12 years ago

A young blonde woman with violet eyes and long blonde hair carried a toddler in her arms to an orphanage in Paris. She knocked on the door and a nun let her in the building.

"How old is she?" A nun asks the woman as they sit across from each other at the nun's desk in an office.

"She'll be three years old soon." The woman says and looks lovingly at the girl.

The toddler played with a locket on the woman's chest and the woman stroked the child's light brown hair.

"Then you realize there's a chance she may still remember what happened after you go through with this." The nun tells her. "And your son will be wondering what happened to his baby sister."

"He doesn't know that she's his sister." The woman explains. "My lover and I agreed that we should keep her a secret, to keep his family name safe, and more importantly keep her safe from her grandmother. She's already upset that her son has one illegitimate child. I don't want to know what could happen to him, myself and our children if she ever discovered that there is another."

"So Miss de Grantaine, I suppose this means that plans have changed." The nun suggests. "You wouldn't want to put your daughter up for adoption, if the current arrangement you and your partner created was still functional."

"You are correct." She replies. "Originally we arranged for one of my most trusted maids to pretend to be the child's mother. This way I could be close to her and my son could play with her and no one would know that she is my child. And it was working. Until a month ago at a party my family held, my lover's mother noticed the two of us being very affectionate towards my daughter, and that she and my son seemed to be very close. My lover sent me a warning that she was starting to get suspicious. So we had to come up with another plan."

"So your plan is to send your daughter away to Japan to be put up for adoption?" The nun asks.

"Yes." Anne-Sophie answers. "As much as I love my daughter and wish to be her mother, there is too much danger in her being a part of my family or her father's." She says sadly and looks at her daughter. "Her grandmother is cruel, and would not hesitate to make her and her brother's life miserable. It's too late to save my son from her. She already knows about him, and he is too old to forget his life with me if I gave him away. But my dear daughter, my forbidden rose, is still a secret. And because of that, she can be saved from the hardships of our two families. I believe that she will have a much better life living with a couple that can truly raise her as their own, and give her all the love and happiness that I cannot."

"You do realize that the couple that adopts her will most likely be of a much lower social standing than yours." The nun informs her. "Therefore, it will be unlikely that you'll be able to be in any sort of contact with them without giving away the truth."

"I know." Anne-Sophie says. "That is exactly what we're hoping for. We don't plan on having any contact with the couple that adopts her. And the lower in class she is, the farther away from us and more importantly her grandmother she will be. Her life may not be easier financially, but in terms of quality I feel she will be better off in a class that will not judge her based on her parents affair."

"I think that is a wise choice." The nun says and smiles. A tear rolled down her cheek. "So we will arrange to send your daughter to Japan to be adopted? And it will be closed so the couple will not know you or her father's identities save for your medical histories?" She takes out a pen and starts to write on a pad of paper on her desk.

"No...The couple can know who we are." Anne-Sophie says hesitantly. "But I do have some conditions that I would like to set." The nun looks up at her. "After she graduates high school I would like her parents to tell her where she came from. Explaining who her parents are, who her brother is, and the reason we chose to give her up for adoption. Given that information she can decide for herself whether she wishes to contact us or not. If she wants to, then we will be more than happy to let her. And if she does not, then...we'll understand." She says and looks sadly at the girl who had decided to take a nap against her chest."Do you think there's any chance she'll remember me?"

"She may remember appearances and the place she lived before. But given she's so young, she'll probably think of it as nothing more than a dream when she gets older." The nun explains.

"Good." Anne-Sophie says. "I hope she it's a good dream." With tears in her eyes she stands up and kisses her sleeping daughter's head. "And I hope she has a long, better life ahead when she wakes up."

Present Day

"Rose! Order for table six!" An older gentleman says and dings a bell.

"Got it dad." A teenage waitress says and picks up the plates and brings it over to serve the table.

