling that it was because of how annoyed Naniko was making Kyoya. Whenever the boy wasn't near, Naniko would grin like the Cheshire Cat.

"We find out our scores today, don't we?" Naniko asked as they headed into the school.

"Yeah. How well do you think you did?" Haruhi asked.

"With how hard I studied? I better be ranked right below you at second place." Naniko replied.

Despite how she acted, Naniko was a hard working student and had near perfect scores in most of her classes. There were a couple of classes that she had to study extra hard for, but she almost always pulled second or third in ranking. Haruhi was grateful that Naniko never tried to swipe the first place from her. That could have ended in trouble. But where Haruhi had to be first to keep her scholarship, she wasn't sure what drove Naniko to work so hard. Even before her father took custody of her and before she came to Ouran, she had been the top of her year. In her public school the others had failed in comparison. Naniko never shared why she worked so hard and Haruhi never pressed for answers.

The two finally reached the board where their ranks were posted, Naniko locating the list for the mid-term results for first years.

"Oh. Uh-oh." Haruhi voiced.

"Yeah, uh-oh. How did this happen?" Naniko asked.

The list listed Naniko at first with Haruhi two below her at third and the twins after her. This wasn't good in the least. Naniko was happy, of course, that she had obtained the top rank, but not the expense of Haruhi's place at the school.

"Looks like you have to tell the others." Naniko remarked.

Not something Haruhi was looking forward to. The two made it through the school and when they reached the club after school, Haruhi told the others. The others were shocked to say the least.

"What!? Haruhi, you didn't make first place?!" was the shocked out cry.

"Nope. Naniko did." Haruhi replied.

All eyes turned to Naniko who had draped herself in an armchair, legs crossed and hanging over one arm of the chair. She had a book open in her lap, but looked up when they all stared at her.

"What? I do try where my studies are concerned, you know. I usually always rank right below Haruhi at second place. It's not like I tried to out do her." Naniko replied, turning back to her book.

"You could score perfect grades if you wanted to, Naniko." Haruhi remarked.

"Hmm...but what fun would that be?" Naniko retorted as she flipped the page of her book.

Haruhi shook her head at her friend, knowing that Naniko fell short in her studies on purpose. She didn't want to appear stupid, but didn't want to be labelled a book worm either. Not to mention she knew that by knocking Haruhi from the first place spot, Haruhi would lose her scholarship and be expelled from Ouran. Naniko would have no reason to attend the school after that and the rest of them knew it.

"Then I should express my condolences." Kyoya remarked in a not-that-it-matters-to-me tone.

"Haru-chan, don't give up!" Hunny told Haruhi.

"Hey, what's wrong with third place? Are you being sarcastic or what?" Hikaru asked.

"It's not like good grades mean a person isn't an idiot." Kaoru added.

The twins turned to where Tamaki, who ranked second among the second years, was busy digging through a chest of personal things he kept in the club room. They gestured to him to draw Haruhi's attention to the blonde.

"Case in point...that guy over there." they coursed.

Pretty much everyone ignored Tamaki when he freaked out that he couldn't find his mechanical pencil. When he pointed out that it was gone, Hunny simply replied that maybe it went on a trip. Naniko ignored it all as she reached out to snag a cup of tea off the table in front of her.

"Why do you care about being first?" Hikaru asked.

"It's not like you'd be expelled from school." Kaoru replied.

"But she will be expelled." Kyoya and Naniko said in unison.

Kyoya looked up at Naniko in surprise, but the girl pretended like she hadn't heard someone else talking at the same time as her. He was really getting tired of her silent treatment. He really preferred her yelling at him over the quiet. He forced himself to remain calm. If he showed that it got to her, she would keep doing it.

"She must get the top score in her year to keep her scholarship. She'll have to take the make-up test to improve her grade. The worst-case scenario is that she'll be expelled. If she's lucky, she might be demoted to Class D." Kyoya explained.

"Haruhi! Don't fret! You'll clear the make-up, no problem! I wanted to give you my mechanical pencil as a good-luck charm, but I can't find it! That this instead!" Tamaki said, offering Haruhi his stuffed bear.

"I don't need a good-luck charm with a blank stare like that." Haruhi replied.

