Chapter Twenty: Night Out
Something wasn't right.
Something definitely wasn't right. It wasn't like Saelind to feel paranoid, but something seriously wrong was going on behind her back: she just knew it.
After all, all day long, she'd been given sneaky grins, snickers, and mischievous expression from the twins.
And she'd EVEN caught a few giggles coming from Haruhi.
Which weird in all forms of the word.
What the heck is going on with them? she silently wondered, eyelid twitching in fury. I might have agreed to stay, but I never said I'd put up with things like their arrogant little snickers. I mean, damn, it's only been a day and they're already acting like someone's about to prank me.
The attention had persisted from the early morning all the way into the afternoon, which made the girl feel even more pissed off than normal. She hated attention, and the fact that they were purposely making her aware that she was getting it made her want to snarl like a teething puppy. However, every time she tried to open her mouth and snap at them, she remembered Kyouya's promise and locked her jaw shut in misery. She wasn't allowed to be mean to the Host Club anymore.
Which, in itself, was actually an agony that she hated with a passion: just because she was part of them didn't mean she'd come to like them.
In fact, even though Kyouya had bribed her into staying, the girl hated him most of all for using her biggest weakness against her.
However, after enduring an entire school day of mischievous whispers and hushed giggles, the black-haired girl approached the twins after class was done.
And glared at them. Fiercely.
"And what, may I presume, are Wannabe Weasley twins up to?" she demanded with a twitching eyelid, ignoring how they guffawed at the comparison she'd used for the infamous movie twins. "Mind explaining what all the annoying whispers and snickers were about?!"
"Oh, no..." Haruhi sighed, covering her face with a small groan. "You just had to bring that comparison up, didn't you?"
"What comparison?" Hikaru instantly snorted, waggling his eyebrows. "There really isn't one, since we're way cuter than the Phelps brothers, hands down."
"Plus, Hikaru and I are natural redheads because our mother was Gaelic," Kaoru sneakily added, lacing his arm through his twin's and making Saelind roll her eyes. "We already have everything that they were supposed to have in the movies, but the difference with us is that we've never pretended."
"Hey, guess what? I really don't care one way or the other!" Saelind growled, face turning red with frustration. "I mean, damn, out of everything I just said to you morons, that's the part you latch onto? God, you two are more self-centered than I thought."
"Hey, be nice!" Kaoru pouted, giving her an expression similar to his brother's. "If you don't, we'll tattle on you."
"Besides, if you're asking about what we were whispering about, don't worry," Hikaru drawled, giving her a devious smile. "You'll find out in..."
"... five... four... three... two..." Kaoru finished, checking his watch. "One."
Saelind jumped into the air with a squawk of alarm when the classroom door unexpectedly flew open wide.
"Saaaaaaaeeeell-chaaannn!" Honey happily screamed, making the girl screech in surreal terror: soon he was crashing through the entrance and barreling towards her like a wildebeest on steroids, which made the tiny girl stumble backwards and land on her butt with a thud. "It's tiiiiiiiiiime!"
After the first initial startle, Saelind caught herself and stood up: she then let her visible teal eye lock on his childish face, silently questioning his sanity.
"Excuse me for asking, but what the hell is so important that you had to barge in here screaming?" the dark-haired girl seethed, clenching her fists and averting her eye in embarrassment; it was the first time in a long time that somebody had been able to startle her that badly, and because of her reaction, the visible half of her face had turned bright pink with an embarrassed flush. "That's rude to the teacher and everyone else here."
"But class is over, and no one else is here, right?" Honey innocently asked, blinking and looking around in confusion; then he perked up and jumped up and down, squeezing his bag with glee. "I almost forgot! Sael-chan, you need to come get dressed! There's still lots to do before sunset!"
"Sunset?!" Saelind scoffed, eye widening in outrage. "What the heck is going on with you people?! What's going on at sunset?!"
"Oh?" Kyouya cheekily inquired, walking into the room with the other Host Club members and glancing up at her with an amused flick of his eyes. "Have you forgotten already? You have a date with a certain mister Nekozawa tonight: as instructed in the forums handed out yesterday, every Host is going to be dressing to the match tastes of the person they're accompanying for this event. You also have to do whatever the guest asks of you, since this is their night of bliss, and even if it seems completely ridiculous... you must go along with what they wish for, unless it invades your physical boundaries."
