Chapter One

The Beginning

The girls' green eyes flickered to the large chandelier situated high above her.

"Ooh, so extravagant!" I exclaimed, using my hand to shield my eyes from the tiny bedazzling sparkles radiating off the crystals and what-not.

The prior silence caused my voice to reverberate off the walls, and, in response, I squeaked. "I'm not sure if I should feel like a princess or a mouse in a fancy place like this." I muttered to myself, lifting the mop from the bucket. It landed on the marble floors with a ka-plop, and suds slid across it. "Geez, when they said Ouran was ridiculous, I never imagined…"

I lazily swished the mop over the wet area of the floor. The black scuff marks would need to be manually scrubbed with a scrub brush, which I very well knew would take hours (due to the damned size of the single ballroom). I guess I should start from the beginning, though...

~Three Days Prior~

"She looks like she hasn't worked a day in her life!" The secretary scoffed. He was a tall, scrawny man with a pointy nose and thin lips. His black hair was greased back with hair gel, and his skin was slightly paler than the norm.

"Of course she hasn't! She's sixteen, so what! You wouldn't see a twenty-something with as much potential as this one!" As if to clarify, the social-worker held up one of my arms. "She has strong arms, a strong back, and a stronger determination. Once she gets into the routine of this place, she is a very diligent and hard-worker, and she'll give you what you pay for." This made me feel like an old, POS that a shady cars salesman was trying to sell. This was the exact impression I had gotten off the man when we first met.

I need to be appreciative. The old fool had gotten me an interview (through contrived bullshitting and shady lies, yes) but it was a start! Anybody else assigned to me would have most likely failed to do even that, and I probably would have been cast out to fend for myself. In the most blatant actuality, I was seventeen (which makes my likelihood of success slim to none), but the salesman, ahem social worker, claimed that working on peoples' pity and/or pride reaped better results. Therefore, for that brief moment in which the thin, tall secretary reviewed my papers, I was sixteen.

~Yesterday~

Room 219?

"Hmpfh." The secretary ruffled his feathers as I entered the office with plush, white carpet. The ceiling, which had a beautiful mural made everything else in the room look tacky. I figured he noticed me staring in dumbfounded awe, since he cleared his throat again. He stood up from his black, office chair, and motioned me to exit the room.

"What's your name again?" He asked.

"Uh, Yukino Yamamoto, but my friends just call me Yuki."

He adjusted his half-glasses. "It's a pleasant fact that I'm not your friend." He responded. "Follow me this way."

What's up his ass?

"Ah, Mr. Kuze, is there anything I can do for you today?" He asked in a delightful and sugar-laced tone upon exiting the room. The boy (His High Majesty, Mr. Kuze) glanced down to me. He was very attractive – with mysterious, dark brown eyes and short blond hair. He was wearing a football jersey, which seemed unnusual. He gave a wave of his hand, and Mr. Uptight smiled. "Ah, right away, Sir!" He made a dramatic exit, pulling me away.

He finally acknowledged me (his honorary shadow) with an irritated scowl (remembering, perhaps, that I was still here). He continued walking, taking long strides which I barely kept up with.

"So, uh, what's your name?" I asked, attempting to make small-chat.

He abruptly turned on his heel to face me. I skidded to a stop. "Listen, Ms. Yamamoto, do not take this personally, but I will make one thing perfectly clear: we aren't friends."

I feigned disappointment. "Oh and here I thought we'd really hit it off." I muttered, adding a soft giggle when his nose scrunched together.

"Sarcasm does not work in this profession, Ms. Yamamoto." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, smoothing the scrunches. "If you must know, my name is Yue. You'll hear my name quite a lot over the next few weeks you'll be here. I am the coordinator of all the hiring and firing done at Ouran Academy, so, if you want to keep your job, you'll need to stay on my good side."

"I'm sure I'll only hear the best, but I intend on working here longer than a few weeks, Yue-san." I admitted, and he raised a single, thinly plucked eyebrow.

"Your confidence might keep you here a month, a month and a half, tops, but I suppose you're right. Where else would someone like you have to go?" He sighed. Someone like me? "This is a dead-end job, however, so, in your better interests, it would be wise if you made your escape attempts sooner rather than later."

