Chapter 9

To Break

Dawn broke through the streets of Paris, a peaceful hum of morning silence ringing through the streets. Sunlight began to peek out through the trees that lined a nestled row of cottage-like homes, fresh dew spread across emerald grass. The sound of a creaking door was faintly audible as Akane slipped outside, the taste of invigorating air filling up her lungs. Making sure the violin case in her hands was shut tight and safe, she strolled harmoniously down the lane. There was a feeling flying through the air that told her today held something good, whispering that something fantastic would happen today. Then again, she seemed to get that feeling quite often, since her daily ritual of waking early always brought her into a great mood.

It had been nearly a year since Tamaki had been swept out of her and her mother's lives, and she still thought about him everyday. She hadn't even been able to see him off, since there was a bit of media attention when the chairwoman arrived to get Tamaki, and her grandmother wanted the second dirty child nowhere near the public eye. Her mother had swiftly moved them to the neighborhood they now resided in, completely shut off from the Suoh's, aside from the hefty check that was deposited into their bank account every month.

For the next month that followed her brother's departure, Akane would wake up gasping in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Not recognizing where she was, she would run to the room across from hers, which had always been Tamaki's. Seeing nothing more than an empty guest bedroom, she would curl up on the unfamiliar and foreign mattress, hoping her brother would walk in to comfort her. Her mother, Sophie, tried her best to help Akane adapt, taking her out shopping or trying to distract her daughter from thoughts of her brother. Eventually, Akane slept peacefully and to vent her distraught she wrote letters to her brother, but never tried to send any of them, knowing the arrangement that had been put into place. Her mother soon purchased a grand piano which they kept in the living room, Sophie often giving lessons to children in the neighborhood. Akane never touched the instrument though;, she was never good at the piano anyway.

After walking about a mile through the city, she came to her favorite and most choice spot for business. Stores stretched down the street as far as the eye could see and in the middle of the street stood a magnificent fountain, a naked, pudgy angel pouring a pitcher of water from the crown of the fountain. She played at this spot quite often, so she had gotten into the habit of calling the little angel Nic, after the one of the concertos she usually played, written by a crazy violinist named Niccolo Paganini. Setting down her case in front of a narrow alley in between two buildings and right behind the fountain, she could see people beginning to meander through the shops. Tenderly, Akane took out her violin and tuned by ear, watching as crowds of people began to stroll through the shopping street.

Tightening her bow with another twist, she let the sound ring out, a single, sweet note echoing through the street. Deciding today was a crowd-pleasing kind of day, she began to play newest pop song she had heard on the radio. Akane didn't really mind the song and most of the pop songs were relatively simple to figure out. Plus, people always tipped better when you played something they recognized. Coins and crumpled bills began to trickle into her open case as she flipped form song to song.

Afternoon crept upon the open street and deciding to change it up, Akane switched to her regular favorite, Paganini's Caprice 4. Her fingers began to hug and vibrate the strings, her eyes closed calmly in concentration. Letting memory guide her, the bow swung in careful and across the long, aching notes. Paganini had made his concertos to be nearly impossible to play, but Akane had practiced this one for a straight month, without playing any other piece, and found herself loving every note. She could only manage the less technical concertos, since she lacked formal training immensely. Flying through the dramatic double-stops and ridiculous vibratos, she let the crowd gather around her in awe. With one last theatrical vibrato, Akane let the bow slide off the strings.

A lonely applause jumped into her ears and her eyes burst open, searching for the single clapping soul. Her eyes fell upon a tall, limbering, middle aged man, tousled amounts of black hair blocking his own eyes. He wore a brown button-up shirt with the majority of the top buttons undone, revealing a ruffled gray undershirt. His pants were drastically worn out jeans that looked like they hadn't been tossed into the washer last week and since it was nearly winter, he wore a light-weight black windbreaker, also unzipped.

"Trés bein, mademoiselle!" The strange man cheered, making his way over to her. Akane watched carefully as his lanky legs trotted over, not sure what to make of the man. He didn't seem the type who would jump a street musician, usually those where the people who commented after every song in a slurred, almost impediment dialect and continuously shifted their eyes for cops. At the same time, he didn't seem like he was walking over just to tell her he enjoyed the tune.

"Merci beaucoup," She replied, gazing as the old man tossed a coin into her case. There was an uneasy aura around this man, so she decided it was time to scare him off with embarrassment. "Do you enjoy Paganini? That caprice isn't one of the more technical pieces, but the use of harmonious double-stops is interesting."

