It was a quiet day at Ouran Academy. The sun was barely peeping from behind the clouds, too shy to show its face just yet. Maybe later. Maybe the next day. It was chilly for a day in September too; the wind was blowing rather harshly. Despite the dreary weather, to Ayame it was a wonderful day.

Walking down the empty hall, Ayame was all smiles as she explored the campus after class. It was her first day at Ouran Academy—the first day of her new life. After she received her letter of acceptance during the summer, she spent the rest of the time before the start of the semester anticipating what the school would be like. Coming from a small town close to Kyoto, Ayame was thankful to forsake the gossip infested town for the giant city of Tokyo. While every single mistake and action seemed magnified in her hometown, she felt like she could naturally blend into her surroundings there and just enjoy being.

Her first day at Ouran had been quite tolerable. While some of the girls in class 2-A seemed like pompous snobs, a good number of her female classmates were extremely nice to her. The fact she was at Ouran on scholarship did not seem to bother them as much as she originally predicted. In fact, they seemed quite surprised that Ayame had received a sports scholarship for ice-skating since most of the sports scholarships were granted to male students.

On the other hand, she didn't interact with many of the boys that day. In fact, only one had approached her. Pleasantries flowing from his mouth and a rose in his hand, Ayame felt rather awkward as the boy greeted her with "princess" following by a speech on her beauty and grace. Once the overwhelming factor of his personality dulled down, however, she found herself feeling quite flattered by him.

She supposed that he had that effect on many girls.

Now that the end of the day had come, and seeing as Ayame didn't start practice until a few weeks later into the semester, she decided to go and see some of the clubs. One in particular had caught her attention. Host Clubs were something that Ayame had heard of from time to time in her life, and she had never imagined one to exist in a high school. Hearing snippets of information regarding the club from different girls throughout the day had caused her curiosity to grow at an alarming rate.

Finally, Ayame's trek through the school came to a halt. Standing in front of the Third Music Room, she smiled crookedly. "Well, this is going to be interesting." Gathering her courage, she pushed open the door.

For a moment, Ayame felt her breath hitch in her throat as the tension built in the stomach. It quickly dissipated as she felt her expectations crash. There was no theme music, not extravagant lighting, no dramatic voiceovers. Instead, in the middle of the room were seven ordinary, male students.

Scratch that. Seven attractive male students.

One student was seated, and it only took a moment for her to realize it was the same charming student from her class. His blonde hair was fell into his deep blue eyes as a red rose twirled idly in his hand, reminding her of the one he had given her earlier. Two redheaded twins were leaning over the chair, mischievous glints in their eyes that made them seem like unpredictable mavericks. There was a small effeminate boy sitting on the floor with wide brown eyes. All the innocence in the world seemed to swirl in those orbs. To the right of the twins was a small boy with blonde hair perched on the shoulders of a much taller counterpart.

Those two Ayame also recognized. She had become acquainted with Mitsukuni Haninozuka (she still didn't understand why he went by Honey for she liked his name a great deal) and Takashi Morinozuka during the summer when she had her conditioning with Coach Ivanov. While Honey's love for sweets was borderline terrifying and Mori's stoic nature often made her feel like she was rambling, she truly liked the two of them and admired their dedication to their sport.

Then to the left of the twins was a raven-haired boy with glasses with a clipboard in hand. While there was a smile stretched across his face, Ayame felt an uneasiness in his disposition, as if he truly could care less if he was there or not. It was then that she recognized him from her class. He had been quiet all day, but from the way the teacher addressed him, she could tell that he demanded a great deal of respect.

"Aya-chan!" Honey jumped off of Mori's shoulder and ran to give Ayame a hug. "Usa-chan and I have missed you! We were hoping you would visit, weren't we Takashi?"

Mori gave a quiet nod in response. Before Ayame could say anything, the blonde haired boy had suddenly appeared in front of her with a rose in hand yet again. "My beautiful princess, you've decided to grace us with your lovely presence. We're truly honored to welcome you to—"

Within moments, he was pushed aside by the arrival of one of the twins who seemed nonchalant about his abusive action. As the blonde resorted in weeping in a corner , the twin blurted, "Who are you? I don't seem to remember you from anywhere. Are you new?"

"Um, yeah, I'm new. I'm Ayame." Soon the other twin joined his brother in staring as they began a predatory dance around her, their eyes never leaving her body as if she was some piece of carcass they were to battle over. "I-I'm a scholarship student here… for ice skating…" When they refused to stop their stare she felt her temper flare. "Will you two stop?" Of course, they continued their inspection as if she had said nothing at all.