"What?!" the black-haired girl choked, face turning purple with rage; when Kyouya snapped his fingers, two men wearing black suits and dark glasses strode into the room, brazenly grabbed her under the arms, and forcibly dragged her out of the classroom. "AHH! Hey! Let go of me! Get off! NO TOUCHING!"
They didn't let her go and merely ignored her snarls and cat-like hissing until she was standing in front of a dressing room.
Saelind squeaked when she was shoved into the dressing booth, because not even ten seconds afterwards, four young women with identical smiles on their faces walked in with beauty supplies and a box. The girl bit her cheek and squeezed her eyes shut when she was forced to sit down as they did her hair and applied some sort of coating to her face. Then the Ouran Uniform she was wearing was somehow stripped from her body within seconds. Stunned, dazed, and feeling completely exposed, Saelind merely let her mind go blank so she wouldn't go nuts from the hysteria overwhelming her. She really didn't want to risk her future of normalcy by biting someone's hand.
Before she was aware of what was going on, she was being ushered out of the changing booth and the entire of the Host Club was standing in front of her.
They were all donned in white and black tuxedos.
"You look great!" Tamaki exclaimed, nodding happily as he looked at Saelind's slender frame. "I knew that type of dress would be perfect for you!"
"What dress?" Ami asked, poking her head into the room and looking around; everyone glanced at her when she gasped, but Haruhi merely furrowed her brows when the Asian girl clamped two hands to her mouth. After a moment, she slowly walked forward and touched the dress that Saelind was wearing. "Wow! Saelind-chan, you look totally hot!"
Haruhi merely sighed and closed her eyes: one thing was for certain... Ami Kikiroshi was one hell of an actress.
"Huh?" Saelind asked, trying to make her brain work. "What's hot? My brain is partially turned off at the moment, so please leave a message after the beep."
And in a way, what she said was true: she'd detached herself to keep from going crazy.
Which was mainly why she couldn't process anything well enough to bother glancing down at herself.
She was currently wearing a black dress that looked as though it had been made for a porcelain Lolita doll. Her sleek black hair had been curled, so it now hung down her back in voluminous ebony waves. The darkness of the outfit also accentuated her pale skin and the bright color of her aquamarine eye—which, should be said, had been outlined with a fine line of glittering eyeliner and matching mascara. A high collar and long white stockings hid the majority of her skin, and shiny black slippers covered her small feet.
"The dark look is shockingly attractive on her," Haruhi murmured, rubbing her chin with a thoughtful expression. "For one thing, she's small enough to wear a dress like this, and all of her visible facial features work with it. She really does look like a Lolita girl now."
"True," the twins stated, looking highly unsatisfied for some reason, "but there's still something... not quite there."
When everyone looked at them, they finally stalked forward and began to circle the zoned-out teen, both of them frowning intensely.
It was true: there was still something missing, something off.
After a moment, Hikaru took a step back and eyed the girl standing before them with a quirked eyebrow.
Saelind felt undeniably uncomfortable under his scrutinizing amber eyes.
What else do they want me to do? she silently mourned, closing her eyes and sighing in dismay. I'm dressed up like a creepy little doll because of them.
In truth, if she hadn't been given the opportunity to repair the damage done to her face, she probably would have roundhouse kicked the twins right upside their heads and sent both of them flying out the nearest window. Still, respect and politeness always came first—or at least that's what her mother had taught her. However, in situations like these the girl wondered if it was okay to use a little non-ladylike violence: God knows she wasn't even a real lady, considering she'd always been a fairly violent girl.
The twins finally snapped their fingers in synchronicity, interrupting the girl from her thoughts. Saelind's muscles instinctively tensed when both of them once again walked up to her: she shivered when Kaoru moved behind her and started doing something with her hair, but she couldn't keep from baring her long fangs when Hikaru unfastened the braid keeping her scars hidden and undid it. However, she squeezed her eyes shut when he parted her hair in a different manner and started doing something else.
She felt something being tied behind her head and shuddered... then she felt soft hair sliding against her right cheek.
The twins continued their ministrations until the girl felt like she would go insane from them touching her, but then, they moved back.
