A/N: Wow, I actually managed to update this when I said I would . . . Anyway, enjoy Chapter 1!
Chapter 1
Early the next day in music room 3 . . .
"Haruhi, my wonderful daughter!" an enthusiastic blonde exclaimed as a girl with short, brown hair entered the room.
"Ah! Senpai, get off me!" Haruhi yelped as Tamaki picked her up and spun her around.
""Stop terrorizing Haruhi, you pervert!"" the two orange-haired twins said, walking over to Haruhi and Tamaki. Said Host King immediately froze.
"I'm a . . . pervert?" Suddenly, he ran into a corner of the room and crouched down, drawing circles on the floor.
"Cut it out, Tamaki," Kyoya sighed, glancing up from the computer screen he had been staring at to glare at Tamaki. He shook his head and turned back to whatever he had been doing when the blonde refused to move.
"Senpai, why did you call us here before school starts anyway?" Haruhi asked, brushing the twins away as they tried to rest their arms on her shoulders.
"Ah, yes!" Tamaki exclaimed, immediately snapping back to his normal self. He was about to explain, when the door suddenly slammed open. In strode a small boy clutching a stuffed bunny in his hand, followed closely by a tall, dark-haired boy.
"Hello, Honey-Senpai! How are . . . uh-oh . . .," Tamaki trailed off when Honey turned his expression on him.
"Tamaki," Honey said quietly, his gaze murderous. "Why did you call us here so early?"
Tamaki, the twins, and even Haruhi tensed, getting ready to run.
"Um-"
"I WAS STILL SLEEPING!"
Tamaki screamed and ran as Honey started to chase him around the room. Honey quickly caught up and started smacking Tamaki with his Usa-chan.
"Uh, shouldn't we do something?" Haruhi asked the twins. They just shrugged.
""Eh Mori-Senpai will take care of it.""
Sure enough, Mori appeared, holding a plate of cake.
"Mitsukuni," he said, and his cousin paused. "Here- eat some cake."
"Ooh, cake! Yay!" Honey exclaimed, running over and grabbing the plate. He smiled and started shoveling cake into his mouth, completely forgetting his anger towards Tamaki.
"Yes, well, anyway," Tamaki said, standing up and straightening out his jacket. "Sorry to wake you up, Honey-Senpai. Now, I called you all here because I had an idea- as well as having meetings after school, I thought we could start having them before school, too!"
"What?" everyone exclaimed at the same time.
"Yeah! Well, it gets crowded after school, and the girls are getting less and less time to spend with us, so I thought we could let some of them come before school as well!"
"Tono, you're crazy!" Hikaru said.
"It's way too early!" Kaoru added.
"No, it's not!" Tamaki argued.
""Yes it is!""
Haruhi sighed as the boys started to argue, already getting tired of their antics. Soon, the subject they were bickering about changed to something completely different than what it had originally been, and Haruhi walked over to the window to try and get away from the noise. She looked down at all the students arriving at school, and then she noticed someone odd.
There was a person walking into the school that Haruhi had never seen before. From her viewpoint, she couldn't quite tell if it was a girl or just an extremely skinny boy, especially since they were wearing what looked like a dress and had dull, pink hair. However, Haruhi could tell that, whoever it was, they were very nervous; they were walking sort of hunched over, clutching their right arm, and they jumped every time someone walked close enough to accidentally brush up against them. Haruhi watched them disappear into the school before she realized that Tamaki was trying to get her attention.
"Haruhi, what do you think?" he asked. "Are cantaloupes or watermelons better?"
"What? I don't know!" she replied, giving him a look like he was crazy. "Watermelons, I guess."
"W-watermelons?" Tamaki gasped dramatically, clutching at his heart. "Oh no, my poor daughter doesn't realize that cantaloupes are so much better!"
Haruhi rolled her eyes, having no idea why Tamaki was being so dramatic. She sighed again and looked at the clock, groaning when she saw how much time she had left before the bell rang. She tried to focus on the conversation between the boys, but she couldn't seem to get the image of the strange new student out of her head until the bell rang to start class.
She wandered off to her first period, wondering if that nervous kid would be alright . . .
Meanwhile, in the main office . . .
Crona entered the office nervously, jumping when the door slammed behind him. He walked up to the secretary's desk and stopped, staring at the floor.
"Well, hello there," the secretary said, smiling warmly. Crona just stared at her, his forlorn eyes wide. "Can I help you with something?"
"U-um . . . I'm a n-new student," Crona said, gripping his arm anxiously. "I-I'm supposed to see the chairman."
"Okay, what's your name?"
"Crona."
"And your last name?"
"Um . . ."
"Asudem!" Ragnarok whispered in Corona's mind. "Say it's Asudem!"
"Oh, okay . . . um, it's Asudem," Crona informed the secretary. She typed the name into her computer and scanned the files, frowning when she couldn't find Crona's name.
"Hmm, I can't seem to find you, Crona," she said.
"I-it's probably not in the s-system yet." Crona was practically shaking at this point, knowing that the secretary would see through his lie at any second.
