A/N

Thanks to everyone that reviewed! You all are the best! Due to a request, free ninja penguins to all of you :D

Disclaimer: I don't anything from Ouran High School Host Club, but I do own my Ocs :)

~The Thorn of a Rose~

Chapter 3

"Miss Kobayashi-san, would you like introduce yourself?" the teacher inquired.

I nodded, standing in front of the class. "Ano, my name is Emiko Kobayashi, and I'm here from America on a music scholarship. I have a little brother named AJ, and I love music in any way, shape, or form," I told everyone.

The teacher nodded. "Very well, you sit next to Mr. Fujioka and ...Kaoru...Hitachiin."

Hikaru raised his hand. "I'm Hikaru, Yuzama-sensei."

He waved his hand. "Details, details. Anyway, this week we're going to start learning about..."

I sat down next to Haruhi and murmured, "Mister?"

"I disguise myself as a boy here. I'll explain later," she muttered back. I smiled and started listening to the lesson.

Halfway through my phone silently vibrated. When the teacher's back was turned I quickly flipped it open and looked at it. It was from Mark. Just because you left America doesn't mean that I'm not going to give up on you. Because I'm not. You're mine, Emiko.

Hikaru leaned over. "What's it say?" he whispered.

Feeling slightly sick, I deleted the message, and gave him a fake smile. "Nothing." He shrugged and went back to aimlessly doodling.

~..*..~

Lunchtime soon arrived, and the twins dragged Haruhi and I to the cafeteria. "I can walk, just to let you know," I told Kaoru, rolling my eyes.

He grinned at me, crookedly. "But that's no fun!"

I rolled my eyes but laughed, smiling. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed to just joke around and have fun.

We joined up with the other members of the host club in the cafeteria. I plopped down in a seat next to Haruhi and we both took out our bentos. She had already explained about her 8 million yen debt towards the group, and I found it all hilarious. Haruhi didn't think so.

The twins sat to my right while Kyouya and Tamaki sat directly across, with Hunni and Mori next to them. We were all having a good time, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw a boy. I noticed that Kyouya's glasses flashed, but I ignored him. I smiled. "Yes?"

"Are you Emiko Kobayashi?" he asked. I nodded, and he grinned. "I thought you looked familiar! I'm Takumi Suzuki. I'm a friend of Mark Wilson. It's good to finally meet his girlfriend."

I froze, and I felt the host's eyes on me. I forced a smile on my face. "Uh, well, Mark and I aren't together anymore."

He blinked. "Really? Oh, sorry, I didn't know."

I forced myself to keep the smile. "It's fine. We broke up fairly recently."

Takumi shrugged. "Still sorry to bother you. Well, see ya around." He left.

I could feel the hosts' eyes still on me. "You have a boyfriend?" Hikaru questioned.

I grabbed my bento. "Weren't you listening? Not anymore, thank God." [sorry if anyone takes offense] I got up from the table and tossed my bento into the trash, noticing a thoughtful look on Kyouya's face. I gritted my teeth and left the cafeteria. I still had almost an hour left of lunch, so I decided to explore the grounds. I was about to head into the rose maze, when I heard a voice say, "I wouldn't go in there."

I looked to see Tamaki. He smiled at me. "You'll get hopelessly lost. But if that happened, then Kyouya would be able to get us. He's the only one that knows his way through the rose maze."

I sighed and sat down on a stone bench, Tamaki sitting down next to me. "I'm sorry for walking out on you."

He shrugged. "It's fine. Are you alright?"

I didn't look at him. "I came here to Japan to try to get away from memories, and now they just popped up again. I'm not especially thrilled."

He put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "What happened between you two, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Let's just say that it wasn't working out for me." Sensing that I didn't want to talk about it, Tamaki dropped the subject.

"You know, you should come to the host club after school," Tamaki said in a lighter tone of voice.

I shrugged. "Maybe. I also want to check out a couple of other clubs that Ouran has, like Ouran's Orchestra and the Classical Music Club, but I'm sure I can make it." I smile at him, facing him again.

He grins. "Well, I hope you can make it."

"Thanks for coming to talk to me," I said, and I meant it. It made me feel...accepted, like I belonged. It felt so good, after everything I'd been through in the last couple of months.

Tamaki understood what I was not saying. He smiled. "It's my pleasure."

We chatted for a little bit before joining the host club again. I apologized to everyone for running out on them, and they all forgave me before I even opened my mouth. Little by little, I could feel the scars on my heart begin to repair themselves the more time that I spent with this club.

~..*..~

Happily carrying a folder full of new music that I got, after being accepted into both the orchestra and the Classical music club, I headed towards Music Room 3. The pieces that everyone was doing were good selections in my opinion. In the orchestra we were doing Pachebel's canon in d, which was a personal favorite of mine. The Classical Music club was letting us pick pieces on our own, so I was eager to go home and start looking through my extensive sheet music library.

I came to the doors, and opened them. My vision was filled with a blinding light, and I was suddenly attacked by rose petals. "Welcome," several voices said. I gasped and fell backwards, spitting some rose petals out of my mouth.

I heard people laughing and I stood up, picking up my music folder. I glared at Hikaru and Kaoru, who were pretty much dying of laughter. "Oh, shut up, you two," I muttered. Kyouya smirked at me, pushing his glasses up on his face. On impulse, I stuck my tongue out at him. He looked startled, and I died of laughter from his expression. It only made the twins laugh harder. Kyouya quickly recovered and glared at me, but I only gave him an innocent look, still laughing.

