I'm so sorry for never keeping up with this story! As an apology, this chapter is going to start delving a little bit into the whole 'relationship' thing. But... maybe not in the way you probably expected. Hope you like it anyways!
Thank you to Momochan77, queenglitch, Shantesa, and Ms. Spirit for your reviews!
Disclaimer: Livia is mine. That's it, though.
GaijinPot Complex in Bunkyo-ku
Exact Location: Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Apartment Room 204
19:27
I… I just can't. I can-fucking-not deal with this right now.
For y'all back at the base who are going to have to make that stupid written document of today, I'm so sorry, but I just… can not give out the details right now. You're gonna have to make the best of what the recorder picked up.
I'm taking some goddamn Tylenol and going to bed.
"Mornin' Haruhi."
"Good morning!"
Livia's smile wavered at the light tone in Haruhi's voice. Her neighbor was never this cheerful in the mornings. She looked over at the girl on her left, noting the small quirk in her lips and crinkles around the corner of her eyes. Livia sighed and cut the shorter girl off, making them come to a stop in the middle of the school hallway.
"Out with it. What's going on?"
The girl shrugged. "Nothing. What makes you think something's going on?"
"You're acting super cheerful."
"Nothing's going on, I'm just in a good mood!" Haruhi smiled and walked around her friend, swiftly disappearing into the crowd.
"She is such a bad liar."
Livia stared after the girl for a moment, then continued on her way to her own classroom. Hopefully Haruhi would be the only host acting weird today. She made it all the way to the hallway outside of her classroom before her wish was denied.
"Liv-chan!" Honey ran over and hugged the girl around her middle.
"Uh, hey. Honey-senpai…" The brunette pretended to have a hard time removing the small boy from her waist. "What's with the hug? Isn't your class on the other end of the school?"
The small blond giggled. "Yup!"
"So…" Livia paused as Mori-senpai walked up behind his cousin, giving her a small smile before his hand went up to lightly pat her on the head before steering Honey away. Livia abruptly turned around and marched into the classroom, not even bothering to call out to question them.
What the hell is going on? Walking to her seat and flopping down, she let out a deep sigh, eyelids fluttering shut.
"Livia! You're here!"
Fighting a groan, the brunette lifted her eyelids halfway, gazing blankly at the blond in front of her. "Aren't I always here? This is my classroom, right?"
Tamaki only smiled wider at the sarcasm, and Livia couldn't help but notice that his left hand was locked around Kyoya's upper arm. Apparently he had dragged his best friend along with him to speak with her. She raised an eyebrow and looked between the two. Tamaki was grinning at her in a way that was weird, even for him. And Kyoya was trying to shake his friend's hand off his arm.
"So... what's up?"
The blond didn't respond, merely tightening his grip on Kyoya's arm while the other boy continued to struggle. Sighing in defeat, Kyoya finally spared Livia a glance. "It would seem as though Tamaki decided we would both greet you this morning... whether or not I wished to do so."
So the only person in the host club not acting weird is Kyoya. That's not encouraging. Livia had a feeling the twins would've also been acting super amicable with her if she'd run into them too, so she didn't bother giving them the benefit of the doubt. But even so, it didn't look like Kyoya was any less confused by Tamaki's behavior than she was.
"Right. Is there a reason for that?"
"Nope!" Tamaki chirped, "None at all!" He released the glasses-wearing boy and went back to his seat, ignoring the deathly glare he was receiving as he walked.
"Do you have any idea what that was about?"
"You're asking me? He's your friend."
Kyoya grimaced. "Don't remind me." He looked down at the girl and raised an eyebrow. "And don't think I've forgotten how you pushed me into the pool against my will last Saturday."
"I haven't either." Livia smiled and looked down at her desk, pretending to straighten her notebook. "It was too funny to forget so soon. And don't act like you didn't have fun that day." And in turn I won't forget how you almost died.
The boy scoffed and walked away, unaware that the girl he was turning his back on was watching him move across the room. No matter how many times she did this, or how many people she saved, it always baffled her to see her Charge go about their daily lives as if there wasn't someone out there who wanted their hearts to stop beating. If Livia were in their shoes, with no training and no knowledge on how to stay safe, she'd be terrified out of her wits. And probably do something stupid that would get her killed.
