Don't Break character

You've got a lot of heart

She closed her eyes slowly, the mirrored walls disappearing from her sight.

If she looked in the mirrors, she would cringe. She would know she wasn't doing it right, that she wasn't enough.

With bated breath, she waited.

Waited, for the steady pulse that meant it was time to move.

As the volume of the drums and guitars increased, she lunged forward. Step, arms out. Developpe, rotate from the hip.

Missy coached herself internally. Nothing was choreographed beyond this moment so she let her instincts take over.

They all need something to hold on to

They all mean well.

Pay your respects to society that's giving me hell.

Pirouette. Turn one. Two. Three. Four. Good. Close fourth position.

She angled away, rolling through her torso. Pivot turn. Chasse, step, leap.

That was her favorite part. There was something so thrilling, so satisfying, about flying through the air, if only for a split second. She knew her legs weren't as straight as they should be, she knew she was sicling her back foot.

But if she couldn't see it in the mirrors, it didn't matter. Nothing was wrong if it couldn't be seen.

The brunette relished this kind of practice because it had been rare. When she discovered the mirrored room in one of the top floors of the Hitachiin mansion, next to sauna and steam room, she knew where the next hour or so would be spent. Her muscles begged to be moved, to be extended and stretched. They ached for the warmth that would spread through them as they tensed and released from the exercise.

You could never feel my story

It's all you know.

You could never feel my story

It's all you know.

Step, ball change. Chasse into a switch firebird leap. She looked to the right for this one, eyes open wide to see herself in the mirror.

Perfect.

With eyes closed again, she moved. Right leg into passe, turning over her left shoulder, she piqued for the next two measures. Throwing her arms out, she stopped, eyes still closed.

She could hear her own panting now. Her muscles were no longer humming with contentment, they were screaming as loud as her mind was. Turn out, dammit, she chided.

How could he do that? All that she had worked for and he cut it down, just like that. How long would it be before everyone knew? How long before she had to relive it again and again. How long until she wasn't safe anymore?

Fan kick, pivot turn into an illusion. Her hair flew out of the low bun she kept it in, reminding her why she preferred to only pull half of it back. Buns never held when she spotted in travel turns, and braids always smacked her in the face.

May your dreams come to reality

If all else fails.

Give up, we needed the company

Let's drink to your health.

That bastard. She couldn't trust him again. She couldn't make the mistake of trusting him again. It would get her hurt, or get her killed.

Chane turns ending in another developpe, plie with the supporting leg. Tuck, roll forward.

You could never feel my story

It's all you know.

You could never feel my story

It's all you know.

The muscles in her legs screamed but she continued. The fun part was about to begin, as she flipped over her back into a turn to pull herself off the ground. Left leg supporting, she began to turn. Fouette turns. Her favorite challenge. Plie, rotate right knee. That's one. Repeat.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Her body screamed abuse but she ignored it. She could handle the pain.

Repeat. Repeat.

She felt her ankle wobble.

Repeat.

That's when she crumpled to the ground, blue eyes finally opening as she threw her hands out in front of her to catch her what against the smooth hardwood.

"Dammit!" she hissed, reaching out to touch her ankle.

"Are you alright?" a raspy voice asked from the entrance of the room.

Gently, she rotated the ankle. Nothing was broken, nothing was sprained. Just her pride. Apprehension flooded her thoughts as she recognized the voice as belonging to one of the twins. Still, she had to play the part and she had to be friendly. So far, the twins hadn't done her any real harm, just inconvenienced and irritated her.

I will not fold

She's in control.

I will not fold

She's in control of everything and everything.

Missy shook her head and ran a hand through the loose waves. "Nothing injured but my pride."

"Mind if I take a look?" he asked as he walked towards her, kneeling down only a foot away.

"Go ahead." She moved her foot toward him. There was no harm in letting him look, she decided.

He took it gently in his hands, fingertips brushing over her left ankle. She winced when he touched it, causing him to look up at her in alarm. Biting her lip, Missy looked away.

"Kaoru?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hm?" he asked, rotating the ankle slightly. He looked up at her with golden eyes, framed by long lashes, for just a moment.

"Thought so," she mumbled.

After inspecting the injury to his own satisfaction, Kaoru placed her ankle back on the floor gently. "Well, I'm not a doctor," he said with a slight smirk, "but I think you'll live."

"Oh, gee, thanks. Good to know," Missy replied, rolling her eyes. "It's just bruised. A little ice and I'll be fine."

Wordlessly, Kaoru stood up. He put his hand out to the fallen model, who took it hesitantly, pulling her into a standing position in the process. "Can you walk on it?" he asked.

Applying a little pressure to her foot, the brunette noticed that the pain wasn't unmanageable. "Yeah, I can. I'll just need to walk slowly, maybe hold onto some walls," she replied with a shrug.

