Unlovable

Chapter Seven

Staring at her leg, Kagami watched anxiously as blood started trickling down from a cut that ran the length of her left calf. She had been on her usual early morning run and hadn't noticed a jagged piece of wood sticking out over the curb until it was too late. Tentatively putting her weight on the injured leg, Kagami almost let out a sigh of relief when she felt only a minimal amount of pain. Thank goodness, the injury wasn't serious. If it had been bad she might not have been able to run for a while, and that was the only real escape she got from her mother. Since the cut wasn't serious, Kagami decided to take care of it when she got to her house. Luckily, she was almost finished with her jog and had only been a couple minutes away when she got hurt.

When she got home Hiroto was once again there to open the doors for her. Seeing his sour face first thing in the morning always made Kagami's mood a bit worse. He loved torturing her almost as much as her mother did.

"Good morning miss Kagami." He said with a bow. "How was your morning run?"

Kagami knew that the only reason Hiroto bothered to ask even though he clearly didn't care was so that he could make a report to her father. Still, she didn't feel like making things easy for him so she gave him the shortest answer possible.

"It was fine."

"Ah." She could tell her answer frustrated him by the way his frown deepened. "And how many miles did you run today?"

"Oh, I don't know." She answered vaguely. "I lost track when I injured my leg."

Only when she pointed it out did Hiroto notice the bleeding gash. But instead of being concerned for her well-being, a look of disgust crossed his face.

"Get that cleaned up before you bleed all over the floor!" He said in a harsh rasp.

Kagami walked past him trying desperately to quell her urge to wipe her blood off on the nearest rug. Even though it would be worth it to see the horrified look on Hiroto's face she knew that he would immediately report her actions to her father and then she would be in serious trouble. So instead, Kagami calmly washed the blood off of her leg and forced herself not to wince as she applied antiseptic to the injury. Once she was satisfied that her wound was thoroughly sanitized she quickly wrapped it in some gauze and then changed into the ugly yellow dress, knee-high white nylons, and black shoes that made up her school uniform.

Giving her ponytail a tug to make sure it was secure, Kagami grabbed her bag and then slipped into the limo that was taking her to school. She spent the drive in contemplative silence. Today was the third day in a row that she and Hotaru would be eating lunch together. For some reason Kagami still hadn't been able to tell her that she wanted to go back to eating alone. It was so frustrating! How had one person managed to get past her defenses so easily? If she kept being so weak, things might end up spinning out of her control.

Kagami was so lost in thought that she almost didn't notice when the limo pulled up at the school entrance. As she started to get out of the car she absentmindedly placed a hand on her bandaged leg. It still hurt a little, but it was probably nothing to worry about. Pushing the pain out of her mind she turned her concentration back to the issue of how to deal with Hotaru. Walking through the entrance to Ouran, Kagami was deep enough in thought that she didn't notice the two figures walking towards her until she crashed into one of them.

Catching herself on a pair of sturdy arms, Kagami found herself looking up into the deep gray eyes of Honey's cousin Mori. She expected him to be mad at her for crashing into him, but there was no anger in his eyes at all. In fact, his expression gave practically nothing away. If she hadn't spent years learning how to read the small hints of emotion on her fathers face she never would have been able to tell that the only thing Mori was feeling was slight surprise.