"Your cousin has taken up storytelling during club hours."
Nine words.
Nine words that had the power to make Madden Aisling go pale.
Nine words that were enough to make even Kyoya shudder.
Nine words that if not made untrue, would soon have the entirety of Ouran quivering in their fancy little brown shoes and blue and yellow uniforms in terror.
For you see, as much as Nala aspired to be like Maddy with her storytelling ability, the only fairy tales she knew to tell where long, almost forgotten ones that were the tales of horror your parents didn't tell you before bedtime. Tales that made even the older generations cast up a fervent prayer when they heard them told. Tales that Maddy had personally seen cause children to burst into tears and flee from her cousin.
"This isn't going to end well Kyoya." She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose as she spoke through the phone. "Look, I'll try to come up with a way to get her to stop soon don't worry, but my bus just arrived at school so let me text you later ok?"
"Sure Miss Aisling, just try to come up with something sooner rather than later, because this new tirade your cousin is on has even me stumped."
"And we can't have that can we?" She chuckled into the phone. "Don't worry buddy, i'll help you come up with something. Gotta go though my math teacher is glaring daggers at me. Talk to ya!"
So saying, she hung up.
Maddy had come to the realization that she liked Kyoya and his bland humor, even if he could be an ass sometimes, he was still really great. Eve if he didn't know that the exuberant red head on the other end of the line had come up with a ship name for her cousin and himself.
What he doesn't know won't hurt him.
Grinning, the girl slipped into the crowds entering the school and let herself become another blank face out of so many.
*W*W*W*W*W*W*
Kyoya sighed as he stared at the phone. His school day had just ended only for Maddy's to begin.
At least i can text her last minute if it gets bad today.
He stepped out into the club room from his office, and nearly walked into a potted plant at what he saw. The twins were wearing devil masks and enacting some form of play for Nala as she spoke to them, occasionally pausing when she paused as if making a point to them, before the group continued their speech and movements again.
Kyoya strode across the room towards the group, noticing two things as he went. One, Kaoru had his eyes on Nala far too much for Kyoya's opinion. Two, Nala's hair had several interesting hidden shades of color from natural highlights in it that the light from the large windows was bringing out in it.
"What do you think you're doing Miss Fuyumi?"
She jumped and squealed, yes, squealed, at his sudden voice behind her, and spinning smacked him lightly on the arm.
"Ootori! What do you think you're doing!?"
He arched an eyebrow in return, and murmured,
"I could ask you the same thing in return."
Nala's green eyes flashed with conviction as she spoke up.
"Opportunities wait for no one! If I let an opportunity to be like Maddy and tell grand stories that awe people i have to practice! I can't just say i 'wasn't prepared' or something like that!"
Kyoya winced. Tell stories she did indeed do, however all his gentle nudges and subtle hints that she learn new material and not stories long since forgotten except by those of the older generations. Not stories that were designed and written to keep disobedient children from sneaking out, or disobeying their parents.
"Er, tell me Miss Fuyumi, what is the story that the twins are so.." He hesitated, searching for the right word as he looked down at the pert little upturned face, "Kindly? Helping with?"
'kindly came out more as a question than it should have been, at the slight glare he sent the twins for helping Nala with her shenanigans made them both go pale underneath their masks.
"Oh this one?" The girl beamed up at him proudly. "It's the story about a monster that waits in women's bathrooms and asks if you want a blue or red cloak, and if you say blue she strangles you to death and if you say red she peels the skin from your body!"
A shiver traveled up Kyoya's spine, a shiver of warning, of foreboding.
"Miss-"
"Nala."
He rolled his eyes at her as she corrected the old habit.
"Nala, i suggest you be careful on which monsters you choose to talk about, they have a nasty tendency to come when called."
With those cryptic words he turned and stepped away, leaving Nala openly gaping at him in confusion. He could've sworn he heard her mutter something along the lines of 'stupid, stubborn, smart people', as he walked away, but he couldn't be sure.
I need to find Honey, I should research that monster some more, because it sounds far too familiar. I feel like I've heard that story along with Ouran's name a few times.
He could still feel the icy, cold hand of foreboding sliding her fingers up his back and another shudder slid through him. Whatever was about to happen was not good if his sixth sense had anything to say about it.
*V*V*V*
"Aka Manto, also known as red cloak, is a Japanese ghost that haunts the girls' bathroom. He appears wearing a red cloak and a white mask, and is said to be so charming that girls are unable to resist him." Gasps ran through the room as Nala spoke, the dim lights and flickering candles around her table lending an eerie air to her story telling. "Aka Manto hides in the last stall of the girls' bathroom and upon entering it, he will appear to you and ask if you want a red cloak, or a blue cloak."
Nala stood to circle the table and get closer to the girls. Sliding up till she stood behind them, she whispered very softly,
"Answer red and he slits your throat, or chops off your head. Other legends of gim say he strips the skin from your body."
One of the girls swooned, while Nala's regular Kana asked with barely a shiver,
"What if you ask for a blue one?"
Nala's grin turned feral and she stalked closer to Kana, leaning in close to her and raising an eyebrow coyly while smiling sweetly.
"Oh but Kana, if you answer blue he suffocates you to death, and don't even think about asking for another color, because if you do he'll drag you down to hell."
