Always so quiet -O-

[chi]

The library was, for once, actually surprisingly quiet. Well, for the main Ouran library. An entering aforementioned library would be one Chihiro Matsumuri. Not that she even went by that, of course. The redhead sauntered along the book, fingers running gently over the spines of the books.

She stopped at War and Peace, she let her fingers dance across the lettering, one of her favorite quotes coming to mind. '...the unimportance of greatness, the unimportance of life which no one could understand, and the still greater unimportance of death, the meaning of which no one alive could understand or explain...'

A smile graced her lips for a moment before she brushed it away and continued forward. The next time Chi stopped, it was to pluck a random book off the shelf and examine it before nodding and nimbly making her way through the mass of students to a quieter corner of the library. She slid it open to a random page in the book, eyes lingered to read the first thing they landed on.

"There is simply no room left for 'freedom from the tyranny of government' since city dwellers depend on it for food, power, water, transportation, protection, and welfare." she muttered to herself, eyes flickering ahead. "Your right to live where you want, with companions of your choosing, under laws to which you agree, died in the eighteenth century with Captain Mission. Only a miracle or a disaster could restore it."

Her thoughts slowed to match the words, carefully closing the book to open it to the first page. She didn't read at first, eyes following a small group of friends trailing by. A frown slipped onto her face and Chi had the gall to feel a bit of envy toward them. She didn't need friends, of course, but that didn't mean it wasn't just a tad lonely.

A sigh pried itself from pale lips and the redhead tried to tune herself back into the words, eyes flitting across the pages with ease. Blue eyes narrowed slightly at the sound of oncoming footsteps before returning to their usual state and Chi didn't bother to glance up.

It wasn't that she didn't want to company, it was more along the lines of she wouldn't be quite sure what to do. Her fingers absently tapping across the side of the book as she let her eyes mark a trail from the bottom of the page, taking count of the number, before closing the book across one hand before the blue orbs met their target.

[Hikaru Hitachiin]

Hikaru looked into the library without his brother for once. He had to get something for an assignment and told Kaoru that he would meet up with him back at the music room after stopping by the library for a book. He would have picked it up tomorrow morning, but with their planning with the movie and their little prank they wanted to pull on their aunt it was slim chance of getting the book tomorrow. He would have to suffer without his twin for a few minutes, at least he knew he would soon be reunited with him and that comforted him to a degree.

He paused and looked at a small group of girls and moved behind a bookshelf to avoid them for now. There was no need to get their pitty without his brother around and he did not want to really draw attention to himself. He had a task to complete and it was hard where there were girls around that he knew would cluster around him. He doubted that any of them could guess which one he was anyways. However, he was nothing without Kaoru and their little skits wouldn’t work alone.

He pressed his back up against the books when he heard the group of girls walked passed him. He smirked when they did not notice him and looked to see what area he was in. He made a face after running a finger along the binding of the books and stuck out his tongue. It was not the section that he needed which mean he came in at the wrong entrance. “….Searching for the right section now…how lame…should just order one of the servants at the house to go find that book for me so I will have tonight and tomorrow…”

He smirked when he realized that they would do that and brought out his cell phone and texted one of the well known servants that him and Kaoru had in their phones. It was easier than looking around the library always from his brother and surround by girls that he wouldn’t know how to deal with on his own. With Kaoru around him he had the barrier around him that they still couldn’t touch.

After he texted the servant what book he needed he slipped his phone back into his pocket and moved around the shelf to see a girl standing be herself. She looked cute, but most of the girls at the school did. He smiled slightly. ”…Would Kaoru mind if I am a bit late? I could bring another client to the club….I don’t think I have had the pleasure of meeting her and its better than walking up on a group of them….”

It was odd, when they were younger and tearing the girl’s heart up it was easy, but now that they had a new goal of making them happy it was harder. However, today he would go with the wind and see if this girl would like to come to one of their parties they were hosting in a few days. It was better than nothing.

