Notes: I do not own Host Club or affiliated characters. This fanfiction is Kyouya-centric, with a focus on introspection of Tamaki and Haruhi. If you do not like slash implications or slash in general, then do not read. Even so... if you don't, I think you could learn just a little from this.

Lady Grey

Chapter One: The Shadow King

Third time is the charm.

And Kyouya was the third son of the Ootori Family.

Perhaps it was this saying, this old age chant, this... curse... that would be the cause of the events the young man would find himself in.

Currently, said Kyouya Ootori, Vice President of the Ouran High School Host Club, resident Mommy, and best friend of Tamaki Suoh was having a day like every other. Within the lavish walls of Music Room 3, the Host Club was at its peak for the day. Faint orchestra music sang in the background, the sound just a touch below the quaint chatter of the hosts and their guests. The scent of Earl Grey tea hung in the air.

The sound of Kyouya's fountain pen making its way across the pages of his leather notebook was the only sound that was important to the dark-haired teenager. He stood off to the side, making note of a few happenings around the room, jotting down notes, scribbling down ideas... Haruhi was looking as stellar as ever with her whole "natural" act (which wasn't an act). The Hitachiin Brothers looked as animated as ever.

Kyouya's ash-brown eyes slid over to the side, to a beautiful pink, Victorian-style couch that sat in the center of the room. There, sat the Host Club President and Prince, Tamaki Suoh. His blond hair was especially radiant today, casting a shimmer and sparkle as he shook his head off to one side in efforts to play the bangs out of his blue eyes. The girls before him swooned, as if on cue.

Tamaki happened to glance up to check up on the rest of his dutiful hosts—when he caught Kyouya's gaze, he smiled.

"Hm." And Kyouya gave a faint smile back, before they both looked away to carry on with their business.

And that was how things were, and always would be.

Kyouya knew better than to tempt fate. He knew by now, clearly, where Tamaki's feelings were placed in this wide spectrum of a world. His best friend of years had put his emotions and heart on the line for the elusive Haruhi Fujioka, their currently in-debt "commoner", or so they put it at times. And it was true, certainly. He had already played his part. A partnership between the Ootori family and the Suoh Family had been sealed, indefinitely.

...Beyond that... what could be gained...?

The proclaimed "Shadow King" continued jotting down his notes from where he stood quietly, off to the side. He wasn't taking customers today, he had far too much work to do than to waste time idly entertaining frivolous-minded girls.

"Kyouya?" And Tamaki's bell of a voice called out to his best friend. Kyouya looked up immediately from his perfect handwriting and to the blond. Tamaki was looking attentive as usual. "One of our guests has a penchant for Lady Grey. Would you mind getting some for us, please?"

"Not at all." Kyouya snapped the leather notebook closed. His answer warranted a smile from his best friend...and that made everything worth it. "I'll return shortly. Surely you can't manage to cause too much chaos while I'm gone."

...Perhaps if he hadn't said those words, the following would not have happened.

Kyouya exited the main section of the music room, to a large storage closet to the side. It shouldn't of taken him long to locate the tea they needed. It was shipped in fresh every week, as they did go through a rather substantial amount of it, however...

"...Lady Grey." His finger barely tapped the counter top with the label. But there was no box. Kyouya's brows furrowed. "That isn't right." He remember it clearly; a shipment of Lady Grey came in three days ago. He always remembered the number three when it was apparent.

He was after all, the third son.

Kyouya's eyes glanced a few boxes down. There was plenty of Earl Grey left, but as Lady Grey had a more flowery taste to it... hm... was there something that he could supplement it with? The young man tapped his foot, once, twice, three times in thought. No. Tamaki had asked him to bring back Lady Grey. Kyouya wasn't going to let him down, if he could help it.

"The dining hall usually carries Lady Grey." That would do it. He could head down to the dining establishment and take some from them. This was, in theory, Tamaki's school after all. What was borrowing just enough for a couple of pots? He would further look into where the Lady Grey could have been misplaced at. Perhaps it was even in the dining hall by mistake. He could kill two birds with one stone by looking, after all. Kyouya exited the storeroom; he could feel Tamaki's expectant gaze on him, but instead of heading to the blond, he was heading for the exit.

"I'll have to procure some from the dining hall," Kyouya stated, and Tamaki let out a faint sigh.

"All right. Don't take too long, Kyouya!" The Host Club Prince chimed after him in a teasing tone. Kyouya paused, glancing back to his friend as he opened the door. The black-haired boy smiled before slipping out of Music Room 3.

And the walk began.

It didn't take long for Kyouya to make it to the dining hall. After slipping into the back, the Host Club Vice-President was quick to locate where they were storing the tea. Well. He had to obtain a small step ladder, but after scaling the three small steps and grasping hold of the box he needed, he exited the dining hall, back through the halls of Ouran Academy.

