A/N: Happy New Year everyone! This is my first update of 2011. Here's to a great new year!
Enjoy!
.05 Kyoya
In most cases, Haruhi didn't mind taking the train home from school. True it was crowded, and she couldn't always find a place to sit, and there weas danger of gropers (she'd never had to deal with that, luckily), but it always got her home safely, and so she couldn't complain.
This night, the now second year high school student was lucky enough to board a not quite so packed car, making it easy for her to find an empty seat. She plopped down on the plastic bench and sighed. Today had been a rather tiring day. Mid-terms were coming up and they promised to be much harder this year than last year if that was even possible.
Haruhi closed her eyes and rested her head on the cool glass window behind her. She listened to the sounds of the train in motion, but was disturbed from her relaxation by a loud beeping noise coming from her backpack. Haruhi opened her eyes sat up.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the, admittedly outdated, cell phone her father had given her as a birthday present. She looked at the caller ID and groaned.
'Mei,' An image of the cheery ganguro appeared in her mind. 'Why did I give her this number? I told her it was for emergencies only.'
Despite her annoyance, Haruhi flipped open the lid and brought the phone to her ear.
"Hi Mei," She said in as pleasant a voice as she could managed. "How are you doing?"
"Terrible Haruhi," the girl on the other end cried. "Just terrible!"
Haruhi sighed, already knowing this would be a long call.
And indeed it was. Mei, it turned out, was calling because her new boyfriend had just broken up with her to date a girl in their science class. Haruhi wasn't particularly well versed in relationships, so she couldn't do much besides listen to her friend sob and try to comfort her as best she could.
Eventually, Haruhi convinced Mei to stop crying over 'that selfish ass' as the scorned girl had dubbed him and said goodbye to her. By then, her battery were almost completely dead, and the train had come to a stop.
"Hey," the man sitting across from her spoke up as he made to exit the train. "You better get off, this is as far as it goes."
"As far as…" Haruhi trailed off, only just remembering that she'd been on the train going home this whole time.
She turned to look out the window, a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach. The area she was now in was completely unfamiliar to her.
"Hey, where exact-" she stopped when she saw the man from before was already gone.
Now alone, Haruhi realized she had no other choice but to get off the train. As she disembarked, she walked to a map of the subway route. That man said this was the last stop, so she followed lines on the map with her finger until she got to the end, and saw that she was in a town called 'Ushinawa.' She'd never heard of it, but she could see that it was rather far away from where she lived.
Haruhi calmly grabbed her phone. She'd never been one for panicking in difficult situations.
'I hope I have enough battery left,'she thought as she dialed her home phone number.
The phone ring five times, not a good sign. Usually, her father picked up after two rings. He wasn't working late tonight, was he?
"Hellooooo," her father's cheery sing-song voice rang in her ear. "This is Ranka Fujioka! Neither me nor my cute little Haruhi are home right now, but leave us a message and we'll call you back!"
Haruhi moaned angrily, of course he was working late tonight. She waited for the beep and then started talking.
"Dad, it's me," she said. "Look if you're there, I really need you to pick up. I missed my stop and I'm in a town called Ushinawa, the trains aren't running anymore tonight and I don't know how to get home from here. Dad?"
She waited for a second, then sighed.
"Okay, I guess I'll try your workplace. See you later Dad."
She hung up the phone and then flipped it open again. Just in time to see a message appear informing her that her battery was dying and the phone was shutting itself down. For the next few moments, Haruhi stood rigid and stared at the now blank screen. She almost felt like laughing at the sheer hopelessness of the situation. She was stranded in a strange town with a dead cell phone and absolutely no way to get home.
"Well, it figures," she said to herself.
Resigned to her fate, she turned and walked towards the exit. Hopefully there'd be a store or something that would let her use their phone.
As Haruhi walked down the streets, she realized that she was in a rather wealthy town. The whole block was made up of designer clothing shops, the only place that wasn't one appeared to be an accessory store.
The people walking by all had the stereotypical, 'I'm better than you,' rich person air to them, something she surprisingly didn't see in a lot of her classmates. Passer-by pointedly ignored her as she walked by and so she didn't even bother asking them if they had a phone she could use.
Eventually, she stopped in front of one of the stores and tentatively stepped through the open door. She was immediately greeted by a gust of warm air from the building's heater (not that she was complaining, it was rather cold outside).
A store attendant came up to greet her with a smile, but she stopped short as she took in Haruhi's frumpy appearance. A coat covered her Ouran Jacket, and her large glasses weren't exactly flattering. She probably didn't look much like their usual fare.
