Hi! So just a few notes: it's based after the anime, right after the last episode. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

A Very Bad Day

Rin

What exactly did I expect when I stepped into the music room, also known as the Host Club room? Something a bit more formal? An underground group of criminals? A tutoring house? Whatever it was, I still don't know. But one thing's for sure—at the risk of sounding cliché, it changed my life forever.

"You'll really enjoy it," said the girl whose name Rin still didn't know. Her face was lit up with happiness, as if she had made her day by asking what it meant. "Maybe you can come with me after school?"

"I don't know," Rin replied politely, still scanning through the Math assignment that the teacher had assigned her the other day. "I have things to study for—"

"Oh, come on," Brown Haired Girl nagged. "Just stay for a few minutes, and see how it's like! Every girl in school has gone there. You should have the experience! It's almost like a school tradition here."

"I'll think about it," she said. "Besides…what's the point of the Host Club anyways?"

Her eyes widened, as if she had spoken a Taboo word. "What?" she squeaked.

Rin sighed. She obviously wasn't going to get any decent response from this girl. Even if she seemed pretty nice, she was an airhead. Come to think of it, almost every other girl here was an airhead. She wasn't going to get decent information about the Host Club she didn't go. It was as simple as that.

"Sure, I'll come," Rin said casually. "Where will we meet?"

"Oh, we don't have to meet. I'll just see you there?"

"Sure. That's fine." Rin let out a small smile, hoping that she didn't sound sarcastic. Luckily, Brown Haired Girl just grinned back and turned as the teacher came in the door.

If this thing was going to be a waste of her time, she was never going to follow the advice of an Ouran Academy student ever again.

Name: ?

Appearance: Brown haired with eyes the same shade. Petite, looks like she hasn't done much work. Voice is squeakier than most, making her sound younger than her age (15).

Background: From her talking, seems like her father's in the interior market or something like that. She seems pretty popular in Ouran, although hated by a few.

Relationship to her: Just someone who I can use to get around the school. After that, I could ditch her.

So far, Rin had gotten very little information about her only companion. Looked like the students here were better at keeping their mouths shut compared to the people in the other school she had gone to. That was no big deal. Hopefully, she would improve at collecting more information about others.

Rin walked towards the halls, trying to keep her head down. Thankfully, they didn't think much of her—but she had to keep it that way. From what Rin gathered, they thought it was weird that she wore the boy's uniform instead of wearing the clothes that she was supposed to wear.

The reason why she did it? One, to hide the bruises. Two, the heavy cloth of the dress made it hard to walk in. Three, the mixture of black and white ribbons that she used to tie up her hair clashed with the color of the dress—and matched with the blazer and pants.

Well, yellow was never her color in the first place. For starters, her slightly pale skin and long dark brown hair made her look paler in that shade. Also, according to the magazines she saw in stores, yellow made you look happier. She wasn't exactly the type of person you would see smiling every day. Rin would probably do the exact opposite.

Her eyes darted around the halls. It seemed like she was one of the lucky few out, only a few people milling the school. Rin walked faster, trying to get a glimpse of the people without making it seem like she was stalking them. As she did so, Rin brought out her notebook again and started jotting down things.

Girl with blonde hair and pink nails seems to have a crush on a guy with red glasses and weird smile. Keeps on giggling and playing with her hair.

Surprisingly, no signs of alcohol or drugs. Either the school has a strict policy and actually keeps an eye on others, or the students are too scared. Must ask Brown Haired Girl on this later.

Library's always noisy. Mental note to self: never study there, unless in critical need.

Bag is seriously heavy. Jot down important things later, so I don't need to bring books.

First kooky sign detected! There's a guy with a black hood stalking the dark places. Possibly scared of the brightness? Maybe a sickness? Most likely both.

Rin wrote down everything she saw. The reason why she did it was because she could forget something, and the notebook helped her remember. It was also fun to pretend that she actually knew things from time to time. Actually, people thought she was weird for carrying a notebook around, but they didn't know the real reason why she brought it along. It was almost amusing to watch them try to find out what it contained.