That was why it had to remain a secret. As annoying and tedious Kyoya was, Livia didn't want him to get hurt.
Of course, that was also a part of her job description, but that's beside the point.
"Excuse me."
Kyoya was suddenly blocked from her line of sight, replaced instead with a swatch of ugly yellow. Livia's eyebrows lifted before she glanced up at the face of her new conversation partner. She didn't know the girl's name, but she did vaguely recognize her. She sat in the second row on the other side of the room. Livia noted a few things about the girl. Black hair styled into a bun too perfect to be natural, winged eyeliner that had the tell-tale signs of being done by another person, and… oh.
Livia almost giggled.
"Hello."
The girl smiled, but it was clear she wasn't doing it to be nice. The smile seemed to say, 'Look how perfect I am! So much better than you!'
Well, this isn't off to a good start.
"So... Trasic-san, was it?" The girl walked a little closer, putting her hands on Livia's desk, palms down. "What, ah... what were you and Kyoya talking about just now?"
Livia cranked her left eyebrow up to its maximum height. Her eyes went to the hands on her desk.
Up to the girl's face.
Back down.
Up.
Once more.
The girl removed her hands and Livia finally leaned back in her chair, reveling in the point chalked up into her invisible column. "Nothing important. Just something that occurred on Saturday." She thought it over. "That we spent together." Another moment. "With the rest of the Host Club."
The girl was still smiling, though it looked somewhat painful for her now. "Is that so?"
"It is."
The two stared at each other. One trying to intimidate the other, and the other actually succeeding in it.
"Good." The unnamed girl giggled coyly and pretended to straighten out her already perfect hair. "I was worried you were talking about pairing up for the science project Chikamatsu-sensei is announcing today. It's supposed to be a Co-Ed project, and Kyoya and I are always partners. I didn't need someone he feels sorry for trying to make him feel guilty over something he has no control over. I'm just worth more to him and his family."
She smiled with her eyes closed. "I'm so glad you're not one of those girls who tries to force yourself on people who don't want you around. But I guess I should've figured that out earlier. After all, you are here instead of in America with your parents. They're the ones who decided to ship you to the other side of the world by yourself, right?"
Now, there are a great number of insults Livia Trasic could handle. Snobbish comments on her hair, make-up, clothes... big whup. Say something about the LGBTQ community, including her best friend and half of her non-related family? That was a little more personal, and she'd fire out so much political, social, and science-backed information back that the bigot's head would spin, but she'd keep her hands to herself.
But having a go at her parents?
That was a declaration for war. And Livia did not pull punches.
Her smile curled, showing teeth that were tightly clenched. Tilting her head down at enough of an angle to make her eyes glint murderously in the fluorescent lights, she responded gently.
"Listen... I can't be bothered to learn your name, but even pushing aside how insignificant I find you I'm going to let you off with a warning anyways. Don't you ever speak to me, or about me, or my parents ever again, or I will expose you for your... ah... Co-Ed partner work that you took care of before class started."
The ravenette went beet red, a hand coming up to the corner of her mouth before abruptly dropping to her side, "You... I don't know what you're talking about. This is just another grab for attention. Trying to cover up your... self-harming tendencies? I've heard it's rampant where you're from. Like a disease. Which makes you a carrier, I suppose."
Livia smirked and leaned closer. "Honey, if I did want to kill myself, I wouldn't need much to do so. I'd just have to jump from your ego to your IQ."
The clock tower rang out before the girl could recover from the insult, leaving her no choice but to take it in silence and walk back to her seat. Which she took one step towards before realizing that the rest of the class was staring at her and Livia. A few had their hands to their mouths, and a great number looked amused or even pleased. The girl shot the most venomous glare she could back at Livia, who wasn't even paying any attention to her any longer before hurrying off to her seat.
"Wow!" Livia looked up, unsurprised to see Kuriko staring at her with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"What?"
"I didn't know you had that in you! Calling out Ania Kahae in the middle of class? I mean, more than half of us have wanted to do it for years, but we didn't know how so we just ignored her!"
Livia raised both of her eyebrows. "Is there a story?"
