Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ For Your Eyes Only ❯ A Step Ahead of Me ( Chapter 16 )

[ A - All Readers ]

For Your Eyes Only

by sanzo-reload

Disclaimer : I wish I own Ouran, but unfortunately, I don't. So, don't even think about suing me cos I definitely won't pay. Haha.. Anyway, all the unfamiliar names in this story are my original characters, which belong to me and only me. Thanks!

Author's Note : Free lollipops for everyone who reviewed the previous chapter :

crescent moon at midnight, Sakimi1014, sakura mae su, contour, Kiya-chan, Ririi, Kei-Ten (you don't get cookies, cos this time I'm giving away free lollipop instead), Yoru Inu, xXlOvehOlickXx, bringme2life, Ritsikas, fightingphoenix36, and SmartOotori.

(chapter16) A Step Ahead of Me..

: o : o : o : o : o :

(Riku POV)

Damn it!

I can almost felt my hearts still thumping wildly as I ran through the crowd. From anger, frustration or nervousness, I have no idea. All I knew that, a couple of minutes with a certain orange-head managed to do this to me. Damn it!

Muttering some calming words into my own ears, I kept walking toward the exit, feeling the need to get away from this place as soon as I can.

“Riku-chan!” I heard Val voiced my name. I turned around to face the blonde-haired devil incarnation, who was grinning widely at me. Violently, I grabbed her by her shirts. “Whose idea of a joke is this?” I yelled harshly, which took her by surprise.

“Ri-Riku-chan, are you okay?” she stammered. I didn't blame her though. I had to admit that even I was scared of myself.

“Riku, no need to vent your frustration on her!” Raleigh intervened. “We were just trying to help.”

“Geez, thanks a lot,” I said sarcastically, finally letting go the poor guitarist out of my grasp. “I feel a hell lot better now.”

“Don't you think it is about time for you to let go of him and get on with your life? Oh, come on. He didn't like you the way you do. Get over it,” Jesse said, an obvious frown tugging on his lips.

“JESSE! You don't have to say that!” Val yelled.

I flinched at his choice of words. It hurt me so bad that I thought I would cry, but instead I laughed. “I never like him.”

He snorted. “Like, love, whatever you call it. It's practically the same thing.”

“That's enough, Jesse,” Raleigh intervened; her gaze was fixated on me.

I clenched my fist in anger. “We're practically enemies now, so why does my feeling matter?”

“Riku, listen, I th-” Raleigh started but I intercepted her. “Forget it, Ral. I've had enough of this. I'm going back to LA tomorrow and that's final,” I said, storming passed them.

“Sure, run away, Riku. Run away like you always do,” I heard Jesse said faintly as I approached the exit.

A part of me convinced that this is the right thing to do, when the truth is that..

.. I really was a coward.

: o : o : o : o : o :

(Kaoru POV)

“Hi, Kasumi-san,” I greeted the brunette girl in front of me. She was wearing a dark purple kimono; her long hair was flowing freely on her back.

“Hi, Kaoru-kun. Thanks for the ticket,” she smiled, brandishing the ticket around. “Nice festival although I vaguely remember about having a Roller Coaster and Ferris Wheel at the Natsu-Matsuri in my neighborhood,” she laughed.

“We did some minor adjustment, I guess,” I replied. “Enjoying your time here?”

“Besides the fact that I lost 500 yen from playing Catch-the-Goldfish game, I think I'm having fun,” she replied. “You?”

“Besides a tiring attempt to reconcile my twin with my friend, I think it is pretty bearable so far,” I joked. “By the way, do you want to go somewhere.. I mean, with me?”

“Well, I want to stay longer here, but the thing is, my brother is waiting outside. So, since I already said hi to you and Haruhi-chan, I think I should return to my brother before he started on a rampage and destroy this place,” she explained.

I cringed at her explanation. I managed to put up with Hikaru's temper for years, but her brother really was something. I have met him before (on the karaoke night) and let me tell you, he was not very happy with me. Besides the fact that he hated me for `invading' his sister's 5 meters radius privacy space, apparently being rich was also a crime on his book.

