Epilogue

Several weeks after the storm, everything had seemingly gone back into what qualified – by Ouran standards, at least – as normal.

"Will you guys quit following me‽"

Hikaru and Kaoru synchronously cocked their heads to one side. "Why should we?"

"Because you're driving me nuts!"

Matching devilish grins graced their handsomely pale countenances.

"Oh, but Rin~" Hikaru whined, sidling up the fuming teen.

"We just want to spend more time with you~" wheedled Kaoru, mimicking his brother's movements on the girl's other side.

Rin glared at either twin in positive frustration. "What for? You see me in class, and you harass me at club time! How much more time do you two feel the need to irritate me with‽"

Her face was tilted to her left.

"You're not being very fair," Hikaru said, his mock disapproving frown a mere centimeters from her face. "Ever since the night we were stuck at the school, you've been making it a point to distance yourself from us."

"And even if our customers think it's cute to see you playing skittish, we don't really like it," Kaoru added, tilting her head to the right in order to face him. His gold eyes were practically dancing with mischief, though nowhere nearly as vibrantly as his brother's were. "Is it because we spent the night together in that closet?"

It took Rin everything she had to beat back the oncoming blood rush to her face at the memory.

"No, it's not!" she said, more firmly than she felt she was capable of as she swatted the younger twin's hand aside. "Don't go getting any ideas into those twisted, devilish minds of yours because I'm not falling for any more of your tricks!"

"It sound like you're already falling," teased Hikaru.

"Though I'd hardly say 'for tricks'," said Kaoru.

Two very large and ominous set of texts were brandished before them, English aimed at Hikaru, and History aimed at Kaoru.

"Look, you two," Rin said, glaring at them from behind the volumes; "Ever since that Movie Club showed up with its crazy project, I haven't been able to get a break from either one of you! I'd like to have my personal space back, thank you!"

What she said was true enough; ever since the night of the storm, the Host Club had been busy not only with its usual activities, but also the Movie Club's latest project. After a great deal of persuasion and wheedling Tamaki into agreeing with it, Kyoya had signed them onto the production, thus creating a whole new cycle of insanity. Rin's hopes of escaping at the end of the day and hiding at home during the weekends had been dashed to pieces; the Movie Club insisted upon nightly shootings in addition to the footage they gathered during the day, when they secretly filmed Host Club interactions during normal business hours. During the film shootings, Rin had been subjected to even more physical contact with the twins than she was comfortable with. Adding that into their ritualistic harassment at her place of employment, Rin was very much fed up with dealing with the two.

"But that's all for the club; we want to spend time with our toy," Hikaru insisted, grabbing the English text and yanking it upward, bringing the teen into the compromising position of nearly falling into him.

And wound up doing anyway despite her efforts to remain upright, as Kaoru saw fit to lean in close to her face, startling her.

"There's really no point in trying to avoid us," he said with a bit of a smirk. "We usually get our way."

"That's because you're a couple of spoiled brats who've never been given 'no' as an answer," Rin retorted, trying to escape from the hold Hikaru had on her.

"Now you're just being mean."

"No, I'm stating fact. You both should learn to get over yourselves soon, because Reality-Land isn't all about making a couple of rich kids happy."

"Rin-sama~!" a voice trilled, causing the aforementioned teen to sigh loudly in a mixture of exasperation and relief.

"Over here, Chisa-chan!" she called out, grateful only for the distraction. Since finding out about the girl's involvement with the Movie Club, Rin was still pretty leery of her. Chisa might have been a swell actress, but she was still one of Rin's more obsessive clients.

The smiling brunette practically bounced up to the three, waving a paper about fanatically.

"I just wanted to give you this! It's the official flier for our movie presentation! It's in two weeks from now, and the cast and crew get choice seats! Here!" she shoved three envelopes in the teen's hands. "Those are the tickets for you, Hikaru-kun, and Kaoru-kun! I have to deliver the rest, so see you soon~!"

"What? So soon?" Rin looked down at the designated envelopes incredulously. "But I thought movies took a really long time to make…"

…

Two weeks flew by without reprieve from the twins and before she knew it, Rin was sandwiched in-between the Hitachiin twins in the front row of Ouran Academy's Student Theatre. The theatre was slam-packed with students, a majority of it decidedly female in gender and all of them either Host Club enthusiasts or aficionados of the Movie Club.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kyoya and Sakuma hunched over the Movie Club president's calculator, Kyoya with his laptop settled on his lap and typing away furiously. It was pretty obvious that they were calculating the profits from this little venture of theirs. Smug jerks. Rin wanted to smack the both of them.