Hikaru walked closer to her and acted like he was interested in a book that she was next to her. He reached out and gently pulled one off the shelf and glanced at the cover and then opened it and glanced at the words on the page. He saw a few words, but not enough to actually care about the sentence it was making before looking up at the girl.

“I do not believe I have had the pleasure of meeting you before,” Hikaru said with a small smile on his face. It felt weird doing this alone and hoped his brother would do what he had done to him a few days ago. He knew he and his brother were famous around the school and catching them alone was even special occasion for most. Would she dare try to guess which one he was?

[chi]

Chi found herself a mixture of surprised and curious-more curious than she usually was-at finding her companion to be a Hitachiin. Even more surprisingly, he had managed to avoid his fans. A small smile quirked her lips at the thought and she looked away, obviously not too concerned by his presence. She was better off ignoring him, despite the fact that the twins had made her curious for a while.

One hand absently ran along the cover of the book still in her hand before reaching up to flick her bangs from her eye. Judging by the hair, it was Hikaru. Then again, he very well could have been Kaoru running around and pretending to be his brother. She decided not to think about it too much, slowly returning her attention to her book. Or, trying to turn her attention to her book.

It was a little hard when he was standing there. She was in his class, but it wouldn't surprise her if he had no idea who she was, he had plenty of girls-disgustingly, in her opinion-fawning over him and his brother. As it was, she found it intriguing to see him without his brother. Despite being two people she rarely saw them acting like it. Chi jumped a bit when he spoke, setting the book down and watching him with a slight frown before smiling and holding out a hand.

"No, not exactly." she murmured to him, eyes watching him carefully. Something was off about talking to him-not that it was ever normal to talk to someone for her-and her brows furrowed unconsciously. She wasn't stupid, she knew where the conversation would inevitably go. "Chi."

The redhead had never been a big fan of the Host Club, it wasn't that she didn't like the Hosts in general-in fact, they interested her somewhat-it was more not liking the concept. It was pointless and manipulative, not that she wasn't. Not only that, but she had a feeling that they weren't even being themselves a majority of the time.

Of course, Chi was rarely being herself either, so she had no room to talk. Pulling herself from her thoughts, she tilted her head to the side and studied him again. She knew there had to be clues as to which twin it was-they would probably be too subtle to just notice-and that was what she was looking for.

A smile slid it's way onto her lips again, and Chi sighed quietly before coming to her conclusion. She wasn't completely sure if she was right, but it wouldn't do to stand there and stare like an imbecile.

"Hikaru, right?"

[Hikaru Hitachiin]

Hikaru tilted his head slightly when she spoke her name and thought he heard it somewhere before. He bit the inside of his lip to see if he could remember where he heard it. For a moment or so he looked lost before he realized who she was. He knew she was in at least one of his classes even if he did not know which one at the moment. He would have to go about finding out which one later. For now he just decided to get to know her and hide from the group of girls.

He was glad they had not figured out that he was in the library. It was overwhelming to a bit without his brother with dealing with them. He would just blow up in their faces most of the time and that was not going to get him anywhere for now. He took a deep breath and tried to relax around Chi for now and smiled some.

He looked flattered when she had spoken his name and had guessed right. Though she had a fifty fifty chance of guessing right in the first place it still slightly shocked him that she had guessed right. He smiled and thought that he could tease her and say he was Kaoru or ask how she knew which one he was. However, he sorta did not feel like doing the latter one because he did not want to seem like he was picking on her at all.

“Hm, yes you are right, I am Hikaru Hitachiin,” he said and bowed slightly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chi.” He had a small coy smile on his face at the moment. He was trying to behave himself, but it was not working at the moment. It never worked and he had never tried to fight it for that long. “You had a lucky guess, may I inquire what made you to guess that I am Hikaru?”

He held the book in his hand and glanced back down to it and flipped through the pages of it. He had no interest in it and it showed on his face at the moment. He did enjoy books, but not like Kyouya for the most part. He just wanted an excuse to come over and talk to the girl looking for a book. “Are you looking for something in particular or just something to do?” Hikaru straighten out and placed the book back on the shelf and drew back his hand and turned his golden eyes on her. He took in her features of her face and hair since usually that was the only way to tell anyone apart at the school because of the uniform. He noted that her hair was a darker red than what his and Kaoru’s hair was.