“Oh,” I replied, not managed to hide my disappointment. “Okay, I guess. So, see you later?” I said, trying not to sound too eager.

She smiled. “Yeah, sure,” she responded, turning around to walk toward the exit.

I was about to go back to the Ferris Wheel to check on Hikaru and Riku when I felt someone pulled my yukata. I whirled, only to receive a quick peck on the cheek by Kasumi. I blushed immediately at the sudden contact.

“I.. uh.. So, call me?” she said, her eyes focused solely on her feet.

“Um.. yeah,” I replied, my mind was still blank. She waved shyly at me before disappearing through the crowd, leaving me alone still looking pretty much dazed with everything that just happened.

: o : o : o : o : o :

(YukiyaPOV)

“So, Riku-san, Hikaru and Kaoru actually had known each other since like forever?” I asked to the bespectacled guy beside me. We were now taking a stroll in the games section of the festival, pretty much abandoning our performance section since it was too boring for my taste.

“Yes, you can say that of course,” he answered, his eyes stuck at the surface of his clipboard.

“Why didn't Riku-san and Hikaru get along with each other?”

“It seems to me that Riku holds some kind of special feeling for Hikaru, which was unfortunately, went unnoticed by him,” he explained.

I gave him a weird stare. “Why do you know all of this?”

He gave me his trademark smirk, correcting his glasses at the same time. “Wouldn't we all want to know that?”

I laughed. “That's a really bad imitation, you know. By the way, is it really okay to leave our section just like that?”

“Everyone is already having fun. I don't think it matter anymore,” he replied. “Besides, I don't think we should deny ourselves enjoyment either,” he continued, putting down his clipboard onto an empty chair.

“Yeah, I guess so. So, tonight's activity is a success, right?” I said, casting glances to the crowd in front of me. My thought wandered off to my late father as I saw a little girl playing a game with her father at one of the booths.

“Ara, what a lovely couple we have here,” a foreign voice shook me out of my reverie. I darted my vision to an elderly woman in front of me. Only after a couple of seconds after she said it that I realized what she was implying. What the hell? My cheeks immediately reddened at the thought.

“No, you're mistaken, aunt. We're n-”

“Thank you, aunt,” Kyouya-senpai intervened, nodded slightly at the elder woman in front of me. His arms snaked around my waist and pulled me close to him, which unfortunately made me turned even redder than before.

“Do you want to buy flowers for the lovely lady of yours?” she asked, showing Kyouya-senpai a basket of roses in her hand.

Kyouya-senpai let go of my waist and reached for his wallet. With a genuine smile on his face, he handed her some money, while she handed him a rose in return. She then turned to me and mouthed, “I say that you're a very lucky lady,” which pretty much left me gaping like a fish.

“It's not really nice lying to her like that,” I started when the woman left.

“I'm not lying, I'm just decided not to correct her,” he replied.

I rolled my eyes. “Sure, whatever you say.”

He smirked. I was about to start walking again when I felt his hands stopped me in my track. I spun around and faced him as he leaned closer to whisper something in my ear. “For you, my lady,” he whispered, handing me the rose in his hand.

I felt my cheeks reddened as he let go of me and stared right into my eyes. “Er.. th-thanks,” I stammered, decided that his shoes looked so much better than his eyes.

Man, I'm seriously losing it!

“I think, we better should get going,” I said, began to walk again. I was stopped, yet again, this time bumping into a chest. I looked up and found myself staring into a familiar face. “Uncle Hiramu?”

“Ojousama, I'm so glad I find you here,” he started, seeming a little bit out of breath.

“What are you doing here?”

“Your grandmother wishes to see you,” he answered, nodding briefly at Kyouya-senpai who stood beside me.

“You could've just called me.”

“I've tried but you didn't answer.”

I checked my kimono for my phone, only to realize that it was still in my jeans pocket in the changing room. Talk about déjà vu! “Oh, sorry. I guess I left it in the changing room. Did she tell you why she wanted to see me?”

