After the last bell had rung on Monday afternoon I walked through the school parking lot towards my polished blue motorcycle. Suddenly, I heard my name being shouted out,

"Kin!!" Looking around wildly I tried to find the source of the voice shouting my name. Then I saw a small girl running towards me out of the throngs of people milling around the parking lot. She clearly did not belong among the casually dressed teenagers; she was wearing a bright yellow dress with a wide skirt and trimmed in frills. She looked like she belonged at a debutante ball. I knew immediately who she was, if her school uniform didn't give her away her tiny frame did. It was Katherine, arriving to take me to Ouran Private, I supposed.

"Hi Kin!" She exclaimed happily. "Good to see you! My last class ended early, so I come to get you. Though I guess it's more like I walked here and am riding back with you on your motorcycle." She grinned at me, looking as if she were almost laughing at herself. I couldn't help shaking my head at her, sometimes Katherine's childishness and antics made my head spin.

"You know you didn't need to do that Ellie." I smiled at her, using my nickname for her, which came from her middle name Eleanor.

"I know but I wanted to! And I couldn't wait to see you!" Katherine responded. She walked beside me to my motorcycle.

"Fine whatever Ellie. Here you take the helmet; I wouldn't want you to get hurt." I handed her the helmet, watching as she slid it neatly over her cropped dark hair. Even though I knew Katherine could take care of herself and trusted me not to crash my motorcycle with her on it, I didn't think I could ever forgive myself if she got hurt and it was because of me. I got on my bike and Katherine leaped on behind me, wrapping her arms around my stomach to hold on. We pulled out of the school and roared down the highway, headed for Ouran Academy. I felt a smile come uninvited to my lips; I never got weary of this feeling of the wind rushing in gusts over my body and the never-ending thrill of heading someplace fast. It didn't matter where you were going, as long as the engine was roaring and you were racing the wind to get there.

I pulled into Ouran Academy, parking the motorcycle beside the curb, trying to keep a smirk from my lips as I looked up at the spacious, lavish buildings tinted a strange shade of pink. This place looked less like an institution for learning and more like a European romantic palace. And with all the girls in yellow ball gowns swirling around the grounds I almost felt as if I had been transported to some nightmare princess ball. There was a sensation of extreme out-of-placeness rising in me, in my white t-shirt, black skirt, and thigh high leggings and black boots I clearly did not belong among these golden princesses. Ignoring any sentiment of self-pity, I turned towards Kitty, who handed my helmet back to me. Her smile of delight and eyes that were bright with adrenaline showed her true motive for coming to get me,

"You just wanted to ride on the motorcycle, didn't you?" Her grin grew slightly less wide, but she quickly recovered by saying,

"That might have been another reason. I would show you my classes, but I think that the Host Club is opening soon." Katherine snatched up my hand and pulled me through the pathways of Ouran Academy till we entered a long hall and she stopped in front of a pair of doors with a sign over them reading "The Third Music Room". She opened the door and I heard a chorus of sweetly harmonizing voices begin to say,

"Welcome," however they stopped when Katherine opened the door fully and they saw her.

"Oh, it's just Kitty," The twins spoke in unison, almost dismissing her with a glance. I saw small beads of waters gathered at the corners of Katherine's eyes and I felt anger rise in me. I did not particularly care for the twins anyway and who did they think they were to disregard my friend and ignore me?

"What do you mean, its just Kitty? I thought I told you to be nice to her!" I unleashed a malicious glare at the twins, trying to burn their flesh and bone with my gaze. I hate it when people think they can get away with hurting the emotions of others, especially someone like Katherine who would never purposefully hurt anyone else.

"C-come on Kin, can you help me cut the cake? I forgot to cut them yesterday?" Katherine's voice drew me out of my internal rant and I followed her to the kitchen where she began to carefully cut the cakes. Much as I wanted to try and steal some cake when Katherine wasn't looking, as impossible as that would be as she always catches me when I try and steal food, I decided to go talk to Kyoya. Kyoya stood to the side of the hosts, occasionally watching their antics, more often scribbling in that black notebook of his. What does he keep in there? A running catalogue of the Host Club's foolishness? Business plans? A plot to invade Russia and use their nuclear capabilities to alienate humanity? Like that would even work anyways. Does Russia even still possess nuclear weapons after the end of the Cold War? I find it hard to believe Vladimir Putin would allow Russia to- my inner ramblings were halted as I arrived at where Kyoya was standing. My entire 10-second walk from the kitchen to him had allowed time for me to move in my train of thoughts from Kyoya's notebook to Vladimir Putin. Refocusing, I asked Kyoya as politely as I could muster,

"Would it be okay for me to just watch the club and not designate someone, Kyoya?" He paused in writing in his notebook and I was tempted to snatch from him and run into a corner to read it.

