Ouran Private Academy is defined by one: prestigious families; and two: wealth – and prosperous people have much time on their hands. The Ouran Host Club was about handsome guys that had time giving hospitality to lovely ladies that also had time, and making profit off them. They made no secret of any of this. It was an elegant game, and unique to the super-rich school.

'Mori-sempai' held about the only secret in the club.

Her name was Morinozuka Taka, and her parents had wanted a boy. The whole clan, in fact, had wanted – and been expecting – a boy. An eldest son to carry on the family name... and duties. Not long before her own birth, Haninozuka Mitsukuni had been born. The heir to the family which her family had been loyal vassals to for generations... until a (somewhat scandalous) marriage between the two families had elevated the Morinozuka family.

As soon as she and her cousin Mitsukuni were old enough to understand, she had been told (maybe a little forcibly) that no such thing would be happening between the two of them, and to make sure... to make sure, Taka was given boys clothes and called Takashi by her family. Her black hair was kept cut short. She was ordered into the dojo with her father and given the training that a son of the family would receive, rather than a daughter. When she attended school at the age of five, she was put into the green uniform that her cousin Mitsukuni wore, rather than the pink dress worn by the girls in their class.

When puberty came, Taka was forced to suffer hormone injections. Insurance, to make certain that there wouldn't be any too noticeable curves under her uniforms. Of course, the hormone injections couldn't be too potent either – she would still be allowed to marry a boy some day, and have children with him, so long as that boy wasn't Mitsukuni. Taka didn't think the family really had to worry about that. She was loyal to her cousin and acted the part of unneeded protector to him, as her younger brother Satoshi did for Mitsukuni's little brother Yasuchika... and the charade had been going on for so much of her life that Mitsukuni never even knew that 'Takashi' was actually 'Taka', and that 'he' didn't have a large birthmark across 'his' torso that the plastic surgeons wanted to wait to operate on until 'he' was out of school, just in case it faded on its own – which it wouldn't, because it was a lie. A lie to cover up that Taka's small breasts were tightly bound away into nothingness beneath her shirt.

A lie that fooled even an information-obsessive Ootori, who was in the grade below them, when the son of the school superintendent recruited Mitsukuni – and Taka by association – into joining a Host Club.

No one knew that Taka was a girl. Not her cousin, not her younger brother, there were some days when it seemed that even her father forgot that she was his daughter, and not his son. Her mother still remembered, but that was likely due to being the person who helped Taka learn to cope with the changes her body went through – and how to hide them all effectively. It was her mother, as well, who had overseen the hormone treatment when Taka had entered puberty.

Now though, as she looked forward to her last year of high school left, Taka was slowly being allowed off the hormone treatments.

She had no way of knowing that, in this one year, her whole world would be turned upside-down and righted by the boy who had been accepted into Ouran as a scholarship student.

"Host Club?" the boy asked, an eyebrow raised over his glasses as Tamaki finished his greeting – and explanation of exactly what the boy had stumbled into.

"What, it's a guy?" the twins asked together, finally looking at the guest that they had all just welcomed.

"Hikaru and Kaoru," Kyouya said, "you two are in the same class as this guest, right?"

"Yeah, but," the two said, moving together, talking together, identical if only differentiated by such a very slight difference in the pitch of their voices, "this person doesn't go along with others much, so we don't really know him that well," they answered, giving a shrug.

"That's a little rude," Kyouya noted with a sort of detached amusement, to which the twins simply turned their backs. "Well, welcome to the Host Club, Special Student."

"What?!" Tamaki said, popping out of his seat, blue eyes wide. "So he's that exceptional Special Student, Fujioka Haruhi-kun?!"

Now, the boy had about-faced to leave and find another room to study in, but hearing his name cross the lips of someone he had not introduced himself to stilled him.

"Why do you know my name?" he asked.

"Well, the way this school works makes it hard for a commoner to get in," Kyouya explained with an easy shrug. "They say it's pretty hard to be accepted unless you're a studious bookworm. So, welcome to the school, Special Student."

