The Solution

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran or anything in it. I don't own the rings or the dresses. I don't own the song "Dream a Little Dream of Me"

AN: Piece of advice I put the links to the dresses and jewelry mentioned in the story at the bottom. I get a little carried away with descriptions so I thought that made it easier and shorter to leave links instead. The story makes more sense if you use them.

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Ever since she had been old enough to walk Aiko had been trained to be the perfect wife. As the daughter of a wealthy family her role in life was to marry a wealthy man, beyond that she had no further goals.

Even as a child the fantasy had been painted out for her, a loving husband, a large house, many children. It would be perfect, she had always been told, as long as she did what was expected of her.

So she had. She had learned to play music, to paint, to sing, anything to entertain and amuse her future husband. Everything she did, anything she thought revolved around her future husband and what he would want.

She had had the option of going to the most prestigious schools in the world, including the infamous Ouran Academy. But she had declined, everyone knew that men hated it when their women were too intelligent. Women were meant to be ornaments, beautiful thing to be looked at nothing more.

By the time Aiko had come of age she had had a myriad of proposals from every type of family from Yakuza lords to business men. Finally her father had decided on an arranged marriage to Kaoru Hitachiin, twin son of the prominent fashion designer Yuzuha Hitachiin.

As was expected Aiko would not meet her husband until the day of the ceremony. Aiko had been terribly excited about her wedding. That is, until she found out that Kaoru insisted on having a double wedding with his twin brother Hikaru and HIS fiancée.

Being a young lady who more often then not got what she wanted Aiko went into well bred hysterics. It was her wedding SHE should be the center of attention. She was only calmed when she found out that Hikaru's fiancée was a commoner. Though scandalized at the thought of being related to a commoner even by marriage she was relieved by the fact that no commoner could possibly out shine her.

To prepare for her wedding and her first meeting with her husband-to-be Aiko arrived at the chapel hours in early. When she entered she was blown away, it was everything she had ever dreamed. Draped in white with red flowers everywhere it looked like a vision a fairy tale. It had all been designed, set up, and paid for by Yuzuha and it was dazzling while still being simple and stylish.

While being blinded momentarily by the room Aiko shook her free of the awe and preceded to the back room she would be preparing in along with her … common-in-law. Aiko still shuddered at the thought of her sister-in-law to be as the maids worked around in a flurry pinning and styling and curling her long blonde hair and getting her into her dress1.

The hours wound down as Aiko and her pose of maids prepared her for the wedding. As she sat Aiko wondered about Hikaru's fiancée. Was she pretty? She had to be if she was a commoner or she wouldn't be marrying into a rich family. The more she thought about it the more Aiko worried. Finally she gave her head a mental shake.

'She's probably just a common tart that the more careless Hitachiin brother knocked up and is being forced to marry.' Aiko concluded in her mind.

As the maids, now finished, filed out of the room leaving Aiko alone she took one last glance in the mirror. She looked ravishing if she said so herself and with that thought in mind she carefully settled herself in a chair to wait. As she looked at the gold clock on the wall Aiko wondered where the other girl was.

"Maybe the poor thing realized how out of her league she was and ran off." Aiko wondered, rather meanly, aloud.

Just as the words left her mouth the door handle turned and a small wispy man entered the room. Aiko was shocked. Was this her husband? The boy wore a brown newsboy hat2 along with a rather ugly brown sweater3 and dress pants. His eyes were big, green, and rather feminine looking with their long lashes.

Over all the boy looked rather feminine and scrawny but, Aiko blushed, he was still rather attractive. As the "man" noticed her his face lit up in a rather endearing smile.

"You must be Aiko" He took off his hat and Aiko's jaw to drop in a most unladylike manner. "I'm Haruhi Hikaru's fiancée." She shook out her shoulder length brown hair and smiled oblivious to Aiko's mute horror.

'Good lord!' Face pale Aiko just gaped 'She's a transvestite.'

The maids entered the room once more grabbing Haruhi and dragging her behind a screen.

"I can dress myself." Haruhi shrieked over the sound of rustling clothes.

One maid finally noticed Aiko still in the room and showed her to where she would be waiting until the wedding began. Though she knew it was rude to ask Aiko just couldn't help her self.

"Who was that?" Aiko blurted out just as the maid was about to leave. The maid bit her lip as if weighing the pros and cons of whether it would be better to tell or not.

