Here comes another chapter!
What makes a person a person? Sense of humour―one would say. Other animals don't really laugh, find anything ironic and can't really be sarcastic. Reason―another would argue. Humans are the only rational beings out there in the animal kingdom, regardless of how clever some animals may be, they don't possess the type of intellect that is distinct to humans. And there is morality, on the other hand, that makes humans very different; the human need to be right or wrong, good or evil.
Biologists have different outlook on what makes a human a human. They would probably tell you a lot about DNA and the information that it contains, making a being a human and not, let's say, a dog or a cat. But just having a human DNA doesn't make one a person, it just makes them a human. So regardless of how one's DNA is mutated, changed and corrupted a being can be a person. He wondered if he was indeed a person. A distinct person, one that was not just an extension of Ootori family, but a person in his own right. A person who would be still himself if he stopped being an Ootori?
Cold winter wind waved his hair as he walked through the familiar path to meet her. She became a strange addition to his person that he wasn't sure how to define. He would have liked to just think of her as a friend, but the meaning of that word was a nuisance to him. Also, they said giving names to things, stated the person's ownership over it. He wasn't sure he was ready to own a friendship. Maybe he was worried that he couldn't realistically own it. Something can't be owned by two people, and friendship had two sides. Kyoya scowled.
She was there, sitting on the bench, eating her lunch when he got there. She was completely preoccupied with her task and didn't notice him at all. He found it amusing but couldn't tell what was the amusing part. It just felt so, and he decided to allow for his mind to classify the notion in that way. His face bleached as he smelled her blood in the air. It was stronger. He blinked surprised and walked closer. She looked up and waved.
"Good afternoon, Kyoya-senpai," she said, moving a bit away to give him a place to sit.
"Are you hurt?" he said, staring at her confused. The smell of blood was stronger than it was supposed to be, and he could feel it.
"Um.." she raised her eyebrows and shook her head. The greeting question must have been odd. "I don't think so."
Kyoya later found it strange and even rude that he involuntarily moved forward to grab and check her, looking at her wrists and arms for any cuts. She didn't protest but gave him a confused look, and he retreated a bit ashamed of the obsessive way he felt about it.
"I am sorry," he apologized politely, "I felt a strong smell of blood. I thought you got hurt."
"Oh," Haruhi nodded in understanding. "I don't know. I am not hurt, but I am..."
She suddenly trailed off and blushed furiously. It was something Kyoya hadn't seen before. She was very laid back and found very few things to show such reaction to.
"Well, you know," she said, uncomfortably shifting. "I am a girl and..."
Kyoya lifted his head and sighed embarrassed. That was an awkward moment he wished he didn't have. "I am sorry," he apologized again, twice in a short conversation, it was a record. But he was ready to say anything just to get away from the strange way both of them turned pink.
They looked away for a moment. And then she laughed loudly. "Now, I will have one less secret every once in while," she said. "From you."
"I suppose this is uncomfortable for both of us," Kyoya said, pursing his lips. "I normally don't assume anything about anyone. I probably shouldn't have even mentioned it."
She didn't say anything, waved her hand dismissively and gave him a small smile. "Don't worry about it," she said. "You were... worried."
Was he? He didn't even think that his frantic search for a wound on her was because he was worried. But her words made him think and realize that she was probably right, not that he would admit any of it.
She undid the buttons on her wrist and stretched her arm forward. "Wouldn't this be a problem if you are already in the process of losing blood," he asked, hoping she would say no. And she did, shaking her head softly.
"No, it's fine," she pulled him closer, making Kyoya feel a bit of a child in her presence.
He leaned down and put his mouth on her arm. His long teeth came forward and smoothly went in. Haruhi already knew and didn't really react strongly to the pain. She wondered what he felt when he drank her blood. He always looked stiff but was relaxed now. His eyes closed, and she could observe him as his shoulders leaned down and muscles on his neck smoothed and the way he gulped her blood. He was close, and she could smell him. He must have used a cologne or had a very pleasant aftershave, or whatever it was that men used, because he smelled pleasant.
Appearance didn't matter, but she found his neat and clean grooming very admirable. Maybe he was the only one she stood so close to, and that's why she felt so different about this. His hair looked smooth and silky. The raven bangs fell down and covered his face. She wondered if it bothered him to drink easier, and she brushed back the strands with her hands. He seemed to stiffen at her touch. Maybe he didn't mind the hair at all. It would bother her. She let go of them.
