FOUR : The River Styx

Miki scrunched her nose in annoyance, tossing a glare over her shoulder towards the classroom door. Her closest friend, Natsumi, sat in her chair, glancing over her cuticles as Miki leaned against her desk, tapping her long finger-nails in rhythm.

"I don't understand what she thinks she's doing, anyway," Miki hissed, rolling her eyes. Natsumi raised an eyebrow. "She acts like such a... an outcast. She doesn't talk to anyone. It's frustrating."

"I don't get it either, Miki," Natsumi sighed, putting her chin in her hand. "Why would Kyoya even pay any attention to her? They were laughing like they were old friends or something. That's so weird." Despite the lie, her mouth didn't even twitch.

"Kyoya never laughs," Miki cut in, her face flat and serious. Natsumi sighed and shrugged casually.

"He did with her. Suzu saw it, I swear." She turned suddenly to small blond haired girl that stood beside them, clutching her book bag in her thin, frail fingers. Her hair was cut short so it hung cutely around her face, her green eyes wide with curiosity. She was incredibly skinny, almost too skinny, her yellow dress hugging her tiny frame with all the care of a loving hand. "Didn't you see, Suzu? You're the one who told me about it."

The blond looked up, her green eyes widening to impossible measures, making her looks almost doll-like in appearance. Suzu blinked, a blush dusting her cheeks.

She nodded once, silently.

"Whatever, I know that they were. I heard him laughing," Natsumi grumbled, tossing her hair. "She's a complete idiot. He was probably laughing because she is so far below him that it was funny she even tried to talk to him coherently."

Just on the other side of the small class room Haruhi frowned, adjusting the sleeve of her blazer.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to say." Haruhi turned to the two red-haired boys who sat beside her, her brown eyes widening in surprise that someone would say something so nasty. "Aren't you guys going to do something?"

"Eh, what does it matter?" Koaru sighed, waving his hand loftily.

"Yeah, fight's like this happen all of the time," Hikaru cut in, flicking his wrist and sending a paper airplane soaring across the room. It missed the recycling bin by an inch, crushing the nose and sending it tumbling to the tile. He sighed in disappointment.

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked, turning back around to watch as Miki and Natsumi laughed loudly at some joke one of the two must have made. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance and suspicion.

"Girl's make comments about whether or not a Host belongs to them and certain girl's feel they can only talk to certain Host's—"

"But no one ever does anything. The only thing that get's hurt on occasion are feelings, and even that doesn't happen often."

"Everyone just sort of understands that it happens and accepts it," Koaru finished, pinching the last line of his own paper airplane and sending it across the room. This one made it into the recycling bin and he raised both of his fists excitedly. Hikaru high fived him, and they cheered.

"She really should stay out of events as important as the Host Club. She and her fat face," Natsumi giggled at her own, rather less than creative insult. Miki laughed in return, and the tiny blond who stood next to them blinked owlishly, her eyes tearing up just slightly, but she didn't say anything in defense for the young Masa heir.

"How could anyone like Kyoya like someone as fat as her?" Miki giggled. Just as Haruhi looked as though she was going to stand and say something, she noticed someone entering the room out of the corner of her eye.

Hisoka. She gripped her book bag tightly in one hand, and her head was down so that her hair covered her face. Green eyes followed her to her seat, and Miki and Natsumi quieted down, giggling to each other as they whispered in each other's ears, glancing Hisoka's way. Haruhi bit her lip, but Koaru and Hikaru were quick to distract her with something else before she could start trouble the only way Haruhi knew how.

Hisoka sat in the center of the History section in the Ouran Academy library. There were books piled high around her, and her thin, pale fingers were wrapped lovingly around a tome on Greek mythology, a favorite of hers. She glanced over the words lazily, taking in the information as though cast in some sort of dream, before she finally seemed satisfied and set it on one of the piles that sat around her.

She was hidden behind towers of books, her blond hair just barely seen over the tops of the piles, and she sat in the center as though she had constructed a fortress for herself. As she reached across from her to pull another book from the shelves, she recalled when she had lived in her old home in the country.

She smiled at the fond memory. There was the most exquisite library there, filled to the brim with all kinds of books. More books than she could ever hope to read in a life time, more information than she could ever hope to digest. Something about that idea overwhelmed and delighted her at the same time. Her maids would get frustrated with her constantly for doing just as she was doing now, but she honestly couldn't help herself. Ever since she was a child she had gotten into the habit of opening books to random pages and reading a chapter or two before wanting to know what another book was about. She would come back and finish them later in some order that she couldn't quite explain. Eventually the maids gave up on sorting them again before she was finished, and she would put them away when she was done.

Hisoka felt like a child again. It was as though nothing else in the world mattered to her except these books and the quiet that filled the space.

