A/N: Hello everybody! This is my first Ouran fanfic. So I'm sorry for anything that doesn't make sense (Then again, this is Ouran we're talking about). I'm also apologizing for any grammar errors because I'm: 1. Too lazy to read it over, and 2. I don't want a Beta.

Don't like it don't read it. I'm saying this because I once posted a story on a Cartoon and people didn't like it and kept complaining. So don't bother me with reviews like that, because I don't care.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING, ANYTHING, EXCEPT FOR MY OWN OC'S IN THIS STORY, NOT THE OURAN CHARACTERS, NOT THE MUSIC, AND SOMETIMES NOT EVEN THE FIRST LINES. THIS COUNTS FOR THE WHOLE STORY. I REPEAT, I DON'T OWN OURAN HIGHSCHOOL HOST CLUB.

ANY CHARACTERS IN THE STORY MAKING ANY RESEMBLENCE TO LIVING HUMANS ARE COINCIDENCE, THE CHARACTERS ARE OC'S AND FANTASY. I APPOLOGIZE FOR ANY OOC NESS, I TRIED TO KEEP THEM INTO CHARACTER.

Enjoy the story! And please review if you like it! Reviews are a writer's number 1 reason to continue writing the story!

~!~!~!~!~!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!~!~!~!~!~

Chapter 1

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

It was early in the morning, Monday morning. And school would start in two hours, an hour and a half to make herself ready. A moan comes from under the covers, as the alarm on her mobile goes off and an hand reacts. It comes from underneath the covers and grabs the phone from the nightstand. She moves her finger over the touch screen and the alarm is turned off.

With a groan she takes the phone with her underneath the covers and snuggles into her pillow again. Which she had pulled with her underneath the covers. The room is cold, not very big but it's cold. It's pretty cold outside and almost the end of January. Light snow is on the streets, and the snow isn't the problem, no, it's the fact she had to ride on her bike to school, half an hour! In the cold!

And mornings felt like hell. She's just falling back asleep as a second alarm goes off and another groans is heard. She turns it off and peeks with her eyes from underneath her covers to the door.

One, two, three….

The door flies open and her mother comes in with an unreadable expression, she doesn't like mornings either, and she always complains about not getting enough sleep with her littl4e brother sleeping between her parents all night long. And it's not like he's lying still or something, no, he kicks, rolls, snuggles and hugs in his sleep, and if there's one thing her mother doesn't like, it's a leg pushes underneath her back in the middle of the night. No, her brother is a deep and motile sleeper.

'Morning' She groans 'Do I have to go to school? I don 't want to go for extra lessons, I've had my test two days ago…'.

'Good morning. And no. You'll have to. I'm not going to cover up for you' Without another word she has closes the door. The woman always comes in to put something in her trash bin, which is rather odd, but she doesn't care anyway. It's some kind of an habit.

She gets out of bed, turns on the light and blinks against the now lit up room. She makes the bad and walks over it towards the window, opens the rooster, which gives her a cold shiver, it's freezing. She coughs, like every morning, the cold is getting worse. She jumps off her bed and walks over to her chair, starts dressing herself in the clothes she choose the other day and yawns sleepily. Mornings, you have to like them.

She turns on her IPod for some music and stands up to get done her make-up and hair. After dressing in some black jeans, a white tank top with in black "Evil", a leather jacket that's ending mid her ribs and has a silver zipper on front which she leaves open. Some black knee high boots with three inch heels, her hair loose and a white clock around her wrist with silver white diamonds, it was rather expensive, but she got it from her rich grandparents.

A diamond ring silver ring around her right hand, she bought it herself one day when she felt down, and she felt much better after she bought it. It's true that when you buy beautiful things you feel a lot better. Shopping is a therapy.

There's a normal iron necklace with an electric guitar charm. It's simple, but it fits her and she never takes it off except for when she's going swimming, to bed and going into the shower.

She looks at herself, not fat, not thin either, her big boobs make her look a little bit fatter, and her butt does the same, while the area around her waist isn't all that fat. Blonde hair and silver blue eyes. She's no beauty, but she's not ugly either. She sighs, if she just didn't like chocolate or sweet cookies… or if she was allergic to chocolate pie… Then she would be fine, she would look like every other girl, the round shapes on the right places. The thing she hates the most… her legs.