The old man stared at her for a moment, then, without warning or reason, he burst out into furious laughter, holding his stomach to contain his bellows. Akane glared at the man, angry he was making a mockery of her while she was trying to work.

"Might I ask what the hell is so funny?" The young violinist hissed, placing frustrated hands on her hips.

"Well look who's trying to be a smartass. Geez, kids these days think they know everything," The man replied, sighing and shaking his head in disgust.

"Excuse me?" Akane retorted rudely, her sea-green eyes blazing with rage.

"I'll cut to the chase then. Although that Paganini was… somewhat enjoyable, it is painfully obvious you lack any technical skill at all," The stranger sighed, crossing his arms. "You clearly haven't an ounce of formal training, nor do you have any or reason to play such a splendid caprice."

"Woah there, Mr. Git-extrodinaire, who the hell do you think you are?" Akane seethed, hating this guy more and more with each passing moment.

"Hmm, good question. May I borrow your violin for a moment?" He answered, spreading his palm open for her instrument. Without hesitation, Akane nearly threw her violin and bow into his hands, boiling over at the cocky stranger. Honestly and truly, yeah, she hadn't had lessons or any of that formal training, but she was talented and she knew it.

Pressing the chin rest to his strong face, he retuned the strings to the exact pitches, causing Akane to nearly tackle him in deathly rage. With one short twist to tighten the bow, he set the horse hairs to the strings and let his fingers fly. It was at the capricious and flawlessly executed, not one excess movement or clumsy motion to throw the tune out of sync. As the bow began to bounce skillfully over the strings, a crowd began to congregate around the man. His hands, like huge spiders with long, spindle-like legs, danced over the strings with flowing, mechanical motions. The bow cascading and flowing from string to string, Akane saw his eyes closed and a look of peaceful and effortless concentration worn like a smirk on his visage.

The piece was Paganini Caprice 24, the most extremely difficult and impossibly challenging technical of the concertos the mad violinist ever wrote. It took near a lifetime for any violinist to master such a piece, let alone play it on the spot any time you wanted to. Akane stared in absolute awe, this man's every vibrato, every bow stroke, utterly and without a doubt flawless and beautiful.

As his bow flew with wild control, he let out the last flowing note and let the bow fall from the strings. The crowd erupted into applause, a plethora of more bills than Akane had ever earned flying into the open case. The man bowed, smiling earnestly at the crowd as they begged for another. Ignoring them completely, he turned to Akane and put the violin into her zombie-like and listless hands.

"It's not a bad instrument, though it's only a step above firewood," He smiled, ruffling some of his messy black hair away from his eyes.

"H-how did you- when did- What are you?" Akane blurted, unable to fathom what had just happened.

"C'mon, pick up your case. I've got something to show you. That is, if you want to see it," He said rather nonchalantly, digging his hands into his pockets and wandering off into the street. Hesitation not existing in her blood, Akane hastily threw in her violin and bow and chased after the man, no thoughts that this decision could be dangerous or stupid anywhere near her mind.

Friday's party couldn't have been more wonderful, at least in every one else's mind besides the beautiful blonde who stood in the middle of a crowd of people, sulking on the inside. Akane had loathed the party even before she had entered. First of all, the make up level had been increased from "80's glam rock band" to "super drag queen" and her face felt like it was made of freshly dried concrete. In addition to that, the chairwoman had hired a stylist to make Akane a dress especially for the occasion. When Akane had seen the dress for the first time after school that day, her instant thought was, "This isn't a "Girls Gone Wild" party, is it?"

The dress was a halter top, a shade of light pink spanning the fabric with a dark, black antique style flower pattern that Akane thought would've better suited lingerie than a party dress. Among other features of the dress, the front was cut low, but only low enough so if a guy danced with her and looked down for a moment, he'd get quite a show. The length of the dress was also an issue, coming a few inches below the length Akane would've had to wear pants with it. Akane knew for a fact she wasn't bending down to get anything tonight. But if her grandmother was going to dress her up in this kind of clothing, she might as well have gone to the party in her bikini (which she had to bring in case someone wanted to go swimming during the party.)

Early on in the party, the squeaky musketeers had come up to Akane and began introducing her to the entire room of guests. They were forcing her into being the main attraction of the party, and Akane had no choice but to let them push her into the limelight. After chatting it up with various groups of people (mostly guys, since she was on strict orders thanks to her dear grandmother), she excused herself to go to the bathroom. She sat inside the bathroom, which happened to be twice as large as her room back in Paris, and sighed, wanting nothing more than to sneak out the nearest window and make a run for it. Her plans of escape where abruptly interrupted when a loud knock and a familiar voice echoed through the bathroom.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?" A man's voice asked, Akane immediately recognizing that smooth tone that caused many a girl in orchestra to swoon.

