Hi, everyone! Perhaps you've seen this story before. I wrote the original version of this story when I was in the eighth grade. By the time I finished it in high school, the story was completely different from what it was when it first started and I promised to rewrite it. I really hated the original and discourage you all from uncovering it. It is badly written, to say the least, for it came from the very narrow and naive mind of an eighth grader who was still very uneducated as to how the world works.

I didn't want to post my rewrite until I had completed it, but now here I am, in my senior year of college, and still have not completed the rewrite. But I suppose I should start somewhere, right?

Returning fans, I apologize for the wait. This story is far from complete but I hope you like this new and improved version!

I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I do writing it! As always, please review!


CHAPTER 1

"It's a new semester, mom. I like it here at Ouran. It's a little rough considering that I have to crossdress, and sometimes I feel a little lost in this grand world of glitters and golds. I've learned lots of things last semester. I've gotten stuck working for a stupid host club, but it may not be so bad."

"Haruhi! Oh, Haruhi dearest! It's been too long! Too long since I've last seen you! Since last semester!" A familiar voice wailed. Immediately following the voice was a body crashing against Haruhi Fujioka, crushing her into a strong bear hug. Haruhi inwardly groaned and made no movement to return, or even acknowledge, Tamaki Suoh's affection.

"I saw you yesterday, senpai…" Haruhi muttered with an eyeroll. She sighed. It couldn't be helped.

"See what I have to live with every day, mom?"

Suddenly, the weight was violently pulled away from the crossdresser. Tamaki was peeled off Haruhi and flung against the outside of the school wall by two redheaded twins. And the twins proceeded to wrap themselves like ivy around Haruhi. They cradled her, not as suffocating, but Haruhi did not move and instead, let out her annoyed groan.

"Would you guys just get off me?" Haruhi huffed, irritated.

"But we haven't seen you in forever, Haruhi," Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin protested in unison. "We're going to escort you to class!"

"I don't need an escort! Get off me!" Haruhi growled.

"Nu-uh! We missed you too much, Haruhi!"

"It's not like I went anywhere!"

Similarly, but less rapidly, both redheads were lifted off Haruhi. Haruhi looked up at the person who blocked the sun, Takashi Morinozuka. And in each hand was a twin, held by the collars of their uniforms.

"Thanks, Mori-senpai."

"It was nothing," he responded simply.

"Hey!"

"Put us down, Mori-senpai!" the twins demanded. With a blank expression, Mori dropped them after stepping away from Haruhi. They cried out when their bottoms hit the cement, and then promptly barked at their expressionless upperclassman.

"Haru-chan!" Unlike Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru, Mitsukuni Haninozuka skipped to Haruhi's side. Normally, he would have flung himself into her arms, but Hunny was smart enough to realize that Haruhi has had enough. Instead, the child-like upperclassman clung to Haruhi's arm.

"Ready for a new semester?" Hunny asked with a twinkle in his brown eyes.

"As I'll ever be," Haruhi murmured, placing her free palm against her growing headache. "This'll be one hell of a semester…"

Just then, the Ouran Academy school bell rang, indicating the start of school. Haruhi's eyes widened with a cry of surprise and she immediately pulled away from her senpai.

"I'm going to be late for class! Damn you rich bastards!"


An alarm clock blared and resounded throughout the bedroom. It rang for a few seconds before a hand slammed down on it, before withdrawing back under the thick blanket. Silence settled and morning light began to fill the room. Ten minutes later, the alarm clock went off again.

The teenager rolled onto her back and an irritated groan left her lips. Cerise colored eyes fluttered open with much reluctance. She squinted at the sun's light before her heavy eyelids fell shut again. She blindly stuck a hand out to hit her snooze button and pushed herself into an upright position. Taking her time, she stretched her arms and released a powerful yawn before retracting her hands to rub her tired eyes.

She turned her head to glance at the clock. Once her blurred gaze cleared, she focused on the time. However, she realized how late in the morning it actually was, and she let out a startled cry, followed by some curses.

"I'm so late!"

Throwing the covers aside, she sprung from her bed to her closet. She started to dig through, swiftly shuffling and examining each article of clothing. She huffed in frustration when she couldn't find what she was looking for.

"I'm late and I still don't have my uniform!" she grumbled. "And it's my first day. Fantastic."

With record speed, she had to settle for regular clothes—jeans and a t-shirt. She bolted out her room, snatched up her bag, grabbed a chocolate chip muffin baked the previous day, and was out the door. She threw her bag over her shoulder and hopped on her bike resting on the side of the house. She pedaled as fast as she could, almost creating smoke from the tires furiously rubbing against the asphalt.

