"Thank you for Piyo-chan, Morinozuka-senpai!" Amelia said breathlessly. She was desperately trying not to think about his incredible cuteness. She couldn't believe how close to losing it she was. I've never been like this around a guy before, she chastised herself. Not even Arthur, and he's a thousand times more handsome. Get it together, Windsor. You are a princess. She took a deep breath in an effort to calm her racing heart.
"Although, I think… ah…"
As she lifted Piyo-chan from its position on her lap, she revealed a small, circular wet stain on her dress.
"I think Piyo-chan… had a bit of an… accident," she finished, biting her lip. She chanced a glance up, only to see Mori collapse against a wall in despair, his hand covering his face. He wouldn't meet her eyes.
Isn't that a bit of an overreaction?
"I'm… I'm so sorry, Windsor-hime…" He said despondently, looking away. Instead he glared down at Piyo-chan who, being a chicken, was completely oblivious to the situation it had caused. It chirped happily at being held by Mori, which caused his face to momentarily soften, his glare unable to hold up in the face of a chicken. The internal conflict was clear, and also kind of super cute.
Amelia bit her lip so hard she drew blood. It was suddenly very, incredibly, super important that Mori not feel bad. "Morinozuka-senpai, it's okay! I can always wash it, and I'm sure once it dries it won't be noticeable at all!" After all, these yellow dresses are the same colour as urine.
"What's-"
"-this?"
Hikaru and Kaoru leaned over first Amelia, then Mori, smirking devilishly. "Did Piyo-chan pee on our dear Windsor-hime?" At their words, Mori let out another groan, sinking to the ground and thrusting Piyo-chan away from him as if he couldn't bare to look at it for a moment longer.
Hikaru leaned against the wall on Amelia's left, while Kaoru mimicked him on her right.
"It's really no big deal," Amelia began dismissively, then stopped. "Wait. How do you all know my name? And," she looked over at Mori, "Is Morinozuka-senpai going to be okay?"
The twins rolled their eyes, "Don't worry, Mori might seem scary but he's a bit of a drama queen," they told her in a conspiratorial tone, leaning towards her.
"Drama… queen?"
At that moment, Tamaki popped out of nowhere and gave a strangled gasp of horror. "Windsor-hime! Thank goodness we have changes of clothes!" "We have changes of clothes?" Haruhi wondered in the background.
Tamaki snapped his fingers, then pointed them at the twins dramatically. "Hikaru, Kaoru, give this beautiful maiden something to wear!"
"Yes, milord!" They saluted, Mori forgotten, before each grabbing one of Amelia's arms and dragging her towards an unmarked door, lifting her clear over the table. Was that always there?
Ignoring her protests, the twins shoved her unceremoniously through a curtain behind the door, riffling through a closet. She stumbled, steadying herself against the wall, making very uncomplimentary remarks under her breath.
I've lost my decorum completely, part of her mourned.
"This really isn't necessary!" Amelia called, poking her head through the curtain. Everything was moving so quickly, she felt a bit out of her element. And besides, why was this kind of thing in a music room to begin with? Why were there so many clothes here? Why were there so many female clothes here? Did this kind of thing happen often?
Hikaru was looking through some dresses while Karou did the same with makeup. When she saw this, Amelia felt affronted. "I understand the clothes, but why makeup?"
Kaoru's face hardened (and I thought he was the nice twin!). "Don't question us, lovely Windsor-hime."
"Put this on," Hikaru ordered, shoving a bundle of fabric at her. "When you're done, step out so I can do your makeup," Kaoru continued.
"You really don't have to -" Amelia began, but she was cut off.
"Oh, we want to," they said, grinning as one being. Their eyes seemed to darken and glimmer ominously, their hair falling in front of their eyes. Suddenly, their teeth seemed a bit sharper than before.
With round, slightly fearful eyes, Amelia grabbed the clothes and snapped the curtain shut, wondering what kind of fearful, hellish school she had come to.
Kyouya stopped typing on his laptop. A thought had occurred to him.
"You know, Windsor-hime asked a very good question. How do all of you know her name? Especially you two," he added, looking at Honey and Mori. "You weren't here yesterday when she arrived."
"Kyouya-senpai, I thought you knew?" Haruhi asked, confused, pointedly ignoring the way Tamaki had gone pale and was vigorously shaking his head behind Kyouya's back. "Tamaki-senpai sent everyone emails yesterday with Windsor-hime's picture and information, including Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai."
"I'm sorry, you did what?" Amelia hissed, slamming open the door. But, in the wake of her makeover, her comment went unnoticed.
"Aimee-chan!" Honey cried, tackling her with a hug. "You look so pretty!" To no one's surprise, he lifted her from the ground and spun her in the air.
And indeed she did. The twins, despite their general mischievous demeanor, really did know what they were doing when it came to fashion. Amelia was wearing a light, flowy, powder blue dress, which made her eyes look bigger and bluer than normal. Her hair had been left the same, but the dark copper colour looked much better against blue than yellow, and fell in loose ringlets down her back.
"I really do like this dress," Amelia admitted, with both feet back on the ground and Honey clinging to her shoulders, "and it's nice to wear a colour that doesn't constantly clash with my hair. I suppose you have the right idea, Fujioka-san," she added, turning to Haruhi. "Maybe I should consider wearing the boys' uniform as well."
