Roses of the Heart
The sunrise arose upon the Ouran High School Academy campus early that morning.
I sat down at the piano like I did every morning before the host club began its session. My fingers grazed over the black and white keys, as the sunrise painted the sky. Roses were arranged in a large vase on the top of the piano for decoration. I set my sheet music up, the piece I had just written last night. El Mariposa in D major. The pencil was a bit light, but I had no time to go over it with ink. Either way, it was music. I started to practice, awaiting the other hosts arrival, for our Host Club.
Who am I? I'm Kokoro Nadeshiko Ichigo Okazaki. Just Koko-chan, or Kana-chan, if you don't mind. I'm a first-year, and I've lived in Japan all my life. I attend Ouran Academy, an elite private school where rich kids go. Only those with excellent social standing can go. Or as my senpai says, about the host club at least, it's a place where the school's handsomest boys with too much time on their hands, entertain the ladies who also have way too much time on their hands. Just think of it as an elegant playground for the super rich and beautiful.
The piano cast a shadow that stretched across the smooth marble floor of Music Room #3. The shadow ended at Tamaki's feet. Tamaki is the president of the host club. A second year, very attractive, and half French. He's the one who introduced the whole rose theme to the club. His color is white. He's a big flirt, but very romantic. "The Princely Type." One of my trusted friends, he's none the less, Tamaki Suoh. His hair is blonde, and his eyes are a vibrant hue of violet.
"Koko-chan, it looks like you're here early!" he smiled, walking over.
Oh, right. I forgot to mention that I'm the host club's musician. I play the piano, flute, harp, violin, and sometimes my voice, but mostly the piano. Tamaki found me one afternoon in here practicing, and startled me as he played the other part to the soloistic duet. After that, he gave me a key, and has asked me to play during the host club sessions ever since.
"That I am." I smiled, and turned to him.
"What are you going to play today?" he asked with interest.
"One of my own compositions." I said, as he picked it up, looking over it.
"D major, my favorite key." Tamaki said, playing a few notes, as he was also very skilled in piano.
"Mine as well." I said, smoothing out my school uniform.
The school uniforms were expensive. Girls wore a long yellow dress with a white collar and pink center ribbon that went on the collar bone. Boys wore a blue suit and black dress pants, with a black tie that had a vertical purple stripe.
"My angel of a daughter writes such beautiful music." He smiled with his signature princely smirk.
"I'm no angel, and I am NOT your daughter. I already have a father." I replied with an incredulous frown.
He still had that smile.
"I have no wings, and I don't have a halo. I'm no angel."
"Really?" he asked, pulling out two white roses from his sleeves, and brushed them across my shoulders. "I wish you could see these lovely wings of yours."
"Stop it senpai, save it for the guests." I told him firmly, shivering with a blush.
"But Koko-chan…" he whimpered with his puppy dog eyes.
I looked at him, as his face begging with a quivering lip.
"Why don't you make sure Haruhi is all right?" I asked.
"That's right! My other daughter!" he said, scampering off.
I wasn't trying to shoo him away, believe me. He's not a bother to me at all, but it wasn't about me. What matters most are our guests when it comes to the host club.
"When was the last repair on the piano?" a voice came behind me. It belonged to Kyouya Ootori.
"A month ago." I replied, looking up at his dark, black hair and brown eyes behind his glasses.
He scribbled into his notebook.
"You'll need to get it tuned again. We can't have our guests go without music you know." He said with a smile.
Kyouya is the "Cool Type." Rose color, purple. He mostly takes care of the host club's finances and rarely hosts the ladies. He's a nice guy, but he can be a bit of a greedy bastard. He's the third son to the Ootori medical company, and is the least likely to inherit it, since his two older brothers surpass him because of their age. His mental motto is that he doesn't do anything unless there is something to benefit from it.
"I know." I replied, and opened up the hatch of the piano.
Kyouya reached down to grab my wrist. I stopped, and looked up at him.
"The fee for tuning is about 200 yen. Don't try and fix it yourself." He said bluntly, and released his grip on my wrist, walking away.
Like I said, he can be a bit of a bastard sometimes.
Two chuckles came from either side of me. These evil chuckles belonged to the Hitachiin Twins, Hikaru and Kaoru. They draped their arms over my shoulders.
"Morning Koko-chan!" they said in unison.
"Morning, Hikaru." I acknowledged the twin on the left.
"Kaoru." I acknowledged the twin on the right.
"You got it wrong!" they said together.
"No, I didn't. This one is Hikaru, on my left. This one is Kaoru, on my right. You may be identical, but Haruhi and I can still tell you apart." I replied, closing my eyes with a small contention of victory.
They groaned. Shortly later they sat down on either side of me on the piano.
The twins are the "Little Devil Type." Hikaru is the blue rose, and Kaoru is the orange rose. They're hair is a sandy red, and their eyes are a striking golden-amber. They have an incestual relationship of brotherly love, so their yaoi actually earns high points for the club. I, being a fan of yaoi myself, really like them, and they are my favorite hosts in the group.
"You know, I don't think it's because it's just a lucky guess." Kaoru said, as I opened my left eye to look at him.
"I mean, you're a twin yourself." Hikaru said, as I opened my other eye.
"It may just be the fact from once being a twin yourself would probably give you the extra boost to guess correctly." They both said.
"Maybe so…" I replied, looking at the keys silently.
When I was younger, I had a twin brother, Kohaku. He passed away when he was 7 due to asthma problems. I miss him dearly. We used to always dance and play music together, and we did everything with each other. We were exactly identical except for our sex. Both of us had blue eyes and brown hair, and if he were still alive, he would be playing with me right now.
That also may explain why I look up to Hikaru and Kaoru so much. We seem to share a lot in common, and we are in the same class. I love to spend time with them, and they almost seem like my brothers.
"Whatcha gonna play?" Hikaru asked.
"This." I smiled, handing him a page.
"I can't really tell what it'll sound like, but glancing over, it looks pretty." Kaoru smiled, peering over his brother's shoulder.
"I have an idea." Hikaru said, placing the music on the piano.
"What's that?" Kaoru asked, smirking. Hikaru whispered in his ear, and their grins widened.
"Idea?" I asked curiously.
They leaned in close to my face, like they were up to something devious.
"Koko-chan, you should teach us piano." They snickered.
"Uh… ok. Why not… after school?" I asked them, as they looked into my eyes with their golden amber ones.
"Sounds excellent!" They chimed, and patted my head as they stood up.
I turned back to the piano, slightly worried.