A little after Ace invited me to the party, she had a sudden thought, asking, "Hey Yuki? Since you're coming to the party and all, want to come with me to pick out a new dress? I'm support to wear one of Mrs. Hitachiin's dresses that my mother got for me." I turned to her, considering. I had finished all my homework and my parents wouldn't mind if I was hanging out with Ace, they were excited that I had finally got to meet my long-time penpal. Right as I was about to reply the twins exclaimed, having come back over to where we were sitting,

"Hey why does he get to help you pick out a dress?" We both looked at them in confusion for a moment, and then remembered that they thought I was a guy. The twins continued,

"Yeah if you're going to be wearing one of our mother's dresses, we should be the ones to help you." Ace sighed, and I wondered if I should have warned her about the twins thinking guy Yuki and girl Ace were "romantically" interested. She told them,

"Guys, Yuki is just a friend. Anyways I haven't known you as long as I've known Yuki so I would feel uncomfortable, sorry. Besides my mother picked out a few dresses that she would prefer me to wear, so I have to choose from those." The twins persisted,

"We would still be better help than him." I sighed, and glared in some annoyance at the twins. They were just being protective of Ace, and they thought that I was somehow interested in her, but it was irritating since they were completely wrong. Ace declared, with a note of finality in her voice,

"That maybe, but you'll have to wait to see him in a dress." She stuck her tongue at them and said defensively, "And he's right here, don't be so rude to poor little Yuki." I rolled my eyes and mock-shouted,

"Hey don't call me little Yuki Acey!"

"I'll call you whatever I want too little Yuki!" Suddenly there were about 20 rabid girls running straight at us, I guess they had noticed we were teasing each other again, which they found to be adorable for some reason. It was definitely time for a quick escape. The girls squealed at us and I leapt to my feet, tripped over the couch and tumbled to the ground, hitting the floor hard even though I put out my arms to soften the blow. I rolled onto my back on the marble ground and let out a soft moaning sound, mentally telling Ace to come over to me. I heard her gasped and she rushed to my side, leaning down over me. She asked,

"Yuki are you okay?" I put a dazed look on my face and slowly shook my head, before muttering in a light-headed, confused voice,

"Y-yeah…I didn't know that you had a twin Ace." Ace's eyes widened as she realized that I was seeing double and she said firmly,

"I'm taking you to the nurse Yuki." I replied in a panicked voice,

"B-but I hate the nurse!" In a quick motion Ace wrapped her arms around me and hefted me onto her shoulders with ease, I am shorter than her and Ace is fairly strong. She told me,

"It's for your own good." I tried to pull her arms off of me, making a show of struggling dramatically, but Ace held me tightly. Ace pushed open the door to the club, and closed it swiftly behind us. Once the door was closed, Ace released her grip and I rolled off her shoulders, landing on my feet. Ace sighed and turned to me, remarking dryly,

"Well we're down one escape plan now." I sighed, that entire injury business had been a way of getting away from the club and the girls without the twins, or anyone else suspecting. But I doubted they would be so quick to let us go the next time. I shrugged and told her,

"Come on let's get out of here before they realize we were just acting." Ace nodded and we both hurried to the parking lot, where Ace's family's limo was waiting to pick us up and take us away from Ouran.

LATER

"Hey Yuki, want anything to eat? Before we go look at the dresses that is." Ace and I had just arrived at her mansion. I nodded in response to her question and she continued, "So what do you want to eat?" I paused, considering. I choose something that would be simple to make and answered,

"Do you think a grilled cheese would be manageable?" Ace smiled and nodded, walking away in the direction of what I presumed to be the kitchen. This was the first time I had been in Ace's home, however it was a standard mansion like the one my family owned, with wide open, lushly decorated spaces and a great deal of marble. I followed Ace to the kitchen, and walked in just as she was saying,

