*+*

A small girl tiptoed towards the white doors of a hospital ward, where she had heard her mother to be held. It's been almost a week since the accident, but she had yet to see her mommy and her small heart clenched with pain and hurt. She missed her mother's gentle arms and her soothing smile, especially now, when Akito, her twin brother, was gone. The girl was told mommy needed to rest, but surely, she wanted to see her daughter, right? And so she slipped out of her own ward and made all the way down here. Her little hands pressed down the handle and she slowly opened the door, peeking inside the room.

The ward was large, with one bed, drowning in flowers. She could see her father sitting on the edge of the bed and her brother Touya standing behind him. Her mother was sitting back in bed, smiling at her husband lovingly. The girl grinned happily, ignoring her guilty conscience. She knew she should have waited until she was called, but the girl just couldn't wait anymore, the heartache of missing her mother was ripping her apart... Her small heart was beating loud and the blood was rushing up to her head. She entered the room almost on tiptoe, whispering quietly, "Mommy..."

Her brother Touya was the one who heard her first and he turned his head towards her surprised. His eyes widened in realization, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. Meanwhile, their mother turned to the girl as well and looked at her with slight disbelief. The girl's heart stopped beating for a moment and then fluttered with joy, as she heard her mother's voice, "My baby!"

She smiled happily and ran to her as fast as she could. Just a moment later, her feet carried her onto the bed and her mother hugged her, tears streaking down her cheeks, "My baby, my little baby... oh, I was so worried! Akito, my little boy..."

'Huh? Akito?..'

The girl raised her head confused, her voice quivering sadly, "Mommy?.. It's me, Akira."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Akito?" The woman smiled at the child tenderly. "What's this about Akira? Who's that? A friend of yours?"

The girl stared at her mother flabbergasted, unable to grasp the situation. Why was her mommy acting so strangely?

"No, mommy. I am Akira... Akito, my brother... he..." The girl sniffed, her voice breaking in the middle of the sentence.

Her mother stared down at her shocked, her pupils widening ever so slightly, something rising in the depths of her mind.

"Sakura, don't listen!" Her husband shot up stressed and Touya grabbed the girl's shoulders, trying to pry her away.

But the child clung to her mother desperately, crying "Mommy... My brother is gone now... Akito..."

"Wha... is this a joke, Akito?" The woman stared at the girl surprised, shaking her head, her voice almost hysterical. "Tell me you're playing with me, Akito…"

"N-no... mommy? Mommy, it's me, Akira! Akito is dead..." The girl sobbed, finally letting go of the woman and her older brother pulled her into his strong arms, embracing her tightly.

"Kyaaahhhh!" Meanwhile, her mother let out a sharp scream, flailing her arms up and down. "You're lying! Lies! ALL LIES!!! Why are you lying to your mommy, Akito? You're my little baby.... no, Akito can't be dead.... my Akito..."

She started weeping and then screaming and laughing hysterically, pushing away her husbands arms as he tried calming her down. A pillow hit the ground as she yelled out Akito's name in despair, and her hands pushed a nearby vase with flowers down, making it shatter to pieces. The little girl stared at her shocked, holding onto her older brother, crying quietly.

"M-mo-mommy..."

Touya pressed her closer to him, his eyes watering with tears as well, whispering, "Mommy is sick, Akira, mommy is very sick…"

*+*

A young teenage girl shot up in her spacious bed, a single tear running down her cheek. The bed sheets were crumpled around her and the pillows lay on the floor as she tossed them away in her restless sleep. She often had this dream, more of a memory actually. It was her first visit to her sick mother after the accident. Also, it was the time she found out her mother could not remember her at all. Her own daughter. The girl called Akira didn't exist any more. As if she never did. The girl hugged herself, wanting to cry, but unable to. She had these nightmares so often she barely had any tears to cry. No matter how hard it was the only person to ever see her cry was her older brother Touya.

'Touya... I wish I could see you... I miss you so much,' she closed her eyes in a silent prayer, but at the same time she knew it was impossible. He had gone to Great Britain for a few months to look after the building of a new hotel. He was constantly busy and even when she called, he didn't have much time to talk to his little sister. The girl sighed. Perhaps, that's for the better. It was high time she grew up and stopped relying upon him.

She quickly glanced at the clock, which said 4am, and sighed. There was no way she could fall asleep again. And so she got up, put on some clothes and went to the arts room, where the piano stood. The girl sat down and started playing something, anything that was on her mind, really. She could play the piano quite well, as her mother wanted her son Akito to be a perfect man and so she had to learn everything she could and even that, which seemed to be unattainable.