“Do you have anything to do after school, today?” He asked nearly in a semi pout and smile. He wanted to introduce her to Kaoru and to see what he thought of her. If only his brother was here at the moment. When he thought about Kaoru it made him worry that something had happened to him and he had to push the thought out of his mind for now.

[tsarashikaoru]

Kaoru frowned as he quietly shut the library door behind him. It had been the second library he had checked and still his search was coming up fruitless, there was also a small nagging at the back of his mind that was verging on frustration. Why was it that this school felt the need to have so many libraries? Sure, it had a vast collection of books, but couldn’t they have just condensed them into one larger room? The online book database wasn’t going to help him very much in finding the one main thing he was looking for; his brother.

Hikaru had left him to go searching for a book for a school project before Kaoru even had the chance to protest. After standing there alone, in shock and with half of an uneaten cookie (courtesy of Honey) in hand it finally dawned on him that they were in the same class and therefore had the same project. So instead of killing two birds with one stone his brasher twin went on ahead without him

This of course worried Kaoru since either his brother was being dense or there was something else on his mind that would make him forget and leave him behind. It was only natural for the redhead to go looking for him. But seeing as Ouran Academy had four libraries it was going to take a bit longer, that coupled with the fact that he was a Host and was constantly being bombarded by curious fans Kaoru feared that he would never find his brother.

A soft whimper like groan escaped his throat before he could hold it back as he stood in front of the doors to the third library. As soon as he opened those doors and walked ten feet into the room he was spotted. ”Oh, it’s one of the twins!” He heard before a small group of giggling girls started to make their way towards him. He was to kind to push them away so, like in the other rooms, he was once again caught up.

”Where’s your brother?” One of them asked sympathetically. This was probably the first time any of them had seen him without his other half, and it scared them. But it could never scare them as much as it scared himself. ”He’s around someplace. But I must be going, I’m looking for something.” A different girl blinked up at him, eager to spend time with him out of the club and eager to please. ”Could we help? It’d be much quicker that way.”

”That’s alright.” Kaoru said while holding up his hands politely in refusal, but also to keep them from advancing on him. ”I can handle it. Thanks for the offer though. Will I still see you at the club, though?” In response he received plenty of excited agreements and one gravely regretful refusal. She had other plans. But that was alright, he reminded the girl, there was still tomorrow. She instantly perked back up into her cheerful self.

Girls were so cute and easy to please.

After slipping away from the girls and behind a shelf Kaoru started his hunt for his brother. He was held up for so long already, perhaps Hikaru had already left. The next corner he rounded he was met with a head of familiar red hair at the other end of a shelf. Relief flooded him as he smiled and made his way down the aisle, brushing his fingers along the bindings of the books as he went. ”There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you” He said, his relief and excitement not hidden at all within his voice.

The as soon as he stepped close enough to be able to reach out and touch his twin Kaoru realized that they were not alone. Panic flooded him as he took in the situation. Had Hikaru actually left him to be with a girl? He couldn’t help the pain of betrayal that rushed to his head. But he continued on as if all was well, giving no hints towards his inner turmoil. He looked over the girl, taking in her dark hair, pale complexion and blue eyes. He recognized her almost instantly since her dark red hair stuck out in class. ”You’re Chihiro, right? You’re in our homeroom and a couple other classes.”

[chi]

Chi couldn't really help returning his smile with her own, resisting the urge to chuckle at the flattered and slightly shocked look on his face. Both brows raised when he bowed slightly, before she let them drop again. As was rare, she was enjoying the company. Most people left her feeling rather annoyed, even if only two minutes into the conversation.