"Hey Katsu, you guys are home already? I thought mother said you guys would be back in a few days." The person Ace was speaking to was a young man in his early twenties who had Ace's deep gray, dark eyes and her small neat features. I realized that this must be her brother, Katsu, who went to college in the United States, and who was coming back to Japan with his mother for the launch party. Katsu's eyes flicked to me, and then back to Ace, he told her,

"Oh they fixed our family plane sooner then mother thought they would. First off who's that? And secondly, why are you wearing the male uniform? You realize mother will not be happy if she finds you you're not wearing the female uniform." I informed him quickly,

"Hi my name is Yuki Yakusha." Katsu's face looked less confused as he glanced at Ace, and then back over at me, remarking,

"Oh so this is your penpal, right?" While we had been talking Ace had been quickly making my grilled cheese. She tossed it out of the flying pan and onto a plate, handing it to me. Once she was finished she replied to her brother,

"Yeah, she is. And I told you about the host club, right? Well I'm pretending to be a guy, so I need to wear the male uniform. Though you are right, come on Yuki let's go change. Talk to you later Katsu!" I waved at him with the hand not holding my grilled cheese and followed Ace up a flight of marble stairs to her room. She commented,

"I think I should have something that fits, Yuki." I sighed; did she have to remind me of the fact that she was taller than me? That's the part of my body that irritates me the most, the fact I am so short!

"You know how much I hate that you're taller than me, right?" Ace turned around to look at me, walking backwards down the hallway. She grinned broadly at me, and winked as she retorted,

"I know, but it's so much fun to tease you, your reactions are so amusing." I scowled at that statement; people always justify teasing me because I react in such witty and amusing ways. Of course, if I didn't react they would probably stop teasing me, but its impossible for me not to react, that's just my nature. I told her sharply,

"Glad I can be of some amusement to you." She giggled and changed the subject,

"Come on lets go get changed." Ace stopped in front of a large doorway and we walked into her room. It was completely covered in shades of black, with little bright lights set into the ceiling, giving the illusion that we were encircled in an endless night sky. I liked that image, the both of us lost into the folds of an artificial night, a night falsely created but one that we made real. Just like the Host Club creates impossible dreams and makes them real, a dream we were all lost in. Her bed continued the night theme as it was covered in slightly rumpled black blankets, and even her desk was painted a light shade of black.

Ace went over to her large, overflowing closet and selected a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. She dug a little more in her closet and emerged with a simple black skirt and another black shirt. By this point I had finished my grilled cheese and I left the plate on the side-table in Ace's room to take down later. She tossed me the skirt and shirt, which I caught. She informed me,

"You can change in here; I'll go change in the bathroom."

"Okay." Ace left to change and I changed into the skirt and t-shirt, I was very happy to get out of my Ouran High uniform. Ace returned and she asked me thoughtfully,

"Hey Yuki, I was wondering if you have a dress for the dance or not?" I thought about the dresses I had at home and realized that now of them would really do for a formal ball, all my fancy dresses I had outgrown, and most of the time I refused to go to the parties my parents invited me to.

"Now that I think about it I don't. Why?" Ace grinned at me, having already thought of a solution,

"Well then we might as well pick out a dress for you while we're picking out mine!" I nodded my head in agreement; I didn't really have another option, although I wasn't exactly thrilled to be wearing a dress designed by the twins' mother. We departed Ace's room and went over to her mother's room, apparently where the dresses were. When we walked in a middle-aged woman greeted us, she was impeccably dressed, and like her children had the same dark eyes, tinged in shades of grey and black, what I was beginning to think of as the "Marionette Eyes." She greeted us with,

"Hello dear, who's your friend?"

"Hello mother. This is Yuki Yakusha. She is my penpal. We met when she transferred to Ouran. Would you mind her using one of the dresses for the party?" Ace's mother beamed at us, responding,

"Oh I've met your parents, wonderful people. Go ahead sweetie, I don't mind. I was actually just going to go meet up with Mrs. Hitachiin to finish up planning the party."

"Okay mother. Thank you, I'll see you later than." She smiled one last time at us, and then left the room. Ace turned to me, "Come on Yuki let's go find dresses."