User Profile

Name: Kyouya Ootori
Age: 17
Appearance: 5'11" but skinny Japanese teenager. He wears glasses, and has short dark hair and grey eyes. He's well-groomed, dresses nicely, and is very handsome. He's generally smiling, but he's capable of somehow looking quite threatening while doing so (the opaque glasses are a nice touch), and he can also, when provoked, apparently make faces so evil and terrifying small children run away crying when they see him.
The Basics: As the third son of an extremely wealthy and powerful Japanese family (they apparently own their own private army), Kyouya's required to work extremely hard to prove himself worthy of inheriting. However, he doesn't really mind this-- Kyouya's extremely smart and good at plotting, making money, and manipulating people, and he really enjoys it. Kyouya cares a great deal about profits and impressions, and he's said frequently he never does a thing unless it benefits him in some way. His life philosophy seems to be to treat everything as either a business transaction or a money-making opportunity, and he doesn't focus on much else.

Kyouya's also pretty ruthless and fairly amoral. He won't see any problem with lying/cheating/manipulating people if it's for the best. He tries to get along with everyone (at least, everyone who seems worth knowing), and usually comes off as a pleasant, intelligent, scholarly young man, but he really doesn't care about many people at all. There are of course some lines he doesn't cross, since Ouran is a pretty light-hearted canon and Kyouya's not really that bad a guy.

Underneath that, though, he actually has kind of a nasty temper, and doesn't suffer fools lightly (well, okay, he does suffer fools a lot, but that's sort of not his fault). If you annoy him, he'll probably put up with you for a certain degree, but inside he's wishing for your death. Still, it's a rare circumstance in which he actually breaks his cool and gets angry, but when he does, he gets very angry.

Full Background (V-very long, and spoilery, though not so much that I'm whiting it out): Kyouya was born the third son (fourth child, as he has an older sister) of the incredibly wealthy and powerful Ootori family. His father, Yoshio Ootori, is the CEO of the Ootori Group, a Japanese medical company that seems to have a monopoly on everything from every hospital in Japan to elaborate 'health spa' resorts to an impressive private army. It's somewhat unclear exactly why the corporation controls all these things, but there is no doubt that the family is extremely well-connected with the government, the police, and possibly the shadier aspects of business. Kyouya's father Yoshio is a cold, strict, and demanding father, and apparently all his children except his daughter Fuyumi take after him. Kyouya's mother is completely out of the picture for reasons that are never brought up, but the kind-hearted Fuyumi does seem to take on something of a mother role for Kyouya. However, Fuyumi doesn't live at home anymore and is generally discouraged from returning.

Kyouya is by far the youngest child in the family-- he is about ten years younger than the second youngest son Akito (the oldest brother is unnamed), and nine years younger than his sister. Herein lies the major problem young Kyouya has had to deal with-- the two eldest sons of the family are both incredibly educated and accomplished for their young age. The oldest had his business degree and was working for the company and the second was graduating from medical school while Kyouya was still fifteen. While Kyouya was extremely intelligent and hard-working, making top of his class every year and forming valuable connections with other families, it was already clear that there was no chance he would inherit the corporation while his brothers were so far ahead. Rather, his role would be to make good grades and eventually work for the company, but never outshine his brothers so as to be the perfect, supportive third son.

Kyouya played this role for most of his life, and had almost convinced himself that he truly enjoyed it. He claimed to see the position of having to do well but not too well as an interesting challenge, and did everything his father asked of him. However, Kyouya had always been far more intelligent and talented than even his older brothers, and he was also internally quite proud and ambitious. Having to play such a role meant that he could never fulfill his own aspirations and potential, and over time under his contented facade he became bored and depressed. Only his sister noticed, but she was never able to help him or show him another option.

All this changed when Kyouya was fifteen, when his father instructed him to befriend the new student Tamaki Suoh, the heir to the powerful Suoh family, in order to improve business connections. Kyouya did as he was told, and was determined to convince Tamaki they were good friends. This was much easier than Kyouya expected, however, because Tamaki pronounced them best friends literally within an hour of their meeting. Kyouya found Tamaki extremely annoying, but continued to feign friendliness, and even agreed to take Tamaki sight-seeing across Japan and build a kotatsu in his house for Tamaki to use when he visited because Tamaki was so excited by the prospect. As time went on, Kyouya grew more and more annoyed and angry at Tamaki because he was so idiotic and his demands were so unreasonable. Normally Kyouya acted cool and dispassionate in all situations, but Tamaki drove him to punching pillows in his room and staying up all night to formulate perfect trips where all his silly demands could be met. Yet without realizing it, Kyouya had begun to enjoy the trips as well and even enjoy Tamaki's company; his sister upon seeing him in a fit of rage remarked that this was the happiest she had ever seen him.

