Chapter 17

446 18 0
                                    

(Seina's POV)
Once again I found myself spending my Saturday afternoon getting ready. It had been easy to convince my mother to give me the evening off as many of the girls in attendance were representatives of important and wealthy families. The chance to curry favour with them and possibly gain their business could be invaluable.
I allowed Yuki to pick me out a dress while I bathed as I looked good in everything I owned. What would be the point of owning something that made me look anything less than stunning? Business was a package deal and I had to look my best.
Yuki blow dried my hair for me before brushing it out and pinning half back with some beautiful silver hair pins that my cousin had given me for Christmas. The dress itself was beautiful, one of Yuzuha Hitachiin's best creations in my humble opinion. It was black silk, bound close at the waist and chest to emphasise the occupant's shape, with a huge puffed skirt which was decorated with silver and white coloured precious gems to mimic a starry night sky. It was a very glamorous look. I slipped on some simple black shoes as heels were painfully impractical in all circumstances, and checked my appearance in the mirror while Yuki called my driver to the front of the house.

After a short ride, my limo pulled up outside the Suoh mansion and I allowed my driver to help me out of the car. I informed him that I would call him when I needed picking up and stalked towards the front door.
A collection of maids were assembled in the entrance hall accepting 'donations' to the host club. I was just pulling out my cheque book when a hand grabbed mine and spun me around. Kyoya.
'Not you. You don't have to pay.' I raised my eyebrows at him then gave a startled laugh.
'You're serious aren't you? A true declaration of love from Kyoya Ootori. You don't want my money.'
He sighed, pushed his glasses up his nose and guided me on into the next room, a hand on the small of my back. 'I'm glad to see you here Seina.'
I sent him a sidelong glance. 'You're not mad at me?'
'Are you still mad at me?' I leaned into him slightly as we walked.
'No I'm not.'
'Then I'm not mad either.' His arm slipped around my waist, sending a treacherous blush sweeping across my face.
'Kyoya people are going to notice.' He reluctantly released me, bowing deeply and kissing my hand as he retreated to speak to other guests.

For a second I thought I'd gotten away with it but then Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachiin appeared in front of me with matching grins. 'You two looked cozy together.'
I walked over to one of the maids who was serving drinks and took one from her tray, the twins following close behind. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'
'Lies.'
'Don't you two have someone else to bother? Or better still guests to entertain.'
Once they disappeared, Haruhi came over to me with her easy going smile. 'What was that all about.'
'We are not having this conversation.'
'Kyoya-senpai then.'
'Haruhi!'
'I'm sorry. But you'll have to address your feelings sooner or later.' I growled in frustration and went to talk to some girls from my music class. The worst they did was ask me questions about Mori-senpai.

