lumigo akvo9504: Well, that's good... I don't know, wasn't feeling too confident about last chapter, but you made me feel better, thanks! As you already know, Nagisa has this salvage tendencies, so kidnapping is totally normal hahahahaha.
Now, some things I wanna explain. I usually update every week, or I try to at least, but sometimes I just can't, there is no time *cries in a corner*. Unfortunately, school is a thing, and I have to spend eight hours of my day from Monday to Friday every week in that, besides from studying and all that shit. And then there is social life, which for some reason people think is pretty important that I'm part of it *cries again because she can't be in her bed on a Friday night*.
So, what I want to say, is that I'm sorry if I don't update as fast as we would all like, but I just can't. Gotta say, I won't be posting a chapter specifically to tell you guys I'm gonna be a bit late, and if I do, it will be because I have, for example, camp, and will be away from civilization for at least a weekend. So don't worry if I take a bit longer, as long as I'm not posting anything without a chapter somewhere, we're all good.
That being said, enjoy!
So... dinner. What was Nagisa supposed to think about that particular event that was bound to occur just some hours later?
'You forgot it's dinner with the Haninozukas.' no, there was no way she could forget that specific part. It was like a shining sign in her mind, pink and with sparkles around it. Annoyingly stressful.
"Nagisa!" the blue haired girl jumped at the sudden noise. There was someone else in her house? Last time she checked, there was not, but one could never know. Nagisa's house was more like... everyone's house. She was sure some of her friends stayed at her place more than at their own houses!
And yes, she was referring to Karma. And Gakushuu. And maybe Rio.
"Karma? What are you doing here? I thought you would come by later," she said as she made her way to the kitchen, where sure was Karma sitting on the counter, sipping at that strawberry drink of his. Nagisa herself didn't like it, but Karma did, so she bought some every time she went grocery shopping anyway.
"Yeah, well, I got bored," which was Karma speech for 'I needed to tell you something and couldn't wait'.
"Alright, go on," she said, taking the seat by his side. Dinner could wait, her best friend went first.
"Well, you know St. Valentine's Day was a few days ago..." she nodded, already having an inkling of where the conversation was going. "So, I gave him chocolates today," Karma never said who, but he didn't need to. Nagisa had known about that particular relationship for ages now.
Nagisa then processed the meaning behind Karma's words, and stood still for a moment. Did he... but really? Oh man, she was gonna become rich when Rio and Maehara found out about it!
"You're telling me that you gave Shuu chocolates for St. Valentine's? Just to be sure we're talking about the same thing and you haven't found another guy that got your fancy in the last five hours he haven't talked," Karma's face went bright red as he nodded, embarrassed. "Oh sushi lord I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I KNEW IT!" she shouted, hugging her friend with joy. "My baby's finally growing up, I'm so proud! And when Bitch-sensei finds out... aaaaah!" she screamed, and Karma then rolled his eyes.
Alright, he knew that the possibility of almost all of his old classmates plus their sensei watching him with Asano was there. But there was a difference between that, and acting like a no-brain cells, squeaky girl. That was where he drew the line.
"Okay, calm down woman! I'm not done!" Nagisa shut up. What did he mean when he said 'I'm not done'? Was there even more? "He doesn't know it was me. I left it on his locker before class started, without a note. So you can hold up your screaming for a while," when he finished, Nagisa resisted the urge to pout. Why? That was so close! They were made for each other, why couldn't just make out in an empty corridor or something?
If only Nagisa knew of the betting pool her friends had related to her and Mitsukuni...
"That is disappointing, I'm not gonna lie... but I'm glad you took the first step. Kind off. Anonymously. But you did, I guess it counts," in the end she ended up smiling again, this time with a warmth that wasn't there before.
After a while, they looked at each other. Everything they needed was in the kitchen, they knew that. Nagisa had gone to the store the day before, knowing Karma would show up.
"Wanna watch some movies?"
"Kami yes! I've been waiting for you to say that."
"You look horrendous," Karma was comfortably laying on Nagisa's bed, following the blue haired girl with his eyes as she ran around her room trying to find something casual but elegant at the same time. Honey was picking her up in an hour, and she didn't want to be late. So, now Karma was just watching her suffering as she looked for that dress that she couldn't find anywhere and WHERE WERE HER BLACK TIGHTS?! "Did you look under the bed?"