Finally, she realized that she was already at the end of the hall.

There it was. The location of the Ouran Host Club.

There was the sign at the door indicating that it was the third music room. Rin was more surprised by the fact that they had more than one music room than the fact that they held it in a music room in the first place.

Silence practically emanated from the room, as if no one was there yet. Was this some kind of trick? Could Brown Haired Girl have fooled her? Rin flipped through the pages of her notebook. Well, the directions she gave were correct…so why was it so quiet?

There was only one way to find out. And that was through opening the door.

So she stretched out her arm, and put her fingers on the gold handle. It felt cold in her hand, yet somehow it felt used, as if another person had entered. That was a good thing, right? That meant that there was a bigger possibility that this wasn't a prank. Although she didn't know the reason why, Rin took a deep breath and opened the door.

Suddenly, everything turned white. On the instinct, she narrowed my eyes, trying to get used to the brightness. As if on cue, rose petals hovered to the outside, covering her sight. She wiped a hand through her face as one landed on her nose. There was something strange about this. Something really weird… "What the—?" Rin began, but then stopped in mid-sentence.

There were a group of boys who were gathered together, standing regal and tall. The first thing she noticed was the blonde-haired boy at the centre, who was dressed like an old European king. He looked kind of cute with his crown perched on top of his head, as if it was going to fall down.

Two identical twins with bright red hair and cat-like eyes flanked his side, their smirks synchronizing with one another as they turned to observe her. They were dressed like jesters, judging from the bells on their hat. There was a stoic guy who looked scary, with a blonde child-like person with a smile on his shoulders, their outfits reminding her of the ones of royalty in the medieval times.

A pretty-boy like guy with big brown eyes was behind the blonde. He looked a lot nicer than the rest, with his suit of armor. Lastly, there was a guy with glasses and black hair wearing a dark robe. A clipboard was in his hands, and he didn't look up to her like the others as he wrote down some things.

In short? They looked kind of creepy with the costumes…yet kind of…

There was no other word to describe it. It was just that something radiated off them that she couldn't find the words to explain.

Rin thought that she must've looked like an idiot standing there, because the one in the centre stood up from the throne, fixing a charming smile on his face. "Hello there, princess," he said brightly. "What's your name?"

"Um…this is the Host thing, right?" Rin asked, trying to confirm the current spot. Because there was no way that a bunch of guys would willingly put on costumes…right?

That was proof that the world had gone insane.

"Yes. Welcome to the Ouran Host Club!" called the red-heads on the side. "Who would you like to be your host?"

"Host?" Rin echoed. "Isn't this a tutoring club or something?"

"Huh?" said the twins. Confused looks were evident on their faces. "What do you mean?"

"Tutoring…" Rin's voice trailed off, as all of the other members started to stare at her. It was obvious that they had no idea what was she talking about.

Okay. This was becoming quite embarrassing. Heat rising to her cheeks but masked as Rin narrowed her eyes, she turned towards the door. "Looks like I got it wrong. Well, bye—"

"Wait," said one of the twins. "She's the scholarship commoner, right?"

Commoner?

Commoner. Commoner…oh.

She was the commoner.

Well, at least had their vocabulary down.

"Stop calling other people commoner, it can get really annoying," said the guy with big brown eyes. "She's in our class. You didn't notice?"

"No," they said in perfect unison.

She edged closer to the door, hoping for a quick escape. This situation was becoming a bit too awkward for her, and if she stayed any longer, Rin somehow knew that she would ruin any chances of blending in. "So, okay, bye—"

"How come you can't notice a person who sits right in front of you?"

"That's her?"

"Yes."

"…we didn't notice."

"Look, I'm going to go and study—"

"You mean you don't want to talk with us?" The child on the guy's shoulders suddenly looked sad. "But I wanted to talk with you!"

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you to, back when I thought I'd learn something," Rin quipped. "What do you guys do here anyways? Play dress-up all day?" she added, glancing quickly at their attire. It actually felt relaxing to let out a side comment for the day.

