"My aunt would never do something like that." I said, not completely sure about my statement.
"She's afraid you will take over the throne and that the government will help you." Arata explained. "Why did you do something so dangerous as enrolling into Ouran High School? You should have known someone would notice it." He added.
"T-that's none of your business." I said, a little bit confused, I just had shot someone and he was asking me about school?
"Of course, please forgive me my impoliteness." He said and bowed his head deeper.
"And why are you kneeling down?" I asked as I kneeled to help him up. "Get up alr –" I took my hand from his arm which was covered with blood.
"That's a lot of blood, we should go to the hospital." I said.
"Princess, there's no need for that, it's just a superficial wound."
"But –" I hesitated. "Then at least let me treat your wound at home."
He looked up, a bit surprised. "Princess, I can't –"
"See it as a token of my gratitude. I insisted and took out my cell phone. "I'll call for an ambulance for him," I pointed at the unconscious man. "And then we'll head to my house."
I pushed the front door of my house open and let Arata in. "Sit down, I'll look for a first aid kit."
I walked further into the apartment, opened the closet and shove some things out of it, I found the kit in the back. I pulled it out and walked back to the living room.
"You should take of your shirt, that would make it easier." I said and opened the kit to get the instruments I needed. Slightly confused and hesitant he started to protest. "Princess, such a thing, that's –" he started.
"What? You can't treat your wound yourself, can you? And it would be difficult for me to treat the wound through the fabric." I said, ignoring his complaints.
"If the Princess insists." He answered but still uncomfortable, he took of the shirt carefully, not to touch the wound. "Whoa, that are many scars." I commented.
"Not really." He answered and stared straightforward, I don't know if I saw it right but I thought I saw him blush. "Give me your arm." I ordered and held out my hand where he placed his arm.
"I'm first going to disinfect it, it might hurt a bit." I said but got no reaction. After carefully treating the wound, I took out the bandage.
"Haruhi? What are you doing?" The voice of Oto-san asked, I turned around to see my dad standing in the opening of the door to his bedroom. His hair was in a loose ponytail and to my surprise his face wasn't sleep drunk as usually but rather panicking.
"Oh hello, Oto-san, did we wake you?" I asked and saw Arata observe my father.
"Don't just say hello!" Oto-san said irritated. "Why is that fellow half-naked?!" I thought I saw an angry vein pop up when Oto-san looked at Arata. "I'm just treating his wound, I don't see the problem." I said as I started to bandage his arm.
"You don't see the problem?" My father asked and walked closer to us. "What if he would have taken advantage of you?!" He asked while looking furiously at Arata. "Oh I can't thing about it! My dear, cute daughter screaming in despair, desperately when there's no one to save my beloved daughter!" He almost burst into tears while I just continued with bandaging but Arata stood up before I could finish the bandage and kneeled in front of Oto-san. "Ryouji-sama I would never do something that would hurt the Princess." He said.
Oto-san narrowed his eyes. "The Princess?"
"I'm Arata, the son of the bodyguard who served under her majesty Queen Kotoko." Arata replied.
"You're the son of Kazuya-san?" My dad asked.
A big man kneeled down in front of my mother and me. "My Queen, I contacted Ryouji-sama, please leave with the Princess. I will save you some time." He said.
My mother was shaking when she also knelt and hugged him. "Thank you so much, Kazuya, I'll never forget what you have done for me."
"It's only natural for me to serve my lady." He answered, Mom stood up again and smiled at me.
"Let's go Haruhi." She said.
Not really understanding I nodded, looking at the scene it looked like we were just saying goodbye to Kazuya.
I came closer to the big man and he patted me on my head.
"Bye bye, Kazuya, see you tomorrow." I said, hugged him and waved him goodbye while running after my mom.
"Indeed, my father, who was informed with the truth of what happened 10 years ago, and he asked me to protect the Princess with my life." Oto-san stayed silent for a moment while he looked at Arata till he suddenly smiled. "You should have said that sooner!" he said with a gentler voice. "Come, come, get up."
"Thank you very much, Ryouji-sama."
"Just call me Ranka, boy." My dad said to him.
"Thank you, Ranka-sama." Arata replied.
"I'll make you two some tea, Haruhi, treat his arm well." Oto-san walked happily to the kitchen. Arata sat down again and gave me his arm back.
"Could you please not tell Oto-san about what happened today?" I asked him, he looked up and nodded. "If that's what the Princess wishes for I will obey." He answered, I stopped bandaging and looked him in the eyes, he immediately broke the eye contact.
"If you obey every wish of me, then I wish you wouldn't be so formal and just call me by my name." I said and forced him to look at me but again he looked away. "And I also wish you would look me in the eye when we talk." Uneasy he nodded. "I shall obey Prin – Haruhi-sama."
I smiled and Arata shyly looked down.
Maybe he wasn't really that cold as I thought.
"Arata? Could you do me a favour?" I asked as I closed the first aid kit.
"Of course, Pri – Haruhi-sama."
"I'd like to speak to Aunt Aneko."
Sorry sorry sorry x n terribly sorry for the late update but I just didn't find time to update and the week after next week I'll be having exams for two weeks so I have to concentrate om my tests but when the holidays start I probably update more frequently, except for the two weeks I'm going to Spain. I wanted this kind of situation in my story because I really like Haruhi's personality because she doesn't mind the gender of someone and almost emotionless when it comes to awkward situations, wish I was like that ^_^