Haruhi opened the door to music room 3 and entered, she was in pretty early so she didn't expect to see any other members of the host club. However, she was surprised to see Hikaru and Kaoru sat on the windowsill, staring out of the glass at the morning beauty. She closed the door and the small 'click' sound echoed throughout the entire room. This alerted the Hitachiin brothers at once.

"Good morning." Said Haruhi approaching one of the couches. It was then she noticed that the twins hadn't responded with a crazy gesture or over enthusiastic greeting. She turned to face them and was astonished to find them still gazing, thoughtfully, out of the window. "Hikaru, Kaoru?" They turned to face her. Their usually joyful eyes had been replaced with sorrow and helplessness. Haruhi blinked in surprise. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine." They replied in perfect unison, however, Haruhi was not blind; it was clear that something was wrong. Without a word she moved closer to see a newspaper with a picture of an angry woman on it. The headline read: "THIEVING MAID ESCAPES!"

"You know this woman?" Haruhi said suddenly. The twins had a cold and hard glare- which shocked Haruhi- as they stared at the picture. Seemingly burning holes in it.

"She was the maid that stole from our family," Said Kaoru. Haruhi studied his face, searching it for emotion. "She was the only friend we had." Hikaru then continued.

"And she betrayed us. She said no-one would ever tell us apart. She is the reason we pushed everyone away. The reason we never experienced friendship, until now." Haruhi took in this new information and realised it made sense in a way. Though, Haruhi had never noticed this hidden secret and she didn't know that the reason they forced people away was because of betrayal by a- so called- friend. She saw sadness and hatred in the twins' eyes as they- once again- seemed to burn holes in the picture of the woman who hurt them. The twins turned away at the sound of opening doors, turning, Haruhi noticed the rest of the host club entering. Haruhi picked up the newspaper and when the other hosts caught her eye she dropped the paper on the table and sat down upon the couch.

"Haruhi?" Said Tamaki, eying her up with concern.

"Senpai." She said dismissively as Honey- Senpai took his seat beside her, hugging his bunny as usual. Tamaki looked down to see the newspaper and picked it up, reading it aloud. The more he read the more interested the others became and so stopped and listened.

"Thieving maid escapes." The others looked over and hung over his shoulder as he read. "The thieving maid, Miyu Suzuki, who had stolen from the Hitachiin family long ago, is reported to have escape after her imprisonment. She had managed to escape late last night..." After a while Haruhi stopped listening and looked over at the brothers, who were looking down into their laps. Apparently they were listening, and it was hard too. Haruhi had never really been betrayed before so she could not say she could relate, but this was much more. This woman is the reason that the twins had isolated themselves from others for so many years; had Tamaki not persuaded the twins they would have remained alone forever. They would still be lost souls.

"Oh, that is so sad!" Exclaimed Honey-senpai. He ran over to the twins and hugged Kaoru from behind, Kaoru jumped in shock but never the less he gave the elder boy a light squeeze on the arm. Turning to nod at him, forcing a smile. The room was silent for a minute when eventually Tamaki spoke up.

"I-I don't know what to say." For the first time since Haruhi had seen him, Tamaki really was at a loss for words. His eyes were focused on the twins; he chose his words carefully as though one wrong move would cause them to shatter before his eyes. Suddenly the twins turned and did something that no-one expect, they... Smiled.

"Don't worry, boss, it's no big deal." Said Kaoru. Haruhi raised an eyebrow; the twins were not very good actors, not when they were truly sad of course. She could see right through them, they were hurting. She could picture all the terribly lonely days and flashes of the maid leaving them after stealing from their parents, she felt awful that they felt awful.

"So err," Started Hikaru, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "How's those albums coming along, Kyoya senpai?" Kyoya pulled out his usual black book and a pen; he scribbled something down first before pulling his pen away and reading the information.

"The stocks have had a 30% increase in the past two weeks." He said, matter-of-factly. The twins nodded, it was all too clear that they couldn't care less about the profits but they needed to do something to steer the conversation away from them.

"I know!" Piped up Honey- senpai suddenly. "Let's have some cake, I want strawberry. It is my favourite, what do you guys like?" Takashi picked up Honey-Senpai and took him over to a nearby table where some cakes were placed. For a short second Haruhi thought she saw a small, genuine, smile cross the twins' faces; only to be quickly replaced with a far off distant stare.

Tamaki went to the twins and they started talking, Haruhi couldn't hear but she could see Tamaki place a hand on Hikaru's shoulder as both the Hitachiin brothers lowered their heads. Not long after this Tamaki directed the twins over to some chairs nearby Honey- senpai and Mori-senpai. Haruhi noticed someone wasn't with the others and looked behind her to see Kyoya standing in front of one of the many pillars in the room, she approached him. His black book was tucked under his arm and his eyes were focused on the host club. His eyes held sympathy, sympathy for the twins.