Another girl swooned and a sniffle was heard as someone muttered,
"I'm never using the restroom again."
Nala's grin ratcheted up a notch.
Look at me, having an affect on people through storytelling. I'm so proud of myself!
Little did Nala know however, how bad an effect she was having. It wasn't quite the sweet, mystical storytelling Maddy did. At all.
A soft chime sounded and Nala pulled back smiling happily as the candles suddenly went out and the lights came back on.
"Thanks for coming today guys! I'll see you tomorrow!"
The girls filed out with quiet, subdued 'goodbyes' and left Nala standing in confusion as to why they all seemed so quiet. However, another soft chime of the clock tower bell in the distance had her jolting in surprise as she remembered she had to help tutor one of the first years in English since the girl was struggling with it and the teacher had heard Nala knew English pretty well due to family from America.
"Hey guys I've got to run! I have a tutoring date! See you tomorrow!"
With a wave, she ran out of the club.
"Honestly, that girl. She completely forgot we're all staying late today to help check and tally club profits didn't she?"
Haruhi sweatdropped as she watched her best friend run out of the room.
"Ah my darling Nala is a delicate bird caught up in her own fragile world, I'm sure she'll remember!"
Haruhi socked him in the arm. Hard.
"Since when did you start taking her side?"
"Ow! My dove! You wound me!"
"I thought Nala was the beautiful bird not me."
"That's not what i meant!"
"You sure boss? It sounded like that to us?"
"SHUT UP YOU SHADY TWINS!"
"Tama-chan don't be mean please! Kyo-chan stop him he has a bat again!"
"Honestly Honey, what do you expect me to do when he's like this?"
"Uhhh..."
"Mitsukuni just ignore it."
"Ok Takashi…"
"GET BACK HERE YOU PERVERTS! FEEL THE WRATH OF MY BAT!"
"BOSS CALM DOWN!"
Haruhi watched the club members descend into chaos and shook her head.
"Honestly, in the words of Nala, why did i have to fall for an idiot like him?
*V*V*V*V**V*V*
"No don't worry! It happens to the best of us!" Nala smiled gently at the first year girl who was scowling angrily at the sentence she had written. "Look," She pulled the paper closer to herself, "'To' is normally used in describing a place you're going to, see? Like saying, 'I'm going to the mall'. You wouldn't say 'I'm going in the mall'. It just doesn't make sense, so try rewriting that sentence with that in mind."
The scowl on the other girl's face lightened somewhat as determination filled her brown eyes and she set about redoing the paper. With a small smile Nala sat back to work on some of her own work. A comfortable half hour passed like that, with Nala pointing out mistakes and helping with what she could.
"Here I have to use the bathroom give me a minute! While I'm gone work on the differences between 'to' and 'in', ok?"
The girl nodded and started working while Nala sent her a small last glance before quietly exiting the classroom to go to the bathroom. The Ouran bathrooms were ridiculously nice.
Honestly, I bet the handles on the sinks and stall doors are real gold. And who the hell has marble bathroom floors!?
Nala had come to the decision months ago when she'd started attending the school, that the people who ran it were certifiably insane.
Damn rich people. But then again, it is run by the Suoh family and they have to make sure to look as filthy rich as they are to impress other people and to get other rich people to send their kids here.
A glance at the painted ceiling had Nala snorting.
If Tamaki and Haruhi do start going out, she better be prepared for how lavishly he'll be treating her….
She was pulled out of her thoughts as she walked towards the stalls when she thought she saw a flicker of movement down the rather long hall. It looked suspiciously like a person stepping into one of the stalls.
"Hello?" Nala hadn't heard anyone else in the room when she'd entered, but she had been rather caught up in her own thoughts. However, she would have thought she'd have at least heard someone if they were in the fancy bathroom. The Ouran girls uniform shoes weren't exactly designed for subtlety. So she tried again. "Hey is anyone in here?"
Walking down the row of stalls, she felt a shiver of apprehension crawl up her spine. Being stubborn though, she shook it off with a shrug when she decided on one was there before turning around to go back. Only to stop dead at the person she found standing directly behind her.
A long, rich, velvet, red cloak that surrounded the tall body of a man, and a white porcelain looking mask with a clown-like smile etched into it had Nala freezing as Kyoya's earlier warning ran through her mind.
'Be careful on which monsters you choose to talk about, they have a nasty tendency to come when called'...Oh crap.
Quite by accident, it would seem she may have happened to summon the Aka Manto. The good news, she wasn't dead yet. The bad news, she probably would be very soon.
**Author's Note**
Woot woot! New chapter! More supernatural! More legends! More weirdness! More danger! Yes I know i'm the devil for yet another cliffhanger, but I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I was really happy to hear you guys saying you liked Maddy so yay mission accomplished there! Now, I'm afraid I'll have to leave you hanging for another few days before you find out what happens with the Aka Manto. Honestly. the number of ghosts that hangout in Japanese bathrooms is disturbing.
Shout out to...
ktmyldy28 (Absolute insanity is upcoming!)
killjarkidranger (You're the best! Yay for cinnoman rolls!)
ChibiCheshire + sayominaomi + fandomluva2theend (New followers and favorites thank you guys!)