Hello! *bows* thank you very much for taking the time to read my story! This takes place after the anime has finished; to everyone who has read the manga, I apologise for any discrepancies because I have not yet finished it :o (I know, I know. I should be staked or something.) I hope you enjoy it!

The Hitachiin brothers had always fascinated me. It wasn't just their good looks – the first time I met the two of them was in elementary school, so at that point I really didn't care about those sorts of things – it was the fact that they could be in a room full of crowded people and yet still look completely alone.

Not really the sort of skill which most people would wish upon themselves, but they seemed fine with only their own company. We were all afraid of them, to a degree. They were always whispering and laughing with one another; no-one even tried to be friends with them, because we knew that we could never rival the level of closeness that they had with one another.

Not that I took that hint.

I never was one to catch on quickly, and I liked the twins. They made me laugh, and for my seven year old self, that was all that mattered.

I clearly remember how it happened. It was the last school day of the year. It had been snowing, and we'd been let out early for break. My friends and I were making a snowman, and most of the boys were having a snow ball fight. I was searching for sticks to give our snowman arms, and when I looked up, there they were. Sitting on a seat, holding hands, not even talking to one another. Just watching.

I knew that no-one ever spoke to them, and that they appeared to be happy with this scenario, but I couldn't help but start walking towards them.

They just looked so lonely.

I stood shyly in front of them for a moment, feeling my face go red as a realised what a bad idea this had been. They gazed up at me, two identically unreadable expressions on two identical faces.

I bit my lip and looked down shyly at my snow covered boots, then looked back up at them.

'Um … Do you two want to play with us? We – we're making a snowman …'

Their blank expressions remained, until, finally, one of them spoke.

'Can you tell? Which of us is Kaoru, and which of us is Hikaru?'

To my seven year old mind, this was a rather odd question, as it really didn't seem important to the subject at hand.

It also didn't help that I had no idea.

The two of them were perfectly symmetrical – there was literally no way to tell them apart. But for some reason, they looked incredibly sad at my pause.

I did my best, pointing to the twin on the left with a mitten-clad hand.

'Ah – Well I think … you're Hikaru.'

'You guessed wrong.' they replied sadly.

I began to back away, ashamed that I failed this test of theirs.

'I'm so sorry … Please don't cry …' I said quickly, and then turned and ran back towards my friends, feeling their eyes watching me the entire way.

That was the first time I had spoken to the Hitachiin brothers, and also the last.

At the start of the next year, when my father's company began to lose money, I was moved from class 1A to 1B. A rare occurrence – since the class system at Ouran is based on social standing and grades, usually the same group of kids stays together their whole school life. But I was a special case. I left most of my friends behind, though I still spoke to them, especially my best friend Momoka Kurakano. However, my glimpses of the two twins were fleeting and rare.

From what I saw, and what Momoka-san said, they appeared to withdraw further and further into themselves in middle school. They hardly ever spoke to anyone, and while they had plenty of admirers, they never accepted any of them, simply rejecting any declarations of love. In the last year of middle school, they joined Tamaki-senpai's Host club. The entirety of our grade was rather surprised; it just didn't seem like the sort of thing that the Hitachiin brothers would find enjoyable. However, Momoka went to the host club once or twice, and she said they were like entirely different people there, talking and laughing along with Tamaki-senpai and the other members. They were the youngest there; all the other club members were on the upper campus, but they seemed completely undaunted.

I never went to any of the host club sessions – I was far too shy. Momoka, however, became a regular member. When we moved to junior high she started going most afternoons, coming to find me afterwards to tell me everything. In a way, hearing about it was almost the same as being there. I could see it all in my mind – the elaborate costumes, the beautiful settings, the girls and boys speaking softly to one another of forbidden romance; to me it all seemed like the set of a movie, a carefully constructed play.

I was always careful not to ask about Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun – Momoka was a hopeless romantic, and would instantly assume that I was in love with one of them, even though that was completely absurd.

And even if I was, there was no point in pursuing it.

It's not like either of them could ever feel the same way.

Well, there finishes Chapter 1 of this story! I apologise for the fact that nothing has really happened yet, despite the fact that it ended up longer than it was supposed to – one of my friends once told me that I'm obsessed with internal monologues.

Which is true I suppose.

The next chapter (which will most probably arrive in a week or two) actually does have stuff happening, so watch out for that!

Coming To You Soon: A Rare Occurence

Side Note: I apologise for my incredibly pretentious chapter names – I've never been very good with them :/