The Shadows of the Shadow King
by Kristen Williams
The day was as normal as ever. The usual fan girls were spread within the 3rd music room, blushing and squealing at the actions performed by each individual host. Of course, this was common to the hosts, and perhaps to the entire student body of Ouran Academy, but I doubt it would be common knowledge to us commoners. Every host was busy with their own job, up until the doors slammed open and two young girls ran in, yelling.
"Onii-sama! Onii-sama!" they said, causing each host to turn in their direction. As far as common knowledge went, not one of the hosts had twin girls as younger siblings.
As the two newcomers searched the room for their 'onii-sama' they were thoroughly inspected by the other occupants. They were obviously twins, since both bore the same face and height, and, at the current time, the same worried expression. The only noticeable differences between the two were the way they dressed and their hairstyles. One wore an almost formal outfit, yet it was not that of the school, and she had short black hair. The other wore a unique outfit, an apparent cosplay, and had long black hair that was chest high.
Both ran up to Tamaki, putting his fan girls in a fit of rage. "Tamaki-sempai, have you seen onii-sama?" the one with short hair asked, while her sister hid her head and blushed crimson.
Tamaki smiled. "Oh yeah, Kumiko, Mickiko," he nodded at the two respectively "He's . . ." he looked around, then pointed at Kyouya, who stood in a corner, paying more attention to his clipboard than to his guests. The two charged at him, and hugged him tightly, while everyone else gasped loudly. No one in the vicinity, Tamaki excluded, knew Kyouya had any younger siblings, twins nevertheless.
"Sorry, onii-sama," the second one, Michiko said, "we forgot where you told us to meet, an' so we asked everybody where Tamaki-sempai was, since he's more noticeable than you and wherever he is you are bound to be." Her accent was almost western, giving the impression that she had been in America for quite a while.
"But no one knew," her sister, Kumiko, continued, "but we remembered that you said in one of your letters that you participated in a Host Club, so we asked where that was and came here."
As both continued their story and began to 'catch up' with their onii-sama, the Hitachiin twins approached Tamaki, most likely coming to antagonize him. "Tono," the two said in unison, "how come you know those two so well? And since when did the shadow king have sisters?"
"Well, I've known those two probably for as long as I've known Kyouya. I met them after I became friends with him actually. But they're not really his sisters, they're just cousins from America, who like to visit during their breaks at school. Kumiko's the one over there, the one with the short hair, the one who's observing them. She's not really that talkative, and she only really gets 'that way when she's nervous or too excited. She's really athletic though, and smart too." Tamaki then pointed at Michiko, who was talking to her cousin. "The one with the long hair is Michiko. She's really smart, and pretty violent when it comes to mentally striking someone, unlike her sister, who specializes in physical abuse. She's like Renge, in a sense, since she really likes anime and stuff, but if you pick on her, Kumiko will probably kill you." He sighed for a minute, while everyone held their breath at the last comment."They're not like you guys, though. They're exact opposites, like mirrors." The Host Club, and their guests, went over to inspect the newcomers, who had already begun a new topic.
"Kyouya, guess what we did!"the two exclaimed. "You see, in America, they do a pledge to a flag every day, so we made a cool one!"
"Well, let's hear what you two did when you were supposed to be studying." Kyouya sighed.
Both raised their right hand, and began to speak. "I pledge allegiance, to the hosts, of the united provinces of Japan. And to the fan girls, for which they swoon, one Host Club, under Kyouya, irresistible, with roses and bishies for all." the two smiled.
"Wait, who are the 'bishies'?" Hikaru asked, and Kaoru banged his head against his fist, already knowing the answer. Hikaru was answered by the stares of everyone. He growled, and glared at the two opposing twins.
"Hey, if you two are Kyouya's cousins . . ." Kaoru approached the two, "does that mean you're . . . erm . . ."
"No, she's the evil one." the two said, pointing at the other. Everyone stood for a second as a couple thoughts dawned on them. But before anyone could say anything, the doors opened.
Haruhi walked in with instant coffee loaded in several bags. She glanced at Michiko and Kumiko, and continued by asking an obvious question. "Are you two twins?"
"No," Kumiko said, making heads turn, "I just picked her up off the street on the way here." Michiko glared at her sister angrily, while her sister smiled in a sort of evil way( though nowhere near her cousin's). Michiko shook her head, and both began to leave the 3rd music room. She paused for a second, and Kumiko looked back at her in curiosity. Michiko reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple photos, one of them being of Haruhi half undressed.
"Hey . . ." Kumiko said, scrutinizing the picture, "it's been Photoshopped." the Hitachiins gasped in amazement.
"Really?" Michiko smiled, and shook her head in mock disappointment. "Now, dear onii-sama of ours, why would you have a picture of a half naked boy, Photoshopped nevertheless?" Her question went unanswered, so she continued to look at the pictures. She came upon a last one, and her eyes widened for half a second. She quickly put it in her pocket, giving her sister no time or opportunity to see. She then looked at the last pictures, ones of herself and her sister. "I'm sure Uncle wouldn't be proud of hearing that his son is a stalker."