"Ah," Fujioka-kun said, one eyebrow twitching as he tried to not be insulted by truth, even when it was spoken in such a superior and condescending tone. "Then, thank you," and was about to turn and reach for the doorknob again when a hand clapped around his shoulder and pulled him against a jacket that Fujioka-kun himself was lacking.

"So, you are something of a hero, Fujioka-kun," Tamaki explained. "Even if you are the number one student in your class, you are the poorest student in the whole school! Others might marginalise you as a lowly civilian!"

"You mean, like you are doing now?" Fujioka-kun asked pointedly, and pinched the back of Tamaki's hand to force him to remove it. "Please excuse me," he said, and turned again for the door.

This time, a pair of hands grabbed his wrist, and he was dragged further into the room. "Ne, Haru-chan, Haru-chan!" Mitsukuni chirped happily. "You're a hero? That's awesome!"

"I'm extremely studious, not heroic," Fujioka-kun corrected with a slight smile. "Wait... who are you calling Haru-chan?!" he demanded sharply.

Mitsukuni backed off with a wail of unhappiness, and tears in his eyes. Taka picked up Mitsukuni's bunny where he'd dropped it, and made it move a little to cheer up her older cousin until he felt good enough to take it himself. Really, for all that she was younger, sometimes she felt like a second mother to her cousin.

"But I never expected the famous bookworm to be gay," noted Tamaki with a sort of calm, curious thoughtfulness. "So!" Tamaki said, cheering up and dropping the thoughtful act. "What Type do you fancy?" he asked, and presented each of them to their new guest.

Taka, for reasons beyond her comprehension, was classed as the 'wild type'. Mitsukuni fit 'loli-shouta' like it had been made for him, the twins were 'little devils', and Kyouya was very 'cool' (to the point of being frigid, it could be argued). But she just didn't see how she got 'wild'.

"I was just looking for a quiet place to study," Fujioka-kun objected, but his eye cast critical over all of them – until it fixed on Taka.

"Or perhaps you'd like to give me a try?" Tamaki said, invading Fujioka-kun's space and bringing a hand up under his chin almost flirtatiously. "Wanna go?" he asked in his best husky voice.

"Definitely not," Fujioka-kun said firmly, and slapped the hand away with a scowl. "I already said, I was just looking for somewhere quiet to study. Besides, you said this club was about making profit, and I hardly have money to spend on your games."
"The designations themselves are not where the money comes," Kyouya stated with a shrug. "It comes more from the merchandise of the Hosts that we also sell."

Fujioka-kun's eyes narrowed a little on Kyouya's face before they returned to Taka. "How much does it cost to designate a Host?" he asked, speculatively.

Kyouya smiled like a shark circling its next victim.

Fujioka-kun finally drew his intent gaze away from Taka. "Actually, no. Putting myself in debt to this club wouldn't be good, so I'll leave now," he said, and with a polite nod, turned, grasped the doorknob, and let himself out.

Kyouya's smile was surprised right off his face. He even blinked in shock. He was sure he'd been about to secure a new customer.

"Haven't you ever heard the saying?" Fujioka-kun asked, half-way out the door. "If you have to ask, then it's too much," he said with a smile, and then closed the door behind him as he left.

"Kyouya," Tamaki said softly. "Would you please investigate Fujioka-kun? It is difficult to tell with the glasses..."

"Oi Tono, you want him as a Host?" the twins asked.

"Mm... Possibly," Tamaki allowed.

"Takashi, Haru-chan was looking very intently at you," Mitsukuni observed curiously.

"Ah," she answered softly. The hormone treatments meant that her voice was lower than it might have been otherwise, but speaking few words, and those softly, also helped the feminine timbre of her voice go unnoticed.

"Do you think he would be interested in designating Mori-sempai, Hani-sempai?" Kyouya asked the shortest, but also oldest member of the Host Club. "I'm afraid that I hadn't actually noticed that Fujioka-kun was looking at any Host in particular."