"What are you saying? Pretty girls like you shouldn't say such foul language! Yet, you're not just a pretty girl…you're a princess." In a blink of an eye, Blondie moved nearer to her, his violet-like eyes gazing into hers as if she was a piece of bread and he was a beggar. They were too close to each other, only the air separating the two. "This is only a small club, where we entertain beautiful women like you. Alas, I could drown myself in your eyes for eternity—"

Rin snickered. "Why would I want to be with a guy who wants to entertain other girls?" Besides, her family problems gave her more than enough boy problems than what she needed.

Great. She had forgotten Oath Number One: don't think about Him for a day in school.

Also feeling more uncomfortable than before, she quickly turned her face away from Blondie. That action brought her to the thing she was thinking of hours ago. "What is the Host Club about anyways?" she asked. "Isn't this a place where you study?"

"Study?" Brown Eyes shook his head. "No. We do something a bit more different."

"What is it then?"

And so Blondie cleared his throat and began his speech.

"Um, wow," was all she could say when he was done. "…interesting idea."

So it was basically a place where rich guys talked to rich girls, and got cash off them.

No wonder they had enough money for the costumes.

"Yeah!" Child-Boy cried. "So who do you want to pick?"

"What kind of guy are you into anyways?" For the first time, Glasses looked at Rin. His face held no emotion, so she couldn't really figure out what he felt about this situation. Weirded out as she was? Confused?

"I don't really have a type—"

"Everyone has one!" Blondie cut in, gesturing furiously to the guy who was carrying Child-Boy. Rin wondered why everyone interrupted her when she was about to say something. "Do you go for the wild type? Or the loli-shota?" he added, looking at Child-Boy. He just cocked his head to the right, looking innocent even with that small gesture.

"Of course, you could be into cool guys—" Glasses only nodded in response.

"—or the little devils." The twins turned to each other, smirking and high-fiving one another.

"There's also the natural, if you swing that way. I wouldn't forgive you if you hurt my daughter though," he said, his gaze turning to Brown Eyes. Rin swore that his amiable face softened a bit as he looked at her. Romance, ay? Wait—

"Really?" Rin examined Brown Eyes. He—or she—seemed almost like a boy, with her short hair. But when you thought of it that way, it made sense.

"Or do you go for my type?" He leaned closer to her, cupping Rin's face with his hands. His hands felt warm to her cold flesh. She swore that if this was a drama, there would be some corny love song blaring in the background.

"I told you, I don't have a type," Rin snapped as she tried to shove him away without being too rude. Instead, Rin ended up half-heartedly pushing him away.

"That's a surprise," Blondie said, regaining his balance by side-stepping. "Everyone must have a type!"

She ran a finger through her hair, worrying about it being tangled. If he ended up being the reason why it was messed up, she was going to kill him. "Well, I don't," she said edgily. "Now could you please let me go? I have a bunch of assignments I need to go, and I'm not going anywhere with you blocking the way. Plus—"

"Is she okay?" One of the twins asked the other, a knowing simper on his face.

The other twin nodded. "She's great," he enthused. "Really great."

Brown Eyes looked at her sympathetically. "Good luck. You'll need it."

"Need it for what—AAAHHH!"

Suddenly (again), the twins appeared by Rin's side, grabbing her arms. Rin tried to fight back by squirming around, but somehow they remained a firm grip as they dragged her across the room.

Rin was about to open her mouth to scream, but when she caught in Glasses' stare, there was something that stopped her. Her mouth froze as she looked into the eyes of a demon. Then, he smiled.

"Please don't scream," he said pleasantly. "It would attract unwanted attention towards this place. Besides, if you do, I assure you that you might regret it for the rest of your life."

Rin couldn't believe it. Dai said that she was the only one who convince anyone to do anything. But there was this rich kid in glasses, who was keeping her own mouth shut. This was definitely a dream, right?

The one on the right tsked. "Would you stop moving? We aren't going to kill you or anything."

"That's what they say in the movies," Rin growled, not stopping for a second to breath. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"A simple conversation," the twin on the right said. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Could you please let me go?" Rin begged, switching for different tactics.