"Can I help you?" the woman stiffly asked.
Haruhi didn't like her tone, but she wouldn't leave without asking.
"Yes, my phone died and I need to call my dad. Do you by any chance have a phone I can use?"
The woman studied her with analytical eyes, and her lips pursed into a nearly invisible line.
"I'm sorry," she said in a decidedly un-sorry tone of voice. "We don't have a phone here."
Ring Ring. Ring Ring. Ring Ring. Click.
"Hello, this is Keiko's, how may I help you?"
Haruhi and the worker glanced at the woman behind the desk as she conversed with whoever was on the other end. When Haruhi looked back at the woman expectantly, she found the woman was suddenly more cold looking than before.
"As I said," the woman said with finality. "We don't have a phone for someone like you. Have a nice night."
And with a dismissive look, the rude woman turned on a heel and prissily walked off, leaving Haruhi even more frustrated than before.
Unfortunately, this incident was a sign of things to come. The next five stores were exactly the same, and no matter where she went, she received the same snooty looks from equally snooty people. By the time she reached the accessory store, she was beginning to lose hope that there were any semi-decent people in the vicinity who would help her.
As she stepped into the store, she noticed right away that it wasn't quite as fancy looking as the clothing shops she'd been to. A few shoppers were visible, but the store was rather quiet other than the radio which was playing some foreign music she'd never heard before. It was a bit warmer in here than in the other places, so she unzipped her coat to keep from getting too hot.
The only employee she could see was a man behind the checkout desk. She briskly walked over to him, praying that, like his store, he was different from all the others.
"Excuse me," she got his attention fairly easy. "Do you have a phone I could use?"
The man looked at her, but unlike the others his expression wasn't one of disgust at her appearance. After a moment, he smiled, which surprised her a bit.
"Absolutely," the man said. "Of course you can use the phone."
Haruhi was, for a moment, unsure if she'd heard right. After so many rejections, she'd been expecting him to look down his nose at her and refuse.
"R-really?" she asked, relief welling up inside her.
"Really," the man confirmed with a grin.
Haruhi grinned as well. "Thank you so much, sir."
She reached out to the telephone beside him.
"I really needed to make thi-"
She stopped, and her relief gave way to her confusion when his hand suddenly appeared between hers and the phone.
"Ah-ah-ah," he said in a sing-song voice that suddenly wasn't so friendly. "You haven't paid for it yet."
Haruhi turned her gaze to his face, her mouth wide open and her expression incredulous.
"What? Pay?" she repeated, trying to process what she was hearing.
"Of course," the man said, his smile taking on a whole new meaning. "I'm running a business here, I can't just start giving things away, you know."
"I just need to make a phone call," Haruhi argued. "You can't charge me for that!"
The man shrugged. "Look, either you pay, or you don't get the phone, your choice. Personally, I would pay up. Someone like you isn't bound to have much luck around here."
All of a sudden, Haruhi missed the commoner schtick she got from her classmates. At least they weren't being intentionallyrude for the most part. Haruhi glared at the man, not sure if she was more angry at him for scamming her or for being right. Resigned, the brunette angrily pulled out her wallet.
"How much do you want?" she asked him.
His smile changed to smirk.
"That depends," he answered smugly. "How much do you have?"
Haruhi stopped. Her head snapped back up and she looked at the crooked salesman with anger burning in her eyes. Before she could tell him just what he could do with his phone, she felt a presence behind her, and a male voice joined the conversation.
"I don't believe that will be necessary."
The salesman's face lost all color. Haruhi wondered just what kind of person could make the previously collected man look so scared, and when she turned to face the newcomer, she got her answer.
He was almost a foot taller than her, with pitch black hair and severe looking gray eyes framed by a pair of glasses. He was shooting an intense look at the salesman, and didn't even acknowledge Haruhi until he felt her eyes on him, at which point he turned his gaze to her and smiled. Something about that smile made her very nervous.
"You can use my phone, Miss," he said politely to her.
It was only then that she realized he was holding an expensive looking cell phone in his hand, which he proceeded to hold out for her. She slowly took it, unsure of whether or not the young man was serious. He didn't react when she took the phone and instead brought his focus back to the salesman.
