Wow...it has been almost five years since I first started writing this story! As expected, my writing style has changed and vastly improved over the years. Therefore, since seeing these beginning chapters make me want to claw out my eyes, I have decided to re-write them. I'm not spending countless number of hours on them, just going through and tweaking them a bit. Hopefully, they've improved.

Standard disclaimer applies, I don't own anything you recognize here, but Kimi and Kiki are MINE! :growls:

Enjoy this re-written chapter!

(Updated 3/14/2012)

The energy in the air was palpable. Every eye in the crowd trained on the figure at the center of the stage. The man stood there, seemingly unaware of the large creature that was slowly approaching from behind. Lights suddenly flashed as the giant beast leaped. Several women screamed, children cried, and men held their breath, nervously anticipating what was to happen next as they sat on the very edge of their seats.

Everyone, that is, except for the two girls who were watching the show from behind a nearby curtain. The two sets of disinterested eyes merely watched as the man quickly spun around and caught the giant lion by the jaws. Muscles straining, man and beast grappled for dominance, all while cheers and gasps echoed from the crowd around them. With a grunt and a sudden heave, the man overpowered the king of the jungle, forcing the large feline to the ground. The girls remained unimpressed as the crowd broke into loud cheering and whistles. One of the girls rolled her eyes when the man forced the lion to jump through hoops of fire, much to the awe of the loud crowd.

"You'd think they expected the lion tamer to be eaten alive or something." The girl with blue eyes drawled, eyeing the crowd with ill-concealed annoyance. "Idiots, right Kiki?"

Blonde curls bounced as Kiki rapidly nodded her head in the affirmative. "Yep. They act like we just stuck some random guy we pulled off the street into the cage with ol' Simba." The girls rolled their eyes after the lion's name. Did the staff have no imagination at all? "Do they really think we're that stupid? Simba wouldn't hurt a fly. I swear he's just an overgrown house cat. Right, Kimi?" Kimi nodded, tightening the band that kept her waves of black hair up.

"Besides, Simba is what...almost fifteen years old?" Kimi muttered, watching as the lion tamer stuck his head in Simba's mouth, much to the horror of the crowd. The girls winced. The scariest thing about that was imagining the nasty lion breath.

"Yeah, Simba should have retired years ago." Kiki replied, watching as the crowd roared in applause as the tamer's head emerged unscathed from the king of the jungle's mouth. Unlike the audience, the girls noticed the slight green hue to the man's face. It would seem he forgot to hold his breath, pity. With a thunderous applause, the man bowed to the enthusiastic audience as the aging lion was taken back to his cage.

"Boring." The girls replied, their eyes reverting back to the darkness to complete the preparations for the next stage.

"You ready?" Kiki asked, as she glanced at Kimi, while making sure her curly locks were pulled back into small pigtails.

"Ready." Kimi replied, giving her a quick wink.

A voice roared out of the intercom system, drowning the crowd's excitement. "Up next! The double daredevils! The flying princesses! Queens of the skies! The sisters of the trapeze bar!"

Twin Cheshire grins flashed in the shadows as the two forms stepped from the darkness into the dazzling spotlight and the audience's booming cheers.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, a black figure huddled in the doorway, blending into the shadows so well he was nearly invisible to the human eye. All that could be seen of his face were a few dark wisps of hair and, what some would call, a rather spooky grin. His smirk stretched even farther across his pale face when the target was spotted. Any moment now…

The oblivious Host king was pouting in the corner, sulking as he cultivated his mushrooms that had been specially bred to grow whenever and wherever the dramatic boy needed them. It was a pricey investment, but worth every penny according to him. Tamaki sniffled as he poked an exceptionally large mushroom. The figure behind the door moved closer.

"You look in need of a spell. A voodoo perhaps? Or maybe..." Nekozawa appeared behind Tamaki, pulling out a wooden Bereznoff voodoo doll and dangling it in front of the horrified king's face.

An unholy screech came out of the king's mouth as he rocketed across the room and behind Kyouya, who simply made a mark in his notebook. Seeing the disturbance, the twins were on the floor laughing uncontrollably as Nekozawa slowly approached a terrified Tamaki.

"MILORD SOUNDED..." Hikaru choked out.

"JUST LIKE..." Kaoru continued.

"A GIRL! AHAHAHAHHA!" Both twins finished, unable to breathe because they were laughing so hard.

"Silence meddlesome twins!" Tamaki squeaked from behind Kyouya, where he was still cowering. "You…you shouldn't be making fun of your lord like that." There was another squeak as Nekozawa came closer, Bereznoff still holding the voodoo doll in his felt arms. "T-t-tell them they shouldn't say such things mother!" The squeal raised in pitch as Nekozawa continued to move forward and Tamaki gripped Kyouya harder, sobbing tears of terror.

'He's getting my shirt wet...' Kyouya thought to himself, slightly annoyed at the constant tugging on his sleeve and Tamaki's whiny voice insisting he 'save the Host Club's king' from the dark influence of Nekozawa's black magic.

This would have gone on for who knows how long if Nekozawa had not suddenly appeared behind Tamaki and offered him a bottle of slimy-green goo.

The twin's laughter continued to escalate as Tamaki turned completely white and passed out, much to the twins, and Nekozawa's, utter delight. Hunny and Mori tucked the king into bed while Nekozawa (happily) took his leave. Kyouya and Haruhi watched as everything settled back into place, the little disturbance over. Kyouya checked something in his notebook.

