"You want us to do what?" Hikaru shouted, losing control of his temper once again.

Typical, Kaoru thought to himself as he looked over at his twin. When is he going to learn to control his emotions better?

"Kaoru, I'm not asking the impossible of you-"

"I'm Hikaru," the older twin growled as he took a bite of his cinnamon toast.

Kaoru sent his mother an apologetic look when he saw a soft frown form on her face. He had seen that frown many times, as though it pained her to mistake her sons for each other.

"I'm sorry, Hikaru, but I need you to do this. I'm not asking anything difficult, and you will do this for me. Who knows, maybe you'll even enjoy it!" she stated brightly, trying to cover the sadness in her eyes.

Yuzuha had been trying for years to be able to consistently tell her sons apart. When they were little, it was easier. They were so open until they started to grow up. A year prior, they had started to open up again, and at times she could tell them apart so clearly. She knew that Kaoru was the gentler of the two, but sometimes she stopped paying attention to her boys and she hated herself for it.

"I won't do it," Hikaru stated childishly. "I refuse to show some commoner around just so that you can have another plaything for your company." Hikaru knew he was being rash and unfair, but he was tired of being used by this woman. His own mother couldn't tell him apart from his brother, and yet, the woman wanted to ask favors of him? How dare she!

Hikaru stood up abruptly, causing Kaoru to look up from his breakfast in surprise.

"I'm going to school now. Kaoru?"

"Coming," Kaoru said with a sigh as he stood up from his chair, pushing it back into place.

As soon as Hikaru had brushed past him and out the doors, Kaoru turned to his mother and smiled softly. "Just give him a little time, okay? I'll talk to him when he's calmed down, and we'll figure this out."

Yuzuha looked down at her hands that she had folded neatly onto her lap. Kaoru took this as his cue to leave, but when he reached the door, he was stopped by a soft response from his mother.

"I'm sorry," she admitted quietly.

Kaoru sighed and smiled again. "I know," he said before vanishing out the door.

Following Hikaru's steps, Kaoru grabbed his bag before meeting his brother inside the limo.

"What took you so long?" Hikaru asked impatiently, tapping his foot on the floor of the vehicle as their driver put the car in reverse.

"You shouldn't be so hard on her, Hikaru, she really does try," Kaoru said, leaning his head against the window. He sat across from Hikaru today, instead of next to him like he normally did, giving the hot-headed teen some space to cool down.

Hikaru growled in response. "Seventeen years and she still can't tell us apart-"

"We don't exactly make it easy, do we Hikaru?" Kaoru interrupted.

"All I'm saying is she can't really call herself our mother if she doesn't act like one. She never gave a damn about us until we showed an interest in the industry. Suddenly, we owe her something for all the years that she practically ignored us? That's not fair, Kaoru."

"Hikaru . . ."

The rest of the drive to school was met in an uncommon silence.

When the Hitachiin brothers arrived at Ouran Academy, they met their closest friend and former toy, honor student Haruhi Fujioka. Haruhi still wore the boys uniform for the school because she had opted to stay a member of the Host Club for the rest of her high school career.

The brunette was staring at the class listings on the wall in the lobby intently, when Hikaru and Kaoru caught sight of her. The sight of the girl was enough to drag Hikaru out of his foul mood. He sent a brief glance to his younger twin who nodded in return. The two moved closer to their friend slowly and silently, edging forward into position to place their arms on her shoulders like they always di-

"Don't even think about it."

Both boys stopped in their tracks at the sound of Haruhi's deadpan, turning towards each other with a shrug.

"How'd you know we were going to do anything?" Hikaru asked, slinging an arm over her shoulder anyway.

"Yeah, we were being quiet," Kaoru muttered as he posed opposite his brother.

Haruhi sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Look, suffice it to say that if I can tell you two apart from each other, I know you well enough to be able to predict your actions." With that, she turned back towards the board.

"So?"

"So what?" Haruhi asked, her patience with the twins clearly beginning to run short.

"Are we in the same class again?" Kaoru asked.

The twins had met with Chairman Suoh the week before to request that they be placed with Haruhi, a request the the Chairman had agreed too. However, the two didn't tell Haruhi about their request, and they didn't want to believe it until they saw the class roster.

"Surprisingly, yes. We're all in 2A this year," Haruhi stated, completely oblivious to the idea that their class placement had been orchestrated by her friends. "But I was looking at the class rank, actually."

"Awww, did somebody finally beat your for first?" Hikaru teased, his gaze landing on the list she had been staring at intently.

"No," Haruhi scoffed. "And if they did, I would run the risk of losing my scholarship so I really don't want that to happen. I'm just surprised to find you guys so high up on the list."

"What," Kaoru began.

"Are you trying to say Haruhi?" Hikaru continued.

"Do you think we aren't,"

"Intelligent?"

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Oh you two are plenty clever, alright. You're just not very academically oriented. You've always cared more about pulling pranks than picking up books."

