Chouko walked along the pink tinted halls and looked at the map clutched in her hand, books held to her chest with the other hand. Today was her first day in the large school and she didn't want to be late to her first class. She could hear whispers from the students around her as she walked, knowing that they were speaking of her. In the halls filled with sunny yellow dresses that poofed out at the bottom and periwinkle suits she was quite out of place. She wore a simple blouse and jeans, clothes that marked her as a "commoner" or so the whispers led her to believe. She shook her head and continued on, finding her class quicker than she had expected and knocked on the door to gain the teacher's attention. After they spoke a little the teacher told Chouko to wait until class started and he would have her introduce herself to the entire class.

Slowly the class filled and it was finally time for the teacher to call attention. Chouko shuffled a bit where she stood at the front of the class. This was not working well for her idea of fading into the background. This was the exact opposite of that plan. The teacher finally let her introduce herself to the class and was seated next to a boy the teacher had called Ootori. She quickly settled into the seat and pulled out her notebook to begin taking notes.

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Soon time came for class to be dismissed to lunch but Chouko remained in her seat. She knew the whispers would be even worse if she went to lunch and everyone saw her bento. She was certain that everyone here ate food from the cafeteria instead of bringing food from home. So the teen placed her bento on her desk then pulled her headphones out of her bag and placed them around her neck, pulling her layered chocolate hair out from under them and plugged the cord into her mp3 player that also sat on her desk. Chouko looked at the songs listed on the mp3 player while she ate, deciding what she wanted to listen to when a voice startled her out of her thoughts.

"Why are you eating alone, princess?" She looked up to see the only blonde haired boy in the class standing at the door looking at her. She rolled her thumb over the volume control on her mp3 player to turn it down before answering.

"Please don't call me princess, I am no such thing. But to answer your question, I'm eating alone out of choice. I don't mind sitting here alone. It gives me time to think and also to listen to my music." Chouko responded softly. She watched as the blonde boy walked closer, obviously about to say something more.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I left such a young lady alone to eat?" He asked in a charming manner.

"One who is observing my want to be alone. Please Suoh-san, go eat with your friends. I am more than capable of eating lunch alone." She told him bluntly, not particularly in the mood to deal with anyone who was interrupting her lunch.

"Ah, I know. You should come visit us at the Host Club after classes. You'll be able to meet more people from the class and make friends easier." The teen seemed excited at his idea, while Chouko was less so.

"I'm sorry but I must decline your offer. I have other things I have to attend to after classes and I would rather not delay in taking care of them. Thank you for the offer though." She declined politely, she didn't even really know what a host club was and wasn't really interested in finding out right yet. Her classmate didn't say anything further as he turned and left the room, leaving Chouko to finish her lunch in the relative silence of the classroom.

It didn't seem as though that much time had passed before classes were nearing their end. Chouko finally allowed herself the chance to look around the classroom and quickly noticed Suoh sitting a few seats away. His hair was a bright blonde and his eyes a violet color that she never thought was possible. Next to her sat Ootori. His hair was smoothed back neatly and his eyes hidden behind wire framed glasses. He suddenly glanced at Chouko, causing the girl to avert attention back to the notebook in front of her that was filled with both notes and doodles along the edge margins.

When classes finally ended Chouko gathered her things and left the room fairly quickly. She ignored the continued whispers as she walked down the halls towards the exit. She only was really thinking of the fact that she might actually be able to fade into the background as she was planning to do. She didn't want to accidently make enemies out of anyone in the school, they could easily mess with her in some serious way. To them she was the commoner that had somehow gained access to their exclusive school. They would never accept her as she was and she was kind of okay with that. She planned on floating through the next couple years without really leaving any indication that she was there. With a light sigh she pushed on back to her house and thought of what would be good for dinner.

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Chouko walked down the short hallway in her home, an empty glass held in her hand. She was making her way towards the kitchen to get a drink of water before going back to sleep. She stopped suddenly when she heard whispers coming from the rooms around her.

"The poor girl. Who's going to take her in?"

"It's a miracle that she survived. It was a mess."

Chouko realized quickly what was happening and turned to run towards her parents' room. She wanted to see them again. She pushed herself harder when she heard the sounds of paramedics shouting to one another but the teen seemed to be going nowhere.

"No! Please!" She called into the darkness before she heard all the noises begin to fade.

"Things will change soon." An eerily familiar voice spoke behind Chouko, startling her and making her fall forward into a dark chasm.

Chouko gasped sharply as she woke from the nightmare. She sat up quickly and put a hand to where her heart was pounding away in her chest. With a glance around the room she noticed that her alarm wasn't to go off for a couple more hours.

