Chapter One: Getting To Know You

"Where's the teacher today?" Haruhi wondered aloud as she noticed no teacher was in the room.

The twins shrugged in unison, unconcerned, "Who cares?"

Kaoru's natural amber colored hair, was parted gently to the left, in the opposite fashion of his twin brother, Hikaru, who parted his dyed, dark ash, hair to the right. Since Hikaru had dyed his hair, the only thing that was so boldly simliar between the two was their personalities, and their brilliant green eyes that, at present time, were filled with restless energy.

Haruhi sighed, she knew the twins were ploting something, and Haruhi wished they wouldn't though. Haruhi pushed brown bangs from her eyes, maybe they would get the period off and she could study—alone after she escaped the twins. She was already behind in her studies due to the Host Club's activities, and because the infamous Devil Duo, Hikaru and Kaoru, insisted on annoying her to no end during class Haruhi was having trouble paying attention. Just when most of the students were hoping for a free period the door opened, startling some of the students, like Haruhi, out of their thoughts.

The twins, ignoring the opening door, were smiling over her head, and she was loath to think of what they would do. God she wished someone would—

"You may all take your seats, sit and be silent," A firm voice cut through the room, and even the twins seemed to repect the order. Prayer answered.

Startled, Haruhi and the twins faced the front of the room, along with most of the class. The principal, Mr. Harawara, stood in the doorway, all authority. His dark suit gave him a striking appearance against the white wash of the walls. The room slowly fell quiet, "Miss Yamoto is on leave due to some personal reasons," He sounded amused, his eyes landing on the twins, "So today you will have a substitute. Let me introduce you to Tomo-sensei, he is a friend of mine, a dear friend."

When the class grew metal pipes for spines, the principal let out an amused chuckle, "They're all yours, Takashi-san." He bowed towards the hallway before slipping from the silent room and out into the hallway. Seconds later a man entered, dressed in a dark suit that contrasted with his pale skin.

Haruhi's first impression was that Tomo-sensei must be related to Kyouya-sempai. There was a shocking resemblance between the two, the same tall lean build; same glossy black hair cut in the identical no nonsense manner. He walked with purpose, each step meant to bring him quickly across the room as well as give him the appearance of ease and alacrity. He held a brief case in his left hand, a small pile of note books in his right. He even had the same thin fashionable wire frames over his jade eyes, which were the only thing that was noticiably different between him and Kyouya-sempai.

Haruhi felt something sharp jab her in the side. "He looks like..." Kaoru trailed off slightly worried.

"…Kyouya-sempai." Haruhi and Hikaru finished for him. The three wondered if he would be just as devious and calculating as their Shadow King.

"Now, to work, hem?" Haruhi was shocked when his voice filled the room. Though Tomo-sensei's voice had the same deep authority as Kyouya it lacked the arctic chill and was instead affectionate and stern. In moments Tomo-sensei was before the class, his belongings neatly placed on the mahogany desk, long white chalk in his right hand, "You are in the middle of learning algebra, correct?"

The class was not used to such authority, and their inaudible "Hai" did not seem to impress Tomo-sensei. He met the class with a firm gaze, and spoke in a composed manner, "When speaking to me, speak strongly, and clearly, and when you speak to me, you will address me as Tomo-sensei. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Tomo-sensei!"

"Good," Tomo said, smiling, "Alright, you are to complete questions, 1 - 60 on pages 56 and 57 in your textbooks, and you will not leave this room until that is done. Now, for homework, you will do the rest of the questions on page 57, and the 'brain math' on page 58, be sure to read the question carefully, take into account the wording of it."

The class was in shock, never had they ever been really assigned homework, it was always just whatever they hadn't finished in class. As well, the in class work had never been over twenty questions, now, suddenly, it was tripled, and was expected to be done in just over an hour!

Hikaru, and Kaoru, were the first, and only, to protest, the other students seemed to think that time was better spent doing the work, instead of complaining about it, "SIXTY QUESTIONS BEFORE THE BELL! ARE YOU NUTS!?"

