Nala was scared, she could feel the sweat sliding down her spine as she hid in a darkened corner of a hallway. She couldn't remember how she'd gotten there, just that she had been running as fast as her legs would carry her, running to escape, because she was afraid. Afraid of what you may ask? Well, what every person with a sensible constitution should be afraid of. Needles.
Nala had been in the exam room with the doctor readying herself for the doctor to turn to come to her. They had already taken down her height and weight, and had gone over all the other basics as well, but the doctor had requested her to stay for an extra moment. Her nerves had instantly kicked in, and even Haruhi had tensed up when the doctor spoke. Maria, who had been leaning by the door on the other side of the room playing the silent bodyguard, had lifted her eyes in quick awareness as she tracked the doctor's movements. The rest of the hosts were having their exams done, so they weren't in the room to feel the tension level shoot up.
"Now, i was just looking over your records and i saw you're due for a flu shot, so we're just going to give you one really fast. Mr Ootori has filled me in on the situation, so if you'd like detective you are free to check what I'm using to verify that I'm not doing anything you're uncomfortable with?"
Maria sighed in relief, and shook her head with a pleasant smile at the kind hearted nurse.
"No that won't be necessary thank you though."
"Of course, now Miss Fuyumi-"
"NO!"
With that strangled cry, Nala bolted off the table and out the door in a full blown panic.
"Nala!"
Maria shouted after her and went to run after her, but Haruhi caught her arm.
"Wait Maria you can't go running out there it'll draw too much attention. I'll call Kyoya."
So saying, Haruhi released Maria's arm, and pulled out her phone. After dialing the number, she put the phone to her ear and waited.
"Yes Haruhi?"
Haruhi winced at what she had to tell the shadow lord, but mustered her courage and explained what had happened.
"Nala kinda, well, took off."
"Excuse met?"
He does not sound happy…..
"Well, she's terrified of needles, and she didn't take too kindly to the idea of getting her flu shot."
Kyoya sighed heavily on the other end of the line.
"I'll go find her, don't leave the room."
There was a vague, underlying, almost threatening note in his voice as he hung up, and Haruhi wasn't sure who it was directed at, but she sure hoped Nala would be ready for Kyoya's temper when he came to find her.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
Stupid needles, and stupid nurses with needles…
Nala was wandering some of the back halls of the school in her attempt to avoid having to go back for the shot, and was taking great pride in the fact she hadn't been found yet. She knew it may not have been smart to be wandering after her last incident in the school that involved her being alone with the Aka Manto, but in that moment she didn't care.
In all honesty, I think i'd rather take the Aka Manto on than go back and have to get that shot.
Nala hated needles with a passion. Not because of a bad doctor, or shots hurting, no, it stemmed from her love and protectiveness of her cousin Maddy. She still remembered how sickly Maddy had always gotten as a child, and how often she had to go to the doctors to get checked up on for various things. The incident that had stuck with Nala however, had been something that Maddy had once told her in private when they were children.
"I always ha' nightmares about needles Nals. Everytime I close meh eyes it's jus' these giant people wi' needles come and chase meh, and I canna escape 'em, They hold meh down and it always hurts so badly."
Nala turned to her sweet, tiny little cousin and picked up her hand. Maddy had always had a thick accent as a child, and it had been what first endeared Nala to her when they first met. She had such a pretty lilting way of speech, and hearing it thicken with fear now awoke a protective instinct in her that Nala wouldn't know then, but would be one that got her in boat loads of trouble as she grew older.
"If you hate needles Maddy, then I will too! If you get hurt I'm hurt, so we can both be scared neh?"
Maddy turned her ocean blue eyes towards Nala and stared up at her older cousin in awe.
"Wouldja?"
Patting her hand with a bright smile Nala nodded her head and promised Maddy.
Of course, Nala had no idea that her promise as a child, and her stubborn attitude would be the beginning of her phobia. It wasn't something that had been caused by an external force, but rather, a fear that was self taught as a child, and had only grown as she got older. Now, here she was, sixteen years old and hiding in the back halls of a rich person school in an attempt to avoid getting that flu shot.
"Ugh damn it all, why can't I get over this! I know I made that promise but really Maddy isn't sickly anymore, and she has gotten over her hatred of needles so why has this stuck with me!"