And every person in the room gasped, jaws practically hitting the floor.
Saelind's bangs had been parted in a symmetrical manner, styled so beautifully and skillfully that nobody could see the scars on the left half of her face.
A ribbon had been tied into the back of the girl's hair, giving her the look that usually made most young Japanese men go nuts.
However, they weren't finished yet: when Kaoru picked up a lightly pink-tinted strain of lip gloss, the girl froze.
No, no, no, she silently chanted, locking her jaw shut in horror. If he touches my mouth, I won't be able to stop! I'll bite him!
However, she tightened her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut when he leaned forward and started applying it to her full lips. A venomous hiss of rage slipped through her teeth when he finally pulled back and capped the gloss, and it was only then that she spoke her mind.
"You know what?" Saelind angrily grumbled, opening her eyes. "If I'd wanted to look like a fashion peacock, I probably could have done all of this by myself."
"You wouldn't have, though," the twins simultaneously chorused, shrugging and glancing at each other with a pair of grins. "So we had to."
With a final step back, Tamaki eyed their masterpiece: the visible parts of her face sparkled as the light caught it due to the glitter in her makeup, and her teal eyes shimmered just as beautifully despite the anger radiating the death glares they'd all grown accustomed to.
"You're as beautiful as any noble now!" Tamaki sighed in a dreamy manner, spinning around in a circle and sweeping Haruhi off her feet; the brunette squawked when she was danced around the room against her will. "Isn't Daddy a wonderful person, Haruhi?!"
"Gah! Tamaki-Senpai, stop it!" the girl squalled, dizzily trying to get free as she was spun around in circles. "Put me down already!"
"Oh, you're right," the blonde murmured, blinking in surprise. "We mustn't keep our guests waiting."
"No, we mustn't," Kyouya agreed, scribbling something down and flipping his notebook closed. "However, due to Nekozawa's condition with light, Saelind will wait for him in the Host Club until the sun has set. On your way back to the music room, put this on so people don't recognize you."
Saelind scowled when she was handed a hooded cloak similar to the one the towering boy from the previous afternoon had been wearing.
Then, without further ado, the girl threw it over her clothes and stormed out of the dressing room before sweeping down the hall like a wraith in black. She didn't want to do this... and when she got back to the abandoned music room, the girl momentarily considered ditching this plan. However, Kyouya was intimidating since he somehow knew what everyone was doing, all the time.
So, at this point, all she could really do was sit down and wait for the doors leading to the unknown room to open.
She sat for about maybe an hour, but after that she started reading a book on the occult she'd found sitting on the table in front of her: who it belonged to, she really didn't know, but she was a big fan of Bram Stoker... especially since Dracula was kind of awesome. She didn't realize that while she was reading, the door slowly opened up and a hooded figure slowly poked its head out into the open. When the shadowy young man then slid outside, the bright lights forced him to withdraw deeper into his hood.
Umehito Nekozawa slowly moved across the floor towards the other similarly-dressed figure, wanting nothing more than to be carving in his room. However, since the Host Club's power kind of scared him, he'd already decided it would be better to go along with them for just one more night. However, when he stretched out a large, pale hand and gently set it on the girl's shoulder, he wasn't expecting her reaction.
One second she was sitting in a fairly relaxed position; the next she was gripping his arm and throwing him over her shoulder with a wild snarl of rage.
"Ahhh!" Nekozawa yelped, landing hard on his back; he flinched and covered his eyes and face when the fluorescent lights above landed on him. "Stop!"
"Okay, rule number one: don't touch me!" Saelind snapped, shuddering violently as she clutched her shoulder. "Rule number two: NEVER startle me!"
"I'm... s-sorry," the boy stammered, practically gliding back to his feet; Saelind blinked and tilted her head back when he was finally standing completely upright, eyes growing larger than they'd been in a while. "I... didn't know you were startled that easily."
"Holy shit," Saelind scoffed, making the boy twitch and stare at her in surprise. "How tall are you?! You're, like, a giant or something!"
"Eehhhh?" Nekozawa drawled in a loose, creepy tone; however, his mouth opened a little in surprise, which sort of countered his manner of speech. She couldn't really see his eyes because his hair was hiding them, but from the little she could see, he hadn't been expecting that sort of inquiry from her. "Well, I gueeessss... you could say that I'm six foot five."
