A/N: Yay, Chapter 2 is now up! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Oops . . . probably should've done this sooner . . . heh heh. I don't own Crona, Ragnarok, Medusa, Ed, Al, or any of the Hosts or any other characters that might show up in this story.

Chapter 2

After school that day . . .

Crona made sure that no one was in the bathroom before locking the door. He walked over to the huge mirror hanging over the sinks and sighed, staring at his reflection.

"Oh, this is so- augh!" he cried out in pain as Ragnarok exploded out of his back.

"Well, Crona, I have to admit I'm a little impressed," the Demon Sword said, leaning on Crona's head. "You actually managed to make it through today without revealing everything!"

"Ow! Stop that!" Crona whined as Ragnarok pulled on his cheek. "I almost told during third period because this school is so big and scary and I still don't know how to deal with it . . . but then I remembered that Lady Medusa would be mad at me if I told anyone about her plans. . ."

"You're lucky you didn't lose it, or we'd both be in trouble!" Ragnarok said, now settling for squeezing Crona's head.

"Ow, don't do that! If you squeeze my head too hard it'll get squished, and I don't know how to deal with that!"

"Ha ha! You're such a baby, Crona!"

"Stop that! Ragnarok!"

They both froze when they heard the door handle jiggle as someone tried to come into the room.

"Crona, are you in there?"

Crona's eyes widened as he recognized the voice of the class president. He winced as Ragnarok quickly disappeared into his back, and then he walked over and unlocked the door.

"Why were you locked in here?" the class president asked, stepping into the room. He glanced around, frowning. "And who were you talking to just now? I don't see anyone else in here. . ."

"Oh, I was, um . . .," Crona trailed off, gripping his arm and staring at the floor. The president waited for him to say more, but after a few seconds he realized he wasn't going to get any more out of the new boy at the moment.

"Anyway, listen; I have to go home soon, but I wanted to introduce you to some kids before I leave," the class president explained. "They're all part of this club called the Host Club, and they're all really nice. Well, the twins can be kind of mean at times, but other than that . . . oh, sorry, was I rambling?"

Crona was looking at him with an expression of uncertainty, so the president decided he'd better just get to the point.

"Anyway, I thought that they could help you get adjusted to Ouran," he said. "No, offense, but I really don't have enough time to tell you everything there is to know. Plus, they're probably better at explaining it to you than I am . . . So, do you want to go meet them?"

Crona bit his lip, and after a few seconds he nodded.

"Okay . . .," he said quietly. The class president smiled and gestured for Crona to follow him. They made their way over to music room three and paused outside the door.

"I'll introduce you, but then I really have to head off, okay?" the class president asked. Crona nodded again, and the president opened the door.

Crona was taken aback by the flurry of rose petals that floated out of the doorway. Once they had cleared away, he saw a group of seven boys sitting on or standing around a couch placed exactly in the center of the room.

"Welcome to the Host Club!" they chorused as the class president gently tugged an almost petrified Crona into the room. The seven boys studied the new kid for a moment, before getting up to all crowd around him.

"Hello, there!"

"Who are you?"

'"What are you? A boy or a girl?""

"Twins, don't be rude!"

"Do you like cake?"

"Mitsukuni . . ."

All of these questions seemed to blend together in Crona's mind as he was overcome by all of the people trying to talk to him at once. He grabbed his head and cringed, ducking down to try and get away from all the noise; it was almost too much for him to handle at this point . . .

"Hey, guys, stop!" one of the boys said, and all of the others instantly stopped talking. Crona glanced up and saw the one with brown hair and an almost girlish face glaring at the others. "Can't you see he can't handle you all talking at once?"

"Oh, you're right, Haruhi!" a tall blonde said. He bowed to Crona apologetically. "We're sorry to overwhelm you."

"There, it's okay," the one called Haruhi said, crouching down next to Crona. He flinched away as she tried to put a reassuring arm around his shoulders. She frowned in confusion when he slowly stood up, brushing away her efforts to try and comfort him.

"Um, guys, this is Crona Asudem," the class president finally spoke up, and Crona gripped his arm as all of the boys stared at him. "He just transferred into class 1-A. He's very shy, as you can probably see, but I thought you all might be nice enough to sort of introduce him to Ouran and help him get adjusted."

"Of course!" the tall blonde exclaimed enthusiastically, and Crona glanced up to see him grinning warmly at him. He gestured to himself dramatically. "My name is Tamaki Suoh, president and King of the Ouran High School Host Club! I'm pleased to meet you!"