"Sorry, no can do!" Quickly, they pushed her to the couch. "Now let us begin!"

Kyoya

Somehow, he knew that today's events were going to be quite amusing.

Kyoya sat down by a chair as he waited for the other customer to come, still writing on his notebook. He was carefully trying to divide the funds for the club, silently cursing Tamaki for ordering the crown. It was worth half the total budget that he had planned. If his calculations were accurate (which most likely were), the profits they would receive for this day would barely cover the amount that they had spent.

Haruhi seemed to notice what was going on, and temporarily averted her gaze from the twins and the girl to him. "It was too much?"

He nodded in return. There was no need for other words.

Haruhi smiled. "Well, I suppose we could save more for the next meeting…"

"It won't be enough," Kyoya interrupted. "For the price that we spent today, I need to increase the bid for Honey's sweater at the auction website. Maybe a hundred thousand yen higher? Yes, that seems profitable…" Already set in action, he picked up his laptop from the table and immediately started typing.

"Eh," Haruhi said, looking back at the sight. She seemed to realize that there was nothing she could do about the situation and decided to let him be. A good choice, since he was the only one who could run the club and not let it go bankrupt.

Once he was done, Kyoya shut down the laptop and scribbled the price change down. Then he looked around the room, realizing that there were only a few girls inside. Well, it was a bit early he supposed. Silently, he tried to look for anything worth his time. And for that moment, it was the commoner and the twins.

"So," Karou started, eyeing the girl with a lecherous look. "What class are you in?" Kyoya knew that he was exaggerating his actions, his typical response for any customer. He wasn't a hundred percent sure about Hikaru though, who was doing the same, but somehow he seemed bored.

Lately, the angrier twin had been more prone to doing things that even he wouldn't have done in the past. It started when Haruhi had started dating Tamaki. At first, Hikaru seemed to be okay, despite the way his body would stiffen when the couple would enter the room together. It had only gotten worse when they heard the news about Tamaki's father approving the relationship. Hikaru was now prone to mood swings, and tended to be ruder once any of the two were in the room. Not surprisingly, the only people who didn't notice this were Hikaru and Tamaki themselves. Kyoya chuckled in his head at the irony.

The girl inhaled a deep breath. It was as if she was trying to keep whatever it was from bursting out. "Same as you," she said darkly. "Weren't you listening earlier?"

"Sorry, our bad!" cried the twins in unison.

"We tend to get things messed up sometimes," Karou said. He turned to Hikaru. "Right brother?"

"Right." The vehemence in his tone was almost as strong as the girl's.

Karou's face fell slightly, but he managed to keep the worried expression on his face as he turned to their next tactic: brotherly love. "Hikaru, are you alright?" he asked softly.

"Yes, but it would be much better if you would fix it for me tonight," Hikaru answered, some of his former self returning to his features. He stroked Karou's now-I'm-about-to-cry mouth, and whispered, "I hope you do."

"Hikaru…"

Kyoya glanced at the girl, wondering what she would be doing. To his surprise she wasn't even watching—instead, she unwrapped a stick of gum and popped it in her mouth. "What were you saying?" she asked innocently.

Hikaru frowned. "Nothing," he muttered. "Absolutely nothing."

Karou tensed up, hesitation clear in his eyes. He tried to change the subject by saying, "Do you like our costumes?"

"Well, they're okay," she said nonchalantly, bringing out a book from her bag. "Why does the teacher always assign you to read books?" she complained.

What did she mean by 'okay'? That compromised a third of the budget! Kyoya was about to open his mouth to protest, but realized that it would sound churlish if he did so. Trying to shrug it off, he turned back to his notebook and pretended to write some notes while listening to the conversation.

Hikaru seemed to be having the same thoughts as Kyoya. "Just okay?"

"It's not exactly spectacular or horrible, so it's okay," she replied. He could hear her pen moving on the paper as she said those words.

"I bet that you couldn't even make something like this," Hikaru fired back. "Who are you anyways?"

"I'd never give my name to strangers," the girl said. Kyoya could imagine her grinning wryly.