Saelind's mouth dropped.
"You're an inch taller than Mori," she muttered, shivering violently when she thought of the powerful youth. "Great. So, what's the plan for tonight?"
"What do you mean?" the boy slowly inquired, lifting his arms and revealing that there was a cat puppet resting on his left hand. "Plan?"
"I'm supposed to do whatever you want for a night," Saelind muttered, giving a shrug. "Pick something and let's get on with it. I just want to get this over with."
Nekozawa merely stared at her, mouth hanging open a little.
This was certainly unexpected: it seemed as though the person he'd gotten roped into spending time with was just as antisocial as he was. Which was weird, since she'd apparently been forced into joining the Host Club, the most social group in the entire Acadamy. After a moment, however, Nekozawa got an idea that would suit his mood and cocked his head.
"Hmmm... would you perhaps be interested in visiting a creepy abandoned house that nobody but myself knows about?" the burly teen inquired, wriggling the little cat puppet and making Saelind stare in disbelief. "I haven't found the courage to enter it all by myself, and that is saying something since I absolutely adore spooky things."
"Fine," Saelind grumbled, shivering a little before she angrily thrust her finger out, "but you try anything creepy, buster, and my knee is gonna hit your groin!"
With that, she thrust her hand out and gestured for him to lead the way.
Nekozawa didn't hesitate and practically glided out of the room: when Saelind followed, the two of them resembled some very creepy-looking specters.
They swept down the majestic hallways, padded down a couple grand staircases—and a few turns later the two of them were outside and sweeping across the school's grounds. It was already starting to get dark out: the sun wasn't completely gone yet, but there were no direct rays touching the earth. However, Saelind soon began to notice that Umehito snuck through the grounds as though he didn't want to be seen: he avoided all pools of light from the lamps that were scattered throughout the area.
Actually, it was more along the line that he shied away from everything bright.
"Sooo..." Saelind uncomfortably muttered, adjusting her cloak as they left the grounds and walked into a forested area that kind of baffled the girl. "Where exactly is this house you were talking about, and why the heck is it so special?"
"It's in the forests that cover the school's rear grounds," Nekozawa lowly chuckled. "The reason Ouran Academy was built here is a secret that only the headmaster and his grandson are supposed to know about, but I overhead it since I blend in with the shadows. When I am out and about, people usually don't give me a second glance because I am practically darkness itself."
"Sooo... why'd they build the school here?" Saelind sighed, rolling her eyes in an unamused fashion. "Mind getting to the point?"
"To cover up traces of the Silent War," Nekozawa snickered, making the girl blink and stare at him more seriously. "There have been rumors for more than thirty years now that Japan was involved in some sort of Civil uprising called the Silent War, you know: Ouran Academy was built here to hide the evidence that couldn't be destroyed. Some say it was due to several things being found, and others say it was because scientists wanted to study the area since there were signs of bio-terrorism being found around here. After that, however, everything was abandoned and left the way it had been found."
"Seriously?" Saelind asked, completely intrigued by what he was saying; she wasn't even shocked by her own curiosity, since anyone would have been amazed after hearing that. "Are you seriously saying that something so crazy is really hidden on Ouran's school grounds?"
"Yes," Nekozawa confirmed, giving a creepy little cackle. "It's absolutely fascinating, but like I said, I'm not brave enough to go into the house I found alone."
"Honestly, I don't even blame you," Saelind chuckled, startling herself so badly that she clamped a hand over her mouth. "I... I mean, whatever."
"We'll have to climb this wall right here," Nekozawa stated, stopping for a moment. "Do you need help getting over it?"
"A boost would be appreciated, since I'm not exactly the tallest person in the world," Saelind deadpanned, reluctantly glancing up at him. "However, this is literally the one and only time I am ever giving you my permission to touch me. Don't overdo it or I swear to God, I will beat the shit out of you."
When he shrugged and the little cat on his hand rubbed its face with a paw, the girl waited until he knelt down to put her foot in his hands.
Then she shakily put the other, and she placed both hands on the wall as she waited for him to lift: when she felt his muscles heaving, she tensed... but then, without warning, Umehito heaved her up much higher than she'd expected to be going and her feet lost contact with his hands. Flailing, the girl lunged outwards with her arms and dug her fingers into some loose bricks that lined the side of the wall.
