Chapter 1: The Start of a New Life

'How did I get here?' I wondered as I sat at my desk in this school of preps in strange uniforms. 'How did I go from playing b-ball in back alleys to attending one of the most prestigious high schools in Japan?' Ouran Acadamy. 'A school for the kids of the rich and snobby.'

I remembered back to the day I had first learned about any of this; "Ayami! You won't believe it," my mother had come home yelling.

"Mother, shh!" I said, putting my finger over my lips, "The triplets are sleeping!"

"Sorry," she said apologetically, and she looked down the hall before turning back to me and continuing, "but this is just so amazing!"

She had the most excited expression on her face, and I guess that should have tipped me off. My mother wasn't known for being a smiley kind. Typically, she had an irritated expression that said, "Leave me alone or die," but on that day, she had a smile on her face, a real smile. I hadn't seen her that happy since her, well, now ex-boyfriend had last taken her out on a date. She never smiled like that, at least, not to me.

"What's got you so keyed-up, mom?" I asked. The look on her face became darker, a bit like she was scheming something.

"You'll never guess who I went to talk to today." She said, slipping off her heels and jacket.

"Who?" I asked, returning to my task of washing the dishes.

"Your father." I almost dropped the plate in my hands and turned to her wide-eyed.

"What?" I asked, blinking.

"Your father! Well, he's the only guy left who could be your father."

Truthfully, I was shocked; my father was a complete mystery to me. Let's just say that my mother has a very "active" social life.

"Aya, you'll never guess who he is!" she exclaimed, drawing me out of my thoughts. "He's rich, and he lives here in Japan and, well, he's just filthy rich! I couldn't remember his name, so that's why it took me so long to find him. He said that he wants to meet with you. Our lawyers are talking back and forth right now, but we're just one DNA test away from being set for life!"

At that time, I didn't know who he was or what lay on the road ahead of me. After the DNA tests came back positive, I was worried about how this was going to affect my family. My little brother, Hero, didn't seem to care much, but what can you expect from a ten-year-old. My younger sisters, Kotomi, ten years old, and the triplets, Momo, Meme, and Mimi, four years old, were more concerned about me not being around as much. I tried to calm them by promising that I would never leave them, but that was a promise I ended up not being able to keep.

My father decided to pay my mother bookoos of money in child support, and my mother came home that day talking about how I finally turned out to be of some good. She went on to tell me about her plans to squeeze as much money as she could out of him; I refused to let her do that.

"No," I said firmly.

"Excuse me;" she turned around, giving me the eye.

"I'm not going to let you use his money for the wrong things. He's my father, my family, not yours." I said, my voice stern. My mother stood off the couch and gave me the same look I was used to seeing, the face of coldhearted hatred. She raised her hand a slapped me across my left cheek.

"How dare you! You ungrateful and selfish child! You just want to keep all his money to yourself, don't you? What about me? I'm your mother!"

She yelled at me for nearly two hours, the words getting uglier every sentence. Then, to my rescue, the phone rang; it was my "new" father. He wanted to speak to me in private and in person.

I met with him the following day, and at the meeting, he told me his name was Yuzuru Suoh, and he told me the story of how I came to be.

Once, he met a beautiful woman while on a business trip; in France. He loved her very much, and eventually, she became pregnant. He decided to divorce his lawful wife and marry her, but his mother wouldn't allow it. He returned to Japan and felt as though he had lost his love and his child.

Not long after that, he had another business trip, this time to America. While on that trip, he met my mother and thought she looked so very similar to his lost love. Of course, it could have just been because he was drunk, but that's beside the point, that's when I happened. Then, he left the country soon after and had no clue about my existence at all.

At the end of the meeting, he asked me if I wanted to come and live with him, or really (until matters with his family were taken care of) in a home paid for by him. I agreed to it but only because my mother didn't want me anywhere near her anymore. So now I'm living in a mansion provided by my all too happy to please father. He's even enrolled me in his school.

Yeah, did I mention that he owns the school I'm now attending?

Today is my first day here at Ouran High School, and I must say it started on a bad note and will probably end on one too. My father spoke with me before classes began, and I'm not exactly too pleased to just find this out today.

"Ayami," he said my name with a new warmth in the tone that was unfamiliar to me. "I mentioned before that I had a child with another woman." I nodded my head as I sat in the chair in front of his office desk. "Well, he also attends this school. He's a year older than you, and his name is Tamaki." My eyes widened a bit, but I quickly composed myself as he continued.

"I haven't told him about you yet, I haven't told anyone, and I would prefer that he doesn't find out about you just yet if you don't mind, so while you're attending here you'll still go by Sohma and not Suoh." I nodded again; I didn't mind him not knowing about me. In fact, I would prefer that he never find out. If this Tamaki is supposed to be my new big brother, then I don't want him.

You see, when I was ten, my family and I were living in America, and I had an older brother. He was great: he was tall, brave, and had great hair; the perfect big brother, but... he died in a fire at our apartment complex. My mother blamed me; I blamed myself. Because of that, my mother had us (her, my younger brother, sister, and myself) move to Japan, where she had been raised.

I lived in Japan from fifth grade until just before my last year of middle school; that's when my mother had a sort of break down because of me. She thought it would be better if I went away for a bit, so she sent me to live with my aunt back in America, New York City, to be precise. I spent my last year of middle school with my aunt, who owns a small line of pastry shops. She taught me how to cook all kinds of desserts and baked goods.

I was pulled from my thoughts when my father spoke again.

"He's part of a club held in music room three; it would be helpful to me if you tried your best not to go there." Then he sent me off to class.