Anyway, that's off the subject. As she grabs her bag and het phone, her IPod and her turns off the lights, she hears her mother struggle with her mother. She runs down the stairs, she's late, like always. Quickly getting het lunch ready, filling het bottle of water while pushing a cracker into her mouth for breakfast. She throws it all in her bag and swallows the rest of the cracker, running up the stairs again, brushing her teeth in the bathroom, running down again, greeting her now dressed brother and mother. Sitting down on a chair and getting her new schedule ready on her IPod. It's so handy to have internet on her IPod.

If she had to choose between her best friend and her IPod she would have a hard time choosing. Her best friend she only sees at school, but her IPod, she uses all the time outside of class. She just rolls her eyes as it's eight O'clock and gets on her white winter coat, her yellow shawl, white gloves and a white hat.

She grabs her keys, wishes her family a good day and takes off on her bike, through the cold wind, and the white snow. She passes some cars, empty streets, busy streets. Until she reaches her school and hurries inside, almost slipping out in front of the school doors, where it's known for its slipperiness. She sighs in relieve when the warm air of the school makes her feel a lot more welcome than the school would do in the summer.

She hates everything that's too cold or too hot. People like sun and warmth, or cold and snow, but she likes rain and thunder. And not cold rain, but warm rain, like at the end of summer. She would open the curtains wide to hope and get a glimpse of the thunder that night, or she would go outside and walks through the rain.

Water. She always loved water. And that's pretty funny because she drinks too little, says her mom.

But her little bro drinks for two, so she tells she left her lust of drinking in her mother's belly and her brother absorbed it when he was inside of her. Her mother would smile at that comment and say something like "That's not the only thing you left behind, get your lazy ass off your bed and do something useful".

Her brother needs to sport at least three till four times a week, she needs to sport… like never. She hates sport, her condition is worse than that form a snail and she doesn't see the point in learning how to play football, like she wants to become some kind of soccer player anyway!

While taking off her coat, gloves, shawl and hat, she's standing before her locker. She pulls her books out and pushes her stuff in. While walking away from the lockers, she makes her move towards the canteen, where her friends would be waiting because lessons haven't started yet.

'Gin! Good morning!' Cheers one of them, it's Suze. A cheerful blonde girl with cute freckles and rather good-looking.

'Leave the good' Gin mutters and sits down with a sight 'I'm already done with school and we still have four weeks to go until vacation…' She chooses another song and stares at the group. There's Theresa, her best friend since the first year of high school, she's blonde, cute and smart, wants to become an Elementary school teacher, after all she loves children, except for her own little sister, the brothers he does like.

There's Layla, a half Mexican girl, small, cute and with this beautiful thick brown hair, her second best friend, they know each other since elementary school and it all started on the playground. But Layla and Gin were slowly growing apart, Layla was more of a girly girl, loving to talk about boys, sleeping in this still pink room, she's just obviously a few months younger, and that normally doesn't have to mean anything, but in her case it does. They're just… too different.

There's Tasha, this emo girl, she's not very beautiful, and she's evil looking, she has this light brown or dark blonde hair and light brown eyes, she's trying to fit into the popular people group since she's sharing tables with Luke, it's rather annoying to hear her talk about him all the time, she may have a crush. She once hit somebody with a frying pan because he woke her on camp, making a noise with ladle and the frying pan.

Then there's Hana, this a little bit stupid and easy girl, she's… a little different. Her Geography is like hell (She mistook Russia for China (AN: I really know someone who thought this)). She's pretty annoying and laughs about everything. But she's nice, she can be nice. If she doesn't say make mistakes about things a little bit too obvious.

There's also Maria, the sport girl, with her best friend Gwen, also a sportive girl. Maria is a thin, tall and funny girl, she's wearing always a pony tail while everybody says she should wear her hair loose. She doesn't listen. She's a little weird but very fun, and there's always something to laugh about. Gwen is also a bit funny, but she's more sportive and not as tall as her friend. They both play in the same football team.

Then there's little Erica. She's small, thin and afro. Her hair is dark brown and curly. She's actually half Jamaican or something, and her father… who knows. Gin never met him. She's the weirdest of them all, really weird, you never stay serious around her and she even sends photos of her ice cream to somebody else. She has her own vocabulary, words that… do make sense but at the same time don't, like… "It looks so iciness" And then she's talking about a picture of ice, it's just so obvious it's stupid and funny at the same time.

That's mostly the whole group. There're a few other people, who join them during lunch period, but they're not as important to Gin. She just sighs again, listens to the conversations, looks at pictures, comments, laughs and waits till the bell of dead will ring.

While walking to the canteen again, she looks at the guys that have joined them. Some of the guys she joined class with a year ago. There's Tim, this guy who's always wearing hoodies, his face is filled with acne. He's nice, but a little bit short tempered.