"One second!" Akane answered quickly, flushing the toilet to make it seem like she had a believable reason to be in the bathroom. She gently opened the door, seeing the same brunette who had clung to her everyday in orchestra. It was a good thing he looked good, or else no one would hang around him for more than a grand total of five seconds.

"Oh, Kenjiro-kun!" Akane greeted, trying to sound surprised.

"Hey, Akane-chan. Someone told me you might be in there. I just got here so I thought it might be nice for you to have someone you know with you, since I don't want you to be nervous or alone," He replied, flashing a winning smile at Akane.

If this boy had any intelligence hidden under all that gorgeous hair, he probably would've realized Akane had no problem socializing with others. Every single day in orchestra she chatted to every student, or started waving through one of the windows to someone walking by in the hallway. She had even told him about the many people she had met through the host club, and he still thought she needed help breaking the ice with people.

"Aw, thanks for your concern," Akane replied. What stunk even more than having to see Kenjiro on a regular basis was that Sensei was encouraging it as much as she possible. When Akane had informed her of being stand partners with Kenjiro Nonaka, she thought her grandmother was about to go into cardiac arrest with the amount breathing she was not doing. Apparently, the Nonaka family owned the largest empire of factories in the world, dominating nearly every product department if not being the number one producer. Her grandmother said she couldn't have picked a better boy to pursue Akane and told Akane to let him chase and court her. The horrible thing was, Akane would have rather been courted by the greasy kid in the back of the Math classroom and only talked to people about his recent basket weaving class.

"Uh, Akane-chan, aren't you going to wash your hands?" Kenjiro questioned, pointing to Akane's delicate hands. So apparently he notices things like that, but not people's social behaviors. "Don't worry, it can be out little secret if you want it to. And in return for my silence, you could just call me Jiro without the –kun."

"Actually, I didn't even use the bathroom, I was just…" Akane sighed, seeing no other way to throw the conversation. She most certainly was not going to call him Jiro. "…was nervous from the amount of people at this party."

"It's okay, Akane. I shall be your escort for the entire party," He replied like a puppy who just had a delicious bone dangled in front of his face. With practiced grace, he placed her arm on top of his and led the way into the party. Someone shoot me…Akane prayed silently, putting on her best party smile before entering the jungle, again.

For the weeks that followed, it was plain to see the growing tensions in Ouran. Akane's beauty and charms had seized nearly every male student's attention on campus, and at the same time, had turned nearly every girl against her. Behind her back, she could hear the envious whispers and silver tongued lies that spread like the plague from girl to girl. Though in front of her, they couldn't have been sweeter or more polite. They knew the boys would pay even less attention and probably hate them if they were openly savage, so most affairs continued in the normal routine. There had been a few mishaps involving some missing personal objects, misplaced books, and some accidental spills on Akane's dress.

Akane wanted to let them continue their childish bullying, but the Chairwoman swiftly heard of the situation and put another ridiculous strategy into motion. The following events preceded somewhat like this;

"Sensei, I seem to have lost all my pencils," Akane said sadly, a somewhat desperate and helpless look spread blatantly across her face. Her weak countenance, flashing like a beaco , shown out to the entire classroom, and within five seconds…

"Akane-chan, here you go!"

"No please, use mine, Suoh-san!"

"I was here first, so take my pencil!"

"Please, use mine!"

"No mine!"

And thus, did the rest of the girls quickly realize no amount of teasing would avert the eyes of every guy from the Suou heiress. In the way Sensei had put it, Akane was the perfect marriage for any of the men who were destined to take over companies of their own. For one, she was gorgeous, graceful, and practically perfect in every aspect that mattered when you took her to your next dinner party. It also didn't hurt that it was common knowledge that Tamaki didn't sit on thick ice to succeed the Suou company one day. Akane was constantly receiving flowers, having boys carry her books, or even just having boys throw their own jackets onto the ground so she wouldn't have to step into a puddle. She loathed every minute of it.

***************

"Akane, you busy?" Tamaki asked, lying down on his sister's bed as she sat slumped over her desk. Her pencil moved rapidly, not bothering to pause as her brother spoke. The golden haired boy turned his head, seeing her papers covered in calculations, all completely off and utterly wrong.