"Kya! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

The school was isolated and a great distance away from her house, but she was able to make it in record time. She parked her bike and locked it on the nearest bike rack, before sprinting through the grand, pillared entrance of the school building. By the time she reached the front desk, she was out of breath and exhausted from her sudden morning workout.

"May I help you?" a woman spoke from where she sat behind the front desk the girl leaned on.

"Shira…" she breathed. She swallowed thickly and tried to slow her rapid heart rate. "Shirayuki Ikeda. But I go by Yuki. I just transferred here. I kinda overslept and kinda had to bike here but I'm here now."

There was a terrible distaste in Yuki's mouth once she stated her full name.

"Oh! You are here!" the woman turned away to assemble some papers and a bag. She handed Yuki a packet settled on top of a plastic bag containing a neatly folded purple and black uniform. Yuki skimmed the packet of paper and glanced at her uniform. She blinked, unsure if she saw it correctly.

"I think there's a mistake here. This is a boys' uniform," Yuki pointed out blankly, trying to suppress her irritation. Did she really look like a guy?

"I'm sorry, Ikeda-san, but this is the uniform that was ordered and paid for you," the receptionist said.

"But I'm a girl!" Yuki protested. "Can't it just be swapped out with a girl uniform?"

"We don't have any spare uniforms to make the switch. The rules are that you are to wear the uniform you ordered. If you have a problem with it, you can take it up with the headmaster. The only exception would be if financial or religious conflicts, or you are here on an honors scholarship," She explained.

"Fine. Thanks, I guess," Yuki huffed and glared at the woman. It wasn't her fault, but Yuki certainly didn't want to go through so much trouble for a damn uniform. And it really wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened to her.

Yuki walked briskly away with her items to the nearest bathroom. There was one nearby, although Yuki began to wonder if it actually was a bathroom once she was inside. It was insanely large and had a lounge full of plush pink couches and a wall of mirrors. Further back were the actual sinks and stalls, but they were decorated far more extravagantly than necessary for a high school bathroom. There were beautiful paintings hanging on the walls, gold trimmed mirrors, and sinks in the shape of seashells.

How rich are these kids anyway? Yuki thought as she slipped into a pink colored stall. She quickly changed into her uniform and stuffed her old clothes in her bag. When she stepped out fully dressed, she squinted at the mirror across from her.

"This might not be so bad..."

It was the right size and it was pretty comfortable. But Yuki realized how much she truly looked like a guy. Her hair was short and cut similarly to a male's, except with an ahoge. The dark color of her hair contrasted sharply with her large, cerise colored eyes. Her hair was a mess since she forgot to brush it, but her hair was short enough to look perfectly fine as a mess.

Yuki shrugged and decided that it was time for her to get to class. She was late enough as it was. Thankfully, there was a slip included in her packet excusing her tardiness. But when she left the bathroom, she realized she had no idea where she was and which way she needed to get to class 1-A.

"Where do I start in this huge school!?" she demanded, looking around. She swiftly walked down one hallway and went down as many as she could. It didn't help that the room signs sometimes jumbled up on her. She didn't know where she was going, but she was going, and she will keep going in circles until she found her classroom.

After running around in many different hallways, she was back in the beginning. She shuffled through her papers and flipped through them. Fortunately, there was the school map. Yuki smacked her forehead with her palm, muttering a curse towards her own stupidity in annoyance.

"There it is!" she pointed to it on the map. It was in the other building. She groaned. "Dammit…"

Yuki finally made it to her classroom and before she knew what she was doing, she was strolling right on in. Instantly, all eyes were on her. She gulped and forced herself forward. Jeez, why don't you stop a think a little, will ya? Yuki mentally berated. She masked her nervousness as best as she could, and it ended up intimidating everyone in the classroom, sending chills down their spines upon looking at her glare.

"Sorry, I'm late! I'm Ikeda Yuki," she said to the class president at the front of the room.

"Oh! You're the new transfer student!" the class president greeted. "My name is Kazukiyo Soga. Pleased to meet you! Why don't you introduce yourself to the rest of the class?"

Silence settled in the classroom. Yuki scowled, and her glare made the temperature in the room drop another twenty degrees. That wasn't her intent and she actually doesn't realize she's doing it at all, but the last thing she wanted to do was make her existence known to so many people. She heaved a sigh in irritation and turned her back to the class.

Yuki wrote her name on the chalkboard in small, sloppy characters. She dropped the chalk and spun back around to face the class.

