So, this was originally going to be a Christmas fic, but I got lazy and slacked off all of December. So, it will just be during the set of Winter. It should still be fairly well-done.

Author's Note: If you have read my other Ouran FanFic, you will notice that I use the same main character as I did in that one (however, that is not finished, as I got lazy again and had no motivation to continue it…SHOCKER.). However, this is a slightly different setting than that. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I shouldn't have to say anymore since the 'disclaimer' should be indication enough of what I'm about to say, but unfortunately I have to; I do NOT own OHSHC. There I said it…


"Brr…It's freezing…" I mumbled quietly as I wandered down the streets. I pulled the collar up on my jacket closer around my neck and trudged on. I had plenty of time before I needed to be at the academy, but seeing as it was below freezing, I didn't want to waste any more time than I had to. I quickened my pace as I rounded the corner and the building came into sight. As I was walking, my eyes rested on one particular friend of mine and I smiled happily.

"Hey! Haruhi!" I called. My said friend had turned and smiled at me.

"Hey, Casey!" When I had first moved to Japan from America, I didn't have many friends because of my strange appearance as a tomboy. I was even mistaken for a male and given a male uniform. However, I didn't object to it, seeing as I was just grateful to get into Ouran Academy. When I met Haruhi, however, I was surprised to hear a similar story come from her. Since then, we have remained close friends.

That was at the beginning of the semester. Now, I'm friends with a few more people, keeping my boyish appearance, of course, and my true gender a secret from most, known solely as the boy named Casey Klinger.

I ran up to Haruhi and walked along side her the rest of the way to the academy.

"So, how's that music report coming?" Haruhi asked. I just dropped my head in defeat.

"Exhausting…I was up all night last night trying to get it done. I finally had it finished by…Oh…I don't know…2 in the morning!" I complained. I hated complaining so much, but I truly was exhausted from it.

"Well, at least you got it done, right?" Haruhi added. I looked at her and smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Besides, now you have time to practice for that concert that's coming up. When was it again?" Haruhi asked.

"Christmas Eve. Doesn't give me much time to practice, I guess." I said with a sad smile.

"You'll be fine." Haruhi reassured. "Besides, you have an amazing talent for picking up songs quickly. You'll learn it in no time, I'm sure of it." Haruhi smiled happily at me. I grinned at her.

"Thanks, Haruhi. I guess you're right. Hey, is it alright if I come by today? You know…to the club?" I asked. Haruhi grinned.

"Definitely! The guys will be happy to see you again, and will be happy to have the extra help." Haruhi explained. I nodded.

"Great! I'll walk with you there then after class, then!" I exclaimed. We chatted a while more as we entered the building, took our things to our respective lockers, and walked to class together. Thankfully, I have most my classes with Haruhi, so it's a big advantage when we don't know something, we can just turn to one another for help.

As we entered our first class, we took our seats.

"Hey, Haruhi. Casey," we heard. We both turned to see Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin walking to their seats. We both smiled happily. Hikaru and Kaoru always chatted every morning with us, and were really good friends.

"Hi, Hikaru. Hi, Kaoru," I said. They took their seats behind us and proceeded with our normal chit-chat.

As the day progressed, I suddenly found myself feeling extremely tired. Looks like the previous nights of staying up past midnight had finally caught up to me. Sitting in the middle of my introductory psychology class, the one class I didn't have with Haruhi, I felt myself nodding off. The sound of the teacher's lectures slowly fading away to muffled sounds of nothing. Just as I was almost completely asleep, a large force was dropped upon my head, snapping me awake.

"Perhaps you'd like some extra time to sleep, Mr. Klinger," I heard my teacher scold. "Or would it be too troubling for you to stay awake in my class?" I snapped up in my seat and nodded apologetically.

"My apologies, sir…" I mumbled. "It won't happen again…" I promised.

"It had better not," he said. He then went back to his lecture as if nothing happened. I sat up in my chair, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and ignored the stares and inaudible taunting from the rest of the class.

By the end of the class, my eyes felt like sandpaper, but I managed to stay awake the rest of the class. I walked slowly out of the room, apologizing once again to the teacher, and walking down the hallway to my last class of the day. I knew Haruhi would get a kick out of this one…

When the end of the day came, I was happy to be able to spend time with the guys. It had been a little while since I had gone to the host club to help out with things, and I knew the ladies would be happy. I smirked at the thought as I put my stuff in my messenger bag, found Haruhi, and made our way to the club room. On the way there, I proceeded in telling her about my situation in my Psychology class today.