Hikaru exhaled a sigh. "I'm Hikaru Hitachiin. Karou's the one beside me. The one with glasses is Kyoya Otorii, and he's the vice president and one who manages the funds. Honey-senpai is the short one, Mori-senpai is the one near him. Satisfied?" He didn't say Tamaki's and Haruhi's name.

Karou hastily introduced the other two. "Tamaki Suoh's our leader, and the one who made this club," he added afterwards. "Haruhi Fujioka's the girl."

"You must have a bad fund-manager. Your costumes look too fancy for a one-time use. Wonder how much went to that?"

Now that was a dagger to the back. Kyoya almost felt like making another threat, but this wasn't the time to react.

"Probably more than your bag," Hikaru spat, like he had tasted something really sour. "How much did it cost? No wonder you wear the boy's uniform—you're too stupid to realize that only we wear that!"

"Will you just stop acting harsh?" Kyoya looked at the girl's defiant eyes. He could tell that she wasn't that annoyed, but slightly ticked-off. "If you want people to notice you so bad, you don't have to act that way," she said.

"Who said I was the one who was attention seeking?"

"I did?" she said tartly. She let out a raspy chuckle and went back to reading the book.

Kyoya didn't know whether to throw her out or to let the situation go on. The girl wasn't breaking any of the rules, but she was definitely turning off Hikaru's mood. He tried to meet Tamaki's glance, but he was busy chatting with the other girls, oblivious to what was happening. Desperate, he looked for Haruhi or even Mori-senpai, but they too had customers.

Karou was steadily growing uncomfortable with the situation, already fidgeting and rubbing his head sheepishly. "What did you say your name was?" he asked the girl.

"Jesse James."

"That isn't your name."

"How do you know?"

"Who would name their kid that?"

She smirked. From his angle, she almost looked devilish. "Caught me. Just call me Goto. Rin Goto to be precise, but it'll make everything easier."

"And you're starting to piss me off," Hikaru shot back. He was past the point of anger—he was furious. "Why don't you just go?"

"I would, but this place is quieter than the library, now that you think of it," Rin noted.

Karou sent his brother a look telling him to shut up. "Well," he said diplomatically, "it wouldn't make any sense for you to stay if you're not talking to any of the hosts, are you?"

Rin paused. For a moment, she seemed to be caught off-guard. "Well no, but—"

"So if you want to stay," Hikaru said, a demure look replacing the fury. "You might want to play a game."

"And it's…?"

The twins beamed simultaneously. "The 'Guess which is Hikaru Game'!"

"Okay," Rin replied quickly, "I'll play. I win, I stay. I lose, I'll leave. Deal?"

"Deal!"

The twins stood up together, hand-in-hand. Then, the same thing that Kyoya had seen for many months happen: they seemed to rotate as they spun around; the only sign of their individuality was their bells on their hat jingling madly. Rin closed her eyes, and didn't pay any attention to their movements.

Finally, they stopped, and faced Rin. "Which one is Hikaru?" They asked, their voices sounding like one.

"Um…the one on the right is Hikaru. Right?" Rin opened her brown eyes.

Silence.

Kyoya knew that it was one of those very rare moments where the customer was right.

"Wrong!" Hikaru cried, smiling jubilantly. "So go!"

"Um, Hikaru….?" Kaoru removed his hat, and placed it on the table, as if in shock. "She—"

"When you were talking earlier, I noticed that Hikaru's voice was a pitch lower than Kaoru's," Rin said smugly. "Plus, you had no time to switch appearances, so I counted the bells on your hat for good measure. Obviously, it didn't come to that, thank God—"

"Well, you're wrong." Hikaru's eyes glowed like a yellow flashlight piercing the darkness. "Go. Now."

Rin stuck out her tongue. "But I was right, so I stay."

"You weren't right!"

"Stop it, Hikaru," Haruhi called from her seat. Even if most people knew she was a girl now, that didn't stop the steady flow of customers that flew towards her simplicity. "She was right, and you know it. Stop acting childish."