"You are a genius, Akabane Karma!" Nagisa said, stopping her furious run before getting down to the floor in an almost perfect push-up. She, of course, didn't find what she was looking for, but her kimono appeared. Well, that was better than nothing, she was looking for it the day before anyways...
In the end, Nagisa found that summer dress she was looking for and, as her black tights seemed to have disappeared, she instead used those skin-like ones she had. I wasn't ideal, but it didn't look bad either.
"I'm gonna take a shower real quick, if by any chance Honey gets here before I'm done, please make him come in, will you?" Karma didn't even had time to nod when Nagisa was already closing the door of her bathroom.
'That girl...' after that, Karma moved to the living room to watch some more TV, eating from a bag of chips he found in Nagisa's shelves.
Sometimes he wondered about how blind Nagisa really was. Not literally, because she had quite a sight, but in a figurative way. She was always talking about all those couples, and noticing until the last detail about everything and everyone, and other things that sometimes crept Karma out. But when it came to her own feelings, and her own life... well, it seemed like all her observation skills went to hell, because she couldn't realize what was happening between Haninozuka Mitsukuni and herself to save her life. It was kind of funny, really.
Suddenly, a buzz in his pocked distracted him from the best policial comedy ever: Brooklyn 99. Who dared to take away his time with Amy and Jake?
SecondPlace-kun: Hey Akabane, wanna hang out?
He should have just ignored the message. His show was more important. It was Brooklyn 99, for Kami's sake!
But Asano wanted to hang up...
'What would Nagisa do?' the question went away the second it came to him. Nope, Nagisa wasn't quite a right example, specially not at romantic relationships. Maybe Isogai would be best... though, with everything that was going on between Isogai and Maehara, maybe it was best if Karma didn't call. He didn't want to interrupt a make-out session of the two lovebirds, at least not when they were still going through their honey-moon phase. It had been only a week and a half since Valentine's Day, after all.
SeconPlace-kun: You know I can tell when you see my messages, right?
Even when Karma knew Asano wasn't there, his cheeks went deep red. It was all his fault! Akabane Karma didn't blushed. Ever.
But recently he had found himself thinking about Asano, blushing at the sight of his strawberry blond locks, and his purple eyes. Even when he glared he looked so hot. There was just no way for Karma not to blush and... think about him, and... and... ugh!
'I. Hate. You. Gakushuu Asano.' but we all now that's a lie, and Karma knew too. That only made things worst.
SecondPlace-kun: Hello? Karma, I know you are on line, I can see it.
Groaning, Karma buried his every-second-redder face on one of the pillows. Could someone please just kill him and end his suffering?
'But he did call me Karma.'
When Nagisa stepped out of the bathroom, her baby blue hair still dripping water, she was dressed and almost ready to go. She just needed to get her hair dry, style it, and put on some shoes.
"Now... I only got twenty minutes... I think I'll manage," she said to herself as she plugged the hair dryer to the current, and dried her hair while humming to herself. Besides the noise of the dryer, her apartment was strangely silent, and that worried her. What was Karma up to now?
So, when she was done, Nagisa hurried to the living room, her hairbrush in hand, ready to call the police, the firefighters, an ambulance, or whatever she needed to fix whatever mess Karma had caused. She was surprised though, to find only a note.
Asano wanted to study together, we'll be at Isogai's cafe. I'll come back later. Have fun with your dinner ;)
Well, at least he was nice. Nagisa wondered why not just use her apartment, though. It certainly was more suitable, less noisier, and certainly more confortable to study at. She would have to ask Karma some things that night.
But for now, she needed to braid her hair.
Nagisa had figured her usual twin pig tails wouldn't quite do, so she decided on a loose french braid, nothing too fancy. Besides, her dress was just screaming at her to be showed off, and who was she to say no?
Her dress was white. It had a V-neck that showed her collarbone and the beginning of her chest, but as she was lacking in that area, it wasn't much of a trouble. The back was comformed of cloth strings tied together, forming an X shape. The rest was all skin. The dress suited her figure, tight on the chest area, and then falling loosely. It reached just above her knees, so she thought it was fine. A big jacket and some pretty shoes would do.
