Thanks' for the reviews, both Shadowess 88 and Delu! ^^ I'm glad you're enjoying it so much. This story was my first fanfic baby, actually, so it does have its flaws, which I'm still trying to fix. And Akira hasn't cried since Akito's death (I'm not counting a few tears slipping out, only real weeping and sobbing). Well, enjoy the update! :)


Akira was finally heading home, trudging down the stairways from the administration office. This entire school was slowly getting on her bad side, so to say. It was as if nothing was going the way it was supposed to go. 'What do they mean by saying they sent me the right uniform?! Damn it, check you data for once, I'm a GIRL, how can I wear a guy's uniform?.. Well, I did of course, but that was in a past. I want that cute dress!!!'

Although from outside Akira looked calm and collected, inside she burned with anger and had a very improper urge to break something. She had been talking to that stupid office woman about the uniform incident for almost 20 minutes and all she got was a promise to send her a new one tomorrow if there really was a mistake. 'Do they think I can't differentiate between uniforms or what?.. Maybe they think I don't know my own gender?!'

She angrily stomped down another flight of stairs and stepped into the corridor, ready for more steps, but then a painfully familiar voice called out to her and Akira froze in place, her heartbeat escalating considerably, "...it's Akito! AKITO!"

'No way! It can't be! She's far away from here at home, impossible!..' The thought crossed her mind frantically and Akira whirled around quickly only to see her own mother standing further away... She was smiling lovingly at her and a whirl of emotions flooded Akira, her eyes reflecting all of her shock and the dreadful fear when she realized the situation, 'What is she doing HERE?'

She stuttered weakly, still unable to believe her eyes, "M-m-mother..?"

The woman smiled at her warmly, "Oh, my dear, I'm so glad I've finally found you. I missed you so terribly and I was so lonely these days..."

Her gaze drifted away for a short bit and she seemed saddened. Akira blinked, quickly regaining control of herself, noticing Tamaki and Kyoya nearby. Immediately, she put on a happy, heart-warming smile, while cursing all the gods in her mind, and walked towards her mother, stretching her arms for a hug.

"Mother!"

Sakura snapped back from her own little world and smiled sincerely at Akira. The smile stabbed her like a dagger. Her mother always smiled like this - happily, warmly, sincerely, carefree... like a child. It hurt whenever Akira thought of how she used to smile like that too and now all of her smiles had become yet another artificial mask of hers.

Nevertheless, she hugged her mother tenderly and kissed her in a cheek. Still smiling gently, Akira asked, "Mother, why are you here? Didn't I promise to visit you?"

The woman smiled happily as if without a care in the world, "Oh, I was so lonely without you, Akito, I just wanted to see you so much. Ah, but you look so different. Have you been eating well?"

She caressed Akira's arm worriedly and Akira smiled even wider, reassuring her, "Yes, of course, I have, mother. Do not worry so much, I am alright. Rather, how are you feeling?"

A worried expression crossed Akira's face, "How was the flight? Do you..."

"Oh, it was so awesome! I saw all the clouds and the cities seemed so tiny from up in the sky and I felt a bit weird, I mean I was flying! I wonder why I was so scared of it before, but I'm so happy now," she smiled at Akira. "Oh, Akito, you just have to tell me everything! Have you already found a girl, perhaps? Oh, oh!"

She turned around and grabbed Tamaki's hand, "I've also met these wonderful boys and they run a club, a Host Club! Can you imagine that?"

Akira blinked in surprise and suddenly she felt like she was falling into a very deep pit, 'No, no, please, no... NOT the Host Club...'

But it was too late, "You know, in my time we didn't have anything like that in school! Oh, but you absolutely MUST join the Host Club!"

"Yes, yes!" Tamaki seemed to be overjoyed at having found a fellow soul, while Kyoya merely pushed his glasses up his nose.

Weirdly enough, Akira could guess what he was thinking, and so she rushed to change the topic to one that worried her more at the moment, "Mother, did father come with you too?"

"Oh, yes, of course," she replied smiling. "He wanted me to wait back at the house, but I wanted to surprise you here!"

Akira flashed another smile, cursing her mother's absent-mindedness, "Yes, you definitely did! I haven't had such a pleasant surprise in years. Um, mother, do you know where father is now?"

Sakura seemed to contemplate for a bit, "Hmmm. I think... Oh, yes, he said he will first take care of our moving in, the luggage and the furniture too... You know, your furniture was really horrible! How could you ever live in such conditions? Oh, my poor boy, I knew those maids wouldn't take good care of you!"

At her words, Akira's eyes widened in shock and her face paled as if it was made of chalk. She didn't hear much of anything else her mother said, as she echoed with horror, "Moving... in?"