"I'm Yuki Ikeda. Sorry I'm late. I sort of overslept," Yuki joked nervously. Nobody laughed, and she was growing more uncomfortable as she toyed with a loose strand of hair. What is she supposed to say to them? Something cheesy? "Um...let's all be friends and work hard together to make this year a good one?"

And they were sold. The whole class clapped and cheered for Yuki, exclaiming about how "inspiring" her words were! Except for Haruhi, who sat there, deadpanned. Yuki was deadpanned as well, and she sweat dropped.

"I hate all these damn rich people…" both Yuki and Haruhi muttered under their breaths, but no one heard it.

"Alright, Yuki-san. There's an open seat behind Haruhi there in the middle," Soga said as he pointed in Haruhi's direction. With a sigh, Yuki stalked over to the empty seat. Whispers floated through the air, but Yuki was too tired to hear them. She sat down quietly and class began, but Yuki eventually dozed off. The Hitachiin brothers smirked.

"A new student…You thinking what I'm thinking, Kaoru?" Hikaru asked.

"Of course, Hikaru. This one looks like fun," Kaoru replied.

"What are you guys up to?" Haruhi asked.

"Oh, nothing!" they said in unison. Haruhi glared at them, then focused back on the lesson. The brothers smirked again.

Yuki fell asleep and woke up periodically throughout the day. She was really interested and stayed awake during Home Economics. Yuki was excused from gym class because the school knew her dance record. She was pretty disappointed, being one of the few people who enjoyed gym class very much. Her other favorite subject was lunch, and Yuki was quite impressed with the extravagant and fancy dining hall, even if she did sit alone. Well, Yuki had intended to sit alone, but many of her classmates approached her curiously with many questions about her and her old school. Being irritable from sleeping last period, Yuki's answers were short and tired.


The school bell rang, signaling the end of the day. A loud yawn escaped from Yuki as she forced her eyes to open. She felt quite irritable being so abruptly woken, even by an inanimate object, but it was nice to see that the classroom has emptied so there was no one to bother her. Everyone has either gone home or to a club now.

Yuki collected her things with hurry and rushed outside. She had dance this evening. It wasn't until later, but she needed to at least get a start on chores and the homework she remembered to do. She grabbed her bike and hopped on it. Yuki kick-started off the ground, but her bike was so hard to handle, that she crashed. Cursing, Yuki got back on her feet and tried to kick-start forward once more, but then her bike completely fell apart and she crashed once more, scraping her hands and knees. Yuki gave her tires an uncertain squeeze before letting the air out of them. However, instead of air whizzing out, thick white mayonnaise oozed out.

"What the hell?" Yuki looked around, then spotting two redheaded classmates doubled over and laughing hysterically.

"Good job, Kaoru! Way to rig the bike!" Hikaru laughed.

"It was your idea, Hikaru! And you were the one who got the mayo! I can't take credit for everything!" Kaoru protested gleefully.

A glare swept across Yuki's face.

"You two!" she yelled as she marched menacingly towards them. At the sound of her angry voice, the twins had stopped laughing and darted from her. She chased them into and throughout the school, with a scary look on her face, and a terrified one on theirs.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Yuki threatened, hot on their heels.

How dare they pull something on her like that! They try to prank Yuki and make her look bad on her first day? They try to ruin her reputation before she can even create one? How the hell was she supposed to get home now in time to do homework and go to practice? And to top it off, this happens right after she wakes up! She wasn't in the mood to put up with this crap today!

However, the twins unexpectedly ran down a particular hallway. What made this one different was that it had a mirror in a gold frame hanging on the wall. When Yuki raced passed it, something had caught her eye. Yuki had to backtrack, which allowed the twins to increase distance between her, but her curiosity had gotten the better of Yuki. And what she saw was drawings. There were stupid drawings and writing all over her forehead, cheeks, nose, jaw, chin, everywhere! They've been on her face for God only knows how long! Yuki knew it was those horrible twins, and it made her blood boil as she angrily rubbed her sleeve against her face. Hungry for revenge, Yuki sprinted after them.

Hikaru and Kaoru took cover in the famous Music Room Three. Yuki didn't slow down. She opened the door. Rose petals flew past her. She ran inside, ignoring the rose petals that would normally catch other people's attention.

"You're dead meat!" she snapped. She spotted them hiding behind five handsome boys, one of them her classmate. The first pair of eyes she met were hidden behind glasses.

Yuki charged towards them, and they took off. Yuki dived and tackled one of them and they wrestled. She grabbed the collar of his shirt, but then the other twin began to peel her off. She tackled that twin and they wrestled around the room, destroying it.

