Obviously trying to ignore the entourage of boys following in her wake, Higurashi Kagome sighed quietly to herself and adjusted her schoolbag when she noticed the first of many female eyes pouting in her direction. She just wanted to get to class for the day. It really was not her fault that the boys insisted on escorting her, and no amount of glaring or snapping at them had deterred the overly privileged heirs that thought she could be swayed by money still.

She supposed she should be grateful that the girls had gotten that message the last time she had started yelling in the halls, though. It had killed the hateful, spite filled glares that had immediately popped up after that performance, at the very least, and the girls had begrudgingly accepted that it was definitely not her fault some of the choir boys were perverted. Even if none of them spoke up for her, frightened over the prospect of ruining any future matches they may have to face, it had been nice to go back to some version of normalcy.

If you could call life at Ouran Academy normal, that is.

Humming quietly to herself mainly out of habit, her pace picked up when she heard the first faint whisper that prayed she would start dancing soon. The sound dying in her throat, she felt her face heat up and she wondered if maybe it would be best if she just ran for it. Class 2-A was not that far, and she was certain that she could make it to safety before any of them realized she had sprinted off and left them sitting in the dust.

Not for the first time, she found herself almost wishing that she had insisted on joining the Kyudo Club instead. Maybe she could have enlisted Kyoya and Tamaki in on the endeavour. There was little doubt that Kyoya had some kind of dirt on the club's taicho at his disposal for when it mattered most, and Tamaki would have been appalled by the blatant sexism that had originally barred her from the club.

Though, she supposed that she would feel absolutely awful if she had to tell Saito-sensei that she had decided to change clubs. The woman had been nothing but kind to her since the moment she had stepped into the Choir Club's rehearsal room, and had literally cried all over her when she had dedicated herself wholeheartedly to learning the material. Maybe she praised her a bit more than she felt like she deserved whenever she stumbled her way through a new routine and, sure, she had made a pretty snap decision to make her the head of the entire club, but she was a good person at her very core.

Kagome could see that better than anyone. It spread through her aura like fluttering snowflakes, gently wafting throughout the rehearsal room around her on even the worst of days, and she hated the thought of disappointing the older woman. She was certain that the only thing worse would be to disappoint her own mother… and lord knew she had done enough of that already during middle school.

"Ah, Kagome-chan!"

Startled from her own inner monologue, the Higurashi girl glanced up suddenly at the sound of her name being called. A frown touching her lips, she replied with a clipped, even tone, as the memory of her conversation with Kyoya the day before surfaced. "Kaito-senpai." She bristled underneath his wide smile, seething inwardly at the sheer audacity of the entire situation, and had to quickly remind herself that the senior had no clue that she knew what he had done now.

Pausing only briefly, the boy straightened his blazer and coughed uncomfortably. He offered her another smile, saying, "I apologize if I offended you with the song I wanted you to hear yesterday, Kagome-chan." His chin tilted arrogantly, he continued to ooze confidence with the knowledge that the look alone had sent other girls into a tizzy around the school. "I just wanted you to know that that was not my intention, and I realized afterward that it was not necessarily appropriate material for a young lady like yourself."

Her finger pointed in his direction, she growled, "You—!"

"Kaito-senpai."

The third year student stiffened, his eyes wide.

Twirling on her toe, Kagome found herself smiling as she exclaimed, "Kyoya-kun!" at the sight of him standing behind her. Her anger momentarily forgotten, she blinked in surprise at the dangerous glare of his glasses that hid the stare he had pinned on the senior boy.

A vicious smile spread across his face, the sound of his notebook snapping shut signaled for the entourage of boys Kagome had acquired to scatter like the wind before the Shadow King set his sights on them as well. "Shouldn't you be heading to class, senpai?"

"I-I was… I was just…!"

The notebook held out slightly in warning, Kyoya said, "We wouldn't want you to be late."

His face pale, the senior boy glanced between the notebook and the girl. A breath passing between them, he shivered at the sudden drop in temperature when the Ootori boy's stare hardened. The notebook cracking open slightly, he took a step back, his gaze lowering and admitted defeat. "I'll just… go."

