A/N: My apologies for keeping you guys waiting for so long! School's been keeping me busy, and what time I would have to write/edit my work has been going towards original stories, so I had to place this on the back burner for a bit.

At any rate, while I'm mainly working in terms of one-shots and making big jumps in time, I still want there to be a smooth arch from beginning to end. This chapter is mainly a transition - I'm getting ready to launch into the series. From this point on, I'm mainly working off of the anime, since I'm still reading the manga, so some things here will have a different backstory.

I hope you enjoy! Leave feedback, favorites, whatever you'd like.

(p.s. I know the twins are assholes. I mean, you can't expect them to be all nice and excited about being in the club, even if some time has passed. Really takes them a while to fully appreciate what's happened and where they are, y'know?)


She said she should have known better.

Time, with its tides brushing at the skins of any ankles that stood idle at the shore, made sure it waited for no one. All find themselves wandering; swept up and consumed by the vast entity that is one great 'what-will-be' from the receding land of' what-has-been'.

They think this is what time had in mind, the changes. Them slipping into a new set of slacks and blazers. Fingers gripping longer schedules with just the right hints of apprehension.

High school was here. Shadows of uncertainty linger between laced fingers; going into the building for the purpose of the Host Club was one thing, but to live it daily?

"Hey."

Only the ebb of her twin's voice is enough to lull Kaoru back into the present, hazel irises flickering over an identical visage.

"Something wrong?"

"No. Why?"

Hikaru lets out a 'tut,' ivory digits brushing through red locks in a gesture to soothe the budding anxiety. Yes, of course something is wrong, she is nervous and not-quite-sure what to anticipate next, for despite their coming from the same damn building over on the other end of the campus, it appeared to her that many questions asked over things past had not yet answered back.

A gap, open.

"...it's nothing." She admits after a stretch of silence sits on either side of them. "Nothing serious, I mean. Just a little nervous, you know?"

"For what? It's not like we're going anywhere new, or seeing different faces. It's the same ol' thing in the same location. What's exciting about that?"

"Yes, I know."

Kaoru raises her hand, thumb rubbing her chin while she gazes off at the window that separates them from the chauffeur. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Questions."

She wants to know if this 'he/she' split she felt compelled to navigate between was something of a phase. If she'd ever just feel 'okay' being one gender. If it was odd for her to be sixteen and not-exactly 'horny' all the time unless she felt a connection.

If what they shared meant something, something more.

"Hey, look."

An identical hand is placed on her own, bringing her attention back to Hikaru. How stunning she had become, Kaoru muses, admiring the growth in her twin's hair and the height she's since achieved. Then again, she looks exactly the same, so by default, she expressed surprise in both of their developmental changes.

"We don't have to have everything figured out, y'know. We just have to make sure other people don't know that."

"Not even Tono, yes?"

"Not even Tono."

"Fair enough." And Kaoru's lips quirk into a slight smile. "It's not like they need to understand anything about us."

"Not at all." Hikaru's expression is fit to match. "Our lives aren't their business. We're just here to kill a little more time."

"For how long, though? We've been doing this for a year. I thought we were going to quit after this, to be honest."

A resounding sigh escapes the elder's lips, head resting on her arm. Her expression reflects one of disappointment; boredom, even. "I was thinking so, too, but now that we're in high school, I get the feeling the Host Club will come and chase us down if we don't stay. Besides, that Ootori kid is in the group. He knows everything about us."

"I forgot about him." Kaoru's brows knit together, eyes narrowing. "What a pest."

"A problem, really."

Pause.

"You know, Hikaru, I don't see why we're letting ourselves be intimidated in the first place. The Hitachiin name alone, should it be pulled out of this school's stock, is enough to put that chairman into the middle class."

A smirk appears on the elder's features as she nods. Yes, they could bail out if they had to, and wield the prestige of their family name should it get too sticky.

"You're right."

And they both found such an odd satisfaction in the thought, but at the same time –

"... it's easier to play this by ear. We can entertain them for just a bit longer, wouldn't you say, Kaoru? We're not losing on anything, anyway. We keep Tono pleased with our presence, and his little club gives us our daily entertainment."

"For once, your foresight is impressive."

"Rude."

A grin, followed by a gentle punch to the shoulder.

"So violent, Hikaru."

"Don't be coy, you know that I love you, even when you're smug."

"I don't know what you're talking about. You love me even when I'm not. Besides, one of us - "

" - has to be the brains. Blah, blah, you only say that every day."