Further along in the row, Tamaki was chattering animatedly with Haruhi, who looked as though she was caught somewhere between amusement and annoyance at the whole thing. Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai were wrapped up in their only little conversation, Honey-sempai naturally being the one doing the most talking. To the other side of her, Rin already knew that Yamanouchi was busying himself with Renge – precariously flirting, as Rin liked to call it – and just after them was the entire Movie Club – with the exception of Hiroyuki and Ishiro, who were in the above loft that housed the projection room – and, interestingly, Nekozawa, who'd somehow been wrangled into lending his assistance with the production. From what Rin could deduce, he'd likely been the team's mythology and paranormal consultant for the occasion. Who else would know the supernatural better than the president of the Black Magic Club?

"Wow, this place sure is crowded," Hikaru remarked, looking around coolly. "I didn't think we had this many admirers."

'Neither did I. It kinda makes me feel sick,' Rin thought to herself, stomach wrenching upon the realization that she was beginning to feel more and more like she'd been stuffed in a sardine can.

"What was the name of this production again?" asked Kaoru, looking through the pamphlet each of them had received upon entering the theatre.

"I think it was The Haunting of Ouran," Rin answered, wracking her brains through the multiple titles that had been thrown around during the film shoots. "Or something like that. I really don't remember."

"Attention, ladies and gentlemen!" Sakuma's voice sailed above the buzzing chatter, effectively silencing the attendants. He smiled over his microphone, and continued his prepared speech.

Rin tuned him out for the most part. They'd rehearsed this bit as well, all the way down to the minutest detail. Details, she found, were a major issue with Enishi Sakuma; he was a total perfectionist, and a likely candidate of obsessive compulsive disorder.

"– and with the cooperation of Ouran's beloved Host Club –"

There was an ear-shattering eruption of cheers, screams, and applause as the Hosts rose and waved on cue. Rin winced as several blinding flashes from cell phones and cameras lit up the dim theatre.

"– and aid from Umehito Nekozawa, the President of the Black Magic Club –"

Nekozawa rose as the Hosts sat, Belzenef bowing at the same time as he did. Rin grinned upon seeing the evident red patches splashed on the boy's normally pale face and applauded for him along with the members of the Black Magic Club, who were sitting farther along in the back. He caught sight of it and gave her his own timid smile, which she returned instantly.

"Would you quite smiling and clapping for him?" Hikaru hissed, catching the exchange.

Rin shot him a venomous look. "He's my friend and he's nervous. Let me do what I want."

The elder Hitachiin twin settled back into his seat with a stormy expression marring his features.

'Geez, what's his problem?' Rin wondered vaguely.

"We, the members of Ouran Academy's Movie Club, would like to thank you for coming today!" Sakuma continued as the black-clad third-year reclaimed his seat. "We hope you will enjoy our presentation. Feel free to ask questions at the end of the feature! And now, to begin! Roll 'em!"

He sat gracefully in his seat next to Kyoya as the theatre darkened even further and the screen in the front blared to life.

Rin settled into her seat and opted to just enjoy the film, even if it was utter garbage. If she was to be truthful with herself, she was actually somewhat excited at the prospect of seeing herself in a movie – she'd never been a part of any massive group projects like this before, and it was rather thrilling to think that she'd be on Ouran's silver screen.

Kaoru frowned when the film's title card appeared in elegant letters.

"Under the Cover of Darkness?" he whispered in Rin's ear. "Where'd they get that from?"

"Who knows?" she responded, somewhat baffled by the choice herself. But the question was left permanently unanswered, as the film began immediately.

From the credits and after, Rin was engrossed entirely in the film. She had to admit that Sakuma was a brilliant director. The shots of the Host Club during regular hours worked wonderfully to establish their daily routines of entertaining clients, and further scenes helped to elaborate on their relationships. She was actually surprised to see how relaxed and calm she was with her fellow Hosts, and even more so upon realizing that every time she laughed with the twins, she wasn't faking it at all.

What the rest of the audience saw as a tug-of-war yaoi love triangle, Rin saw as a true friendship blossoming. As the film progressed from lighthearted Host Club antics into the darker segment, in which the Host Club was trapped in the school for an evening during a violent storm (oh, the irony of the tale, she couldn't help but think), Rin began to realize more and more that the twins weren't just her ritualistic administrators of irritation and frustration, they were genuinely concerned about her.

"Look, uh…" the Rin on the screen swallowed, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Thanks. For helping me."

"Hey, don't worry about it," the Kaoru next to her said with a reassuring grin.

"Yeah." The on-screen Hikaru playfully messed up the teen's hair. "It's not like we were going to let anyone touch you anyway."

What progressed on-screen was slightly different from what had really transgressed. During the filming process, Sakuma had decided to tone down Rin's somewhat violent reactions, and re-filmed several scenes to insert fluffier, more intimate moment between the twins and their little object of affection. While Rin personally felt insulted at having been reduced to little more than the stereotypical damsel-in-distress, she couldn't deny that it sat better with the audience than her actual reactions would have.