"How long were you standing there?" she asked. Hopefully not long. She was out of practice and out of shape. Not to mention, she wasn't even critiquing her own movements, so they must've looked at least somewhat clunky and unchoreographed.

"Not too long."

Missy grimaced. "Sorry about that," she muttered. "I'm out of practice. I haven't had good studio time in awhile . . ."

"Don't be sorry. It was kind of cool," the younger twin answered. They exited the studio at a slow pace to accommodate the injured girl.

She couldn't help but blush a little at his comment. Sure, he was just saying it to be nice, but it was still surprising to hear.

After all the antics of the Hitachiin twins, it was hard to believe that they could act so sincerely. And yet, here was Kaoru taking the time to not only help her, but to compliment her as well. Maybe it was because he was alone?

She decided that she liked Kaoru more when he was alone.

"When did you start dancing?" he asked, looking over at her again.

She decided that she liked the soft smile he had. "When I was three. At first it was just a way to focus my energy, but the boarding schools I went to always fostered my love of it, so I entered a conservatory when I was eleven. Now it's just something I do to stay in shape."

The red head looked at her questioningly, as if confused by her statement.

"You know, because I'm a model. I have a strict diet and exercise plan. And ballet barre beats weight lifting every day," she muttered.

"Hikaru and I lift weights sometimes. I can see the appeal in dancing over a bunch of sweaty guys trying to deadlift three times their own body weight," he chuckled, looking over at her again, a slight frown forming on his face. "We didn't design that."

Missy looked down at her attire. Black leggings, a loose white sleeveless tank with deep cuts on the side and a high collar. It billowed when she walked, and it was breezy. "Of course not," she said with a snort. "Your label hasn't even looked at activewear, let alone dancewear."

"Activewear?" he asked, running hand through his auburn hair.

"Yeah. If you designed good active and dancewear, I wouldn't have to sneak around in my Nike and VS leggings all the time," she teased. Truthfully, even if they designed killer active and dancewear, she would never discard her Nikes. They were at that perfect level of worn where they practically molded to her body whenever she put them on.

Kaoru nodded thoughtfully. "Does that include that awful shoes you're wearing?"

"They're toe pads. Not shoes. No way I'd wear these for anything other than contemporary. But, speaking of contemporary . . . " she trailed off.

The boy looked at her in question as they continued down the hallway.

"Why does your family have a dance studio?" she asked. It was something she had been wondering since she had found the room earlier that afternoon.

The corner of his mouth quirked up ever so slightly. "You haven't met my sister yet, have you?"

"Your mother never said she had a daughter." A twinge went up her leg as she took another step. Gritting her teeth ever so slightly, she continued on.

Kaoru sighed and put both arms on the back of his head as he continued to walk forward, gaze constantly straying to the model who was steadily following behind him. "I'm not surprised. Ageha goes to a boarding school, so we don't see her very often. She's pretty smart, but she's a bit of a brat, too. Anyway, she was convinced she was going to be the next Svetlana Zharkovna and threw a fit until my parents added a studio for her. Unfortunately, ballet is a lot harder than it looks, and she didn't have the determination to pursue it."

As a dancer herself, Missy could hardly be surprised. After all, it had taken her years to get to the level she was at now, and she loved dancing.

Missy looked ahead and almost groaned at the sight. She had to go down stairs. "What floor is the kitchen on?" she interrupted.

"The first," Kaoru replied with a cheeky grin. "Need help?"

"Nope," she answered wryly. The teen clutched the banister tightly as she leaned against it, hopping from step to step, while Kaoru watched with an amused smirk on his face.

"You look ridiculous."

"Shut up."

"You know, I could help you."

She turned to give him an irritated look, right hand still clutched tightly to the banister.

Kaoru through up his hands defensively, stepping down to stand just above her. "Just a suggestion."

"I don't need your help."

The young Hitachiin sighed as she continued to hop in the most absurd fashion. He sauntered after her, admiring her determination while remaining someone annoyed at her stubbornness. Seriously, why wouldn't she let him help her?

The model turned to him in triumph as she reached the last step. "Ha! I made it, and I didn't even need your help," she cheered smugly.

Kaoru followed closely behind, leaning towards the girl to give his response. "Good job making it down the first of four flights." He smirked devilishly at her while she just groaned.

"Why does your house have to be so big?" she whined.

"You know, my offer still stands."

"I can do it on my own."

"Never said you couldn't," he responded with a shrug. "It's just going to take a lot longer for us to get to the kitchen."

Missy stopped walking (okay, hobbling) for a minute and wrinkled her nose. "What's the catch?" she asked suspiciously.

His golden eyes opened wide and he put his hand on his heart. "My lady, you wound me! I would never resort to trickery. It is my duty, as a member of the Elite Ouran Host Club, to make every girl happy." She could practically smell the roses that should have been blooming behind him at his chivalrous declaration.