'A perfect man, huh? Quite impossible, I must say. It's been like... 8 years, since I started pretending to be my deceased brother...' She thought to herself smugly.

Her fingers stopped moving and the melody died down. The girl simply sat there in silence, thinking back. Eight years, half of her life... living a lie. She herself was one huge lie. She shook her head and stood up.

"No, this is over now. I'm starting my life anew. Yes, today will be my first day in school. In a normal school far away from mother, where no one knows me," she smiled widely. "Finally! I can wear skirts… And dresses!"

The girl laughed out loud and started dancing around in joy. She could not even remember the last time she wore a skirt or at least something similar to it. It was always guy clothes, always pants or jeans and nothing else. And so, she quickly showered and dressed up, paying little attention to the clothes, brushed her short brown hair and ran out of her room, grabbing her bag on the way. It was still only 5:20, but she decided she could walk around and then head to the school. She exited the house, which wasn't very big, so she needed only a few maids, looked around and turned to the right, the direction of her school. Her hands automatically put on her headphones and she started listening to some music. The first song she put on happened to be "Open road" by Bryan Adams and she hummed together with the singer, nodding her head and smiling widely.

Then, she circled around, spinning on her heel, and sang out loud, "Who knows, where I'm going, Life is an open road, it's a best story ever told, it's a..."

Her voice echoed through the empty streets as she half ran and half danced on the pavement, glancing around curiously at the same time. As she walked like this, listening to this song, she felt as if the whole world belonged to her. As if she too was walking on an entirely new road of her life. When she finally reached the school grounds, it was already almost 8 o'clock.

The tall white buildings rose up, shining in the morning sun and Akira whistled at the size of the campus. 'Rich bastards. And I'm one of them...' She shook her head as she turned off her Mp3 Player and headed to the gates. She still had some time, but the girl thought she could walk around the school grounds before the lectures. Yet, as she went towards the gates, she noticed a few girls with some mean looking guys in front of them. The girls looked a bit scared, and Akira sighed, realizing the situation quickly.

She walked towards them at a quicker pace, at the same time admiring the cute uniforms of the girls...

'Sooooo cute... and sooo girly! Waahh, I want to wear one too. Damn that school for mixing up the documents and not sending me my school uniform! Anyways, I can finally wear a dress! Kawai...' With such thoughts she reached the girls and frowned slightly, seeing they were on the verge of tears.

'Troublesome...' Akira sighed, stepping closer. The girls glanced at the newcomer nervously as she approached their group.

"Yo!" Akira grinned, waving her hand.

The guys turned around, their eyes squinting at her, "Huh? And who are you?"

She looked at them, quickly noticing they were not wearing Ouran uniforms, so unless their uniforms were late like hers, they were not from this school. Which was good to know, for she hated bullies.

"I believe you are troubling these girls," Akira beamed a smile at them and turned to the girls. "Right, dear ladies?"

"Y-yes..." The girls blushed faintly.

Still smiling, Akira turned to one of the guys, who seemed to be the leader of the gang, and gave him a warning glare, at the same time saying sweetly, "Would you mind leaving them alone, then, please?"

"Wha... What do you think you are?" The guy yelled at Akira, snarling.

Yet, she smiled even wider, "It's not what, but who."

"Huh?"

"When referring to humans, you should use the word 'who', not 'what'."

"Wha... Oh, you think you're so smart, huh?" The guy grinned and his lackey cackled as if he had said something incredibly funny.

"Let's see you counter THIS!" Meanwhile, he launched a punch towards Akira's face, but the girl simply stopped it with her hand.

Among other things she had to learn, she mastered quite a few martial arts. Her mother believed a man should know how to protect his girl, so it was inevitable for her.

Strangely enough, Akira really liked it, for fighting was the time when she could let out all of her emotions, all of her anger and hidden rage. It was as if she became someone else, someone much more sinister... she knew no mercy in a battle.

And so, the girl smirked as she saw the shocked expression of the poor guy, who had not expected this kind of turn of events. Akira didn't waste time and grabbed his arm, twisting it so, that he fell to his knees. She was glaring at him venomously and her eyes had a tint of blackness. She stepped behind the guy pulling his arm and making him lie down, at the same time noticing the second guy try to land a punch on her from behind. She stepped on the back of the first guy with her right foot and turned, kicking the second guy with her left foot in the stomach. He flew a few steps back and fell to his back, clutching his stomach. Akira heard the first guy scream in pain as she stepped on him hard, but she didn't quite care. Actually, she kind of enjoyed it.

And so Akira grinned at the second guy, hissing venomously, "Get out of here, before I lose it."

She let go of the first guy, who jumped up and hurried away with his friend, pretty much scared of her.