"He dropped a book on your head?" Haruhi asked through her laughter. I lightly smacked her arm to make her stop.

"It's not funny! I think he left a lump…" I said, feeling around on my head as if I was going to find some sort of bruise. But, even I couldn't keep a straight face at the memory, and soon found myself laughing along with her. "Okay, maybe it is a little funny…" I said with a smirk.

When we finally reached the club doors, I took a deep breath before reaching for the handle. When I opened the door, I expected the elusive group of men to be sitting in the room right in front of us, but nothing but an empty room sat in front of us. I walked in, looking around for the club, but no one was there.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"I'm not sure…maybe they all had tests to work on. Some classes have finals to work on before the holiday break," Haruhi explained. I nodded at her as I wandered about the room.

Suddenly, my eyes fell upon the grand piano in the room. My eyes beamed as I wandered closer to it, but I stopped.

"Maybe…I shouldn't…" I thought to myself. I heard a chuckle come from behind me. I turned around to find someone I hadn't expected.

"If you wish to play it, you may," he said.

"Kyoya-sempai," I managed to say. I smiled happily as I ran over and sat down at the piano.

As I sat down, I placed my hands softly on the keys. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and began playing.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. My fingers glided effortlessly over the keys as the beautiful music ran from the confines of the magnificent instrument and filled the room. All stresses were released from my body, as I felt my body grow lighter and lighter until I felt like I was floating in mid-air. Music was my escape, and you could definitely see it. I felt myself getting lost in the beautiful music.

Note by note, I felt my stresses release themselves, and found myself in a peaceful state where only I belonged and nothing else. As I neared the end of the song, I finally allowed myself to venture back to reality. I completed the song and allowed my hands to rest on the keys for a moment longer before opening my eyes and turning myself around on the bench so that I was facing Haruhi and Kyoya. I hadn't really even realized that my eyes had been closed. I smiled sheepishly at Haruhi's astonished expression.

"Wow, Casey…" she said. "It's been so long since I've heard you play, I forgot how beautiful your playing sounded." I looked at Kyoya who had his signature straight smile, although there was a look to his eyes that said more. I knew he was impressed. I smirked on the inside.

"Very lovely," he said. "You play beautifully, Casey."

"Thank you very much, Kyoya-sempai," I said. Just then, the doors burst open and the room was filled with disoriented chatter from the missing hosts.

"Kei-chan!" I heard. (Kei-chan - In Japanese, Casey would be pronounced as "Keiishi", therefore, "Kei-chan" would be the shortened version.) Suddenly, a strong force was launched at my side as I felt the strong arms of Hani-sempai closing around me tightly.

"Hani-sempai!" I exclaimed, hugging him back.

"It's great to see you again, Kei-chan!"

"You as well," I said with a grin.

"Well, hello there, Casey," I heard Tamaki say. I turned and smiled at him.

"Hello, Tamaki," I said.

"So you came, then!" I heard the twins say. I turned to them and nodded with a grin.

Soon after greetings, guests started filing in. One-by-one the girls took their seats at their respective tables, and each host was preoccupied with their regular customers. I proceeded in doing odd jobs around the club, like getting more tea for the hosts, taking orders for special guests, and visiting various tables that some of the girls that have known me from past visits were currently occupying. I managed to woo each and every one of them, grinning each time one of them almost fainted. I still got it!

Time went on, and for a while, I thought that the activities were going to last forever. I didn't mind being a host, but I didn't see how these guys did this every day. It's exhausting! I was sitting on the window seat with my knees pulled to my chest while looking out the window, when I felt someone come up to me. I looked up to see Kyoya staring down at me with a small smirk on his face.

"Rather exhausting, isn't it?" he mused. I moved my legs so he could sit next to me, as he did. I chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, it kind of is. I don't know how you lot do it every day," I said while shaking my head. I received a small chuckle from Kyoya at that which, I wasn't sure, but I felt my heart beat speed up for a split second. I managed to keep my cool as I continued conversing.

"I wanted to come back a few times, but haven't really had the time to," I said. "With that dumb music project I've been working on, I haven't really had time to spend with anybody."