The evening sun make the step glow with a pink light that cast over him. As he got higher up the steps, his eyes lowered in efforts to block out the sun. The floral scent of Lady Grey rose into his nostrils. His steps were even as he made his way up the stairs. But today, for some reason, the sensory elements of his trip seemed to put Kyouya in a daze.

He missed a step.

There was no noise that left him—only dread filled his stomach and the rest of Kyouya's body as the heavy box pushed his weight back. He could feel his feet were no longer on the ground. And he was tilting, tilting...

A sickening series of noises echoed in the hallway. The sound of a human body tumbling down a flight of marble stairs made a unique sound all its own. Kyouya's glasses scattered off to the side of the stairs, hitting the bannister; their metallic noise was lost over the sound of the box and Kyouya's body tumbling south.

When he finally opened his eyes, everything was blurry. A whole crowd of people surrounded him. There were screams. People were shouting. He could see Mori's tall figure amongst a flood of yellow scent of blood cut deeply into his senses. Another scent lingered just over it, but he couldn't quite place it.

Loud shouting drew his attention. He felt a heavy pressure on his shoulders. When his ash-brown eyes looked up, hazy, a pair of royal blue were staring down at him, stricken with grief. Tears welled up in them, creating glass orbs. It was Tamaki.

His Prince was calling him.

"Kyouya!" Tamaki's voice seemed distant, even though he was right there. For some reason, Kyouya couldn't find the strength to call back to him. "Kyouya, hang on!"

There was an angry red smear of blood on Tamaki's cheek.

And suddenly, the Shadow King knew he was becoming just that. He was dying.

The edges of his vision started boiling into black. His body relaxed. Tamaki seemed to realize just what was going on, because the look on his face became more intense, overflowing with despair. Words poured out of Tamaki's mouth, but they were all a jumbled mess that Kyouya could no longer decipher. He felt Tamaki's hands move to one of his, clinging to it desperately like a lifeline.

Tamaki's blond hair looked something like a halo. Kyouya's eyes managed to focus on it for a bit, and Tamaki's voice warbled. Tears dripped onto his cheeks.

His eyes started to close.

"Kyouya!" And his name vibrated in the growing darkness. The halo's light was hardly visible. And Tamaki said the words that Kyouya never though he would hear.

"Please! Don't go!"

Kyouya felt a small smile quirk onto his lips.

...But he was already gone.

The heavy scent of Lady Grey invaded his senses before Kyouya blacked out completely.

Lady Grey.

The ceiling light was on.

Kyouya's eyes squinted as light flooded into his eyes. A burning, tingling sensation ticked underneath his eyelids, into the middle of his eyes. It was morning. He could hear the birds chirping from outside of his window. His window.

Kyouya turned his head slowly.

...He was... home.

Beside him, his alarm went off. 6:45. Kyouya reached out a hand to tap the clock—but when he did, he noticed two different things. First, the alarm clock was a shimmering silver, instead of black, with bright blue numbers. There was a sticker of a cute black cat on the corner of it. And second of all-

...He was sporting a french manicure.

Kyouya stared at his hand. Really stared at it. It wasn't just the fingernails, beautiful and well-groomed, that had changed. The hand itself was more slender than he was used to.

The alarm kept buzzing. Kyouya glanced to it, before finally hitting the alarm, silencing the noise. He grabbed his glasses, sliding them off the bedside table and putting them on his face. He took a look at his hand again, to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He wasn't.

...Had he hit his head so hard that he was hallucinating? Why wasn't he in the hospital? Or was he in the hospital and all of this was some elaborate illusion? The young man let out a faint huff of air, before slowly sitting up, gaze lingering around his room.

Which was-

A fresh bouquet of Brazilian blue roses sat on the beside table. The edges were a faint blue, the bud slowly lightening to pure white on the inside. Kyouya stared at them for a moment before his eyes lifted upwards from the vase. The walls were all painted a subtle shade of lavender. There was a calender on the wall—it had pastel page breaks and fine black numbering. The picture at the top was an artistic shot of a boudoir, namely a close up of pink kerchiefs, pearls, lipstick tubes, and flowers. Kyouya stared at it for a moment.

...The date.

Two years prior. Two years prior.

"...How can it be two-thousand..." Kyouya pulled the white sheets off of him, sliding his bare legs out of bed—wait.

His eyes shot down to a pair of shapely, milky-white thighs and lacy blue panties. He lifted both hands to his chest—or rather, to his breasts, grasping a hold of them over the matching blue bra.

...Either some insane kind of Host Club antic has really screwed his head over, or...

"...I'm a woman."

The words left his lips as if he had casually glanced over to Tamaki to relay him the weather.

They said third time was the charm.

...But Kyouya Ootori was now the youngest child, and second daughter of the Ootori Family.

End Chapter One

Please Review!