Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ Pride, Arrogance and Vanity ❯ Kiss the Girl ( Chapter 8 )

There's something in the way you cry.
Something sort of sexy. You know you like it.
Is there something, something on your mind?
Tell me what you're thinking. God knows we're trying.
I don't deserve the love that you've got to give.
Give your heart to another man. Let another kiss your lips.
I know I'm broken, but I'm not the only one.
All I need is I don't know.
Fuck! It just ain't fair.
-“Kiss the Girl” (Get Set Go)

 

A/N: One of my readers has commented in a review that the language (lack of contractions during times of stress or anger, specifically) used by the characters in the dialogue is not appropriate for that of teenagers. I strongly feel the need to address this, seeing as how the story is going to go on pretty long, judging by my planning on future chapters.

Kyouya, the rest of the Host Club and Raine are not teenagers. Their ages (respectively) are as follows:

Kyouya: 28
Raine: 26
Haruhi: 27
Kaoru & Hikaru: 27
Tamaki: 28
Hani: 29
Mori: 29

Also, one thing I was taught in Psychology is that in times of stress and anger, people tend to drop contractions; just a little tidbit of info for you there, guys. :)

I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Also, I apologize for my lack of updates. The monster known as college has eaten me alive. I have not had time to do much besides plan the story out.

 

 

For the first time in his life, Kyouya walked away from a business partner and a woman, furious. He could not believe she had to nerve to fight him on this. It was done. The contract was signed, and there was nothing either of them could do about it. Of course, he did not have to take it so far as to say that he had control over who entered and left her office, but damn the woman infuriated him. He could not remember ever fighting that hard with someone. Not even Haruhi, with her spark had fought him so hard.

He accelerated smoothly onto the freeway, headed towards his home. He really just wanted to drive as fast as he could, aimlessly, until he felt better, however he had business to attend to.

Also, to top it all off, he had not even managed to talk to her about why he had come to her office in the first place. Fuyumi had called him.

Apparently, his lovely new wife-to-be had neglected to RSVP to her own party before the deadline, so he needed to call in a few favors so that extra food would be available when she showed. Which, she obviously planned to do, seeing as how she took him up on his offer to visit the Hitachiin's estate and pick out a dress. So, he had hoped to take his fiancée to lunch, and discuss her lack of etiquette when it came to his family.

However, he had ended up nearly getting kicked out by security (he did not doubt her ability to make good on her threats), and for some reason, he had developed an insane desire to kiss her half way through. That last one he did not even want to touch at the moment, so he pushed it to the back of his mind.

Kyouya pressed on the acceleration even harder, feeling his Porsche gather speed and fly down the freeway. Almost instantly, he felt his anger fade. If only he could do this while arguing with that woman, then maybe he would be able to think rationally. Then maybe he would not want to make out with her in the middle of her office.

Don't think about that. He told himself.

How was he supposed to know that she and her father never had any contact? Gripping the steering wheel tighter, he changed lanes, moving into the fast lane so that he could cool his family's affairs when he reached home. He could not go on making such mistakes and risking her anger every time he wished to speak to her.

Pulling into his long driveway, Kyouya mulled over their argument once again, with a cooler head. She was defensive from the moment he entered her office, seemingly unannounced. Also, she was hurt easily by his comment that she followed his rules, and not vice-versa. Obviously, she liked being in control, and disliked being interrupted without a direct invitation.

Maybe they would get along better than he thought. After all, he had chosen her personally. It's not like he could back out now, even if the marriage was one of convenience. (The vaccines were extremely expensive to produce, and buying them at retail value would take huge chunks out of the Ootori accounts, despite the vast amounts of money his family had.)

Although, he had wanted that kiss…

No! Don't go there. He slammed the door on that particular thought once again.

Stepping out of his car, he tossed his keys to his personal valet, and walked into his family's mansion, pointedly ignoring his housekeeper, who bowed low and asked him if he needed anything. Kyouya headed straight for his bedroom suite, and locked himself in it, contemplating banging his head on the wall in frustration, then deciding that it would be unprofessional to do so.

