Marionette-

"Amaterasu," the voice was quiet, an almost bittersweet tone to it, "it's time to wake up princess, today I will be personally escorting you to school." Immediately, she recognized the voice: her father. Her eyes shot open as she lifted her torso from the comfort of the bed; her father stood at the foot of it, the scowling creating wrinkles around his eyes. She could tell her face was flush with embarrassment as the rest of her body became frightfully cold. She gracefully rolled out of bed and headed straight to her bathroom, her father's eyes trained on her backside the entire way there.

She shivered.

The ride to school was quiet, as normal. Today, her father instructed her to paint her face up to hide the "hideous" dark circles that were created around her eyes, and so one of her maids came rushing in to fuss over her while her father waited impatiently. Her face felt so thick that her head felt off center, or perhaps it was just the idea of wearing all that make-up that made her feel that way. Either way, today did not start well.

"Amaterasu," she was startled at her father's words, as she straightened her back up simultaneously before directing her sight on him, "what were you thinking, running home like that in the rain?" Her eyes shifted towards his hands that tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles going a startling white; however, his eyes were never taken off the road, "you had your mother worried sick. She almost came home early from Malian, you realize how devastated she'd be?"

Yes, she'd miss out on all the latest fashion and blatantly blame it on Amaterasu...again.

"Yes, father, I realize my mistake and will atone in the future."

"In which?" Her father pressed, his eyebrows reaching the tops of his eyelids before shifting his eyes over towards her.

"In which I will never leave the school premise on my own, and will always take some sort of motor transportation home."

"Good girl." The whiteness of his knuckles didn't lessen however, but the corner's of his mouth upturned. It was something, and Amaterasu took it despite it all.

Pregnant silence bloomed as the multitudes of houses whizzed by her window, and her eyes became heavy, beckoning her to sleep. She shrugged it off, an ill attempt of course, but it seemed to work for five minutes. Her eyelashes tickled her cheeks before the silence was interrupted yet again by her father.

"We're here."

It was curt and awkward, and before she knew it he had successfully un-buckling her, opened the door, and promptly pushed her out. She held her schoolbag close to her, Haruhi's notes held close to her heart as she watched her father drive off. A feeling did not settle well in her stomach as he turned the opposite way to his work, but it wasn't her business so she struggled it off (metaphorically of course,) and walked to class.

Amaterasu noticed that five minutes till class started, her peers started trickling in. Most of them did not regard her with even the slightest glance, per usual, until Haruhi stepped in (surprisingly, without the twins in tow.)

"Ah, Amaterasu-san! You're back?" For the second time today, Amaterasu was startled but she dare not look it as she regarded Haruhi with cold eyes, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Quite, that's why I'm here," Amaterasu unclasped her book bag and shuffled out the stack of Haruhi's notes, "I believe these are yours; I do not wish to lose them and stop you from studying." As Amaterasu went to hand them over to Haruhi, he held up a hand and pushed back the notes with a sigh, a smile clear on his face.

"I made two copies, one for you and one for me. You're not hindering me, and it wasn't an obligation; I just wanted to help you catch up is all."

Amaterasu's heart fluttered, and she nearly slapped herself for it.
Stupid boy and his equally stupid smile.

"Well thank you nonetheless, I suppose I will keep these then." Amaterasu laid the notes into her bag, the pages never crinkling as she did so. Haruhi looked semi-flustered as he pushed back his hair and then laid down his book bag on top of his table.

"I'm glad your feeling better," he whispered as the door to the classroom opened again, "and I'm still sorry about the twin's behavior." Amaterasu waved off the silly boy with not so much as a smile before she heard the voices she never wanted to hear again, as long as she lived.

"And what is this?"

"Did our precious doll earn a new friend?"

"Our toy nonetheless!"

Amaterasu watched as the twin's arms engulfed Haruhi's frame just before Haruhi's hands balled into fists and wailed onto one of the twin's chests (his hair was parted right, so Hikaru? She was never right, but it was just a guess...)