He glanced at Kyouya-senpai for a minute before returning his gaze on mine. “I don't think this is a very good place to talk.”

I nodded dumbly. “Is it okay if I make my leave now?” I asked Kyouya-senpai. Instead of nodding like any normal person would do, he decided to go with nodding-baboon style by leaning down and kissed my cheek, which made my cheeks turned a thousand shades of red. I turned around to see Uncle Hiramu, who was far than happy to see that scene before his eyes. Coldly, he said, “Let's go, now.”

Suddenly terrified by the coldness of his tone, I did nothing but complied and followed him closely.

As we made it into the limo, only then he spoke. “I don't think it's a good idea for you to keep hanging out with Ootori's third son.”

I eyed him warily. “Why?”

He turned his gaze to the scenery outside the window. “He's not to be trusted, Yukiya.”

Shocked by the fact that it was the first time he called my by my first name, I simply nodded. “There's nothing going on between us, that I can assure you,” I muttered.

“Good then. Now, about your grandmother..”

: o : o : o : o : o :

(Kaoru POV)

Five minutes after Kasumi-san left, I was about to go back to the Ferris Wheel to check the progress of Hikaru and Riku when I was almost got trampled by none other than the members of Snow Drop.

“Kaoru! Emergency!” Val yelled, looking pretty much bewildered. Not like the others looked any better or anything.

A feeling of dread quickly filled me. “What happened?”

“I don't think our plan went according to plan,” Raleigh added.

Jesse snorted. “That would an understatement. She looks upset to me.”

“Well, that's partially because of what you said, idiot!” Val hollered, her voice almost cracked into a sobs.

“I'm just merely stating the truth,” he defended.

“I don't know what Hikaru said to her, but she seems seriously upset. Are you sure this is just merely a fight between two best friends? If I didn't know any better, I said she has feeling for your twin,” Lynette intervened.

I pondered on her words for a moment. “That's what I thought too. But I don't think Hikaru noticed that.”

I was taken aback for a while when Jesse grabbed me so suddenly by my yukata. “You knew and said nothing to us? You have no idea how much this will hurt her. She knew all along that Hikaru thinks nothing of her, there's no need to throw that to her face!”

“Jesse, enough!” Val screamed, her eyes were now brimming with tears. “I'm sorry, Kaoru. I don't think I can do this knowing how much this will hurt her.”

“You don't know how broken she is when she came to us. It's just so stupid of me not to notice the reason,” Raleigh muttered.

“I'm just trying to help her. I'm her friend too,” I mumbled weakly.

“Not if I can help it. I may not act like it, but she is like a sister to me. You want to hurt her, you have to go through me first,” Jesse threatened, finally letting go of my yukata.

“Look, Kaoru. I don't know what you're planning to do, but I just tell you one thing. None of this will work if Hikaru doesn't take any initiative to do anything,” Raleigh said.

Lynette nodded. “Just so you know, she'll be taking our private jet to LA. We'll let you know the detail.”

Jesse glared at the girls. “I can't believe after all that happened, you're still siding with him!”

“It doesn't hurt to give his plan another chance,” Raleigh muttered. “After all, this may be the only way for her to resolve her problem once and for all.”

: o : o : o : o : o :

(Yukiya POV)

After an hour ride, I finally arrived at the Mikihara main house. I let myself out of the limo to enter the mansion, Uncle Hiramu immediately followed suit. I was soon greeted at the door by the maid.

“Mikihara-sama has been waiting for you in her study room,” the maid informed.

I found my way to the study room and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” came my grandmother's voice.

When I entered the room, I was greeted by a scene of my grandmother, surrounded by other women of Mikihara family, namely my aunts.

“I'm so sorry, I didn't know that we have other company, so I didn't bother to change my clothes,” I apologized, ensconced myself in the vacant seat right beside my grandmother.

“No matter, Yukiya. We have a much pressing matter in hand here,” one of my aunts spoke up.

I averted my confused glance to my grandmother, who has done nothing but quiet during the whole conversation. “What is this about?”

“We just went back from a meeting with the board of directors,” another woman paused to glance at others before continuing, “We just received news about your cousin, Hideki.”