Snorting in reply, Missy had to admit to herself that the younger twin was certainly more fun to be around. She then had to wonder if the other twin was also much easier to deal with one on one.

"I'll make you a deal. If I fall, you can carry me the rest of the way. If I don't, you have to trudge along behind me the entire way."

"That's the only offer you're going to make, isn't it?"

"Take it or leave it."

Kaoru sighed. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down for a moment, as if debating her terms. He looked up at her, his amber eyes soft. "Alright, let's keep going."

Several flights of stairs, constant whining protests from Kaoru, several close calls from Missy, and at least fifteen minutes later, the pair of teens found themselves in a large kitchen area. There were servants milling about, moving from task to task with precision to prepare the evening's meal.

"Monotami-san, which freezer would I find an ice pack in?" Kaoru asked a middle-aged woman with sharp eyes who was wringing her hands through a dish towel with vigor.

The woman looked up abruptly. "Hitachiin-sama, are you hurt?" she asked, discarding the rag with a look of concern.

Kaoru shook his head and gave the woman another one of his uniquely soft smiles. "No, but Preston-san has hurt her ankle and could use an ice pack," he stated, gesturing to the young woman next to him.

Missy waved and offered a polite hello while the older woman approached her. She clucked her tongue. "She's too thin," she observed, "that's why she is hurt."

The model bit her lip, holding back the harsh reply. Kaoru seemed to sense the tension immediately and intercepted.

"Monotami-san, Preston-san is a model for my mother. Now, which freezer?" he asked again.

Monotami seemed to look over the teen again with newfound eyes. "She is very pretty. I see why your mother picked her. Now," she conceded, pointing towards a large freezer in the corner of the massive kitchens, "top shelf in there. You take good care of your friend, Hitachiin-sama? You always were the sweeter one."

Now it was Kaoru's turn to blush a bit at the older woman's praise. "Thank you, Monotami-san." As the younger Hitachiin turned towards the freezer, he was surprised to find that Missy had already pulled open the door and was reaching for the top shelf. She stood on the toes of her uninjured foot, grabbing an unused pack before turning around and closing the door.

"Thank you for your help, Monotami-san. It was a pleasure to meet you," Missy said, giving the woman one of her professional smiles. After all these years, the girl knew her way around charming people. Few had ever been able to resist the sweetness of her smiles.

The woman seemed to beam at the young girl. "It was my pleasure," she said before turning back to her work.

Kaoru followed Missy to a prep room that stood between the kitchen and dining room.

"Here, let me help you," Kaoru offered as he saw her struggling to open the package.

She shot him a look. "It's fine, I can do it."

Oh that was it. "How hard is it-"

"Kaoru?"

The younger twin was interrupted by the call of his brother, which was probably for the best. Both Kaoru and Missy looked up to see HIkaru coming through the dining room, a worried expression on his face. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"

Kaoru adopted a bashful expression and took a step away from the model. "Sorry, Hikaru. I was helping Missy-san get some ice," he explained.

Hikaru's gaze flickered to the girl. "What did you do?" he asked.

She shot him a reproachful book and held up her bag of ice. "I fell."

Rolling his eyes, Hikaru reached forward and grabbed his brother's hand. "Come one, Kaoru, we have things to do. We have to finish that outline for the collection and I need your help with some of the lengths," he said, dragging his brother with him. Before they disappeared around the corner, Kaoru mouthed an apology to the model, which she shrugged to in response. She saw the smile fade from his mouth as he vanished from her line of sight.

Breathing a quick sigh of relief, Missy finally tore open the package, gingerly placing the ice pack on her injured ankle. Hissing with the relief that it brought to the throbbing appendage, she took a seat on one of the nearby chairs.

It would be at least ten minutes before she was willing to even consider standing again.

A/N: I received a PM from a reviewer recently that has me a little concerned about the pacing of this story. It always bothers me in stories when the OC is introduced and immediately integrated into the club and suddenly best friends with everyone. Seriously, that should take a lot of time, which is why this story will move a little slower. It's going to be a looooong story (for me, anyway. The longest story I've done so far). What I wanted to get across during this chapter is Missy's personality, which is why the beginning is so weird. It's her thoughts and feelings and it's a jumbled mess. Anyway, I hope nobody is upset about the pacing because I'm trying my hardest with the story. Seriously, I spend hours between writing and rewriting and editing each chapter.

Quick replies!

Thanks for the awesome reviews, xxxSerinaxxx! Josh is actually one of my favorite characters, and he will be heavily featured in this story!

Dei: Ah! Yes! I always worry about characters that aren't mine being weird, so your review actually means a lot to me!

Lot's of Love,

-Wri