Chapter 1

As soon as the last bell of the day rang, the room around me exploded with noise. The girls around me stood up quickly and started tittering away about who they were going to see at the Host club today. I ignored them and started to pack my schoolbooks away in my bag, leaving out an old leather-bound book and a small notebook. I made the mistake of looking toward the board to double check the homework because I accidentally caught the eye of one of my classmates.

"Kusumoto-san, will you be going to the Host club today?" A girl will long straight black hair asked. I think her name was Kiki. No. Kirika? Whatever. I could tell from the way she asked that she was just doing it to be polite. In the year that it's been in service I had never been.

"No, I'm busy." I mumble, bowing my head slightly before gathering my bag and books. She gave a polite smile before going back to talking with her friends. I pushed past them unnoticed and headed out the door.

I quickly made my way outside and headed toward the large pond that Ouran had on its campus. It was one of my favorite spots because not many people knew about it and something special had just happened there about a week ago.

I turned the final corner and stopped dead. There were seven boys wandering around carrying lanterns and streamers. It looked as though they were throwing a party of some sort. One was placing a ladder near one of the trees next to the pond. My heart started to race and I finally unfroze.

"Stop! What are you doing?" I yelled while sprinting over to the blonde who had just set the ladder down. A look of confusion flashed across his face but was gone just as quickly. Suddenly he was inches away from my face, his violet eye twinkling. Suoh, Tamaki, he was in the same class as me and if what I had gathered from all the girl talk around school, he was the king of the host club.

"My dear princess, you don't need to worry. I was perfectly safe." He grabbed my hand and brought it close to his mouth. "But I appreciate your concern." Just before his lips touched the back of my hand, I grabbed it back and took a couple steps away from him.

"I wasn't worried about you. I'm worried about them!" I jab my finger in the air. He followed it a finally saw the fairly large nest that was resting in the same tree he had just placed the ladder next to. It was currently empty but I could see the father keeping a close eye in a nearby tree.

"A nest?" He muttered and his eyes widened a bit.

"What seems to be the problem here?" I glanced over to where the new voice came from. Ootori, Kyoya, also in my class and also the talk of all the girls. He pushed his glasses higher on his nose and flashed a fake smile in my direction.

"You can't set up whatever you're doing here." I narrowed my eyes and took a defensive stance. My grip on my books tightened as well.

"Look Kyoya! A nest!" Suoh bounced up and down like a small child, pointing. Ootori ignored him and continued to look at me.

"This is a very special celebration for us, it's our one year anniversary of the Host Club and the end of the first week of school. I've already gotten permission from the school and there will be a lot of disappointed customers as well if we don't have this special celebration."

"That is a nest of Japanese Crested Ibis. They are an endangered species and if you were to disturb or touch that nest, the parents would abandon it." I pull my cell phone out of my bag, "If you don't leave I will report you to the authorities."

By the time I finished the rest of the boys had gathered around. A tall black haired boy had a much smaller dark blonde on his shoulders who was looking up at the nest curiously. A small brown haired boy had two orange haired twins hanging off his shoulders looking bored while he had a look of indifference. Ootori's fake grin disappeared and his glasses flashed white as the sun reflected off them.

"There is a smaller pond a little bit from here. You can set up," I glance around at the decorations again, "this, there." Ootori glanced quickly at my phone then looked me directly in the eyes before jotting something down in a black notebook he held. He was silent for a minute before turning to look at the other boys.

"Well? Move." I couldn't see his face but I assumed it wasn't very happy by the way they jumped and started to rush around. Suoh mumbled something that sounded similar to 'Mother is scary' but that mad no sense. Ootori glanced back at me once more before walking off in the direction I pointed toward the other pond. The boys glanced at me several times as I stood guard beneath the tree waiting for them to leave but none of them tried to talk to me. Maybe it was out of fear of getting in trouble with Ootori? Whatever the reason, I didn't relax until they were completely packed up and moved.

Once they were gone, I let out a shaky breath and went to the spot under a tree several meters away from the nest and waited. I turned to an empty page in my notebook and glanced at the leather-bound book. My stomach felt like it was twisted and it felt like I had a rock in my throat. I shut my eyes and clenched my jaw for several seconds, focusing on my breathing before opening them again. I carefully opened the book and turned to the handwritten page that had information about the crested ibis along with a detailed drawing of one.

The sound of flapping broke my concentration and I glanced up. The father had returned to the nest along with the mother, I felt the corner of my lips twitch up slightly. 'Good.' I brought out a pencil and began writing some observations and drew a quick sketch of the beautiful birds in front of me.

After about an hour of studying the birds, I packed my stuff away and called for the car to come pick me up. I slowly made my way back to the front of the school, taking my time to continue to look around. Once I finally made it to the entrance the car was already there and the driver was standing ridged by the back door. He didn't even look at me as he opened the door for me and then shut it. I glanced around the back of the car hoping to find the drink I had been so used to getting.

'Stupid. Hibine was fired months ago with the rest of the staff.' I sunk down into my seat as my stomach began to twist again. I bit the inside of my cheek. 'No crying, Mami, Ojii-san didn't like it when you cried.' By the time I arrived at home, my cheek ached but I had succeeded in keeping my eyes dry. 'I'll make you proud, Ojii-san.'

Author's Notes:
The Crested Ibis is an endangered bird who typically nest near marshy areas. As of this date I don't believe that any are nesting in the wild, they are all in captivity but for the sake of the story, they're still going to be nesting. Also Ouran's timeline is a bit wonky but I'm starting a couple days after Haruhi has joined the host club as a host. The school year starts in April so that's where this is starting.

I'm going to try not to go by the episodes word for word. I might mention certain episodes here and there but I'll try to make it so you're not just reading a recap of the episode with a new character placed in there. I've also tried very hard not to make Mami a mary-sue but if she is too mary-suey for you please let me know and I'll try to fix that.

I haven't decided what the pairing is going to be yet. It's a toss up between Mori and Kyoya...though Honey may get tossed up there as well. The title of the story and the description may change later on down the road. Let me know what you think so far!