He held out his hand, but Crona just gazed at it warily. After a moment, Tamaki's smile faltered and he slowly took his hand back.

"Well," said the class president, inching towards the door. "I'll leave him to you guys then. Bye, Crona! Good luck!" And with that he exited the room and ran down the hallway, happy to finally be free of the strangest kid he'd ever met.

Meanwhile, Crona was now staring at each of the Host Club members in turn, wondering with a hint of fear what they were going to do now.

""Ahem,"" came two identical coughs to Crona's right. He looked and saw the two twins watching him, one of their arms hooked in the others'. They were completely identical, Crona noticed; the only difference was the way they parted their hair.

""We're the Hitachiin twins!"" they said in perfect unison, flashing identical smiles.

"I'm Hikaru," said the one on the left, waving.

"And I'm Kaoru," the one on the right said, waving as well.

""Nice to meet you!"" they said at the same time again. Crona just stared at them dumbly.

"You two are so similar . . .," he muttered. "I almost don't know how to deal with it . . ."

"Crona-chan!" said a high, cheerful voice, and Crona jumped as he felt something tug at his sleeve. He looked down and saw the smallest and most childlike boy there smiling up at him. "I'm Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but you can just call me Honey-Senpai! And that's my cousin, Takashi Morinozuka, but he just goes by Mori-Senpai." He gestured to a tall, menacing guy, who just grunted in acknowledgement, making Crona even more nervous about being there with all of them. Haruhi, noticing his terrified expression, decided to try and calm him again.

"It's okay," she said, and he gazed at her, his forlorn eyes wide. "Mori-Senpai's quiet, but really nice. I'm Haruhi Fujioka, by the way." She held out her hand to him. He seemed to debate shaking it, before shaking his head so quickly Haruhi wondered if it had been a twitch.

"And I'm Kyoya Ootori," the last boy said, pushing up his glasses. He didn't bother to try and shake hands. "As we said before, welcome to the Host Club."

They all waited for Crona to say something, but he still held his arm and refused to speak. Suddenly he let out a little gasp and stared up into space as Ragnarok's voice suddenly appeared in the back of his mind.

"Say something, idiot!" the Demon Sword hissed. "If you pretend to get friendly with them, maybe they can help you find some clues to finding that pure soul!"

"Yeah, okay," Crona agreed, and the twins raised their eyebrows at him, wondering why he was muttering to himself. He suddenly looked around at all of them again, his gaze finally settling on Tamaki. "Um, i-it's nice to meet you all." His voice was soft, but audible, and the Hosts smiled as they were finally able to get a positive response out of him.

"There's really nothing to be nervous about," Tamaki reassured him. "We're very admirable young men- if there's anything you want to know, just ask any of us!"

"Yeah, just watch out for Tamaki," one of the twins, which Crona presumed to be Hikaru, said, leaning over to whisper in his ear.

"Sometimes he can be a bit of a drama king," Kaoru finished, also leaning over.

"Hey!" Tamaki exclaimed. "Be quiet, you doppelgangers! I am not a drama king!" The twins snorted derisively and the other members of the Host Club chuckled. Crona managed a small smile, and when Tamaki saw this he brought his hands together and grinned.

"Well, Crona, is there anything you'd like to know?" he asked. Crona thought for a moment, and then he nodded.

"Yes, actually . . . do you know-"

"Wait!" Ragnarok hissed, stopping Crona mid-sentence. "Don't mention anything about the pure soul yet! We need to gain their trust first or they might get suspicious!"

"Oh, right, okay," Crona muttered, nodding. The Hosts stared at him oddly.

"Crona, are you alright?" Haruhi asked, giving him a questioning glance.

Geez, he almost looks like a girl . . ., Crona thought to himself as he looked at her face.

"Crona?" Tamaki said, calling his attention back to him.

"Oh, what? Sorry, um, I just wanted to ask . . . uh . . . what exactly is this 'Host Club' you guys are in?" Crona said, thinking quickly. Tamaki smiled and everyone else groaned, knowing he was going to go into a long explanation full of useless fluff that no one but him cared about.

"Well, you see, Crona . . .," Tamaki started to explain as the other Hosts wandered off to do their own thing. Crona sighed, wondering how he was going to deal with all of this day after day until who knows when.

He hoped he found a clue to where this pure soul might be soon, so he could get out of this huge and very strange place . . .

A/N: Whew, everyone's finally starting to meet eachother! The next chapter will feature Ed and Al, but I won't say anything more because I don't want to give it away (although you might be able to guess what happens). Once again, the next chapter will be up in about two weeks!