"Meanie! That's so mean, Haruhi!" Tamaki whined. "You're still peeved that I didn't tell you I was the chairman's son! You think I kept it from you deliberately! But it was your fault! You should have known about me already!"

"Look, I may curse myself for my stupidity, but to be honest...it doesn't matter that much to me." Haruhi told him.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter!?"

Naniko heaved a sigh. She marked her place in her book and looked up at Haruhi.

"Really, Haruhi if you really need it, I can let you borrow my mid-term. You can compare what I got right and you didn't and study what we both got wrong. That should put you ahead of me and back into the first place slot." Naniko offered.

Haruhi gave her friend a smile. Naniko was helpful when she wanted to be. Though she didn't normally like letting others see her school work, she would let Haruhi use her mid-term to study.

"Thanks Naniko. I know why I failed to get first place, though I'll take you up on that offer. I'll be more careful during the make-up." Haruhi said.

"You left something blank and forgot to fill it in, didn't you?" Naniko asked.

Haruhi heaved a sigh that was answer enough for Naniko. Sometimes Naniko knew her a little too well. She didn't even have to answer for Naniko to know that she was right.

"So, as I was saying...I'm sorry, but I have to take three days off from club until the make-up." Haruhi said.

To Haruhi's horror, but Naniko's amusement, Tamaki, the twins, Hunny, and Mori all stepped up, flashing glasses they had seemingly pulled out of thin air, and told Haruhi to choose her teacher.

"Professors Hitachiin, your grades are lower than Haruhi. Kindly stop down." Tamaki told the twins.

"No, no, no, Mr. Suoh. It is vital that the teacher have a strong rapport with the student." the twins replied.

"Haruhi, I'll be your mathematician!" Hunny offered, Mori offing to teach her history.

"Come on! Choose one, Haruhi! Don't you want a private tutor?" Tamaki asked.

"No, not at all..." Haruhi tried to tell them but the others insisted she pick a tutor.

In the end, Haruhi choose to accept the help of one of the girls from Tamaki's class that Kyoya asked to help, with Naniko helping, mostly in the evenings. Tamaki, of course, sulked, though he claimed it was for another reason.

"Will you stop moping, milord? The rain is already depressing enough." one twin commented.

"Haruhi didn't want to choose. There's nothing we can do about that." the other added.

"Isn't that the top female student in your class, Tama-chan?" Hunny asked.

"That doesn't matter anymore. I admit I dreamed a little. But so long as Haruhi can get her work done, it's fine." Tamaki told them. "A new problem has cropped up...I can't talk too loudly about it, but...Beary has been kidnapped!"

Naniko, who had been making tea, shook her head at this. She carefully sat two cups of steaming tea, a teapot, and a plate of snacks on the tray, turning to take it to Haruhi and her new tutor.

"There's something I want to ask you...I know there are people who concentrate better when there's a certain level of noise. I'm wondering if this racket is for our benefit. If that is the case, I'm afraid I prefer a quiet atmosphere. Either way, this is far beyond a certain level of noise. You say you want to help Fujioka-kun study, but your actions don't match your stated intent. This is just the kind of hypocrisy I detest. Now will you kindly shut up?" Ayame said, all without taking a single breath.

Naniko knew she liked this girl. She was smiling when she sat the tray on the table the two were sitting at.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I brought you tea." Naniko told her, smiling at her.

"Thank you. You are Fumeiryo-chan, correct?" Ayame asked.

"Yes, I am." Naniko replied.

"You are the top of your year. Why did you not tutor Fujioka?"

"I'm afraid, while my studying habits are good, my skills for teaching is not. I would simply make it worse. It was best to have someone skilled in that area teach Haruhi." Naniko replied.

"A girl who knows her strengths. It is nice to see at least one of you exist in the first year."

Naniko wasn't so sure about that. Especially since the truth was that Naniko really hated it when it was brought up that she actually tried harder than she let on. Usually she was stingy about not letting anyone see her classwork or test. Even Ryotarou, who could pull the whole guardian-must-make-sure-your-passing card on, never got to see the work.

Naniko left them to work and returned her tray to the small kitchen area they had. She turned to her bag then, intent on getting out the book that she had been reading the last few days, but found it missing from her bag. Naniko thought back, trying to remember the last place she had been reading it. It had been in the library earlier that day. She had sat down to read until the club activities started. She must have left it there. But by this time, the library would be close. She would have to wait until tomorrow to get it and then she would have to hope the librarian didn't put it on a shelf or throw it away.