After serving the table she heads back into the kitchen, wiping her fair skinned forearm across her forehead before untying her medium length light brown hair from it's side braid and retying it in a messy bun near the top of her head to get it off of the back of her neck. The older man rolling up sushi looked over at his daughter and could see she was worn out by how tired her violet eyes were.

"Why don't you take a break from serving sweetheart." He suggests. "I could use someone in the back to bake some biscuits."

"Alright. I'll get started on that now. Thanks dad." Rose says and heads to the back.

When she gets back there she notices a Shiba Inu dog scratching at the back door from the outside.

"Aw poor Lily." Rose says sympathetically and goes over to open the door. "It's been months since we've opened up this restaurant." She says and gives the dog a hug. "I thought you would've gotten used to being away from me now. But I guess no one really ever gets used to being alone huh..." She says and gives the dog a sad look. "Don't worry. My shift will be over in an hour and then we can go for a quick walk! What do you think?" The dog wagged her tail in excitement. "That's my girl! Now be good until then." Rose says and goes back inside.

She felt bad for leaving Lily outside. It was winter after all. But she didn't mind the cold and she had a doggy door to go inside to the staircase leading up to the house in case she ever got too chilly.

After washing her hands she prepared the dough, rolled it out, and then used a cup to cut it up into circles before putting them on a tray and placing it in the oven. She set a timer for five minutes and then clapped the flour off of her hands. She sighed and looked up at the bulletin board with pamphlets from music universities she wanted to attend. Unfortunately all of them were too expensive for her family to afford. So she'd have to pray for a full ride scholarship if she wanted to go. But that means she would have to compete with hundreds of other kids, at least half of whom were probably more talented than her and had more experience. Even though she had been playing violin for as long as she could remember and she was told she had the voice of an angel, she had never had a job preforming anywhere. And she didn't go to a prestigious high school like Ouran or Lobelia. So basically these dreams would probably just remain dreams. But for some reason her heart just wouldn't let her give up hope. She looked at the cup on the table and decided to play around a bit until the biscuits were done.

Cup Song by Anna Kendrick

I got my ticket for the long way 'roundTwo bottle 'a whiskey for the wayAnd I sure would like some sweet companyAnd I'm leaving tomorrow, wha-do-ya say?

When I'm goneWhen I'm goneYou're gonna miss me when I'm goneYou're gonna miss me by my hairYou're gonna miss me everywhere, ohYou're gonna miss me when I'm gone

I've got my ticket for the long way 'roundThe one with the prettiest of viewsIt's got mountains, it's got rivers, it's got sights to give you shiversBut it sure would be prettier with you

When I'm goneWhen I'm goneYou're gonna miss me when I'm goneYou're gonna miss me by my walkYou're gonna miss me by my talk, ohYou're gonna miss me when I'm gone

The timer went off and she went over to the oven and took out the biscuits, putting them all into baskets to put out at the different tables. But before she could she heard Lily barking excitedly, followed by someone knocking on the back door. Rose furrowed her eyebrows. They weren't expecting a delivery. Who would?...She couldn't contain her joy when she turned around and saw Haruhi looking in the window.

"Haru-chan!" Rose exclaimed as she threw open the door and threw herself at her best friend!

"Rose-chan!" Haruhi says and hugs her. "I heard you guys moved back here a few months ago but I was too busy studying to come see you!"

"I figured as much." Rose giggled. "You really haven't changed much have you Haruhi?"

"Well some things are different." Haruhi admits and blushes. Rose let her inside out of the cold and noticed that she was wearing an Ouran school uniform when she took her jacket off.

"You go to Ouran Academy?" Rose asks. Haruhi nodded. "Did you get like super crazy rich or something!?"

"No. I got in on a scholarship. If I study there I'll be more likely to get into a good University to become a lawyer." Haruhi explains.

"Wow. That's amazing! Congratulations!" Rose says. "But...why are you wearing a boy's uniform?"

