Switched

This year is different than previous years for the twins at Ouran Academy. They had never had a situation like the one they were currently in: they were in two separate classes for two of their class periods.

On the first day of class they walked down the hallway together until they reached the first classroom: this one was Hikaru's. Kaoru walked him into the room, and they were greeted by Haruhi. The trio wasn't able to spend much time together because Kaoru had to make his way to his own class.

When he walked in the room, he looked around to see if there was anyone he knew. His heart sank when he realized that the room was full of unfamiliar faces, and that he was going to have to learn how to make a new friend or he would be alone. After scanning the room a second time, he decided to take the empty seat next to a cute girl with medium length, brown hair.

They were seated near the back, and it appeared as if she didn't know anyone in this class either. They were both alone, and stayed silent for a moment. Eventually Kaoru worked up the courage to try and introduce himself and make a friend on his own, for the first time ever. He turned to her, and asked a brief question. "So you don't know anyone in this class either, huh?"

She shook her head in acknowledgement, but stayed quiet. Kaoru could tell that she was shy, but he also had a hunch that if he could get her to talk, she would be a very animated person. "What's your name?"

"...umm...Sasaki. Sasaki Eri."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sasaki-chan. My name is Hitachiin…"

The girl next to him exploded with excitement before he could even finish his name. "HITACHIIN! Really?! I love your family's fashion designs! They are absolutely astounding; your mother is a genius! You know, my father isn't well known for anything, he just works really hard and has saved money for years. He wanted to send me to the best school, so he just keeps working hard. He recently got a promotion. I guess you don't need to know my whole life story though…" The girl started to blush, embarrassed for rambling on and on, but that didn't stop her from talking. "But I love meeting members of the families that have been rich like this for generations. It's absolutely fascinating to me. I also probably get way too excited about it… which I just did… Oh, my goodness. I'm so sorry, Hitachiin-san. I let my emotions get away from me again…"

Kaoru chuckled at the girl's sudden animation and excitement. "It's okay. I think it's kinda cute." He tilted his head slightly and gave her a typical host smile, which made her blush furiously. Just then the teacher walked in and they settled down to listen.

Throughout the hour and a half they were in class they had a few moments to talk and get to know each other a little better. Within fifteen minutes of class starting, after the teacher had introduced himself, he told everyone to turn to a neighbor and get to know them a little better. For ten minutes Kaoru listened to her talk animatedly about everything. She talked about how much she loved being at Ouran, her best friend, Ouran, her parents, Ouran, her home, and Ouran some more.

Kaoru chuckled as he listened to her. She was rather funny, and he found himself not minding that she rambled or talked a little too fast. He was listening to her talk about what she had for breakfast when the teacher called their attention once again. Kaoru laughed internally at how right he had been about her bubble of shyness and what would happen if he popped it.

Toward the end of class, they had about ten minutes to work on their assigned math homework, so they slid their desks closer together and got to it. He discovered very quickly that she was incredibly smart. She would never pass Haruhi, but still pretty close. Before they knew it, the bell was ringing to signal the end of class.

The duo gathered their things, and made their way to the door. "Maybe we'll have another class together."

"Maybe… That would be fun, wouldn't it?" Kaoru turned to smile at her as she nodded and shrugged her shoulders a bit with a big smile on her face.

"Well, I'll see you later Hitachiin-san! Have a good day if I don't see you again until tomorrow!" And before he could reply she was gone.

The younger twin made his way down the hallway and met his brother and Haruhi outside of his next classroom. They talked for a minute about how their classes were, but soon had to be on their way to classes. This time, it was Hikaru who would be alone.

It took a minute to get him to walk down the hallway to his next class, the teen was incredibly nervous about being without either of his friends, but with a little coaxing and encouragement from Kaoru, he was soon on his way.

Before entering the room he stood outside and reassured himself 'It's okay, Hikaru. It's no big deal. It's only an hour and a half. If Kaoru can do it, you sure as hell can, too. Alright… here goes nothing…'

When he walked in his attention was immediately pulled to a girl sitting near the back of the room. She was waving to him, and calling his name, though he wasn't sure he recognized her. He scanned the room once before deciding he didn't know anyone, and to just take the seat by the strange girl.

Before he had even sat down she was yammering at him. "Wow, Hitachiin-san. I can't believe we have another class together. How awesome is this?"