Tomo-sensei ignored them, and he wrote out the assignment on the board behind him, which heightened the twins anger, "HEY...SENSEI, LISTEN!"

"That's better," Tomo finally spoke, turning to look at the twin with amusement quirking his lips, "Now that you have addressed me, although a little rudely, I shall be happy to help you...um, what might your names be?"

"Hikaru..."

"...And Kaoru Hitachiin!"

"...for your information!" They both finished their sentences together.

"Ah, what interesting names you both have," Tomo said, smiling kindly at them, as he took in their introductions; Kaoru...amber hair, Hikaru...dark ash.

Hikaru and Kaoru were fuming, and so they turned to Haruhi for help in settling the matter of too many math questions. Unfortunately, they were met with Haruhi scribbling away in her notebook. Then they glanced around the classroom to find that the rest of the class was doing the same thing.

"Haruhi..." Kaoru started, suddenly drained of all his anger. He slumped his shoulders forward and sighed.

"...what are you doing?" Hikaru finished in the same weary manner as his brother.

"Um..." Haruhi sat up straight and looked from her notebook to her textbook, and then said, "Number ten, why?"

"HARUHI!" The twins said in high dramatics, "You're supposed to be helping us get him to give us less questions!"

"Why?" Haruhi asked, touching the end of her pencil to her lip as she looked between the two twins, "This isn't very hard, it's just a couple review pages of what we've already done, even I know what I'm doing...actually..." She turned away from Hikaru, and Kaoru, suddenly, her hand shooting up, "Tomo-sensei? Did I do this right?"

Tomo-sensei beamed, walking down the little aisle to her desk, pausing to look over her shoulder. Haruhi pointed at a series of equations, now biting the end of her pencil.

"Ah, very close..." Tomo-sensei paused, before laughing in embarrassment, "Sorry, I don't believe I know your full name."

Haruhi smiled kindly at him, "Haruhi Fujioka, Tomo-sensei."

"Ah, thank you, Fujioka-san," Tomo-sensei replied, returning her smile, "Now, this question...you see you really just have to take the three and put it above the…" Haruhi was no longer paying attention to the twins, her eyes bright upon the teacher.

"Yes, I see…" Haruhi would say every now and again before the teacher went on.

Hikaru, and Kaoru fell back into their seats, defeated. There just wasn't any point in being dramatic when people weren't taking any interest.

"Oh, I get it, now," Haruhi announced happily, "Thank you, Tomo-sensei!"

"You're very welcome," Tomo said, and then he looked to the twins, "Now, you two were saying something about the number of questions..."

Tomo-sensei stopped his teasing when he noticed that both boys had taken out their books and had begun their work. Tomo-sensei smiled, taking notice of the fact that amber haired boy, Kaoru, seemed to be actually working at a fine pace, whereas the one with his hair colored with a dark, Hikaru, seemed to be deliberately going at a very lethargic pace—ah young revenge. However Tomo-sensei said nothing about it, it would be Hikaru's own fault if he wasn't done by the end of class, and at this pace he would not be.

Just as Tomo-sensei had predicted when the bell rang Kaoru had finished by the skin of his teeth, while Hikaru was still behind by about twenty-five questions, while Haruhi was already starting on the homework questions, and was highly thankful for the substitute teacher that had been able to shut the twins up.

"Are you not done yet, Hikaru-kun?" Haruhi asked leaning over her friend's shoulder as the other students filed out.

Hikaru covered his work, slightly embarassed, and looked away, "I—can't let him think he had beaten me."

Haruhi sighed, with a small smile, "Whatever."

Hikaru blushed at Haruhi's cute expression, but shook it off as Tomo approached, "You are free to go, now, Fujioka-san. Good work today."

HERE

"Oh, thanks," Haruhi said, gathering up her things. When she reached the doorway, she expected Kaoru to be waiting for her in the hallway, but she was wrong, "Kaoru already left? Without…"

"Yes I believe he did," Tomo-sensei answered, as he leaned against Haruhi's vacant desk, watching Hikaru slaving over his work.