Things finally came to a head one day when Kyouya came home from school to find Tamaki already there, expecting the kotatsu to be set up. While waiting, Tamaki was playing the piano for Kyouya's family, and was playing so beautifully that upon hearing it, Kyouya found himself unexpectedly moved to tears. Later, while they sat talking, Tamaki surprised him yet again by saying he was surprised that Kyouya had given up so easily when he really wanted to inherit. After weeks of self-control, Kyouya finally snapped and shoved Tamaki while spilling his resentment that Tamaki would inherit if he really tried while Kyouya had no chance despite being confident he had the ability. Tamaki's response to this is to tell him to go ahead, because the only person who is actually stopping him from trying is himself. At this moment, not only does Kyouya realize that Tamaki has completely seen through him all along, but he realizes that Tamaki is right, and if he really works hard enough he can achieve his goals.

From this moment on, Kyouya becomes a completely different person. While he still generally maintains a polite face, he begins to let Tamaki and certain others see him for the person he truly is-- ambitious, ruthless, and kind of an asshole. He also begins to tirelessly work to make connections, earn money, and generally prove himself as by far the most talented son of the Ootori family. However, he also remains friends with Tamaki, and whether he admits it or not, their friendship becomes truly genuine.

Four months later, while he and Tamaki finally have their meal at Kyouya's kotatsu, Tamaki suggests forming a Host Club, a club to charm and entertain young ladies at Ouran Academy. While Kyouya thinks the idea is extremely stupid, he decides to go along with it both for the sheer absurdity and because he thinks that he can actually turn a profit out of it. Kyouya is absolutely right in this-- while Tamaki is the president of the host club, vice-president Kyouya quickly becomes known as the Shadow King. He not only controls everything that happens in the club, but he makes an obscene amount of money out of it, and keeps the club going strong for years.

When Haruhi shows up two years later to turn the club upside-down, it doesn't actually affect Kyouya that much. While everyone else battles over who gets to be Haruhi's friend and develops huge crushes on the girl, Kyouya simply appreciates having complete control over her due to her debt of 8,000,000 yen (and growing). While he seems to respect her intelligence and appreciate the profits and rationality she brings to the club, for the most part he ignores her aside from attempts to help Tamaki get into her good graces. However, after a few instances in which she shows some considerable insights into his true character, his respect for her grows and he comes to consider her a friend as well in his own way.

Without detailing every adventure the Host Club gets into, there are a few particular instances of particular importance to Kyouya. The first is the school festival, in which the Host Club and the Sports Club led by an old rival of Kyouya's named Kuze compete in order to win the coveted central floor position for the festival. This is an important competition to Kyouya as a PR move, especially as the parents will be watching. Not only does Kyouya manage to lead the Host Club to victory, but he also maneuvers Tamaki into being the one to secure the win. This has the double affect of improving Tamaki's position within his own family as well as greatly impressing Kyouya's father, who was pleased Kyouya showed favoritism to the Suoh heir. At the end of the day, Kyouya's father announces that he believes in meritocracy, and if Kyouya is the most talented son, he will definitely be the one to inherit. This is a huge achievement for Kyouya on both parts, but it also demonstrates that he is still somewhat restricted in that he always has to defer to Tamaki.

Later on, after another confrontation with Kuze, Tamaki signs Kyouya up for a Sports Festival, where he will lead a team against the team Kuze leads. Kyouya refuses, and gets extremely angry at Tamaki for forcing him to do something that has no benefit for him. However, he later admits he's angry because he thinks Tamaki is trying to force him out of his shell and get close to others like Kuze, and he doesn't want to do that. Regardless, he becomes so angry at Tamaki (who is on Kuze's team) and Kuze that he agrees to participate, and through underhanded tactics secures a big lead. Tamaki helps his team make a comeback by inspiring them with a Shakespeare speech, and the game ends with relay race as the tie-breaking event. It finally comes down to Kyouya racing against Tamaki, and when Kyouya wins, he realizes what Tamaki was really trying to do-- show him that he loves competition, and giving him an opportunity to compete for himself rather than as an Ootori. Kyouya is surprised to realize that he actually regrets the underhanded tactics he used to get ahead, when ordinarily only results matter to him. This is also the first time he truly admits to himself just how important Tamaki's friendship is to him.

After the Sports Festival, Kyouya travels to France on a class trip, but Tamaki remains behind as going to France is far too painful for him as his missing mother is there. Kyouya takes the opportunity to use his connections and intelligence gathering skills to track down Tamaki's mother. It takes him the entire trip, and nearly a week without sleep, but he finally finds her and collapses on her front doorstep. After she finds him, he speaks to her for a while, ascertains that she's in good health, and then finally reveals to her that he knows her son by saying that she reminds him of his best friend. He goes home, and is able to tell Tamaki that his mother is doing well, which seems to serve as something of a repayment to Tamaki for the Sports Festival and their friendship in general.

And that's about the point I'm taking him from, although perhaps if there are new manga developments that don't conflict with establish game canon I'll retcon that.

Friends (210):

Friend of (111):