There was an instant uproar.
"You-you know Haruhi's a girl?" Tamaki cried, putting a hand on his chest in shock as thunder shook the room.
"You can never leave this room," the twins said darkly, looming over her from behind.
"You won't tell anyone, will you, Aimee-chan?" Honey pleaded, tears welling up in his eyes. He slid down from her shoulders and shuffled in front of her, looking up at her through his eyelashes.
Meanwhile, Haruhi just blinked and Kyouya scribbled down another note.
"I don't know why it's such a big deal, but if it matters that much to you all, of course I won't tell anyone!" Amelia smiled, very confused. Maybe the Japanese were sensitive about the whole cross-dressing issue? Then they must care about Haruhi very much, to not want her secret to get out. But in that case, why wasn't Haruhi upset? Shouldn't she - or he - be the most upset about the possibility?
"Mommy!" Tamaki implored, turning to Kyouya. "Make Amelia not tell!"
Amelia stifled a giggle as Kyouya gave a long-suffering sigh. "She already agreed not to tell, Tamaki. Although, if it makes you feel any better, I suppose I should let you know," he turned to Amelia, "that the Ootori family has a private police force of over 100. Keep that in mind when you make your decisions." He adjusted his glasses, causing them to flash in her direction.
Was that a threat?
Amelia stopped laughing. There was an indecipherable emotion crackling in her stomach. She was used to people acting deferential to her because of her grandmother. She was used to people acting scornful of her because of her grandmother. She was used to almost every reaction, every phrase, and had met so many people in her life she figured she'd seen them all. But never, not once did she ever encounter someone so openly dismissive of her before.
Slowly, she walked towards Kyouya, each click of her heels audible in the silence that had fallen over the room. Reveling in the complete command she had over this moment, she stood in front of Kyouya, meeting his eyes with an unspoken challenge. She leaned forward imperceptibly, her voice was soft and low.
"The royal protection squad is a group of people trained to protect my family and I at all costs, even at the expense of their own lives. No one knows how many of them there are, but rest assured there are many more than a mere hundred. A tiny fraction has been deployed for my personal protection, and at this moment there are over twenty squad members hidden in the grounds, a further twenty along the route home, and fifty more surrounding and within my mansion. They are disguised as students, workers, even butlers, so if you think for a moment that your tiny police force fazes me even slightly, I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken."
She took a breath, and flashed him a pretty smile. "And besides, I already said I wouldn't tell anyone, so what's the worry? There's no need to threaten anyone, is there?"
Amelia looked around. "Ah… is everyone okay?"
Their faces had all gone pale and the colour seemed to have bled out of their clothes, eyes blank, mouths hanging open.
"Don't worry about it," Kyoya said smoothly. "They're just in shock. Most people usually don't talk back to me, especially when I flash my glasses." So he did that on purpose…? How?
"I guess I'm not most people, then." I've always wanted to say that!
"No," Kyouya agreed, with a familiar odd look in his eyes. "You certainly aren't."
Haruhi laughed, causing both Amelia and Kyouya to look at her (him?). "I thought it was funny," she confessed, shrugging. She caught Amelia's eye and they shared a smile. "It's about time that happened, Kyouya-senpai."
He murmured an agreement, and something about having to "update the file."
Amelia's smile faltered. "Yes, well, speaking of files and documents, that reminds me -" she turned her narrowed eyes towards Tamaki, who hadn't spoken a word throughout the entire incident. "I will repeat myself: Tamaki, you did what with my information?"
He immediately turned and ran, leaving only a cloud of dust in his wake.
Amelia flipped open her phone and pursed her lips. "Hello, George? Yes, could you please secure the perimeter? There's a blond teenager, violet eyes, in an Ouran uniform attempting to escape. He left Music Room 3 in the south building very recently... Yes... Yes. Thank you, George, you're an absolute angel."
She ended the call, before facing the surprised expressions on everyone's faces, even Haruhi's.
"What, did you think I was exaggerating?"
To her shock, Hikaru and Kaoru began to fake cry.
"Oh, Hikaru!" Kaoru cried, wiping a tear from his eye. "Have you ever seen anything as beautiful as that?"
"I have not," Hikaru whispered, clasping her hand with both of his. "Windsor-hime, as anyone ever told you how amazing you are?"
"How wonderful?"
"How incredible?"
In the distance, there were sounds of a scuffle and a high-pitched squeal.
"Did I forget to tell them he wasn't to be harmed?" Amelia frowned, then shrugged. "Whoops."
A/N: Okay, so I only just realized that I completely forgot to add a disclaimer. I didn't want to break the flow of the story, so here it is!
*Ahem*
Most of the characters don't belong to me. The main OC's here are Amelia, Haru, and Hana - and in typing out those names, I realize my previously undiscovered penchant for names that begin with "H." So I'm not sure if people actually read these, since for me it's kind of fifty-fifty on whether or not I read A/N's. Please let me know if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, and feedback is always, always, always welcome! I'll keep this short, because I can't count the number of times I've been super excited about a long chapter, only to discover that it was mostly an A/N. So, farewell! Before I go, I'd just like to remark that that colour is very becoming on you, and that I hope you have an incredible day 3