"Umm…yeah… pretty cool. Remind me your name?" He tilted his head at her and studied her, trying to figure out how she knew who he was, and if he had even ever met her before. He couldn't recall having had her as a guest in the host club, and he didn't remember having a class with her, which she seemed to claim was the case.

"Sasaki, silly. Sasaki Eri. How could you have already forgotten?" She laughed at him. "You are such a tease, Hitachiin." She giggled a few more times, and he just gave in, deciding she was cute and he didn't care because now he wasn't alone anymore. He could figure out how she knew him later.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, Sasaki-chan." He grinned at her, and that was the end of their conversation for the moment. The teacher had walked in and started introducing herself at that moment. Hikaru spent almost the entire class (which was history, so it was boring anyways) trying to figure out where he knew her from, but ten minutes before class had ended and he had nothing, he gave up.

The teacher had given them instructions to pick a partner for the class project that would be due at the end of the term and take the last few minutes of class to get to know each other. Immediately, the strange girl turned to him and asked if he would like to be her partner. He smiled and nodded, to which, she clapped and bounced a little in her chair, as excitable as she'd been at the beginning of class.

After class, the confused, older twin made his way down the hallway and into the cafeteria, where he spotted his twin, Haruhi, Kyoya, and Tamaki all sitting at a table together. He made his way across the room, and sat down next to Kaoru. "What's wrong, Hika?" The boy looked up into eyes that resembled his own as the rest of the host club babbled on about their new classes.

"I just had the craziest experience ever… and I'm rather confused by it…" Kaoru raised an eyebrow, then chuckled lightly.

"Well that sounds very interesting, Hikaru." He laughed a little more at his twin's expression, and Hikaru glared at his mirror image. Kaoru stopped laughing immediately. "What?" He asked defensively.

"There was this girl in my class. She totally knew who I was, but I swear I've never seen her before in my life."

"That's not new, Hikaru. We get that all the time."

"No, this is different. She said we had a class together before, but seriously, I don't remember this at all…. I'm either losing my mind, or she's a liar."

Kaoru laughed a little. "I don't think you're crazy, Hika. What was her name? Maybe I can help you and see if I can remember her."

"Sasaki Eri." Hikaru replied. Kaoru's jaw dropped. "What, Kao?"

"She thinks you are me."

"What?"

"She thinks you are me." When Hikaru looked at him stupidly, Kaoru continued. "I had a class with her this morning. We have a class together right before you have a class with her." Suddenly it all made sense in Hikaru's head, and his gears were turning.

Both twins looked deep into each other's eyes before speaking in perfect unison. "Let's do it!" Haruhi heard their excitement and sighed, knowing that they were planning some sort of trouble, so she just rolled her eyes and left them to it, turning back to her conversation with Kyoya and Tamaki. The twins spent the rest of their lunch break plotting what they were going to do the next day in class, and how they were going to keep up the act that they were actually one person.

The rest of the day went smoothly and they never saw her, which was a good thing. After all, they had the rest of their classes together, and if she saw them together it would totally ruin their plans.

Throughout the day they swapped information about her that they had gotten from her ramblings, which they both agreed was kinda cute and it fit her.

And so, the next day they kept up the act, and the next day after that. Between classes they would swap information, and continue on their way. This went on for about two weeks before they decided it was getting boring, it just wasn't enough fun to pretend to be Karou all the time, so they decided to sweeten the deal.

One day in class, Kaoru and Sasaki were working on their homework and talking when Kaoru mentioned the Host Club. "And every day after school I go hang out with a bunch of other famous sons of big companies. We have a lot of fun up there in the Host Club."

"What's the Host Club? And who all do you work with up there, wherever that is?"

Kaoru chuckled. "The host club is a place where we entertain and play host for the ladies in the school. We serve tea and cakes, and entertain however possible. We are in the abandoned music room on the third floor. There are only five of us this year. Last year we had seven, but two of the guys graduated. We still have Tamaki Suoh, our boss - king, president, whatever you want to call him-"

"Oh my gosh! His father's the chairman of Ouran Academy and president of Suoh Enterprises! " Sasaki's face lit up as her little quirk reared its head. Kaoru just kept taking, knowing that she'd love the rest of what he had to say.