"Ehhhh?" the boy drawled in a slow manner from below her, staring up at the girl as she flailed her legs. "You okay?"
However, when he suddenly realized that he could see up the skirt of her dress, his eyes widened and he froze.
Mostly because he'd noticed that she was wearing pale pink underpants with tiny red hearts on the butt cheeks.
Oh, God, he thought, face turning bright red; he turned his eyes away and shivered. They should have told her to wear pants!
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Saelind growled breathlessly, unhooking one hand and extending her right arm to catch the ledge above her. Once she had a firm grip on it, Saelind unhooked her other hand and grabbed the ledge with her left hand before she tensed her muscles. "Okay, here we go... I hope to god I can still do it after such a long time!"
Then, tightening her stomach muscles and arm muscles, the slender girl legitimately pulled herself up in a straight line and slipped her body into an incredibly flexible handstand: Umehito's eyes widened and he twitched when he saw how well she was keeping her balance. Then, expertly flipping her hands around, the girl whimpered in pain and slowly brought her legs down behind her like a contortionist, planting her feet on the structure.
Then she righted herself with her arms spread for balance.
Dusting herself off, the girl turned around and stared down at him before sliding halfway off the opposite side and holding out her hands. In the blink of an eye, Nekozawa jumped up and clamped onto her: the girl strained her muscles and pulled him up, whining at the sound of her shoulders popping from the weight. Once he was also on the wall, the two of them jumped down to the other side.
"Ow..." Saelind groaned, shuddering violently. "I haven't done gymnastics in a long time... that seriously hurt the left half of my body."
"Gomen Nasai," Nekozawa moaned like a ghoul, making his puppet kitty clap its hands. "Shall we go?"
"Sure," the girl muttered, shrugging off the pain with a grumble. "So, where to?"
"Follow me," the boy said mysteriously, gliding off into the forest without another word. Saelind sighed and followed him, prancing to keep up with his long-legged strides: they plodded along for some time through before they came upon a clearing with an abandoned two story house standing in the middle of a dead-zone area. Nothing was growing around the house, not even the trees. "We're here..."
"Whoa!" Saelind whispered, raising her eyebrows in shock. "You weren't kidding!"
"Let's go inside," Nekozawa whispered, looking for all the world like a little boy on Christmas. "I want to see what it looks like in there."
"If you say so," Saelind murmured, staring at the creepy house in awe. "I thought you were making it up, honestly: this is actually really, really cool! How'd you find this place?"
"I was exploring the school at night like I always do, since I live in the school itself," Nekozawa chuckled lowly, giving her a seemingly twisted smile; Saelind cocked an eyebrow and wondered if he even knew how creepy he looked. "It was on one of those nights that I decided to leave the main grounds... and because of it, I found this house as well as four others in these woods. Nothing grows around them: it's all dead."
"Well, it's an amazing discovery, that much is true," Saelind replied, blinking a few times in surprise before the two of them walked up to the old wooden house. The stairs of the front porch creaked underneath their feet, telling the girl how old it must have been: Saelind breathed in amazement and stretched out a hand to turn the rusted doorknob. However, it wouldn't budge. "Aww... that sucks. It's locked."
"Did you honestly expect a house this old to be open?" Nekozawa teased, crouching down and using a pins that he withdrew from his cloak to pick the old lock. After hearing the small click of success, he looked up at her with a twisted smile. "I'm a genius, however."
So saying, he stood up and carefully pushed the door open: the rusted hinges protested loudly, making a screeching sound that had Saelind wincing.
"Admittedly, yes I did—but I can say that I wasn't expecting to discover that you're good at breaking and entering other people's houses," Saelind slyly noted as she walked past him and entered the building. "Makes me wonder what you do in your free time."
"There's a lot you don't know about me," Nekozawa cackled with a creepy grin. "Just as there is a lot I don't know about you. We're strangers, remember?"
"Duh," the girl sighed, sarcastically rolling her visible eye before she hesitantly glanced around. "Still... this place is amazing."
In truth, that wasn't even a lie: the house was dark, musty, and years of dust had covered just about everything inside.
