Hello, and thank you for choosing to read this story! The story will take place during the events of the anime and will follow the order of the anime's episodes, but I will include a few original "episodes" as well. I will probably continue the story after the anime's ending, but we'll see how it works out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. I only own my OC.

Exciting Revelations Are Made!

The club room was quiet and serene, the only sounds being the clicks of Kyoya's calculator and the clinking of silverware as Honey feasted on his third piece of cake. Tamaki was absent, as he had rushed off to the locker room minutes before after remembering that he had left something behind after his gym class had ended. The Hitachiin twins were lounging on one of the love seats, bored as usual, while both Haruhi and Mori were reading quietly. Kyoya eventually broke the silence by making a sound of perplexity as he studied the club's numbers.

"This is strange," he said with slight confusion. "It seems that the rate of our spending has increased above the rate of our weekly income even though we haven't overshot the budget. I wonder why that is."

Haruhi paused from her reading. "Actually, come to think of it, there haven't been as many girls coming to the host club, at least compared to how many usually come," she noted. The twins looked at each other, both thinking the same thing.

"Do you think it has anything to do—" Hikaru started.

"—with that guy?" Kaoru finished.

"What guy?" Haruhi questioned. Usually she didn't particularly become invested in the host club's financial matters, but if the club were to start running out of money, Kyoya might just start increasing her debt. The mere thought, although improbable, still made her shudder.

"I'm curious as well. Please, inform us." Kyoya sat back in his chair calmly, awaiting their responses.

"Well, he transferred in about the same time you did, Haruhi," Kaoru said.

"We didn't really pay attention to him at first, but he's started to become pretty popular with the ladies ever since he joined the baseball team," Hikaru added.

"Oh, you must be talking about Shun!" Honey piped in, now finishing his fifth piece of cake.

Kyouya straightened his glasses. "Ah, now I know who you're talking about."

"You know who he is?" the twins asked simultaneously, taking no notice to Haruhi slumping in her chair.

"Well, of course." Kyoya's glasses shimmered as he pulled out his notorious black notebook and flipped through its mysterious pages. "Shun Inoue. 1st year, Class A. He transferred to Ouran Academy on a full-paid scholarship, similar to Haruhi. In only the seventh grade, his team won the prefecture's baseball championship. He is currently the captain of Ouran's baseball team—number 36—and is one of their best players because of the strength of his right arm, which allows him to score home runs easily and strike out opposing players constantly." The book snapped shut. "I can only assume that his rising popularity has caused all of our regular customers to migrate to his practices to watch him instead of visiting the host club."

"What are we gonna do, Kyo-chan? If we run out of money, we can't be in the host club anymore!" Honey cried, looking quite distressed. (He was now starting his seventh piece of cake.)

Kyoya pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose once more. "There is nothing we really can do as of this moment without upsetting any of our guests," he paused, "so I suppose we'll just have to... work around it."

"That sounds pretty shady," said the twins. Everyone else shared the same thought.

Meanwhile...

The tapping of shoes against the hallway's smooth floors echoed around the walls. Tamaki rushed around the corridors, frantically searching for the entrance to the locker rooms. He almost skidded past it before he stopped himself and hurried in. In his haste, he ignored the sound of the shower running and the loud rustling of a plastic curtain. His eyes quickly skimmed over the numbers until he found his and yanked it open.

It was empty.

Phew! I guess I was just hallucinating when I thought I forgot my wallet! Tamaki sighed in relief before turning the corner and glancing briefly at a girl hurriedly shoving clothes in a duffel bag. He was about to continue on his way until he did a double-take. What's a girl doing in the boys' locker room? Approaching slowly, he tried to question her.

"Excuse me, miss—" To his shock, she bolted before he could finish, leaving her shoes behind in her haste. He quickly snatched them and ran after her in an attempt to give them back, rambling desperately as he tried to get her to stop.

"Excuse me! Please stop running! I just want to return something! I'm serious! I promise I won't tell anyone that you were in the boys' locker room!" How fast is this girl? Stopping to catch his breath, Tamaki watched her unknowingly dash into the club room. "Hey, wait!"

I thought everybody had left the locker room! The girl thought to herself as she bent over to catch her breath. All I wanted was to take a shower and go home in peace, she lamented pitifully. Now where am I? After backing herself up against the wall like a caged bird, she finally spared a look at her surroundings.

To her absolute horror, there were people in the room, all of whom were staring at her in surprise. Swallowing the huge lump in her throat, she stood up straight and clapped her hands together, bowing deeply.

"Don't tell anyone else about this!" she pleaded loudly.

Her words echoed around the marble walls of the music room, and it was a long while before she finally heard slow steps approaching her. Her head stayed down, as she feared that if she were to look up, she would be faced with the worst humiliation. However, her eyes widened immediately once she recognized the voice speaking to her.

"Shun?"

Shun whipped her head up and stared at the person in front of her with wide eyes. "Haruhi?"

Suddenly, something burst through the doors.

"I JUST WANT TO RETURN YOUR SHOES!" Tamaki yelled, before noticing the tense atmosphere around him. "What happened?" Clueless, as usual.

"So Shun Inoue—"

"—is a girl, huh?"

Somewhere in the background, Honey gasped loudly. Kyoya adjusted his glasses again and smiled.