"That's Fujioka Haruhi, Hitachiin-sama's fiancée." Aiko mentally rolled her eyes. She already knew that. The maid continued oblivious.

"She went to high school with the two Hitachiin brothers. She went on to law school and is now the private lawyer for the top 5 companies in Japan." Aiko was even more horrified. An educated woman? Why would anyone, especially a Hitachiin, want to marry that? But the maid was not finished.

"Rumor is she was courted by Suoh Tamaki, Ootori Kyoya, and Haninozuka Mitsukuni. Apparently she also was high school friends with them and Morinozuka Takashi. She is their private lawyer and the most influential woman in Japan. I also heard that once someone lied to her and they had him expelled from Japan…permanently."

Though the maid continued talking Aiko just drowned it out. She now realized she had nothing to fear. This androgynous tramp was obliviously a ploy to gain public popularity by Hikaru Hitachiin. There was no way this girl could ever compete with the likes of proper breeding, at least in Aiko hoped.

Finally the maid escorted Aiko to the now closed chapel doors where she would make her big entrance. Looking around she noticed that Haruhi wasn't there. Yuzuha on the other hand was and noticed Aiko looking around.

"You will be going first" Yuzuha smiled dryly "Haruhi's putting up more of a fight then we first anticipated."

As the wedding music started her father held out his arm and led Aiko through the now open doors into the waiting chapel. Neither noticed the pitying look of Yuzuha.

As she walked down the aisle Aiko was on cloud 9. Soaking up the attention like a sponge, she almost felt sorry for Haruhi. There was no way that scruffy, flat-chested, CHID could even compare to the curvy, blonde, goddess that was Aiko.

As she approached the alter she saw two identical men standing there viewing her with a synchronized apathetic look that bordered boredom. They were dressed in matching black suits and red silk ties. Their handsome red hair and amber eyes seemed to give them a refined if not mischievous look.

She suddenly realized that she had no clue which one was her fiancée. Fortunately her father led her up the 5 stairs to stand to the right of the man on the right who was apparently Kaoru.

As she turned and faced the crowded chapel at the open doors at the back and noticed a very attractive woman standing there.

"Who's that?" She wondered quietly. The answer came from her future husband.

"That would be Haruhi's father." Kaoru said with a smirk.

Aiko blanched understanding the situation immediately. Obviously this Haruhi girl was a freak.

As the wedding procession started once more Aiko's jaw dropped fort the second time in her life. Being led down the aisle by the pretty cross-dresser was the most beautiful girl Aiko had ever seen.

She flowed gracefully down the aisle as if she was a queen. Her hair was done up in a complex bun with baby's breath and other white flowers twined in. Instead of a veil was a crown of white lilies. Her make up was dusty grey/black giving her bright green eyes an exotic look.

Haruhi's dress4 was slightly plain but it still looked stunning. Aiko looked at her own dress and for the first time that day she felt it looked over dressed and tacky, especially compared with Haruhi's simple beauty.

Glancing at the men beside her she noticed that Hikaru was looking at Haruhi with a soft eyes and a goofy love struck smile. Glancing at Kaoru Aiko suddenly felt sick, he had the identical loving look as his brother as he stared at the approaching girl.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs Haruhi and her father stopped. For a moment Aiko wondered what they where doing until a flicker of movement in caught her eye. She stared horrified as both Hikaru and Kaoru both descended the few stairs and led Haruhi up and stationed her between them.

The rest of the wedding went by in a blur. The exchanging of vows was done with Haruhi and Aiko standing side by side facing their respective men and the vows were done together, synchronized. Still Aiko felt that both were speaking to Haruhi.

With the exchanging of the ring Aiko noticed that the three had simple matching white gold rings5 while Aiko's felt oversized and bulky on her finger with it's garish gold sheen and oversized diamond.

By the end Aiko had tears in her eyes. She felt like a complete interloper, like this was a wedding between Hikaru Haruhi and Kaoru and that she had no place in it. As the priest came to the "you may kiss the bride" she felt two sets of cold emotionless lips touch her cheek for a split second. She turned just in time to see them both lean in and give Haruhi a slow, warm, loving kiss on the cheek.

The two brothers each draped an arm over Haruhi's shoulders and made a joke to the audience about making sure the right guy married the right girl. Aiko didn't even notice as she felt her body go numb.