“What about him?”

“He was now engaged with the eldest daughter of Kirisaki Family.”

“Kirisaki Family? Kirisaki, as in, the owner of Kirisaki Trading, which supplies the raw materials for our company?”

My aunt nodded.

A small smile crept onto my face. I didn't know whether to jump, scream or laugh since I felt so overly happy about the news. Maybe, Hideki would get off my back after this. “That's a good news right? So, why the long face?”

My grandmother shook her head. “It's good news for Hideki, but not for you, Yukiya.”

“He's one step ahead of you, Yukiya,” my aunt finished.

I stared blankly into the faces of my grandmother and the others. “I'm totally lost.”

“He secured a deal with Tanaka Company and you did a great job with Ootori Group. Now that he's engaged with someone from Kirisaki Family, you're once again one step behind him,” Uncle Hiramu explained.

“Why is that? How is his marriage helps to gain trust of the board of directors?”

“Don't you understand, Yukiya? Why do you think he decided to ask her hand for marriage? The eldest daughter of Kirisaki Family is the next in line to inherit the company. Marrying her is the same as inheriting the company's asset,” my grandmother expounded.

I felt a frown tugging on my lips. “So, the board of directors clearly favors him now, is it?”

My grandmother sighed. “I knew this is hard for you, but we thought of a solution.”

I perked up at the words. “What should I do then?”

“Get engaged.”

: o : o : o : o : o :

(Hikaru POV)

I didn't know for how long had I stayed in the Ferris Wheel compartment, riding it over and over again.

“It's just niceto be wanted sometime, Hikaru.”

Her words kept playing in my head over and over again. No matter how much I thought about it, I had no idea what I had done to offend her that much. “It's nice to be wanted sometime? Does that supposed to make any sense to me?” I muttered quietly.

I didn't notice when Kaoru had come into the compartment, settling into the vacant seat right in front of me until he spoke. “Hikaru, are you okay?”

“I don't know. I just don't get it. Why is she so mad at me? I did nothing to her to hurt her,” I muttered weakly.

Kaoru gave me a comforting pat on my back. “Can you tell me what happened between you and her before she left, Hikaru?”

I felt the lump in my throat grew larger at his question. Closing my eyes momentarily, I opened it again to look straight into Kaoru's eyes.

“I kissed her, Kaoru,” I blurted as I saw Kaoru's eyes widened at my confession.

: o : o : o : o : o :

(Yukiya POV)

“Engaged?” I shrieked. “That's absurd!”

My grandmother changed knowing glances with Uncle Hiramu, before turning to face me. “That's the only way to gain the favor of the board of directors. That's the best that I can help you with, Yukiya.”

I massaged my temple. “I just.. I..”

“You know how much I hate interfering with other people private lives, Yukiya. It's a big sacrifice on your part, I know that too. But this is the best I can come up with,” she continued, looking into my eyes ruefully. “I'm sorry.”

“Who is the candidate?” I braved myself to ask.

None of them dared to answer, but one of my aunts handed me a folder.

Daring myself to grab it, I opened the folder carefully. There was a picture of a young man along with his credentials tucked carefully in the folder. Under the picture, the name of the person was inscribed clearly.

“Ootori Akito, the second son of Ootori Family,” I muttered under my breath.

: o : o : o : o : o :

Author's note : So sorry for the late update. I was so busy with the new semester and all that I find it rather hard to take some time off to update. I am quite down lately because I just can't do my Physics. I suck at it. My first quiz was such a disaster with a score of 12/20. How bad was that?

Anyway, thanks a lot to Sakimi1014who took her(?) time to PM me and remind me to update. Thanks a lot! I think some of you might wonder how many chapters are left in this fic. Urm.. I can't say for sure, but I think around 10 more chaptersor so, the fic should be finished by then. I seriously hope so!

This is such a rather short chapter coming from me, but I hope you guys do enjoy it. Personally, I kinda like this chapter especially the twist at the ending. It ought to be interesting, isn't it?

Goodbye for now and yeah, do leave me a review!