He stopped drinking and looked up. His grey eyes bore shivers in them, and she thought she looked into a different world when they stared at her. She looked down at the wound and leaned over her bag to find a bandage. Kyoya looked at her cautiously. Why did she touch him? His body shuddered when she put her fingers on his head as he was drinking her blood. She just brushed back his hair, but the action woke different things in his head. It was a little too intimate to his liking, but she didn't seem to think much of it.
He looked at her carefully to see anything in her eyes, any indication of a ploy. But she looked as innocent as she was. She plastered the bandage on her hand and rolled down her sleeves. He rubbed his lips as he thought of the way he felt when she touching his head. It was a light touch, but it made him feel powerful things he didn't have words to describe. Maybe, the presence of another person who didn't shy away from him, knowing what was wrong with him, made him feel this way about her, he reasoned.
"Well," she said, getting up. "I need to go to study. Seems like I am not doing that well, and I would lose my scholarship if I don't put more effort."
Kyoya stood up. There was a chance for her to lose her scholarship; that didn't seem good. He wouldn't want her to leave Ouran.
"Are you struggling with anything?" he asked cautiously.
She pursed her lips and nodded, "It seems I am not doing well at math," she sighed. "It's alright. I will go now, senpai."
"Wait," he grabbed her hand. She stared back at him surprised. He usually was reserved. Today something was a little off about him. "I can help you. I am very good at all subjects. I could help you with your assignments."
"Really?" her eyes twinkled with excitement. "But when, where?"
"We can study after classes in the library," he suggested, mentally calculating how to get a quiet, secluded spot.
"Thank you, senpai," she looked ecstatic. The light and happy expression on her face as if shooed away the worries in his head. He closed his eyes. This wasn't good. He needed to stop to think of her this way. It would be a cause to a lot of trouble if he didn't keep his emotions in check. That would have been a proper Ootori thing to do. But he wasn't a very proper Ootori, on the other hand, Kyoya smiled sadly and bitterly. He was the odd Ootori, a disappointment for his father, a reason of tears and sadness for his mother, an experiment for his elder brother and the frightening youngest Ootori to the household staff.
His sister, Fuyumi, was married. When he was younger, she would come close and spend time with him. He loved his sister, but these days she wouldn't come often. Father wasn't approving, and her husband was a bit of a bore. She seemed happy with him, or pretended to be happy, Kyoya hopped the former. But it was hard to tell as she was an Ootori, and they didn't show their emotions. Kyoya sighed and got up. No, Fuyumi loved to show her emotions, she was a woman, after all, not held to the same standard.
And there was Akito, he thought as he walked back to school. He was not as wooden as Yuuichi, but he had a bad habit of sticking his nose everywhere. Kyoya couldn't even tell sometimes if Akito was truly interested in anything or just liked to make a spectacle out of everything. He was supposed to start working in the company soon and help Yoshio with the business, as their elder brother had no interest in it even though he was the true heir to their father's company.
He wondered sometimes where he was supposed to go. What path was he supposed to take to please his father? Become a doctor and helped Yuuichi or get a degree in business? Take away the burdens from his elder brother and let him do what he enjoyed? He knew that whatever it was, he would comply because family mattered most and whatever their father decided was a word of law.
And there was this woman―Haruhi Fujioka, and he couldn't decode her, understand her, explain her the same way he would all the other people. She wasn't necessarily a complex person, on the contrary, she was rather simple, and maybe that's why he was so shocked and crippled when it came to making any conclusion about her. And there was his weak heart beating in his chest as he remembered that he was going to spend more time with her after classes.
The rest of his classes went as expected. Suoh Tamaki continued to pester him, and he respectfully declined all his advances. Being fed and healthy, helped him to deal with the blonde easier, and he didn't avoid him, and the blonde took it as a sign of friendliness and decided to permanently attach himself to Kyoya. When the classes were over, he quickly apologized and hurriedly left for the library, ignoring Suoh's melodramatically miserable face.
The library was full, and people gathered there were chatting absentmindedly about trivial things. Thankfully, none of them was eating anything. He walked around and found her sitting in the corner with her books in front of her, absorbed in the equations she was trying to solve.
"You look tired," he commented, drawing the chair and sitting down. "Do you have any other problems at school other than the hardships of math?"
He wondered if that girl, Ayanakoji Seika, did something terrible to her again.
"Renge-chan became Host Club's manager," she sighed. "She drags me there every time she goes and I just don't have enough energy for that thing."
