Disclaimer: Ouran belongs to Bisco Hatori

If Tamaki were a Girl

Prologue

The name Ootori was venerable, descended from a noble ducal bloodline. Long before the zaibatsu was established, the Ootori was already well-known in the medical field. As time goes, it even expanded into hospital management and the Ootori soon to be known as the forefront of the health services not only in Japan, but also in some other Asian countries as well.

As the third son in the Ootori family, Kyouya Ootori had his fate sealed.

Or so he thought.

His eldest brother, Yojiri Ootori, had graduated from the most outstanding medical school in Japan and soon after that he began to work in the Ootori General Hospital to train himself as the rightfully successor of Yoshio Ootori, his father. His second brother, Akito Ootori currently was still studying in the same university as Yojiri, but as soon as he graduated and attained an MBA he would join Yojiri and work as his right-hand man. So where was his place?

Nowhere.

No matter how good he was, in the end, he would have to serve his two elder brothers. That was his fate as 'the substitute tire,' as what he often had to remind himself when he was younger.

Aside from 2 elder brothers, he also had one big sister, Fuyumi Ootori. She was in the final year of her secretarial degree and would be married off to one of his father's best friend's son in spring time the following year. It made him sometimes wonder who was more unlucky between him and his sister.

All along he had to ensure that all his father's expectations on him were met while being careful to never outshine his elder brothers. And to skilfully handle the sympathy and sarcasm from the society towards him while constantly maintain the stoic front of a hardworking and contented third son. At the moment his objective was to walk the fine line between displaying his own potentials without overstepping the expectations of being a third son.

--

The morning came as normal as it would be in the Ootori household. Sitting at one end of the table was Yoshio Ootori, the head of the Ootori family, taken breakfast in silence with occasional talks about works with Yojiri or test results with Akito. He rarely asked Kyouya anything about his school life, probably because he thought that a junior high school boy's life was not really worth his time or attention. The fact that in that very same year he would have the final exam for entering high school was never mentioned in any of their daily conversations.

But it was different that morning. For the first time since countless of months, Yoshio paid attention to take a good look at his youngest son. As though contemplated with his own thoughts, Yoshio took a couple of seconds longer looking at his son before he opened his mouth to talk to him.

"Kyouya, are you aware that Suoh's only child is transferring to Ouran today? I'm sure you already realised this but I want to emphasis to you that it certainly would not hurt to be a good friend." Yoshio said in a matter-of-factly tone.

Kyouya startled at the sudden attention he got from his father but concealed it smoothly.

"Yes, I understand, Father."

Little did Kyouya know that his life would change in a way that he never imagined, even in his wildest dream as he made that promise to his father.

--

According to the information that Kyouya quickly gathered before he left for school the very same morning, Yuzuru Suoh, the Chairman of the Ouran Academy where he took his education from as early as kindergarten, had not had any children from his marriage. The marriage itself was a failure since the start as his mother; Sayako Suoh, the head of the Suoh family, apparently disagreed when her only son loved a foreigner with no less than a commoner background and ended up setting up an arranged marriage for him.

Yet it was much too late for her to put a stop as he chose to run to France to be with her and threw away the status as the heir of the Suoh Enterprise and had a kid with her. However, Kyouya failed to get the information on why Yuzuru returned to Japan, leaving his kid and his lover behind only to agree with the arranged marriage in the end.

But now faced with the fact that it seemed Yuzuru Suoh no longer cared to get remarried whatsoever after his previous wedding failed, Sayako had no options than to bring the kid over to Japan to be the next successor of the Suoh Empire.

In a mere overnight, the illegitimate child of a lowly mistress became the heir of one of the biggest zaibatsu not only in Japan but throughout Asia. That thought alone had made a twinge of jealousy to emerge from Kyouya's heart to the kid whom he never met in his entire life before. The kid apparently had much more luck than him, who would forever live under the shadows of his own brothers.

