A/N: HAI THAR. It's me, Julia. Hi. I have Furuba/Ouran for you! Don't ask how, just accept it. It's backstory, and completely logical backstory at that. Inspired by a lovely arrangement of "Hollow Bastion" from the KH OST, and "Home", by Vanessa Carlton. Enjoy.
xoxo Once the glass is put into place, then their lives will veer in very different courses.
xoxo
Haruhi Fujioka felt her life story should start with "Once Upon A Time".
She was no princess, and Tamaki was certainly not her top choice for the role of Prince Charming (that was Kyouya, of course), but sometimes, she believed her life was made out of fairytales. She'd stop and think about it for awhile, and truly believe that.
So she began all of her stories about herself with openings like "Long ago" or "In a faraway land called Nihon". It was the fairytales speaking for her, in that sense.
Her father found the openings cute, and endearing, and saw Kotoko in her every time she'd tell one. His wife used to use her hands like that, and make faces in that same way... So he sat and listened to some of her adventures with the Host Club, laughing at the Prince's antics, and smiling to himself when she spoke of her prince, the one with the surname Ootori. The way she described the royal court was entertaining, each Duke and Baron with a different personality. He saw the host club in a completely different light when she told her tales.
Tohru Honda used to do that with her too.
He used to call the two of them "The Mirror" for a while, because they used to look so alike. Wide eyes, petite frames, long brunette hair with bangs... It was strange that they gravitated towards each other. But he didn't mind it. Ryoji loved that little girl like she was his own. Kotoko did too, but never got to see the two of them in their prime. Katsuya was the same. Three and five was far too soon.
Kyoko and he used to sit together and watch them play, growing up looking almost identical, but with personalities meant for balance.
He used to ask them the same question, and they'd come up with completely different answers. Brilliantly witty answers on several occasions, but for the most part, honest and insightful.
"Tohru, Haruhi, what's your favourite colour?"
"Purple!" "Violet."
"Same colour?"
"No way!" "Absolutely not."
Kyoko and Ryoji had been thoroughly confused.
"How is it not the same colour?" Kyoko asked.
"They look alike, but they certainly do not share the same name." Haruhi answered, bored and uninterested. "Would I still be Haruhi if you called me Tohru?"
"Yes?"
"No, I'd be offended. Tohru is not my name, that's my best friend's. I am Haruhi, she is Tohru. Purple is purple, violet is violet."
"Besides..." Tohru interjected, "Purple is brighter, sunnier, and a little less mature. Violet is serious, formal, and a bit more adult. You don't think a mommy would like the colour purple, but violet instead!"
Kyoko had seen what the seven-year-olds were saying.
After those sorts of questions, the two would play dress-up or tea party and be little girls, while Kyoko and Ryoji went grocery shopping, helping each other out as single parents do.
Haruhi was forever grateful to Mrs. Honda for helping her dad create edible meals, among other things. Like giving her a best friend, and being mommy for a while. And even though she missed her own, she considered Miss Kyoko one too, considering everything.
And in time, they grew up, with Tohru and herself blossoming into young women, still as identical as ever. "The Mirror" never left each other's sides, going to dances, having crushes, and making honour roll together.
When she looked in the mirror every morning, she'd say "Good morning, Your Majesty." She was entitled to believe she was a princess, even if she knew she'd never be one. Her father was turning into Rapunzel more every day, and Kyoko had the wisdom of a king. She had her own little kingdom in the condo she and her father shared, and Tohru did too.
And it went perfectly that way, the balance they had, until the very last day of primary school. Something had happened, or someone had said something, or nothing at all. Neither remembered what happened, nor bothered to recount it. But in the end, the two went their separate ways.
Ranka was heartbroken. "The Mirror" had been broken.
He watched his little girl go through middle school, silent, apathetic... She wasn't the same. She was oblivious to the world around her, paying attention only to her beloved fairytales, and him. But she still told her stories, but this time, not of people, or of Tohru, but of her imagination, and there wasn't as much life to them. He could see she only said these to make him happy, and to show she was alright.
He remembered she had said she had run into Tohru on her way to school once, and that their meeting was horribly awkward. Kyoko had wanted to get them back together, just like he had. But the remnants of ill will remained.
And then, that day in 9th grade... Kyoko had gotten into a terrible car crash.
Haruhi heard about it two days later.
"Remember Tohru Honda?"
"Mhmm."
"I heard her mom died in a car crash a couple days ago."
She bolted.
Haruhi ran until she made her way home, and found her father there, watching the news. He was completely unaware of what had happened to the Hondas. He glanced over to her, thoroughly confused. "You're home early."
"Kyoko died."
He didn't question her putting on a coat, or grabbing the directions to her old house, or why she wasn't crying.
That day, she recited parts of various stories the elder Honda had told her in her mind. "Once upon a time..." She would start every time, as every story Kyoko had told her started with that.
She ran to Tohru's house, knowing she had to play the hero today, even if she wanted nothing to do with her. It was right, it was fair, it was everything she wanted to be when she looked in the mirror. And the mirror hadn't been wrong, even when it was Tohru she was staring at.