"Well," she wrinkled her nose thoughtfully before looking back to the older Hitachiin. She considered just telling him it was a guess, instead musing on the truth. "Your hair, at first. It's parted opposite to your brothers." She glanced away, partly nervous and partly amused. "But then, sometimes you and your brother act a bit differently. It's odd to see you seperate, so that tipped me off a bit... But it was only a hunch, so I was just lucky."

Off to the side, a gaggle of girls passed harmlessly by. The pale first year was actually rather pleased Hikaru had yet to be discovered. It wouldn't be all too beneficial to get trampled by his fangirls. Then again, he didn't look much like he wanted to deal with them either. For a moment, the blue eyed girl pondered whether that left hhis twin to deal with them. She wouldn't want to be in his place, it sounded horrible.

Chi absently sat the book down, fully turning her attention to Hikaru. "Just something to do. It's a good way to pass time." she mused, watching him flip through the book. The fact it was obvious he had no interest in the book made the girl question his reason for picking it up at all, though he questioned a lot of things about the Hitachiin twins. When he returned it to the shelf she leaned against the wall and cast him a glance from the corner of her eye. "And what about you? Book report, or self interest?"

The young teen felt a bit uneasy when he examined her, turning her head purposefully to the side. It felt odd to be examined like that, despite her keeping up appearances. She hated the school uniform for girls with a passion, it melded her in with the other Ouran girls-something she was non too pleased about. (Which was why by the end of the day it would suffer her 'accidently' falling and result in conveniently ripping the dress.) She looked back up when he spoke, expression turned to one of interest and curiousity.

She had, inwardly, figured his business talking to her had to do with the Host Club. If she wasn't mistaken, a girl in her class had been squealing about one of their upcoming events. As it was, his question made her wonder what exactly he was thinking. Part of her was suspicious, the other curious. In a moment, she had pushed her thoughts out of the way and turned her gaze back to him.

"Nothing in particular." the redhead conceded, sighing. Blue eyes drifted to the side when the other twin, small smile meeting her features. She wondered, briefly, what it was like to have someone that close to you. Hikaru and Koaru seemed to rarely be without each other, and by the looks of it they were perfectly happy to act almost as one person. Part of Chi was jealous, the other part pleased with having just herself.

The redhead flinched when he said her name, and she forced the smile back onto her face. She wasn't a big fan of her actual name, leading to whatshe had everyone call her. Or, tried to get people to call her. For the majority of people, the suggestion went right over their heads. "It's Chi." she informed him carefully, "Just Chi."

"I'm actually surprised you know who I am," she admitted finally, gaze flickering between the two before settling on the younger of the two slowly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kaoru."

[Hikaru Hitachiin]

Hikaru listened to why Chi had guessed that he was Hikaru and she mentioned the hair parting a different way. Not many had guessed that and they had been doing that for many years now. Even when they switched it up from time to time they barely could guess which one was which. This did not surprise the boy that she was taking a guess in the dark like everyone else that guessed.

For once, however, he did not find himself boiling in angry over this action. He normally was fuming at this point of that guess, but the girl in front of him was honest with him and even said it was a stab in the dark. He accepted this answer with a shy smile and nodded at her. No one had really been that honest with him and Kaoru other than Tamaki a few years ago and that had changed their whole word for the better.

He nodded slightly at her reasoning of being in the library since it was a simple one for most people. He watched her eye him out of the corner of the eye and looked at a book on the shelf again and shrugged some. She was honest with him so he should be honest with her right? That was usually how it worked, but that was harder to come by for them so he decided to take a shot at it.

“Well, we needed a book for a report and because this school as sooooo many libraries…it nearly impossible to find such a book,” Hikaru said hopelessly at the moment. It seemed like he was trying to get some pitty form her, but really wasn’t. “It my second library I came into searching and decided to end this fruitless search and send a text message to one of our servants to go get the book for us for the project, then I saw you looking bored and dodging a few of those girls and I wanted to say hi before they saw me.”

He pouted slightly at her until he heard a voice that he had missed ever since he left him near the stairs. He felt foolish and ashamed of himself for leaving his brother like that. It must have worried him a great deal and then realized the situation his brother walked and it stung a bit.