She was brushing her teeth when the doorbell rang, and so Nagisa, still with the tooth brush on her mouth, ran to the entrance, where Mitsukuni was of course, waiting.
Nagisa could only wave her hand and give him pseudo-smile, and Mitsukuni bursted into laughter. She was just so cute, and funny.
The blue haired girl just rolled her eyes, motioning him to come in before closing the door behind him. She walked to her room, with Honey trailing her like a lost puppy. He was admiring everything he saw as he walked. Every time he had been inside Nagisa's it had been just the living room, diner, and the kitchen. That was the first time Mitsukuni could actually get a better look at how the place Nagisa lived in looked like. It was nice, clean and in place, but at the same time full of color and life. Mitsukuni remembered Nagisa talking about how she always disliked white rooms, because she found them to be clinical and... lifeless.
He, of course, didn't know it was because that was how her mother's house was like, and that she dreaded that place because brought up a lot of uncomfortable experiences and trauma she didn't like to remember. He only knew Nagisa didn't like white rooms, and for now that was alright for him.
Just as he entered Nagisa's room, that fortunately for her was more or less cleaned up, Nagisa came out of the bathroom, this time without her toothbrush in her mouth. She then smiled and came closer to peck him on the cheek.
"Hi! You're just in time, as always. Just let me grab my things and I'll be ready to go, okay?"
"Sure. You look stunning, by the way," he threw a flirty wink at her, and then left the room, not without looking at her once more.
She looked wonderful indeed. That dress was just made for her, and her unusual hairstyle only made her look even more glowing than usual. There was no need for her to use make-up, the mere she of her made his legs tremble. She was just perfect as she was. Why nobody else noticed that, was something Mitsukuni would never understand, but he was glad they didn't. He didn't want to share Nagisa with everyone, to have all the Host Club fawning over her and taking his time with her was enough.
Possessive much? Maybe, but Mitsukuni didn't want Nagisa to be stolen from him.
'You have to tell her how you feel Mitsukuni.' what?! There was no way he was able to do it. Especially not now. Where were those totally unhelpful thoughts coming from?
Maybe it was the lack of sleep. When his father told him Nagisa was coming for dinner last night, Mitsukuni was not capable of falling asleep until it was way passed three in the morning. Yeah, that was probably it.
Sighting, he wandered around the apartment. There were a few paintings scattered around the walls, an open bag of chips placed on the kitchen table, some furniture... the typical commoner's apartment, Mitsukuni guessed, if a little more fancy. He knew Nagisa was sponsored by the Ministry of Defense, and that they provided Nagisa with the apartment that was closer to Ouran for her comfort. So it was probably one of those fancy, expensive places. And at the same time, Nagisa managed to make it look homey and warm. Maybe it was just the fact that it was Nagisa's what made it feel like it, he didn't know. But he liked it.
"I'm ready," her sweet voice got him out of his thoughts. The bluenette was now wearing one of those huge jackets of hers and some black ankle boots. Even when they had a small heel, she managed to still be shorter than Mitsukuni. It was probably the first time the blond senior was taller than anyone. It was weird, he had gotten used to looking up when he was talking to someone, but now he was the one getting looked from below. "Honey?"
"Huh? Oh, right, let's go!" he hurried in order to try and fix that little mistake of his.
Nagisa just giggled, and followed suit. He could be such a dork sometimes...
When Nagisa step foot inside the house, she soon was being hugged tightly by Chika. After 'The Incident', as it was now called the attack at the tournament, the younger Haninozuka had gotten pretty attached to the blue haired girl, and whenever he saw her, he would go and say hi, even going as far as to hugging her when there weren't many people around. The boy needed to keep his tough-guy image, after all.
"Hey! How are you doing?" she asked, hugging him back with a soft smile. Mitsukuni, who was just behind her, lightened up at the sight of his brother and soon-to-be-girlfriend—because that was happening, he just... needed to figure out how to get there.
"I'm fine. Come on, Okaasan has been expecting you since yesterday," said Chika, grabbing her by the wrist to guide her through the house, Mitsukuni trailing them at all times.
There is no need to say, Kasuki was exited. The moment Nagisa put a step on the living room, the Haninozuka matriarch stood up and went to hug her too, with a bright smile on her face, eyes shining.
