To save the one you love

Setting: Ayame was a 16 year old girl with beautiful long, jet black hair who just started attending Ouran High today. It was her first day there and she was already lost.

"Man, this school is too big! If I don't find my class soon, I'll be late!" She mumbled to herself as she walked down a long hallway. She stopped in front of a huge door.
'Music Room 3….How did I get here? Where exactly am I? Great...might as well peek inside.' She thought to herself as she slowly opened the door. She was caught a bit off guard and squinted her eyes as rose petals started to fly toward her.

"Welcome princess. You must be new here." A boy with blonde hair commented as he held his hand toward her. She opened her eyes and looked inside the abandoned music room. There she saw a group of guys, all of which were smiling at her. She walked inside, completely ignoring the blonde boy, heading for the rest of the guys.

"Can anyone tell me where this class is?" She asked, pointing to a spot on her map.

"She…completely ignored me…" The blonde mumbled, pouting in a corner. She turned to look at him, and then back at the guy with glasses.

"Did I do something wrong?" She pondered, looking around the room at all the guys.

"Don't worry too much. That's just how the boss is" One of the twins answered her, smiling.

"Here, let me see that." The guy with the glasses said as he took the paper from her. The twins stood by his side and looked down at the paper.

"Oh, so you're in a class with us! We'll show you!" The other twin announced as he looked at her.

"Oh, how rude of me. My name is Ayame. Nice to meet all of you" She smiled as she introduced herself.

"My name is Kyoya Otori. Nice to meet you as well miss Ayame. The two over here are Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin." He said as he pointed at the twins. They smiled and pointed to the blonde, moping in the corner.

"And the one in the corner over there is Tamaki Suoh." One of the twins walked to her side, put his arm around her and turned her toward a small kid and a quiet guy.

"The one with the bunny is Mitsukuni Haninozuka or Honey for short and the other one is Takashi Morinozuka, Mori for short." She smiled and waved at them as she suddenly heard the school bell ring.

"Oh no! I'm going to be late!" She exclaimed as she ran out the door.

"She has no clue where she's going." The twins chorused as they looked after her. The girl came back and peeked through the door.

"I-uhm don't know where to go…" She mumbled. The twins laughed and walked toward her.

"Let's go! We'll show you!" they chorused and with one twin on each side of her, they were off.

"Tamaki. It's time to go or we'll be late too." Kyoya pointed out as everyone headed toward the door.

"She…ignored me" He mumbled, drawing circles on the floor with his finger.

"I'm sure she will be back. For now let's go." Kyoya said as he walked out of the door.
'Those devilish twins' Tamaki thought to himself as he got up and walked to class.

"So, you're Hikaru" She said as she pointed to the one on the right

"And you're Kaoru, right?" She pointed to the guy on the left. The twins stopped as the girl kept walking. It took her a few minutes to realize they stopped. She turned around to look at them, a bit confused. They stood there, frozen. No one besides Tamaki and Haruhi was ever able to tell them apart, plus she just met them no longer than an hour ago.

"What…was I wrong?" They girl questioned as she stared at them.

"How did you know who was who?" Kaoru asked as they started to walk toward her.

"Hmm…I can't really explain how I knew, I just sort of did" She giggled as she started walking again. She turned around to look at the twins, who were standing still.

"Are you guys coming? I have no clue where I'm going!" She smiled a bit. The twins looked at each other, back at her and smiled a bit.

"Yeah. Let's go. This way" They chorused as they joined her side again. From that day on, the three of them were best friends. They did practically everything together. Ayame had become a regular at the host club, coming there every day to see the twins and somewhere along the way, started to feel a little more than friendship toward Hikaru. She walked down the long hallway and stopped in front of the big door as she smiled. When she opened it, rose petals flew her way just like they did every day.

"Welcome princess Ayame. How are you on such a fine day?" Kyoya said as he greeted her at the door.

"Fine, and Kyoya I'm not a princess" She smiled as she walked in.

"Arabian nights, huh? Looks fun!" She exclaimed as she looked around. Everything was set up to match the theme. Instead of couches there were piles of pillows and each space was covered in a light curtain and even the guys were all dressed up in matching costumes.

