Ouran Host Club Hostess (DISCONTINUED)

Absence Makes the Heart grow fonder

A week passed, and the twins easily ignored her warning. They called her every day until she eventually had to leave her phone on silent to avoid her mother hearing it. That little piece of technology was the only thing connecting her to them, and she needed to keep it safe.

Speaking of her mother, their relationship had become very strained after that night. Kyoko rotated between being miserable at the situation, and angry at her mother. Kotone was passive-aggressive, making motherly comments one minute, and then following them up with angry statements when her daughter made no immediate signs of cheering up.

For the most part, Haruhi and Ryouji ran interference between the two, doing their best to diffuse the tension hat suffused the room whenever the two happened to be inside at the same time. It wasn't uncommon for Kyoko to walk into a room that her mother was in, and immediately freeze, as though she was considering walking right out again.

Time passed, and New Year's Day came and went with mild fanfare. Kyoko's mood deteriorated that night, as she'd been looking forward to sharing a New Year's kiss with the twins. Soon the holidays were over, and it was time for the two girls to return to school.

Kyoko was nearly vibrating out of her skin as she dressed that morning. On the one hand, she still couldn't be with the twins without attracting her mother's ire, but on the other hand, she would finally be able to see the twins in person!

Normally Haruhi had to prod and push her cousin to get her to walk at a reasonable pace, but on that morning she was almost running to catch up with her. "Slow down!"

"Slowing down is for losers!" Kyoko called back, catching sight of the school in the distance. Another few metres, and she spotted the twin's car. Apparently they had been watching for her as well, because the car had barely drawn to a stop before they both came falling out, catching themselves before they could hit the asphalt, and throwing themselves at her in a scene that was straight out of the sappiest of romantic chick-flicks.

There might have been sparkles, they might have been cherry petals, there might have been a sudden gust of wind that whipped their hair into shampoo-commercial-worthy waves, but Kyoko wasn't aware of anything outside of the sweet bubble of love she was in with the twins. At least, not until someone cleared their throat, and the three looked up to see a teacher frowning strictly at them.

She spoke in a clipped voice. "Kyoko, your mother called the school. I believe she has prohibited spending extended amounts of time with the Hitachiins."

"What?!" Hikaru and Kaoru scowled, tightening their grip on her. The teacher only frowned harder, turning the bulk of her disapproval on Kyoko. While she wasn't afraid of the teacher's ire, her mother's threat still hung above her head like a guillotine blade. The girl squirmed, and reluctantly pulled away from the twins.

They both looked at her with expressions of confusion and disappointment, and she tried to smile at them. "I'll see you in class, right?"

Unfortunately, that wasn't to be, as the moment she walked into the room, their homeroom teacher asked her to exchange seats with someone else. Kyoko was placed by the window, almost across the room from the twins. This seemed to be the general theme of the day: in all the classes she had with the twins, she was asked to sit elsewhere, or move to a different group entirely.

Whispers broke out amongst their classmates, and even the teachers and those in upper classes wondered what had happened over the winter holidays. The twins and Kyoko were arguably the most overly romantic trio in the school, a living, breathing poster of healthy polyamory, so what was going on?

Hikaru and Kaoru stalked the hallways, looking equal parts moody and irritable, while Kyoko wandered through classes with a moody, depressed expression. Not even Haruhi was able to draw her out of her funk, even though she tried very hard.

The extent of the effects of this maternally enforced separation was more clearly seen during the Monday meeting of the Host Club.

Kyoya stared at the guests, who looked uncomfortable and/or sympathetic, and were whispering amongst themselves while shooting furtive glances at the twins. Hikaru and Kaoru were seated in their usual places, eyes hidden by shadows, an almost visible cloud of anger and despair hanging over their heads. Not even Honey's naturally cheerful attitude was enough to dispel the dim miasma, and honestly the 3rd year wasn't even ready to try. Tamaki had taken his chances, and had been rebuffed which such venom that he'd immediately backed down and gone to hide behind one of the couches.

The Host Club treasurer looked around the clubroom, grimacing at the dull, almost awkward atmosphere that had suffused that corner. If this went on any longer, profits were going to become dismal.

Someone knocked on the door, and a familiar head peered into the room. "Haruhi, you left your bag in the library..."

"Kyo-chan!" Honey launched himself at her. Kyoko caught him reflexively. "Kyo-chan, where have you been? We haven't seen you in so long!"

"I uh...I was kind of busy, I guess..."

"Well then, since you're here, you might as well tackle the twins," Kyouya said without looking up from his notebook. "Whatever lovers spat you three have going on, you'd better fix it before our sales plummet anymore than they have." When the girl didn't speak or move, he looked up, ready to insist/threaten/gently coerce when he saw the look on her face.

Kyoko was staring at the twins as though she wanted to run at them and never let them go, and they were staring back at her like they wanted to catch her and keep her forever. The space between them was suffused with so much love and longing, but there was something heart-wrenchingly tragic about the whole thing.

That still didn't stop everyone in the room from watching them as though they were a particularly riveting episode of a good shoujo anime.

Finally, Kaoru cleared his throat. "Kyoko, how...how have you been?"

"Oh...I...I've been fine, I guess." She looked down at the floor nervously. "How...how have you both been?"

"We'd be better if you were actually with us," Hikaru grunted.

"Hikaru!"

"What?" His voice rose. "You know it's true! You feel the exact same way! We're being kept apart, we can't even see her anymore, and she keeps avoiding us without telling us why!" He turned on her, eyes blazing. "It's like you don't even care about us anymore!"

"Hikaru, don't-!" Kaoru tried to pull him back, but he was already in her face. Kyoko stared up at him, eyes wide and glossy. "Kyoko, it's okay-"

His twin shook him off angrily. "It is not okay, Kaoru! Stop trying to take the high ground in this when you miss her just as much as I do! If you love us so much, why won't you even try to fight for us? I thought we were important to you! Are you so cowardly and scared of your own mother that you won't even try-!"

A sudden, sharp sting across his face made him stop. Haruhi lowered the hand she had used to slap him, eyes blazing. "Don't you dare call her that! Stop making Kyoko sad, can't you see she feels awful about this as well?! She misses you too!"

The twins stared down at her in shock, and then there was a choked sob from the girl in question. She'd just been standing there, listening to Hikaru yell at her, knowing he was right. She did love the twins, she loved them so much, but she was a coward. It was easy to stand up to people you don't care about, but it's so, so hard to stand up to people you actually care for. She was scared of her mother. She was scared of disappointing her, scared of what the repercussions would be if she disobeyed her.

Large tears welled up, spilling over onto her cheeks. The twins looked stricken, Hikaru more than Kaoru. "Kyoko...Kyoko, I didn't mean to..."

"She said she'd remove me from Ouran," Kyoko said quietly into the guilt-ridden quiet. She didn't look to see the expressions on their faces, not that she could see much with all the tears in the way. She wiped at her eyes, and swallowed hard. "I just wanted to be around you. I wouldn't be able to stand it if I couldn't see you, even from a distance. I'm...I'm sorry!"

She ran out of the room, wrenching the door open and disappearing into the corridor.

Author: I should write a resolution chapter where everything is resolved and no one suffers

Also author: ....nah