"Nagisa-chan! I missed you! You should come here more often, I think I need some feminine company in this house full of men," immediately his sons started to complain, but a single look from their mother shut them up. "Now sweetie, sit with me and tell me what is going on in your life. Is your shoulder better?"
Nagisa just giggled and nodded. She was already kind of used to Kasuki-san by now. Since their first meeting, the bluenette made sure of spending time with her when she came by. It made her feel relaxed, and her motherly act always left a warm feeling on her chest.
"Okaasan, you always do the same thing! Stop keeping Nagisa for yourself!" whined Mitsukuni with a pout, and Nagisa blushed. Could he be any cuter?
"You boys can see her everyday at school. I don't, so I think it's only fair that I spend time with Nagisa-chan while she's here," her sons sweatdropped. Sometimes she could be as childish as them, really.
That was the moment Yorihisa entered the room. He was serious, but still looked calm and welcoming.
"Nagisa-san, thank you for coming," he said, sending a nod of his head in acknowledgement.
"I should thank you for inviting me," she said, smiling at him before winking at Mitsukuni, who did everything to keep his blushing to the minimum. Kami, that girl was gonna be the death of him...
Soon dinner was ready, and so they moved to the family diner. Because of course, they had a family diner and a bigger diner they used for parties and such. When they mentioned it, Kasuki hurried to explain that only the ones close with the family ate at the family diner, and that she was already pretty close. Nagisa's eyes watered a bit when she said that, but made sure to hide it.
Mitsukuni noticed though, and wondered if it had something to do with her living away from her mother. Maybe he would ask Nagisa later.
"So, Nagisa-chan. How's that of you living on your own?" casually said Kasuki when the main course was served. She didn't do it with bad intentions, of course, but Nagisa tensed anyways.
The blue haired girl bought time chewing slowly, and then taking her time while sipping at her glass of water. Even after that, she still took a few second to answer.
"My mother and I... we don't really get along," that was an understatement, thought the girl, remembering all those horrible dresses, all made for princesses and snobbish girls like the ones she went to school with, but not Nagisa. She remembered the pull of her hair, how it hurt every time her mother smacked her when she dared to breathe in a way she didn't like. When she had to go to bed without dinner, and get up before the sun rized to steal some food without her mother knowing. Nagisa remembered every time her mother got into one of her phases, when there was no point in trying to argue back. She remembered all those times when she felt scared she may die of starvation, or a hit on the head. Those were some of her darkest memories, which was pretty ironic, considering she was an assassin.
Blinking twice to get back into the real life, Nagisa stared at her food. The delicious meal suddenly looked less appetizing, and what she had already eaten twisted in her stomach. She took another bite, though, because she knew the Haninozuka's had arranged everything because of her.
Smiling again, Nagisa continued. "My dad lives outside of town, so if I were to live with him I would had had to move, and I didn't want that..." she paused for a second, getting her thoughts in order. "So then the Ministry offered me a place to live, and I said yes."
"Oh, sweetie! I'm sorry I asked, that was rude," Kasuki apologized, obvioualy noticing the change of mood in her guest, just like everyone else at the table, but Nagisa just shrugged, didn't really minding about sharing that part of her life with the Haninozukas. "And what is it that you to for the Ministry? I always forget to ask you when you come here," the change of topic was obvious, but nobody said anything.
"Well, I'm mostlystuck in desk duty, since I'm still training to get my field clearance. Sometimes I get to go on small missions with a team, but nothing too important," Nagisa swore she heard a snort, but when she looked at Yorihisa, he was as stoic as ever.
"Nagisa's great! I've been teaching her more about the Haninozuka style, and she's amazing! It's like someone had already taught her how to do it, she doesn't need much help at all!" this time Nagisa was sure to hear a cough, and her blue eyes pierced the Haninozuka patriarch in a dissimulated glare.
'If this is one of his tactics to make me tell Honey about my job, I swear he's going to face my wrath.' maybe she didn't let it show, but Nagisa wasn't stupid. She could notice when Yorihisa was plotting ways of making her confess. He was as nosy as her friends.
But it was better if neither of the parts involved in that analogy knew about it, because if not she was dead.