There's Jason, he's the handsome boy. Gin was in love with him for one and a half year long, love unanswered, she had never loved someone else before. But he was funny, handsome and nice. Who wouldn't fall for such blue eyes? But he's kind of a show off.

Then there's Will, a little sheepish guy, also a little slow but funny at the same time, sings blues sometimes and stares off into space half of the time. But he's nice, and a bit of a cowards, doesn't dare to hit someone, not even someone who had hit him.

And there's Todd, this gay guy. Well, he acts all gay, but he said he was in love with Gin, since they got in the same class. Gin was so relieved when the year after they separated ways. But somehow he always came back.

'Jason, you look cold, you've been outside?' Gin asks with a small smile as she sits down next to the guy, she feels her stomach turn as she smells his cologne, it's a pleasant feeling and maybe… she still had a little crush.

'No, I've been inside all day' He jokes, wiping the snow off his nose.

'Anyway, you guys are going to ski next break?' she asks, looking at Suze, Theresa, Jason and Layla.

'No, we've been to Mexico with Christmas, so we'll probably stay home' Answers Layla. Her mother's family still lives in Mexico.

'Well, last year was out first time on skies, and my mother and sister are afraid of the lifts, so we'll probably go Lang Laufen again' Theresa shrugs, she would love to go skiing, but knowing her father he won't go with her brothers and her alone.

'Of course I'm going. We went in the last break and we're going back next break' Jason, his family is rich or something. They were "Tired" of traveling to other countries with summer break so they stay home.

'Nah, we would want to, but not this year' Suze sighs, taking a bite of her bread.

'Shame. I'm going, I'll have so much fun, we didn't go the last two years and I'd love to ski again' Gin smiles, skiing and swimming, the only sports she's ready to do all 24/7.

#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#

That weekend, Gin's lying in bed as her father enters.

'Hey, you're coming with us to go picking out the new car?' asks her father.

'No… It's too cold to go outside…' Se groans, pulling the blanket over her head.

'Really? This is your last chance'.

'I'm sure dad. Leave… me…' She yawns and closes her eyes, as long as she keeps them closed she can fall asleep again quickly. It's twelve when she comes out of bed, moves to the bathroom and takes a long shower. She brushes her teeth, dresses in some sweatpants and a tank top, pulls her hair back in a messy bun and moves downstairs to eat.

Eating cereal while reading a book, checking out the computer, her mailbox. Nothing serious. She reads again, watches TV and around three, she wonders when her family will come back.

She's just drinking a cup of hot chocolate when she looks outside at the snow falling down. Maybe they got stuck somewhere or something. The bell rings. He growls, who's outside at this moment?

She opens the door a bit, her head the only thing peeking out from behind the door.

'Yeah?' She asks tiredly, a little slow from her lazy day on the couch, her bed and the kitchen. There're standing two male, both dressed in suits, one has a black suitcase and looks at her surprised. She just hopes she doesn't look too bad, that would be embarrassing.

'You're Gerrylin Crow?' asks the male.

'Yeah'.

'We've got some bad news' Says the other one 'It's about your family'.

'They're not here. They're gone car shopping' She answers abruptly, hoping to loose these men and get back on the couch watching a new anime she discovered.

'We know' Says the first male 'I'm Curt Bennett. And this is my assistant Earl Witt. We're from the police'.

'What? Didn't my father pay a bill or something?' She raises her eyebrow.

'No… that's not the case'.

'Look. My parents aren't at home. I can't help you'.

'Gerrylin. We're sorry to tell you. But your family died in a bus accident this morning' Says the other man before she can close the door. She raises her eyebrow 'My family died? In a bus accident?' Something doesn't feel right, her stomach rolls and turns, this is not the pleasant feeling, this is the absolute terrified feeling. Her heart aches, and she doesn't know whether to believe them or not. Why would they die in a bus accident? Sure, they went there with the bus, because they would come back with the new car. But why would they have died?

She leaves the door open and steps back inside, walking into the living room and sitting down on the couch. The two men have followed, her silent response probably normal.

''They're dead? And this isn't a joke?' She asks.

'I'm sorry. But we're very serious' Answers the man. He opens his suitcase and gives her some files, the files of her family. And another file, but he keeps that one for himself. 'Do you want to hear what you'll get? Or will you wait for your grandparents to arrive?'.

'I just want to know two things' She answers.

'We're ready to answer them'.

'Were they in pain? Or did they die directly?'.

'Your mother and brother died directly, your father died when help arrived. He lost too much blood'.