When he felt his brother’s hand on his shoulder he was calmer and relaxed at the moment and listened to Chi and Kaoru for a moment. He felt dense that he had not known who she was by name and he did. However, Kaoru had always been the one that paid more attention to the people around them for better or for worse. At least she was accepting them at the moment.

He stepped a bit closer to Kaoru and smiled some. “Kaoru….you came…” Hikaru muttered slightly. He was touched that his brother decided to look for him than just to sit back. “…I have a servant from the house grabbing the book for us…it will be there when we get home…”

He was hoping his brother did not think he meant to meet a girl at the library. Ever anything he would have met her someplace else if that was the case. The library had never really been his favorite place to be. “I ran into Ms. Chi after sending the text message and wanted to meet her…please…don’t be mad…” Hikaru pouted more and looked at his twin scared that he was mad or frightened about something. They were never really separated and rarer for one of them to suggest they part from one another.

[tsarashikaoru]

Kaoru nodded slowly when Chihiro had corrected him. He truly hadn’t meant anything by what he called her, he had simply used her full first name, but apparently he had offended her in some way according to the look that she had just given him. He didn’t like when people forced smiles around them, it reminded him of the times in the past when they were purposely rude to the people around them and those people all looked at them with those tight lips and irritated eyes. Their Aunt was probably the queen of that face.

”Chi it is then.” The younger twin agreed easily so that he could make her happy. In a way that somewhat disappointed him though. He really liked the sound of the name ‘Chihiro’ for some reason. There were only a few names that he didn’t find completely boring when roll call was called out every morning in homeroom, and that was one of them. He felt that it fit her exotic look very well.

”I actually like listening to roll call. He admitted to her when she mentioned her surprise. ”And the pleasure is all mine, but really I must than Hikaru for the opportunity of our acquaintance.” Truthfully, he had forgotten that he was even capable of speaking such a way, but it was his disappointment that brought on the formality. Was she not able to see the beauty of her own name?

He had to mentally shake himself from his thoughts and turn himself to face his brother when the older twin spoke. His hand tightened its grip on his shoulder in reassurance. It was a physical sign that he was there, and that he wasn’t going to leave, but Kaoru couldn’t tell which of them it calmed more. ”Of course I did,” He replied as he moved his arm to link with his brother’s elbow. ”You had me worried when you ran off… but I’m not mad, I could never be mad at you, Hikaru.”

He smiled genuinely at his twin. They were inseparable, not even a girl could ever get between them. Speaking of which, Kaoru peered back at Chi who was still in their presence. A moment of silence had passed where he had completely forgotten about her, where he had gone back into the world where only he and his brother mattered. That made him feel a little awkward, but this wasn’t that personal of a moment between the twins, so it was alright. He just felt awkward because he wasn’t used to the pang of guilt for forgetting that someone was standing with them.

”You know…” Kaoru started as he shyly looked at the third redhead. He really didn’t want to bring up his liking of her name, but it was a conversation piece that they could build off of. It was probably better than talking about their Social Sciences report. ”I think your first name sounds really pretty.” he said. He had considered using the word ‘beautiful’ but he was still unused to using the compliment and he didn’t want to sound like that idiot they called a boss. ”It kind of reminds me of magic and dragons for some reason.” Kaoru closed his gold eyes and laughed lightly, rather embarrassed by this admission.

[chi]

Chi smiled slightly, amused with his reasoning. Though, he was right. There were quite a few libraries-and all of them just happened to be gigantic-so finding one book could be tricky. On the upside, he hadn’t taken to Host tendencies yet. She had seen the one-she thought his name was Tamaki-outside of his club, and he was often keeping up that act. Their conversation wouldn’t have lasted long if he was like that-but then again, she was pretty sure he only ‘performed’ with his brother around.

“It’s actually rather odd that they haven’t noticed you by now.” The redhead mused aloud, gaze sliding off to the side. “Usually it’s like they can smell you or something.” Chi topped the words off with the slightest roll of her eyes, “Not that it’s bad they haven’t, of course.”