"Ah, yes," he said. "But, you do enjoy it, do you not?" he asked. I smiled at him and nodded.

"Yes, I do. But it can be tiring at times."

"I would think so," he said with a nod. "Well, our guests are waiting. Shall we?" he gestured towards the guests and I sighed inwardly.

"Alright," I said. I stood up and joined the rest of the hosts in their usual chit chat with the guests, throwing in a few romantic gestures towards the ladies. I have to admit, it was kind of fun seeing their reactions. I hadn't realized how much I missed doing this.

The rest of the afternoon went by pretty quickly, and soon, everyone was begging me to come back again tomorrow. I didn't make any promises, but I said I would try to come back. That made the ladies happy, and they all filed out quickly, leaving the room almost completely silent again.

"Well, Casey? Do you miss this?" I heard Haruhi say. I looked at her and smiled.

"I hadn't realized how much I truly missed coming here. Thank you guys for letting me attend," I said.

"It was our pleasure, Casey," Tamaki said. "We like having the extra help." he said with a smile. I thought for a moment. I felt slightly guilty in a way. The only one who knew of my true situation was Haruhi. The hosts believed I was truly a boy. I guess it made sense since I opted to living as one, but I still felt somewhat guilty. Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I decided it was time for me to leave as well. I didn't want to have to walk home in the dark…especially in the winter where it's almost 10 degrees at night.

"Well, I'm afraid it's time for me to take my leave. I thank you all once again," I said. I bowed politely and walked toward the door.

"Oh, Casey. Hold up," I heard Haruhi say. I turned around.

"Yes?"

"I'll walk with you. I need to speak to you about something anyway. I'll see you guys later," Haruhi said as she waved to the other hosts and we let ourselves out.

Once we were out of the school and walking down the sidewalk, Haruhi spoke up.

"So, are you ever planning on telling the guys?" she asked. I knew exactly what she was talking about, and it made me think a while before answering.

"I don't know, exactly. I want to, but what if they react badly?" I asked. Haruhi looked at me.

"There's really only one way to find out, Casey. Think about it, though. They don't react badly about things like that if you own up to it and tell them yourself."

"I know…I really want to. I guess I will," I said. "Tomorrow."

"Alright," Haruhi said. She smiled at me. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll take it fine." I smiled back at her and nodded in agreement.

Soon, we reached my block. Seeing as Haruhi lived the opposite direction, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. When I got home, I went inside quietly and looked around for my mother.

"She must be out again…" I thought out loud. No later than when I said that, I saw a note on the refrigerator. "Bingo." I read the note out loud.

"Casey, I went out with a few friends tonight. There are leftovers in the fridge to eat. I will be home tomorrow sometime. Love you!"

I sighed. This wasn't anything new. She went out all the time with her friends at all hours of the night, so I didn't think much of it. I went in the fridge and grabbed a couple things for a quick supper and went straight upstairs to my bedroom. I looked at myself in my mirror and smirked.

"Not bad, Casey. No wonder those girls couldn't keep your eyes off of you," I said to my reflection in the mirror. I shook my head as I laughed. I began changing out of my uniform and in to some more comfortable clothes. My first priority was taking off my uniform so I can remove the sports wrap that I had tightly bound around my chest, suppressing the one thing that would give me away as a female immediately. I changed into some loose jeans and threw on a simple t-shirt with a form-fitting sweatshirt over top. Even though this still looked like something a male would wear, I looked like myself again.

I opted settling for sitting in my room the rest of the night listening to my favorite classical music and reading. True, it didn't go with my appearance at all, but I enjoyed every minute of it so I wasn't complaining. I sat in bed reading for almost an hour before my eyes started getting tired. So, I marked my page in my book, set it on my bedside table, turned my music on low so that it was only background noise, and crawled underneath my covers. I hadn't even changed out of my clothes, but I was tired. Before I went to sleep, I thought back to my previous conversation with Haruhi.

"I hope you're right, Haruhi…" I mused out loud. I then allowed myself drift off to a peaceful, yet dreamless sleep.


Yay! I'm pretty satisfied with where this is going! But, only you people can determine that. So, please Read, Review, Comment, Criticize, all that jazz! Hope you liked the first chapter, and I hope to see you all reading it!

See you next chapter!

Ciao!