"I like it better than the girl's to be honest." Haruhi says. "And I kind of have to pretend to be a boy when I'm at school."

"Why?" Rose asks, now genuinely confused.

"It's a long story." Haruhi says. "I'll tell you about it later." Lily runs in circles around Haruhi and sniffs her. "I see Lily still hasn't forgotten me."

"How could she forget! We used to walk her all the time together when we were kids remember?" Rose asks.

"Yeah. I still remember how excited you were when you said you found a sick stray puppy on a sidewalk out in the rain, and your parents let you keep her." Haruhi says.

"And she's been with me ever since." Rose says and kneels down next to Lily and giggles as she licks her face.

"Maybe we should all take a walk later?" Haruhi suggests. "I was hoping I could hang out with you today since I just had some exams so I don't have to study as much. And I wanted to wish you a happy gotcha day."

"You remembered that today's the day I was adopted!" Rose exclaims and hugs her. "That's so sweet of you to remember. You really are the greatest friend I've ever had! My shift should be over soon! Can we meet at your house-" Rose starts but then Haruhi cuts her off.

"NO!" She exclaims and grabs Rose's shoulders. "I can't go there! That's the first place they'll look! They're probably already at my house now wondering where I am because I ditched the club today!"

"Uh...who's they?" Rose asks, growing increasingly concerned. "Is someone after you or something?"

"No they're just friends. Mostly harmless...I'll explain later." Haruhi explains and blushes.

Later that day Rose and Haruhi walked back to Haruhi's house with Lily as the sun was setting.

"Wow. Those Host club boys sound insane!" Rose says. "But then again, they are rich so I guess they can afford to be that crazy."

"Yeah they really annoy me sometimes." Haruhi says and growls. "But they're also my best friends, and they're not so bad once you get to know them...Especially Tamaki. He's a big idiot but he's also really kind and wants to help people." Rose noticed Haruhi blush as they walked up the steps to her apartment. "Overall I think he's really-"

"HARUHI!" A male voice exclaims and a blonde teen sprints over and envelopes Haruhi in a huge bear hug. "Thank goodness you're alright! When you didn't show up at the club today I was so worried!" He sobs. "I couldn't stop thinking about what could have happened! Were you kidnapped? Had something happened at home? Did you get lost and were outside cold and alone on the street somewhere without daddy to protect you!"

"Daddy?" Rose asks and blushes. Haruhi's face was beet red.

"It's not like that!" Haruhi assures her. "He just thinks of me like his daughter that's all."

Lily sniffed around in the air a bit. Then her ears perked and she wagged her tail and sprinted into Haruhi's apartment. A few moments later another male scream could be heard from inside. Rose ran inside to keep her dog from making a mess of Haruhi's house and she found Lily pinning an auburn haired teen to the ground and licking him all over his face.

"Kaoru! Help!" The boy wailed. "It's gonna eat my face!"

"Relax it's just trying to clean up the food off of your face." A boy says and comes into the main room.

He looked exactly like the boy that Lily was licking. These must be the twins Haruhi told you about. Both twins noticed Rose in the doorway. Kaoru guessed immediately that this was her dog and she seemed a bit flushed already. The twins looked at each other and a devious plan formed in their minds to get Rose even more flustered. She called Lily back to her and she got off of Hikaru.

"Oh Kaoru..." He moaned. "That dog had it's mouth all over me, licking off pieces of rice and fish that I was saving for you to clean off of me..." Kaoru lovingly cradled his brother's upper body and looked at him lovingly.

"I know... My tongue can be the only one that licks you clean." Kaoru says.

Rose's eyes were wide and she was frozen in shock and fear. Haruhi said nothing about them being incestuous!

"What the fu-" Rose was about to scream.

"Will you two cut it with the brotherly love act!" Haruhi exclaims. "You're not at the club and you're creeping my friend out!"