Choosing to glare at the wall in anger, Nala let out a huff and kicked it in frustration.
"I don't think kicking the wall is going to help any Nala."
With a gasp, she spun to face the voice, finding none other than Kyoya Ootori standing there behind her.
"Oh hey Ootori. So I guess you're here to drag me back for the, uh, nurse stuff?"
"You mean the flu shot?"
Nala winced and shuddered at the word.
"Yeahhhh that….."
Kyoya raised an eyebrow at her in surprise.
"So let me get this straight, you can face down supernatural creatures without hesitation, but when it comes to the doctors you're terrified of a needle?"
"Well, when you put it like that it sounds kinda pathetic, but yeah pretty much."
Kyoya shook his head at her with a sigh.
"Nala you can't not get the shot, you have to go back, even if I have to force you."
Nala stuck out her chin in defiance.
"I don't wanna!"
"You sound like a child."
"I don't wanna!"
"Nala stop playing and come along."
He took a step forward, and Nala took a step back, putting her back directly against the hall wall.
Whoops.
Kyoya took another step, crowding her personal space, and reaching up he put a hand on the wall beside her head. He was dangerously close, and with his glasses flashing he cut an intimidating figure.
He smells like cleanness.
It was true, with Kyoya standing that close to her in the empty hall, she could smell his clean scent, and the slight minty smell on his breath as he looked down at her. After a lifetime of smelling nothing but alcohol on her father, and Haruhi's own father's use of female perfume, the clean, unaltered smell that was Kyoya's was practically intoxicating. For a moment, Nala forgot why he was there, leaning into her like that, and all she wanted was to bury her face into his jacket and keep smelling that clean, masculine scent.
"Nala?"
Kyoya was speaking to her, and she'd been so busy thinking about how he smelled that she had missed all of it.
Oh shit.
Blushing furiously, Nala averted her green eyes from his own slate ones, and asked him to repeat his question.
"I asked if you would come back to the room. It'll be fast I promise."
He's being so gentle about it, why isn't he trying to force me?
Her eyes slid back to his, and as she caught his eyes, she saw a flicker of soft emotion in them as he stared down at her. It was brief, nothing overly sappy, or romantic, or even heated, but it was a gentle affection that she didn't think he had meant for her to see since as soon as she looked back his face became a cold mask of indifference.
I didn't imagine that right? I don't think i did. I hope not…. Another glance to the side before she looked back at him. Ready to take a risk Nala? Hell yeah I am.
"I'll only go back if you stay with me."
Shocked surprise flitted over his expression before it disappeared and he stepped away from her slowly, pulling his arm away from beside her head.
Oh shoot I've blown it no what did I do!? Crap what if he didn't realize that I meant in the room not in my life, should I try to correct it!?
Nala stood there blushing furiously and mentally yelling at herself and was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost missed his sigh and the put upon words that came from him next.
"Fine I'll stay in the room with you if it makes you feel better."
Freezing, Nala slowly looked up at him to where he now stood several feet away.
"REALLY?!" He winced at the volume in her voice as she shouted the word at him.
"Yes Nala, now come back to the room and for the love of all that this school is built for would you please keep your voice down?"
Grinning like a fool, Nala shoved away the thought of the shot and chose to focus on the fact that he had said yes to her request. As if reading her thoughts, Kyoya shook his head at her in reproval.
"For taking up time that could be used towards club finances, that's another thousand yen added onto your debt."
"WHAT!? Hey!" Nala shouted after him as he turned and began walking away. "You listen hear mister! That's not fair at all!"
He merely chuckled and glanced back at her, glasses flashing as he smirked.
"Should I add on more for yelling after I told you not to?"
Scowling at him Nala muttered something about him being a control freak, and if he heard it, he chose not to comment, instead walking on down the hall and leaving her to catch up.
When she did, he asked, without looking at her,
"Why are you afraid of needles?"
Sighing, Nala looked out the windows they were walking by as fear tightened her stomach and made her chest tight.
"It's kind of a self induced fear…"
And she began to tell him the story.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
By the time they reached the nurse's private room, Kyoya knew the story, and had not said anything in response to it. Rather, he had nodded his head in silence and kept walking. As they stepped into the room both Maria and Haruhi looked up at their entrance.