"Aah Princess, even if the world ended this minute, I want to be the man who even sacrifices his own life to protect you" Tamaki said as he came over to her and started kissing her hand.

"Hikaru won't be too happy about that boss" Kaoru said as he walked past them toward the back, grinning with a sort of devilish smile.

"Kaoru! Wait!" Ayame exclaimed as she took off after him.

"She…still ignores me…" Tamaki mumbled as he got back into a corner and started drawing circles with his finger.

"You know she only has eyes for the twins, Hikaru to be more exact" Kyoya sighed as he fixed his glasses.

"Do you want some of my cake Tama-chan? It might make you feel better!" Honey grinned, icing all over his face.

"Mitsukuni. You have icing on your face." Mori pointed out as he knelt down to wipe away the icing.

"Thank you!" Honey smiled at him.

"Aww! So adorable!" All the girls screamed in the background.

"Kaoru!" Ayame screamed as she tackled him from behind almost making him fall.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Kaoru exclaimed as she let him go. She looked at him and smiled.

"Stop always being so mean!" She stuck out her tongue out at him. Ayame was a girly, and childish type of girl, never actually acting her age, which is probably why the twins were so fond of her.

"Oh, where's Hikaru?" She asked as she followed Kaoru around the place while he was fixing tea.

"He's in the back with a customer."

"Without you?" The girl asked, a bit puzzled. Usually the two of them did everything together, serving customers was no exception.

"Yeah. She requested Hikaru when she came in earlier." He answered as he poured hot water into the cups.

"That's odd." Ayame muttered.
'Why would she request only Hikaru? I'm gonna go see. A little peek won't hurt' she thought to herself as she slowly backed away from Kaoru, trying to make sure he didn't see or hear her. She walked toward the back and saw Hikaru and a girl under a curtain, sitting on a pile of pillows. She could see him flirting with her but, that was his job as a host. Everyone did it.

"I see you found him" A voice from behind said. She jumped a little and turned around only to find Kaoru standing behind her.

"Don't scare me like that! Who is she anyways?" She asked, closely watching them from a safe distance.

"That is Princess Marie from France. She just started school here not too long ago and has been coming here for around a week or so…" He answered her, watching Hikaru and the princess.

"Let me guess…each time for Hikaru, right?" She mumbled. Kaoru nodded as he looked down at her and back at his brother. The girl spotted Ayame and Kaoru and grinned with a rather evil smirk on her face.
'Is she, looking at me?' Ayame thought to herself as she tried to hide behind a pole. She pulled Kaoru behind the pole with her and told him to hide. A few minutes later they peeked back around the pole and Ayame couldn't believe what she was seeing. Hikaru was sitting on the pile of pillows under the curtain with the girl wrapped around his neck, kissing him.

"H-Hikaru…" She stuttered. Kaoru quickly put his hands in front of her eyes and turned her around.

"K-Kaoru…Why?" She sniffed.
'Did I really just see Hikaru kiss her….Why would he kiss her...That's not part of his job...' She thought. She couldn't stand to think about it any longer and pulled Kaoru's hands away. She looked up at him, tears rolling down her cheek.

"Once he's done eating her face, tell him, he won't have to worry about me ever again!" She screamed from the bottom of her lungs, loud enough for everyone to hear. She turned around and ran out of the door, crying, followed by Kaoru.

"What happened Kao-chan?" Honey asked, worried.

"No time to explain. Tell Hikaru to come to Ayame's hiding spot." Kaoru exclaimed as he raced past them and after Ayame. This wasn't the first time she ran off like that. Every time she was lonely or something was wrong, she always hid in the same spot.

Hikaru pulled away from the girl and frantically started looking around.
'Was that Ayame? Where is she?' He thought as he got up. The girl got up and wrapped her arms around his neck once more and grinned.

"What's wrong Hikaru?" She asked with a worried tone as she started to rub his chest. He looked at her and pushed her away.

"What's wrong? Why did you just do that? What was that for?" He snapped at her. She laughed as she looked up at him.