"That's the third time this week. I'm beginning to think Nekozawa actually enjoys scaring Tamaki." he stated, marking a little tally somewhere on the paper. Haruhi sighed.

'Mother in heaven, what have I gotten myself into again?'

Kyouya snapped his notebook shut. "That is enough goofing off. Our customers will be here momentarily." Tamaki woke up instantly.

"Ah yes! The young flowers of beauty! We must not disappoint them! We-"

"Tamaki, before you get started on another one of your rants...which take up valuable time, please remember that each rant is approximately ten minutes, and we only have about a minute until the host club's doors opens, so your customers will be interrupting you partway through your speech. In light of this I ask that you do please shut up." Kyouya calmly stated.

Tamaki stared teary-eyed at Kyouya. "You're so mean to me mother..."

The customers started to file in before Kyouya could make a comeback. And so began a normal day at Ouran High. The students continued to go about their day; unaware that hours away, events were unfolding that would change several of their lives forever.

The pulse rang in their ears, the beat helping to maintain the speed of the flips. If one were to go too fast or too slow it could end in disaster. Finally the conclusion of the song approached and the two trapeze bars swung close together. When the bars reached the pivot of rotation, the acrobats swung to the top of the slim plastic rod and simultaneously jumped off them. The crowd held their breath as the two sisters were suspended in mid-air, time seeming to have paused for the two. Their eyes met as they passed each other in mid-flip, before time seemed to return to normal and they both grabbed the bar opposite of them, successfully finishing another act. The audience roared when the two sisters reached the ground. They acknowledged the crowd, before disappearing into the cool darkness backstage. Finally away from all the prying eyes, they turned to each other and gave a high-five.

"And we complete yet another awesome act! It was completely flawless!" Kiki beamed as she bounced around the tent almost quivering with leftover adrenaline. Kimi walked to the corner and grabbed a towel, tossing it to her excitable sister.

"Well what did you expect? We've been doing that act for a good five months!" Grinning with pride, Kimi rubbed the towel over her face to remove some of the perspiration that had gathered during the performance. It was quiet for a minute as the two quickly changed into some more comfortable clothes. Tights were prone to induce some rather awkward wedgies.

"So, what act is on now?" Kiki walked over to her sister, who was peeking out the curtain again. Grinning, Kimi pulled the curtain open a little more so she could see.

"Why, your favorite." Kiki's green eyes shot open in horror as she saw the clowns juggling, flipping, running, throwing pies, and just...being clowns.

"So...we meet again, clowns. Or should I say, evil-tyrants-bent-on-world-domination? Hmm?" Kiki's eyes narrowed as she glared at her arch-nemesis...es.

"Oh for the love of- I know most little, little kids have a fear of clowns. But you're a teenager! Not only that, but we've lived at the circus since we were four! You'd think you would be over that by now!" Kiki winced, as her sister bopped her rather roughly on the head. Rubbing the sore spot, Kiki followed her sister as she exited the tent.

"But, but, Kimi! You don't understand! They've already taken over America! I heard so!" Wide-eyed, Kiki frantically waved her arms about, as if to emphasize her point. "And now their leader is sending more troops out, in order to win the trust of the children so they will fight with them when they begin their plan of ultimate world domination!" Reaching one of the trailers, Kimi yanked the door open with a protesting squeal from the rusty hinges, and walked inside, closely followed by Kiki.

Kimi eyed her babbling sister with slight suspicion. "What do you mean they've already taken over America?"

"Alas, there was no hope, they were just so vulnerable." Kiki pulled a picture of a clown out of her pocket. (Kimi wondered why she even carried a picture of a clown with her in the first place). He grinned back at Kiki. That grin may have fooled the world, but she could see through his little charade. He...was the leader of them all...the brain behind their plans. She glared back at him.

"One day, Ronald McDonald...one day...I WILL AVENGE THEM!"

"Who?" Kimi groaned.

Kiki winced. "Um, you know...THEM!"

"Them who?" Kimi continued to press, as she massaged her forehead in annoyance. Kiki huffed at her, puffing her cheeks out in frustration.

"Don't question matters of revenge! Just accept the fact that- THEY MUST BE AVENGED!"

"You have no idea do you?" Grumbling, Kimi allowed gravity to do its work and she crashed onto one of the tiny beds. A few photos decorated the wall beside it, along with a tiny reading light that had seen better days.

"Uh...um..." Kiki stuttered as she plopped onto the bed next to her sister. Not able to come up with a response, she merely pulled out the picture and pointed to Ronald's grinning face; all while mouthing the words 'inexplicable evil...inexplicable evil! The doom of us all!'

"Our doom!" She eventually finished, nodding her head as if agreeing with herself.

"Doom?" Kimi questioned.

"Doom...doomey doom doom! DOOOOOM!" Kiki put extra emphasis on the 'o's, sounding almost like a cliché spirit, out for revenge. Kimi merely stared at Kiki, an eyebrow raised in obvious skepticism.

"Just…just go to sleep." Kimi finally muttered, throwing a pillow at Kiki, who dramatically acted out her death.

And end Chapter 1 re-write! I know I now won't post a chapter until it is at least ten pages long, but since this is being re-written (and I don't feel like BS-ing six extra pages) then it will be an exception.

Feel free to tell me what you think of these new re-writes!

P.S. Kimi and Kiki now have their own Twitter! Visit them at Circus_Twins! Updated daily! And feel free to drop a line, they won't bite (hard).