On my way to class, I wondered what this Tamaki guy would be like, 'He has a club in a music room so that must mean that he plays some kind of instrument, right? Maybe he's classy and really into music. I wonder what instrument he plays?' I started building up an image of him around that.

I'm currently sitting in my Geometry class, and everyone is staring at me.

'I feel like such an idiot, wearing this puffy yellow monstrosity.' I thought as I began doodling on the edge of my paper blush settling on my cheeks. 'I hate the stares! I'm so not used to dressing like this.'

After my brother died, I tried my best to be like him. I cut my hair short and dyed it blonde, like his. I even quit my gymnastics team and took up basketball. I was trying to give my younger siblings the big brother that I had. Of course, I've had to quit all that. Now I'm taking lessons on how to be a proper young lady. I have to wear skirts and bow. Needless to say, it's very uncomfortable for me.

'It's a good thing that I haven't been cutting my hair the past two years,' I thought as I twisted a curl around my finger. It had grown out to just above my shoulders and straight brown. I didn't like it so... boring, so I usually put it up in a pony-tail, but pony-tails are frowned upon in this world of Designer Barbies so last night I took a shower and put my hair in curlers. Today I awoke with bouncy ringlets all around; I even clipped it back with two fancy hairclips; I get kudos points for trying, right?

I sat through the rest of my classes, and, to my relief, no one tried to talk to me... until the lunch bell rang. As I was gathering up my things, three of the girls from my homeroom walked up to me and introduced themselves; I smiled wryly at them.

"So where are you from," the short girl with black hair named Misawa asked.

"America, Japan, both," I said indifferently.

"Oh, really," she replied.

"That's interesting." her friend said. They seemed, to me, to be strangely small-minded.

"Did you just move here?" another girl, whom I had forgotten the name of, asked.

"Not really, I was living in America up until five months ago, but I've, sort of, been thrown back and forth between Japan and America my whole life," I said flatly.

They chattered a bit as I walked with them to the lunchroom. Then the girls asked me if I wanted to join them for lunch, but I gave them a lame excuse saying that I had left something in my locker. I hurried away and found my lunch I had brought from home at the bottom of my school bag.

Lunch in hand, I wandered around, looking for a place to eat my lunch in peace. I ended up getting myself thoroughly lost, and eventually, I found myself standing alone in a garden area outside somewhere.

I sat on the grass under the shade of a large tree, thinking, 'I may not know where I am, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy my lunch.'

I started nomming down, not thinking of anything in particular when...

"Hello there!" a boy's voice called out from behind me.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, jumping, nearly dropping my sandwich into my lap.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?" The boy asked; I turned and looked up at him, catching my breath; he was kind of gorgeous. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, was somewhat tall, then again, so was I, so it might just be because I was sitting on the ground, and he had a kind expression on his face. I felt my face turn a bit pink when he leaned down towards me.

"You're the new student here, aren't you?" he asked with a smile; I just nodded my head in response. He grinned softly and took a seat next to me. I glanced back down at my lunch, the blush lingering on my face.

'Oh come on, he's not the first good looking guy you've met.' I told myself.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Sohma," I said mumbled, "Sohma, Ayami." I glanced sideways at him as I nibbled on my sandwich.

"That's a charming name," he complimented with another soft smile.

"Thanks," I said stiffly in English. "Uh!" I caught myself, blushing. 'That's so embarrassing.'

"You're from America!" He exclaimed happily. I nodded again, thinking, 'Why do these rich people think that's interesting?'

"That's amazing, that makes you like a foreign princess!" he said.

'What does that even have to do with... what?' I thought, looking at him strangely.

"So do you have some free time this afternoon, Sohma-hime?" he asked casually. 'Princess Sohma, is this guy for real? Wait, is he... asking me out on a date!' I nearly choked on the bite of the sandwich in my mouth.

Finally, I swallowed it and looked at him one eyebrow raised, saying, "Excuse me?"

"It would make me so very happy if you could come to my club this afternoon after school." He smiled as he reached his hand up to my chin. "Won't you please, Hime-sama?" He begged. I reflexively pushed his hand away and stood up.

"No!" I exclaimed in English then back to Japanese, "No, I won't! I don't even know your name!"

"Oh, how rude of me," he said, standing up and bowing slightly, his hand over his chest. "My name is Tamaki Suoh." I froze solid.

"No way," I said quietly in shock; he looked at me, confused. I could feel them fall as my expectations, however low they had been set, came crumbling down — the sweet, slightly brother-like image, crushed to bits. I tried to recover but barely managed to keep my voice under control.

"You know I don't think I can," I said, turning stiffly, kneeling to pick up my scattered lunch. "I have lots of studying to do." I finished standing to my feet.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," he said sadly, "I do hope you'll come by some time, though." I looked at him; my eyebrows pressed together. 'This guy is supposed to be my brother?... I guess I'll "come by" eventually so I can't really say no... but my father did tell me not to go there, ugh...'

"Maybe," I mumbled, rushing off in a random direction.

"It's in music room three! See you there, Princess!" he called after me like he was confident I would be there.

Once I was several halls away from him, I slowed my pace and sighed. 'Ugh, all he could be, and he's like that. He seems like a womanizing jerk! And what was with the Princess stuff?' Then a second thought hit me, and I laughed loudly. 'This will be a great story to tell others someday. "On the first day, I met my brother, and he hit on me," Ha!'

I'm looking back on this fanfic and although I love it I also can tell that my writing can use some work so while I'm working on the next chapter, I'll add edits to the past chapters also.

Keep in mind that this began as my first fanfic ever and I was much younger when I started to write this than I am now.

~Thank you for reading! Please review!~

~MiraCarpathia