Hikaru flinched. "What did you say again?" he asked, tone suddenly reverting to a few bars lower.

"I said you shouldn't act childish," Haruhi said. "Is there something wrong?"

Kyoya knew that she was right and had no ill intentions, but he really wished that he hadn't said that. Just as he predicted, fifteen milliseconds later, all hell broke loose.

"Childish? You think I'm childish?" Hikaru demanded. His scowl was so deep that Kyoya almost couldn't see his eyes.

"Huh?" Haruhi blinked.

"So you lied?" Rin appeared outraged. "You know one thing that's almost as bad as alcoholics? Liars." She stood up, her hands turned into fists. "I would seriously want to punch your face now, but it would leave a bad mark in my record. So I won't."

Kyoya decided this was the best time to intervene; the customers breaking apart from their hosts and turning to gaze at the scene. He also stood up, and faced Rin with a calm smile. "You are free to physically abuse him in any way you want. But I should warn you in advanced: if you do any damage to him, I will ask my friends to arrest you for foul play."

"I'm so scared. Not." Rin sneered. "If anyone should be going for foul play, it's him. He's one of the biggest jerks I've seen—"

"Does that include yourself?" Hikaru cut in snidely, thrusting all his frustration on her.

She put her fingers to her head, as if she was thinking. "Yeah. If you were on a list, I'd be five and you'd be number two."

"Hikaru-kun…" Honey-senpai's eyes looked like they were about to cry. "Please don't hurt Haruhi and Rin-chan!"

Rin seemed to soften a smidge as Honey talked. "You know what? It isn't worth it wasting my time on an idiot like you." She grabbed her bags and the brown notebook that he hadn't noticed until now. She glared at Hikaru which such ferocity that her brown eyes almost turned into dancing flames. "So goodbye—and I hope you die!" She paused. "But not your brother, he's alright."

With those words, she started to walk briskly towards the door, her haughty stare making others look away, embarrassed and scared at the same time. She shut the door with a slam.

When she was gone, Kyoya noticed that the twins seemed to be for a loss at words, especially Hikaru. The rest of the guests were shocked, nobody saying a word. But Tamaki's expression was the most different: amused, happy almost.

This was the part where he took charge. Putting on his calmest face, he dipped his head. "Let us return to the festivities, shall we?"

Eager for a change, everyone nodded and started uneasy chatter. Haruhi looked puzzled, like she was trying to solve a hard problem as she talked with the girls. Kyoya saw the twins shake their heads together, and sit back down in their places. Within seconds, a new batch of girls came in, squealing about the incident.

What had happened perplexed Kyoya greatly. First, the commoner had seemed rebellious, doing her best to get out. Once she had found her position she had reverted to sarcasm. The more that he pondered upon it, it was almost as if she was using her words as a shield.

He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was looking at him. No one in sight. He'd better make his move before all the rest came.

Slinking like a panther in the darkness, Kyoya slipped out of the room, closing the door as softly as he could. He scanned the hallway, trying to find the jet-black hair that Rin had. It was easy to find her, but her figure was almost like a small dot. He forced his pace to go faster, and he finally caught up to the girl. "Hello."

"Wha—" Rin jumped back, looking surprised from his presence. In a second she regained composure, lifting her eyes to meet his. "What do you want?" The way she said it was almost weary.

Kyoya smiled. Somehow, he knew what the most appropriate thing to say was this:

"Just wanted to know why you thought the Host Club was a tutoring club."

Rin blinked as her eyes widened. "What?" She stammered, face turning red. "I never said that—"

"Then you have no reason to blush," Kyoya said. "Or do you have like me?"

And those were the least appropriate words to say.

Her face now resembled a pack of furious hyenas. "Why would I ever like a bunch of bastards like you?" she hissed.

"I don't know."

"Argh! You are all the same!" Her face the same shade of a strawberry and a tomato, Rin turned away from him. She ran down the halls, her footsteps making echoes in the hallway. Kyoya just watched, smiling to himself.

"Idiot," he called, soft enough for only him to hear.

And with that, he went back in the Host Club, preparing for the rest of the day.