Once the last of the guests had filtered in, Tamaki-senpai moved to the centre of the room and called for quiet. 'Could I have everyone's attention please?'
Gradually the chatter died down and all eyes turned to him. 'First of all thank you everyone for coming and for all your generous donations. As you all know, Haruhi is an honour student from the realm of the commoners. His knowledge of this strange poverty stricken realm has imbued our lives with new and fun surprises such as instant coffee.' There was a smattering of cheers at this mention of the favoured host club beverage and several girls turned their attention to petting poor Haruhi. 'One of the many delights that have come to my attention is commoner party games and so we will be playing some tonight. If everyone could come sit on the floor in a circle that would be very much appreciated.'
I sat down next to Haruhi. 'You knew about this?'
'I am the victim here. Trust me I was tricked. He said he wanted to know how I spent my birthday as a child, the conversation degenerated from then onwards.' I gave her a sympathetic look and wondered exactly what we were about to suffer through. Whatever she had said was bound to have been wildly misconstrued.
Kyoya stepped into the centre of the circle and began handing out stacks of paper. It quickly became apparent that they were legal documents swearing everyone in the room to secrecy and waiving our rights to prosecute the host club members. The final clause was a promise to play by the rules of any games we elected to play. That seemed a little over the top.
I waved Kyoya over. 'Is this really necessary?' I demanded waving the paper in his face.
'Of course. Our first thought is always for the happiness of our customers.' Me and Haruhi exchanged a look.
'This has nothing to do with customer satisfaction and everything to do with your personality.' He smiled and went to sit on the other side of the circle from us.
Tamaki-senpai addressed the crowd again from his position in the circle. 'Ok my beautiful guests our first game tonight is the commoner tradition of pass the parcel!' The other guests seemed excited, caught up in Tamaki-senpai's enthusiasm but Haruhi looked pained.
'What's wrong Haruhi?'
'This game is for children. Little children. I swear he has selective hearing.'
'Sounds plausible.'
A maid came into the room and placed a large, oddly shaped package in the centre of the circle. Kyoya opened up his notebook and began to read out loud. 'The rules of the game are simple. The package is passed around the circle till the music stops, at which point the person holding it may unwrap one layer and take the gift within that layer. The person to unwrap the final layer and gain the final gift is the winner.'
'Is this really worth the trouble of that ridiculous document?' I muttered to Haruhi. She shook her head in exasperation.
A maid stationed by the sound system started the music and the guests began passing the parcel around. The first time the music stopped the girl unwrapped her layer to reveal diamond earrings. The second was handmade truffles, flaked with gold leaf from a chocolatier in Belgium. The third was an exclusive invite to one of Yuzuha Hitachiin's fashion shows. As the layers continued to be ripped away to reveal similarly extravagant items. All the while Haruhi seemed to be receding into herself further and further, unable to tolerate the nonsense around her. The final prize was a sparkling silver diadem set with diamonds.
Other games were played out involving cards, chasing and spinning tops, all with extravagant prizes before we all returned to the circle. Once again, Tamaki-senpai introduced the game. 'Our final game, esteemed ladies and gentlemen, is truth or dare.' That sounded interesting. The guests were muttering excitedly, wondering what exactly this new game was about. Haruhi, I couldn't help noticing, had gone a little pale.
'Are you feeling unwell Haruhi? Would you like me to call someone?' But before she could answer, Kyoya was explaining the rules, while a maid placed an extremely expensive bottle of wine in the middle of the circle.
'The rules are as follows. Each person takes it in turn to spin the bottle. Whoever the neck of the bottle stops at will ask them 'Truth or Dare?' The individual in question will then state whether they wish to answer a truth or complete a dare. Once completed it becomes the next person's turn. If the task is not completed then the person shall face a forfeit. However, that said, we expect things to remain appropriate for present company.' The twins looked far too happy about this, grinning maniacally across the circle and it suddenly occurred to me that Haruhi was pale because she did not want to play this game.
Yet one of the girls was already spinning the bottle and the game had begun. 'Truth or dare?'
'Dare.' She answered confidently to the shy girl she had selected.
'Uh...this is hard...umm... I dare you to swap shoes with someone else?' The girl shrugged and swapped shoes with her friend.
'Lame.' I heard Hikaru mutter before he was silenced by a sharp look from Tamaki-senpai.
The next girl spun the bottle and chose truth. 'What is your greatest fear?' She grimaced.
'Spiders. Definitely spiders.'
Mori-senpai was next to spin the bottles, managing to spin to one of his and Honey-senpai's biggest fans. 'Truth or dare?' She asked, her voice high pitched with excitement.
'Dare.'
'I dare you to hand feed Honey-senpai three strawberries.'
He slowly rose to his feet and collected three strawberries from a table containing snacks and refreshments, before settling in front of Honey-senpai.
'Mitsukuni.' The smaller boy opened his mouth and cheerfully ate the sweet fruit, a tiny bit of juice dripping from his lips, only to be wiped away by Mori-senpai. The fangirls all squealed hysterically at the scene.
Naturally, it wasn't long before it was Honey-senpai's turn as he was only sat a few people over from his cousin. 'Truth or dare?'
'Dare!' He exclaimed excitedly probably hoping that there was some sort of correlation between dares and tasty food. The girl looked at him uncertainly, obviously trying to devise something interesting but innocent to give the excited boy lolita.
'I dare you to draw a moustache on yourself in permanent marker.' A maid suddenly appeared as if by magic and offered him a permanent marker and a mirror. He was quick to draw a big swirly moustache across his upper lip, a big grin on his face.
'Takashi! Look I have a moustache!'
As the game moved along many of the less imaginative girls seemed to be repeating questions, popular options being, 'Who is your favourite host?' The most common answer being Tamaki-senpai. And other questions relating largely to teenage crushes and possible future romances with this person or that person. I zoned out for a time as their various truths and dares flew across the room.
Then I was startled back to reality by Haruhi reaching for the bottle.
'Truth Or Dare?'
'Truth. I have no secrets.'
'Who was your first kiss?'
'Kasugazaki-san.' There were some gasps of surprise and excited whispers as most of the people present had witnessed the kiss but not realised the significance.
Then it was my turn. I span the bottle and silently prayed that I didn't get the twins. As it came to a standstill I followed the neck of the bottle and found myself looking into the scheming eyes of Kyoya Ootori. Was it possible to rig a spinning bottle?
'Truth or Dare Seina-san?' I searched his face for a moment trying to work out what exactly it was he was up to.
'Truth?' Apparently that was the wrong answer because a victorious smirk appeared on his face.