“Most people are too distracted to listen to roll call, but it’s probably better to know who your classmates are.” The blue eyed girl said with a shrug, smile relaxing slowly. Chi gave a slightly distracted hum, trying to pin down what she thought she heard in his voice. Disappointment? She furrowed her brows slightly, knowing that it was certainly possible, but she wasn’t sure why he would be.

It might’ve seemed odd, but Chi was watching them curiously, head cocked to the side slightly. She rarely talked to anyone out of class, and she hadn’t ever expected to run into either-or both-of the Hitachiin twins anyway. As it was, she had an interest in them herself. They were very, simply put, intriguing to Chi. She blinked once, feeling slightly awkward and letting her gaze fall back to the book she had barely started. Perhaps their act wasn’t completely an act-not that she thought they were gay, but they had to be extremely close to act the way they did.

Chi retraced the words on the cover absently; gaze slightly unfocused before turning her attention back on the twins. She didn’t mind being forgotten at all, it was something she had gotten used to easily over time. In fact, it gave her a moment to roll through her own thoughts, something she welcomed quickly. The redhead blinked twice when Kaoru spoke again, his words surprising her for a moment. It wasn’t that she had the notion her name was nice or anything. It was more that her parents always called her Chihiro, and it had been her grandmother’s name. It was something she had grown to associate with them and dislike slightly.

“Oh.” She struggled momentarily on a response before deciding that she was taking too long in answering him. “I’m sorry.” She smiled at him slightly rueful at having reacted so harshly. “You can call me Chihiro if you like,” she noted how odd and slightly foreign it felt to say her own name, disappointed with herself. “I was just surprised. I’ve gotten used to only my parents calling me that.” Which wasn’t really a lie; she had been surprised, and usually only her parents called her that. “I’ve never heard it put that way.”

[Hikaru Hitachiin]

Hikaru looked over to Kaoru for a moment and studied his face. He could clearly see that he was slightly disappointed in how Chi had corrected him by asking to call her Chi instead of her full name. He knew his brother nearly always preferred calling people by their full name where he did not care as long as the person was more than happy to be called that for the most part. He shook his head slightly and tried to force the thought out of his mind for a moment and focused on something else. Sooner or later Kaoru would wot out this issue with her if it came up again.

He chucked slightly when his brother made the comment about listening to role call. It was something he on the other hand found rather boring to the point he wanted to yell at the teacher to get it over with all ready. He also felt that the teacher lacked any memory if they had to continue calling out the names of the students day by day since most had been at the school for ages now that there should have been some recognition on the teacher part with names and faces. How trivial a teacher could be by repeating a unless progress day by day.

”I will never understand your fascination with the roll call Kaoru....I am sorry,” Hikaru said as he pouted slightly at his twin. He wanted to understand it, but it was like a dark cloud was over that part of his mind when dealing with the roll call. He was sorry that he could not understand that for his brother and wanted to clear that up with him.

”And there no need to thank me Kaoru,” He said with a smile on his face and a chuckle. ”Its always good to met new people and you know I wouldn't have kept her a secret from you” He was teasing him at the moment about how he had found her in the library and at first Kaoru had probably thought he had planned meeting her here all along.

Hikaru looked relieved when Kaoru had said that there was no way he could be mad at him for something. He knew it was true, but it was still a good thing that his brother had told him some. He smiled some and nodded slightly. ”And I can never be mad at you.” There was only a few times that they had fought and that was only because they were bored and needed something to be interesting to them and it was all for show.

He blinked slightly when he heard Kaoru bring back up her name again and smiled when she accepted that he could call her that. He slipped his hands in his pocket and shook his head. ”Couldn't let it go this time could you Kaoru.” He also knew that if he ever wanted to trick he that he would have to call her by her full name and he made a mental note of doing just that.

He looked around the library and spotted the group of girls that had caught Kaoru on the way into the library and chuckled slightly. ”Perhaps we should move this little chat someplace more quiet and not around some girls that are glaring at Miss Chi, Kaoru?”