Kuriko looked around the room conspiring-like before leaning in. "She's the second daughter of a top-line technological manufacturer. They used to specialize in medical machines and had tight dealings with the Ootori Group, and since the teachers here tend to partner up the children of families who work closely with each other, that meant she and Kyoya got partnered up with a lot. But a few years ago there was a big falling out between the two families. Turns out, the Kahae family had started manufacturing their machine parts specifically so they'd break down after only half of their useful life with no hope of repair, forcing the Ootori Group to keep buying them and spending more money than they needed to. There was this huge legal battle that ended up costing the Kahae family more than half their net worth and their brand's market value. They've been skimming the border of bankruptcy ever since! But Ania-san likes to pretend she wasn't affected. Don't worry about it, Trasic-san, the teachers don't pair her and Kyoya up any more for class projects. And it looks like your admirer was impressed by your sharp tongue."
Just as Kuriko started giggling, Chikamatsu-sensei walked in through the classroom doors and she had to turn around. Livia, however, remained unfocused as the school day started.
Right, let's consider that. Clearly there's bad blood. Kyoya's family forced Ania's into shame and near bankruptcy, not to mention spoiling their family name. I don't remember hearing about this when I was watching Yuuichi, so it had to have happened more recently. If these are the same people as last time, then the Kahae family has nothing to do with it. Also, if they're skirting bankruptcy, would they be able to afford an assassin? Monetarily or socially? They were already discovered once, would they risk it again? For murder? Not really likely... but I should look into their family. Especially if they can still afford to put their daughter through this school.
"Alright everyone, I know you're excited for this project, so I won't bore you any more. But to keep you in suspense," their teacher winked before continuing, "I'm going to partner you all up before explaining the project."
Livia hummed as the class let out mixed reactions. Some were fake groans, and some were excited whispers. Sometimes it weirded Livia out that her first teacher of the day, her science teacher of all things, was so cheerful. But on the other hand, it was clear that Chikamatsu-sensei was pretty much adored by her students, so she decided it wasn't all bad.
"Could you all stand up, please? As I read off your names, please gather your things and move to sit in the seats I'm about to assign." As the classroom broke out into more groans and complaints, she raised her hands. "I know you all prefer to sit in your own seats, but this is important to the project. It is going to span across two of your classes and will be going on for approximately 21 days. It will require outside work from both partners and plenty of scheduling between the both of you. Once the project is over, you will be moved back to your own seating arrangement."
More complaints, but Chikamatsu-sensei raised her hands a little higher and everyone quieted down. "Let's see... Mikio Godo."
The boy on Livia's right slowly picked up his school bag and walked to the front, taking the seat right next to the door.
"Eri Joshuya."
A brown-haired girl sitting a few seats in front of Livia, already in the front row, grabbed her things and hurried over to the desk now on Godo-san's left. The two smiled at each other before taking their seats. Chikamatsu-sensei called out another boy, then another girl, and then-
"Suoh Tamaki."
There was a great deal of murmuring and giggles as the blond leisurely walked up to his new seat, smiling at the girls he passed by. In her head, Livia tried to figure out who would sit by him for this project. As the current heir to the Suoh Group... his stance was pretty wide.
"Kuriko Anami."
Oh, well that's not a big surprise. The Suoh's are developers, after all, and the Anami's are high profile land retailers. Livia's eyebrows pushed together slightly as her teacher continued to read off the list of students in his hands. For some reason... she'd been relieved when Kuriko's name had been called. Was it because she knew her old desk neighbor was respectful and even supportive of Tamaki and Haruhi's relationship, and wouldn't try anything?
No, that can't be it. I may be allowed to be 'friendly' towards the hosts and Haruhi to stay near Kyoya, but actually becoming friends is a little-
"Kyoya Ootori."
At the sound of her charge's name, Livia came back to the present. Kyoya calmly took the seat right behind Tamaki, and the girl watching couldn't help but wonder if that had been on purpose too. Even so, who would his partner be?
Wait... 'the teachers here tend to partner up the children of families who work closely with each other'... oh no.
"Livia Trasic."
There were audible gasps as everyone in the room looked around at her. So most of them hadn't known that Livia's fake family was a business partner to the Ootori's? Won't the rumors fly now...