--

Kyouya had been to the Chairman's office couple of times, as he was the president for the junior high school division. The office was extravagant, just like the school itself where it only accepted students from rich families. Chairman Suoh was a very pleasant man with a cheerful smile and a pair of brown twinkling eyes, very unlike his own father who was very strict and stern to everybody including his own children.

"Ah... There you are, the President of our Junior High School and of course, as always, accompanied by the Vice President . Come in... Let me introduce you to my lovely kid." The chairman said as he stood up from his chair and smiled brightly when Kyouya opened the door.

Kyouya coughed a little as he heard the word 'lovely kid' from the Chairman's lips. It was surely a unique way in expressing a fatherly love, but at the moment he was surely glad that he was not born as the son of the Chairman.

In one glance, Kyouya saw a tall young guy standing next to the Chairman. It must have been the said son who soon to be inheriting the Suoh Empire. The guy was handsome, but Kyouya could not help but thinking that he looked quite old to be a junior high school student. Yet Kyouya shook off the thought as quickly as it came across his minds. It must have been simply because he was half-french, therefore he looked more mature than the average fifteen years old boy. But if Kyouya could be honest with himself, he had to admit that the trace of the French blood was nowhere to be seen from the guy's figure. He could have disguised and fooled everyone as pure-blooded Japanese and nobody would have doubted it.

"Nice to meet you, Suoh-San. I'm Kyouya Ootori and this is Ayame Jonouichi, we will be classmates starting from today onwards," said Kyouya and stretched his hand to offer a handshake to the young guy. Ayame followed his gesture with a refined nod.

It was the shock of his life when the next moment he could hear chuckles coming out from no other than the Chairman himself as he patted the young guy's shoulder gently.

"I never know that you are also a Suoh, Seiya."

The young guy scratched his head in confusion as he said, "Well, you got it wrong, Kiddo. I'm not that unlucky to be this uncle's kid. That's the person whom you should address your greeting to."

Kyouya's onyx eyes followed the direction pointed out by the young guy whom the Chairman just called him Seiya.

And that's when he saw her. A petite girl with shoulder-length and slightly curly blonde hair busily rummaging the big wooden cabinet at the other end of the room without the slightest care of what had happened in her surroundings.

"Tamaki, are you done with your investigation? It's very impolite to let your friends waiting for you," said the Chairman, still chuckling; apparently quite enjoying the scene that just took place before him.

"But I have not found it anywhere here, Daddy. Ah..." Her complaints left forgotten as she saw Kyouya standing next to her father.

"Nice to meet you both, I am Tamaki Suoh." She said, her violet eyes twinkling in a way that was resembling so much like her father as she shook Kyouya's hand energetically. She was smiling very wide as though the thoughts of meeting new people excited her.

Kyouya felt his throat dry and his voice left him as he stared at the blonde girl whom still looked at him with great interests even when the Chairman placed his hand around his daughter's shoulder.

Truthfully, it never crossed on his mind the possibility that the heir of the Suoh Empire could be a girl. Yet as he recalled his conversation with his own father, or the articles that he read this morning about the Chairman Suoh, there was no single word mentioning that it was otherwise.

Nonetheless, that was the least of his problem at the moment as he began to comprehend the difficulties of carrying forward his promise earlier to his father.

How on earth would he manage to be good friends with Tamaki Suoh when he had zero knowledge whatsoever in dealing with the opposite sex, was more important than anything combined for him at the moment.

-- to be continued --

A/N: This idea comes to me all of a sudden. After reading here and there, I found out that Tamaki is a name for both girl and boy. And it makes me wonder what would the story be if Tamaki was a girl instead of a boy.

I know I should finish writing my other fanfics first before writing a new one if I have some spare time to kill. But what can I say? It bugs me so much when I have an idea and not to do anything about it. The starting point of this story took place when Kyouya was still in his senior year of Junior High School and first met Tamaki, just the same as the original story.

Please let me know whether you like it or not. Enjoy! (Grinning).