She was buried so deep into the story of Persephone and Hades that she didn't notice the tall, dark haired boy that came to stand at the end of the stacks. A slight expression of surprise passed over his face before smoothing over into the calm exterior he usually exuded.

It didn't take him more than a moment to recognize her. It was the girl he had pulled out of the pool, the same girl who had gone to Kyoya the other day and held a civilized, almost comfortable conversation with him. She was not like the other girls, who giggled at everything he said and claimed that he was so charming. She was relaxed around him, almost as though they were old friends. It was peculiar because he had never seen her before, and he was sure if Kyoya didn't mention something about her, Tamaki would. But Tamaki hadn't known who she was, either.

He had run into her leaving the library last week. She had introduced herself then. Her name was Hisoka.

"Takashi! I returned that book—" Hunny bounded over, crashing into Mori's side, and he startled Hisoka right out of the Underworld. She yelped, tossing her book and knocking over one of the piles with her elbow. She reached out frantically to try and catch the books as they toppled over, but missed and smacked the back of her head on the shelf behind her.

"Ow!" She gasped, gripping the hair at the back of her head, rubbing the tender spot in annoyance. She peered up at Mori and Hunny with one eye squeezed shut in pain, curious and also a little perturbed.

"Hiso-chan!" Hunny gasped, lurching forward towards the young girl sitting on the floor. He bounded over the pile of books that had fallen, his bunny gripped tightly in his hands. He pushed it into Hisoka's lap. "Here, Usa-chan will make it better."

Hisoka blinked at the pink rabbit before looking up at Hunny who still stood over her.

"I—No, it's ok," she smiled shyly. Hunny stared at her as she backed up, wrapping her arms around her mid-section as though she was embarrassed. Hunny couldn't help the light blush that dusted his cheeks as he looked at her cute expression. "Could you, maybe, uh—" She blushed herself, and Hunny giggled, stepping back to give her space so she could stand and brush herself off.

She sighed, looking down at the mess that she had made around her. There were books strewn across the floor, and the book she had been reading beforehand was lost in the mess. She bent over to dig around for it, but after a moment seemed to decide that giving up was the best course of action for her to take.

"Mitsukuni." Hunny looked up at Mori, who had come over to join them.

"Oh, right! Sorry, Hiso-chan, I didn't mean to scare you," Hunny sighed cutely, hugging his stuffed rabbit closer to his chest. "We just came in so I could return the history book that I borrowed."

"Oh," Hisoka breathed, before a polite smile flitted over her lips. "That's..."

Hunny fidgeted, before quickly stooping down and picking up one of the books.

"Here, Takashi and I will help you clean up, okay, Hiso-chan?" He giggled, and Mori came over and picked up several of the books, reaching over and putting them back in their place. Hisoka frowned.

"You don't have to do that." She reached for one of the books herself, and Hunny giggled.

"But we want to. Isn't that right, Takashi?"

"Hn."

Mori glanced over, his long fingers sliding one of the books into place, and he found Hisoka blushing as she wound her fingers together.

"That's very nice of you. Thank you." Mori didn't miss the way she glanced behind them, as though she was looking for someone, and he wondered if she was perhaps looking for the two girls who they had run into the first time they had met her. Well, the first time Hunny had met her.

Hunny didn't miss the way she looked beyond them, and the slight hint of apprehension that she had in her eyes as she looked. With one glance up at Mori he seemed to make his decision.

"Hiso-chan, you should come visit us at the Host club!" Hunny cheered, grinning. He saw the apprehension in her eyes appear so suddenly, and could feel a sudden rush of fear. "It'll be fun," he reasoned. "We saw you talking to Kyoya the other day, so we thought that you would come back. Isn't that right, Takashi?"

"Hn."

"Ah, well, I don't—"

Hunny could feel the panic rising, and he quickly blurted the next thing he thought of.

"So, how do you know Kyoya, anyway? Are your parents business partners?" Hunny asked quickly, trying hard to keep his smile on his face. He wanted Hisoka to agree to come so bad, though he wasn't quite sure why. It was almost necessary.

"Ah, well, we're actually sort of friends, I guess."

"Friends?" Hunny blinked, surprised. How curious. "Then you have to come to the Host club! Wont you please?"

Hisoka looked down at him before glancing upwards sheepishly at Mori, as though she was looking for a way out. He simply stared at her, waiting, his fingers sliding another book back into it's place. As it knocked against the back of the shelf she was reminded vaguely of the sound of nails being hammered into a coffin, though she wasn't exactly sure why.

"Sure, I... I'd love to."

Hisoka smiled, and for a moment Mori found himself completely fooled. She grinned at him, as though she was the happiest person in the world. It was the kind of smile that should have been reserved for people that she was close to, people she cared deeply for. He had forgotten for a moment that really, he had only just met Hisoka, that he didn't really know her and she didn't know him, not at all.