"Un!" Mitsukuni said with an emphatic nod.

"Well, I will be investigating Fujioka-kun in any event, so I suppose we will see what happens," Kyouya said with a thoughtful expression and a decided nod.

~oOo~

"Tadaima," Haruhi called softly as he opened the front door of the apartment that he shared with his father.

"Oh, Haruhi, okaeri nasai," Ryouji greeted in return, a tired smile on his face. "How was school today?"

"It was alright," Haruhi answered as he toed off his shoes. "There isn't really anywhere quiet to study, and I found an interesting club by accident. How was your shift at the bottle shop?"

Ryouji sighed tiredly, but was smiling still. "The boss has decided that I deserve a promotion, so I'll be getting a raise, better hours, and will occasionally be sent on business trips," he answered.

Haruhi smiled brightly at this news. "That's great Tou-san!" he cheered softly, and hurried to give his father a hug. "I'm so happy for you! Will the promotion mean you don't have to work as many jobs?"

Ryouji shook his head. "I'm still going to keep all three of my jobs, Haruhi," he informed his son, even as he returned the hug. "A few extra yen here and there will mean we have less to worry about, and I'm already used to the long days."

Haruhi's shoulders slumped a little. "Oh," he said. "Well, you'd better take a nap then Tou-san, and I'll make you a bento to take to the bar for your shift there. That is what you have next, isn't it?"

Rouyji nodded. "It is," he agreed. "Mm, I suppose I could use a little beauty sleep before leaving to the okama bar. Oh, and Momo-chan called to say he'd finished making your uniform for you. I'll bring it back with me when I get off shift tonight. And I bought new contacts for you on the way home today."

"Thanks Tou-san. Momo-chan said he wanted a batch of cookies for it, didn't he?" Haruhi asked, smile bright with anticipation. He'd been wearing the same white shirt and black trousers that he'd worn in middle-school so far – no jacket, no tie, it was a really good thing that it hadn't turned cold yet – but they were also starting to get a bit small, since he'd grown a bit since the previous school year.

Momo-chan, one of the okama that her dad worked with at the bar, had made her old middle school uniform for her in exchange for some of Haruhi's baking. It was the same arrangement again, but with the new uniform. A new uniform that would be just as tailored as those of the rich kids Haruhi went to school with, since Momo-chan was really good at sewing, and was always very thorough about getting Haruhi's measurements.

"Yes," Ryouji agreed. "The gluten-free ones your mother left you the recipe for."

Haruhi smiled and nodded. "I'll bake them while I make your bento and my dinner," Haruhi promised. "You just rest."

Ryouji nodded in acceptance and stood from where he'd been resting on the couch. "Oh, Haruhi, what about this interesting club? Do you think you might join it?" he asked.

"Join?" Haruhi repeated, and raised a thoughtful finger to his chin. "Well, maybe," he allowed. "It might be useful, when I become a lawyer... I'll think about it," he promised. "It definitely is an issue that will need thought. It's... unique to Ouran, apparently."

"Oh?" Ryouji asked. "What sort of club? You haven't actually told me yet."

"A Host Club," Haruhi answered his father with a slight smile.

Ryouji laughed. "Oh, then you should join, my Haruhi! You're so handsome, any host club would be thrilled to have you!" he insisted. A host club at a school may not be a normal thing, but there was one at either end of the same street where Ryouji worked in the okama bar.

Both father and son were at least passingly familiar with that sort of business.

"And, if you have experience, then you could get a real job as a professional Host, to help you through university," Ryouji added more thoughtfully.

Haruhi smiled back. "Well, maybe," he said again. "Go rest, Tou-san."

"Hai, hai. And Haruhi, if the noise is such a problem, why not just buy some earplugs?"

Haruhi laughed. "I'll do that tomorrow," he promised. "Thank you, Tou-san."

"Anything for my precious son."