"Such weaklings," Akira sighed and turned to the girls, who looked amazed and shocked at their savior. "Are you ok, ladies? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

She was back to the nice guy act already and the girls suddenly blushed a deep red and screamed. Akira glanced at them in shock, as for a moment she could swear she could see hearts floating around.

"Th-Thank you... very much," one of the girls muttered, looking at her savior from below and blushing like mad.

"Eh... that's nothing," Akira flashed a smile. "Glad you're ok."

The girl blushed even more and her friend squirmed clutching to her. Akira started to find this quite funny. Up till now she went to an all boys school, so she didn't know much about communicating with girls. She always wanted a girl friend, not a boy. Then, Akira glanced down at the saved girl again and noticed a dark spot forming on her right wrist, where the guy held her before. Instinctively, she grabbed the girl's arm, not noticing the girl blush even a deeper shade of red and her friend yelp with surprise.

Akira looked down at her wrist, whispering, "I'm so sorry, I should have come earlier," her eyes gleamed with pure anger. "Bastard, I should have broken his arm for this!"

To Akira's surprise, the girl cried out with delight and hearts were floating around her and her friend again. Akira just stared it amused, but her train of thoughts was interrupted by someone from behind her, "You're really good at fighting, right? Right?"

Akira turned around surprised, letting go of the girl's hand. Her eyes widened as she stared at the two guys standing before her. There was a freaking tall dark guy in front of her, but what was even weirder than that was that there was a small blond kid next to him. They were both wearing Ouran Academy uniforms and the little boy was smiling in a rather silly manner at you, but you noticed he must have been older than he looked. There was just something about him that gave off a weird feeling.

"You're really strong, right?"

The blond asked again and Akira noticed he was holding something behind his back... Something… pink?

"What is... that?" She pointed at the thing with her hand, slightly confused.

The boy looked surprised and then he smiled again and brought it forward for her to see, "This is my Bun-Bun! Do you like him?"

"It's... a toy?" Now she really WAS confused. "And it's pink..."

"Hn, hn... Do you like it, do you like it?"

"It's pink."

"YES!!!" He grinned at her again.

Akira stared at him amazed by his childishness and then suddenly she laughed out, but then stopped immediately, as if she was caught doing something bad. She was not used to laughing. But then again, she couldn't keep herself from smiling, at the very least.

She ruffled his hair lightly, grinning slightly, "And to think at first I thought you were like 17 or 18!"

The boy's eyes widened and she noticed the tall guy gave her a surprised look, though up till then he stood as emotionless as a statue.

"What? Did I say something?"

The blonde suddenly beamed a smile and Akira could see little pink flowers around him now.

'Hearts? Flowers? I swear, this is one weird school...' She thought to herself, wondering if she was actually gonna be alright.

"I'm really 17!" The blond smiled at her and Akira gasped. "How did you know?"

"Huh?.. Are grown ups allowed to carry toys here?"

"Don't know, I do," he smiled widely again.

Akira started to think the smile was actually glued to his face. And it seemed... so genuine.

"How did you know his age?" Suddenly, the tall guy inquired, looking at her attentively.

'Pfft, so he does talk...' She snorted inside her head.

"Yeah, yeah, how did you guess?" The blond looked impatiently at her.

"Ah... I just thought your eyes were a bit scary," Akira replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "Your aura seemed different from that of a child. Oh, well, sorry for calling you a child."

And then she smiled again, "And your bunny seems nice too. Though I don't know really, I didn't play much with plush toys when I was little."

'Actually, after the accident, I didn't get to play anything I liked anymore. Even my favorite dolls were thrown out, cause I became... a boy,' pain scorched through Akira's chest, but she kept on smiling.

However, the boy seemed to get sad, "Why not? It's fun!"

Akira nodded, still smiling gently, "Yes, but my mother thought a boy should grow up courageous and manly. Plushies were just in a way. Well, I personally believe it takes a lot more courage to walk around in streets with such a big toy, after all, I bet you get weird glances once in a while."

The blond kid looked at Akira shocked and his cheeks reddened slightly, his huge brown eyes staring straight at her.

"Here!" He then thrust the bunny into Akira's hands forcefully. "You can play with it for a while!"

"Huh?"

The blond smiled again and ran past her through the gates, the tall guy following behind him like a tail.

"Wha... Wait!.. Wait up!" Akira turned around, but the boy was gone already. "Oh man, how in the world am I gonna return this?! I don't even know his name!!!"

'Oh, maybe those girls know him!' A thought flashed in her head and Akira cast a glance to the girls she had saved earlier, but they were gone as well.

"Just my luck..." She whispered, her hands pressing the toy closer to her chest.