'I'm sure you remember the question I asked you a couple of weeks ago which you avoided so artfully. Answer it for me.' I felt a hot blush spreading across my cheeks. 'What did you mean when you said that you lost sleep because of me?'
'You want me to answer that now?' I spluttered. In front of everyone? Were the words I didn't dare speak out loud.
'Now, now. Seina-san do you have the time for a lengthy legal battle with the Ootori Group? You don't have to tell everyone the answer, come and whisper in my ear.' I glared at him furiously, hoping that he would spontaneously combust but crossed the circle to where he sat. I had too many things to do to be worrying about lawyers and all this nonsense for the next two years.
He gestured to the girls either side of him to move away slightly, allowing me to sit beside him.
'Well?' He demanded, one eyebrow raised. He would suffer for this at some point in the future.
I leaned in so close that my lips were almost kissing his ear, and whispered so quietly it would have been almost inaudible even to him. 'I dreamed...' I searched for a tasteful way to convey the scene. 'I dreamed that I...we spent the night together and I awoke the morning after, lying next to you in bed...without any clothes...'
When I pulled away from him he was wide eyed with dark, flushed cheeks and his mouth hanging open. If we hadn't been in company I might have been tempted to kiss him but instead, I returned to my place in the circle and tried to pretend he wasn't staring at me and that all the girls weren't whispering about what on Earth I'd said to get such a reaction from the cool and collected Kyoya Ootori.
The next girl along from me, one I knew from music class, reached for the bottle and spun it around. Her best friend was on the receiving end, an evil smile already fixed on her face. 'Truth or Dare?'
'Dare...'
'I dare you to kiss a host of your choice.' The poor girl turned scarlet and glanced towards Tamaki-senpai, the boy I knew she was head over heels for. However, I also knew she would never make such a bold move as to kiss him. So instead she walked over to Honey-senpai and planted a chaste peck on his cheek.
Then it was Renge-san's turn who had been surprisingly quiet up until this point.
'Truth or Dare?'
'Dare obviously. All day every day!' The girl she had selected thought about it for a moment before coming to a decision.
'I dare you to do an impression of Tamaki-senpai.'
Renge-san cackled and jumped to her feet before prancing into the centre of the circle. She stood still for a moment, composing herself then jumped into character. She smoothed back her hair sensually then knelt down before the girl who had assigned the dare and tilted her chin up towards her.
'Why I have never seen such a beautiful princess in all the world. A rose for you my dearest love.' A rose appeared in her hand, seemingly from nowhere as she offered it to the shocked girl, eyes full of tears. My earlier anger and embarrassment temporarily forgotten, I found myself laughing hysterically. She was really good, a very convincing Tamaki-senpai. The twins were crying and clutching each other for support as they howled with laughter. Many of the guests were quick to join in.
As the laughter subsided the next girl took the bottle and spun it around. Unfortunately for her the neck of the bottle pointed directly between the Hitachiin twins who smirked at her and asked in unison. 'Truth or Dare?'
'Dare.' She replied without hesitation. I wondered if she knew what she was getting herself into.
They quickly put their heads together and had a muttered discussion before turning back to face her, evil grins in place. 'We dare you to remove your underwear.'
Tamaki-senpai began to protest. 'Hey guys what happened to appropriate, don't you think that's a bit far?' However, when he turned to tell her she didn't have to comply with their perverse request he found her smirking back at him, lacy underwear in her hand, which she then tossed into the centre of the circle.
Several more girls took turns spinning the bottle, many of them taking the opportunity to find out about petty crushes. Though one girl was dared to put as many au deuves in her mouth at once as she could. Not very ladylike but amusing to watch.
Then the bottle reached the twins, Kaoru getting it first.
'Truth or Dare?'
'Dare.' He smirked at the girl, daring her to dare him.
'I dare you to kiss Hikaru.' He shrugged and Hikaru made a big show of tenderly pulling his brother closer before they dramatically smashed their faces together. I grimaced at them. As usual they were taking things too far. When they pulled apart they were still grasping onto each other.
Hikaru, one arm still wrapped around his brother also predictably chose dare, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at the girl. She looked around the room as if searching for inspiration.
'I dare you to make Kyoya Ootori blush.' Hikaru frowned for a second then caught my eye and grinned widely.
'Can I use props or assistants?' The girl eyed him suspiciously.
'I suppose so.'
'Excellent. Seina come sit in Kyoya-senpai's lap.' I gawked at him.
'No! This is not my dare. You can't just-'
'-She said I can. Now shall we discuss the legal documents Seina. Please seat yourself in Kyoya-senpai's lap.'
Kyoya was watching me analytically, in that way he so often did. I gritted my teeth and crossed the circle. In truth I caught the blush rising to his cheeks before I even settled into his lap but I suppose, deep down I was glad of the excuse to be close to him. I leaned back against his chest and he wrapped his arms around me. Hikaru nodded, apparently satisfied.
'Excellent. Thank you Seina. Please stay where you are.' I glared at him but remained with Kyoya nonetheless.
Tamaki-senpai span the bottle and offered a charming smile to the girl he had selected.
'Truth or dare.'
'Dare me to do anything my darling.' She stared at him, her cheeks slowly turning pink till she suddenly blurted out.
'I dare you to take your shirt off.' He laughed a little before slowly unbuttoning his shirt and discarding it to the centre of the circle. Several of the girls cheered and wolf whistled at him. He was handsome, not my type, but handsome.
Finally the bottle came round to Kyoya. The twins immediately turned their full attention to us.
'Since Seina is sat with Kyoya it is only fair that she gets a second spin after him.' I protested strongly but to no avail. Kyoya spun the bottle.
'Truth or Dare?'
'Truth.'
'Are you still a virgin?' He hesitated for a moment and I swivelled slightly to look at him.
'No.' I felt my face redden and turned away from him sharply. It was irrelevant to me. We had no future together.
The twins stared at me expectantly till I span the bottle once again. It was the second girl from my music class that the bottle selected.
'Truth or dare?'
'Truth.'
'Ok...Bed, wed, behead. Mori-senpai, Kyoya-senpai, the Hitachiin twins.' I rolled my eyes at her.
'Well, behead Kyoya-senpai. He's too dangerous to be allowed to live. Bed the Hitachiin twins, what girl hasn't thought about that?' This time it was the twins who were blushing. 'Wed Mori-senpai because he is sweet and reliable. I think he would make a good husband.'
The older student gave me a small smile and a grateful nod even as Kyoya tensed up. Apparently he didn't like my answer. The twins quickly recovered and began making flirtatious gestures at me across the room but I knew they weren't being serious. Tamaki-senpai then announced the end of the games and invited everyone to indulge in food and refreshments before the end of the party. I was quick to escape Kyoya's lap and headed outside onto the balcony for some much needed fresh air.