"We also have our vice-president, Kyoya Ootori - he's kind of like a shadow king, the real mastermind behind the boss -"

"He's the third son of the Ootori family which runs The Ootori Group and like, a million hospitals and health resorts!"

"-And then there's Haruhi Fujioka, the honors student in our grade."

"Yeah, I know him! I have a class with him right after our classes together."

"He's pretty awesome. Quiet, but practical. He's good to have around to keep us all sane, and to keep Tamaki-senpai under control - he can be a handful." Kaoru chuckled, and Sasaki furrowed her brow in thought.

"What does it take to be a guest of this club?"

"Nothing whatsoever, dear princess. Just show up and request who you would like to serve you." The boy gave his best host smile, and the girl blushed.

"Princess, huh?...Could I come visit you up there today?"

"Of course. You can come visit any time you want." Sasaki smiled and the conversation ended with the ringing of the bell. Kaoru ran from the classroom to find his brother, who was anxiously awaiting the verdict.

When Kaoru got to him, he said quickly with a smile on his face. "I think she's going to come today."

"Fantastic. This is going to be the best day ever." They split up, and went to their separate classes, where Kaoru awaited the rest of the day, and Hikaru endlessly answered questions about the mysterious Host Club.

After classes had ended for the day, the twins made their way upstairs for what was bound to be an interesting afternoon. When they walked in, even though they were quick to arrive, Kyoya was already there, and the room was already set up with dividers and kimono costumes laid out on one of the sofas. "Get dressed, the ladies will be here soon." Lucky for the twins, their outfits were identical, just like them, or did Kyoya-senpai know something...? Either way it worked out perfectly.

Twenty minutes later, they were all dressed and awaiting guests. The room was extravagant with wooden dividers, and they were all dressed in their kimonos. It seemed that they were recycling an old idea that they had used the previous year when Haruhi had first joined the club. It was perfect though, because the dividers would hide one twin at a time from their expected guest.

When the doors opened, Kaoru was the only twin in the room, the other was in the back, preparing a pot of tea. The younger twin led Sasaki to a table as soon as she arrived (with a swarm of other girls as well), asked what she would like to drink, and dismissed himself to fetch her tea.

When he got to the back he poured her tea, arranged her snacks on the plate, and gave the tray to Hikaru, who took them out to her, the smile on his face just a little bit mischievous. They carried a conversation for a while and when she was out of tea, he excused himself and returned to the back, switching places with Kaoru as the other twin took out her refill. This continued for quite some time with the girl blissfully unaware of exactly what was going on.

Kyoya sat in the corner, watching out of the corner of his eye, and writing in his black book. He noticed the switching, and knew they were up to something. Kyoya's guests were swooning over him, and squealed every time he moved even in the slightest. Only one of his guests wasn't. This one was noticing the same thing he was. "Kyoya." He looked up at her. "Why aren't both twins out here? Why is there only ever one of them at a time?"

"Good question. I have no idea. That's exactly what I was just wondering, and what I'm about to go find out. Excuse me, ladies." He coolly snapped his notebook shut and the girls around him all gushed over him. The raven stood from his seat, and made his way to the back kitchen to get to the bottom of his inquiries.

When he got there, he spotted a twin and deduced it was Hikaru from the way he was chuckling to himself. "What are you doing, Hikaru. You have a guest. You are supposed to be the other half of the brotherly love package, you know."

Having been caught by the scariest person in the Host club, Hikaru then had to confess to his and his brother's antics and add on an explanation of the whole situation as well. Pretty soon he had Kyoya chuckling and grinning evilly. "Alright, fine. Don't hold off too long before you tell her though, and make sure she knows it was a prank, got it? We don't want one of our precious guests to have her feelings hurt by your rudeness." And evil aura seemed to appear around the man and Hikaru had no choice but to agree - otherwise, horrible things might happen to him.

"Yeah, I got it." He nodded quickly. At that moment, Kaoru walked in.

"I think we ought to tell her now." Kyoya chuckled, walking back to his own guests, wishing them luck before, taking some tea with him.

When he sat back down, he received four questioning looks, so he answered as simply as he could. "They are pulling a prank on her. She thinks they are one person." The girls giggled at the notion, but soon forgot all about it when Kyoya started to engage them in a conversation.

Hikaru took some extra cakes with him as he went back to entertain their guest. After talking for a minute, he noticed Kaoru standing behind the girl a little ways away, ready to jump in at the right time.