"That should be fine Miss. Takara." He replied formally. For some reason I thought Kyoya should address me by my first name. I had called him Kyoya, and I thought that we should be equals with one another, no one treating the other more or less. So I answered,

"Just call me Kin." I could detect a slight smile on his face and realized he was on to my stream of thinking. And he wasn't ready for us to be equals, not quite yet.

"As you wish, Miss. Kin." Even though he had been polite to me, I felt as if I had lost something, rather than gained it in that exchange. I couldn't help heaving a sigh, then returning to Katherine's side.

We walked over to sit down with Haruhi, which I was pleased with, as Haruhi was really the only other member of the host club I could tolerate. As we sat beside her the twins proclaimed,

"Let's play the 'Which one is Hikaru-kun game'!" It seemed like a ridiculous idea to me however the girls surrounding the twins began to laugh and clap like the idiot puppets the twins had manipulated them to be.

"Kin aren't those hats rather ugly?" Katherine whispered to me. The twins were both wearing large green hats.

"Yes they really are. You'd think that they would have better hats since their mother is a designer." I whispered back to her, both of us watching the twins with some disgust and some interest.

"Now then, can you tell which one of us is Hikaru?" I glanced between the twins; however I hadn't known them long enough to be able to tell between them. I could tell they were different, I just couldn't pinpoint which one was which.

"There's never been a girl who could really tell us apart before." I saw Katherine frown as they said this, and I couldn't help agreeing with her pity. As much as I didn't like the twins, to be never seen as your own separate individual with separate talents and identity seemed cruel. It was like always being seen for your shadow then for who you truly are.

Haruhi spoke for Katherine, her, and I when she said, "That's the dumbest game ever."

"Huh? Something you don't like about it?" The twins asked her, moving their attention from the fawning girls to the three of us.

"Not really. I just can't quite figure out why you two are so popular." I smiled at this comment, I was glad at least someone else in the host club realized the utter perverse ridiculousness of the twin's act.

"That's telling us." The twins replied in unison. Then one of them, Kaoru I thought said to Haruhi,

"I'm disappointed." The other one, Hikaru I thought, said,

"Apparently, Haruhi doesn't…understand the merits of having twins in the Host Club." The twins were now on both sides of Haruhi.

"Listen here. Just having a couple of good-looking homosexuals earns plenty of high points." Not able to stand it any longer I clapped my hands over Katherine's ears as they said this. She looked up at me, eyebrows slightly raised and asked coolly,

"Is this really necessary Kin?" I nodded my head firmly, replying,

"Yes, I don't want those two to ruin your perfectly good brain." It was true; I bet those girls fawning over the twins had once been completely sensible, competent, strong-willed young women until a pair of incestuous identical brothers who happened to be very bored decided to test how many young girls they could turn into absent-minded, unquestioning sheep baying with joy at every morsel of supposed stimulation the twins tossed their way. It was entertainment to them and it was making me want to wring their necks, or wring the necks of the girls who actually fell for it. Seeing my anger, Katherine said cautiously,

"Hey Kin, why don't we step out for a second, you know cool your head off." I nodded, and we walked out of the host club, sitting against the wall just outside the music room until I was diverted from my anger. Walking back in, I saw that Tamaki was holding a bright pink dress coated in frills up against Haruhi and exclaiming,

"What do you think about this?" I tried to breathe, but this image of Tamaki envisioning Haruhi dolled up in a gown like the rest of these girls was insufferable.

"What are you doing with that dress?" Mitsukuni asked.

"I'd love to see what Haruhi looks like in women's clothing." Tamaki chirped happily. I was glad to see Haruhi give Tamaki a withering glare.