'Oh. I see' She nods slowly, not knowing how else to respond. It doesn't feel real. It feels like they can enter any second. But it is real. These men are here to tell her they're gone.

'What is your other question?' asks the younger man more nicely, feeling for her.

'Where am I going now?' She feels a little more afraid about that. Is she going to live alone? Would she have to search a job? Or would she be put in a foster home? She doesn't have any family besides her grandparents.

'You'll be living under the care of your grandparents' Answers the man calm.

'Oh, I see' She nods 'Uhm… Could you please, wait a moment?' She stands up and opens the door. She runs upstairs and quickly dresses, put some make-up quickly on her face and puts her hair in a bun, a little neater this time. When she comes back downstairs, the men are still there, on the same spot.

'Can I, see them?'.

'Of course, that's where we're here for' Answers the first man and they stand up. She grabs her keys, her jacket, her IPod and her phone. But somehow it doesn't feel like it matters. Were they really gone? Did they really got into an accident? And were her grandparents aware of this tragic?

When she's inside the hospital. She was led by some woman to a special cold room. The two men stayed behind but the nurse was sweeter, and nicer. She said something about how they died without being in pain so much. And furthermore she said nothing. A silence Gin welcomed.

When she has pulled out one bed. Gin felt her heart pound in her chest. She was standing there, the nurse pulling our an iron bed from some big closet filled with round shaped doors. With inside all kinds of dead people.

The nurse takes the cloth off and Gin feels her heart skip a few beats. She stares at the face of her little brother. Eyes closed, skin so pale and grey. Purple or blue lips. His blonde curly hair. The blue eyes she would never see again. There's a bloody suture above his eyebrow disappearing in his hair. He looks so… emotionless.

She suddenly feels a hand on her back.

'He was still so young. I'm sorry for your loss. May I ask… how old was he exactly?' She asks.

'He turned nine in November. Only three months ago…' She whispers back, suddenly feeling tears stream down her cheeks. She takes a shaky breath and let her hand bind the fingers around his cold ones 'He just turned nine…' She whispers again 'Rick… was his name' She whispers and bite son her lower lip. Suddenly all the strength is gone. He's dead, her little brother is dead. The little brother that's so irritating when he wakes her in the mornings. The little brother she used to romp with and kiss his cheek in front of his friends which he said he didn't like but secretly enjoyed. Her little brother… she taught him how to skate. She helped him with learning how to tie his shoelaces. Her little bro. Her friend.

'Rick…' Tears are streaming down harder. She never felt this pain before. She brushes the hair out of his dead face and her lower lip trembles. She burst out tears and touches his cheek. Her little bro, dead. Gone. To never return again. She sees her tears fall on his body. She never cried, she tried to stop crying. She's Gin, she's Gin, she never cries.

The nurse just let go of her till her big relieve, she doesn't want to feel even more pitiful. Last time she cries was when she saw Jason kissing another girl. She went straight home without a word and burst into tears there. But she never let anyone hear or see her. She's Gin. She doesn't cry.

'No need to stand tall, honey. Just let it all out' Says the nurses with her sweet noise.

Gin looks again at the face of her brother and cries. She doesn't know when it is, but after some time, the nurse tells her to let go, the body has to stay cold. Gin nods and kisses Rick's head before he disappears into the cold. She wipes her cheeks dry and tells the nurse she'll see her parents at the time she can see them for last. She can't face them now.

She's send home with the tram. She looks out of the window, the music bursting in her ears. It's depressing music. It's crying music. But she can't cry because of the music anymore. No, she saw more horrible things. Her dead little brother. She feels tears start to gather again and one escapes.

'…Ok?' a hand is places on her shoulder. She turns her head to see Jason standing there.

'Oh, hey' She smiles lightly 'I'm sorry, I didn't hear you' She takes out her earplugs and coughs, she wipes away the tear and fakes a smile.

'I asked, if you were OK? I think I've never seen you cry before'.

'I'm not crying. It's because of the weather. I get watery eyes when the cold wind blows in them' It's not a real lie, it's actually the truth, only it's not the reason why she's crying though. She doesn't know why, but she doesn't want him to know. She doesn't want his pity. She doesn't want his presence, she wants him to go away. She needs to think, be alone, sleep and escape the horrible picture of her so grey colored little brother.

'I just… feel not so well' she coughs again, for god knows why. He seems to buy it and just nods understandingly.

'I just hope I'm not going to get sick. Though, I don't have to go to school that way' She smiles lightly.

'Yeah, school has never been your style' He chuckles.