"Did the precious doll say something to hurt our toy's feelings?" Kaoru looked at Amaterasu with dull eyes before petting Haruhi's hair and pouting. Hikaru did the same thing but his tongue was sticking out, making it slightly more unappealing than his brother's.

"I will thanking him for the notes, nothing more." Amaterasu said, turning her gaze out the window and watched the scurrying figures rushing into the building.

"Then why sound so sad little dolly?" Someone whispered into her ear, making her shutter as she moved away, but her other ear was greeted with an equally as disturbing message: "do you have a crush on our dear toy?"

"Of course not!" Amaterasu yelled, rising from her seat with a heated glare as her heart beat rapidly within her chest, "and even if I did, do you honestly believe I'd openly admit it? Especially to you two?" She tried to keep the heat down from her cheeks, but she could feel it slowly rising from her neck.

"Look at the doll! Her porcelain skin is going..."

"A blaze!" The other finished, a triumph look placed upon his face. He even had the audacity to poke out his tongue and throw a peace sigh out as he crouched on the chair in front of her.

"Why I never heard some poppy cock erupting from someone's mouth as you are doing now! I'll have you kno-"

"Please! Settle down!" The teacher announced, looking a tad over exasperated as he entered the classroom; pointedly looking over at the twins and herself, "class as started and I'll have to ask each and every one of you to refrain from talking out of turn." Giggles erupted from the full classroom, which Amaterasu overlooked when she started conversing with Haruhi & Co.

Amaterasu settled down in her seat, taking note that her table partner was not there.
Not that she cared or anything; however, she turned her head and looking out the window at the beautiful blue sky, wishing at that moment she was a bird.

At least then, she could fly away from this place.

Something landed in front of Amaterasu, a folded piece of lined paper with her name written in sloppy print (in which she knew all to well to be Haruhi's) before opening it.

Sorry -H

Instead of writing back, she turned her head and looked at Haruhi's sullen face before it was replaced with a nice, refreshing, fake smile. Amaterasu did the same, but less of the nice and refreshing.

When the end of the day had rolled around, it happened while Amaterasu was packing up her things to leave. It being the fact that Haruhi stopped in front of her, being removed from the twin's sides, and looked quite breathless.

"I was wondering if you'd escort me to the club's room today? You look quite stressed, and I had hoped that you'd-"

"Absolutely not!" Amaterasu suddenly got up from her seat, the chair making a squealing noise as it hurriedly was pushed back, "was this some ploy? Being nice to me? Telling me sweet words? To get me to finally show up to that pitiful club filled with nothing but boys that toy with girls hearts for fun?" Amaterasu already felt dirty talking about it, her fingers dug into the palms of her hands as she grabbed her book bag, "I will never go to that room, never. You hear me? Thank you for pretending to be nice and all, but it's been real tiresome and quite a bore; see you tomorrow Fujioka-san."

Amaterasu's feet were faster than her words as she found herself yelling down the hallway, Haruhi quietly trailing after her. Stupid tears stung at her eyes for unknown reasons as she quickly brushed it back, and only stopped when she felt Haruhi's hand on her wrist.

At the momentum at which she was traveling, and the strength in Haruhi's grip on her wrist, her back went flying against Haruhi's chest.

It was soft, and warm. His heart beat steadily, and Amaterasu felt her breathing falling into step with his beating.

"I wasn't pretending, please don't make your hatred turn on me. I want to get to know you better, and I think that you can do with some social contact every once and a while, even if it is from a commoner."

Amaterasu struggled against Haruhi's grasp as Haruhi placed his chin atop of her head.

"I never noticed how short you are." Haruhi whispered, the strength in his grasp fading as he softly spoke, it made Amaterasu's heart flutter again.

Stupid boy, stupid boy, stupid boy!

Amaterasu quickly turned around, poking Haruhi squarely in the chest and narrowed her eyes at him, "stop it! Just stop it! I know what you're doing, you're trying to help the twins seek revenge on me right? Where are the hidden cameras, where I ask? Answer me! This is the last time they'll make a fool out of me! I swear it on my grandmother's grave, the last!"