And with those words, the bell rang, indicating that the students should start heading to their class for the day. Haruhi hurried ahead, hoping to get a seat near the front so that she could see the board easily. The twins strolled behind leisurely, knowing that nobody else would dare sit around Haruhi because the seat on either side of her would be occupied by the twins.

"Do you think she knows that we did better in school last year because of her?" Kaoru asked his brother.

Hikaru sighed and continued walking forward. "I doubt it. You know she isn't very observant when it comes to herself."

"That's true. But if we've gotten better at certain things, than maybe she has too," Kaoru mused.

"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked in confusion. The two were rarely on different wavelengths, despite their distinct personality differences. And yet, Hikaru knew that his brother was on to something that he hadn't quite figured out for himself yet.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Kaoru muttered as he stepped through the doorway of the classroom. "Just a thought I've been having for awhile."

Just as the twins had predicted, Haruhi was seated in the second row from the front, an empty desk on either side of her. Hikaru took the seat to her left, closest to the window, while Kaoru took the one on her right. There was an empty desk on his right, something that didn't surprise him since they didn't really have any other friends to sit by, and the fangirls were too shy to sit by their favorite host all the time.

And thus began their second year of high school.

00000000

"It's a good contract."

"I'm not signing it."

"You haven't even read it yet!"

"I don't have to!"

Model and agent looked at each furiously, determination in their eyes. Normally, Missy was happy with whatever her agent suggested. Chloe Laurent had been organizing shoots and working through contracts for Missy for over two years. Chloe was a single mom with three boys, all of whom were sports fanatics. She had bright red hair and she wore dark lipstick every day, whether or not it matched her outfit.

They were in Chloe's office, seated across from each other with the agent's glass and mahogany desk that was absolutely littered in family pictures and sticky notes sitting between them.

Chloe was the first to give in. Leaning back into her black leather chair, she pulled the contract to her face again. "What is your problem with living in Japan?"

"My brother lives here."

"First off, half brother. And he's a Navy S.E.A.L. I think Josh can take care of himself. That's the reason you don't want to leave the states, fine. But what's wrong with Japan?"

Missy bit her lip and looked away from Chloe. She didn't say anything, because she didn't know how to explain herself.

Chloe was able to take the hint clearly. "Is it stuff from before you came to live with Josh?" she asked gently.

Even though Chloe was her agent and in charge of Missy's legal work, with a team of lawyers, of course, she didn't know a lot about her past. She knew that Missy was born in Exeter, the southwestern coast of England, according to her birth certificate, and that because of some kind of unhappiness there, she came to live in the United States with her brother who served in the Navy.

Missy didn't speak about her time before she showed up on Josh Preston's doorstep with a lengthy explanation as to why she was there, but Chloe guessed that it wasn't good. Not many thirteen year olds had it in them to leave their country for a different life.

After a moment of silence, the teenager nodded. Chloe exhaled, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to get around something like this. "Miss, I don't really know what happened, and I don't really need to. But whatever it was, you can't let it hold you back from the future you have ahead of you. Don't let whatever happened beat you or keep you from doing great things. If you do, you let them win."

The younger girl looked down, her eyes glued to her hands folded neatly in her lap. Slowly, she looked up. It was obvious that she was trying not to cry, something that surprised her agent. Never, had Chloe seen the girl look as lost as she did in that moment.

"That's what Josh says," she admitted softly.

"Josh is a pretty smart guy."

"Yeah."

They lapsed back into silence, but this one was much more comfortable.

"So tell me about this contract, again? I wasn't really listening the first time," Missy teased, some of the life coming back into her tone.

Chloe smiled, glad to have her charge back.

The contract was fairly straightforward, even Missy could admit that.

It stated that she would model for the company until she graduated high school in two years. The terms of the modeling would be set by Missy and the Hitachiin agents, but the time spent would not interfere with her education under any circumstances.

She was allowed to wear other brands, but she was not allowed to publicize or market them.

Her expenses for her time overseas would be covered by the company (food, housing, travel, education, etc.) would be covered by the company, contingent upon keeping up with the rest of the contract. The amount paid for her yearly salary would also be decided upon arrival in Japan.

However, Missy had to make Japan her legal residence until further notice, and she had to do whatever the company asked her to that wasn't already dictated by the contract.

At the end of the contract, the renewal of said contract would be decided by the model and Yuzuha and her successors.

The terms of the contract were negotiable, so long as both parties agree to any changes, allowing for some flexibility within the binding papers.

"So, what do you think, kiddo?" Chloe asked, taking the contract back from her client. "They're being very generous. You must have left quite an impression on Yuzuha," she said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, let's hope I left a good one," Missy joked, scrunching her nose.

Chloe looked up suddenly. "That reminds me. We should get a tutor for you, and request a translator for while you're there so you can understand everything that's going on," Chloe stated while digging through her desk for an unused post-it note to remind herself with.

"No need," Missy said, standing up from her chair.

"Why not?" she asked in confusion.

"I already speak Japanese."

A/N: Wow, I was not expecting this story to get as much love as it got! Thank you so much guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and you're as happy with where it's going as I am.

-Wri