"Do you need any help?" Her brother inquired, hating to see her struggling. His sister was intelligent, but never quite had all the book smarts. She always had to know why something was, not just how it was, so teachers usually hated her endless questions that only slowed their lectures more and more. Her weakness lied in the fact she couldn't focus on a new topic until she knew the last topic backwards, forwards and every which way.

"No, Tamaki. I'm fine," She grunted, running her long, gangly fingers through her golden hair. Tension grew with every pencil mark, her brother's offer not helping her frustration in the least.

"C'mon. Look, that supposed to be 2x, not 22x," He suggested, leaning over her and pointing along her paper.

"Leave me alone, Tamaki," Akane grumbled, blocking her paper from his eyes. She towered over the paper, pushing the porcelain vase, binders, and pencil cases to the far corners of her desk. It was blatantly obvious she was irritated, which she seldom was at her brother. It had been a long week though, endless parties and flirtatious, scandalous affairs that had to be taken care of. Sensei had been pushing her farther and farther every day, and all together, she wanted to crawl into a deep dark hole, curl up, and just die.

"No really, just look right there," He insisted, prodding his finger through her barrier and onto the paper.

"Stop it, Tamaki. I can do it myself. I don't need your help," She snarled, weaving around his pointing finger. She wished he'd just go away so she could just die in peace. Her head was already aching in pain from the math, now even more so from all the squabbling. Just go away.

"Look! Right there!" He exclaimed, jabbing furiously at her paper. Her head throbbed furiously, her limbs flailing to block her insistent pursuer.

"SHUT UP!" Akane screamed. She thrashed her arms out wide to knock her brother away, knocking the porcelain vase to the floor with a loud crash. Tamaki stood speechless, unable to speak at his sister's outrage. Akane's fists constricted her blood flow, her ferocity flaming around her.

"Listen to me, you baka! I don't want your help! Can't you see I don't want you around?!?!" She roared, her sea green eyes furiously boring into her brother's speechless face.

Aching silence followed, Tamaki unable to speak anything other than "Akane…"

Her eyes began to glaze over, the sides of the glimmering irises burning with repressed tears. Losing control of her own body, the young girl collapsed to her knees, barely noticing the vicious shards of porcelain that broke into her flesh. With tears flooding out of her eyes, she feebly wrapped her arms around herself, unable to control the shivers raging down her spine. Tamaki tenderly knelt to her, slowly wrapping his warm arms around his sister. Tears mixed with heavy foundation and runny mascara slid down her face down onto his clothes, unnoticed by either sibling. She gave into the embrace, burying her shameful face in his open shoulder and letting the pain seep onto his shirt. Careful comfort flowing from every ounce of his movements, Tamaki gently stroked her golden hair and hugged her tighter.

They knelt on the porcelain covered floor for what seemed like hours, until Tamaki realized Akane had slipped off into sleep. With gentle motions, he scooped her up and tenderly tucked her into bed like she was the small girl he remembered from years ago. Feeling a pair of eyes on his back, he turned around to find Shima gazing in on the siblings. Nodding with an understanding beyond the years of anyone in the house, Shima motioned for Tamaki to exit so she could clean up the mess. Eyes full of soft, warm reception; he turned to place a kiss onto Akane's forehead and quietly left the room.

The head housekeeper glided over to the broken porcelain, quickly seeing that the vase was easily fixable though shattered into numerous pieces. With a countenance reverent and sympathetic, she gazed from the broken pieces to the girl. They mirrored each other; the young girl and vase. She was being pushed too far, and her fall from grace seemed inevitable. But the vase was one step ahead of Akane, for the shattering of a person only followed a fall, and right now Akane was dangerously tilting on the edge of her own table. Shima only hoped the damage remained curable, and wouldn't leave the one scar that never heals.

READ THIS FOR GOODIES ABOUT UPCOMING CHAPTERS!

Okay, besides actually profreading this chapter (amazing, I know!) I have placed several foreshadows in this chapter. Look for words in italics in the last portion of the chapter, and see if you can guess what they may lead too. Go ahead you meddling kids, go for it! Oh, and just incase you wanted to know, next chapter will contain some MAJOR Kyouya interaction, so check it out.

And if you wanted to know, if you press that shiny button that says reply and you wirte something (hopefully in english) then the chapter WILL COME FASTER! But no pressure, Scooby-Doo!

I feel like I'm writing Harry Potter books, cause each chapter gets longer than the last XD. [/randomness]