Tamaki grabbed my hand. "You made it, imoto-chan!" he yelled excitedly.

I was slightly startled by being called his younger sister, but I smiled. "Yep! It didn't take too long at the other clubs, so I decided to come here."

"Good, then you request us," the twins said in unison.

Hunni frowned. "No, I want her to come eat cake with me and Takashi!"

"But I wanted to spend some brother-sister time," Tamaki whined.

I laughed. "Actually, you guys, I wanted to help Haruhi pay off her debt by requesting her."

Haruhi grinned. "Thanks, Emiko." I followed her to the table, and she poured me some tea. I looked and saw the twins, who were pouting, and Tamaki, who was curled up in a corner, growing mushrooms.

After about 5 minutes, I sighed, and said, "Excuse me, please, Haruhi." She nodded, and I went over to Tamaki, who was in his corner. "Hey, Tamaki? How about I request you a little bit later? I was just helping out Haruhi with her debt."

He jumped up and...barked? "Really?" he yelped. I nodded, and he grinned, grabbing me and forcing me into a bone-crushing hug. "You're the best imoto-chan ever!" he yelled.

"Can't breathe!" I gasped, and he let me go. I laughed, and smiled at him. "Thanks...onii-chan." He jumped up and down from excitement at being called my older brother. Smiling, I started to make my way back to the table, when a hand on my arm stopped me. I looked up and saw Kyouya.

"Thank you for coaxing Tamaki out of his corner. If he hadn't started to pay attention to his guests, then profits would start to go downhill," he informed me.

I smiled at him. "Glad to help, considering it was kinda my fault he was there in the first place." I laughed, picturing Tamaki growing the mushrooms.

Kyouya smiled his fake smile. "Well thank you anyway."

I rolled my eyes. "You know, that gets annoying real fast."

"Pardon?"

"That fake little smile that you do. Either smile for real, or don't smile at all. That's better than a fake one." Leaving him looking slightly stunned, I made my way back to Haruhi.

~..*..~

After the host club was done for the day, I was sitting aimlessly at a table, waiting for Haruhi so we could walk home together. The twins pranced up to me. Hikaru leaned down. "Hey, since you're here on a scholarship for music, can you sing?"

I blinked. "Yeah, I can sing, I just don't in front of people that often."

"Why not?" they asked simultaneouly.

I shrugged. "I just...don't, I guess."

"Will you sing for me?" Hunni asked, giving me the cutesy-eyes look. I felt my resolve breaking as I looked at him.

I tried to keep my resolve. "Well, I don't have a guitar, so I'm sor-" Kyouya produced a guitar out of nowhere. When I gaped at him, he smirked.

"It is a music room," he reminded me. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the guitar.

"Yayy, Emi-chan is going to sing for us!" Hunni cheered.

I sighed. "Don't act so happy about it," I muttered under my breath, as I checked to make sure the guitar was in tune. When I was satisfied, I quickly started the opening chords to one of my favorite songs.

"Am I loud and clear
Or am I breaking up?
Am I still your charm
Or am I just bad luck?
Are we getting closer
Or are we just getting more lost?

I'll show you mine
If you show me yours first
Let's compare scars
I'll tell you whose is worse
Let's unwrite these pages
And replace them with our own words

We live on front porches and swing life away
We get by just fine here on minimum wage
If love is a labor, I'll slave 'til the end
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand

I've been here so long
Think that it's time to move
The winter's so cold
Summer's over too soon
Let's pack our bags and
Settle down where palm trees grow

I've got some friends

Some that I hardly know
We've had some times
I wouldn't trade for the world
We chase these days down with talks
Of the places that we will go

We live on front porches and swing life away
We get by just fine here on minimum wage
If love is a labor, I'll slave 'til the end
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand
Until you hold my hand

I'll show you mine
If you show me yours first
Let's compare scars
I'll tell you whose is worse
And let's unwrite these pages
And replace them with our own words

We live on front porches and swing life away
We get by just fine here on minimum wage
If love is a labor, I'll slave 'til the end
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand

Swing life away
Swing life away
Swing life away
Swing life away." I finished and looked up at everyone.

Tamaki, the twins, and Hunni were cheering. Mori nodded, smiling, and Haruhi grinned at me. "That was really good, Emiko!" she said. Kyouya was writing in his notebook, but he spared me and glance and nodded his head, smiling a bit. I suspected it was a true smile, and not the fake ones that I knew.

I grinned. "Thanks, you guys." I put the guitar down and stretched, glancing at my watch. I groaned. "Hey, I promised that I would call my mom before she went to work. Stupid time difference. Anyway, I need to go."

Haruhi nodded. "Let's go."

I went towards Kyouya's table to grab my bag and folder. He stood next to me as I picked up my bag. "Very nice performance."

I smiled up at him. "Thanks. It was nice to see you really smiling."

He shrugged. "Just merely trying to respect your wishes, like any good host." I rolled my eyes at him as I checked to make sure all my papers were in my folder. "Maybe we could use you in the club."

I stopped and looked at him. "Excuse me?"

He only smirked and pushed his glasses up on his face. I muttered under my breath and stalked to where Haruhi was standing by the door. We all said goodbye to the hosts and headed home. I smiled up at the sky. My life has been the best since I came to Japan, and I hoped it would stay that way.

A/N

The song that I used was Swing Life Away by Rise Against. Love that song 3 I will be exposing you all to my type of music, so stay tuned! Please review and tell me how you think! :)