"Nala! Don't you ever do that again I was so worried until Haruhi explained to me that you don't like needles."
Chuckling awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her neck and pointedly didn't look at the nurse across the room Nala responded.
"Yeah...Sorry about that Maria, I got scared and didn't think about it before I ran."
Smiling at her, Maria came over and ruffled her hair.
"Don't stress it. We're all scared of something, even Kyoya there is." Nala's curious eyes slipped over to the aforementioned boy, who just stared back at them with a raised eyebrow and an indifferent shrug."Even if he pretends he isn't." Maria finished her statement loudly as she glanced at him with a smirk. One that he returned in full. It made Nala's gut churn uncomfortably to have him doing that with Maria.
And it's definitely not because I'm jealous. Nope, not at all.
….
Ok I may be a little jealous
With a small sigh, Nala dropped her head and stepped around the detective.
"Yeah even so, i should probably get this over with."
She was shying closer to the nurse in slow hesitant steps that betrayed how nervous she really was about the shot. The nurse smiled at her with kind eyes.
"Dom't worry sweetheart, you'll barely feel a thing."
I wish.
Finally stepping up next to the nurse, Nala pushed herself up onto the small table used for the checkups and resolutely looked away from the nurse who already, eerily fast, had the needle ready.
Dom't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.
She felt the pinch as it slid through the skin of her shoulder and into the muscle, the awful pressure and sting that followed as the needle's contents were released into the muscle, and she couldn't help but let out a small whimper of pain as her stomach decided to start flip flopping in circles as the nurse gently slapped a bandaid on.
As she opened her eyes finally, she got to see the door close behind Kyoya just as he left.
Well damn and here I thought he was gonna stay for it all.
with a sigh and a queasy stomach, Nala slid off the table.
"Who else votes we go for ice cream? I definitely deserve ice cream for this."
Haruhi shot her a quick grin and nodded.
"But only if you're paying."
With a laugh, Maria tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and wiggled her eyebrows.
"It's my treat girls. C'mon, let's go! I know a nice little place a little bit away from my station. It's pretty cheap so you'll like it Haruhi, and it it's pretty good too Nala so don't worry about that. Besides, the school day only has like an hour left and that's all physical exams anyway, so I vote we end our day playing hooky!"
"Hooky?"
Haruhi turned curious eyes on Maria at her use of American slang.
"It means skipping school for fun, it's one of those weird American terms we have."
"Then I most definitely second that and Haruhi don't worry we won't get in trouble and it won't affect your grades or your scholarship so let's go and have some fun!"
With grins, one that was a little more forced than the others due to a certain boy's strange behaviour and a look in his eyes that she couldn't get out of her head, Maria and Nala grabbed Haruhi and headed out for ice cream.
**Authors Note**
Please read, this one is important.
Hello all! So it hasn't been quite as long since my last update, thank goodness, but i actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter! HEHE Kyola feels. What did you guys think? I've decided I'm gonna start winding this story to a close soon, I think Nala's chapter is almost ready to be finished and for Maddy's to start. Don't worry, there will definitely be quite a few more chapters for Cat's Eyes, but it'd definitely time for me to stop dragging this out. What do you guys think? I need your opinions on this.
Also, when I start the sequel, are any of you guys going to be interested in it or is it just gonna be a dying story? It's not separate, it's a continuation of this story but from Maddy's POV. Trust me, it's important and Nala is still a huge part of this story. Please let me know what you all think as it's quite important for me to get an idea of how I should finish this story.
Thank you!
Now, shout out to…..
soapandapples + DestinyOrton + ( Thanks for the follows/favs guys! Trust me, it is very appreciated!)
ocean full of lies ( Yes I live, Kyoya hasn't sued me yet, but with the amount of host club secrets i've been spilling and am gonna spill he just might try that. Nala has come a long way, and I won't lie I'm proud of her, but we'll see what happens in her near future)
bobisfake0 ( Ok! Yeah, it shouldn't be ending any time soon, and even when this one does there's still the sequel!)
animegal1357 (No I don't get the reference noooo! What was it to?)