"Should go ahead and get up. Don't want to go back to sleep after that nightmare." She pushed herself off of her bed and walked over to her closet in the dim morning light. She pulled out a red and black striped shirt, a dark pair of jeans, and a black belt before she laid them on her bed. The teen sighed as she grabbed her towel and made her way into the bathroom. "Why am I having nightmares again? I haven't really had any for the past year or so. I guess it is from all the stress of attending a new school." She spoke softly to herself even though there was no one in the house to be woken by her words. Chouko stepped into the bathroom and pressed a few buttons on the small cd player that sat on the counter. When music filled the room she started to get ready for her shower, dancing or singing along with the music a bit.

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It had been almost a week since Chouko began attending Ouran Academy and things had been going almost exactly as she had planned. It seemed the other students were whispering less as she passed by, maybe she would fade into the background as she wanted. She arrived to her classroom and began laying her things out in preparation for the lecture the teacher was sure to give. As she was setting up she didn't notice the pen roll off her desk and stop at a pair of nicely polished shoes.

"Makoto-san, I would like to invite you to the Host Club after classes. It seems our president has already invited you but you declined. We believe it might be of benefit for you to attend." Chouko looked up quickly when she heard the voice. She was surprised to see Ootori standing beside her desk holding her pen.

"Oh, I guess I could come by today." She said after taking back her pen. She felt there was no way she could say no to Ootori. He seemed to have such an impressive aura but she wondered what she was getting herself into, both of the members of this club were quite handsome in their own ways. She sighed and turned to the front as the teacher walked in and prepared to give his lecture.

The day passed without much else interest as Chouko waited for the final bell. Once it finally rang and the students filed out of the room she gathered her things in her bag. On her desk was a crudely drawn map that Suoh had placed there before he walked out with Ootori. Once all of her things were in the bag she picked up the map and made her way out of the classroom ready to see what kind of club this was.

After three different stairwells and a numerous amount of halls Chouko was convinced that she was lost. She had been wandering for a good while and had yet to find the Third Music Room that was depicted on the map. She had, however, found that the school was symmetrical in almost everyway that she could tell. With a sigh she started to climb the fourth stairwell as she looked back over the map. Had Suoh played a prank on her?

"It wouldn't surprise me if he did." Chouko spoke softly to herself, not noticing the other person walking down the stairs at the same time. It seemed the other person didn't notice Chouko either as they collided and the teen threw her arms out to try to regain her balance but her bag threw her off just enough to start tumbling down the stairs. She hit the bottom with a yelp, quickly recovering enough to check for damage.

"Oh no, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" The boy hurried down the stairs and knelt next to Chouko. The girl looked up through slightly blurry eyes and noticed the boy had slightly darker hair than her.

"I think I will be." Chouko said as she rubbed her ankle a bit before deciding to rub the bump she had received just above her temple in her hairline. The boy helped Chouko to lean against the stairs before he turned back to head up them.

"I'll go get someone to help." The boy hurried back up the stairs and left the girl alone with her thoughts. Of course it was all a joke, why would anyone want to be nice to her. It was those rampant thoughts that made her eyes almost tear up again. Suddenly she was brought from her thoughts when she heard the boy telling someone else where she was. "They're just down the stairs. I wasn't paying attention and accidently ran into her." Chouko looked behind her to find a tall boy with short black hair standing there.

"If you just give me a moment I'll be fine. There is no need to worry about me." She said quickly, rubbing the bump at her hairline.

"You're bleeding." The tall boy said before he lifted the surprised teen up and began to walk towards another room. The shorter boy followed the two, speaking to the girl a bit as they walked.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to run into you." He said softly as he held a door open.

"I should have been watching where I was going." Chouko told him as she was set down on a nearby couch. "It's not the first time I've fallen down the stairs either."

"Oh no, what happened?" A voice Chouko recognized spoke up, drawing her attention behind her. She looked and saw Suoh and Ootori walked towards her, the latter holding a first aid kit.

"I was trying to find the Third Music Room and wasn't paying attention. Then I ran into him and fell down the stairs." Chouko pointed towards the short brunette to indicate them as she didn't know his name. "My bag kind of threw me off balance and I fell down. It isn't too bad."

"But you're bleeding." Suoh said as he noticed the small amount of blood trickling down from a small cut on Chouko's temple.

"Let me see." Ootori said as he pushed Chouko's hair away from the cut to get a better look at it. He pulled a couple things out of the kit and went to work cleaning and putting a bandage on the small cut. The girl winced at the action and then looked at the dark haired teen.