While Kyouya approached his cousin to make a deal so his life wouldn't become miserable, the Hitachiin twins noticed that the other one had disappeared. They looked around, noticing her talking to Tamaki. Both smiled and laughed; Kumiko said something, and Tamaki's face turned to that of mock horror(or real, no one could tell) and both laughed as Kumiko skipped back to her sister.
"What was that about?" Her sister asked kindly.
"Oh, nothing."
Days passed, and the 'spoiled rich brats'(as the Ootori twins called the Ouran students) became used to the two 'weirdos'( as they were sometimes referred to by the students). The students of Ouran became used to their odd outfits, and their odd ways of interacting with others. They even had received the 'honor' of joining the Black magic Club (to, of which, they declined, and shined a light into Nekozawa's face)
It was now only a couple of days until the school dance. As it became closer and closer, the two appeared less and less, making a few of the hosts suspicious. Before they had helped with some of the daily routines, like shopping and making snacks (Michiko was a great cook, and Hani loved the treats that she would make.), cleaning up and decorating. At first glance they appeared evil, but once you got deeper and closer to them, it was discovered that the two were nothing like their cousin, or even like any of the Ouran students (Haruhi excluded). But they came from a different culture, so it was expected that they would act differently.
What even caused more suspicion was that whenever they weren't working, Kumiko was sketching and Michiko would point out little things here and there. They would let no one near, and all three of the Ootoris would give a death stare if anyone tried.
On the day of the dance, it became obvious to why they acted the way they did. Both entered carrying boxes, and they had even convinced Kyouya to help with them. Once they had brought them all in, they shut the doors quickly so no one could enter (it was the afternoon before, so everyone was getting ready to look their best for the dance anyway), took out the costumes, and gave them to each host.
"I forgot to order our outfits, so my cousins agreed to make them for me." Kyouya said.
"By 'forgot'" Hikaru started.
"You mean that you didn't want to pay anything, so you made your cousins do it." Kaoru finished, but glanced at the costume, "Not that I object"
"Oh really?" Kyouya asked, pushing up his glasses.
"Yes really." his cousins answered in monotone. "HEY STOP COPYING ME!" on accident(and in anger) they ripped the costume meant for Haruhi.
"Oops. Oh well, good thing I made a spare." Kumiko sighed.
"No you didnt, you're gonna–MPH!" Kumiko blocked her sister's attempt to argue.
"Is there an issue with that?" her sister shook her head, and Kumiko released her grasp. Kumiko took out a dress form a box, and gave it to Haruhi. Everyone stood in shock(except Kyouya, of course.) "I know it's a dress, but I think you'll look good in It anyway. It just shows your feminine side. I was gonna wear it, but I hate dresses, and we don't have time to make you another. You're a host, so cross-dressing should be your specialty"
Everyone seemed to enjoy dancing that night. Well, Kumiko watched her sister from the sidelines, wearing only jeans and a t-shirt(why bother going formal when you can just wear normal clothes?), enjoying the fact that her sister was dancing with the one she loved. Haruhi was dancing as a girl, making a lot of fan girls go into shock.
"You really care a lot about your twin, huh?" Kaoru asked, approaching Kumiko. He held out his hand, using it as an invitation to dance. She shook her head, and glanced at her clothes, but he was persistent, and they ended up dancing.
"Aren't we supposed to? I just want my big sister to be happy." When Kaoru gave her a questionable look, she replied, "five seconds."
"Is that why you threatened Tono?" he spun Kumiko. She glanced over, noticing that Hikaru and Tamaki had switched partners.
"Yup." Kumiko gasped as she saw Tamaki and Haruhi kiss, and couldn't hold in her comment. "TAMAKI'S GAY?!" Kaoru stifled a laugh, and Kumiko ran to her sister, who smiled softly.
"It's ok, K-chan. I already knew Haruhi was a girl . . .but you were working so hard, so I didn't want to ruin all your hard work."
"You . . . baka." Kumiko said, smiling and blushing slightly at her mistake. "Oh well, too bad we have to leave on a bad note."
"How so?" Kaoru inquired.
"Well, we leave for America tomorrow. And I'm not gonna give our secret, right Kumiko?" Michiko said, as the two grinned.
The Host Club saw the two off at the airport (it was a Sunday, so they could do that). As both were about to leave, Kumiko gave Kyouya a package that was nicely wrapped and labeled: To the Host Club :)
"Just a little something to remember us by." Kumiko said, and then the two ran into the airplane.
They all opened the gift, and inside were a bunch of photos. Upon closer inspection, they were obviously Photoshopped, since not one of the hosts did what the picture said they did. One had the two Ootori twins leaning on top of the Hitachiin's heads, and Kyouya in the background. Another had Tamaki and Haruhi in dresses, both flaunting them greatly. The rest were extremely humiliating yet extremely humorous.
"So this is what they meant." Kaoru observed, shaking his head as the other hosts inquired further. He laughed silently to himself. Surely he would never forget the two now.
~End~