A light blinked next to his personal phone. A message? Kyouya thought, Who would be calling me in the middle of the day on my personal line?

After pressing the button, and hearing the voice coming through the speaker, Kyouya berated himself for even questioning who it was. Of course it was Tamaki, and he was delighted to hear that his best friend was getting married after such a long stint of the bachelor life. Then he asked him, in a more serious voice, to call him back.

He knows, Kyouya told himself. He knows that I would never marry willingly, despite what the papers say, and wants to know what has gotten in to me.

The knowledge that his best friend knew him better than his own father did disturbed him only slightly, but it was not enough to keep him from picking up the phone and dialing Tamaki's summer home in France.

“Tamaki residence, this is Sasaki-san speaking.” A cool male voice answered.

“Sasaki-san, this is Kyouya Ootori. Is Suou-san available? I must speak with him.”

“Of course, Ootori-sama, I will connect you immediately.” Came the professional reply, and the phone immediately connected to another line, which rang twice, before being answered.

“Tamaki Suou's office. How may I help you?”

Kyouya nearly laughed at the professional tone his friend of almost 15 years took on when answering his business phone, but decided against it. There was a reason Tamaki was a successful businessman, and he should not laugh at it.

“Hello, Tamaki.”

“Kyouya! How are you?” Tamaki sounded genuinely please to hear his voice, so Kyouya added to his list of things to do more often `Call friends.'

“I suppose I'm doing fine,” he said. “Of course, I could be doing much better, as you may well know by now.” He pressed his head into his hand and rubbed where he could feel the headache forming from today's earlier tensions.

“I know. May I ask what prompted this sudden change of heart in choosing your bride?” Tamaki knew that for a while, Kyouya had managed to fight off his father's demands, and was showing no signs of giving in.

Kyouya laughed. It was joyless, and cynical, and made Tamaki cringe. “Have you seen her picture, Tamaki? Have they released that to the press, yet? I know it was stupid of me to choose her for that, but I was just so helpless when it came down to it in the end, and I was so angry with my father for his constant efforts…”

So, he's found a Haruhi-look-alike… Tamaki thought. That explains everything.

Kyouya cleared his throat, and his tone became more professional, and less emotional, “But that doesn't matter now. We're committed to each other through a contract of our fathers' devising.”

Shocked by his friend's rare display of emotion, Tamaki took a while to respond. After a long silence he answered, “Kyouya, it does matter. You're going to have to live with this woman for the rest of your life. To answer your question, however, no I haven't seen her picture, but judging from what you've said, you chose her for the wrong reasons. Can you really stand to wake up every morning and look at her face and remember Haruhi? Think about that, my friend. Think long and hard about it. There's still time to call it off, even if the contract's been signed.”

“No, Tamaki, there isn't. There's no pre-nuptial agreement, and there's a clause that says I cannot back out of the marriage at the last minute, and neither can she. Divorce is an option if we truly cannot stand living with each other, but only after long sessions of marriage counseling. My father has covered every possible base.”

Tamaki swore. He should have known. Kyouya's father was crafty enough to realize that they would not be compatible at first, and would insist they work it out, instead of creating a huge public scandal. Ootoris did not divorce, and most certainly did not have marriage problems.

A beep sounded, alerting Tamaki to his other line, and he quickly said good-bye to his friend, and signed off.

After he set the phone back in its cradle, Kyouya lay his head on his cool, metal desk, and breathed deeply, like his sister taught him to during her brief obsession with yoga, and contemplated what he was going to do with his difficult new fiancée.

Insufferable? Ha! He'd show her insufferable. Besides, he could use a little bit of amusement in the coming months. Maybe he would even get that kiss.

Stop that!

 

A/N: Err… I apologize for the awkwardness of this chapter. I'm just getting out of my college “15 page formal paper” writing style, and trying to get back into a more readable style for all of those without a Doctorate in British Literature.

Thank you for reading, and if you are one of the readers who has stuck with it from the beginning, thank you for not giving up on me. :)