First thing's first, I do not own OHSHC or any of it's characters or trademarks. Instead I own something better! My imagination that came up with this story! Enjoy and please review! As this is my very first story ever I'd love to know what I could do to improve it. (Note story subject to altering if I messed up!)
Also yay me for continuing! Honestly it's late and for some reason I can't sleep. Oh who am I kidding? I almost never get to bed at a decent time anymore! *grumbles* Stupid Insomnia...
Sweat dotted her brow, her normally full lips pressed in a tight line as it twists into a grimace. Body tensed as she finally bolts upright screaming out.
"No not the muffins!"
Whipping off her nightmask she breathes a sigh of relief, still slightly shaken from her nightmare despite how ludicrous it was. Half-chuckling at herself she brushes the back of her hand across her forehead just as there was a knock at her door. Absentmindedly she glares at the sweat on her skin, as if it were the source of her problems instead of the stress of starting back at Ouran for the first time since middle school. It had been a long summer and much had changed about her.
"Come in Ashahara.."
At once the large oak door opened, revealing that while there was a rich mahogany on the inside for her room the other side had been carelessly painted white to match the hallway. For the first time she sighed as her personal maid addressed her.
"Mistress Yokana shall I ring for your breakfast yet or would you like a bath first this morning? As the Lord and Lady tell it today is to be a special day, they wished me to convey a message that they have high hopes you'll try harder this year to obtain ties with powerful influences through any means necessary."
The maid seemed a bit unnerved at the message, rightly so as Yokana understood exactly what her parents meant. Her older brother had obtained an extremely promising bond with the prestigious family Morinozuka which meant that the Haninozuka's were allied as well since the two families were so deeply intertwined. How he obtained the bond was by wooing one of the women in the family with gifts and charm. Of course as they had been both adults the fact that she found out that she had been pregnant had rapidly accelerated matters naturally. This thought would have disgusted Yokana if it weren't for the fact that she knew her brother truly and dearly loved the woman. Thus why she didn't scream at him in disgust over it, instead happily welcoming the pregnant girl into the family with a gift of one of her art pieces. Yokana mulled over this as she nearly forgot that the maid was in the room before a throat was cleared, snapping her out of thought with an apologetic smile.
"Oh, sorry Asha-san, got a bit lost in thought there. I believe that eating a hardboiled egg, toast with blackberry jam and three pancakes with mango juice will be first as a bath will allow me to digest properly with the warm heat and pleasant scent of lilies. Those rose bath salts should add a shine to my skin as well."
She said this kindly, saving her beloved maid the effort and time from asking her what she wanted for breakfast as well as what she wished in her bath. Oh how Yokana loved her baths, she had over fifty different scents of oils, forty scents of salts and she lost count somewhere around eighty different scents of bath pearls. Sometimes she'd combine two or three different scents to make herself mouth-wateringly fragrant.
Asha-san nodded and lifted up the phone that the maids used to communicate over the enormous estate to call in the order, in which time Yokana picked out a few accessories to go along with her new uniform. To her it was a bit unseemly, the sleeves odd and the shoes not cute at all. It would have been cuter in her opinion if the yellow was a bit warmer like a buttercup and the sleeves didn't have that ridiculous poof at the shoulders. Still it was a required uniform and she reluctantly laid it out on a chair beside her bureau and paired a silver locket with it as well as a pair of diamond stud earrings and a delicate pink sapphire ring. The stone was set into a white gold band that had the engraving of her name on the inside of the band, a fourteenth birthday present from her parents the year before. By the time she finished choosing accents for the unseemly dress her meal arrived, causing her to lightly stride over towards her sitting table in an adjoining room that was mostly used for recreation or entertaining guests.
"Arigato Hank-sama."
