Disclaimer: If you've got lots of money, please spare me. I'm writing this fic simply for free. I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. If I did I wouldn't be writing this disclaimer and heading off to the pub.

Chapter 1: Faces and Names

The new term has started already. My heart isn't in it. The classes are a blur. The faces, that come and go, are just like the seasons. When you experience a season it seems too long yet in retrospect it was all too short. Sort of like my last vacation with my family. We went to Scotland. I hated it. Cold, dark, gloomy. Not my cup of tea. And now I'm at Ouran High School wishing I was back in our frigid hotel room and not surrounded by faces.

I hardly know anyone's name. I hate it when they spit it out at me when I first meet them. Their names that is. I forget them a second later. I rather come up with my own names for them. Like the girl sitting across from me. She's been "escorting" me around the school for the past two weeks. I still can't remember her name. She's plain. Black hair, brown eyes, smiling lips. She gets lost in the crowd of the other hundreds of students with the same features.

I call her Tea-chan. Since that's all the girl drinks. Gallons of it a day, I'm sure.

I think she only hangs out with me because I'm the new girl at Ouran which makes me a celebrity of sorts. And our fathers did business with each other a long time ago. She probably wants to remake the ties. Apparently, we used to play with each other when we were young. I don't remember. Lost in the crowd.

Poor girl. She is really trying to get me to…I don't know. What does she want? Nobody does something for you without expecting something in return. My mom thought I was bitter but I know that I'm just experienced.

My mother is dead by the way. Subway accident. She fell onto the tracks. The driver couldn't stop.

Now I see what she wants. She wants me to open up. The look on her face is obviously compassionate as she passes me the sugar. Yet the way she is tensing her eyebrows shows that she's apprehensive. She wants me to cry. And then she will comfort me. And the girls from the other tables will rush over and will hug me and cry with me. I don't want them to touch me. I don't like to be touched.

Tea-chan is looking at me with a worried smile. Shit. She asked me something.

"Um, sure." I say slowly

She smiles and grabs my hand. I can't help but flinch. I've startled her and she apologizes. I nod at her wondering what I have agreed too.

She is leading me through the halls. Some other girls have joined us. They tell me their names. I forget theirs and tell them mine. Tea-chan starts explaining some of the paintings on the walls as we pass by. She can't remember that she's already done so but I humour her and look interested.

Then we slow down. We are standing outside a music room. Nobody moves so I take the initiative and open the door. Rose petals flutter from nowhere and I'm temporarily blinded. When I blink again I see seven boys smiling at me. Well, some of them are smiling at least. Glasses-boy isn't smiling but smirking.

"Hello" They say at once. How rehearsed.

Why am I here? The girls introduce the boys as if they were something behind glass at the mall. Pointing at them, saying the names. Blondie, Glasses-boy, the twins…ying and yang, Bunny-chan, Spike, and the girly one. The girly one….I'll have to come up with a name for him because pansy-chan isn't that appealing.

The girls look at me with ridiculous smiles on their faces, "Aiko-chan…. Meet the Host Club!"

Am I supposed to be impressed? I think so. But they are just pretty boys in pretty uniforms. They are flesh and bone just like the rest of us. Is that special?

The blonde one strides up to me. He stares into my eyes with a passionate air.

"Welcome to the Host Club," he breathes in my ear. I am feeling a little hot under the proverbial collar. He is charming, I admit. And for the moment I am oblivious to the squeals from the other girls. He pulls a rose from behind his back and attempts to tuck it into my hair. I move back before he does. The magic is over. And Blondie looks like I hit him. He instead gives the rose to Tea-chan and dashes off rather quickly.

The twins perform an act. They are holding each other in a suggestive way and are whispering soft-spoken words. The girls next to me are going nuts. I notice that Bunny-chan and Spike have wondered off. Glasses-boy is typing with incredible speed into his computer. I walk up to him and peak over his shoulder. A profile pops up. And a picture of me. My profile.

"That's disturbing." I say lowly. He doesn't get startled but I didn't expect him too. He doesn't seem the type to be surprised easily.

"I suppose so." Is his cool reply.

"I'll have to make sure my information isn't so easily accessible in the future." I smile at him. And he gives me his rehearsed smile. Tilt of the head, honest smile…he's practiced. Good boy. Daddy will be proud.

"So…do you have everyone on this computer of yours?" I ask, feigning innocence.

"That," Glasses-boy says as he flips his laptop closed, "is confidential."

"And the information of everyone in this school isn't?" I snap back.

Girly boy gives a loud cough. It is a bad attempt to distract my attention from my battle but…as usual I find myself humouring him.

"Would you like some tea?" He asks.

"No thank you…ah…." I have forgotten his name….I can't very well call him Girly boy…shit.

"Haruhi." He supplies with a strained smile like someone dealing with a very slow person after a hard day's work.

"Ah yes, no thank you Haruhi-kun." I smile back.

"Please have a seat over here on the couches…its much more comfortable."

We head over to a couch and I end up with a cup of tea anyway. It's sitting in front of me, its cooling down but I don't care.

Haruhi is getting nervous from the awkward silence. He's one of those listener types. People talk and he adds in his two cents or a comment here and there. Lazy in my opinion.

"How do you like Ouran so far Aiko-chan?" He starts off hesitantly. I guess I'm more intimidating then I thought I was.

"Its fine I suppose."

Another silence.

"If you don't mind me asking Aiko-chan…why are you wearing the boy's uniform?"

This was another reason for my so-called celebrity status. I refused to wear a dress and asked for the boy's uniform instead. The girls thought this was brave and terribly feminist; they seem to admire me, though I have yet to see another girl lock up the dress for good.

"Because I don't wear dresses and I like to wear pants. Pants are easier to move around in while dresses are restricting…tell me Haruhi, have you ever tried to run in a dress?"

Haruhi's face suddenly got very red. I'm afraid I might have embarrassed him. Don't see why it should.

"Ah!" Haruhi gasps.

"What is it?" I am standing now. He doesn't answer. He is staring at my hand…my hand is dripping blood. It's running down my fingers.

"Shit." I curse softly pulling out my handkerchief. Haruhi is trying to find my eyes, but I refuse to let them meet with mine. Stupid boy.

"I would appreciate it, Haruhi, if you would remain silent on this matter. This is in the past. If you tell, it would merely open up old wounds. Do you understand?"

The "Do you understand" is a command. Its really "You will understand and obey."

Haruhi nods. And I walk towards the exit. Tea-chan is standing by a table of girls and trying to talk with them. She's the odd one out. The other girls wish she would go but they are cowardly and won't tell her to do so.

I can feel Haruhi's eyes on my back.

As I run my hands under cold water and watch the blood disappear down the drain, I realise that I've spoken the most I've said at Ouran in the ten minutes I was at the Host Club. That I actually remembered someone's name. Haruhi. And that Host Club might know everything about everyone at our school. And I can't let that continue. My profile must be erased.

My mother is dead by the way. Subway accident. She fell onto the tracks. The driver couldn't stop.