A hand on each side gripped either of her own when the climax of the film came – what really was happening, Rin hadn't the faintest. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts.

"Talk about your wasted effort."

"I can't believe we didn't actually save her from anything."

Rin looked on either side of her and smiled softly. 'They were really worried about me.'

She gripped their hands tightly and leaned back comfortably. Before she knew it, the film had ended.

…

When the lights came back to life and flooded the theatre with their intensity, Rin had to blink back dancing dots in her vision as she joined the cast and crew on the small stage setup in front of the screen.

They were bombarded questions, so many questions. Requests for poses with the twins were quickly granted, much to the hysterical glee of the Hitachiin-Tamashīzaki fans. Rin was actually really glad to have been stuck with Hikaru and Kaoru. They were having a lot of fun participating in the Movie Club's project. She supposed that maybe things hadn't turned out as badly as she'd feared.

At least that was her thought prior to the questions pelted at Kyoya and Sakuma in regards to film distribution and merchandising. The moment Kyoya stepped up with the microphone with a smug smirk on his face Rin ought to have known that he had something up his sleeve.

Sakuma, who stood just as smugly next to the Shadow King, held up a remote switch and pressed one of the many buttons on it.

"And as an exclusive for the premiere of our film, we will now reveal this special item that will be sold through the Host Club."

Curious as to what he was referring to, Rin looked behind her to take a gander.

She immediately wished she hadn't.

"KYOYA –!" Tamaki's mouth was immediately clamped shut by Yamanouchi, who was doing his best not to burst out laughing. Nekozawa stood just behind them, looking somewhat paler than usual.

"As an exclusive item for this production, the Host Club has special edition copies of this photo taken of the three central characters from the film," Kyoya said, smiling warmly at his audience. "These collector's items will be on sale during club hours beginning today, and will continue to be so until supplies run out."

Rin was torn between embarrassment and wanting to murder the bespectacled young man. She now knew what the small flash of the light where had come from the morning after the night of the storm.

On the screen, for all of the audience to see, was an image of a supposedly slumbering Rin more-or-less snuggling up against a sleeping Kaoru. Hikaru, just as lacking in the consciousness department as the other two, was curled into Rin's side, arms wrapped around her waist.

The most damning part of all was that all of them looked perfectly peaceful. She was even smiling.

Yamanouchi's booming laughter could be heard even over the fangirl shrieks and squeals that threatened to rupture their eardrums.

"Hey, you think that's cute? It was even more adorable in real life!"

"Yamanouchi!" Rin all but screamed. Her face was quite close to resembling a cherry.

"Well, it looks like we're official," Hikaru purred, slipping one arm around her waist.

"Face it, Rin," Kaoru chuckled, mimicking his brother's movements. He reached a hand up to tilt the furiously blushing girl's face up towards his own.

"You're ours," they said in unison, faces in such close proximity that it brought forth a new wave of screeches and cheers from their fans out in the audience. Flashes of light blinked insanely from all over.

Rin swallowed and looked at the younger twin intently as her mind churned out the possibilities. If not for the crowd, she would have certainly decked the both of them before storming out of the theatre in a huff. But she was in front of just about every single "princess" that visited Music Room #3, and now everyone was watching the three of them intently.

Instead, she smirked and grabbed at Kaoru's uniform tie.

"Are you so sure about that?" she inquired yanking him closer, bringing her lips just up to his ear. She wanted to laugh upon hearing him gulp loudly. "What makes you think I haven't got you?"

When she pulled back, she was pleased to see that Kaoru was now sporting his own vivid blush; Hikaru was stuttering just behind her. They obviously hadn't expected her to throw their own antics back at them.

'Touché,' she thought smugly. Hikaru and Kaoru were going to have to learn that didn't hold all the cards in this relationship. The Hitachiin twins might have been able to make her squirm, but Rin Tamashīzaki would always be able to manage a comeback.

*~おわり~*

A/N: And that concludes the Ouran HSHC Halloween 2011 Special, Under the Cover of Darkness! I had a lot of fun writing this story, I'm really glad that there were so many people who enjoyed reading it. Special thanks go out to my wonderful reviewers, whose kind words really mean a lot to me: lanee, TheGuineaPig3, Ninja-on-the-run, codenamehawkeye, gotta-love-anime, angel2u, magictalkingbunny, Aubrey09, damien i, hohoho, and oh no i won't. To all of you, and those who added this story to your favorites/alerts lists – Thank you so much!

Happy (belated) Halloween! And to everyone in the US: don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend!

Sayonara!