Hurt. Inside and Out.

Thank you for reading my last post! It got to be a fanword! I hope this one will be too! Please enjoy!

The next day was my first at Ouran Academy. Anya was disappointed that we had different classes (I had already been through high school and was there for the experience). I walked into my new homeroom class with my bag, the students there stared at me since I had come in late because of Anya insisting on curling my hair. My eyes scanned the room and found both Tamaki-san and to my unfortunate surprise, Kyoya. Rule two, always keep your audience satisfied.

“S-sorry, I got a little lost on the way in,” I blushed a little to sell the lie.

“Oh! This is our new student! Please introduce yourself, Miss…” said the frazzled homeroom teacher.

“Rika Tsukasa. I was born in Japan and raised in the United States. I hope to have a great year with all of you,” I squeaked in a delicate voice. Acting cute is so fun!

“Ah, you can stand in the back for now, it shouldn’t be long before we get a desk,” the teacher said hesitantly.

“Oh! I-I can move!” said a short boy, in the center of the class. He quickly moved to the back of the room, nearly tripping over his chair. I smiled and waved at him in thanks. Idiot! Why did he have to move from here! I looked to my right while as sat down, Kyoya was looking at the teacher with a slight smirk on his face. What is he playing at? Tamaki-san was in the seat behind me, but I really didn’t care. The students probed me with questions between classes, I played along, giving answers they would expect of an American immigrant. Not my answers. The class changed to English, the last class of the day, I pulled out my notebook, and quickly flipped to the back. Showtime.

“Ah!” I winced and sucked my finger.

“Are you okay Rika-chan?” Tamaki-san asked.

“I cut my finger,” I whimpered, letting my eyes tear a little bit.

“Sensei! Rika-chan is bleeding! I need to take her to the infirmary!” Tamaki-san bellowed as he was about to lift me off my feet.

“I’ll take care of her, Tamaki. Besides, you need to pay more attention in English class,” Kyoya said coolly, pushing Tamaki-san back. What is he playing at?
“You may go,” said the English teacher. He rolled his eyes, he must have been used to this. Kyoya carefully took my hand in his and lead me out of the room.

“Very nice,” I laughed after we got farther down the hallway. I pulled my hand out of his, the act was over. “You caught on quite well. Why didn’t let Tamaki-san take me?”

“The nurses are on break right now since most kids get sick and leave by lunch. If Tamaki-san went there, he wouldn’t know what to do to treat your wound.”

“My wound?” I laughed. “It’s a paper cut.”

“Here in Japan, we take health very seriously.” Too seriously. If I may say so. He lead me to the infirmary and opened the door for me. He was telling the truth, there’s no one here. I walked down to the cabinets and chairs that awaited the needs of the doctors and their students.

“Very nice infirmary. We don’t have these in many schools in America,” I said, looking up at the high ceiling covered in curtains that fell to the floor around the beds.

“Sit,” he motioned toward the closest bed near the cabinets. I sat down on the satin sheets. Wow! This place is REALLY extravagant. He moved the bottles in the cabinet and added something to a cloth. He turned around and wiped my finger. I cringed a little at the sudden sting, I hadn’t gotten hurt in a while. He moved the cloth around my finger and slowly around the next.

“There’s nothing here. You are violating our contract by acting like a host,” I said flatly, but I’d let him off this once.

“If you want to give me a manicure, it had better be free,” I was frustrated now. He started moving the cloth up my arm.

“Kyoya. The wound is on my finger!” I said louder and let my hair drop trying to hide my red face. I’m not used to physical contact. He’s just messing around, even if he isn’t working.

“Oh, sorry!” I had startled him, I took a peek. His face looked so much more… natural when he was surprised. He grabbed some dry gauze from the counter, sat next to me, and took my hand. I jerked back a little, surprised by his confident movement. It’s like his has a mission or something.

“It’s not like I’m going to stab you,” muttered Kyoya.

“You might,” I laughed.

“You should be more careful with these,” he said as he turned my hand over to dab the blood, “They’re really quite stunning.”

“Thanks, but I’ll use them as I please,” I huffed.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

“Like what?”

“Why do you keep acting so cold and bitter even when you don’t have to?”

“Oh. It’s just. Well. How should I act?” I was surprised. I’m being cold?

“How do YOU THINK you should?” he said as he went to get the medical tape.

“I act strong. Tough. I’m not going to let someone else make me feel small or stupid when I know I’m not.”

“Look at me,” Kyoya pulled my face towards his and looked me in the eyes. I wasn’t used to it, I was still with shock, “Let me rephrase that. You should do what YOU FEEL, not follow some script that you’ve written, especially around me. Sure, act in the host club, but you’re being a hypocrite by being fake when you don’t have to.”

“And what do you call what you’re doing?” I chuckled.

“Improvising,” Kyoya smiled. I doubted anyone had seen his smile so close up, it was really cute, if anyone would believe me. With that, my feel lost the ground and I was suddenly warm. I opened my eyes and saw his face even closer, now that I was in his arms. My mind raced to figure out what had just happened, until I had finally thought about my family. And. It’s significance to someone like him. A famous art collector as a father who also owned a large pharmaceutical company. This guy disgusts me.

LET GO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!” I struggled and writhed until I fell to the floor. “I can understand being flirty, but honestly! Who do you think you are! You’re just being nice to me so that I work for free! Well you don’t have to worry about that anymore! I’m getting my own place so I don’t have to be a servant to people like YOU!”

I got up and ran as fast as I could out of that place. I think I got out fast enough that he didn’t see the tears falling from my face.

At least I hope so.

End