Sacrifice

That evening after Haruhi had left Renge and myself I went back to my own home. Id’ gotten to know Haruhi well, but I could tell that he was hiding something. Renge of course never picked up on it, but I didn’t expect her to. She wasn’t very analytical after all.

I settled in my room at the Suoh Mannor after visiting my elderly grandmother and picked up the phone dialing Kyoya’s number. “This is Kyoya Ootori.” he stated in a bold, almost boring tone.

“Kyoya, it’s Karuma.”

“Ah, good evening. To what do I owe the pleasure?” he inquired sounding a little more uplifting.

“I was wondering if you would like to get together some time and talk, catch up since the last time I saw you.” I offered, I hadn’t seen him since last year, right before school started when his mother and my grandmother brought him over to France.

“I would love to, how would you like to come by the club tomorrow after classes for a cup of tea?” he asked. I smiled, happy he remembered I preferred tea to coffee.

“I’d love to, Kyoya, see you tomorrow.” I ended. Neither of us were huge for talking on the phone, we would both much rather speak in person.

The next day I awoke in the morning. I dressed in the horrid yellow uniform, and reminded myself to inquire as to whether I could suggest changes to it. My brother and I rode to school in the car silently, still on bad terms with one another.

When we arrived at school I received my time table from the office and made my way to my class. I ended up being in Haruhi’s class as well as two strikingly familiar boy’s as well. Through the day I would keep to myself mostly, and at lunch I sat with Renge. We talked about how I was adjusting in our native tongue, and about anything else that seemed important at the time. The rest of the day passed slowly until the final bell rang. Carefully I placed my books into my bag and walked with a certain grace from my classroom to the third music room. My steps were slow and precise in my black low heels and by the time I had even made it out of the classroom the halls were mostly empty.

I pushed open the door and heard the boisterous pair from my class call out, “Let’s play the which one is Hikaru game!” I shook my head and closed the door behind me. I ignored the rest of their exclamations and scanned the room for Kyoya. At a first glance I couldn’t see him, so I sat down on an empty couch and set my bag down beside me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my brother dearest make a scene. Nothing’s changed, that’s for sure.

“Hikaru! Kaoru! When I gave you control of the club’s website I did so on one condition! That you take it seriously!” He exclaimed. I sighed and took a sip of the coffee in front of me. My face screwed up in disgust before I added some milk and sugar from the cup and bowl in the middle of the table.

Some more arguing ensued and Tamaki presented a laptop. On the screen was a picture of Haruhi topless, however I had my suspicions as to whether it was really his body or not. Not a second later a group of girls grabbed it and started fawning over the picture. Though the other girls didn’t hear it, my suspicions were confirmed when I heard one twin admit that it was altered by photoshop.

Haruhi scolded the boys and they made a play about how they took her for their “play thing”. I thought to myself how absurd it sounded, and was inwardly disgusted with them. Sparing another look around the room I saw Kyoya talking idly with a few other girls, so I sat patiently assuming he’d not seen me yet. After all, I hadn’t made much noise when I’d come in, and I was situated rather near the door. The door crept open and a dark figure stuck his head in the door, “You want a toy?” his deep, throaty voice inquired.

He then gave a spiel about the black magic club, I sighed audibly. This place just kept getting weirder and weirder. It’s not a wonder Renge likes it here so much. The twins and Haruhi started questioning the figure so Kyoya went and informed them about the man. Nekozawa was his name. Tamaki true to himself started freaking out but Kyoya brought him down to Earth again with a condescending tone explaining that he had never in fact been cursed; just paranoid.

I stood from where I was sat, leaving the cup of coffee behind and walked over to where Kyoya was. The others had dispersed to their separate corners of the room, and he was balancing some numbers. “Good afternoon Kyoya.” I said to him.

“Oh, my apologies Karuma. I hadn’t seen you there. Please, sit and we’ll talk.” He said leading me to a vacant couch in the middle of the room. He poured himself a cup of black coffee and made some tea for me. “I hope I hadn’t kept you waiting long, things around here have been absolutely mad lately.” He said, handing me my cup and saucer.

“Not at all, I haven’t been here long.” I said, just a little white lie. There was no need to make him feel bad now, not with our predicament.

There was an annoying argument than ensued around us, but we still talked, caught up and paid no mind to his friends. “So Kyoya, has your father talked any more about the proposal?” I inquired casually.

“He has, he’s thinking a summer wedding, at the end of the year. And will your mother be flying out?” he asked just as casually.

“I reckon she won’t. Have you told Tamaki?”

“I haven’t.”

“It’s probably for the best that way. He need not know that Grandmother is handing over the enterprises to me once we wed.”

“Yes, I fear that might have some negative repercussions. And have you told anyone?”

“Not a soul knows.”

“And your dress?”

“I’m to see Lady Hitachiin this weekend. She will be making it.”

“Very well, I’ll keep the twins out of the house then.” He replied.

Renge then rose from under the floor on some contraption and began making a fool of herself. “I do apologize for Renge, she can be quite overbearing at times.” I said, sweatdropping a little.
Kyoya just looked on at the scene dumbfounded, and straightfaced.

The next morning I sat in the classroom when Hikaru walked into the room with flamboyant pink hair. A moment later Kaoru walked in with royal blue hair. It was at this moment I decided that I missed my school back in France. Kaoru started going on about a nightmare about having pink hair, and Hikaru took a seat between Haruhi and myself. “Good morning Hikaru.” I said to him.

“Oh, good morning Suoh-san.” He replied, confused.

“You can call me by my real name. It’s Karuma.” I put my hand out to shake, and he took it. He then leaned over and kicked Kaoru’s chair from underneath him so he fell when he went to sit, and Kaoru pulled Hikaru’s chair from underneath him, making him fall onto me.

A crazed glint made its way into my eye and I glared at Hikaru and Kaoru. Hikaru quickly apologized and they both stood up to fight it out by throwing things. The rest of the day the tension could be felt by everyone between the twins. To avoid the fighting I tried to stay away from them as much as possible. This included ignoring them in class, and eating in the classroom too, since I knew they would be in the lunch room. Of course, this meant not eating because I hadn’t brought a lunch, but that was fine by me.

After school I went straight home, not bothering to go to the club. I had no reason to speak with Kyoya today, unless he wanted to talk more about our betrothal and I certainly didn’t want to see my brother more than usual. It was strange how we held each other at an arms length now, we used to be so close. I taught him to play the piano, and we used to tell each other everything. We were best friends, and when Grandmother tried to bring me to Japan the first time he insisted that he go instead. He didn’t want me to be taken from our mother, but I would have rather gone. It was him that Mother always loved more.

In the morning Hikaru and Kaoru came into class no longer fighting, but still at odds with hair color. They both waved to Haruhi and then to me, but today Kaoru sat beside me. “What’s with the pink hair, Kaoru?” I asked slyly. He choked on his breath for a second before smirking.

“I’m Hikaru.”

“And I know you’re bluffing.”