Summary:

Enter the Host Club in the middle of dissolution. Enter one American-born Italian heiress Annabelle De Luca, whose sole purpose is to piss off her conservative great aunts. Enter two mischievous twins, prone to homosexuality to please the ladies. Enter Sophie, Anna's commoner best friend, with a personality in stark contrast to hers. Enter Tamaki, the fiancé of said heiress. Enter the greatest scheme ever. Enter Kaoru's point of view on the entire thing, which brings along insight and confusion to a situation he could never fully explain even if he wanted to.

Guilt. It's the worst feeling one could ever have, and once it has taken over you completely, it can leave you breathless and suffocated for relief of the horror of knowing it was all your fault.

"Kaoru, please come with us back to Ouran," Haruhi pleaded with me. Her voice was very gentle as she knelt by me at the side of the hospital bed.

I held onto my brother's limp hand. It had been six days since he had slipped into this coma, and there was no promise that he would regain consciousness any time soon. Kyoya-senpai's entire hospital staff was watching over him day in and day out, but even the best of the best in all of the medical field said that only time would tell.

My mother nodded her head. "It would be the best thing," she told me, "for you to get back to normal."

I looked around the room to see the hosts, each with the same facial expression of hopelessness and loss. There was nothing I could say. I had never felt so alone before. It was as if I had been placed in a dark, cold space all by myself. I felt as if I could run and run forever, and I would see nothing but blackness. The feeling of despair crawled up my back, and I couldn't breathe. "If Hikaru wakes up," I whispered, causing Haruhi to lean in just so she could make out my words, "he'll want me to be here." I started to cry, although I did not know the reason for it. "Where is she?" I cried out. I banged my fists on the bed. "Damn it! Why isn't she here?"

Tamaki-senpai raced out of the room, and Kyoya followed him at a much slower pace. Immediately, Hani-senpai broke into large tears, and even Haruhi could not hold back. Mori-senpai patted Hani-senpai's head, and I saw one single tear fall from the side of his eye.

The heart monitor beeped regularly.

From the hallway, I heard Tamaki-senpai yelling. His voice cracked with every word; I could hear his tears in his voice.

"Why isn't Hikaru awake yet?" his muffled voice floated in from under the door.

Kyoya answered lowly, and I could not hear his exact words.

"Call Anna! Kaoru wants to see her!"

There was another low answer, and Tamaki-senpai was silent.

The two walked back in. Tamaki-senpai was teary-eyed, but Kyoya's were clear.

"-best doctors watching him," Kyoya-senpai was saying as they walked in. "We need to be patient."

Upon seeing Tamaki-senpai's face, the entire room seemed to calm down. It was as if simply seeing him was enough to give us the strength we needed to carry our heaviest burdens. It must have been unfair, for who did he have to help him?

Kyoya-senpai came over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. He leaned down and whispered into my ear, "Anna is home, in America. Her mother is sick at the moment. We don't want her to know about Hikaru's accident until her mother is better. You'll do nothing but upset her. You don't want that, do you?"

I shook my head.

"At the moment, her mother has the flu, and she's at home taking care of her, which was why she left Japan in the first place."

I flinched at the tought.

Haruhi patted my back.

"What will you choose, Kao-chan?" Hani-senpai asked me.

I looked at everyone in the room. Each person was staring at me, waiting. I looked over at Haruhi, who gave me a little reassuring smile.

"I-" I took a deep breath to calm my voice. "I will return to Ouran."

This put a relieved smile on everyone's face but my own. Tamaki-senpai and Haruhi both seemed to understand my feelings, and their faces turned worried. Tamaki-senpai looked to Haruhi, who had turned to Hikaru. I could not read her expression; it was neither sad, worried, nor something else far beyond those two, and far more intense than them. Her eyes read a look of devastation, although her face was completely calm. A little movement of her head caused the sun to reflect off of her grandfather's old glasses and block her eyes.

The heart monitor beeped regularly.

We went to school, and soon a week had gone by, and then two. It was last period on Tuesday of the third week, and I was silent, staring at Hikaru's empty seat, when one of the school nurses rushed in. "Kaoru!" she yelled frantically. "Please come quickly!"

I stood up, knocking my seat over, and ran after the nurse.

"Your brother is-" It was as if she paused for dramatic effect here, putting me in a misery beyond comprehension. "-awake!" she exclaimed. "Your ride is here to take you immediately to the hospital. Your friends will be coming later, as well."

I went straight to the hospital with an escort from the police, and got there in record time. I ran into the building and up the stairs, too impatient to wait for the elevator.

"Hikaru!" I screamed as I flung the door open.

Hikaru looked up at me. I couldn't help but notice how strange he looked wearing clothes in bed.

Then, I noticed the look in his eyes.

It terrified me.

"Who- who are you?" he asked me. "And where's Kaoru?"

"Hikaru," I began uneasily, "what are you talking about? I'm Kaoru!"

"You've been in a coma," our mother said.

"F-for how long?"

"About three weeks."

"That... isn't possible!" Hikaru screamed. "How can Kaoru look so different if it was only three weeks!"

I felt trapped and confused. "What are you talking about, Hikaru?"

"E-everyone out!" he screamed. "Except for Kaoru, everyone out! Everyone out! Everyone out!" he chanted.

When we were alone, he beckoned me to him.

"How old am I?"

"Fifteen."

He shook his head. "That's just not possible."

"Why, Hikaru?"

"We're thirteen."

"What?"

"Isn't it just yesterday that that Suoh guy first approached us to join some club? It just happened, right?"

"No, Hikaru. We're first years, now."

"No!" he yelled, putting his hands over his ears.

I placed my hands on his arms. "It's ok. We'll figure this out together."

He teared up, and his arms dropped slowly. "What have I lost?"

"We joined his club."

"What?" he exclaimed, as if that were the dumbest thing in the world. "Why?"

"He told us apart."

"What was his reason?"

"Intuition, I think it was."

"That's not fair."

"We have friends," I told him, trying to change the subject. "We're friends with Kyoya-senpai, and Hani-senpai, and Mori-senpai, and Har- Oh, you won't remember her."

"Who?"

"Haruhi."

"Who's Haruhi?"

"A very important girl to you. You're fighting Tono for her, but she's in love with him. You won't remember your love for her right away."

"Why would I love her?" he mumbled.

"She can tell us apart."

"His reason?"

"She knows our differences."

He sat up straight. "Impossible."

"That's what we both thought, but it's true."

"Do you love her?"

I smiled. "I did."

He looked down into his hands. "Why don't you anymore?"

"There's someone else."

"Who?"

"You'll see, when she comes back from America. Just promise me-"

Sorry for the short chapter! There's more to come, I promise.