Haruhi thought for a moment, before retracing her steps. She sat next to Hikaru at a random desk, pulling her books out. Hikaru looked up at the sound of the chair scraping the marble floors, cocking his head, "Haruhi? What are you doing, you're going to be late for the Host Club."

Haruhi shrugged, "They can get by without me, besides I might as well finish my homework."

"How much more do you have?" Hikaru asked, a little curiousi and also a little keen on finding a way to escape from having to complete his work.

"I'm on the second to last section," Haruhi answered.

"You plan to do all that tonight?" Hikaru asked in shock, with a glance at his textbook, he saw she had twenty five questions left.

"That's what was assigned," Haruhi said, glancing at Hikaru, "Plus, I'm sure I'll be able to finish before you, Hikaru-kun."

Hikaru stared at Haruhi with his usual stubbornness, set on fire by the flames of competition; he blazed away at his work, while Haruhi calmly set to hers.

There was a sudden ringing sound as the classroom phone went off, causing Haruhi to jump a little, and look up from her work. Tomo-sensei went and answered it; he spoke for a moment before giving a polite goodbye. Tomo-sensei turned to the two students in his class, "I must go to the office, Hikaru, but you are not to leave until I return, understood?"

Hikaru nodded quickly as he tried to figure out how the back of the book said the answer was y was equal to five, when his answer was y was equal to sixty-five.

Tomo-sensei smiled to Haruhi who had just finished her work, but had pulled out some blank paper to draw on so she could keep up the look that she was still working.

Fifteen minutes pasted, and Hikaru was finally done. When he looked at Haruhi he saw she was still writing furiously across the page. He smirked, standing up proudly, holding up his paper, "Done! Ha, I beat you Haruhi!"

Haruhi looked back at Hikaru and smirked, "Oh, I guess you did. Rats...so close, too."

Hikaru narrowed his eyes, and when he approached Haruhi, she quickly tried to cover the papers, but Hikaru quickly snatched a couple of them, and cried out as he saw what they were, "YOU'VE BEEN DRAWING ALL THIS TIME!"

Haruhi giggled sheepishly, "Not the whole time, I did finish my math homework for tonight...uh, I mean...um...oh, I'm sorry, Hikaru..."

Hikaru sighed deeply, before taking a moment to look over the pictures in his hand. The first one was a head shot of Kaoru, done in pencil shading. It wasn't half-bad. Hikaru was kind of sad that it was him, but didn't voice that disappointment. When Hikaru went to the next paper, he found a colored head shot of him and he smiled at it, again, he didn't voice any opinion on the picture. Last, but not least, the last page he held was of himself again, but this one made him laugh hysterically, Haruhi had managed to draw him in chibi-form! Hikaru hugged Haruhi on the spur of the moment of finding a chibi Hikaru within her drawings, but quickly realized what he had done, and quickly pulled away, with a hue of pink now tinting his cheek bones. (AN - All these pics can be found in my profile)

"I'm so adorable!" Hikaru exclaimed, after a slightly awkward pause, looking the picture over, "Aren't I Haruhi!?"

Haruhi smirked, and then laughed, "Yes, I suppose you are Hikaru-kun."

Hikaru suddenly stopped his antics, blushing as he realized what Haruhi had just said.

"Sorry, I took so long," Tomo-sensei interrupted, coming into the classroom, "Hitachiin-san, are you finished?"

Hikaru nodded, "...hai, Tomo-sensei."

Tomo-sensei smiled, and took the finished work from Hikaru, dissmissing him.

Haruhi and Hikaru, together walked toward the third music room, chit chatting along the way.

"So, I heard from Kyouya-sempai that your dad isn't at home right now?" Hikaru asked, "Is that true?"

Haruhi nodded her head, "Hai, Grandpa called the other day and asked him to come visit, because Grandma isn't doing so well."

"Why didn't you go?" Hikaru asked.

Haruhi thought for a moment, "I don't know, I don't really know my Grandma much. I guess that's all the more reason I should visit, but dad said that it was probably for the best that I didn't."

"Why?" Hikaru tilted his head and watched Haruhi turn red.