She smiled to the foreign man who had served the household since she was born, her personal butler Hank who had moved over from the Americas. She had grown fond of him and he had even taught her English though she spoke it with a thick accent. She found French and German to be a bit easier because they weren't as crisp as English was. Without another word she dug into her breakfast, casually reading the paper to see what new art was in exhibits around. Apparently there was one a week from that day which she immediately ordered to be marked on her calendar and set to high priority. Once finished she stripped down and walked to her bathroom, stepping up the stairs to slide into her enormous jacuzzi tub. Sighing she slunk down until it reached her chin, the surface of the water shining with the oils while the rose salts rubbed at her skin. Before long she stepped out and stepped right into a soft towel that Asha-san had held out for her to dry off.
Without any further ceremony she sent for her hairdresser, dressing in the uniform while she waited for Asha-san's younger sister to arrive. The leggy blonde strode into the room armed with her makeup and hair kit.
"Missy-san! Tut tut what have you been doing to your poor poor locks? What did I tell you about waves? Always let them air-dry! You've been rubbing a towel over them I can tell, those poor split ends."
Cho-chan always was talkative but she knew what she was doing, turning the slightly tangled and fluffy mess into sleek waves that tumbled down Yokana's back with grace as she stared at herself in the mirror for an assessment. Yes there was a definite improvement from last year, she was no longer the willowy awkward girl of middle school. Sometime over the summer her pale skin had taken on a healthy glow, going from translucent to porcelain and rosy. The wayward fuzzy mess of pale brown waves had been transformed by the kisses of the sun into a strawberry blonde. Gone were her braces and her thick glasses, replaced by rows of perfect white teeth and contacts that showed off how large and dreamy her sea-green eyes really were beneath thick black lashes. Her thick black caterpillar eyebrows had been waxed and plucked until they accentuated her features such as her high cheekbones and classically shaped nose. Along with her metamorphosis she had somehow gone from a gangly awkward girl to developing a somewhat heavy bosom and a flowing hourglass figure that had earned her glares from other girls when she went out shopping for new clothes. Lost in thought she nearly forgot that she had to leave, having been tuning Cho-chan out until she heard the buzzer.
"Oh crud! I can't be late!"
Without another word she darted out the door of her room, picking up her sketchpad and her array of art supplies such as her colored pencils, oil pastels, shading stumps and inking pens. She tucked these in her school satchel as it was handed to her by a row of servants lining up along the carpet to the door. Pausing a moment and jogging in place she breathlessly asked. "Did anyone make me a bento box like I requested for tea time today?"
Wordlessly a pair of hands held out the ornate box that was wrapped in a silk blue napkin, which of course was taken without a word and tucked into the bag as she rushed out to the limousine and jumped in. She breathed a soft sigh as the limo drove off, allowing her some time to gather her wits.
(I should take the time to say that bold font is her inner thoughts)
Come on Kana, it's just school. So what if last year the Hitachiins picked on you for being the ugliest girl in school? You grew since then. Sure you're still five foot four but you look way different now! Buck up! You are Yokana Mizuri, only daughter of a powerful art and fashion industry. The twins probably picked on you as much for your looks as for the fact that they know that my family is rivaling theirs. You'd think they'd be reassured to know that my eye is for art not fashion. That's Kempa's talent, which is why he designs most of what you wear and why most of your art is in his home! At least there's that gallery to look forward too next week.
By the time she regained her composure they had arrived at the gates, causing her to fly into a panic for a moment but then re-composing herself as they pulled up to the entrance. The driver opened her door and she slid out gracefully, one slim hand clutching her satchel as if it were her only life preserver. With a murmur of thanks to the driver she made her way to the front door, it opening automatically by uniformed butlers that were there only for the first and last days of school. She lifted her chin and walked down the hallway, making her way to her class without looking at anyone who she passed despite the open stares. She slid open the door to her classroom, shutting it without a word behind her and glanced around. Mournfully she noted that the dreaded Hitachiin's were in her class just before she noticed a strange figure in overly baggy and shoddy clothes. She wasn't quite sure if the person was male or female and decided to not ask lest she seem dim-witted. Cautiously she chose a seat near the window that allowed her to look out of it if she ever got bored, though she walked along the side aisle a few times before finally settling on a seat that gave her a beautiful view of the gardens where she could draw inspiration from. The sensei rapped for attention, requiring that each person stand up and introduce themselves to the class in turn which gained a collective groan from the students.
