"I hope she takes her sweet time," a voice inside sighed.

Kagome blinked, unsure of what she had just heard. Sure, she had known being a new transfer student to the school would have put her at the edge of social groups, but it didn't mean she had to be a-

"The pauper's a pariah," came a familiar voice, stopping Kagome from entering the room. She had never heard this kind person speak in such a nasty tone before- so maybe… maybe Kagome was mistaken. Maybe it wasn't-

"Really, Seika, you're too nice to her." The retorting voice was laced with annoyance. "All of this just to get back into the Host Club's good graces, isn't it a bit too much?"

Fujioka went to open the door, but Kagome found herself silently stopping her. Everything. Kagome had to hear everything.

Ayanokoji Seika had been her first and only friend upon Kagome's abrupt transfer to Ouran Academy. Seika had allowed Kagome to trail behind her in a daze, and she seemed to have loved it. Kagome had been so lost and miserable that all she could speak were riddles of her past, stories altered to suit a young girl's inexperienced ear. She thought she had been doing well; Socializing with someone her own age after her entire family had pushed her to do so. Ayanokoji had even invited her shopping last weekend, and even though Kagome hadn't bought anything she had had fun for the first time in a while.

Kagome had felt normal, and this… this was more cruel than if she had been shunned from the get-go.

The errand that their teacher had sent them to do was already completed, and the two had been just about to enter the classroom when Kagome's name had been dropped in gossip.

"Well, it is tedious having to listen to her babble on about 'shrine this' or 'Souta that'," Ayanokoji's voice agreed. Her words dripped with contempt. "She tells the stupidest tall tales about camping, of all things. What am I supposed to do with that bumpkin nonsense?"

A round of titters erupted from the group of girls, dying down a bit when the teacher hushed them.

"Higurashi seems a bit different," interjected a male voice, "But don't you girls think that's going a bit too far?"

"Oh, shut up, you! The only reason you're speaking is because your family peddles their miserable goods to her kind, right?" Ayanokoji spat back, and their laughter grew again.

Fujioka's eyes were bright in anger, pale cheeks flushed as her tiny fists clenched. She seemed to implore Kagome to let her open the door, but Kagome shook her head again.

"There's no need for all that," Kagome tried to murmur, but her voice wavered a bit too much for it to calm down her incensed classmate. She smiled a bit, remembering Fujioka's concerned glances in class. Ayanokoji's friends would gather around their desks, Kagome and Seika in the center. It had really felt like her middle school friends, but it was nothing like that. Kagome hadn't actually been in the crowd- rather, she had been the source of entertainment.

After a few more minutes of listening to her 'friends' complain about her idiosyncrasies, Kagome turned and stalked back down the hallway. It seemed that nearly everywhere she went she was doomed to be disliked: the past, the present, and now even her future wasn't looking too great.

A cloth dabbed her cheeks. Kagome moved back instinctively, but it was only Fujioka sweetly wiping her tears away with a pocket square. Kagome, who hadn't realized she was crying, quickly swiped the back of her hand across her face in embarrassment.

"Thank you for following me. Sorry," Kagome croaked, looking down. "I should have heeded your little warnings about her, I guess. I know you guys aren't friendly."

"She bullied me too," Fujioka laughed a bit and placed a comforting hand on Kagome's shoulder. "The people here, Kagome…" she seemed to struggle with her words. "They're not like us. They can be heedlessly cruel without reprimand because of some bank notes. I should have done more to warn you, I'm sorry."

Kagome blinked. "You called me by my first name."

Fujioka flushed. "Does it bother you? I should have asked."

"No, no," Kagome rushed to assure, "but… can I?"

Fujioka blinked, and then her face split into a sweet grin. "Of course you can, Kagome. We're friends now, after all."

Friends. The word brought more tears to Kagome's eyes, and suddenly everything was too much. "I tried, you know. I tried really fucking hard."

If the swearing shocked her, Haruhi didn't show it. "I know."

"I just wanted to be normal, Haruhi," Kagome tried explaining, but of course that wouldn't make any sense to Haruhi.

But still, Haruhi was already worth a thousand of Ayanokoji, because all she did was say "I know."

When the tears finally stopped, Kagome still refused to go back to class. She apologized to Haruhi and told her to go back so as to not miss the rest of the period, but Haruhi just hummed.

"I've got a better idea, actually. Let's go see my clubmates."

"Who are your friends?" Kagome asked curiously. She hadn't really been here long enough to familiarize herself with the cliques or clubs.

"Why, it's the same group of guys Ayanokoji is trying so hard to appeal to." The smile Haruhi shot her was satisfied and smug. "The Host Club."

hello, everyone. long time no read. I've been in a bad place for a while now, struggling quite a bit mentally and kind of physically. I haven't been able to make anything good for my older stories and am very afraid of disappointing people if I do write something terrible, so I've decided to bite the bullet and write a new story. I really love my older stories, they made me feel so nice writing them and having people like them made it all the better. Maybe it's useless of me to try and revive this profile, but I have to do something, don't I? I don't want to not forgo writing, but my memory is getting very poor. I am 24 so it's very scary to me.

sorry for a bummer, but on the bright side, I am excited about this story and am taking it bit by bit. please be stay with me and have patience. I hope everyone is healthy and happy, and have had many beautiful memories since I was last on.

- val