"It seems like you really enjoy this. You do, don't you?" Sasaki asked just before taking a bite out of the cake in front of her.

"Oh yes, my brother and I enjoy this immensely." Hikaru then smiled a truly evil grin, and the girl went from pleasant to confused.

"Brother?"

"Yes, I have a brother. We are twins." The girl smirked at the comment, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah, and let me guess. You are perfectly identical and can read each other's minds. Haha, very funny, Hitachiin-san."

"I'm serious. And yes to all of that. There's only one person on this planet who has successfully been able to tell us apart every time. Right, Haruhi?" The cross-dressing girl turned around and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah,yeah, Hikaru. Where is Kaoru anyways?" Just then Kaoru officially came around the corner and approached the chair Sasaki was sitting in. He leaned on it using his forearm to hold him up on the back of the chair, and leaned over the back to whisper in her ear.

"You think my brother is lying? I promise he isn't, nor is this an illusion." The girl's eyes went wide as she looked at the twin standing in front of her, but could hear his voice behind her. She turned slowly in the direction of the sound, and almost fell backwards when she saw an identical face to the one she had been looking at only seconds before.

Her jaw dropped and for once, she remained silent, absolutely speechless. After a bit of recovery she looked back and forth from one twin to the other, and then she couldn't help it anymore, she just had to ask! "Wait a minute…" She started, breathless. "Which one of you have I been having classes with?"

The twins moved toward each other in perfect unison and put their arms around the other's shoulders, speaking together as they moved. "Why, both of us."

"You have Math with me..." Kaoru started.

"...And History with me." Hikaru finished.

The girl was absolutely baffled and found herself speechless once again. Her eyes kept dashing between them until she finally found some words to use. "So… I have somehow managed to build a relationship with both of you… and didn't know it… this is insane… I… well… did… did you know? Did you know from the beginning?"

Kaoru chuckled. "Of course, we did!~ After that first day together, Hikaru came to lunch confused because he had no idea who you were but you knew him, kind of. After some explanations we were able to deduce that you had thought that he was me. We decided to keep up an act to see how long we could go."

Hikaru continued when Kaoru stopped. "But it got boring and we decided that you would probably never notice, so we figured we should probably tell you before you found out on your own in a not-so-good way."

Kaoru joined in, and they finished in tandem. "And like we said, there's only ever been one person that can tell us apart correctly every single time. Not even our parents can tell us apart any more."

Tamaki had been listening in, and had figured out what was going on. He jumped into the conversation, getting up close and personal to the twins. "You little monsters! How dare you treat a lady like that! How dare you pull a nasty prank like that on her! That was just plain rude, and I never want to hear of you doing such a thing ever again, you hear me!"

"But boss, it's not like we kept it up for a long time, and we have actually been very nice to her." Both twins argued in unison.

"Why you little…" Tamaki stopped when he heard the girl giggling behind him.

"It's okay." She giggled some more. "I think it's funny, and I can't believe I didn't figure it out right at first. Now that I think about it, they act slightly differently when they are apart. Whichever one is in my history class is more reserved, and the other is more gentle and more open." She stopped to think for a second. "Now that I know, it all makes sense. That's why you," she pointed at Hikaru, "didn't remember my name, and acted like you didn't know me on that first day in history class! It's because you really had no idea who I was or why I treated you like I knew you. It all makes sense! That's a great prank! I wish I had a twin, that would be so much fun!"

Tamaki stared at her as she started to ramble, and the twins, smiling, listened and watched Tamaki, who eventually walked away, completely out of things to say for once.

Kyoya's guests left, and he looked up to see a very happy guest babbling on about everything under the sun, the twins wrapped in each other's arms listening to her, and Tamaki crying in front of Haruhi, who was trying to comfort him as he turned white. The raven smiled and shook his head, looking down at his little black book that he was writing in. Everything was slowly going back to normal, but then again, nothing was ever normal for the Ouran Highschool Host Club.

Hey guys! HQV here! I had so much fun with this story. I got the idea from a tumblr post a little while back that a girl had written from a similar situation. I thought it was funny, so I decided to adapt and exaggerate it a bit for the twins. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this funny little one shot, especially for those of you who followed Brink of Destruction… Don't forget to review! Requests for stories are always welcome as well! Thanks for reading! -HeartQueenVivaldi