The Scars Unseen (OHSHC)

Chapter 5- The Façade

A/N This is the song she plays. Holy crap, if you guys have seen Your Lie in April, you will get this. So flipping sad!!! :,(  Just so you know, I nearly cried while writing this one. It's amazing the difference a song makes. You can start the video at any time, but for greatest effect I will let you know when she starts playing it.

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Walking through school was a bit of a struggle; standing straight, breathing, and even taking steps hurt. Even though I wanted to curl in on myself and just lie down to stop the pain, I knew that that wasn't an option; neither was showing any pain in my body language. I passed unnoticed by most people, but if I allowed any pain to show through, it would take just one observant person to come and ask questions for me to fall apart. Normally it was easy to hide behind an emotionless mask after my beatings, but this time for some reason, my mask was cracked and I was barely hanging on it.

Flashback to that morning

I shook as I looked in the mirror; just the sight of the bruises on my body made me wince, and that didn't even account for how much they hurt when I tried to do anything. I had two large handprints, one was low on my throat, and the other one was wrapped around my forearm. They were dark enough that I could see the individual fingers in the bruise, like shadows had decided to replay what had happened the night before on my skin.

As bad as those were, my stomach was a hundred times worse; there was a huge dark purple bruise right in the middle, where he had both punched and kicked me, and above that there were several others which extended to my ribcage.

This was far from the worst beating I had been given by my Father, but at the same time, I felt broken. It was closer to the feeling of the times when he hadn't beaten me at all, but took what he wanted and then left me damaged in more ways than one.

With that thought in mind, I slowly began to get ready for the day, wondering how I was going to pull this off, but knowing that I had no other option then to succeed.

End flashback

I had almost made it to my classroom when I heard a voice behind me, "Risa-san, wait for us princess!" I automatically groaned as the blond reached me, I already had to put on a façade of one kind, and I wasn't sure that I had the mental capacity to deal with him this early. "Isn't this such a beautiful morning? The birds are-"

"Kyoya, may I speak to you privately? It will only take a minute." I broke through Tamaki's rant before I snapped and did something I would regret.

Both Tamaki and Kyoya looked at me with surprise, but Kyoya nodded and said, "Of course Miss Soretzu, we can talk over here." He gestured to an empty hallway and I followed him, leaving Tamaki behind looking rather like a lost puppy. Before Kyoya could say anything, I started talking so that I could be done with this as quickly as possible.

"I have been considering the host club's offer, and I have decided to accept. it seems as though there are many personal benefits to me joining, so I decided that it would be best for me to accept. If the offer is still on the table, that is?" Kyoya nodded smirking in a way that made me want to smack him. "There are a few conditions, which I hope won't give you too much trouble. First, I will not be a maid. I don't care if I act as your secretary, or even as the club's cook, but being a maid is off the table. Second, I am not to be included in the ridiculous cosplay that I hear you are so fond of doing, and third, you will drop the whole Miss Soretzu thing, please just call me Risa; are these terms acceptable?"

"Well, of course I have to speak with Tamaki before okaying anything, but those sound like acceptable terms to me. Meet us in the club room during break and we will discuss this further, Risa." Seeing that the conversation was over, Kyoya walked back towards Tamaki and the classroom while I lingered in the hall. I knew that I needed to get to class soon, but I had to absorb what was happening. 'What in heaven's name have I gotten myself into? No, don't think about that, Risa, think about the extra time away from home. You can do this.'