She was still in a daze, when Tamaki's gleeful voice reached her ears, "Yes, let's go to he club NOW! Ah, such an elegant lady, we are not worthy of your presence, but, please..."

Frantically, Akira grabbed her mother's arm turning her around to face her, her voice strained ever so slightly, "Mother! Why don't we go home? I missed you a lot..."

Sakura smiled at her son, "Oh, but Akito, dear, we have to visit the Host club first. You just have to sign up..."

"Of course, but I believe father might be worried about you. We should go home for now, you can come here next time," Akira rushed to coerce her mother.

"Ah, my dear Victor, truly, he always gets so worried whenever I leave the house. Oh, but Akito, you will surely join the club, right? And then I'll visit you there, oh, that's so amazing! I'm sure you'll become a true gentleman in no time!"

Akira flinched at her words, nodding her head reluctantly.

"Ah! I know, your birthday is coming up soon, why don't we celebrate it there?" Her mother suddenly turned to face Tamaki. "Do you think we could celebrate Akito's birthday with you in the Host Club?"

Akira bit her lip and clenched her fists so hard that her nails dug into her soft skin. This didn't go unnoticed by a pair of dark eyes that were always watching her carefully.

Truthfully, Akira simply hated her birthdays. She hated it so much she couldn't stand it at all. She felt as if it was never her birthday that was celebrated, but rather Akito's birthday. For her, the real Akira, never even existed in this world. Not to her mother, at the very least.

Meanwhile, Tamaki clapped his hands joyfully, accepting the idea without even a second thought, "Ah, yes! That would be unforgettable, but he must join my club first!"

"Of course, he will!" Akira's mother laughed happily, while the girl beside her could barely mask her anger with another gentle smile. "Right, Akito? You'll join the Host Club, isn't that so?"

Sakura turned to Akira and she beamed a widespread smile again, as the phrase she'd been constantly repeating for the last 8 years, flew out of her mouth automatically, "If that will make you happy, mother."

The woman clapped her hands like a child would and exclaimed joyfully, "Oh yes, Akito, but that's a promise, right?"

Akira gave her a slightly strained smile, lying through her teeth, "Yes, a promise."

Lady Sakura laughed happily once again and Akira noticed Kyoya smirk widely. He'd been silent all the time, but somehow Akira knew he was enjoying this to a great extent.

She smiled forcefully at her mother once again, taking her by her arm, "Mother, we really should go now. Say goodbye to Tamaki and Kyoya."

Sakura nodded, overwhelmed with Akira's decision to join the club and bid farewell to the host club guys. All the way back her mood was up in the clouds and she chatted about the Host Club, while Akira just walked beside her, nodding and smiling, keeping up her poker face and yet, sinking deeper into depression and unanswered questions, a very bad feeling gnawing at her heart...


Akira rolled to her other side in the wide bed, a single tear streaking down her face, her eyes staring emptily somewhere into the far wall of the room she was in. She recalled her horror and her shock, when she returned home with her mother and found out the house was being sold. Her mother then absent-mindedly remembered they had moved into another house and decided Akito would live together with the family again. Akira closed her eyes slowly as she reminiscent how she dialed the number of her father's personal assistant with trembling fingers. The moment he told her the new address, somehow, she knew everything was falling apart.

Her father was out on business and there was no one who could explain to her, what was going on, except for her mother, who was overjoyed at the prospect of a new garden as if a child, having received a new doll. Nothing was going as it was supposed to and when Akira finally had a chance to talk to her father late in the evening, it was only heart-wrenching. It was hardly even a conversation. Somehow, she already knew how it would end. Not once in her life had she managed to stand up to her father and in the end she lost. No, perhaps, she had lost from the very beginning.

Perhaps, her father had never intended to let her go. Perhaps, he merely gave her a few days of holidays. Three days of freedom that ended before it even started. And now she was back to playing the good son. The perfect son her mother had always wanted Akito to be.

She opened her eyelids again, feeling as if they weighted a ton. Surprisingly, her eyes were dry, her mind as calm as ever. The promise to be free again, to live separately and to go to school as a teenage girl she was, seemed to be so far away now. As if she had dreamt it long long ago.

Her life was back to the one she had always known and even though Akira kept wondering just for how long she was going to pretend to be someone she wasn't, she just didn't know the answer. It was supposed to be just a year or two at the most, just until her mother came to accept the truth or died of her weak constitution, but it had already lasted for 8 years and she still could see no end.

Her father simply refused to let her go back to her real life and she even wondered if he even recalled she was his daughter and not a son. Have they been lying to each other for so long that it turned into a truth?