"Shogo Taiguchi, is it?" he said to the man more than asked. "I've noticed some of you're merchandise is not quite as authentic as you claim. You see, I purchased a bracelet here for my sister just one week ago and you assured me it was made from the finest silver. Well, I received a call from her last night. Apparently that bracelet was made of fake material if her green wrist is any indication. If you recall, I paid quite a bit under the impression that it was the real thing."
"Uhh…" Taiguchi was at a loss for what to say.
"So, I come here to discuss the situation with you and find you trying to scam this poor girl out of all her money. It really doesn't reassure me of your credibility."
"Wh-wh" the man was still dumbstruck. "S-so what? What are you going to do, you're just a kid!"
The black haired boy smiled evilly, making Taiguchi's hair stand on end.
"As I'm sure you're already aware, there's quite a bit I can do. Now, I have the bracelet here, if you would give me a full refund, that would be most appreciated."
This time, the man didn't argue.
"Thank you," the young man said as he took his phone back. "Were you able to make your call, Miss Honor Student?"
Haruhi nodded. "Yeah, thanks for- did you just call me 'Miss Honor Student'?"
The boy smiled. "Well of course, you arethe infamous Haruhi Fujioka, correct?"
He gestured with his head at her coat, which was open to reveal her Ouran uniform underneath.
She nodded again. "So I guess you go to Ouran too."
"Yes, that's correct," he answered. "I am Kyoya Ootori, a third year student. It's nice to finally meet you, Ms. Fujioka."
"Nice to meet you too, Kyoya-senpai," Haruhi responded while giving her upperclassmen a respectful bow. "Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it."
"Well why wouldn't I help you,' Kyoya answered with a slight chuckle. "You're from Ouran after all."
Haruhi blinked. His statement confused her, and he noticed.
"What, do you think I would have bother to assist you if you weren't from Ouran?"
Haruhi's stomach deflated a bit. "So what you're saying is if you hadn't known I was from Ouran, you would have just let him scam me."
He shook his head. "If I'd known you were just a poor commoner I would have let him scam you."
At that, Haruhi sweat dropped.
'Of course,' she thought to herself. 'He's just another rich jerk who only thinks about- wait.'
Haruhi's anger vanished, replaced by realization.
"But that isn't right," she said, making him raise an eyebrow at her. "You couldn't have known I was from Ouran. I had my back to you, you didn't see my uniform or my face until I turned around. Plus, you implied to him that I wasn't rich, so you must have known that beforehand."
For the first time since they'd met, Kyoya appeared honestly shocked. His mouth was open a bit, and he looked at her like he had no idea what to make of her. This confusion only lasted for a few brief moments, and when it was gone, the calm and collected aura he gave off made Haruhi wonder if it had really been there at all.
"You seem to have it all figured out then," he said to her, his tone even.
Haruhi shook her head. "Not really, I still don't understand why you'd do such a nice thing for someone you don't even know and then pretend to be a jerk about it."
He studied her for a moment. "Pretend?"
"Yes," she answered. "You may act nasty, but I bet you're really a nice guy underneath that, Kyoya-senpai."
Though his face didn't change his eyes had regained that confused look from before. The next few minutes were completely silent and Haruhi wondered if she should walk away from him, but the fact that he was still looking right at her stopped her. His penetrating gaze kept her rooted to one spot, and she was almost relieved when he started talking again.
"I see… in any case, will you be needing a ride home?"
She looked to the side and saw a limousine sitting in the parking spot waiting for the bespectacled boy. Before she could answer, their attention was diverting from each other by a beeping horn. When they turned, they saw a small, beat up white car parked right behind the limousine and Haruhi smiled.
"Thanks for the offer," she said, looking back at Kyoya. "But my ride is already here. I was able to get in touch with a friend of my dad's who lives nearby and he offered to drive me home."
Kyoya glanced with distaste at the dirty vehicle but nodded all the same.
"I suppose I'll see you at school then," he said to her.
Haruhi nodded. "Alright, see you later!"
She ran to the car and got in. As it drove away, Kyoya stepped into his own transport. The limousine pulled out of it's parking spot and Kyoya watched the buildings pass one by one, his thoughts on Haruhi Fujioka.
"They were right," he said to himself, the faces of his former club mates appearing in his head. Their voices spoke of the commoner girl they'd all encountered in some way. "She's quite interesting."
'And she figured you out, didn't she Kyoya?'
Kyoya scowled, how he hated the cheery voice of his conscience. Whenever he heard it, he had to marvel on how even after over a year of no contact, it still sounded exactly like that idiot he'd once called his best friend. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, memories of their time together assaulting him, and the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
"Shut up, Tamaki."