"I thought sarcasm wasn't allowed in this 'profession'." I remarked.

His eyebrow twitched. "I was not being sarcastic. Perhaps you noticed my behavior towards Kuze-san earlier."

"Well, I…observed…it. You seemed a little…tense, Yue-san."

Yue let out a huff of refined indignation. "Ah, yes, well studying for four, long years in business management leads me to this marble prison, which I have remained in for ten, dutiful years, putting all of my blood, sweat, and tears into hiring only those with the most pristine records. That would make one a 'little tense,' hmm? Have I ever received a promotion? No. Have I ever received a thank you for all my efforts? No. These tarts, rather, students require the upmost amount of-,"

"Butt kissing?" I imposed.

"-respect." He corrected. "And if they so wish, they can piss on all of your once credible degrees and send you directly to a behind the counter job at a local fast-food establishment! Ms. Yamamoto, do you want to routinely ask people 'do you want fries with that?'"

I held up my hands. If there came a time where Yue had to choose between murdering some snobby, rich kid and some forgettable orphan, I could well imagine where I was in the equation. "Uh, no… not really… Err, I don't know."

Yue ran his hand over his greased hair. During his rant, pieces of it had stuck up. He looked thoroughly stressed out. "I suppose you wouldn't understand." He said. "You quit school."

I pursed my lips. "That's irrelevant."

"An orphan who dropped out to pursue a job: what a strange occurrence indeed." Yue rolled his eyes. "You're lucky to even have a job, let alone one here. I don't respect quitters, and neither does this prestigious academy."

"Speaking of which, I am slightly curious as to why you hired me." I admitted.

Yue let out a breath. "The last person hired here was a young man in '96. He is serving a life sentence in prison for trying to steal a valuable piece of art from the school. He held a student hostage in his attempt to escape the authorities." Yue smoothed his hair. "Since then, the school has been… well, dealing with the services of our already present employees. The fear of losing their pensions keeps them here, and you are the first person this school has hired in ten years. When the higher-ups agreed, I wasn't going to very well turn down the opportunity to bring someone actually useful onto this campus. Although I fear I have made a terrible mistake..."

"But wouldn't that make the people already working here old?" I wondered. He sure is "friendly." I thought to myself.

"Many of us are in our mid-to-late forties, some even older, although with others it's hard to tell – the ladies in the kitchen will vouch for that." Yue smiled. "Speaking of which, I happened to be the youngest before your arrival."

"Huh, I never would have guessed."

He straightened his tie. "I am unsure if you were actually attempting rudeness or simply saying what was on your mind."

I frowned. So he can dish it, but he can't take it?! "Sorry. I just feel a lot of additional pressure which was not mentioned in the interview…"

Yue cleared his throat. "Hmpfh, I could say the same about your attempts at falsifying your age. Let us make haste towards your room."

"That was not me-! Wait... M-My room?" My eyes widened. "I had no idea that I…"

"It was one of the requirements your social worker mentioned." He interrupted me. He smirked. "For a moment I felt as though I were dealing with a princess. The school has made accommodations for your stay, and they are more comfortable having you on the grounds anyway. That is, until the time in which you prove your trustworthiness."

"It sounds fishy." I grumbled.

"You should be appreciative, even if it is just for a short time."

~That Night~

"Appreciative, huh?" I wondered. I forced the window to open, and a breeze swept through the dusty room. I coughed, using a tissue to cover my nose. Boxes were piled high on any and all livable space, and the mattress was just that – a mattress with a broken spring sticking out of it. Potting soil lay, collapsed, on the floor, and broken flower pots sat, covered in spider webs, in the corner.

The small house was rather spacious (even in its current condition). I loved that it was nestled in the rose hedge garden. It had supposedly been a place for the gardening club to meet, before they disbanded and computerized farming games became a lot more charming.

I collapsed onto the couch, which leaned to the side, because of a broken leg. I pulled a cigarette – my last one – from its carton and twiddled it in between my fingers. Before I knew it, I had started crying. Not just silent sniffles, but loud sobs. I clutched at my quilt (the only thing which I had brought with me from the orphanage), and used it to wipe away the many tears which were rolling down my cheeks and into my lap.

I am officially alone.

~Alice in Eden