One by one they did as told, several names she recognized and several she didn't. As in middle school the Hitachiins stood up together and introduced themselves as a pair, promptly all the girls in the class swooned as they blew kisses to the females in the class. Yokana(self-nicknamed Kana) noticed that Kaoru tossed a glance her way that was slightly confused as he felt that he recognized her from somewhere before. A glance she didn't return but instead pointedly looked out the window which of course meant she became the topic of conversation for the twins.
"Hey Hikaru, who is that girl? I don't remember seeing her before but she seems familiar."
"I don't know Kaoru, who cares it's not like she seemed interested in us anyways."
"That's the thing, most girls love it when we do the Brotherly Love act but not her. Why do you think that is?"
"Who knows, we'll find out more about her later if we ask Kyoya. He knows everything about everyone here."
By the time their quiet conversation was finished the teacher had reached Kana, who of course stood up gracefully and brushed off her skirt before lifting her chin and announcing in a clear loud voice.
"I am Yokana Mizuri, most of you may remember me more as 'The Ugliest Girl In School' though from middle school if you remember me from then."
The jab was blatantly sent towards the twins who stared at her almost as if they were bored though once she sat down after urging people to call her Kana, they put their heads together and spoke in hushed whispers until the teacher rapped their desk which caused them to jump a bit much to the amusement of the rest of the class. As she had expected several boys and girls came up to her once class was dismissed for break, a flurry of questions and speculations from them all.
"Did they really call you that in middle school? Why did they? Were they blind to how pretty you are?" Was the most common boy questions.
"Oh how mean of them to say that about you! You're totally pretty! Would you like to sit with us at lunch?" Was the most common girl questions.
She managed to convince the boys that she hadn't always looked the way she did currently and she readily accepted the invitations to eat with the girls when suddenly she was interrupted by the Hitachiins.
"Sorry but she's sitting with us girls, private table and invite only." From Hikaru
"Yea we've got some catching up to do, we've missed a lot since our time in middle school." From Kaoru.
Drawing herself up she stared boldy at the twins and lifted one brow, her sea-green eyes turning darker with annoyance. "Sorry girls, obviously these two think they can just involve me in plans I never agreed to make let alone heard of until just now. Sorry Hikaru and Kaoru, you'll have to wait until another time to speak to me. Why not tea time?"
With that she turned and returned to her desk, quietly chatting with her newfound friends as the random boys in her class made a fanclub about her and the twins stood staring after her with neutral expressions. As the day rolled on she did exactly as she said, she sat with the girls and ate lobster bisque only to be picked up by a pair of large hands and carried off despite her screams for her sketchbook and supplies. Though she managed to glance down over the shoulder that she had been unceremoniously tossed over to see a tiny blonde boy carrying her said supplies and book, a blonde boy she recognized as her cousin Mitskuni aka Honey.
"Mitskuni what are yo- wait Takashi are you the one...of course you are." She sighed loudly. "Guys come on you can't just kidnap your relatives. At least let me walk or you know not be tossed over your shoulder like a sack of grain."
Thankfully her cousins allowed her to walk, promptly giving her back her art supplies which she clutched to her chest possessively. As she followed them Mitskuni chattered endlessly about all sorts of cake and how Usa-chan had gotten ripped which made him cranky. Absently she offered to repair Usa-chan once they got to their destination which immediately brought a smile to her older relative's face who thus began gushing about how he was so happy to have her as a relative. Within minutes they arrived at a pair of doors marked 'Music Room #3' which was peculiar in her mind, what on earth were they doing at a music room that had been abandoned? Her thoughts were answered as soon as it was pushed open only for her to be blinded by a white light and rose petals, a chorus of voices greeting her with one word.
"Welcome."
So that's it for my second chapter, not that long and slow in it's progression but I think it has a good build-up. What will Yokana do? Will she forgive the twins? And what was that look Kaoru gave her? Stay tuned to Building A Dynasty!