In the meantime, several kilometers away, Kyoya was in his room. Not that was something unusual, he spent almost all his time while at home locked inside his room, and he only left the confort of it for breakfast and sometimes dinner, and in the special occasion of one of his father's partners coming home. It wasn't much of a bother, really. His room was huge, had a bathroom attached, a small fridge, and if he wanted, he could get out of the house with his exclusive emergency stairs. So no, Kyoya being in his room was completely and utterly normal.
What was not normal though, or not normal for him, at least, was what was going through Kyoya's mind. He had been trying to get some work done before getting to bed, and honestly he wanted to do that before two in the morning. But that dork just wouldn't get out of his head, and so Kyoya couldn't think straight.
Just. Wonderful.
Unfortunately for him, it wasn't the first time that had happened. Kyoya would often find himself daydreaming about Suoh Tamaki—just the worst thing that could have ever happened to him. It wasn't because Tamaki was a guy, Kyoya knew he was gay since he was fourteen, and didn't really care about it. That was just the one advantage that being he third son had brought him.
No, what was bad was the fact that it was Suoh Tamaki. He was kind of the guy he couldn't fall for. And what had he just done? He went and fell for him, like the complete idiot he was.
Kyoya knew, he knew that was a bad idea. Tamaki, of all people, even if his like for guys was painfully obvious, was one of those who couldn't have the luxury of love. At least, not with another man.
Tamaki explained it to him once. Not with the intention Kyoya was now giving it, but just as a fact. In order to be the Suoh heir, he needed to follow certain rules, and he needed to comply with whatever that meant. One of the most important requests was that he could provide with an heir. That was the main reason his grandmother kept him around. He was the only descendant with real Suoh blood, and if he couldn't provide with an heir... well, she had never liked him much, if he couldn't provide an heir for the family, then he was disposable.
And, as much as it sucked, that meant there was no romantically-involved-Kyoya anywhere near Tamaki's life.
That didn't mean Kyoya couldn't think about him. The Ootori would never force him do anything, and of course he wouldn't step in the middle of his family affairs, but his thoughts were his, and no one could change that.
That, it seemed, was the only thing Kyoya could really own.
Far away of all those fancy houses, there was an apartment complex in the middle of the 'commoner district', as Tamaki would call it. A girl who lived in one of those apartments was currently lying on her bed, with her phone on and functioning. At first, she almost never used it, but recently it had become an habit to check it out, making sure there was no new texts. And when there were, she was fast at opening to reply.
This time was one of those times. Haruhi was smiling softly at the screen, not even realizing she was. Their conversation had started a couple hours ago with a simple 'hi' she sent. At the moment, they were talking about that weird dream Haruhi had the previous day when she fell asleep at the club room.
Haruhi: And it was super weird. Like, really. It was like Alice in Wonderland, but a really strange version. I don't really remember why, but it was really weird.
She waited a moment before a reply got back.
Takashi Morinozuka: Maybe your subconscious was trying to tell you something.
Haruhi: That I'm surrounded by crazy people? I don't think I need my subconscious for that.
Takashi Morinozuka: Or maybe it's trying to tell you that you are a bit crazy yourself.
Haruhi laughed at that. Despite being silent and stoic, Takashi Morinozuka had quite a deep mind. It seemed as he was only shy, and only talked when he deemed it worth the effort. Somehow, talking with Haruhi had entered that category.
She was not blind, even if people usually said she was blunt as hell. She was observant, and she could tell that the ones Takashi-senpai trusted the more were Honey-senpai, which was obvious, and Nagisa, the latter probably because she spent a lot of time with the cousins and their families in general.
For the same reason, Haruhi knew the Morinozuka heir wasn't of those who opened up easily. That was why she was so surprised when he came to her while Honey-senpai had his cavity. Those days were the ones Haruhi had spent the most time with Takashi-senpai, and she got to know him a lot more better.
Haruhi: Maybe you're right.
She pressed send, and then texted a good night message before turning off the device and placing it on her night stand. She stared at the empty ceiling, just thinking.
Why did her chest feel warm? Why did she somehow feel relieved when Takashi-senpai told her about that girl that confessed to him and he rejected? Why couldn't she stop thinking about him?
His grey eyes, that seemed like they could pierce her soul, and his spiky black hair, that suited him perfectly. His incredibly high height, that allowed him to do a lot of things Haruhi couldn't, as he was more than three inches taller than her.