The twins erupted into laughter and held their stomachs as they laid down on the floor together.

"We couldn't help it!" Hikaru says. "It was perfect timing! You should have seen her face!"

Haruhi groaned and rolled her eyes. Rose let out a sigh of relief at hearing they weren't actually romantically involved with each other. Lily ran over to Kaoru and started sniffing and circling him.

"I hope you aren't too mad at us." Kaoru says and holds out his hand to Rose as she came over. "We just like to mess with people. I'm Kaoru and this is my brother Hikaru. We're the Hitachiin twins!" They finish together.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Haruhi's friend Rose." Rose introduces. "And this is my dog Lily. Sorry she jumped on you like that. She gets super excited around new people and food. That's probably why she seems to like you two so much. Especially you Kaoru." Rose says, noticing how much Lily was threading herself between his legs and pressing herself up against him.

Kaoru immediately blushed and stared at Rose. He saw shimmers and a pink background behind her as she unzipped her jacket and took her scarf off. Her braided hair flipped as she took it off. Kaoru couldn't stop staring at her dazzling violet eyes and his heart started to pound.

"Y-you can tell us apart?" Kaoru stammers.

"Well you did just say your names." Rose reminds him and Kaoru's instantly brought back to reality.

"Oh." He says in a disappointed tone but still blushing. Suddenly he was pinned up against the wall by Tamaki.

"Don't mess around with Rose like that!" Tamaki scolds. "She's Haruhi's closest friend! She told me that they're like sisters so that makes Rose my daughter too!"

"Oh great..." Rose says sarcastically.

"I want to meet Haru-chan's friend!" A little boy exclaims and runs over to Rose. "I'm Mitsukuni but you can call me Honey!"

"Oh my gosh you are the cutest boy I have ever seen!" She squeals. "You must be so smart to be in high school at such a young age."

"Actually I'm 17." Honey says and Rose's face goes blank. She looked up and saw a really tall and intimidating guy. "And this is Takashi. But we call him Mori."

"Nice to meet you." Rose tells him nervously.

"Hey." He replies.

Rose noticed someone in the corner staring at her.

"Who's he?" She whispers to Honey.

"That's Kyoya." Honey explains. "He seems creepy. But that's only because he can find out any information about anyone whenever he wants."

Rose suddenly grew scared.

"Relax, there's no need to be frightened." Kyoya assures her and approaches her.

He put his fingers to his face and studied her face inquisitively. He kept looking between her and Tamaki, who had finally let down Kaoru who was rubbing his shoulders.

"Incredible..." Kyoya states.

"What is it?" Honey asks.

"Rose and Tamaki have the same eyes!" Kyoya declares and Tamaki and Rose look at each other and everyone around them gasps.

"Wait why is that surprising?" Hikaru asks, getting over the shock. "They're not the only people in the world with violet eyes."

"Yeah but theirs are so...similar." Haruhi says, noticing the similarity too. "Rose's are bigger and more feminine but they're the exact same shade." Tamaki suddenly paled. "What is it Senpai?"

"I just realized...If Rose were blonde...she'd look just like my mother..." Tamaki says and everyone gasps again.

Rose inspects his face and tilts her head.

"Have we met before?" She asks. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before..."

"Now that you mention it...I think I do recognize you from somewhere. From a long time ago." Tamaki says. "Have you ever been to France?"

"I'm from there. I was put up for adoption by my biological parents when I was three. I don't remember anything from that time though. I was too young." Rose explains. "Why do you ask?"

"I lived there with my mother until I was fourteen." Tamaki explains. "But when I was around four years old I used to play with the daughter of her favorite maid. And she looked just like you..."

Kyoya's eyes were wide and his body tense. The twins were both huddled close to Tamaki and Rose. Honey's jaw was hanging open. Even Mori seemed stiff. Haruhi couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did her best friend and Tamaki have a past?

"Is it possible that..." Haruhi was trembling. "You two could be...related?"