"What an interesting turn of events."

After Shun fixed herself up, as she had dressed in a hurry and thus her baseball uniform was rumpled and mismatched, Kyoya sat her down at one of the large tables in the room. Her head was bent over in shame, her hands clutched in her lap while she silently hoped that she wouldn't get in over her head with these people. Kyoya stood in front of her, his hand holding his chin as he carefully thought about what to do with this compelling information. Finally, after a painfully quiet few minutes, Shun lifted her head and spoke.

"I'll do anything you want, just don't tell anyone that I'm a girl!" she said, her expression stern despite the butterflies—actually, they were more like giant moths—fluttering in her stomach.

Eyeing her the cold determination in her eyes carefully, Kyoya replied, "I had no intention of doing that, Miss Inoue."

"If he wasn't going to do it—" Hikaru wondered.

"—then why didn't he just say that in the beginning?" Kaoru finished Hikaru's thought, and the twins eyed each other warily. Shun could feel her heart slowly beginning its painful descent into her stomach with every passing second.

"But if you really are willing to do anything we want," Kyoya smiled, although it seemed as fake as crystalized sugar to Shun, "then I propose this: if you join the host club and work as a host, then we will make certain that your true gender is never found out."

Haruhi worriedly glanced over at Shun after hearing Kyoya's proposal, and it was safe to say that she had not taken the news lightly. It looked like her soul was being slowly sapped from her body.

"W-What?" Shun mumbled weakly. When I said I would do anything, I wasn't expecting this! She stumbled out of her chair and collapsed to the floor on her hands and knees.

I regret everything.

"Shu-chan!" Honey wailed.

Tamaki finally caught up with the situation and placed a hand on Kyoya's shoulder questioningly. "Kyoya, are you sure about this? I'm certain we can keep Shun's secret without forcing her to be a host, right? Besides, we don't necessarily need a new host."

"I disagree. Since Shun is already quite popular amongst the ladies, having her in the host club would most certainly be beneficial. In addition, even if we were to let her be, the club's financial situation would only become more difficult to resolve. I believe having her here will solve both problems easily."

Everyone in the club stared at Kyoya in shock, save for Mori and Shun, the latter of the two still groveling on the floor.

"Did you plan that?!"

Kyoya looked mildly surprised at their accusation. "Of course not." He turned around and walked back to where his computer and notes sat, although Haruhi thought she saw the ghost of a sly grin on his face.

No wonder he's called the Shadow King, she thought with a shiver. Turning back, Haruhi could see that Shun was still collapsed on the floor, obviously shell-shocked. She reached forward and shook Shun's shoulder, worried about her mental state.

"Hey, Shun, are you alright?"

Shun seemed to snap out of her daze at that moment and weakly stood up with wobbly legs, her shoulders drooping. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I just have to accept my fate, huh?" Shun tried to reassure herself awkwardly. Haruhi couldn't help but sheepishly smile back.

"By the way, Haruhi—" Kaoru suddenly appeared behind the host in question, resting his elbow on her shoulder while Hikaru followed suit.

"—how did you know who Shun was when she ran into the club room?"

A mildly surprised look crossed Shun's face. "She never told you that we're family?"

"What? You're related?" the twins asked, dumbfounded.

"Haru-chan, you never told us about Shun!"

"Yeah."

Out of all of the reactions, Tamaki looked the most flabbergasted. "Haruhi! How come you never told me about this? Oh no, Haruhi's keeping secrets from me!" Tamaki wailed dramatically, tears dribbling down his face. "Have I done something to upset you? Please don't be angry at me, Haruhi!"

"Jeez, this is exactly why I didn't tell you anything," Haruhi muttered.

"Actually, I'd like to know, too." Haruhi turned around to see Shun's inquiring (and slightly peeved) face, and she sighed in resignation.

"I knew that you didn't want too much attention because of the whole baseball thing, so I thought it would be better if I just never mentioned it," she said simply with a shrug of the shoulders. Shun smiled slightly, touched by Haruhi's true thoughtfulness. (But not too touched, as she was still a little miffed.)

"How honorable of you, Haruhi! How truly respectable!" Instantly switching out of his melodramatic sorrow that would have put Hamlet to shame, Tamaki swept up the two girls in a suffocating hug. "You didn't want to trouble your dear family member, so you kept her secret! You're so loving!"

Before the pair could be crushed in Tamaki's embrace, Mori scooped them out of his arms and set them back down on the ground gently.

"Well, I guess that settles it then," Kyoya closed his laptop and stood up. "Welcome to the Ouran Host Club, Shun." At this, Honey began clapping happily, his face smeared with the remains of his tenth piece of cake.

"By the way, Kyoya," Hikaru began, "if Shun is going to be a host, what type will she be?"

"Yeah, we already have most of the types covered," Kaoru added.

Nodding his head in thought, Tamaki beamed with a look of excitement. There was practically a lightbulb shining above his head. "Shun, tomorrow you will start your job as a host," he said as he pointed his finger directly at her, "as the boyish type!"

"What?"

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I know that in terms of Shun's appearance I have not given any details yet, but that's mainly because I wanted to focus on the introduction. However, her appearance will be given in the next chapter—most likely in the author's note—since I am terrible at explicitly writing it into the story.

Thanks for reading!