She scooped up her book bag and walked to the right. She was only moving five aisles to the right and would still be seated behind Kuriko... and to the left of Kyoya. I'll miss you, window seat.
Sitting back down, ignoring the whispers and a death glare from Ania, Livia quickly unpacked her things at her new desk. Kuriko turned around with a smile and so did Tamaki, but Kyoya remained facing forward. He looked like someone had just dumped a dripping garbage bag onto his desk and told him to sift through it.
"What's up with you?"
"Oh, nothing. This is simply one of my more favored classes and I'm stuck with the novice as my partner."
Livia blinked, looking at the boy with clear disbelief. "You're joking, right?"
"Kyoya! Don't be rude!"
The ravenet huffed and leaned back in his seat. "I'm not being rude, Tamaki. Miss Trasic and I have reached an understanding with each other. So long as I do not project fake emotions towards her, even at the expense of keeping a permanently pleasant attitude, she will do the same and we will not damage our business relations."
The brunette blinked. "We're back to Miss Trasic again, are we?"
He didn't respond, but that was good enough for her.
"Are you kidding me?" Livia complained a few hours later, walking along the hallway as Kuriko tried to follow her. For some reason, a few days ago her desk neighbor had taken up following her to lunch so they could eat together. Often joined by Haruhi, and therefore the rest of the host club. At least Kuriko got along with everyone, and she didn't do it often. It would seem like this was just going to be one of those days.
"Livia, it may not be so bad..."
"We have to hatch a chicken egg, Kuriko. This is a combination of a biology project and that stupid 'fake-baby' thing from back in the American schools. And we have to spend an hour together every day! What the heck are we supposed to talk about? Business? Whether the egg is white or more grey-ish? And why Kyoya? Really?"
Kuriko frowned a little. "I have to admit... with the way he was talking about doing this project with you. I'm starting to wonder if he doesn't actually like you."
"Of course he doesn't! And-"
"Hey! Let go!"
Like she'd just gotten a shot of adrenaline, Livia took off down the hallway at the sound of Kyoya's shout. Sliding around the corner, she came face to face with an empty hallway. Running along the tiles, she faintly heard a pounding from the other side of a door on the right, like someone was trying to get out. She came to a stop outside of one of them, where the shouting was the loudest. The sign above the door read 'Maintenance closet', and Kyoya's angry shouts were coming from inside.
"Kyoya? Hold on!" Grabbing the door handle, Livia pulled the door open. Kyoya winced from the bright lights, his affronted expression scrunching up further. Livia reached to pull him out of the closet when she heard the pounding of shoes on tile right behind her.
Twisting and ducking at the same time, two sets of arms went sailing over her head. The brunette somersaulted between the attackers and came up on her feet. Spinning around, she saw shock and awe etched upon Kuriko's, Kyoya's, and Hikaru and Kaoru's faces.
Oops.
"Livia-senpai?"
"Where did you learn how to do that?"
"Um..." Outwardly reeling in her panic, the girl instead pulled up her go-to excuse for when her instincts kicked in in front of the wrong people. Adopting an embarrassed, slightly upset, and nervous expression, she dropped her stance and shuffled her feet. "No place."
"Livia?"
Eyes flickering to Kuriko, she purposefully licked her lips. "Um... it's an American thing?"
Kyoya shuffled out of the closet, staring at her in interest. She squirmed a bit. "Alright, fine. I don't have bodyguards. Too... expensive. Or whatever. But being in America, New York of all places, and being known for having a lot of money with no guards and no personal car... I just took a few martial arts classes. Saved up quite a bit of allowance for them, too. Sorry if I freaked you out."
"Freak us out?"
"That was awesome, Livia-senpai!"
"Can you teach us a few moves?"
The twins began to bombard the brunette with pleas and questions, but Livia only had eyes for her charge. He was still staring at her. She tried not to read too deep into the look he was giving her, but after being trained for years to be able to do just that it was hard to shut the habit down. Kyoya looked honestly surprised, and yet there was a hint of... was that sadness? Yeah. It could almost be mistaken for pity, but it wasn't that either. Was he feeling bad for her? Because of her half-assed sob story? Was that possible?