~oOo~

Taka was confused, and the confusion was distracting. The way that Fujioka-kun had looked at her earlier... no one had ever looked at her that way. Not the girls who came to the Host Club, not the other members of the Host Club, not anybody in her family... She had no idea what that look could have been, but she couldn't stop thinking about Fujioka-kun and the look he had given her.

Kyouya was very efficient though. Or his private investigators were. By the time they closed the doors of Club that day, Kyouya was able to report to them a great deal about Fujioka-kun.

Apart from being incredibly smart and studious, Fujioka-kun was also very popular at his previous school, and was the recipient of a love confession at least once a month – though it seemed he had still yet to go on a date or share his first kiss. No one was quite sure how to react to the information Kyouya was presenting to them, least of all because they weren't sure they wanted to know how he'd gotten such information.

But it still didn't explain to Taka why he'd looked at her like that!

Resigned to not knowing – for now at least – Taka escorted Mitsukuni to his limousine, then climbed into her own.

"The dojo," Taka informed the driver shortly, letting him know where she wanted to be taken with as few words as possible – something that the many servants to the Morinozuka family had learned to interpret over the years, and true to form, her driver took her to the family dojo, rather than straight home.

"Shall I wait, Morinozuka-sama?" the driver asked as he held her door open to let her out.

Taka inclined her head in an affirmative. "I may be some time," she warned softly.

The driver nodded in acceptance. It was his job to drive her, and wait for her if she was going to be somewhere for an indeterminate amount of time so that he could drive her to her next destination, until he was released from service until the next morning.

Inside the dojo, Taka went straight to her private changing room and swapped her school uniform for her kendo uniform, chose a solid mahogany bokken, and started on her first set of kata as she tried to sweat out her confusing thoughts about Fujioka-kun and the way he'd looked at her.

For a while it worked. Taka could focus on her forms, the feel of the bokken in her hands, the burn of her muscles as she forced them to move faster, strike harder, stop more suddenly and perfectly at the end of a strike... But when she had exhausted herself, returned the bokken to the rack, and was stripping from her kendo uniform to shower, the thoughts came back.

Fujioka-kun had been handsome enough, she supposed, in his white shirt and black trousers, with no tie or jacket to soften his lean build. The large glasses had hidden his face, but even so, she could see why Tamaki was thinking about him for the Host Club. When Kyouya had produced a student ID picture of Fujioka-kun without the glasses, the decision had been solidified – Tamaki wanted Fujioka-kun for the Host Club, and what Tamaki wanted, provided it didn't involve his own family, he very frequently got.

Which meant that she would have many opportunities to spend time with Fujioka-kun and figure out what that strange look he'd been giving her was.

For some reason, as she thought that and passed the wash cloth over her chest, she felt a tingling that she hadn't ever felt before. Strange, but not unpleasant. Still, she frowned and wondered what it was... only to shake her head firmly and continue to wash the sweat from her body quickly and efficiently, determined that she would not think of Fujioka-kun's singular expression when he was looking at her again.

Perhaps she should talk to her mother about the matter. Since she was coming off the hormone treatments at last, Taka was (finally) going to start properly developing more feminine features, however slightly since she was almost out of her teenage years. It was time she knew something more about how she was supposed to react to boys... as a girl, rather than as another boy.

Though, granted, the Host Club was quite educational for how most of the girls in the school reacted to boys. Taka wasn't sure she was really ever going to be the swooning type, though. She hoped that she didn't have to be.

Yes, she would talk with her mother.

"Kaa-san, may I speak with you?" Taka asked as she knocked on the door of her mother's private parlour.

"Sit, Takashi," Morinozuka Shizune answered with a gesture towards the other cushion at her low table, and reached for a bell that would summon one of the staff with her other hand. "Another cup for my eldest, and a fresh pot while you're at it," she requested of the maid who had appeared at the ringing.

The maid bowed, vanished, quickly returned with the requested items, and disappeared out of sight again.

"Now Takashi, what did you wish to speak with me about?" Shizune asked as she poured tea into her daughter's cup.

