A/N: Please be kind, this is my first fanfic ever. I'm going to update with or without reviews, but feel free to leave them if you like/don't like the story. Chapter 2 is coming soon!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Ouran High School Host Club characters, only my OC.

Kyoya Ootori stopped with his hand on the door handle of the third music room as a sweet melody reached his ears. The sound was coming from inside the room, which was strange considering the Host Club commanded exclusive use of the space.

Instead of confronting the trespasser directly, for the time being, the younger Ootori was content to sneak in and observe. His vibrant eyes fell upon a lone violinist seated in the center of the room. The wisp of a girl was clearly lost in her haunting, but beautiful song, and Kyoya soon found himself entranced as well. Other club members crept into the room just as silently to listen as they awaited customers.

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Sarah wandered down the hallway of Ouran High School, clutching her tattered violin case to her chest as she walked. The instrument was her security blanket in the unfamiliar surroundings of her new school, but she now struggled with the problem of finding a quiet place to practice – alone. There were multiple music rooms, much to her delight, but so far they had all been full or at least occupied. The petite brunette started to give up and go join the rest of the music students, but she found the third music room empty.

She made her way to a chair towards the center of the room, and briefly wondered why a music class would need the plush padded loveseats that dotted the floor with the chairs. She sat down and opened the well-worn buckles on her violin case, then took out her bow. Sarah hummed to herself as she applied a small amount of rosin to the hairs and took the instrument itself out. It too had seen better days, but despite the worn varnish and scratches, the violin produced an amazing sound. Sarah had purchased it with birthday money years ago from a secondhand store, and the two had been inseparable ever since.

Sarah finally began to play, first basic warm-ups, then moving on to more challenging pieces of music. She immersed herself fully into the Irish folk piece she was preparing for an upcoming recital and failed to notice the Host Club's customers filter into the room until she had finished the song. The resulting applause startled the musician, who turned beet red and glanced around the room nervously.

"That was amazing, princess," said a tall, blonde boy as he presented a red rose to Sarah.

"Uh, well, thank you," she said softly, "Who are all of you?"

"You mean you don't know where you are?" asked a pretty, raven haired girl nearby, "Though, I'm not surprised you haven't heard of the Host Club if you look like that every day." She and the surrounding females snickered amongst themselves.

"I thought I was in a music room," she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"I think your playing was nice for the customers," one of the hosts said. Sarah looked over to see a handsome youth with short brown hair and feminine eyes smiling at her.

"You do?" Sarah asked timidly, her face turning even redder.

"Yep. I'm Haruhi and the flirt next to you is Tamaki, the Host Club president," he told her.

Sarah glanced at the boy with the flower and finally accepted the rose from his outstretched hand, "I'm Sarah."

"You are the new arts scholarship student from the U.S., correct?" asked a black haired boy as he looked up from a laptop computer.

"Yes," said Sarah, "How did you know?"

"I am Kyoya Ootori, and you could say that my family has "connections" to all sorts of information," he answered.

"Why don't you have some cake with me, Sarah-chan?" asked a short blonde boy seated at one of the tables.

"Well, I could have a small piece if it's no trouble," she said, "What's your name?"

"I'm Hunny and this is bun-bun and Mori," he said while holding up a stuffed rabbit and pointing at the rather tall person next to him.

"Ah," said Mori.

Sarah smiled and made her way over to the table with Hunny, who halved his strawberry cake with her. "Thank you, Hunny."

"You're welcome, Sarah-chan!" he responded as he stuffed a cake-topped fork in his mouth.

As Sarah was eating, she heard dual male voices arguing over something only to discover her violin was the center of the quarrel.

"You should put that back, Hikaru," said one to the other.

"I just want to look at it, Kaoru," Hikaru told him.

"Please," Sarah said, "put my violin back."

"What if I want to play it?" Hikaru asked with a smirk on his face. He grabbed Sarah's bow and proceeded to try playing the instrument, resulting in horrible noises that caused customers to cover their ears.

"It's not that easy," Sarah told him, "I've been playing since I was seven."

"Fine, I'll put it back," he said, but as he went to place the violin back in its case, the catastrophe that was Tamaki barreled into him at a full run, knocking them both to the ground on top of it. The sound of shattering wood and breaking strings resounded throughout the room, causing everyone to stop and stare, including Sarah.

She gasped in horror as Hikaru and Tamaki got up to reveal the wreckage of her precious violin and slowly bent down to pick up the neck, which was all that was intact, and blindly ran for the nearest door with tears clouding her vision.

The twins and Tamaki watched in horror as the distraught girl unwittingly ran into the door that led to the basement. They knew what awaited below the music room.

"Oh, no!" wailed Tamaki, "Not only did we break the violin, we sent our lady of song to her doom!"

"You two should have been more careful," Haruhi scolded.

"Haruhi is right," Kyoya said, "Sarah is an even worse case than her."

"Really?" Tamaki asked curiously.

"Yes, really," Kyoya answered, "and since you and Hikaru destroyed the reason she got a scholarship, I'm guessing she will be forced to return to America and be destitute once more."

"We can't let that happen!" Tamaki declared, "I'll adopt her as my second daughter and buy her a hundred violins!"

"Tamaki, be reasonable," Haruhi said, rolling her eyes, "She probably won't even look at you now, plus she's with Nekozawa."

"We must rescue daughter number two!" said Tamaki as he donned a costume set of armor in record time and marched towards the basement door.

Meanwhile, Sarah had not yet noticed the blackness of the room around her as she cried on the floor of wherever she was. Her violin was gone, and with it her dreams of becoming a musician. She would be made to leave Ouran after only a week and return to living in a cramped trailer in South Carolina with her mother and four younger siblings.

"What is it that troubles you so?" said a velvety voice from nearby.

Sarah looked up and realized she had been sitting in complete darkness for a good while now. "Please, whoever you are, can you turn on the lights?" she asked in a scared, shaky voice.

"This is all I can do," the person said as the dim glow of a single candle lifted the veil of shadows just a little bit.