"Kin, do you want to go for a walk?" Katherine asked me.

"Sure Ellie, let's go." As soon as I left the Host Club room I found the snake coiled tightly in my chest released its stranglehold on my heart and I could breathe again.

"Thanks Ellie, I really did need to escape before I knocked one of them out." Suddenly Katherine exclaimed,

"Hey! Now I can show you my classrooms! Come on!" Together we strolled happily through all of Katherine's classrooms and the incredible gardens of the school. We talked of seemingly unconnected details of our lives, spewing out everything and nothing in a way that very few who could understand. It was worth coming just to walk through Katherine's school and talk to her, see this place I constantly heard about but had never really been. When we finally returned to the host club I was completely calm and at ease and as we entered the room we found that the host club had moved on to a new antic.

"Then let's settle this with a game. If you can't pick out which one of us is Hikaru, then your penalty will be that we get to come over to your house." I understood almost instantly, the twins were betting Haruhi couldn't tell them apart in exchange for her allowing them to come to her home.

"You're Kaoru," Haruhi pointed to the right, "And you're Hikaru."

"You got it wrong!" The twins crowed. I frowned, I was pretty sure that Haruhi had gotten it right. Katherine spoke up first though,

"Why are you two lying to Haruhi?" The twins looked at her in surprise and then Haruhi said,

"Kitty is right. You're lying. I didn't get it wrong. You do look very similar, but you are different."

"How did you do that Haruhi, Kitty? Once they cover whether they part their hair on the left or the right, the difference between Hikaru and Kaoru becomes completely indistinguishable. How can the two of you tell them apart?" Asked the insipid girls sitting perched on the coaches, eagerly watching the conversation. I was tempted to roll my eyes; the twins were two separate individuals who could obviously never act in concert the entire time, which was impossible according to the law of human uniqueness. There had to be some distinguishable qualities between them or else they were clones and therefore inhuman. Haruhi spoke first,

"Uh, well, let's see… if I had to say… Hikaru's speech and actions are one level meaner then Kaoru's." Katherine nodded, and added,

"I agree with Haruhi, but I mainly use their voices to tell them apart. Hikaru's voice is a little more deep then Kaoru's." Kaoru began to suddenly laugh, telling Hikaru,

"I'm sorry, Hikaru I don't mean to laugh." Hikaru appeared almost offended, then saying dramatically,

"Well, I just don't mask anything and always express myself honestly, so Kaoru is the one who is more spiteful." Suddenly Kaoru stopped laughing.

"Don't go spinning this on me, Hikaru; I'm the one who's always going along, playing your selfish games, right?" Though the twins appeared to be getting more and more serious, I couldn't help silently laughing to myself. The whole conversation just seemed so comical and manufactured. It was as if the twins had suddenly chosen this moment to erupt into an argument,

"I may be the one to suggest them, but you're the one who really gets into them, Kaoru. If you don't like them, then just stop. What are you stupid?" At this point Katherine stopped paying attention, and I watched her for a moment. She appeared to be seriously considering the real reason why the twin's were arguing. I wondered what she would come up with…. I tuned back into the twin's fight to hear one of them say,

"That's it, we're through!" Each of them dashed out of the room thunderously, making what appeared to be a very dramatic exit. Katherine smiled at me, looking sorry that I had come on such a day,

"Hey sorry about that, normally they aren't so bad. Guess we picked a bad day, I understand if you don't come ever again." I smirked at her; did she really think she could keep me away now? I had been drawn into the peculiar society of these people and I found I was enjoying the produced drama and the smaller, subtler truths. I liked seeing Katherine, and though I wouldn't speak the words aloud, a small voice whispered in my mind that I wouldn't mind seeing Kyoya again. If only to find out some way to separate him from his notebook.

"Ellie its fine. In fact I'm excited to come tomorrow. The fighting just makes this more interesting." My statement was worth it as Katherine smiled excitedly up at me,

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow!" I walked out to the parking lot and settled back onto my motorcycle, heading back to where I didn't know. Back to home. And as I raced away from the school I felt some quiet anticipation and happiness with the knowledge that tomorrow I would be racing back again, back to the Host Club and whatever would ensue. I didn't know where the Host Club, Katherine, and I were headed, but I couldn't wait to find out.