Then his eyes slid over one of the books she had been reading, something listing an ancient art of fighting, and recalled that he had a Kendo tournament coming up.

Hunny blushed pink and he beamed up at her, positively ecstatic.

"Great! We'll see you there, Hiso-chan!" He turned, and he and Takashi left the girl standing in the middle of the library, unsure whether she was actually going to join them in the Host club or not.

"Thank you, Mrs. Muramaka," Hisoka smiled lightly, and the much older woman gave her a stern nod.

"It's no problem, Ms. Mara. Remember, if you need anything..." The teacher gave her a slightly softer look over her glasses, as though to reassure her that she was being earnest.

"I wont hesitate to ask. Sorry for keeping you late, and thank you again," Hisoka said politely, bowing.

"Have a good night, Ms. Mara." She turned back to her paper work, and Hisoka took that as being dismissed. She quietly left the room, tucking the assignments she had been given away into her book bag and closing the door behind her as softly as she could.

She was too deep in thought to notice the two girls coming out of the bathroom just several meters down the hall, her eyes focused down on the papers but her mind elsewhere. She wondered how bad it would be this time. She was sure that she would be used to it by now,

"Oh, if it isn't Hisoka-chan!"

Hisoka jerked awake, her eyes snapping upward and she stared directly at the exact people she was hoping that it desperately wasn't. Natsumi and Miki stood before her, smiling pleasantly, but she could still feel the ice coldness she was steadily becoming accustomed to slithering up her spine.

"Ah, Natsumi, Miki. How are you?" Hisoka choked out, feeling her throat tighten considerably. The two girls' smiles grew identically and slowly, they turned to look at each other. Hisoka watched the warily, wondering what the joke was.

"Well, we were good," Natsumi said slowly, before turning to look at Hisoka once again. Miki turned, as well, and crossed her arms, cocking her hip to the side. Natsumi took a step forward, holding out her palms as though she were surrendering. "But we're not what's important right now. What are you up to, Hisoka?"

The way she said it sounded a lot like when a doctor questions someone about their feelings, as though they were simply doing their job but they didn't care on a personal level. For whatever reason, that stung Hisoka sharply, and she felt as though she were swiftly losing her air supply.

"Well, I... I've been invited to the Host Club, so I'm going there, I guess," Hisoka shrugged, trying desperately to look noncommittal. Natsumi glanced back at Miki, and she didn't look as though she knew whether to be concerned or amused. She took another step towards Hisoka, being close enough to reach out and touch, and Hisoka didn't know whether to take a step back or not.

"The Host Club?" Miki asked, coming to stand beside Natsumi. "Why would you go there?"

"Because I've been invited," Hisoka bit out, moving to step away, feeling threatened. She winced when Natsumi rested her hand on her shoulder, and jerked away from her. She felt her heart clench when she saw the hurt look on Natsumi's face and could only turn away. She shouldn't be the one that looked hurt.

"I'm sorry, Hisoka, I just..." Natsumi sighed, looking down, but Hisoka had stopped looking at her. She gazed at the walls, her eyes examining the numbers on the lockers, glancing at the immaculate tiles, anything but Natsumi's sympathetic face. "You know it's a joke, right?"

Hisoka flinched, feeling her chest tighten sharply. She quickly began walking, moving as fast as possible without literally running away. She didn't want to hear it, whether it was the truth or not. She could feel the walls rising up around her, and she could have sworn she could hear laughter following her in the halls, but it sounded far away, as though she were under water. She was moving quickly, she knew that much, so quickly that she didn't even notice the narrowed green eyes watching her from around the corner.

Were they lying? She didn't know. They had lied to her before, but Natsumi seemed to genuine. Didn't she always seem so genuine? She had said she was sorry. She was sorry. Wasn't she sorry? She felt caught between two places, two horrible, horrible places. She was always trapped in between.

Before she realized it, she was standing out in the court-yard, forcing herself to breathe.

Hunny glanced at the clock on the far wall, his eye brows drawing together in concern. The Host Club was just about to end, and he felt as though he had forgotten something. Briefly he went over his day, trying to recall everything that happened. He had gotten all of his assignments, he hadn't missed any classes. Was there a field trip coming up? He couldn't remember...

"She never showed up."

Hunny looked up at Mori, and realized very suddenly that he was right.


A/U: Hah, sorry it's been so long. This was actually finished awhile ago, but I forgot that I had finished it. I think because I wasn't very pleased with it, particularly the beginning. Very... high school drama. But that's kind of the show.

Anyway, I would appreciate some review's. It's nice to know what my readers like so I can produce more of that, and what they don't, so I can produce less of that.