She rolls her eyes, although her smile stays in place.

"Well, we stay, and get our thrills, which is fine...but you failed to account for when we get bored. What should we do then?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hikaru's expression takes a darker edge, lips twitching into quite the twisted smirk while her eyes become half-lidded.

"We leave when we want, and if they try to stop us, well..."

Most would be intimidated by such a cruel ideology; then again, Kaoru was not most people - while being outright manipulative was not nearly as high on her list of priorities as it was for Hikaru, there was some delight she got out of watching her twin being this cutthroat, this persistent.

So she wears the same smirk, nodding in agreement.

"We raise hell."

"Class, we have a new student coming into Ouran Academy today."

The room hereby known as 1-A was, at present, talking amongst itself, bodies shifting in chairs as whispers are shared until the teacher's voice disrupts the conversation. Soon, all fall silent, myriad eyes placed towards the front.

"Please give a warm welcome to Haruhi Fujioka."

Many students respond with a polite 'hello.' A few are even more encouraging - they offer for him (maybe her, but neither twin can quite tell) to take a seat in their designated group.

"Look at him." Hikaru is first in tearing at this eccentric being. "His clothes are so cheap. Doesn't he care about his appearance at all?"

"Now nii-san, don't be so mean." Kaoru murmurs in mock-pity, leaning close so their discussion didn't circulate through the classroom. "That's the Honor Student coming in from the public junior high. Can't you tell?"

"Oh, yeah." A snort. "Well, that explains the hovel of an outfit he's wearing. I've seen a blind man dress better, to be honest."

A chuckle leaves the younger's throat as he glances at his sibling. Between the pair of them, their distance amounted to nearly nothing - why, they were so close, they might as well just -

"You're absolutely dreadful, Hikaru."

"You can't tell me that you're not enjoying it too, Kaoru."

He was. Truly, he was, so much so that it became his way of taking comfort in his still-present anxiety. Even though he was left wondering, even though it had appeared change was coming their way, one thing stayed constant.

Us, and them. Let nobody in. Keep them out, at any cost, at all costs. No amount of time spent in the Host Club would change that. Even if - and Kaoru admits this with a grain of salt - they didn't mind the other club members, they were still being kept at bay, just like everybody else. Sure, there could be laughter shared, jokes told, and memories made, but they were superficial at best. At the end of the day, no other bond was more important, nor would it ever be.

But that did not mean that tests weren't waiting for them to see if their bond could bear the weight of the world on their shoulders.

When that strange, strange Honor Student comes barreling into the doors, the pair of them are surprised, to say the least.

Of course, everybody seemed to have their initial reactions. Tamaki and Hani were simply ecstatic. Kyouya and Mori didn't look like they cared one way, or the other.

Which might explain why they now had a little 'servant' to go do their bidding.

"I think this will be beneficial!" Tamaki brushes some strands of hair back, looking all-too-pleased with his declaration. "Just think of what we can get done, now that we don't have to worry about doing errands ourselves!"

"It will save us time." Kyouya makes notes in his notebook, brow raised. "Which, in turn, enables us to see our customers more..."

"I just think it's neat to have somebody else around!" Hani grins. Mori, for all of his eloquence, merely nods and utters a 'mhm'.

"Let's just hope he knows what he's doing." Both twins respond, poses identical as they rest their chins in their hands.

"I don't see why not. Mr. Fujioka is an Honor Student, no? And commoners possess an interesting worth of knowledge about them. I have no doubt that he won't let us down."

Meeting adjourned. The twins head out first, navigating the vast hallways of the school.

"How ironic," Kaoru begins "that the same commoner who's in our classroom ends up being our errand boy, ne?"

"Really ironic." Hikaru agrees.

"What do you make of it, nii-san?"

"Well, I think it'd be nice to have a little lap-dog do our dirty work." A shrug. "But otherwise, I'm not really inclined to care. Why?"

"Merely curious. I just want to know why we're holding him to this debt in the first place. It's not like we can't buy the same vase."

"You're right, but you know Kyouya would be upset at a lost profit. I'm sure that's the only reason that Fujioka kid is around."

"That's true."

The rest of their journey is spent in idle chatter. How the few weeks of school had panned out. Whose ass would get kicked in video games tonight. If they could trick their maids again. Nothing unusual.

Oh, but how naive they both were at the shift in the seas. Time would not wait for them just as it wouldn't for any other, and it had plans to change many things. Whether or not this was to their benefit, well –

One can only see so far out from the shoreline.