She was jerked out of her stunned state when Hikaru and Kaoru linked arms with Haruhi. As if as an after though Kaoru grabbed Aiko's wrist and the four of them sprinted out of the chapel. Haruhi in her silk slippers and twin support dashed gracefully out of the chapel as Aiko in he high heels half stumbled half dragged behind.

As soon as they were outside the doors the maids swooped in and dragged each of the four off in a separate direction to change into their reception clothes.

Aiko didn't even notice as the maids practically stripped her and redressed her all in a matter on minutes. She was far too busy trying to reassemble the shards of her shattered dignity after the embarrassing wedding episode.

When she finally had herself back together she was outside in the canopied reception area. Looking down at her lovely green dress6 Aiko strengthened her resolve. So the commoner looked better in her wedding dress Aiko knew she looked better in this dress. She just had to.

Suddenly Aiko looked around and felt the urge to vomit again. The first dance, it had already started. To be more accurate it was nearly finished and standing in the middle of the swaying mass was Haruhi dancing with Hikaru AND Kaoru. AT HE SAME TIME!

At the sight Aiko's mind went blank, idlely she noticed that Haruhi's dress7 did indeed look far better on Haruhi. Sharply contrasting to her white wedding dress the black gave her almost a seducing look while Aiko in her green looked like a lime.

As the last few bars of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" trailed off Aiko strengthened her resolve. She would not go down without a fight.

The song changed to a more upbeat song exciting the dancing crowd. Pushing her way through the throngs of dancing bodies Aiko finally reached the center. Her heart dropped as she found Haruhi alone with the man she assumed was Hikaru.

The rest of her night was spent alternatingly looking for her husband and watching Haruhi dance. Not limiting herself to just her husband Haruhi danced with several different men including a short bubbly blonde, a tall stoic black haired man, a serious bespectacled gentleman, a tall dramatic blonde, and a rather frightening fiery redhead.

Whenever Aiko would spot the man she thought was her husband she would race over to him only to have him look coldly at her and notify her that he was Hikaru. Eventually Aiko just gave up and watched jealously as Haruhi danced the samba with both Hikaru and Kaoru as they spun her laughing form between them.

Eventually the night was over without Aiko getting a single dance and the trio and Aiko climbed into the twins' limo. Immediately the three fell asleep huddled together leaving Aiko to sit in lonely silence for the duration of the ride.

As the limo reached the mansion shared by the Hitachiin brothers Aiko felt a knot of foreboding form in the pit of her stomach. She steeled her will once more as the gazed at the huddled trio. There was no way Haruhi could take away her wedding night.

The sharp jolt of the stopping limo jerked Haruhi out of dream land, much to Aiko's satisfaction. After looking around for a moment Haruhi gently woke the sleeping pair. They tumbled out of the limo, chattering happily as they walked up the steps to the house leaving Aiko to climb out slowly and follow them silently.

When they group reached the foyer of the house Haruhi, Kaoru, and Hikaru all turned on Aiko like they were seeing her for the first time. Haruhi bit her lip and looked at the ground guiltily as Hikaru and Kaoru shred some kind of mental conversation.

Finally without a word the man she assumed was Kaoru softly grabbed her wrist and led her down a dark corridor. Passing door after door Aiko finally felt relieved, she finally had Kaoru all alone. She knew what was expected of a wife on her wedding night and the further they walked the more butterflies gathered in her stomach.

Eventually Kaoru stopped the silent march in front of a gilded cherry wood door. Opening it and turning on the light Aiko took in the beauty of her new room.

'No,' she corrected herself as she gazed at the rich carpet and antique furniture 'mine and Kaoru's room.' Walking in she noticed Kaoru stayed outside the door. She turned and gave him a curious look. He was probably just nervous she concluded smiling softly.

"Aiko…" Her name spoken aloud broke her from her musings. She looked at the nervous Kaoru rubbing the back of his neck and felt the knot in her stomach return. "Aiko…I'm sorry but I've always slept in my brother's room."

And with no more explanation he left Aiko standing alone in their … no her room.

Years later Aiko Hitachiin finally understood. Hikaru, Haruhi, and Kaoru loved each other their love was forbidden. But in Japan a woman cannot marry two men. The law was the problem.

And Aiko was the solution.

Fin

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