It didn't make any sense. This had never happened to her, and Haruhi didn't know what was going on. Not even a good book could keep her busy for long. She would lose attention soon after opening it, the tall senior slipping into her mind again.
The brunette sighed, rolling over so she could face the wall. Maybe some sleep would help.
Unlike Haruhi, Kaoru couldn't sleep. He had tried for more than an hour now, but he just couldn't do it. Hikaru was sleeping calmly besides him on their huge bed, the one they had always shared.
'I should tell him...' but he wouldn't do it, would he? No, this was something Kaoru wanted to keep to himself for the moment.
It had happened a week and a half ago. It was Valentine's Day, and he alongside Hikaru wanted to play pranks to pass the time, as it was being quite a boring St. Valentine's Day because of Honey-senpai's cavity. And so, he thought the best place to get what he needed was the Dark Magic Club. It was next door, too, so that was a plus.
So he had gone to the Music Room #4, the room the Dark Magic Club was using now that they were banned from the Chemistry lab they used before. He was expecting Nekosawa-senpai, a senior that happened to be the club's president. Instead, he found the most stunning girl ever.
She had jet black hair, cut in layers that framed her face nicely. Her brown eyes had a thin line of black eyeliner, making them bigger and brighter, and her face was totally adorable, even if she tried to look dark. She was using a black dress, probably part of the club's costume, and it certainly suited her well.
Kaoru had a feeling about the girl. She looked familiar, but the Hitachiin couldn't really place the name with the face he was seeing.
"Hello, Hitachiin Kaoru. What is it that brought you to the Dark Magic Club?" even her voice was velvety, like a soft, calmed river flowing with the current.
"I... how do you know I'm Kaoru?" that was all he could say. His mind had gone blank. How was it that he could somehow had overlooked that beautiful goddess?
The girl just smiled, and Kaoru could have sworn he blushed. She was just adorable!
"You just have to be observant to note the difference. I'm not the only one, am I right? Those friends of yours, Fujioka-kun and Nagisa-kun." she tilted her head, opening the door a little more. "I am Kanazuki Reiko, 1-D. Now, what is it that you desire? Maybe a love curse? Though, I'm not sure why you'd need one, as you have almost every girl in the school at your feet," somehow, she managed to sound harsh and sweet at the same time. It was amazing, and it probably had to do with Kaoru being stunned by her, but the redhead loved it.
"I... I have to go," and then, like a coward, Kaoru left, leaving a confused Reiko by the Dark Magic Club's door.
Kaoru buried his head on one of the pillows he had. Thinking back, that had been a stupid move. He hadn't talked to her since the incident, and it was driving him crazy.
How could it be that one girl drove him out of his mind? He was supposed to be the mature twin, the rational one. But somehow, less than five minutes with Kanazuki Reiko were what it took for him to just stop working.
Determined to think about other things, Kaoru took his phone. There was something he needed to do, and he had been postponing it for almost a month now. With all that happened in the tournament, the Hitachiin brothers never got to talk with Akabane Karma.
'Well,' thought Kaoru, scrolling through his contacts. 'that's gonna change soon.'
Kaoru: Akabane-kun, it's been a while. It's Kaoru Hitachiin. My brother and I need to ask you something.
He pressed send and then left the phone. He would see if he had gotten a reply in the morning. For now, he needed to try and get some sleep.
Even when he managed to do so after two hours of waiting, those brown eyes never left his mind.
First of all, yes. Hiroto and Yuuma are dating, it's official. Just so you know.
Now, did you like it? Hope you did, I've been having kind of a writer's block, so this is what I managed to do. Had to delete everything a lot because I didn't like it, so... yeah. Maybe next one will be better.
I revealed a bit of Nagisa's past. Not that much, but if you remember previous chapters you'll know she doesn't consider all that as an abusive situation. I'll go around that in the future, but I would love to hear your theories about it.
What do you think about Tamaki's situation? Sorry to say, this has been planned since I decided Tamaki x Kyoya was going to be a thing in this story. I know, sometimes I feel like punching me too. Next chapter we'll finally know what's going on with Karma and the twins! Am I the only one exited about that? And please do not forget about Reiko. I thought about it, and I got to the conclusion it was a nice twist.
Anyways, that's all for now. Hope you liked it and see you next chapter!
Stay safe! Kudos!
Pato