"I just wanted to have some fun, that's all" She stated as she sat back down on the pillows. The grin on her face gave her away and he knew she did it on purpose.
'Damn…I have to go find her and explain everything.' He thought as he took off.

"Ayame's hiding spot" Honey yelled after Hikaru who nodded and ran out of the door. He knew where she'd be hiding.

Ayame burst through the doors to the abandoned classroom on the first floor. She always hid there because it was the only room in the entire school that was completely empty. She walked up to the front and sat on the floor, holding her legs, crying.

"Hikaru that idiot. All I ever wanted was for him to feel the same about me. Why now? Especially since I barely have any time left." She mumbled to herself, or so she thought.

"What do you mean, barely have time left?" A voice came from the door. She didn't have to look up to figure out who it was, she recognized the voice. Kaoru walked up to her and sat beside her. She put on a fake smile, wiped away her tears and shook her head as if nothing was wrong.

"Ayame". She let go of her legs, looked at him and then back at the ground. She sniffed at the thought.

She sighed.

"You can't tell Hikaru, promise?" She whispered under her breath. Kaoru nodded and listened closely to what she was about to say.

"Well, you see, I have until the end of the year, so about two months from now, then I have to go back to France. See, I'm not rich, like everyone thinks. I'm just a simple commoner with a rich Uncle. In exchange for him paying my school fees, I have to pay him back by becoming his maid, since he says it's cheaper than hiring a real maid. I live with him so I have to do whatever he says, otherwise, I won't be able to go to school here anymore and I wouldn't be able to see you or Hikaru anymore, and….I really want to see you guys. The other week, a very important businessman came to the mansion with his son. My uncle said it would profit his business if I were to marry him, so now, I'm arranged to marry his son at the end of the year in France." She whispered only loud enough for Kaoru to hear her.

"So, you're arranged to marry some rich guy's son? What about Hikaru? I thought you had a crush on him?" Kaoru joked around a bit, trying to cheer her up some. She blushed a bit at the thought of marrying Hikaru until she thought about that last incident.

"Hikaru will be fine without me…can't you tell?" She whimpered under her breath.

"You really like him a lot, huh?" He asked as he looked at her. She looked up at him and blushed a bit.

"H-How did you know? Is it that obvious…?" She smiled at him

"Yeah, it is. I don't understand though. Hikaru and me are identical so how is it that you like him, but not me?" He questioned her.

"What makes you think I don't like you?" She looked at him, puzzled.

"Because, even if I did this….." He started as he pushed her and pinned her to the ground with one hand on each side of her face. He moved closer to her ear and whispered.

"….I can't even get as much as a blush out of you, but I bet if it was Hikaru on top of you, your face would be red by now." He looked down at her huge, brown eyes and wondered. She looked up at him and smiled.

"I see you're doing fine, Ayame. I was worried for nothing…." A voice came from toward the door. They turned only to find Hikaru standing there, mad. Kaoru quickly got off of Ayame as she sat back up.

"Hikaru, it's not what it looks like. I promise." Kaoru tried explaining but Hikaru wouldn't listen. He walked straight toward Ayame and stopped right in front of her. She looked into his eyes and saw anger, rage and disappointment.

"Why?" He stated. His voice had never been so emotionless. He had never been this mad at her before.

"Hikaru, let me explain" –"I was asking her, not you." He butted in, never giving Kaoru a chance to say anything.

"It's really not what it looked like Hikaru. We were just talking, that's all" Ayame answered in a bit of a playful voice. He looked at Kaoru and back at Ayame.

"That didn't look like talking. Maybe it's best if you left..." He paused as he looked at her.

"For good…." She looked at his eyes and could tell he was serious. She was heartbroken. Did she really just hear him right? For good? A tear rolled down her cheek but she smiled and nodded.
'It's not like I have any time left anyways.' She thought as she walked toward the door.

"Ayame, wait!" Kaoru yelled after her. She turned around and grinned.

"It's fine. I'll be alright. Whatever makes him happy." She turned around to look at him. Tears started to roll down her cheek and she quickly wiped them away.

"It's not like it matters now…Goodbye Hikaru….Bye Kaoru. I won't bother you two again" She said as she turned around and walked out.

To be continued