"Please, miss, don't mind them. They're just a hassle." The effeminate boy stood off and brushed on his trousers. "I'm Haruhi Fujioka. Those two are Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. We're in class 1-A. I'm guessing you already know Honey-Sempai and Mori-Sempai. The weepy one in the corner is Tamaki-sempai."

Haruhi looked towards the boy in glasses—he was clearly to introduce Ayame's other classmate. After the boy in glasses cleared his throat, he said, "Welcome Miss Ihara. I hope you're finding your first day at Ouran to be enjoyable?"

Is he not going to introduce himself? "More interesting than anything I suppose…" Ayame voice trailed off and then there was silence. The awkwardness in the room finally became all too much. It was at the point where Ayame wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground below. At least then Tamaki's wailing would be muffled.

Thinking of something to break the awkwardness, she stepped away from the twins circular dance and walked towards the sulking Tamaki. Kneeling down, she took a deep breath, "Tamaki, I really liked the rose that you gave me today." Smiling gently at her classmate, she reached out her hand and asked, "Come on, smile? Please?"

Though she knew that Tamaki was being overdramatic, she felt an undeniable urge to comfort the boy. While throughout the day she could see him laughing and smiling, she couldn't help but feel her heart drop a little when she saw him. As pathetic as it sounded, she felt protective of him. The was no reason for it; it simply was.

Then again, did she need a reason to be?

Tamaki gazed at her hand for a moment. She felt the stares of the Host Club on her back but chose to ignore it. He gingerly took her hand in his as Ayame pulled him to his feet. He cocked his head in thought, eyes momentarily flitting behind her, then smiled brightly. "Of course princess. Anything for someone as lovely as you are. Now come! You must designate one of us as your host. I insist!"

"Well, um…" Her cheeks flushed red as Tamaki put her on the spot. "I think—"

"Mommy, you don't have any designations today, do you?" Tamaki turned to look at the raven haired boy with puppy dog eyes. Amused at the term of endearment, Ayame chuckled slightly.

"Tamaki-Sempai, Kyoya-Sempai never has designations." Haruhi, who had begun to move tables and chairs around, seemed exasperated by the antics of the club.

So, that's his name. Concentrating hard, she then realized that he was the Kyoya Ootori everyone in her grade was talking about. Mysterious, good looking, all the girls seemed in love with him, all the boys eager to be his friend. Yet, in this moment, Ayame felt he was rather cold. Then, she saw his eye twitch menacingly, and her stomach dropped, dread sweeping through her body. Why do I get the feeling this is going to end up so incredibly wrong…

"Perfect! Kyoya, you will be Princess Ayame's host for today!" Tamaki clapped his hands together excitedly.

Suddenly, something snapped. To be exact, Kyoya's pens snapped. Loudly. Unwillingly to cause a big scene her first day, Ayame looked worriedly at her supposed host and said, "Tamaki, it's okay. I haven't seen Honey-Sempai in the a while. I don't—"

"Actually, this is a good idea," Kaoru said as he took a table from Haruhi and carried it himself. "Kyoya never hosts. It makes me question whether or not he even has the ability to charm girls."

"Exactly. My lord, I think this is your most brilliant idea." Hikaru paused for a moment in thought before adding, "Your only brilliant idea."

Tamaki was immune to the jibe as his eyes glowed with the rare praise of the twins. Singing in French, he pulled the rest of the Host Club away as a couch and coffee table suddenly appeared behind Kyoya. Her eyes widened in shock as her brain attempted to process the events in the past few minutes. It took her another few moments to realize that she was left alone with an angry Kyoya.

Ayame had an inkling that being with an angry heir to a conglomerate was the last thing she ever wanted to experience.

Reluctantly, she turned her head to sneak a glance at her host, but unfortunately caught his eye. Her cheeks turned red as she averted his gaze instantly. His steel eyes chilled her to the core. Gripping her briefcase awkwardly, she smiled apologetically. "Kyoya, I'm sorry for disturbing you. There's no need for you to entertain me today. I can come back another day and designate someone else. I hope you have a good day."

Unable to risk another glance at him, she quickly brushed by him on her way to the door. She had barely made it a few feet when she felt him grasp her arm. "Miss Ihara, please stay. I have no problem hosting a valued customer. It's not as if I have no hosted before." Ayame could swear that the twins had heard his menacing voice and cowered in fear.

Kyoya, ever the mood changer, then smiled at Ayame. Gesturing towards the empty couch, he waited for her to take a seat.

What was the poor girl to do but sit?

AN: So, I haven't written a fanfiction in general in forever, so excuse the mistakes and so forth. I have a lot of plans for this fanfiction, so stay tuned! Hope you've enjoyed it so far. =]