"They sure seemed sad, guess I can't really blame them after what she did." Haruhi said as she too watched the others talk and eat. Like usual Kyoya did not face her but he still responded in mono tone like always.

"I wasn't aware you knew about the Hitachiin's old maid." He spoke flatly, Haruhi didn't avert her eyes.

"I wasn't, not until they told me once I arrived," She chose this point to look up at Kyoya. "Though, I don't fully understand the situation." Kyoya looked down at her and pushed his glasses higher up on his nose.

"How so?" Inquired Kyoya. Haruhi thought for a second, she thought about what the twins had already told her and then about just what she was trying to understand.

"Well... I can understand that she left them and told them no-one would tell them apart but... I don't understand why that would make them push everyone away." She waited for a moment, hoping her statement didn't sound as harsh as she thought it sounded. It could make perfect sense to the others and if she questioned that... She just didn't want to insult anyone.

"Well, Hikaru and Kaoru are known for being the twins that they are and for playing their childish game with the ladies and other members of the host club. A majority think this is just a harmless game but to them it's different, they want to be told apart because they want people to care enough about them to learn how to distinguish between the two."

"But what does that have to do with them pushing people away?"

"I was getting to that," Said Kyoya casually. "When the maid, who they thought was their friend, couldn't tell them apart and told them that no-one ever would be able too they started to believe that if they allowed people to become close then they would get hurt again. For the majority of their lives they only had each other, that is of course, until our dear king came along and stopped at nothing to be- friend them and bring them here. Finally they let their past go."

Haruhi took in this new information as she watched the host club talking in deep conversation, each one with nervous and forced smiles upon their faces. Her eyes wandered to the Hitachiin brothers and a dull pain hit her heart as she saw the hurt expression dripping the now dull eyes. She could only imagine how distraught the twins could be right now, hearing that woman had escaped must have brought back all the bad memories and bad feelings from when they were young and alone.

Suddenly a girlish sob was heard as Renge appeared out of nowhere on her large platform yet again. The host club looked irritated at her presence; as though she was not needed nor was she wanted at this moment in time. One thing that caught Haruhi's eye was the newspaper clutched in Renge's hands. There was a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach as she guessed why the host clubs manager was now here.

"Oh this is so tragic it really is!" She exclaimed as she waved the newspaper around and threw it to the floor by Mori-senpai's feet. "You two must be so very brave!" She said, looking at the twins before cupping her face in her hands and letting out a long wail and crying into her palms.

Mori-senpai looked down at the newspaper and kicked it away so the twins wouldn't have to look at it again. Kyoya walked towards Renge and looked up the platform at her.

"Renge, now is not a good time." Kyoya told her while Haruhi walked over to the rest of the host club and took the empty seat beside Hikaru. She put her hand on his arm and he looked up at her, muttering her name. Kaoru noticed and he too looked up to see her forcing a smile.

"How rude!" Yelled Renge as she climbed down from her platform and plopped herself down in the seat beside Kaoru and grabbed his arm, he looked at her- clearly alarmed- and tried to shrug her off, thought she wouldn't budge. "I am so sorry to hear about what happened, you must be so sad!" She rested her head on Kaoru's shoulder for a few minutes. Haruhi could see the twins' irritation so she spoke up.

"Renge, Kyoya's right, now isn't a good time." She forced a smile at her manager, who leapt from her seat and clinged to Haruhi's arm instead.

"It is tragic though, the whole Academy knows about it already. They're all asking about the twins, they really are!" The rest of the club turned, immediately, to face Renge. Everyone approached.

"Everyone?" Said Tamaki, nervously. Renge nodded quickly.

"Well what else do you expect? The maid of the Hitachiin family escapes after all these years! Who wouldn't that shock?" At that exact moment Hikaru jumped from his seat, his face flushed with anger as he fled the room.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru yelled at him as he turned to glare at Renge before he too left in the same manner of his brother.

"Hika-chan, Kao-chan!" Honey-senpai yelled and started to run towards the doors too, however, Takashi picked him up and said.

"Don't. Just let them go." Honey-senpai nodded and sat back down at the table. Haruhi watched Tamaki wave his arms in the air like a mad man while he argued with the manager. Out of sympathy for her friends, Haruhi slipped out of the room without being noticed. She walked down the corridor and winced every time someone would walk past, discussing the evil maid in the paper.

"Hikaru, slow down!" Haruhi ran to the end of the corridor as she heard Kaoru's voice echo throughout the large corridors. She caught a glimpse of someone running into a science room, she stopped outside the doors and pressed her ear against the wall, quickly shooing away anyone who stopped to ask her what she was doing.

