-The Ghost Story with a Happy Ending-

-An 'Ouran High School Host Club' fanfiction-

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Before We Begin: To clear some things up, Tora is a Lobelia student who plays music for the Host Club. Ryu used to do it, but girls began to request him so he became their 'creative' type (rose colour: burgundy) and she now steps in to provide background noise.

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"How long will you be?"

"Maybe a month, at the most. I'll be back."

Tora stared out the window of the third music room along the northern corridor atop the southern building of Ouran Academy, looking down at the moonlit gardens with sadness, thin lines of painted on tears dotting her cheeks. She was supposed to be hiding and then slowly move into the light to scare people as 'The Maiden of the Music Room', an idea she'd cleverly designed and spread around the school, but at that moment in time she was…distracted.

"Does everyone else know?"

"They don't need to. Only you."

The story she'd spun was that a long time ago, during a time when Japan was in the middle of war, the Maiden of the Music Room was a student at Ouran, and her name was Ayame. One day her lover Masaru told her that he was to be conscripted to fight for his country far away, and while she had opposed the idea strongly there wasn't much she could do; the penalty for dodging conscription was imprisonment. He left her the next day, and she waited for him in the music room, the place where they shared many happy memories. A month passed, and it was drawing closer to the time that Masaru would return, but a friend of Ayame's passed on the dreadful news: Masaru had been killed in action saving the life of another soldier, and he wanted her to know that he would always love her. Ayame because distraught and distant, slowly falling out of society to wait in the music room for Masaru. Eventually her grief took her life, and now she remains in the music room, still waiting for her lover to return.

"I'm going to miss you."

"And I you."

Tora blinked back her tears and stood up, taking her place in the shadows as she heard footsteps outside the doors. When they opened and she spotted her targets – a girl and a boy – she began to softly sigh, as she had been instructed to do.

"Wh-who's there?" the girl asked, looking nervous even before the sighing had begun. She shuffled closer to the boy, who looked around for the source of the noise. Tora continued to sigh, occasionally adding in long, soft breaths to signify that the ghost was coming closer.

"Is that you, Masaru?" she asked in an accented breathy whisper, allowing herself to move closer to the moonlight so her long white dress glimmered slightly, "Have you finally returned to me?"

The girl let out a shriek. "It's the Maiden of the Music Room!" The boy suddenly went white as the 'ghost' stepped out of the shadows, gliding along the floor as if she were floating. Tora reached out a hand to the boy, her contacted grey eyes hollow and boring into their own.

"It's you…" she sighed, "Masaru…you've come back to me…you promised…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The boy and the girl fled the music room, the girl on the verge of tears, and Tora gave a half-hearted smile. Another job well done.

"I wish you didn't have to go."

"I wish the same. But we both know that I must."

Her place by the window was still lukewarm when she sat down again, her long white dress fluttering as she got comfortable. She was suddenly on her feet in a matter of seconds, footsteps outside alerting her to another presence. She didn't have time to hide in the shadows, as the door was thrown open too quickly and…rather unceremoniously, now that she thought of it, but when she saw who'd done it, she gasped.

"I just passed two students who were stammering about the Maiden of the Music Room," said the figure, his glasses glinting in the moonlight, "I had to see her for myself."

"Kyouya…" Tora crossed the room at a run and threw herself into his open arms, her tears now flowing freely, "I missed you." The Shadow King tightened his grip on the 'ghost' and lowered his head to press a kiss to the crown of hers.

"And I you, Tora."

"Promise me you'll return, Masaru."

"I promise you Ayame, with all my heart and soul, I will return to you. Right here, in this music room."

"I love you, Masaru."

"I love you, Ayame."

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DISCLAIMER: The disclaimer belongs to the characters and settings of 'Ouran High School Host Club' – Bisco Hatori – and Tora and the 'Maiden of the Music Room' story – me.