A flicker of heat flashing through her eyes with the realization that she was not going to get her retribution against the perverted senior, Kagome turned on her heel. "Hey, wait—!" but he was already gone, leaving her to stare for a moment at the spot where he had been standing. A huff escaping her, she glanced back and up into the smiling face of the Ootori now looking down upon her from over her shoulder. "I could have handled it myself, Kyoya-kun."

Pushing up his glasses, he nodded, "I'm well aware, but would you have rather I did not offer my assistance?"

"No." Flushing lightly underneath his intense gaze, she pouted as she said, "Thank you." Feeling his very aura soften with the words only increased the heat spreading across her nose, so she tried to divert his attention away from the color as quickly as possible. "So…"

Tilting his head slightly at the girl looking away from him, he asked, "So?"

"What was it?" Her smile was devious when she glanced back up at him, finally feeling like she had control over the blush attempting to seep through. "You know…" she motioned with her head toward where the senior had fled. "What made him run away like that?"

"Kagome-chan." His voice lowered, and it sounded like he was reprimanding her with her name alone. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. I only reminded Kaito-senpai that class was about to start, and as you were standing there when it happened, I refuse to believe you have forgotten that already."

Kagome struck before he had the chance to respond, the little black notebook held victoriously in her grasp. Taking a couple dancing steps in the opposite direction, she giggled at the way his glasses flashed, and quickly turned on her heel to offer him her back in an attempt to block him from retrieving the item. "Kyoya-kun," the pages cracked open easily, "we both know that…"

"A problem, Kagome-chan?" Kyoya asked, smirking lightly over her shoulder with the pause.

"What?" Flipping through several more pages, turning them back and forth a second, third, fourth time just to be sure, she found herself staring stupidly into the blank, fresh pages of the notebook he had brandished like a weapon. "This is… new?" she questioned herself when she said it, before she felt a little light bulb flicker on inside her head. Narrowing her unique cobalt colored eyes, she fixed him with a knowing look and felt her own smirk start to form. "Okay, where is it?"

"Where is what exactly, Kagome-chan?" he asked.

"The real one you've been using this whole week," she replied. "The one you wrote down all of Kaito-senpai's dirty secrets in."

"Dirty secrets?" Kyoya scoffed. The devious tilt to his lips never left, however, and he delighted in the way she shivered when he leaned into her to whisper into her ear. "Now, Kagome-chan, even if I did know all of Kaito-senpai's dirty secrets, why would I subject a lovely young maiden such as yourself to them?"

"Young maiden such as myself, huh?" The sentence alone made her roll her eyes, though she felt her face beginning to flush at the feel of his breath caressing her ear. "I seem to remember this young maiden having to tell a certain young gentleman what ahegao meant, Kyoya-kun."

"Ah, yes." His glasses flashed, and his playful smile melted into something far more dangerous. "An accursed term I would have rather not known was capable of passing such beautiful lips, Kagome-chan."

"Don't…!"

"Don't what?" The playful smile returned in an instant, knowing exactly what was wrong before she ever whacked him in the arm with the notebook she held. He chuckled down at her, the corner of his eye softening ever so slightly at the pretty picture she made huffing up at him in indignation.

It really was just too easy to rile her up.

"Don't try and use your hostly charms on me!" she snorted. "I'm onto you, Kyoya-kun!"

He adjusted his glasses. "Oh?"

"And," she leaned into him this time, lowering her voice, "I'm going to find that other notebook you're hiding, too. You can't expect to keep all of Kaito-senpai's secrets to yourself after he broke into the records room and recorded my performance to pass around the school, now can you?" Holding the blank notebook tight to her chest, she pointedly looked away from him when she felt her face really start to glow. "In the meantime, I think I'll hold onto this for you. Maybe it'll help refresh your memory as to where the other one is if you don't have anything to write in for the day!"

"By all means." Kyoya made a motion with his hand down the hallway. "Shall we be on the way to class, Kagome-chan, or was there something else you wanted to clear up before we go?"

Suspicion flaring up, she tilted her head slightly at how easily he had given up the little black notebook. Even if it was blank, she had never known him to not have it on him for intimidation purposes at the very least. "Fine," she said, stepping away from him and wondering what it was he had up his sleeve. "We might be late already as it is."

The glare of the light hiding his gaze, Kyoya's lip regained that devious little point at the sight of her walking briskly away from him with the notebook held close to her heart. "Maybe," he seemingly agreed, before following after her on the way to Class 2-A.

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