-In the Science room-

Hikaru had his back firmly against the wall, his knees had been pulled close to his chest and his hands pulled at his ginger locks so tightly that his knuckles were going rapidly white. Kaoru approached, slowly, and put a hand on his brother's shoulder. This seemed to calm him.

"Hey," Said Kaoru as he pressed his back against the wall and slid down into the place next to Hikaru. "That was quite the exit." He said, forcing a laugh... And failing miserably. Hikaru was furious with the maid for what she put them through; this seemed like the perfect time for him to let out his anger.

"Well how else should I respond?" He blurted out suddenly, making Kaoru jump in surprise. "That evil old cow stole from our family and dropped that-that-that bombshell on us. She is the reason we had no friends until now!" Kaoru shouted his brother's name to make him stop yelling.

"Hikaru!" Hikaru stopped, his body shaking with sadness and anger. "I know, I went through it too, remember?" He said, lowering his head- apparently fascinated by his black school shoes. Hikaru felt like a jerk. Of course his brother had gone through this too and here he was acting like it was all about him.

"I'm sorry. You're right." He leaned back against a desk and slowly lowered himself to the floor. Head balancing on his chin.

"This is all our fault." Said Kaoru flatly. Hikaru looked up suddenly and stared at his twin with a puzzled look on his face. "We told her where the combination for the safe was, we should never have done that."

"We were kids, we didn't know any better. We just wanted someone to like us." Hikaru said flatly.

"Yeah, but that's no excuse. This could all have been avoided, but we were too careless... It seems the spell on the carriage is slowly breaking and turning back into that grubby old pumpkin again." Kaoru seemed to be talking more to himself rather than Hikaru now.

This theory was true, it all started off with the twins being all alone and lonely- forever focused on their sad past with the maid. However, once someone reached out just enough to them they were able to slowly slip away from their past and settle into a place of friendship, respect, love and care. They were considered family and were able to enjoy the comforts that came with friendship, they felt protected in a safe carriage which Tamaki had casted a spell on. With that spell cast then everything would remain as is and no matter what, no-one could separate them. Now, however, Kaoru's worst fear is being realised. The curse will break and this news of the old maid will swallow their happiness and no-one will understand, they would feel the need to isolate themselves and eventually they would become what they had been their whole childhood- sad kids fighting the world all alone as lost souls.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru, but what are you talking about." Hikaru had never noticed the spell and Kaoru suspected he would never understand it. Kaoru and Tamaki were the only ones aware of this spell, they could really relate. Even though the twins situation did not seem like much compared to the sad times the others went through, it really hurt the twins because they felt no-one would care enough to tell the difference. After so many years they had learned to convince themselves that anyone else in their lives would just let them down again... Because they were twins.

"Nothing, Hikaru, nothing."

-In the corridor-

Haruhi listened but by that last sentence it was clear that the twins weren't planning on talking more any time soon, it was quite clear to Haruhi that this maid had committed an immense crime because not only did the Hitachiin brothers blame themselves but, they almost felt sort of threatened by her.

"Haru-chan?" Haruhi turned around; Honey-senpai was stood behind her cuddling his small pink bunny to his chest. "Where are Hika-chan and Kao-chan?" Haruhi decided that the twins deserved some privacy but she didn't want to lie to Honey-senpai so she decided on what to say.

"They're in there, senpai," She said while pointing her thumb at the science room door behind her, she lowered her voice and bent down to Honey's level and whispered. "But I think we should leave them alone for a little while, it must have been a huge shock for them." Honey nodded and turned around, it was then that Haruhi noticed Takashi waiting by the windowsill. His face was completely devoid of any emotion so Haruhi could not clearly tell what he was thinking but she guessed he was the slightest bit sympathetic towards the Hitachiin brothers, being their friend and all.

"We should go to class. I will ask Tamaki to speak with your teacher." Takashi spoke in monotone and walked away down the corridor with Mitsukuni by his side. Haruhi watched them leave but turned back to the door; she knocked on it and said.

"Guys? It's time for class, are you coming?" There was a moments silence until Haruhi heard two sighs from beyond the door. It took a few moments but eventually the door opened, Haruhi figured they were about a minute late for class already. The twins stepped out and looked shocked to see her.

"You stayed to wait for us?" Said Hikaru, clearly surprised.

"Of course I did, we're buddies right?" A soft smile showed up on the brothers' faces, the smile suited them so very well but Haruhi knew they would need a lot of friendly support in order to deal with current events. "Come on, let's get to class." The twins nodded and followed Haruhi down the corridor and into their first lesson of the day.

Coming up: The host club opens for business and the Hitachiin brothers find it hard to cope when the gossip is focused on the escape of the family maid. Tamaki shows his support for the brothers and Haruhi provides useful advice to Hikaru and Kaoru.