Naniko heaved a frustrated sigh, concern and fear welling up inside her. That had been a first edition copy of the works of Edgar Allen Poe that her mother had pain stakingly saved money to buy when she was little. It would be a blow to her heart to lose it now.

"Looking for this?"

Despite herself, Naniko looked up. Kyoya stood in front of her. In his out-stretched hand, he held the old leather book that was one of the only things she had left of her mother. Naniko felt a rush of relief flood her, but then dread followed close on it's heels. This was Kyoya who had her precious book. He was going to ask for some kind of payment for her to get it back. She knew it.

Kyoya watched as, for the first time in over a week, deep purple eyes came up to fix on him, weariness in their depths. She was expecting some kind of catch. Kyoya wanted to tell her that she could have it back at a price but just two days ago Tamaki had insisted that if he wanted Naniko to stop ignoring him, than he had to be nice to her. It wasn't something that would come naturally, but he suppose, if it would snap her out of this silent treatment phase, he could give it a shot. Though he still didn't know why it bothered him so much.

Naniko's eyes slid from his face to the book and back again. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and questioning.

"I went to the library earlier and the librarian had noticed a book that didn't belong to the school. It has your name in it and since we are in the same club, she asked that I return it to you. Take it." he told her.

He watched one eyebrow rocketed up as she eyed him. Slowly, as if expecting some low blow, she reached out and snatched the book from him. When he made no move towards her, she wrapped her arms around the book, holding it close to her chest. She was so distrustful of him and she had a reason to be. She eyed him for a moment and then gave him a simple nod before treating away from him, snagging her bag along the way.

What Kyoya didn't tell her was that he had opened the book and read the neatly written message on the inside cover that had been left there by her mother.

To my loving, sweet girl. Read and remember that someday, when you are a beautiful, grown woman, you too can share your lovely writing with the world. It just takes hard work and a lot of heart.

With all the love in my heart,

Mama

It was clear that Naniko's mother had loved her very much. The book was a first edition. It couldn't have been cheap. Naniko's mother had probably scraped and saved for months, maybe even years, to buy that one little book for her daughter. And then there was the fact that he hadn't even known that Naniko was a writer. He never saw her writing. None of the others had commented on seeing her writing. Then again, there was the script she wrote for the twins the one time they had been bored.

He wouldn't mention having seen the words, to Naniko. It would only make her even angrier with him. Of that he was sure. It seemed like a private thing that Naniko didn't like to share with others. Not even Haruhi.

Naniko retreated to a chair near Haruhi and Ayame, opening her book in her lap. The neat script of her mother's handwriting looked back up at her from the inside of the front cover. The book was in English and so were the words. To help in Naniko's dream of being an international writer, her mother had started teaching her English when she was little. Naniko ran two finger tips over the words. She might have fallen into some old memory if she hadn't picked up on Haruhi's and Ayame's conversation.

"Um...do you have a grudge against Tamaki-sempai?" Haruhi asked.

"Let's see...they say the rain cleans the air. Some love the rainy season, seeing it as the natural poetry of Japan. I am very well aware of that, but I still don't like it. By the same token, the son of our respectable chairman may be intelligent and popular among girls, he may appear charming to a majority of human beings...yet there's something about him that I can't help feeling repulsed by." Ayame replied.

"In a nutshell, you hate him." Naniko offered.

"Yes."

And that set the pace for the next two days. Naniko watched as Haruhi studied, now and then helping and letting the two use her mid-term paper to go off of. Ayame gave Naniko praise for her hard work and even stopped long enough to explain why she had gotten wrong the questions she had been marked off for. Naniko gratefully listened, though she wouldn't correct the mistakes. Some of them have been on purpose after all.

Tamaki tried to stay out of Ayame's way and Naniko pretty much stuck to her pretend-Kyoya-doesn't-exist stick that she had been on as of late. Kyoya only got more frustrated. He had been kind enough to return her beloved book to her and she just went back to ignoring him. It seemed it would take more than just one random act of kindness to get her to drop it.

Naniko ignored any and all looks he cast her way, bringing Ayame some tea since she wouldn't accept any from Tamaki. Ayame thanked her to which Naniko smiled.