The mild air of the summer evening, brushed my hair across my cheeks. I leaned against the railing and stared up at the sky, where the reds and purples were darkening to the midnight blues of the night. I wasn't stood there long when I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't turn, I knew who it was.
Kyoya came to stand beside me, also looking out at the sky. For a time neither of us spoke, many things lying between us but none so restrictive as social graces and the fear of watching eyes. Even as I longed for him, I knew he was not mine to have, that pretending otherwise would only make things worse.
'Tell me Seina, why exactly am I too dangerous to be left alive?' For a moment I looked his way and our eyes met, his piercing gaze searing my cheeks pink. I swallowed hard in an attempt to quash the butterflies taking flight in my stomach.
'I don't like how vulnerable I feel around you. You're not like other boys who might be pretty or entertaining. With you...I...It's different...' A small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. He carefully brushed some stray strands of hair behind my ear, caressing my face.
'Seina, you have to stop doing that.' He gently ran his thumb across my lips.
'Doing what...?'
'Things that make me want to kiss you.'
His eyes flickered to the door behind us then he pressed his lips to mine. I smiled into his lips and responded in kind, my tongue darting into his mouth and my hands slipping into his hair. Somehow it was easy. Not like kissing Kaoru. I wanted Kyoya. I wanted his hands on my face and in my hair and on my hips.
I heard the door creak behind us and quickly pulled away, whirling around. Haruhi stood in the doorway, her eyes wide as saucers and her mouth hanging open. Before I could say anything she apologised profusely and hurried back inside. Fantastic. I looked up at Kyoya and saw the lust fading from his eyes, a wry smile crossing his face.

Resisting Temptation (A Kyoya Ootori Fanfic)Where stories live. Discover now