"Well, if the chairman is expecting you, I suppose you can go in and see him." Crona blinked, surprised that she was letting him in so easily.
"Really?" he asked, and she nodded. "Oh, thank you . . ."
"His office is right through there." The secretary gestured to a nearby door. Crona quickly hurried through, not giving the secretary a second glance.
The door led to yet another huge room. Crona stared around in wonder, marveling at how high up the ceiling was.
"This whole place is so big," Crona said to himself. "I still don't really know how to deal with it . . ."
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon enough."
Crona yelped and whipped around when he heard an unfamiliar voice behind him. He saw a man with kind eyes striding up to him, holding out his hand.
"I'm the chairman of this school," the man said. "You can call me Mister Suoh." The chairman held out his hand to Crona, but the boy just continued to hold his arm and stare at the ground shyly.
"What's your name?" Mr. Suoh asked, leaning down so he was eye level with Crona.
"Crona Asudem," Crona answered quietly. "I'm a new student."
"Well, do you have your paperwork?" the chairman questioned. He wasn't quite sure why, but he was starting to get a bad feeling about this child. The boy nodded in response to his question and reached into his pocket, pulling out a long white envelope. Crona opened it and Mr. Suoh had just enough time to notice something black shoot out of the envelope before he was knocked off his feet.
"Didja get him?" Ragnarok asked, poking his head out of Crona's shoulder.
"Ow! Ragnarok, you're not supposed to come out when we're at school!" Crona chided. Ragnarok just poked him in the cheek, eliciting another whine.
"Aw, shut up, Crona!" The Demon Sword glanced at the chairman, laughing when he saw a black arrow flick out of the man's mouth like a snake's tongue. After a few seconds, the man sat up and shook his head. He looked up at Crona, who winced when he saw that one of the chairman's eyes was now a glowing red.
"Good work, Crona," came Medusa's voice from the chairman's mouth. "You managed to infiltrate the school faster than I thought you would; your mother is very pleased."
"Thank you, Lady Medusa," Crona said, bowing. The chairman's body stood up, now under the complete control of Medusa.
"Now, Crona," the witch continued, looking down at the boy. "Do you remember what you have to do now?"
"I have to look for the pure soul that can help create the philosopher's stone," Crona recited, still not meeting Medusa's gaze.
"Very good. And Ragnarok, remember not to show yourself during school- we don't want to blow our cover now, do we?"
"Of course not, Lady Medusa," Ragnarok said, inclining his head.
"Lady Medusa . . .," Crona said hesitantly. "If I may ask . . . what exactly is the philosopher's stone?" He looked up and sucked in a breath when he saw Medusa frowning at him.
"I'll tell you when I think you're ready," she said. "You don't need to worry about it now; just focus on finding that pure soul. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sorry, Lady Medusa," Crona said quickly, averting his gaze to the floor again.
"Alright, then you'd better get going; you don't want to be late to class on your first day of school."
"Thank you. Goodbye, Lady Medusa," Crona said as he scurried out of the room, Ragnarok disappearing into his back. As soon as he had closed the door behind him, Ragnarok's voice surfaced in the back of Crona's mind.
"You idiot!" the Demon Sword yelled as Crona passed by the secretary. "What the hell were you thinking, talking back to Lady Medusa like that?"
"Please stop yelling! I was just-" Crona began to explain, but a voice called out to him just as he was about to exit the room.
"Crona, wait a moment!" the secretary said, interrupting the boy's conversation with himself. "You need a schedule . . . oh, the chairman just sent me one!" She pressed a few buttons on her keyboard and soon she held a printed version of Crona's schedule in her hand.
"The president of class 1-A should be here in a few minutes to show you to your classes," she said as Crona took the paper and started to read through it. "I hope you enjoy your time here at Ouran Academy!"
"Oh, uh, thank you," Crona said awkwardly. He stood there for a few minutes in silence, the secretary giving him a curious glance now and then. Soon, the class president appeared and introduced himself, leading Crona out of the room. The secretary waved as Crona disappeared around the doorway, not even pausing to return the gesture.
"What an odd boy," the secretary muttered. She started out the open doorway for a moment, before shaking her head and turning back to her work, trying to put the boy with pink hair out of her mind.
Meanwhile, near a place called Central . . .
"Brother, are you sure this is okay?" the suit of armor asked, turning to the boy next to him. The boy just grinned and pushed a strand of golden hair out of his eyes.
"Of course it is, Al," he reassured the armor. "I mean, everything has a little bit of a risk, right? If there really is a clue to the philosopher's stone in that room, we might as well take the chance."
"Yeah, I guess so . . .," Al said, getting an uneasy feeling as they both stared into the doorway in front of them. All they could see was blackness, and Al took a subconscious step closer to his brother. Ed grinned at him again and gestured to the darkness.
"Well, should we get going?" he asked. Al tried his best to nod.
"Yeah, let's go."
"Alright! Clue to the philosopher's stone, here we come!"
And with that they entered the doorway, unaware that where it led was quickly becoming very risky indeed.
A/N: Chapter Two should be up in about another two weeks!