"Um...should we change location?" Haruhi asked.

"It's okay. Don't worry about him." Ayame replied.

"No...I mean for you." Haruhi replied as Naniko poured her a cup of tea as well.

"But you have a lot to deal with. As a scholarship student, the pressure of maintaining first place must be considerable. I'm sure you care what the others thinks." Ayame said.

"Oh, I don't know. The ranking...I don't think about it much It doesn't matter to me. The thing is, I have a goal. And I want to see how far I can go. What others think is irrelevant, isn't it?" Haruhi said, turning to Naniko. "It's the same with you, right Naniko?"

Naniko looked up in surprise. She hadn't expected this to be turned on her. The boys listened closely. They didn't get a lot of insight into Naniko's thought process.

"Well, I've never really been one to care about the opinions of others. Not where I'm concerned at least. After all people will say and think what they want of me no matter what I do. Why bother trying to be something I'm not, making myself miserable, when it won't change the way people view me anyhow? I'd rather be comfortable with myself than people please my way through life. I have my own goal, my own dream. I study for myself, not others. Which is why I don't like it when others nose into my grades and scores. It's my business, not everyone else's. So no...I really don't care." Naniko answered, shrugging as she turned to continue clearing away teacups left on other tables.

Ayame was shocked by both of them. The boys were surprised to hear that Naniko didn't care what others thought of her, but it was the first time they had heard of any kind of dream from her. Naniko didn't seem like the type to care about that kind of stuff. Though Kyoya believed he had a good idea what that dream was.

"All I want is to study in quiet. That's why I resent people who disrupt me. It irritates me when others impose their expectations on me. Even more so when my nerves are unnecessarily disturbed by-"

"Natural curls discovered!"

Ayame was cut off as the twins picked out a strand of her hair that had started to curl. Naniko looked up as Ayame turned to the twins, shocked that they had found a curl standing out in her straight hair.

"Miss Ayame, I bet your hair is super curly. Has you hair been straightened?" Kaoru asked.

"If it's too much trouble to keep it straight, you should try a wavy hairstyle that works better with-"

"Stop!" Ayame demanded, cutting off Hikaru.

Naniko was sure that Ayame was about to snap. Something about her hair being curly seemed to set the girl off. Naniko's own hair went curly when she let it grow out long. Which it was starting to do. She was going to have to cut it again soon.

"Leave me alone! That's why I'm telling you I hate the rain! So what if my hair isn't straight? You're the one who took it for granted. Thanks to you, I feel uncomfortable, while you're not even breaking a sweat in second place. I've had enough! Stop twisting my feelings around!" Ayame yelled, aiming her words at Tamaki.

So that was what was eating at Ayame. Naniko, being the female-aware girl she was, had a sneaky feeling that Ayame actually liked Tamaki. Hunny agreed with her. Naniko heaved a sigh.

"Tamaki-sempai, for someone who claims to know women and how to please them...you are incredibly dense." Naniko remarked, much to Tamaki's shock.

It didn't take Tamaki long to correct the situation. Naniko still marveled at how quickly rich people got things done. In the end Tamaki arranged for an iris festival to take place. It was ironic really since irises bloomed during the rainy season and Ayame, whose name meant iris, hated the rainy season. Tamaki then had the twins redo Ayame's hair, bring out it's natural curl. Not that the whole thing changed much. Ayame did become a regular guest in the club though. With all the chaos that errupted, Naniko finished tutoring Haruhi and with that and Ayame's previous tutoring, Haruhi took the number one slot from Naniko, bumping her back down to her usual second slot.

Naniko didn't mind in the least. With summer break coming up, she had other things on her mind then grades and scores. She was looking forward to summer break. A couple of weeks without having to see Kyoya? That was a dream come true. Maybe she could finally sort out a few of her feelings.

It was worth a shot.

END

Kyandi: It's childish but I pull the same thing with my father when he's being mean to me.

Naniko: The difference is your father cracks in less than a day.

Kyandi: Yep! Daddy can't stand his little girl not talk to him. Hehe!

Naniko: You aren't little.

Kyandi: I am to him~!

Naniko: Sure. Can we move on?

Kyandi: Right! Everyone enjoy and review.

Naniko: We'll be back as soon as possible.

Kyandi: Bye, bye!