"Something happened today at the Host Club -" Taka started.
"From what I understand, something almost always happens at the Host Club," Shizune cut in with an amused chuckle.

"Kaa-san, please," Taka begged softly.

Shizune waved a hand absently for her child to continue.

"A boy from class 1A visited us, briefly. I believe he didn't know what happened in that room prior to opening the door. When he looked at me he... had an expression on his face that I have never seen before. He didn't look at any of the other Hosts with that expression," Taka explained.

"A boy looked at you strangely?" she asked. One dark eyebrow, elegantly plucked, arched in artful curiosity.

"Aa," Taka answered with a nod. "I don't know what to think of it. The Host Club has never had any male clientele to make a comparison," she confessed softly.

Shizune sighed a little. "I can give you no advice on this without knowing more about the boy and seeing the look he gave you for myself," she told her daughter, a little apologetically. "Are you likely to cross paths with this boy again?" she asked.

Taka nodded.

"Then, you will have opportunity to discover the meaning of this for yourself," Shizune stated, and gave a decisive nod.

Taka nodded silently in acceptance and drank her tea. "There is another thing," Taka said softly as she set down her cup.

"Oh?"

"I went to the dojo after, to try and remove thoughts of this boy from my head with exertion, but when I went to shower my mind trailed back to him and the strange look he gave me. My..." Taka halted, blushed slightly and looked down at her bound chest. "When I was showering and thinking of how he had looked at me... I felt..." Taka frowned, unsure how to go on.

Shizune blinked in surprise. "Well," she said. "I suppose it was bound to happen eventually, especially since the treatments are stopping."

"Kaa-san, what is it?" Taka asked, truly concerned though her voice remained soft and her face a careful mask of neutrality.

Shizune smiled. "Is this boy attractive, my child?" she asked slyly.

Taka nodded slowly, hesitantly, unsure where such a line of questioning could be leading.

"Do you think you could be attracted to him?" Shizune asked, and it was all innocence, even though the previous question had been given with such a sly smile on her face.

Taka's eyes widened and a slight blush tinted her cheeks at the suggestion, at the thought that she could be – but... Taka frowned in thought. Yes. She thought Fujioka-kun was handsome, and that look he'd given her had intrigued her, captured her attention. When Tamaki had asked Fujioka-kun who he might wish to designate, Fujioka-kun had focused on her, and though Taka was used to having designates, they were all girls. To have a boy give her that sort of attention...

But...

"He thinks I am a boy," Taka pointed out.

Shizune shrugged, as though that were not a problem. "It is up to you whether you reveal the truth to him," she said. "You will not be attending Ouran much longer, and your true gender will be revealed to all those of our acquaintance at the ball we will be having when you have graduated. Tell me, my child, what is the name of this boy? Who are his family?"

"His name is Fujioka Haruhi-kun," Taka anwered. "He is a special student, able to attend Ouran on scholarship."

Shizune blinked in surprise again. "Oh? He must be very smart to have achieved such. Hmm... If you wish to pursue a relationship with Fujioka-san, my child, no one in the family will stand against you. Our objections against a romantic relationship between yourself and Mitsukuni aside, we do want you to marry for love, and not a business deal." Shizune smiled then. "Satoshi, on the other hand," she added teasingly, and did not need to finish her sentence. The implication was quite clear – Satoshi, after all, would be the one of them carrying on the family name.

Taka resisted the urge to sigh. This was the relationship between them, and only when no one else was looking.

~oOo~

"Ah, Fujioka-kun," the twins greeted as Haruhi entered the 1A classroom. "Ohayo."

"Ohayo, Hitachiin-kun, Hitachiin-kun," Haruhi returned in greeting as he set his bag on his desk – it happened to be right between theirs.

"Tamaki-sempai wants you to join the Host Club," Hikaru announced, and cocked his head to the side slightly. "Without the glasses obscuring your face, you really do look more like someone who would fit in the Club."