"Thank you Ootori-san." With a quick look around Chouko noticed there were a good number of other people around them. "I guess this is the Third Music Room, isn't it? I spent most of this time trying to find this room." Chouko laughed slightly, throwing the others in the room a bit off guard. "Oh, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Chouko Makoto."

"I'm Haruhi Fujioka. You already know Tamaki and Kyouya. The one who brought you here is Mori-senpai." The brunette boy spoke, pointing to the tall dark haired boy. Chouko nodded to Haruhi before she thanked Mori for helping her. She was surprised when a small blonde boy bounced up clutching a pink stuffed rabbit to his chest.

"I'm Mitsukuni Haninozuka but you can call me Hunny and this is Usa-chan." The boy held up the bunny for Chouko to see. She stared at it for a moment before she spoke.

"That is adorable. Could you answer one question for me though?" Chouko looked at the boy who nodded eagerly. "What year are you in? You seem so young but you are in high school obviously."

"I'm in the year ahead of Tama-tan." He nodded before bouncing off again, followed by Mori.

"I wonder what he'll look like in ten years." Chouko muttered causing Haruhi to laugh slightly at the comment. Soon after the members were sure Chouko was okay they went back to their duties. Chouko watched with a small smile on her face as she saw what they were doing. Girls were smiling and laughing all around her as they interacted with the hosts. She sat for a long while just watching before she cautiously stood up and looked around for Kyouya. Once she found him she made her way to his table, noticing idly that no one was at the table.

"Ootori-san, what all of you are doing here is wonderful. Bringing even a small bit of joy to these girls. I was hoping maybe I could help out." Chouko stuttered a bit with her request before quickly continuing, trying to prove she could do something. "My parents ran a small bakery for a while and taught me a good bit. I could make the snacks and tea and everything. That would free up Haruhi to continue with his duties with the other girls." Chouko spoke quickly, hoping that she wasn't making a fool out of herself. Kyouya watched her for a moment before he stood up.

"I'm sorry, we aren't accepting.." He was partially through his statement when Tamaki interrupted him.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. I'm sure the ladies would love the home cooked things that you could provide them. What do you think Kyouya?" Tamaki smiled at Kyouya before the other teen sighed.

"We could run a trial, you can work for the club for two weeks and we'll see how the ladies enjoy it. We'll then decide where to go from there. How does that sound to you, Makoto-san?"

"Thank you. I'll try my hardest to help out." She smiled at the two, surprising them slightly. In the time that she had been in their class they actually had yet to see her smile. In truth, this was the most either of them had ever heard her speak.

"Then you'll start tomorrow. Let me show you where you'll be working from." Kyouya led the teen away from the table and to an area that they had converted into a kitchen to use for the club.

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The trial period had passed uneventfully, the hosts all deciding that things were better with Chouko working in their kitchen. Over that time the hosts and customers became vaguely aware that during club hours music could be heard from the converted room. None of the customers ever questioned the music but slowly the hosts began to question it. They noticed sometimes the music seemed sad, the lyrics seeming somewhat dark for someone who was normally smiling when she was making the food. It was one such day that the hosts decided to try to figure out what was wrong with the girl.

Haruhi walked into the kitchen as heard the song that Chouko was idly singing along with was another one of the sad songs, stirring ingredients in a bowl without look at them.

"Chouko-senpai, are you okay?" Haruhi's words startled Chouko, causing her to spill a bit of the batter on the counter. Chouko picked up a small towel and cleaned up the batter before she addressed the question Haruhi had asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You know, I'm not going to quit telling you to call me Chouko. Adding senpai to it just makes it a mouthful." Chouko said as she turned to pause her music. She had a small speaker set up where she could plug in her mp3 player and have music while she cooked. As she turned away Haruhi noticed she wasn't smiling at all, that she seemed to be dreading something.

"It doesn't seem like you're fine. Will you please tell me what's wrong?" Haruhi asked seriously, causing Chouko to stop with her back to him.

"Can wounds of the heart ever heal?" Chouko said before she shook her head and walked around the counter. "Would you mind taking that out to Hunny-senpai's table?" She pointed to the small cake topped with strawberries. Haruhi nodded his head and grabbed the cake, walking out of the room with a glance back at the girl.

A/N

So, this is way longer than any of my old chapters. I am pretty happy with this though. I hope that all of you, my readers and people who have followed this story and everything like it. Also I would like to thank the person who reviewed, it made me feel better reading that. Thank you so much. And I hope to have the next chapter out fairly soon.

~Wolves