Haruhi replied reluctantly, "Because I'm falling behind in my school work, so… I can't miss any days visiting her, and I have tests coming up."

"I didn't know you were falling behind," Hikaru said, stopping suddenly.

Haruhi stopped as well and looked at Hikaru, "Well, technically, I'm only behind in math, but if this sub stays around, I think I can pick my mark up."

"What's so special about Tomo-sensei?" Hikaru wondered aloud, hoping it wasn't a crush.

Haruhi grinned, "He's the only teacher that we've had, that was able to shut you and Kaoru up for the whole class."

Hikaru's eyes closed for a moment, had he and Kaoru really bugged her that much? If they had, why couldn't she have just told them that and they would have… okay, perhaps he could recall a few times when she might have said that they were pestering her and to leave her alone. But hey, they were the Hitachiin twins, they must be told things clearly.

"I can help you if you want," Hikaru offered, feeling slightly guilty about Haruhi being behind, especially since she was usually the top in all her classes.

"Hmm…" Haruhi tilted her head to the side curiously, "How?"

"Well, I do have fairly good marks in math," Hikaru said, thumping his chest proudly with his fist, "I could tutor you, or, at least we could do our homework together, and bounce answers off each other."

Haruhi thought for a minute, she really didn't like to depend on people for such things, especially when they were the ones that caused the problem in the first place, "I don't know...will you behave yourself?"

Hikaru was kind of hurt, "Haruhi, I wouldn't go acting up when I know I got you into this mess, I promise."

Haruhi sighed, "All right, fine, I guess we can start tomorrow since I'm done all my homework for today."

Hikaru smiled, and nodded, "Hai!"

Hikaru and Haruhi continued walking. Hikaru, however, was being bothered by a thought.

"Haruhi? Why didn't you tell me flat out what was going on with your Math?"

"I don't know."

"Haruhi, you know you can come to me if you have a problem, right?"

"..."

Hikaru stopped walking once again, this time he was honestly hurt, "Would you really not come to me?"

"I can't say you're my first choice as a confidant," Haruhi answered, stopping and looking back at Hikaru, surprised to see the hurt in his eyes.

"Who would you go to?" Hikaru asked, wanting to know who was above him.

Haruhi thought for a moment, before slowly answering, "Kyouya-sempai, I suppose; he seems to be the calm rational sort, who wouldn't flip out at the insignificant things, you know, but might help out, or at least give some advice on how to deal with the bigger things...maybe..."

Hikaru hung his head for the second time that day, but then he looked up, rushed to Haruhi and took her by the shoulders, "Haruhi, I want you to know that I'm here if you need me, alright? Whatever the problem is, big or little. I'll help you out, much better than the cold-hearted, emotionless, shadow king."

Haruhi gave Hikaru a warm smiled, and nodded, "Um, alright Hikaru, sure. Thank you."

Hikaru shook his head, Haruhi wasn't taking his words seriously, "I'm serious Haruhi! I'll listen and help you out!"

Haruhi jumped slightly at Hikaru's tone of voice, he all but shouted at her, "You can't help me very much, if you don't know me." Haruhi smiled weakly, "You never really listen to me. Which I might add, got me into this whole mess with my marks."

Hikaru eyes darted around, as he tried to think of something to say back Haruhi's statement, "Well then, um...what's your favorite colour?"

Haruhi stared, a little surprised. After a moment of thought, she slowly answered, "I don't think I really have one...it always depends on shades, and my mood, usually..."

Hikaru nodded, as they fell into step side by side, "What about food?"

"Basically, seafood, and anything with strawberries," Haruhi said smiling, "Oh, and watermelon, but only when it's really sweet, and not all mushy like it sometimes it."

Hikaru had a moment of dawning, "That's right, when we first went to your house, Hunny-sempai brought cakes, and you had the strawberry one, I remember that, and you eat all that crab at Nekozawa's beach house, until you barfed, and, yeah, the watermelon, at Karuizawa, you had told your friend about how you loved watermelon. Jeez, I should've remembered that."