Haruhi, again, grasped Amaterasu's hand quickly and looked at her strangely, "what do you mean fool again?"

"Oh that's just rich," Amaterasu's voice dripped with venom as she spoke, "they didn't even tell you?"

"No, what happened?"

Amaterasu looked caught between emotions: hurt and anger, the two things she knew all too well.

Amaterasu stared at the pink envelope down in her hands as she quickly noticed she was shaking. Of course she was shaking, who wouldn't be? She tried to convince herself as she waited patiently at her desk until the bell rung, and the class was quickly dismissed for lunch. She waited of course, just like always, until everyone left and quickly walked over to his desk to place the envelope on top of his pencil bag.

Today was the day, today was the day that she finally confessed her blossoming feelings.

Dear Kaoru,

Please meet me behind building A after school. I have something to tell you.

With regards,

Konoe Amaterasu

She patiently waited behind the building, thumbing the skirt of her dress before a figure appeared behind one of the columns. It was Kaoru. A relieved breath left her mouth, one she had been holding for a long time. A genuine smile (something rare at the time) reached her lips as she ran forward, grasping his hands in hers as she bowed her head.

"Kaoru, will you please go out with me?"

Silence.

Oh god, she was too eager; what if he thought she was weird? So many thoughts ran threw her head at the time, almost too many.

"Would you like me to pass that along to my brother?" Was the snark remark, and Amaterasu grew cold. She looked up into the honey-brown eyes she adored, and swore it was Kaoru, but it wasn't. It was Hikaru, apparently, and a smirk was etched on his features, "I just came along to tell you that my brother wouldn't be making it sense he got injured during gym today."

"I'm so sorry." Amaterasu spilled out, her eyes tearing up ever so slightly. No she refused to cry.

Hikaru's hand reached down to Amaterasu's chin and forced her chin up, "is it really fair? You were going to confess to my brother weren't you?"

Amaterasu's face became flush as she tried to avoid his eyes, but his hand caught her and forced her chin once again towards him, "weren't you?"

"How is that unfair? They are my feelings." Amaterasu finally answered, looking up at him as his fingers brushed against her lips; a blush falling over her pale cheeks as she resisted and pulled back, but his hand gentle turned her head towards him once again.

"And what of my feelings?"

Frozen, like ice.

"What?"

"I adore you, what about my feelings? It's always been Kaoru, why don't you like me?"

"Because, Kaoru is Kaoru and Hikaru is Hikaru! Each of you has your own traits and personalities that I like. You're two different people." Hikaru froze as well before shifting backwards, and then pushing forward; his lips smashed against Amaterasu's. Her eyes widened as she pushed against Hikaru's chest, pounding her fists against it before she got away.

"You bastard! That was my..."

"Your first kiss?" Another voice replied, another body came from behind the column at which Hikaru appeared.

"Kaoru?"

"What can I say, usually girls like both of us. Hikaru must've been quite jealous."

"You... you..." Amaterasu stumbled over her words as fresh tears came to her eyes, which she quickly pushed them back.

"Don't worry, you should consider yourself lucky," Hikaru said, smirking at himself confidently before bending down to her height, "you should be honored I'd even kiss your unattractive, dull face."

"You...YOU ARE REVOLTING. Absolutely disgusting! I hate you, I hate both of you! Never again! HOW COULD YOU TOY WITH SOMEONE'S FEELINGS LIKE THAT?" Amaterasu spit at their feet before turning on your heel, screaming at the top of her lungs: "THE HITACHIIN TWINS ARE DISGUSTING, REVOLTING PERSONALITIES." All the way back to her car, before she busted out in tears.

Sorry for the long wait! But hey, now you know why she hates them! And why they hate her. (Obviously that was pretty damaging to their images, right? And childish on her part hehehe.)

Anyways, enjoy and review!