"Mayonnaise in the tires…" Kyoya sighed, writing in his clipboard, "I know this won't get through your heads, but I'll ask you once again that if you're going to prank someone, leave the Host Club out of it. We can't have any damage done to the room. Our funds would go down the drain." But he was watching them with amusement in his eyes.

"You greedy little…" Hikaru began.

"How did you know what we were doing with the mayo?" cried Kaoru, but his question was ignored.

"Now, now," Tamaki stepped forward in an attempt to keep the twins and Yuki separated. "Welcome to the Host Club. I am the King, Tamaki Suoh. What is a young fellow doing here?" He stepped closer to Yuki, uncomfortably invading her personal bubble. Yuki ignored him and stepped around to storm over to Hikaru and Kaoru.

"I'm here for you, carrot tops! You two owe me a new bike!" Yuki demanded.

"What did you do this time?" Haruhi asked.

"It was only a joke," they said in unison.

"What did you guys do?" Tamaki repeated Haruhi's question in a firm tone.

"Milord, we pulled a small prank by loosening the bolts and putting mayo in Ikeda's bike," came their reply.

"You're bleeding!" Hunny said, pointing to Yuki's cheek. "Here! I'll get that!" Hunny reached up with a napkin, but was sadly too short and couldn't reach her face. Not that Yuki was tall anyway, for she was about an inch taller than Haruhi.

A tall, dark man came from behind Hunny and took his napkin. Mori then crouched and wiped Yuki's face properly, the rest of the marker coming right off and the blood disappearing.

"You hurt the new student!?" Haruhi cried.

"He was the one who fell off the bike! And it was only a joke!" they repeated.

"Joke or not, you ruined my only way to get here. You owe me a new bike," Yuki growled.

"Or what?" Kaoru asked. Yuki put on her scary face.

"I'll be your worst nightmare," she hissed.

"No way," they both said bluntly, unfazed. She fell.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen. Do not fret. I'm sure there's a way to work this out. I'm an excellent mediator, you know!" Tamaki said with a dramatic wave of his arms, going off to fantasyland.

"Get lost. I'm not interested in talking to you." Yuki turned away from the blonde and started towards the brothers again. Tamaki gasped and fell into despair. She was too ticked off to deal with anyone else. She just wanted to these twins to pay for her bike.

"Why do you need a bike so bad?" Kaoru asked.

"Why can't you just take your limo?" Hikaru added. Yuki groaned internally. Rich bastards. Fine. If Yuki was going to get another bike from them, she's going to have to act like them.

"I'm going green," Yuki replied flatly. "You damaged my property, now you must pay for it before I call my lawyer."

"Nu-uh! He's bluffing!" The twins accused.

"You accuse me of bluffing?" Yuki asked with a death glare that finally petrified the twins and Tamaki.

"N-not at all! He wouldn't be bluffing! Right?" Tamaki asked shakily, cracking under Yuki's cold gaze.

"Right!" Hunny agreed happily.

"Right! Now let's just calm down everyone! No lawyers need to be called!" Tamaki went on. Yuki and Haruhi rolled their eyes.

"Now give me a new damn bike," Yuki growled.

"You're the one who rode on it and it fell to pieces, so it's technically your fault!" the twins protested.

"Guys, just pay him back!" Haruhi snapped in annoyance.

"What do your parents do anyway?" Hunny asked innocently. Yuki began to panic. She had to come up with something!

"Well—"

"Ikeda Yuki is the son of Ikeda Gou and Manami. Gou is the CEO of a large international car paint company," Kyoya suddenly cut in. Yuki gaped at him in surprise. Yuki's father died when Yuki was a little girl. Her mom told her that her father's name was Jun, not Gou. And her mother's name was Akane, not Manami. So what was this guy doing? Making up stuff to help her out? Sure, she guessed she could take that for now. Nonetheless, Yuki couldn't suppress a smirk when witnessing the twins' jaws drop.

"I thought I heard that name before...we didn't know he was your dad," the twins muttered in defeat as they fished through their pockets for their wallets. They pulled out their wallets and handed Yuki more money than she had planned for, which caught her off guard.

"That much!? I just needed a new bike!" Yuki protested, gaping in total shock of all the money placed in her hands.

"What? You're acting like that's the most money you can make in a week," Hikaru said.

"For a guy from such a rich family, you seem to act so surprised at the amount, like every penny counted," Kaoru pointed out, suspicious. Yuki jumped back, freaking out. She couldn't let them know…

"Well—" Yuki was cut off.

"Ah-ha!" Hikaru and Kaoru said, leaping in her face. "You lied!"