Hikaru was not one to be daunted, and shot off another question, "What about least favorite color, and food?"

"For color, well like I said it usually depends on my mood," Haruhi said, tapping her bottom lip with her finger, "But I've never found orange, or yellow very appealing. As for food, all I can think of is carrots, but, even with them, it depends on how they're prepared."

"How do you usually like them?"

"Cooked up in teriyaki sauce is always good."

Hikaru mulled over these new findings in his head, "If you had a million yen, where would you spend it?"

Haruhi looked at Hikaru suspiciously; he yawned, "What? I'm serious."

Hikaru seemed genuinely curious so she shrugged, and answered, "I don't know...I'm happy with what I have...probably just some better food, lots of seafood...Oh! I'd go to Izumi Kouu."

"What's that?" Hikaru asked his curiosity mounting.

"It's a little cafe that's only open during the spring, all their recipes have cherries in them," Haruhi was overcome with excitement, "I haven't ever been a very big cherry fan, but I heard that they have wonderful Cherry Tea, cherry salad, and their most famous dish is a Spring Roll—it's chicken with a syrupy cherry sauce."

Hikaru couldn't say that the last item mentioned appealed to his taste buds, but, he smiled at her, trying not to laugh. He failed. His laughter caught Haruhi off guard. Her hurt tone was low.

"I don't laugh at you."

"Sorry, but cherry sauce on chicken?" Hikaru laughed.

"I didn't say I'd like it," Haruhi said, "I'd just like to know what everyone is fussing about, what's wrong with that?"

Hikaru smiled sympathetically, "Nothing, I'm sorry for laughing."

"You should be!" Haruhi glared at Hikaru, "You asked me, and then you laugh!"

"I'm sorry," Hikaru said, and then, after a moments pause, asked, "So, what's your favorite kind of animal, in pet terms?"

"I've never had a pet."

"I'm just curious, what's your favorite pet, if you could get one?"

"Well, cats are cute as kittens, but not so much as adults, plus I'm allergic, and birds, and fish, you can't do much with," Haruhi said, as she thought through different pets.

"You're allergic to cats?" Hikaru asked, surprised.

Haruhi glanced over, nodding, "Yeah, not deathly, or anything, but somewhat, I start sniffling, but that's about it, I could stand being around them, but not living with one. So, yeah, I guess a dog, I kind of like German Sheppards, they're a beautiful breed."

Hikaru pondered on this information, "Anything else that you're allergic to?"

"Yeah, coconut. Now that could probably kill me...I don't why, but that's my death point."

"Do you have that thing?" Hikaru asked, "That stabbing device...?"

Haruhi stared, unsure about what Hikaru meant, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Hikaru tapped his finger against her arm like one gives a shot, "You use it like this...when someone has a bad reaction to things...I forget the name of it."

"Oh, do you mean an epy pen?" Haruhi asked.

Hikaru snapped his fingers, "That's it!"

"No," Haruhi said, "My father can't afford one, and we don't really need it, we don't keep any coconut at home, and coconut isn't around much in Japan, or at least not at prices that I'd come to eat by accident."

"You should still have one..." Hikaru said.

"So, do you eat other nuts?" Hikaru asked, "Like almonds and peanuts?"

"Just because it's called coconut, doesn't mean it's a nut," Haruhi said, matter-of-factly, "It's actually a seed, like sesame, or sunflower seeds."

Hikaru let out a laugh. Haruhi tilted her head.

"I like...getting to know you."

Haruhi studied Hikaru for a second, before she smiled brightly at him, "I like you actually listening to me for once..." They met each other's eyes and burst into laughter. She leaned into him, unable to breathe.

When they arrived at the Third Music Room the Host Club was met with an unusual sight. Hikaru near tears with one arm casually draped around Haruhi's shoulders, and Haruhi leaning into him heavily, smiling brightly, tears of joy streaming down her face.

A/N - Well, that's that chapter done! Hope you enjoyed it!

My Beta Readers!

Genial Hinata - Thank you so much for all your work!

Sakura Sango - Thank you so much for all your work!

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