She didn't stop walking until she reached the house the Hondas used to live in. Her knuckles hit the door twice, and almost immediately, someone opened it.
"Haru--OOF!"
The Fujioka hugged the person who had answered it, may it have been Tohru or anyone else. She hoped it was Tohru, because the words she said were meant only for her. She sniffed the other person, and it was the scent of cherry blossoms: Tohru, for sure.
They just stood there and cried for a while, not caring how wet their shoulders were getting, or how many tears were on the other girl's sweater.
They didn't talk for hours, or days, even. What could they possibly say? Haruhi and Ryoji had stayed with Tohru, and let her stay with them some days until everything was sorted out. Progressively, "The Mirror" pieced itself back together, and Haruhi smiled a bit more, and Tohru did too.
But all dreams must come to an end. Tohru moved in with her grandfather, as Ranka was unable to receive guardianship of her. And soon after enrolling in school, the Honda disappeared again.
Apparently, she had told everyone she had moved in with the Fujioka's temporarily.
She tried to find her, but she couldn't. There was so much to be done, and so much depended on it. So she hoped and prayed for the missing girl, wishing she knew where she was, having so much faith that wishing on stars would bring her back, like Snow White did, or Cinderella.
She became a host the day after.
Soon, her life was flipped on its bum, and her dreams of becoming a princess flew out the window. Sure, those rich boys treated every girl like a princess, but she was a boy now, with her job to be everyone else's knight in shining armour.
Those beasts had trapped her in their castle, where she grew accustomed to, to pay off a debt. Tamaki called her belle on several occasions, and it always reminded her of Kyoko. That was her favourite story to hear, because it was the Honda's favourite story to tell.
"One day," she said, "you two will find someone you can't bear to be around. But... I want you to look at them again, and see past their rudeness, because everyone has likeable qualities, even loveable."
Haruhi had never believed her. Not until she met Kyouya, that is.
And with his help, she found Tohru, in a two-story house, hidden by the woods, living with three males.
At least they were still alike in the sense they spent an awful lot of time with their own harem of men.
She eventually met Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure, and Tohru was introduced to the Host Club. The latter mistook Miss Honda for Haruhi, and in all honesty, it was expected. They still looked incredibly similar, with the only difference being length of hair. But their lives were completely different now.
They weren't close anymore. They could still see each other, converse with each other, smile, joke, but now it was like there was a piece of glass between them. Haruhi sat on one side of it, and Tohru the other. They saw each other, they saw themselves. "The Mirror" still existed, but in a totally different way. Every time they looked at each other, they saw everything they were and weren't. Haruhi would never be that feminine or kind-hearted, and Tohru would never be that determined or assertive...
Haruhi invited Tohru to her house one day for old time's sake, and began telling stories of ancient times for them, and host club happenings with "Long ago" or "In a faraway land called Nihon" as the beginnings. Ranka smiled to himself, knowing this was exactly how it was years ago.
"Girls, I have a few questions for you."
"Sure thing, Dad." "What is it, Mr. Ryoji?"
"Who is the most prince-like person in your life?"
"...Tamaki Suoh." "Yuki Sohma."
"And would you like to be their princess?"
"NO." "Not my first choice."
Ranka grinned. "And who would you like to be your prince, Your Majesties?"
"I'd like Shigure Sohma."
Haruhi and Ranka cocked their heads at her. "Who?"
"He's the older guy you met, Haruhi. He's a novelist, so he's well-off compared to me. But he's the nicest guy I've met in a good while, and even if he's perverted, he's good to me. He tries to distance himself, so he won't drag me into his issues, which are his, and his alone, but I know what they are, and I'd like to help him."
Ranka nodded, as she had very good reasons for picking him. "And what about you, Haruhi? Come on, tell me who my little girl is crushing on!"
"Kyouya Ootori." She replied, a smirk on her face.
"...BUT WHY?!"
"For the very same reasons Tohru likes hers. He'd make a fine prince for me, don't you agree, Dad?"
The way her dad grinned made Haruhi believe he did agree, and he could see that his two princesses were growing up, and ready to break free from their towers and find adventures of their own.
She looked at the other half of "The Mirror" and still saw herself in the Honda girl. The mirror didn't lie, and their lives were meant to be fairytales, so it seemed.
Perhaps once they had their Prince Charming's, they could all live "Happily Ever After". Just like how all her, and Kyoko's, stories ended.
A perfect ending, in her opinion.
xoxo
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?xoxo
Another A/N: BAD ENDING. My favourite line shall not be copypasted here, because it is one word. It's the "NO." Haruhi says towards the end. You know the boldfaced, italicized, underlined one? Yeah… Best reaction award plz. I have a genuine question for you guys now. Besides "Hey will you leave a review, and critique?" Is there a pairing from any fandom I have written that you want to see me do? Like… LxLight from Death Note, or KasaHaru from OHSHC? Any at all? I will take suggestions if you give them! You know the drill.