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Tamaki laughed.

"Impossible! There's no way my mother would have another child and not tell me. That's a huge secret and we know everything about each other! There's no way she'd ever do that!" Tamaki says.

Everyone let out a breath of relief.

"I guess it's just a coincidence then." Rose says. "It's getting late. I should be getting home. It was nice to meet you all."

"Yes it was wonderful to meet you Rose!" Tamaki exclaims. "We would all love to hang out with you again sometime soon! You should come to the Host club sometime!"

"That's sweet of you to offer Tamaki." Haruhi says. "But Rose doesn't go to Ouran."

"No but I can get her a visitation pass that would allow her come visit whenever she wants." Tamaki says and smiles.

"That actually wouldn't be a bad idea." Rose says then looks at Haruhi. "I could come see you after school more often."

"And Haruhi will be able to hang out with her sister and do girlish things together and become more girly!" Tamaki says dreamily.

Both girls rolled their eyes.

"Maybe Rose can bring Lily too." Honey suggests and pats the dog's head. "She seems to like all of us. I bet our guests would go nuts if they saw us playing with a cute dog!"

"You're right!" Tamaki declares then points at Rose. "It's decided. In two days I want you to come to the Host club after school and bring your dog. I can send a car to your house to bring you there."

"But you don't know where I live." Rose reminds him.

"That's not a problem." Kyoya says and fixes his glasses, and gives Rose an intimidating smile. Her eyes widened and she gulped.

"We'll set up the room to be like a park so you don't have to worry about dressing up fancy or anything." Tamaki assures her then thinks. "What do you normally wear to play with dogs?" Tamaki ponders.

"Usually I just wear a light long sleeve t-shirt and some overalls." Rose tells him. He beamed at her.

"My little girl in overalls! So cute!" He gushes then looks at the twins. "Twins! Get us outfits for everyone including Rose in two days!"

"Yes Boss!" They say and salute Tamaki.

"Oh but I already have-" Rose starts but Haruhi places her hand on her shoulder.

"They'd design you something anyway. We all have to match." She explains.

Rose said her goodbyes to everyone and went home. All of the boys offered to walk her there since it was getting late but she explained that she only lived down the road and this wasn't a bad neighborhood so there was no need.

"Looks like we made some new friends today Lily." Rose says as she sits on her bed with Lily.

She picked up the silver locket that hung on her neck. It was the only clue she had about who her biological parents are. She loved her adopted ones dearly and wouldn't give them up for anything but she had always been curious about where she came from. She thought about how familiar Tamaki looked.

"Could I have known him..." She thinks and tries to recall what memories she could possibly have of that time. She had a few. But they were vague. She rubbed the locket and started to sing.

Once Upon a December from Anastasia

Dancing bears, painted wingsThings I almost rememberAnd a song someone singsOnce upon a DecemberSomeone holds me safe and warmHorses prance through a silver stormFigures dancing gracefullyAcross my memory

Suddenly she saw a bunch of people waltzing in a ballroom. It must have been a grand party for the rich. And for some reason, she was present there.

Someone holds me safe and warmHorses prance through a silver stormFigures dancing gracefullyAcross my memory

She saw a woman who looked just like Tamaki approach her and she took her hands and the two danced together.

Far away, long agoGlowing dim as an emberThings my heart used to knowThings it yearns to remember

The woman brought her over to a young man whom she linked arms with and a little boy who looked just like Tamaki

And a song someone singsOnce upon a December

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the first part! Sorry it was so long but the next part will be shorter I promise! As you can see this story won't focus solely on a romance with Kaoru and there wasn't much of him in this chapter but that's just because this was like an intro chapter to give background for Rose and set the scene for the story. Rose's relationship with Kaoru will become a bigger thing in the next chapter. Please give me feedback if you liked this story and would like me to continue! I'll be more motivated to write more if I know people like this story and want more!