Quickly looking away, Livia started shutting the twins down. If Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai both refused to teach them, then she probably shouldn't either. The next time she risked a glance in Kyoya's direction, he was scolding the twins for their attempt at humor by shutting him in the closet.
"Okay, Haruhi, come clean. What has gotten into all of you? I've put up with your smiling and whispering all day, and now I want some answers."
"Well, someone's got a short temper today."
"Don't test me, Fujioka. If you had half the day I did..." Livia let the threat hang in the air.
The smaller brunette shrugged, like that would once again get her out of having to answer and tried to stand up, but Livia got there first. Placing one hand on Haruhi's shoulder, keeping her on the couch cushion, the two girls found themselves locked in a staring contest.
At first, Haruhi attempted to keep a blank face. Maybe she expected Livia to let it go like she had earlier? But Livia had no intention of leaving without an answer.
Haruhi swallowed, shifting around as Livia continued to stare. Her nerves were written all over her face as she shifted her shoulders, trying to shimmy the taller brunette's hand off. Livia didn't budge, her green eyes appearing to dig straight into the other girl. Haruhi swallowed one last time before dropping her head.
"Fine."
Livia stepped back and crossed her arms. "Out with it."
"Last Saturday, when we were at the Aqua Garden..."
"I recall."
"Look, I thought it was a kind of stupid idea before then, really. You just didn't... but Tamaki had this idea in his head and he somehow got the twins to agree and after Saturday..." She looked up and then back down. "Kyoya-senpai has never been playful. Or at least not in the way he was over the weekend with us."
Oh? Oh… oh, no.
"Haruhi, please tell me you don't-"
"-think you and Kyoya-senpai belong together?"
Livia turned to see Hikaru and Kaoru standing behind her, eyes alight with mischief. Behind them the rest of the club had also gathered.
"Oh, but we do~"
Livia gave the room a quick scan, stopping on each host to gauge their reactions. Honey was giggling happily and bouncing in place, making the ears on his stuffed bunny flop about. Mori's usually blank face was actually sporting a somewhat interested smile. When he noticed Livia looking at him, he gave her a single nod. Tamaki was nodding at her as well, though his seemed less like an affirmation and more like he had just unveiled her secret and was encouraging her to come clean. The twins were still smiling like dastardly villains and Haruhi was out of Livia's line of sight.
And Kyoya?
Kyoya looked furious.
"All of you?" Livia struggled to collect herself, stiffly bringing her hands up into a 'time out' gesture. "Hold on. You all believe this? On what possible grounds?"
"Oh, Livia!" Tamaki laughed and stepped forward, no longer nodding but now shaking his head. "We all saw it. Kyoya's never smiled like that before, let alone play in the water! Most of the time he just sits around in his own anti-social world while the rest of us have fun." He gave Kyoya a bright over-the-shoulder smile. "No offense!"
Kyoya didn't seem to care whether Tamaki meant offense or not, too busy giving him his own personalized 'Glare-of-Death'. As glares went, Livia had to give it a solid '7' on her Scale of Evil. It was good, but it couldn't hold a candle to her perfected '10', which she was also executing on the Host Club.
"Awww... look at them!"
"They even have the same scary glares!"
The twins pretended to coo and fawn over how adorable Livia and Kyoya were as a couple, making Kyoya's glare jump up another number before Livia's eyes. Despite the situation, Livia couldn't help but admire the twin's nerve. Laughing in the face of an angry Kyoya had to be their version of staring down Death itself.
"What do you think their ship name should be, Hikaru?"
"I think we should do that thing with half of their names smushed together."
"LivKyo?"
"LIVKYO!"
"LivKyo? Really?"
"Don't encourage them!"
"I'm not encouraging them. In fact, I feel like I could spit fire. I just think the name is pretty accurate. LivKyo makes you sound like the submissive you are."
Livia made a small mental note to print a snapshot of Kyoya's face from that exact moment from her security cameras. But she didn't bother to stay. Instead, she spun around with her hands up in the air. Contract be damned, she was not staying after school with these people for three more hours!
"I'm taking the afternoon off! Good day!"
"Livia-"
"I said 'Good day'!"
End. Log.
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