So, it was her friend Houshakuji exhausting her. He didn't like the idea, but didn't say anything. Perhaps, he could persuade her later on to refuse to go to that club of Suoh and have her energy sucked out of her like some... He was even worse, though. He had no right.
"She is very energetic," he said suddenly as he looked in his bag for the pencil. "Houshakuji-san I mean."
"She is," Haruhi laughed. "And now she came up with this insane idea of wanting to have her own movie made along with the host-club. And she managed to get my agreement to be part of it. I can't believe I have agreed."
"Movie?" Kyoya snorted. "What's it about?"
"God only knows, Renge-chan didn't disclose the script yet," Haruhi smiled. "But it must be some crazy thing, knowing her."
He nodded. And then they went on to look at the math tasks. She was smart and understood everything from the first time. He was actually impressed. He never tried before to explain anything to anyone, but he wasn't sure anyone would grasp everything as fast as Haruhi did.
"Now we need to calculate the velocity," he said.
"This looks more like physics than math," she sighed, and then she looked up and gave him a smile. "You parents must be proud of you. You are so good at all of this."
Kyoya glanced at her unfazed. "They are not supposed to be proud of something I am obligated to be good at," he explained in a detached tone. "Nothing my elder brothers didn't do before me."
"You are good," she insisted. "I am sure they are proud of you, even if they don't say anything."
"Are your parents proud of you?" he asked.
"My father," she smiled suddenly with a wide grin, "he is too over-dramatic about everything I suppose. And my mother... well, I came to Ouran to make her proud. I want her to be proud of me when I become a lawyer and help people."
"She wants you to become a lawyer," he asked, wondering what kind of person her mother was. She had mentioned the woman several times, and Kyoya had a certain image of her in his head.
"I don't know," the girl said a bit sadly and pressed her lips into a line. "I hope to become a lawyer like her, and I hope she would be happy to see me from above."
From above? She had... Did she pass away? This girl, Haruhi, had always that little twinge of sadness deep in her chocolaty eyes. It was so slight, so tiny that he had noticed only from very close look. Was it because her mother wasn't around anymore? He suddenly put his hand on her knuckles. The texture of her warm, soft skin under under his finger made his body flex.
"She is proud of you," he assured her. "I suppose even my father would find you admirable, and he has some impossible standards."
He smiled, and she did too. The library had gone quiet, and there was no one around anymore. He was glad to have no audience. He didn't want any rumours around the Ouran about his relationship with the honour student. Especially, when they didn't really have any.
He looked at her again. Those beautiful eyes behind her huge glasses, her coffee-coloured hair, strawberry-tinted lips. She was beautiful. She wore clothes a few sizes big on her, and he found it always strange, especially because the school had uniforms.
"Why don't you wear a uniform?" he asked. "You might get in trouble for it."
"I don't really have money to afford a uniform," she laughed. "And that horrid yellow dress looks terrible for me to even consider. To pay money for that is kind of a crime."
"You don't like yellow," he smiled, and his fangs were revealed. He felt comfortable around her to even realize that he actually smiled. He always let his guard down.
"It's terrible," she said. "I wouldn't say I don't like yellow, but an entire dress of yellow makes me feel bored out of mind. Is it by any chance your favourite color? I don't want you to think I am insulting your taste."
He chuckled. "Let me tell you a secret," he said quietly, coming closer. "I, too, think it's a terrible colour for a uniform."
"So it's not a favourite colour," she pressed.
Kyoya shook his head.
"And what is the colour that you like?" she asked.
"I like shades of blue and lavender," he said. "They look relaxing; not too bright and not too sad."
She smiled. "I guess. I think I like them too. Neutral colours that don't distract are to my liking."
They stared at each other. What was it to be a person? Was it liking another one? Was it feeling another one's emotions even though not being them? Was it a simple thing or a very complex maze? What made Haruhi herself? Kyoya looked at her again. Haruhi was kind, calm and intelligent. But were those things what made her herself? No, Kyoya reasoned. She was simply Haruhi, and she would still be herself even if she became angry tomorrow. She was herself when she was sad, and when she was laughing. And he liked this person, Haruhi.
"Let's be friends, Haruhi," he said seriously.
A/N- So I took another canon part (Haruhi's failing grades and being tutored) and had it turned into only Kyoya and Haruhi time. I hope you don't mind. I always wondered that bit above about vampire stories. lol They seem to never acknowledge and I wanted to make Kyoya and Haruhi uncomfortable. hehe
Leave me reviews and tell me what you think of the progression of their relationship so far! Lots of love to all of you.