"N-no I didn't!" Yuki protested, but she was shrinking under their intense golden gazes. "It's just that, this is a lot of money for a bike. I didn't need this much. My information is my information, believe it or not. Even he said so, and he looks smart!" Yuki assured when she pointed to Kyoya, trying to get by. Hikaru and Kaoru looked behind Yuki, and smirked.

"Your expression gave something away, Yuki," Hikaru began, stepping closer with Kaoru. Yuki stepped back.

"You acted like that money was like a million yen!" Kaoru accused. Hikaru and Kaoru crept closer to Yuki, who continued to step back.

"Guys," Haruhi warned.

"We're just curious. So, Yuki, why did you react the way you reacted? It's not natural for a RICH guy from a RICH family," they both said simultaneously in Yuki's face. Yuki jumped back, and she slips on a banana peel (that was randomly placed there). A vase on a pedestal (that somehow was randomly placed behind Yuki) was knocked over. Yuki gasped, and reached to grab it. However, she fell on the podium and tumbled down with it, the vase shattering into millions of pieces by Yuki's head.

"Noooo! That vase came from Italy! From the Renaissance! We were going to feature that vase in a silent auction this weekend!" Hikaru said dramatically.

"Why'd you break it? Your bike wasn't worth as much as that vase!" Kaoru wailed with a wide gesture with his arms. Yuki laid there on her stomach, frozen in place with her jaw wide open. "That vase was worth at least ¥8,000,000!"

"It-it was an accident! I'm sorry! Wait, 8 MILLION YEN?! Seriously!?" Yuki cried, propping herself up on her hands. "Why so high?! That's outrageous!"

"What a coincidence," Kyoya said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Haruhi placed her fist on the palm of her hand in realization.

"Wait a minute!" Haruhi gasped.

"Now you owe us~!" the twins sang merrily. Yuki groaned and let her hands give out from under her, resting her head against the pearly pink marble floors.

"You owe us~! You have to pay us back~!" the twins chimed.

"You're kidding, right?! I can't pay that!" Yuki protested. "Maybe I can put it back together..." Yuki didn't bother sitting up as she collected the tiny pieces of the vase.

"Just ask your dad for the money," Hikaru suggested casually. Yuki sat up.

"Unless you can't," Kaoru spoke. Yuki reached into her back pocket for her wallet with shaky hands. She produced her wallet and opened it. A moth flew out. Yuki sighed and hung her head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't pay off the vase…" Yuki admitted. Hikaru and Kaoru high-fived and cheered in victory. "We don't have the money..."

"We were right!"

"But mommy said that your father was a CEO!" Tamaki protested, spinning around to see Kyoya still writing in that black notebook of his.

"Must've read the wrong information. My apologies," Kyoya responded. Everyone's jaws dropped. Yuki's eyebrow twitched, and she glared at him. "Ikeda Yuki is the son of Ikeda Jun and Ikeda Akane. Akane is a secretary and Jun is a construction worker."

Now that sounded...more or less accurate.

"I knew it! You're poor! You're a commoner!" the twins accused.

"It's called middle class!" Yuki snapped bitterly. But that wasn't her mother's job...and her father was dead...what the hell is four eyes doing to her? He's making the situation much worse! Now she'll never get out of this situation!

"Oh, my dearest Yuki!" Tamaki cried. "I'm so sorry to hear that! Forget the broken vase! You just go right home and rest! No, don't go home! I'll protect you from poverty!"

"I'm not in poverty and I don't need protection!" Yuki grumbled.

"Hey! When I broke the vase, you made me join this stupid club!" Haruhi protested.

"Well, he still has to pay for the damages to our room," Kyoya pointed out. "I think enslavement is our best option."

"You owe us, Yuki. If you can't pay us, then you'll be our little slave," Hikaru and Kaoru snickered.

"Yeah! Join the club! I want Yuki-chan to join us!" Hunny chimed.

"What do you think we should do with him, Tamaki?" Kyoya asked. Tamaki brought a hand to his chin and closed his eyes in a pause for thought. There wasn't much to think about and a smile was brought to his face before his violet eyes flew open.

"From this day forward, you will now be our dog-boy since Haruhi has failed to do so! You're stuck with us forever!" Tamaki announced.

"That doesn't mean we're married, are we?" Yuki groaned. Haruhi snorted.

Yuki then came to a sudden realization. They all think she's a guy. They've been calling her a guy, a boy, and using male pronouns. But Yuki almost couldn't blame them. She was in a guy's uniform and has a guy's haircut. Well that was new.

"Now, our first order of business! Run to the store and get us some instant coffee, my good friend!" Tamaki declared. He grabbed Yuki's hand and pulled her to her feet, startling her. "The princesses will be arriving soon!"

"We aren't friends."


Chapter One: That Spring