It was alarmingly old... and apparently, they were standing in what used to be the living room; ahead of them was an archway that led to what looked like a kitchen, and beyond that was a set of stairs that headed to the second floor. The kitchen had a joined dining room, and off to the left was door that most likely led to either a pantry or the basement.
Oddly enough, the home had a western style build.
"Let's check out the upstairs first," Nekozawa suggested, silently reasoning that it would be best to start from the top and work their way down. Saelind gave him a small nod and the two of them headed up the creaky old stairs. However, when they were only halfway up, one of the stairs gave under the girl's feet and she fell partway through.
"EEK! H-help! Help me!" she shrieked, eyes instantly becoming huge with terror; she extended her fingers and dug them into the nearest surface just before she slid through the hole that had opened up beneath her. Her body jerked to a halt, but she was now clinging onto the remaining stairs with nothing more than her fingernails: most of her body was dangling above a terrifying darkness that loomed like a chasm beneath her body. "U-um, help me! Please?!"
"Here, take my hand," Nekozawa stammered, extending his arm to her; the girl instantly flailed and shakily grabbed onto his palm. Straining, the hooded boy struggled to pull her up, but once he did he jerked her against his chest a little too hard: both of them stumbled and fell against the stairs, but Saelind was shaking so badly that her fear of being touched had been forgotten. For a few moments, she didn't even realize that she was clinging to a guy she didn't even know due to the adrenaline coursing through her. "A-are you okay?"
It took the girl a moment to answer: her eyes were blank as the memories of falling through another floor played before her eyes.
Her past was once again flickering to the surface, reminding her of who she was and why she hated physical contact.
Shaking violently, she finally managed to push herself away from him and hugged herself.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, swallowing hard and staring at the ground, "but that was... that was really, really scary."
"Hold my hand, then," Nekozawa moaned, taking her left hand before leading the girl upstairs. "I don't want either of us falling through the floor."
The girl shuddered and decided to ignore her instincts for once: she could put up with this until they got out of here, because he was actually correct.
Between holding a hand she didn't want to hold and falling to her death because of her own stubborn attitude, she wasn't dumb enough to choose the latter.
On the second floor were three bedrooms with antique Japanese-style furniture—though most of it had been badly damaged, and all of it was covered in cobwebs. Umehito slowly opened another door and revealed an ancient bathroom that was just as badly damaged as the rest of the house: Saelind cringed at the sight of dead cockroaches lying in the tub.
Not finding anything else of interest, the two of them went back down the stairs—avoiding the hole that Saelind had almost fallen through.
When they walked into the kitchen, however, a familiar scent caught the girl's nose and she froze.
Fire.
She smelled fire.
Sniffing the air, Saelind absently let go of Nekozawa's hand and walked over to the sink before looking down at it.
Her blood ran cold and she stiffened, eye widening in shock: there were dark blood stains on the sink that looked to be nearly a hundred years old.
"Um, hey," she whispered, looking at the sink with a blank expression, "there's blood in here."
"Huh? How can you tell?" the boy lowly replied, walking up behind her and peering over her shoulder with his kitty puppet. "Are you sure it isn't rust? I can't really make out one stain from the other because of how old everything is."
However, the girl's teal eye was already following the trail of blood that led down the sink and off into the house towards a closed door.
Not listening to him, she followed the bloodstains on the floor with a thudding heart: there was so much of it…
"Hey, don't wander off," Nekozawa called; however, when the girl ignored him, he chased after her and caught her arm. "Really, don't wander off! This house is very old and dangerous—not to mention its falling apart at the seams!"
"Ugh, let go of me!" Saelind snapped, jerking her hand free and turning around to face him. "Seriously, look at all the—"
However, she froze when the house itself suddenly seemed to let out a shrieking groan: just as the two of them looked up in startled alarm, the floor beneath their feet suddenly dropped nearly half a foot and started caving in without warning—sending both teens falling to their knees. Saelind squeaked in terror just as Nekozawa looked up at her: then the sound of ripping wood screeched around them and a void of empty shadows started opening up below their hands and knees. Just before she fell, Saelind's teal eye became huge with terror. Then she was falling... and screaming at the top of her lungs.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she slammed into the ground and everything went quiet and dark.