'I uhm… this is my stop' She stands up and he nods 'Bye' They say goodbye and she gets out of the tram. Looking at the streets, the snow. She sighs and swallows as she arrives by her home. Opens the door and closes the door behind her. She takes off her clothes. Steps underneath the shower and cries hard. Nobody can hear her, not her mother, not her father, not Rick. They're gone. They can't hear or see her anymore.

She dries herself and walks to her bedroom nude. She closes the curtains, lies in her bed and sleeps. Everything tired her out. After such a lazy day, she was exhausted.

Her family is gone. Her rich grandparents will take care of her. How will she ever survive the next days? How will she ever face her friends? How will she face the world? Just sixteen years old. And already afraid of the future. Because it doesn't look too bright. Sure, she loves her grandparents. But she almost never sees them, they live on the other side of the country in this villa. And now… what now?

Yeah. What now?

%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%

It was a week later, and she came back to school then. Her grandmother had taken care of her, her granddad stayed at home for work and would come over next week-end. Arranging all the stuff for the funeral. She only saw him there two days ago. It was a little thing. With only the three of them. Nobody else, because nobody else would care enough to be there.

She had seen her parents. She hadn't cried until she was home again. In her bed.

As she walks into the school, gets her books and pushes her coat into the locker, she wonders what she'll do. Go to her friends? Face them? She doesn't know.

She decides to act like nothing has happened. But in the end, she just smiles lightly, listens to music and replies short on their questions "Maybe", "No", "Yes", "I don't know". Nothing more. It's the same in class. And on the second day they start to ask questions. Jason doesn't seem confirmed with her being sick anymore. But she ignores them, searching her own space.

That is until she hears them talk about busses, how they go to school and to the mall with the buss.

The buss. That's what caused her family's dead. She stood up at the moment, not caring she made the whole table look at her strangely, and she ran off. She ran away, hearing the shouting of her friends as she ran out of the canteen. And she hid in the music room, pretending to be doing homework, while in reality, she was crying silent tears behind her book.

'So. What happened?' asks the voice of Theresa.

She doesn't have to close her book to k now Layla, Theresa, Jason and Tim are there. Her four best friends.

'It's nothing' She says, sounding confident and annoyed.

'You ran away from the canteen. You haven't eaten anything at school, and you've lost weight very much, we can see that. You've just been sick and you're not talking much at all' Theresa steps closer, Gin hides her face with the book. 'What's with the book Gin? You're not even doing homework'.

'So? Can't somebody read a Physics book? I like Physics' She mutters. The book is pulled away and she looks down, her hair hiding her face. She feels her stomach turn in fear as Theresa kneels in front of her and lays a hand on her shoulder 'What's wrong Gin?'.

'Nothing is wrong…' Her voice starts shaking and she feels more tears fall down, slowly her shoulders start shocking and she cries softly. She feels an arm around her but pushes Theresa away 'Please, don't hug me. I want space… I just want some time alone…'.

'What happened Gin?' asks Layla.

'My family… last week, the Saturday before last Saturday. They went to buy a new car. But on the way there, they got into a bus accident…' She whispers 'They died'.

'And you didn't call me? Gin!' Theresa hugs her, ignoring her protests, Gin is too tired to protest anyway, she just cries softly.

'So that's why you were looking so depressed in the tram' Says Jason 'And here I thought it was just the cold like you said'.

'I'm sorry for lying. But I don't want your pity'.

'Your grandparents are here?' asks Layla softly.

'Yeah. My Grandmother, my granddad is busy with business, he was there are the funeral, but… you know, went back to business again'.

'When was the funeral?' asks Theresa'.

'Few days ago. It was only the three of us… I just… can't get the image of his grey skin out of my mind, those blue lips and that cold hand…' She whispers 'He was just nine… just nine years old'.

'Rick's dead too?' asks Layla gasping. Gin nods 'I stayed home, because I was tired and didn't want to come outside, it was too cold. And then… those men came by and they took me to the hospital. I felt so… empty, I saw his closed eyes, and the feeling he'll never open his eyes again… I mean he was just nine…' she starts crying again.

'How long did you think you could keep it a secret from us?' asks Jason.

'I just couldn't tell… I haven't talked at all until the funeral, and since then not until school started. I just… don't feel like it'.

'We can understand' Theresa pulls her closer, but Gin moves away 'I just want to go home. And go to bed'.

'I'll bring you' Jason takes out the keys of his motor and smiles at her, she smiles back lightly. And takes his hand as she needs to stand up.

She never knew, that would be one of the last days she would ever see them again.

TBC

A/N: Review please!