"So, will you join the Host Club?" the twins asked – and every girl in the room seemed to be listening intently, eager to hear the answer.

"Eh," Haruhi said with shrug, a slight smile on his face – he had ultimately decided that he'd look into joining the club today, if he could. "It could be fun," he agreed, "and I'll get to know some of my classmates better."

"Ah!" exclaimed nearly every girl in the classroom, and (while there was time before the chimes sounded to begin their scholastic day) they mobbed him.

"Fujioka-kun, you're really joining the Host Club?"

"Can we designate you, Fujioka-kun?"

"Fujioka-kun, you've been attending Ouran for a week already, why haven't you joined any of the clubs sooner?"

"Ah, everybody, please," Haruhi said, and waved his hands a little in what was intended as a calming sort of motion. "Yes, I'm really joining the Host Club, I would be delighted for you to designate me, and I haven't joined any clubs until now because I wanted to be sure I would be able to keep up my grades. If I don't hold the number one position in class ranking, I lose my scholarship after all," he pointed out with a smile.

Thankfully, before any more questions could be pressed upon him, the chime sounded and the teacher arrived in the classroom, where he called them all to order.

When lunch time came, Haruhi remained behind in the classroom while his peers all left for the cafeteria to buy their lunches. He'd packed a bento, and was planning on getting as much of his homework done in the lunch break as he could – just as he did every other day he'd attended Ouran so far. Now, with him joining a club, using this time for study would be just that little bit more valuable, since he had no idea how much time the Host Club would take from each day. Though, he might still be able to get some study done in club hours. It might be tricky, but he was sure there must be a way.

Well, he'd get to find out in just a couple more hours.

… And he'd get to see that tall 'wild type' again. Since he would be joining the club, he should get an introduction as well. That person was interesting to him. It was like... meeting a new person at the okama bar, having to take a moment to figure out if they were a man or a woman. Face- and body-shape alone wouldn't tell him that, nor their voice – some of the okama were very convincing – but Haruhi couldn't figure out why the 'wild type' gave him that feeling.

There shouldn't be any reason for a person to be cross-dressing while at school, right? And yet... when he was finally introduced to Morinozuka Takashi, Haruhi couldn't help but notice the same things that had caught his eye the first time he'd stumbled on this club.

There was no hint of stubble – at all, and third-year high school even the late bloomers were at least beginning to experiment with the possibility of facial hair that was showing up (Haninozuka Mitsukuni was very well shaved, but Haruhi could tell, the loli-shouta senior did shave). There was no definition of an Adam's Apple in the neck – again, at all, and though there were men who didn't have very defined Adam's Apples, this was a neck that even such fortunate okamas would be envious of.

Haruhi's eyes raked downwards. The trousers for the school uniforms here were very well made, but that didn't stop certain... bulges from having to be arranged around the fly. Morinozuka Takashi, Haruhi decided, was either an expert at arranging himself so that his trousers sat flat, or else he didn't have to be concerned about the matter at all. Not that he let his eye linger there. That would be indelicate, and would probably upset the constitutions of the other men in the club.

"Haru-chan, why are you looking at Takashi that way?" Hani-sempai asked.

Haruhi sighed softly and turned his attention from Morinozuka Takashi to the shota. "Hani-sempai, I don't mind if you call me 'Haru', but please don't call me '-chan'," he requested politely.

"Eh? Why? And... what would you like me to call you?" Hani-sempai asied, his brown eyes wide.

"As long as it's not '-chan', then I don't really mind," Haruhi answered with a shrug.

"Mm..." Hani-sempai hummed through a thoughtful pout. "Alright," he decided with a nod. "But, Haru-kun, you didn't answer my question! Why were you looking at Takashi that way?"

"Aa," Morinozuka agreed softly.

Haruhi smiled – and he was smiling at the taller senior, even though he was replying to the shorter one. "Because I'm curious to know more about Morinozuka-sempai," he answered. "I can tell," he said, "that my sempai is a very interesting person."